UTP 10 - Days 3, 4 and 5 - Fri, 19 Feb 2016

#UTPCruise - this is a long cruise being 18 days, and we start with many days that we dock at a new city. On those days, all the genealogy cruisers have the day off to visit the destination and to take whatever tour or to relax and catch their breath. Those days, we only have a single talk at 8 p.m. following our group supper.

Day 3 we were in Tauranga, and six of us went to Middle Earth:

This morning a visit to Hobbiton #UTPCruise Unlock The Past genealogy cruise #10 to New Zealand pic.twitter.com/a07VNto7LD

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 16, 2016

Then, that evening at 8:

Paul Blake now giving the 2nd talk of the 10th #UTPCruise  The Past genealogy cruise pic.twitter.com/OANKnRvHFR

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 16, 2016

Day 4 was a day at sea. On these days, we have a full slate of speakers usually with 6 talks scheduled during the day and also the 8 p.m. evening talk. This day, I listened to Geoff Doherty’s talk on Joseph Dunn’s family fracture. At 10 a.m., I gave my first of 8 talks. This one was “How to improve your research with source-based research”. I took the rest of the afternoon off to get a sunburn by the pool, and came back at 4 p.m. for the bookshop and research help zone session.

Dinner was followed by Shauna Hicks’ story about her DNA research and the perils it threw upon her:

Shauna Hicks presenting "Love, Sex and Damned Lies" on the 10th Unlock The Past genealogy cruise #UTPCruise pic.twitter.com/QycqxSzNQL

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 17, 2016

The next day, day 5, we were in Windy Wellington. My personal journey was a visit to the Weta studios, Mt. Victoria including the site where the first shots for Lord of the Rings with Frodo and friends hiding in the forest from the Black Riders (see #11 on this page), a visit to the magnificent Wellington Te Papa Museum and downtown Wellington.

That evening after supper, Helen Smith spoke on “Health of the ANZACs in the Great War”.

Much more to come. :-)