Disappointment Re Palau

I've been emailing back and forth with a tour operator in Palau all week. We wanted to do a 1/2 day snorkel tour so we would still have a couple of hours to wander the town. Once I knew we had a boat, a number of people wanted to join us, so we had a group of 11 ready to go. At 5 pm yesterday, the Capt came over the ships speakers with an important announcement. He said because of issues regarding the docking in Palau, that port has been canceled! We will continue on to Manilla and stay there overnight instead. The crew was cheering. An overnight means they can go off the ship and party that night. Many of the crew is Filipino so they will have more time with their families.

 

During dinner, in walked the Capt in his dress blues. The dining room clapped, Mel and I did quiet boos. SO disappointing to be missing that port. The Capt proceeded to go from table to table to talk to every person there, it was quite amazing. I told him that he used to be the best Capt on the seas. :) He said that HAL was informed 2 weeks ago that the dock they were going to use was no longer available to them. They'd spent the last 2 weeks trying to secure another one. On top of that, the government was unable to provide up to date marine data. If we ran aground, that would be the end of the World Cruise! So for that reason also, they finally decided to cancel.

 

I emailed my tour operator last evening that we would no longer be going to Palau. They replied that they had called other operators, and to their knowledge, there was no cancellation! They looked forward to seeing us. This morning they said they finally received the cancellation today, at 7:30 a.m. The reason they were given is that the government wanted a $15 per person "green" fee and HAL was unwilling to pay that, along with "other" issues. We get visa charges on our shipboard account for a number of different countries, wonder why that fee would be any different? In the end we'll probably never know the exact reason for the cancellation, but we will miss seeing that country. The Capt said he is pretty disappointed also since ours would have been the largest ship to ever go there, and he's never been either. It was to have been our last snorkel adventure on this trip. Bummer.

Madang, Papua New Guinea

Again, we had the most amazing time onshore! Madang is the second largest city in PNG and totally untainted by tourism. They get maybe 1 ship in per year, ours being the largest ever according to some people in the town.

 

We weren't scheduled to dock until noon, which was different. We had an early lunch so we could be off first thing and grab a cab. We asked 2 women who we've become friends with if they'd like to share a cab. When we were finally allowed off the ship, it was almost 12:30. When we got off, there must have been 100 people there just watching us come in then greeting and welcoming us, it was really nice. Mel went with the others to find a cab while I shopped for a few minutes at the market set up on the pier.

 

Mel asked a policeman about finding a cab. He said there aren't any, but he would find us a van. Another couple was there also, so the 6 of us decided to go together. We found a van and hopped in. Then we had to verify the price. We were first told PNG$1500. The other guy said that's great, about $12/person. I informed him that it was US$600!!! He kept saying it was fine, I kept telling him he was wrong. Finally the policeman stepped in to help us as the driver's English wasn't very good. The owner of the van spoke a bit better. We finally settled on $20/person. The policeman said he would go find us a guide, I guess it's required there. He came back about 5 minutes later saying "I will go with you" and hopped in the front seat. We had a police escort!!!

 

We knew about what we wanted to see from the port lecture as well as from reading where the ship's tours were going. We first stopped at the light house which was dedicated to the Coast Watchers during WWII. We then headed on to a typical village, about 20 minutes away. We knew the buses would be rolling in so were happy to have some time there before them. That was only about 10 minutes, but I had first dibs on the small market they had set up. There must have been at least 100 people from the ship there. Hard to take a picture that wasn't full of tourists. The natives put on a colorful dance for us, another showed us how they cook over fire. The houses had palm frond roofs and were built on stilts. I think the stilts were for several reasons, one being water of course. The other is that there are many snakes in PNG. We left the village before the buses so we wouldn't get caught up in a traffic jam.

 

We'd seen a wide river on the way to the village, and asked the van to stop there on the way back. We walked across the bridge taking pictures while the van moved to the other side to pick us up. There were some tables set up next to the road, a roadside market. They were mostly selling beetle nuts. Mel and I had seen that custom/habit in Taiwan. Those nuts have something very addictive in them. In PNG, they mix them with a seed like thing they said was mustard, dipped in powdered lime. The beetle nuts turn their teeth an awful red color. Most of the people had red teeth.

 

We continued on to a market we'd passed earlier also. We stopped and all got out. This was a 7 day a week market for the people who live in surrounding villages. They looked at us like we were aliens! One lady came up to me and very politely asked "Are you a tourist?" I think she'd heard about them but had never seen one. Everyone said hello, the kids followed us around. We took a LOT of pictures, it was very interesting. I'd say 1/3 of the stands were selling beetle nuts, 1/3 chiclets and cookies, the rest had vegetables. It was a muddy mess, so we were walking carefully, especially since it was on a slope, but it was SO interesting. There are few places in the world where they haven't seen tourists before!!

 

Our next stop was the cultural center, although while we were there we didn't know it was the cultural center. Once again, we beat the buses, so had the market and dancers to ourselves. It was very nice. The crafts there are mainly wood carvings, but there is some basketry and some very bright colored paintings. I would love to have bought a painting but they were several hundred dollars, and we have no space on our walls! They also make brightly colored bags, out of wool or twine.

 

We drove thru the main part of town on the way back to the ship. There wasn't much. Being Sunday, everything was closed, but we saw the outside of the main market and several large stores. They all looked like warehouses, nothing fancy. The few streets were gravel and mud with large pot holes, very rural looking. Back at the pier we did some shopping before returning to the ship to unload, and down some ice water. It was hot there, even though it was overcast. Can't imagine what it would be like with the sun shinning.

 

What I really wanted to buy was postcards! I've sent them out from all over the world, I especially wanted to send some from this port. Everything was closed, but we figured maybe they would have some at a hotel we'd passed by earlier. We went back out to walk there. On our way thru the market on the pier, Mel bought a 5' spear, so was carrying that thru the streets of Madang. It was just about a 10 minute walk to the Madang Resort. Just inside the gates, there was yet another market set up. A lady there got her spear and I snapped a photo of Mel vs Native. It was cute, they were all laughing.

 

The hotel had a small gift shop. The postcards were of the hotel, the hotel's yacht, or some other type of advertising. I did get one of a native, that was my only choice. Unfortunately they were sold out of stamps, and being Sunday, the postcards will not go out until we hit Palau. I bought a couple of wicker animals. Our friend picked one up to look at it, and a lizard crawled out of it! Glad he found his way out there and not in our cabin.

 

Outside the main lobby and reception area, there were some cages so we went to check them out. They held mostly birds, which were beautiful. In the last one were 3 tree kangaroos! We'd been told about them by the port lecturer and were very happy to get to see some. They were about the size of a large raccoon with a long, prehensile tail! Very cute and very curious. When we got close to take pictures without the wires showing, one came up to smell the camera. They didn't like being touched though. So cute. We bought a few more things at the market then headed back to the ship.

 

On our way, we headed to the German cemetery which was right downtown. Our 2 lady friends are German so they were especially interested in seeing it. Before PNG became independent, it was ruled by the Germans. We passed by a sporting goods store with words printed in huge letters: Golf, Fishing, Diving. On the other side of the door was: Squash, Tennis, Snooker! Mel asked the men sitting out front what Snooker is. They told him they had misspelled Snorkel. LOL I asked a lady getting into her car where the German cemetery was. She pointed the way then followed us in her car for 2 blocks to be sure that we found it. Once there, we asked some men sitting on the corner where the gate was. He went up and opened it for us then went in a pulled some of the grass that had grown up around the headstones so we could read them better. He left before we did because his bus arrived. Everyone went out of their way to help us and welcome us, it was a very friendly place.

 

When we arrived at the market by the pier, people were starting to pack up to leave. Now they were bargaining. One man came up and asked Mel to trade a carved mask for his towel. Of course it was a ship's towel, we took the trade. LOL I'd admired a woven frog mask when we first got off the ship but at $50 figured it would be difficult to get home. For $20 I bought it! The man said his grandmother had made it and it is very old. It is very unusual. Another man showed us a mask with a large snake coiled on top, a frog in the middle with the face at the bottom. We weren't going to buy a large mask as getting it home would be a problem. When he said $22, we couldn't resist. It reminded us of Africa where everything was so inexpensive that we couldn't help but buy! We were back on the ship just before 7, sail away was at 8. What an interesting port that had been. Wonder how long it will be before it's spoiled by too many visitors?

 

 

Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia

We had envisioned beautiful sunny skies when we snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. We didn't really get what we hoped, but had a great experience anyway. We encountered a storm while crossing the Tasman Sea to Sydney which just followed us up the coast of Australia. When we arrived in Cairns, it was pouring. Mel had arranged a snorkel tour months ago, so we just got umbrellas from the ship and took off for the Reef Pier.

Cairns is a major center for tours of the Great Barrier Reef, so they are very well organized. They had a terminal much like an airport terminal with different counters for the different reef companies. We were the last of 30 to check into our boat. It was a catamaran, with 30 passengers and about 10 crew. They told us up front that it would be rough going to the reef and best to take sea sickness medicine before one got sick, after is too late. They sold it for $3. I don't remember seeing many buying it.

 

Once we left the protection of the harbor, the seas picked up. One by one, people were grabbing bags and heading out to the back of the boat. I thought it was rough on our ride in Port Arthur. This was even rougher! That boat was bobbing in all directions, people laying all over the place feeling ill or trying to feel better. Mel even had a moment where he wasn't sure how he felt, but getting some fresh air made him better. I think at least half of the passengers were sick. During this it was a down pour. We were wondering how much we would see in such conditions.

 

It was a 2 hour ride to the reef. I didn't know it was that far out. Our ship had sailed up inside the reef, so it's quite deep too. We anchored just off a barrier island of sand and birds. They had a smaller boat which would take you to the beach but Mel and I opted to jump off the boat and swim to shore. It was fairly deep when we first got in the water, then we started to see the coral. WOW!!! The visibility wasn't as good as it could have been with no sun, but the coral was beautiful. There were so many varieties, it was impossible to count. And the giant clams were amazing! I'd seen pictures of those huge shells before, but don't remember seeing the colors! The edges are a bright blue, really beautiful. There were some fish, but that wasn't the main attraction. The attraction was the coral, so many sizes, shapes and colors. It really was amazing.

 

When we hit the beach we started walking to where the rest of the people were. A guy started yelling at us to get off the beach. Apparently the entire area is a marine reserve and we were only allowed to be onshore between some ropes. We'd arrived in a non-roped area. It was covered with birds, the noise was incredible. We walked over to the proper beach then went into the water again. It wasn't raining in this area, which was amazing, and it was a lot lighter than it had been on the way out, still no sun though. I dove down to take many close ups of the coral. Unfortunately the colors didn't show up as bright as they were for lack of light, but I still got quite a few good pictures. We snorkeled in that area for about an hour then swam back to the boat.

 

We were served a very good buffet lunch while the boat moved to a different location. We'd been told earlier that we wouldn't make it to the second location because of the rough seas, but guess the conditions changed while we were on the beach. We anchored not that far from where we'd been before, but in deeper water. The coral there was enormous, but deeper down so I had to really dive to get any close up pictures. The water was warm enough, but next to the coral it was like bath water. There were high waves though so we were bobbing around quite a bit. At one point I'd come up to look for Mel and all I saw was water. I'd have to wait to look between waves to see anyone else at all. We stayed in that location for about an hour then headed back to port.

 

On the way back they put up the sail so we could experience sailing in for a while. They said we could go out on deck to see the sail and we all looked at each other like, "I don't think so!" It was a deluge again. We were back on the pier at 5.

 

Our ship wasn't scheduled to sail until 2 a.m. so we had all evening to explore the city of Cairns. We were berthed right next to town, so a short walk to the main shopping area. We had heard about the night market, so headed there for dinner after showering and drying up. We wore shorts since we knew we would be soaked again by the end of the evening. We walked down the main street which we thought was the night market. We found a restaurant where we had a nice dinner then headed back to shop in some of the stores we'd passed. Another couple from the ship came along saying they were looking for the night market. We thought we were in it! I asked in a store and it turned out that the Night Market is actually an indoor area with stalls, like a market. DUH! By this time I was feeling dizzy and sick. I think it was an after affect of the rough seas, who knows. But we went thru the Night Market and did a bit of shopping anyway. I had some Australian $$ to spend. (Today in a port lecture we were told that Australian $ are accepted in Papua New Guinea also, guess Mel wasn't listening the last time she'd told us that. LOL) We did a slow walk back to the ship in the pouring rain and flooded streets. We did stop in to look at the casino, but didn't do any gambling. We were back onboard by 8. It was a long, but good day.

 

In the Capt's daily announcement today he said he'd never seen that much rain fall in one day! I guess that down pour was continuous all day in town. Glad it was clearer out on the reef so we had fairly good snorkeling.

Earthquake in Christchurch

Wow, so sad about the earthquake. Of course everyone on the ship is talking about it. We were there just 11 days before it hit. The epicenter was in Lyttleton, where our ship was berthed. We've been watching CNN a lot, seeing all of the destruction and hearing about all the loss of lives.

Just across the small port and a road in Lyttleton was a cliff. It moved further back from the water further away from the port. That's where the small town is. Some of those cliffs fell onto buildings below. Wonder if the ship would have been damaged had we been there that day? The beautiful 105 yr old cathedral where we admired the floral carpet is in ruin. It survived the 7.1 quake last Sept only to be felled by this one. When we were there, a few buildings had fencing around them as a result of the last quake. The penguin shuttle driver pointed out a beautiful old Victorian house which had fallen off it's foundation. But there were no totally collapsed buildings like now.

 

Had we been in port that day, Mel and I would have been at the Antarctic Center, enjoying the sights and penguins. The airport was closed for a bit the day of the earthquake, right across the street from the center. Many roads were cracked and impassible, how would we have returned to the city center? How would any of us gotten back to the ship with the epicenter being right where it was docked? We are so lucky to have seen the beautiful city before the destruction, and that we were not there on that day.

 

The ladies who put on the floral festival were so proud of their beautiful cathedral. I wonder if it'll be rebuilt?  I wonder if any of them lost their lives, as so far the number is up to 75 per CNN. The people there were so friendly and happy. What an awful thing for them. I hope they'll be able to rebuild and not have this happen to them again.

 

The CEO of Holland America Line boarded the ship in Sydney. He did a presentation today along with a question answer session. His first comments were about the earthquake in Christchurch.  HAL has a number of employees who live there. Only 2 were slightly injured in the quake. Their port representative, who was on the pier when we were there, lost his home, but is not injured. It brought the disaster even closer to home, our home away from home, the Amsterdam.

Sydney, Australia

Sydney is the first port we have visited this trip that we'd been to before. Of course it's such a beautiful city, we weren't disappointed to be there again! We planned out what we would like to see in the 1 1/2 days we would be there and did pretty well in seeing everything.

The ship is berthed right across the quay from the Opera House. I chose to be on the port side of the ship just so we could see it from our verandah. The moonlight picture was taken right from our room. Worth it to be on that side of the ship I think!

 

We got off the ship at about 8:30. An area of Sydney called The Rocks was right outside the passenger terminal. It is an area of buildings from the 1800's, all restored and now housing boutiques and galleries. They have a market on Sat and Sun, so that was our first destination. It was nice to see crafts that people had made, including many of the souvenir items we'd seen in stores. We made a few purchases then returned to the ship to unload...and to change! It was HOT out, so different from the weather we'd just come from in Tasmania. Mel and a friend we were with both changed to lighter weight shirts.

 

Back on the street, we headed up George St, the main street in Sydney. We stopped at a few souvenir shops along the way, looking for a fabric store a lady in the market had told me about. It turned out to be very much like our Joann's, with absolutely nothing Australia themed. Oh well, worth a try. We then headed to the other side of Darling Harbor to the Maritime Museum. It was free! Nice to have some things free like that. It showed a lot of the maritime history of Australia with small replicas of various ships, china and items from old cruise lines and a display on sharks. From there we crossed back to the other side of Darling Harbor to go to the Aquarium. Alongside the aquarium was Wildlife World. We decided to go there instead. The first few displays were bugs! Not what I was expecting. I wanted cute and fuzzy, not BIG and creepy. After the HUGE crocodile, we finally got to the animals. The first was the koalas. We had a coupon for a free picture with them, so went into the enclosure for that. The gal taking the pics let us take as many pics as we wanted, plus we got to pet them. We'd done that many times in 09, but it never gets old. They are just so cute. They had a nocturnal display of their various odd animals, potoroo, quoll, etc. They also had an area where we could walk with the kangaroo. It turned out to be a very nice place. From there we headed back to the ship, shopping along the way.

 

We showered and changed to get ready for the opera. I bought tickets online in December to see Opera Hits in the Afternoon. The concert started at 5. I really don't care for opera so wasn't expecting much. The format was really nice though, with the accompanist making commentary about the songs and opera in general. I only had to plug my ears once when the soprano hit the high note. The Opera House is currently showing Carmen and the lead from that opera did 2 songs for us. She wasn't on the program, which was a nice surprise. It was a nice concert. We headed back to the ship with a few stops along the way. We actually ran into Stein Kruse and his wife. He is the CEO of HAL. They are very nice, approachable people. We knew they would be boarding in Sydney for a few days. Food and service will be just a bit better while he's onboard.

 

We had late dinner in the Lido then worked on pictures and such in our cabin. I spent a lot of time on the veranda admiring the view. How nice to have a full moon over the Opera House! I took about 50 pictures so I'd be sure to have at least one that's perfect.

 

Today we were off the ship by 9, headed to the Taroga Zoo. We had to take a ferry to get there, nice that we are berthed right next to the ferry stations! We were in the zoo by 9:30. I really wanted to see a platypus, so we headed to the Australian animals exhibit first. There was a nice enclosure with a pond, no platypus. Disappointing. We couldn't find the echidna either. Guess everyone was hiding. We went to the nocturnal house, and there in a center aquarium was a platypus swimming around. Guess we were lucky to see her. She's able to get out of the water into a dry enclosure over the aquarium, totally out of view. Made the day successful. We walked around to see the big cats and several other animals, then took their sky ride back down to the ferry and back into the city. Yesterday had been about 90 degrees and humid, today was in the high 60's and partly cloudy. We had some sprinkles, but not enough to really get wet. What a nice change in the weather!

 

Back in Sydney we headed up a different street than yesterday. There were a couple of things I still wanted to pick up. Mel had been looking for a swim cap in every country since Bora Bora with no luck. He was hoping to finally find one here. His head got burnt while snorkeling, it would help protect against that. We headed back down George St to a camera store we'd been to the day before. Then on to a souvenir shop where we asked where the dive store was. Turns out we'd been within 1/2 block from it, but had headed in the wrong direction, toward the ship. We started back to the ship, then Mel decided he really wanted to try to get his swim cap. It was 1:00, we had to be onboard at 1:30. We turned around and headed back up the street. We were walking fast, thru a lot of people on the street. We found the store, bought a cap in about 2 minutes, then headed to the ship. I can walk a mile in 20 minutes fairly easily. We were walking faster than I usually walk and were back at the ship just 2 minutes late. It had to have been more than a mile at the pace we were going. I was pooped! But we made it and Mel now has protection for his head.

 

Sail away from Sydney is a big deal....especially with the CEO onboard. The appetizers they were passing out were much better than usual. Not only was wine and champagne free, but any soda or hard liquor you wanted! One of our table mates was taking advantage of the free whiskey. I was happy with a free tonic water.

 

In 1995 a foundation was created to build an exact replica of a Dutch sailing vessel called the Duyfken. It was the first European ship to discover Australia in 1606. At a cost of $3.7 million and after 3 years, the ship was completed. It was in the Sydney Harbor to escort us out to sea. It looked so small from the 8th deck of our ship. I can't imagine going across any ocean in such a tiny sized ship.

 

Sydney is a beautiful city. I could easily live there. It's very much like San Francisco with the hills and homes all around the bay. No wonder it's the number one visited city in the world.

Port Arthur, Australia

As I mentioned before, we booked a tour in Port Arthur from Hobart yesterday. I'd seen it online but never booked it. We weren't sure how far it was to the tour office but knew it was outside the Port Arthur Historical Site, so could be quite a walk. We were on the first tender to go ashore shortly after 8.

 

Port Arthur was a penal colony in the mid 1800's. They didn't restore the buildings, but did restore the gardens and cleaned up the ruins to make them safe for visitors. We were tendered directly into the site, just like the prisoners would have been over 100 years ago. We walked up the hill to the very large visitors center. We went outside and asked a bus driver how to get to the main road. We hiked up the hill and down the main road to the office in about 20 minutes. We were there by 8:45. The bus wasn't going to leave until 9:30. We arrived out of breath for nothing, could have been a leisurely stroll! A bus pulled up about the same time that we arrived full of a tour group for seniors. There were some pretty old people in the bunch, kind of like the passengers on our ship! There were other tourists there ready for the boat ride also. There was no one from our ship.

The bus ride from the tour office was about 20 minutes. We then boarded 2 different boats. They were open with rows of seats from the bow to stern. They were about 50' long and held approx 30 people. We chose to sit in the front 2 seats. They said the first 4 rows were required to wear seat belts and that anyone with back issues should sit toward the rear. I just hoped I'd be OK and sat up front. We were each given a long, red jacket like thing to wear. It had a hood, so covered us from head to foot. There was a small compartment under the narrow bow. We asked if it would get wet in there and were told no, so we stowed our bags in there. Off we went.
Cruising thru 1 to 2 meter swells in a large ship is entirely different from doing so in a small boat. It wasn't an E Ticket, it was an F! We were tossed around a lot. I even screamed a couple of times and grabbed Mel's leg. It was quite exhilarating!!! The boat had excellent maneuverability, so they went up to the base of the shear cliffs along the shore as well as into caves. We went up close to a lot of seals. We also saw some in the water. There were a lot of albatross and petrels as well as cormorants. We didn't see any dolphins or whale. I was surprised that there was no sea spray at all, I was expecting to get wet. I didn't say anything so I wouldn't jinx it.

Mel had to make the comment..... we slowed down for someone to be sick over the side. Just as we did, we went up over a big swell, then down into the valley between them, then the next wave went up and over the bow, running directly into the opening where we'd put our bags to keep them dry and making puddles in our laps. I didn't get wet at all, those red jackets really did what they were supposed to do. Mel's socks got wet as his didn't go a far down as mine did. Our bags were drenched. Oh well, it was a great experience.

 

We were dropped at a jetty near Port Arthur. We walked back up to the tour office then went next door to the small grocery store. They had some freshly made food so we each got a large piece of fried fish and ate it on a table outside. It was delicious! We also had some wedding cake. The couple who worked at the store had gotten married over the weekend. They had leftover cake, so put it out for the customers. Funny to be served wedding cake at a small store like that.

 

We walked back to the Port Arthur Historical Site and went thru the exhibits in the information center. Then we went out onto the grounds to look around. The gardens were beautiful. The church was only walls, but very beautiful also. Some of the houses were intact and we could go inside to look around. The Commandants house was quite large and interesting. The prison building was only walls. We could see where the actual cells used to be. They were VERY small. We just walked around then went back to the tender pier. We were back onboard by 4.

Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

Today was a day of scenic cruising in Fiordland National Park. It consists of 4,600 sq miles in the south west corner of New Zealand. It was put aside as a reserve in 1904, then turned into a National Park in 1952. We cruised into 2 sounds, Dusky Sound then Doubtful Sound. I had thought we would go in then turn around to go out. Instead these channels were between the mainland and large islands. Going thru the first one, the narrator spotted one seal. So much for a lot of wildlife! The scenery was beautiful though, dense rain forest mixed with dramatic cliffs. People were running all over the bow and stern of the ship taking pictures. It was pretty overcast, but no rain. Apparently they get 25 FEET of rain a year!

Later in the afternoon we entered Milford Sound, the most dramatic and accessible. Our morning cruising was in areas only reachable by boat. There is a small town of Milford Sound that you can drive to. We saw kayaks and several small excursion boats while in the area. There were many waterfalls and high mountains, the tallest being almost 7k feet high. We saw several glaciers as well as a rock covered with fur seals enjoying the sun. By that time it was a beautiful sunny day. Several people mentioned that they'd been to the national park several times before but had never seen the sun. We were very lucky as it rains 180 days a year. The aquatic life there in interesting also. Because of all the fresh water runoff, there is a layer of tea colored water on the surface. That makes the sea water beneath very dark, so creatures that usually live in great depths in the ocean can be found here in shallower water. We came upon one of the largest falls and the Capt did a 360 so people on the other side of the ship could see it also. I think he was just showing off, but by stirring up the water like that, you could see the tea color, and near the ship, a deep green. It was a beautiful area and a relief to have an easy day on the ship after so many days of running around.

 

I forgot to mention in my Stewart Island post that on our way back to the main island on the ferry, we saw a Little Blue Penguin in the water! It was great to see one in the wild. They are usually at sea all day, so hard to spot on land. 

 

Sea day, I spotted 3 whales off the side of the ship while doing my daily 2 mile walk. Was hoping one would dive, but they were just swimming along in the same direction as the ship.

Stewart Island, New Zealand

Stewart Island is the southernmost island in New Zealand. It is mostly National Park, but has a small town called Half Moon Bay. Only 400 people live there, so we more than doubled the population of the island when we went ashore.

Mel and I were in the theater to get tender tickets just before 8 a.m. We were the only ones there! They told us we could head on down to the tender. There were only 6 of us on the thing. Guess no one else was as excited to see the island! Once on the pier we met a tour operator who was offering a shuttle tour around the town as well as ferry tickets to the smaller island in the harbor. They wanted 6 people for the van so we waited for a couple more tenders to come in before we left. There was another tour operator who was getting to people as they came off the tender before our tour operator, so I went on the pier to ask people I knew if they wanted to join us. Our operator asked if I know everyone, it was pretty funny. I was successful in getting 2 more couples though! We headed out at about 9.

 

The road in front of the pier went straight up, then straight down again to another harbor and the small town. We stopped at Lookout Peak first to see a view of our ship from the top of the hill. We then drove around the island a bit, seeing everything there was to see, which wasn't much! Stewart Island is a big backpackers place to go. They said there is a trail which goes all the way around the island which can be done in about 14 days. We went past a golf course (6 holes, but better than none?) and by some beautiful homes. Green fees are on an honor system, you put what you want to pay in a box. Some of the houses were holiday homes, others were used year round. We drove down by a different bay where they process the Stewart Island crayfish. Those things get as big if not bigger than Maine Lobster. They export them to China and Japan. The fisherman get $100NZ per kilo for them! Can't imagine what they have to pay for them in China! There was a mother duck walking along the road with about 10 babies. Very cute. I saw some strange bird in a field and made the driver back up so we could get a picture. He must have thought we were nuts. We asked to be dropped off in town so we could look around before taking the ferry and save from having to walk over the hill when we got back.

In town was a small grocery store. We bought yogurt and salami to eat for lunch on Ulva, the other island. There are no facilities there and New Zealand doesn't allow any food to be brought to shore from the ship. There was a shop that sells merino wool clothing and a post office. The post office is open 365 days a year! It is also the air terminal. I was able to buy stamps and buy a postcard. On the way back to the pier, we stopped at the museum. It was 2 small rooms, but had examples of all the shells found in the area, and many old photos of life on the island thru the years. There used to be a big whaling industry there. Up and over the hill and we were back at the pier.

 

The ferry was a small boat which held 10 passengers. It took about 5 minutes to cross over to Ulva Island. That island was set up as a bird sanctuary, with no rodent predictors. (There were many traps on the island. They discovered some rodents there recently. They must have swam over from the main island.) They sold a brochure at the pier for $2 showing all the birds and a lot of the foliage we might see while there. It was set up with very good gravel trails and signs pointing to different locations on the island, including the time it would take to get there. We did the 25 minute walk to one beach. It took 12 minutes, so must have been round trip in 25 minutes? I guess it really depends on how fast you walk. There were a lot of shells on the beach so I spent some time looking. There were also 2 Stewart Island Wekas. They kind of look like brown chickens. The guide says they can be quite bold and might check out your bag. Mel had put his bag down to take some pictures. I took a picture of the weka's head in his bag. They lived up to their description.

 

We headed from there to another beach, stopping at a bench to eat our lunch. It was go green and peaceful there! We could hear a lot of birds but didn't see many. We saw a South Island Saddleback as well as a Timtit. We saw a Kaka flying around, but couldn't get a picture. That's a large parrot! We also saw Stewart Island Robins. Several wekas came to see us along the path also.

We met someone on the trial who said they'd seen Oystercatchers on the next beach. When we got there, I didn't see any but headed in the direction we'd been told they were. All of a sudden 2 of them came out of the trees just squawking away! One kept heading in the opposite direction, trying to lead me away from the nest, I'm sure. I felt bad stressing them out like that but I got some good pictures and a video clip with the racket they were making. As soon as I headed back down the beach, they disappeared again.

 

By this time, we'd been walking quite a distance. The trail was up and down, stairs and small bridges. They had even built stairs going up and over some roots of a tree. I had started with a sweat jacket and a rain type jacket. I ended up taking them both off, even though it was in the 50's. I think I got my exercise in for the day! We caught up with a tour group when we were almost back to the jetty. There were more birds right in that area than we'd seen before. We saw a Fantail, which had a beautiful tail, all white feathers with a couple of black ones in the middle. We made it back just in time for our 1:30 ferry.

 

Once back to the pier, we still  had 2 hours before the last tender, so decided to walk back into town. Up and down the hill again! We'd missed seeing a couple of stores and the Visitor Center. We also had about $15 NZ to spend since it was our last NZ port. Some friends saw us heading back and asked if we'd forgotten to buy something. We have a reputation...... He emptied his pockets of all his $NZ, so now we had about $20NZ. I found a couple of cute things in one of the stores and had just enough cash. We also visited the Visitor's Center. They are set up with guides for backpackers and such. We ran into a lot of tourists who weren't from the ship. They have 3 flights daily from the South Island! The plane only holds 11 passengers, but still, that seems like a lot for such a small place. They also have a daily ferry. It's a beautiful island and far off the beaten track. Glad we were able to visit. On our way down the hill, we saw yet another Wood Pigeon. They are large birds, about the size of a large crow. And they are beautiful, unlike our usual pigeons. These have white stomachs, green throats and head, purple backs including the back of their head. Along with this they have bright red beaks and feet, very colorful. We saw quite a few, but our last one was in a tree right next to the road so we were able to get some good pictures.

 

We arrived back on the ship at 3, just in time for tea. We hadn't gone to it before on this cruise. Seems silly to have sandwiches and scones at 3 when we eat at 5:30, but figured we'd at least do it this once. After that I took a long, HOT bath. Hopefully I won't feel today's exercise tomorrow.

Dunedin/Port Chalmers, New Zealand

 

The ship was cleared by 7:30 and leaving at 4:30, not the originally scheduled 5:00. We had another Cruise Critic arranged tour, meeting at 8:35 due to return at 4:30. Hmm, going to be close. There was a train sitting right next to the ship when we got off. One of the ship's tours took people on that vintage train to see the wilderness around the area. That would have been fun too! We met up with our guide and off we went.

 

Our first stop was in town for shopping and looking around. We all agreed that we could cut that short to save time and get back earlier. We were informed that it wouldn't work as the tours w/in the tour were scheduled at certain times. Hope we make it back to the ship! There was a street fair in Dunedin's Octagon Town Square. It happens once a year. We just happened to be there on that day. It was nice seeing what types of crafts they sell at their fairs. We walked around then met back at the van. We took off around the bay on a road right next to the water with no guard rail. That was interesting! It was a very windy road. We stopped at a place that sells Happy Hens. Our guide said they ship all over the world. No one in our group bought anything. The scenery was beautiful with green hills covered with sheep, birds by the water. We could see our ship across the bay in Port Chalmers, the main port of the area. The bay is very shallow so few ships go all the way to Dunedin.

Our first stop was a place called Natures Wonders. It is privately owned by some apparently wealthy people who have dedicated their land and time to preserving the yellow eyed penguins, the rarest on the planet. We boarded weird all terrain vehicles after being given jackets to keep the dust off. I think I had more dust on me from the jackets than from the ride. We went up and down a pretty bumpy road to the shore. The first stop was to see the fur seals. There must have been over a dozen tiny babies there, they were cute to watch. Our next stop was above a beach to see the penguins. There are 60 breeding pair that live on that beach. We only saw one, but it was great to see one at all! They had built a blind for us to look out from. Behind the blind was a cliff. We went out a door in the back to see the babies under the cliff. They were very cute. We saw 3 of them.

On the next hill over was the Royal Albatross Centre. We ate lunch there before our 2:00 tour. We were taken up a steep hill to a small building where we could look over the hill. There were 3 albatross sitting on their nests. We were able to see 2 of the babies also. Further down the slope, close to the water, were dozens of cormorant nests. They were interesting too! We didn't see any albatross in the air, but just seeing them sitting on their nests was wonderful. That colony is the only one in the world on the mainland. All the others are on islands. Of course to us New Zealand is an island, but I didn't mention that.

 

We took a different route back to the city, over the hills. It really was beautiful countryside. Once back in Dunedin we made a quick stop at the train station. It was gorgeous! We arrived at the ship at 4:15, we made it! It was a great tour.

 

We decided to eat in the Lido again so we could watch sail away. The albatross colony was on the point right at the mouth of the bay, so we knew we would see them again as we sailed by. There were at least a dozen of them on the hill, as well as a few flying around. Glad we were able to see them again. The royal albatross has a wing span of 9', so huge birds. Well worth seeing.

Christchurch, New Zealand

I will certainly be happy when we have a sea day again! We've had 5 days in port and I'm tired. We've had a great time though, so well worth it! We have 2 more days in New Zealand, then 3 sea days before Tasmania. Whew, 3 days to rest up!

 

Today we were in Christchurch. The port town is Lyttleton, Christchurch is about 30 minutes away. The city supplied a shuttle bus so we hopped on at about 8:30. We were dropped right in front of the beautiful cathedral at Cathedral Square. We were informed at the port that today is the first day of their annual flower festival, so there were cute topiaries out in the square. There were also street vendors set up in the square. We did some shopping first, then went into the church. They had made a "carpet" of flowers down the main isle. It has designs in it with many different flowers, leaves, plants, etc. Kind of reminded me of the Rose Bowl Parade! There were also many displays around the outer walls of the sanctuary. It was a beautiful church. Apparently it hadn't been affected by the large earthquake in Christchurch just 5 months ago.

 

We walked around the square a bit to see what else there was to see. I'd read that the Antarctic Centre here had won several tourism awards and was MUCH better than the one we visited in Auckland. We found a very cute penguin shuttle bus to take us out there. Nice to save some taxi money. The Centre was right across the street from the airport. We could see the huge USAF C130 sitting there, waiting to take off for Antarctica. The US Antarctic Program hangar was there also. Across from the entrance to the Centre was the Passenger Terminal for the United States Antarctic passengers! We were where they actually take off from. The center is owned jointly by the US, NZ and Italy.

 

We went into the public Antarctic Centre. It is set up with many different rooms to visit, each with a different experience. First we went thru a room which showed the changing of seasons in Antarctica. Next, we were given warm parkas and rubber boots to wear into the Snow & Ice Experience. The floor was snow, there was a snow igloo, as well as a snow slide for the kids. They closed the room and brought the tempurature down to 17 degrees F as well as a strong wind to give us a bit of what it's like in Antarctica. Next we saw a 4D movie about a ship going to Antarctica. The sea sprayed on us, penguins spit on us, etc. It was cute. From there we walked thru the rest of the rooms for lunch. They don't serve hamburgers and hot dogs at their cafes. We had quiche! It was very good.

 

After our lunch break we waited in a line outside to ride a Hagglund. That is the kind of vehicle they use on the ice. They had a course set up behind the building where we rode at a 30 degree angle, went up and over a steep hill and across a meter wide ditch. We also were afloat in a huge puddle, which is important in case they should break thru the ice to water. Bumpy ride! We returned to the building and watched a movie with the Antarctic landscape. It's quite beautiful, as we know in person. We cruised there in 2006. We browsed in a gallery which has displays of sea life in Antarctica as well as equipment used. We did everything waiting for the 1:30 penguin feeding time.

 

At the Centre they had Blue or Fairy Penguins, the smallest in the world. Every one they had there has some kind of injury. Some are blind in one eye, or paralyzed in one foot, or even missing a foot. They were all rescued and would die if in the wild. Some of them were able to eat food tossed into the water. Some they had to hand feed on land. One little guy had bad feet so they had wrapped them in purple tape. It looked like he has his own personal pair of flippers. They were very cute. We then caught the shuttle bus back to Cathedral Square.

 

We'd seen an Aquarium & Kiwi House there on the square before going to the Antarctic Centre. We were afraid it would be like the place we'd visited in Auckland, but the posibility of seeing live kiwi made us take the chance. The aquarium section wasn't very big, but had fish native to NZ, so kind of interesting. In the back was the Kiwi House. We had to wait for a guide to take us in and there was no guarentee of seeing one. We went in with about 5 others. Right there, about 2 feet in front of the glass, were 2 kiwi busily picking at the dirt looking for worms. We could see them fairly clearly in the dim light. At least we saw more than a round lump like we'd seen outside Tauranga. They were moving about nicely. We were allowed about 5 minutes then went out. Mel thought we should go back in again, so we got back in line (there was one other person in "line") to enter again. This time the guide said only the male was out. We found him against the far, back wall. He kind of sat there for a while, then moved to the side wall and slowly moved toward the glass in front of us. He finally walked right around the glass. Mel and I were both kneeling by this time, so he passed about 4" in front of our noses! Wish we could have taken pictures. I don't think we could have had a much better viewing. It was worth the entrance fee.

 

We shopped a bit on the square then got on the shuttle to return to the ship. We were onboard by 5. Sail away was at 6. The port was in a sheltered cove. It was nice watching the cliffs go by as we ate dinner.

 

Wellington, New Zealand

We were off the ship soon after we were cleared, around 8:15. We grabbed a taxi to take a 2 hour tour around the city of Wellington. Our 2 hours turned into just over 3, but it was well worth it.

Wellington is the capitol if New Zealand and almost the first buildings we saw were the Beehive (nickname for a round government building) and the Parliament building. From there we drove thru the Botanical Gardens, then up to a peak where we had a 360 view of the area. It was about 70 degrees out and beautiful sunshine. Nice day and nice city! There were a lot of old Victorian homes as well as craftsman style. There were huge ones and communities with smaller ones. There were more hills than San Francisco and we wound around to different areas. We went to a Souvenir Factory Outlet which was kind of funny. We say many things that we had already bought in other cities, for a bit less. Our driver pointed out some buildings that had something to do with the filming of Lord of the Rings, like where the actors stayed, where the editing was done, etc. We then stopped at a store called Weta Cave.

It was the Studio store! They had many artifacts from the Hobbit films as well as models. I purchased a couple of signed books, one on film locations in New Zealand. I also got close and personal with Gollum. Creepy little guy. They had a model of Jane from Jane and the Dragon. I found that show while swimming in our pool at home. We have very limited TV since there is no cable there. The animation is beautiful. I didn't know it was from New Zealand. We then headed to the shore drive, where we saw some beautiful "beach" houses. One house looked just like a lighthouse. Probably had just one room on each of it's 3 floors. It was cute but not very livable! We passed by the airport then headed to an area where I thought there was a quilt shop.

 

The driver got out to ask about the quilt shop whose address I'd found online. They hadn't been there for about 20 years! Wonder how they ended up online. There was, however, a very nice quilt shop just up the street so we went there. They had some very nice New Zealand themed fabric, so I was happy. We then went back to the ship to drop off our packages and have lunch.

About 12:30 we headed out again, this time using the free shuttle into the City Centre. We got off the bus and asked directions to the Te Papa, the National Museum. It was a nice walk along the bay with many runners and strollers and even a swimmer. That water must have been cold. The museum was quite large. It had some interesting exhibits, but it they didn't seem to flow
right, you had to backtrack to continue on to a new area. We did enjoy seeing more S Pacific art. After that we returned to the shuttle area and headed in the opposite direction to the Parliament Building. Mel wanted to go it. They gave free tours but they were an hour long and by this time it was 4. The last shuttle was leaving for the ship at 5, cutting it a bit too close. We walked back to the shuttle and were onboard by 4:30.

 

The port was full of logs. After the depression, New Zealand had people out planting pine trees, imported from CA, to put them to work. The trees grow twice as fast in NZ as they do in CA, so a new industry was created. Lumber is one of their largest exports. But they don't just cut it, they are still planting. One of our guides told us that they actually plant more trees every year than they cut, making the "greenies" happy. There are huge pine forests everywhere. New Zealand is very environmentally friendly.

 

The Capt announced that we would be leaving the bay via an island on the other side. It was more scenic to go that way. The harbor is almost circular with a small opening out to the sea. It was a beautiful sail away.

Napier, New Zealand

We were not scheduled to be in port until noon today. We were eating lunch as the ship was pulling into port. It still amazes me how they can maneuver these huge ships. Today the Capt turned the ship around and backed into a very small space. It was something to watch! We had another tour arranged by someone from Cruise Critic so we met them at 12:15. We got on one of the same buses that the ship's tours were using, same company, but ours was $80, they paid $129 going thru HAL. Nice to save some money.

 

We headed off thru Napier. They had a massive earthquake there in 1931. Many of the 250 who died were killed by falling debris from buildings, gargoyles, etc. They decided to streamline the buildings when they rebuilt so did all the building in the Art Deco style. What a lovely place! We passed thru Hastings and several other small towns before arriving to the tour companies headquarters. From there we went a bit further down the road then thru a fancy, automatic gate. We were told that an American billionaire bought the property some years ago (last name Robinson?) and developed it with a golf course (ranked 34th in the world) and lodge. He also built a mesh fence the entire width of the peninsula to keep out predatory animals so the natural animals of NZ could flourish, mainly the birds. There were traps set up everywhere on the grounds to catch any animal that isn't supposed to be there like rats, ferrets and skunks which were introduced to NZ by humans. We drove quite a few kilometers before we saw a nice looking facility up on a hill. It is $1200 to spend the night there, PER PERSON, no food included. The golf course charges NZ$400 fees, which is about $330 US. There was a nice paved road leading up to the lodge and golf course, we left that behind and started on a gravel road. Our 18 passenger bus had 4x drive.

 

The area was beautiful with a lot of rolling hills. They raise cattle and sheep on the property. We made one stop to look out over the ocean. On the other side of the road we could see them herding sheep using ATVs and about 4 dogs. Those sheep were running, looking like little swarming ants since they were quite a distance away. Our destination was a gannet colony which the tour company had permission to visit, by the shore. In this area there were high cliffs next to the sea.

 

We slowed down in one place so we could see the colony of gannets on the beach far below. We went up a steep hill, then all of a sudden, there were hundreds of gannets! It was quite dramatic. All the buses parked there on the ridge so we could get out and enjoy the birds. Gannets have a wing span of almost 6 feet! They breed there in NZ. Once the young are old enough to fly, they fly to Australia where they stay until they are more mature. They return to NZ to find a mate, which they keep for life, and to raise their young. We saw babies in stages from balls of fluff to almost adults. They were everywhere. The noise and smell is hard to put in writing. They are beautiful birds. We stayed there for about 45 min. then headed back to the port. The weather was windy and cool, a wonderful change from all the hot ports we've been to. We arrived at the ship just after 4, sail away was at 5:30. I grabbed Mel and jumped on a shuttle into town so we could see the Deco buildings.

 

We only had time to walk a few blocks down one of the main streets. The buildings were really nice with the Deco trim. One that now houses The Body Shop, had beautiful Deco stained glass windows. Not much time to see the city, but at least we were able to see it. It was so worth it to spend our time in port seeing the gannets.

 

On the pier right next to the ship were 6 vintage cars (late 20's to early 30's) along with their owners dressed in the style of the 30's. It was fun to see. There was also a small jazz band to entertain us. Napier does the Deco thing up big. This coming weekend is Deco weekend when they close down all the city streets and let only vintage cars thru. Everyone dresses in vintage clothing and just have fun I guess! Sounds like something that would be fun to see. We were on our way again by 6.

Tauranga, New Zealand

Someone I met on Cruise Critic arranged several tours in New Zealand. Today was the first one. We met onboard, then went off the ship to meet our guide. There were 14 of us in all, 4 from our ship's sister ship the Volendam which is in port right behind us. They actually did a parallel parking job earlier, pulling up right along side our ship then backing into the space behind us.

We drove thru town then to the beach road. Tauranga is on a peninsula, so the port is on one side, a beautiful beach on the other. There were some very large beautiful homes along the beach. It is the top resort area in NZ. Once outside of the city, there were beautiful green rolling hills, sometimes broken by a dormant volcano. We stopped at a place called Kiwi 360 where we were able to see kiwi on the vine. It was really interesting as I had no idea how they grow! The base of the vines were about 6" in diameter, placed every 15' or so. They were then spread forming almost a roof, almost 6' high. The kiwi hang down making them quite easy to pick, and in the shade! There was a large store with anything you could ever want kiwi related. We were able to taste kiwi wine, quite good, and kiwi juice, quite bitter. I bought some kiwi candy and dried kiwi.

We started climbing a bit into a forest area. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall, more like a big rapids actually. There had been a hydroelectric plant in that location until the 40's. As we came over a rise, we could see a lake called Lake Rotoiti, Little Lake. Further along was Rotorua, or Second Lake. They were at 900' above sea level, quite beautiful. We went to a large facility with geysers and "boiling" mud (a mini Yellowstone Park). They had a cultural center at the same location where we saw another Maori concert. It was better than the one we saw on the ship. During their war dance, they bug out their eyes and stick out their tongues. I had seen a lot of postcards with Maoris with their tongues out and was wondering why. Now I know.

 

There was a Kiwi house at the center also. It was kept dark during the day and light at night so the nocturnal kiwis would be up and about for visitors. We were only able to see one, but it was right next to the glass, so fairly easily visible although it was pretty dark. The kiwi was about the size of a large chicken. Nice to see a living one. There was also a woodcarving building and a weaving building. They teach both of them to people from different parts of NZ so they can return to their home and teach others.

 

We stopped at the Lakeside Cafe for lunch. I ordered a BLT but didn't get what I was expecting! There was one slice of bread, a nice looking lettuce and tomato and some thinly sliced ham. Guess bacon is different in NZ. There was also some chicken on my plate. Different, but good. On the lake were a number of black swan, really pretty. After lunch we headed back to the ship which was now over an hour away. We took a different road, so it was a nice drive. We were back at the ship by 4.

 

Since sail away wasn't until 6, we decided to leave our packages and go out for a walk. A small shopping street was just several blocks away. On the way back to the ship we ran into the Tai Chi instructors. They had just had ice cream and told us about the NZ specialty, Hokey Pokey ice cream. It was delicious! It has a honey flavor with bits of honeycomb candy in it. Nice to have dessert first. We were back on the ship for dinner by 5:30.

 

The Capt announced that a tropical storm is hitting northern NZ and will affect sea conditions tonight. He told us to remove everything from our tables and make sure there is nothing that can tip over. He is expecting 12' swells, oh yea! Because of the rough seas, he'll have to make an assessment in the morning if we'll be able to get into our next port or not. We are expected to dock at noon. Should be an interesting night. 

Auckland, New Zealand

We were docked by 7:30, off the ship by about 8. We planned to go on the On And Off bus to see the city. The pier is right downtown, so a very nice location. We bought tickets then waited until 9 for the first bus.

Our first stop was Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Adventure and Aquarium. That didn't open until 9:30 so we had to wait a bit there. The picture is of us from that location, looking back at the city. Kind of hard to see in the background. The attraction itself was kind of a let down. We are so used to the beautiful Monterey Bay Aquarium, this place paled in comparison. They had a number of King and other penguins in an enclosure. We got in a "snowcat" which moved around the enclosure so you could see the penguins closer. We sure had the realistic smell, but the cat was completely enclosed. After that there was a moving walkway which went around in a circle surrounded by an aquarium so the fish were on both sides as well as over head. There were some shark and rays and other larger fish. That was the complete place! There were some pretty tropical fish in a few aquariums after the walkway, but we were done in just over 1/2 hour. For this we paid about $25 each! A bit disappointing. There is supposed to be another Antarctic Adventure in Christchurch. It has won several NZ tourism awards. After the one in Auckland, not sure we'll go.

 

Back on the On And Off bus, we headed to the Auckland Museum. It is a huge building on top of a hill overlooking the city. Really beautiful. They had a number of wonderful exhibits on the Maori culture in NZ before it was taken over by white men. There was also an extensive exhibit on WWII which Mel enjoyed. He said the films gave a totally different perspective from what he'd seen in the US, NZ and Australia's perspective of the war. We decided not to pay extra to see the Maori cultural show since we'd be seeing one on the ship that evening. We did have lunch there at the museum then walked to some glass houses where they had beautiful plants and flowers. After that we got back on the bus which was heading back downtown.

 

Queen Street is the main shopping street in Auckland. It ends at the Ferry Building which sits right by our pier. We decided to just get off the bus and walk down Queen Street, back to the ship, shopping along the way. We did go to the Auckland Art Gallery. Unfortunately their permanent building is being renovated, so the temporary exhibits were very small. They did have some beautiful quilts from the Cook Islands though.

 

My good walking sandals are now being held together with bright pink duct tape. I figured I would be able to find new ones in NZ, especially since they are known for their healthy, outdoorsy lifestyles. All we could find were Merrill, Teva and Keen, which I can find in the US. We did finally find a different pair at another shoe store. Hope they are as comfortable as my old Tevas! We went into every souvenir shop along Queen Street just looking at everything. I imagine that street is like Powell Street in San Francisco, places the locals never go. But to us everything was new and interesting. They do a lot of wood carving with inlaid paua shells. Really beautiful stuff. There were also a lot of sheepskin items, boots, rugs, etc. We bought a few things then went back to the ship. We'd done a lot of walking so I was exhausted.

 

Turns out that the Maori Cultural Dance troupe that came on the ship to perform is the resident troupe at the Auckland Museum. We were VERY glad we hadn't paid extra to see it! It was an interesting show, showing war dances, weapons, etc.

 

Day two in Auckland, we decided to ride a ferry over to Devonport, a small community across the bay. I had communicated with a quilt shop there to be sure they would be open. It was a quick ride over. The area reminded us and looks very much like Sausalito with galleries, small shops and many restaurants with sidewalk seating. I did buy some fabric with NZ motifs, kiwi (the bird not the fruit) and paua shells. Very unusual. We went to the large grocery store to buy Lumps, chocolate covered pineapple candies, very good. We walked back to the ferry and went back to Auckland.

 

Now today is Monday, February 7. Mel wanted to watch the Super Bowl on the ship.....we are now a day ahead of the US...so he headed back, I went back up Queen Street to buy a few things I hadn't bought the day before. This time I had no veto power with me so they were quick decisions. It was a nice afternoon of shopping and Mel enjoyed watching the game with a bunch of guys on the ship.

 

Sail away was beautiful with all the islands in the harbor. It was a while before we were in open sea again. Auckland is a beautiful city, I can see why people love living there. One fourth of the country of New Zealand live in Auckland and its surrounding areas. The total population of the country is only 4 million!

Nuku'Alofa, Tongatapu aka Kingdom of Tonga

Our last tropical island for a while. We're going to miss the sunshine and swimming. Tonga was a great ending though, another amazing place.

 

Our ship was berthed at the cargo harbor, so we had to be shuttled into town. We hopped on the first shuttle to head in and figure out our day. Once in town I asked for the Craft Market. It was 3 blocks away. It's interesting how things are similar yet different at each of the islands we've been to. They make a lot of mother of pearl jewelry as well as weaving. Things seems to be less expensive in Tonga. We shopped for a bit and made a few purchases. They do a lot of carving out of cow bone in the islands but in Tonga we were seeing whale bone items. One lady told us that her husband had a larger store behind the market so we went to check it out. That man was a master carver. He had beautiful items in his small store. We'd seen carved marlin/swordfish swords in Bora Bora, but they were $650 up to $2k! Didn't feel like we needed one that badly. Here, we were offered a beautiful one for $50. How could we not buy it? It has a Tongan idol on the top with a whale, marlin and turtle carved into the narrower part, very nice. He also had a large mahogany whale, beautifully carved with Tongan symbols along the belly. Very tempting. We asked where would be a good place to go snorkeling. He said his brother would take us on a tour. We ended up spending the entire day with him! Very nice.

We had of course heard about all the top sights to see and ended up seeing all of them. The first stop was at the royal grave. It was a full city block with the grave in the middle, surrounded by grass and a tall fence so no one entered. Next William, our driver, pointed out the flying foxes around some palm trees. They were big! Some have wing spans up to 3'. They are actually a type of fruit bat, but in Tonga, they are flying foxes. We saw some further along hanging from a tree. We passed a number of cemeteries, seems like they were everywhere, usually fairly small. They had crocheted afghans covering the mounds or beautiful quilts hanging behind the mound, very unusual.

We went down a narrow road that ended at the sea. It was a Reef Reserve with rocks along the water's edge, a beautiful beach before that. There was one other person there, we had the place to ourselves. The water wasn't as clear as it had been in other places, but there were a lot of fish. Most of the coral was dead until we got closer to the barrier of the reef. We did see a beautiful star fish, bright blue!

We also saw sea cumbers that had lumps on them, very different than the ones in Roratonga. And I found Nemo! This one little clown fish wanted to check me out, kept coming toward me rather than hiding in the anemone like a good clown fish. They were very cute. We hadn't really seen them before.

We swam for about an hour then headed back to town...I thought. We first stopped at the blow holes where the waves crash up thru natural holes to cause geysers. The tide was low so they were not as spectacular as they could have been. I bought my first coconut of the islands. The milk was refreshing. I had William open it so I could eat the meat later. It's now in the fridge in our cabin. William took us to another royal grave site, the site where Capt Cook landed in the 1700's and pointed out all the schools along the way. All the children go to school until they are 16. The mormon school was the most modern looking and the largest. The girls all wore red or green dresses, depending on the school, with 2 french braids going down their backs. The boys wore wrap around skirts, almost to their ankles. At one school the boys were also wearing a woven skirt/belt, about 2' long, held by a belt at the waist. We saw a funeral also, where the men were in suits with the same woven belt/skirt. Interesting.

William took us back to his brother's store where we decided to buy the whale. It will be shipped home for us. We asked if he would then take us to an ATM, fabric store, then back to the ship for a bit extra $$. He was our own personal shopper. He even folded my fabric as the gal was cutting it. William is a basket weaver and uses fabric to decorate his bags. He knew this store and knew they would have good fabric. It was really beautiful and hard to choose which ones to buy. We were back at the pier by about 3:30. Sail away was at 4:30. We'll have 2 sea days before reaching New Zealand. It will be very different visiting large cities and having cooler weather. Looking forward to it!