Btimmer

In 2014 we did the cable car, botanical garden and Te Papa. And yes, we have fond memories of the Maasdam and sailing with you.

Today in Wellington on Day 1 of our stop here, we rode the city bus to Zealandia (a zoological park) which costs $24NZ each and the bus was $2NZ each, walked down the hill from the cable car museum, and spent time in Te Papa (New Zealand's National Museum). All totaled, we walked around 7 miles. Zealandia was a wonderful place to visit with all sorts of birds and lizards, a couple of dams, and a cool suspension bridge. The easiest way to see the birds is to stop and listen. The botanical garden is a nice way to walk down the hill from the top of the cable car. At the bottom is a vintage cemetery. And the Te Papa museum is an excellent FREE museum featuring a major exhibit on Gallipoli and all things Māori. I'll write much more detail in my daily blog. Below are a few pictures. I took over 120 photos today and choosing which ones to share are hard. Brown Parrot eating out of its foot Takahē male. They only have two of these birds on site to control the blood lines of offspring. Cable Car Extinct Mao flightless bird Captain Cook's Cannon from his first visit to New Zealand Mourning a fallen comrade at Gallipoli Our first Christmas Tree of the Season Back at the ship

For the working ports we have stopped at since leaving America, there has always been either a free shuttle through the port to a safe place nearby in that town or we could walk off the ship and through the port to the local town. For Dunedin one could take a $35NZ round trip from next to the ship docked in Port Chalmers, take the public bus for $3NZ from a block away from the ship, or a taxi or Uber or private bus from a block away from the ship. For Lyttelton there was a required free shuttle from the ship to Lyttelton with a stop to transfer to a paid local bus or to the Information Centre a few blocks away. Or one could take a $35NZ RT shuttle from the ship to Christchurch. For the paid shuttles above, payment was made directly to the bus company (Richies) and HAL was not a financial middleman. In no case has there been a charge for a shuttle to leave and return to the port from the adjoining town. Does this make the shuttle information any more clear?

We have a free shuttle off the port in Lyttelton and Wellington.

Nov 13, 2022 Covid Numbers per the Captain @ 4:30pm in his departure announcement: 13 total cases; up 10 from yesterday. (11 passengers; 2 crew) Mandatory interior masking is required except when eating or drinking.

For Port Chalmers to Dunedin and Lyttelton to Christchurch the shuttle busses were $35NZ RT & $20NZ one way. They were not free.

Along with the 4 toots as we left the harbor, as we passed by several points of land, people were gathered to watch the ship leave and more toots were given. It was a very interesting sail away out of the harbor and past the Albatross Sanctuary. We also saw many sheep on the hillsides. However, it was a bit chilly.

While the Captain's announcement and the letter said masks were provided in our stateroom, we've not seen any. But I have an ample supply of KN95 masks I've brought with me. For me the two interesting things about the Covid outbreak. For the Princess cruise, it's a cruise that originated in Sydney. But the magnitude surprises me. For our ship, it's that our case count remains low at 3 and never went over the mid 50's. Personally, we have been masking for a week or so when many crew members started masking up.

In his departure message, the Captain just announced that per corporate direction masks are required of all guests indoors on all Carnival corporation ships in this region. There are reports of a major outbreak in New South Wales. We currently have 3 cases in isolation onboard (2 passengers and 1 crew). I'll write more about the bus situation in today's blog. It's a difficult situation for the community and tough for the passengers.

HUGE CAUTION IN PORT CHALMERS If you visit here and expect to take the public bus #14 to Dunedin, it only takes 1/2 a bus load. I highly recommend taking the shuttle from the port at $35NZ round trip. As an update, a second bus came 1/2 hour after the first and was totally filled with cruise ship passengers. I still recommend the shuttle for maximizing time efficiency.

The second half of our scenic cruising was in Dusky Sound. It's walls are much more rounded and we entered the fjord with a bunch of low hanging clouds. There weren't as many waterfalls, but I saw a bunch more wildlife in the form of seals, an otter, and large fish that didn't break the surface of the water. Here are a few pictures.

Here's a sleeping seal from on the way out of Milford Sound.

Currently we are in the Milford Sound and are rotating 540° to begin our sail out.

We're finally underway after an 8 hour delay. Here's our position as of 5:07am (ship time). Our clocks were advanced 1 hour at 2am.

There seems to be a bit more to the delay story, but I'll refrain from commenting just yet. I can tell you that at 10pm local time the Captain came on the PA system and said that our departure will now be at 3:30am due to a shortage of pilots. Interestingly, that's about the soonest time that we can pass under the Sydney Bridge according to the tide charts that I consulted when the first announcement was made during dinner. He also said that he'll update us tomorrow on the possible effects of scenic cruising in Milford Sound. On the plus side, we got to enjoy a full eclipse of the moon. We watched it from Deck 9 fwd. At times it was obscured by clouds but was interesting to watch it develop. Below are a few pictures of it along with an interesting sunset picture.

Our 6:30pm departure has been delayed because certain passengers did not have the required NZ ETA. 6:45pm was the drop dead departure time due to tide conditions needed to pass under the Sydney harbor bridge. The next opportunity to depart is near midnight. The Captain also indicated this may affect scenic cruising in Milford Sound. There were audible cries in the Lido to "throw them off the ship".

Today we transitioned to the new style program which is on the right. We also moved to White Bay overnight.

Here's a few more pictures from the Taronga Zoo trip today.

Tonight Patrick Roberts delivered a terrific show. Here are a few pictures. He's coming back to Sydney in two weeks to play with Air Supply and later on touring with Sting in Australia. He's of that caliber.

Here are some night views of the Sydney Harbor area. It was stunning.

Today around noon we arrived a day early into Sydney, Australia and were able to dock today at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay which is in the heart of Sydney. We're able to leave the ship but we have to be back on by midnight. We elected to catch a ferry to the Toranga Zoo and spent the afternoon there before walking out to the Opera House and back to the ship. Today we gave to ve back on by midnight. Early tomorrow morning the ship will move to the White Bay terminal which is not nearly as great of a location. Here are a few pictures from today.

Tonight we broke a 2 month streak of not eating in the Main Dining Room. After the very funny Jim Short Comedy show on the Main Stage, we decided to try the Main Dining Room. We were warmly greeted and assigned to table 202 which would hold 6 people. However nobody else showed up, so it was just the two of us. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I had tortilla soup and a Caesar salad, a meat loaf main course and a fruit plate for dessert. Angela had the tortilla soup and salmon as her main course along with a chocolate dessert. The portions were an appropriate size. Tomorrow morning will be the telltale sign of how it affected my blood sugar reading. Below are a few pictures of my meal.

A giant cheer just went up in the Lido at the Captain's announcement about arriving in Sydney tomorrow a day early and docking at Circular Quayl

Thanks for the info! That would be very cool news as the Quay is a much better location. Those who might want to visit the Blue Mountains could easily do it as the train is walking distance from the Quay.

It's 7:35am and the Captain just announced that due to wind and swell conditions the Moreton Island port call has been cancelled. The anchor will be raised, the test tender be raised and stowed, and we'll continue our cruise on to Sydney.