2014 Whisper World Cruise Live Blogging Segment 2

[CanadianKate]

The first segment is done and I leave sea days behind. Sigh.

 

This next segment will be more interesting for you readers. There wasn't much to say about the 14 sea days on the last segment. This time we have port after port as we go along New Zealand's Eastern coast.

[MCCooch]

Looking forward to following you along your trip. The first segment was awesome.

 

Mike

[CanadianKate]

Tuesday was Tauranga/Mount Maunganui, which is really just a three hour drive (or less) from Auckland. We took overnight to get there.

 

Arrival in the morning was dramatic. This is the view of Mount Maunganui from our balcony.

 

We entered the harbour (the right hand side of the Mount in this picture) and went well into the harbour because the channel was very narrow and we needed to turn in order to take our place behind the two other ships in port that day.

 

At the port was a board that gave the following info:

 

Dawn Princess, 2342 pax, 814 crew. Oosterdam, 2308 pax, 800 crew. Silver Whisper, 350 pax, 250 crew! Truly proof that bigger isn't better.

 

But the passengers were fun and I enjoyed interacting with them on my hike around the Mount. One described the Oosterdam's decor as a cross between a brothel and Las Vegas.

 

Dh and I split up for the day, him off to Hobbiton for his two-part birthday present - first part was the tour and second part was me not going with him because I'd probably be bored (no interest in the books or the movies.)

 

I headed off for my hike at the same time as dh headed off by bus. I walked by the other two ships and chatted with the photographer of the Oosterdam (each person gets photographed coming off the ship) and with Dawn Princess passengers by the beach. The exit of the port was well past the bow of the Dawn Princess so I had a long walk just to leave the port, but once out, the town was right there and the Mount was just a kilometer up the road. It was a lovely walk along the beach that was on the harbour side of the peninsula that makes up the town of Mount Maunganui.

 

Without dh I wasn't sure I'd have the strength to climb up the "mountain" although it was just over 200 meters high, so I chose the path along the base of the Mount. The views were stunning all the way around. After my trip around, I walked back through town, stopping to rest for a bit, picking up some postcards and then heading back to the ship for lunch and a quiet afternoon, visiting with new passengers.

 

Meanwhile... dh's day at Hobbiton

 

Beautiful blue skies backdropped the movie set for scenes from both the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy.

 

Peter Jackson flew over lots of New Zealand looking for multiple sets where parts of the filming of Hobbiton could be made and scenes stitched together. Instead, he found a single 19-acre site, complete with a naturally growing Party Tree in the centre, and he gave up all consideration of all other sites.

 

For the two years before filming of LOTR began, the Alexander family sheep and cattle farm outside of Matamata, NZ was transformed in secret into the village of Hobbiton with plastic and foam façades of Hobbit holes (homes). The NZ Army was called in to build the access road strong enough to handle all of the very large and heaving production trucks on a daily basis. But after the movie's release, a distance scene was enough evidence for people to establish where the set was built, and eventually the secret was out.

 

Initially a marshy gully because it is at the shape of a bowl (no signs of civilization are visible), all of the material scraped to make the road was used to fill in the marsh to a 12-foot depth to make sure that Hobbiton, and in particular Party Field, would not be wet.

 

The agreement with the family was that Jackson was to restore the entire area back to its initial state when filming was done (though not the marsh). When all the filming was completed, a flooding rainstorm rendered the area inaccessible to heavy equipment for about 9 months so that recuperation was delayed. During that 9 months, the Alexander family was inundated with people wanting to get to the site to see Hobbiton.

 

Seeing a business and tourism opportunity, the Alexander family and Peter Jackson jointly created the theme park business. When it came time to film The Hobbit, Jackson's production crews rebuilt Hobbiton in 6 weeks with real bricks and genuine wood (made up to look stressed and old). Already the park gets 250,000 visitors a year.

 

A stickler for detail, the 3000 resident sheep weren't good enough for Jackson, and so he shipped in 14 sheep of the kind he wanted and reused them in different scenes. All of the preparations were made to create fourteen hours of recorded content over twelve days from which only 40 seconds shows up in the movies. I asked her to repeat those numbers because I couldn't believe it.

 

After the tour we had a very big meal at The Green Dragon and then watched a sheep shearing demonstration from the farm that was fascinating.

 

The ride to and from Matamata was an hour each way, so it made for a long day without the chance to see anything else around Tauraunga. But the bus driver was very talkative and informative and so we learned a lot about the area and about life in New Zealand.

 

(Back to me writing...)

 

 

Dh got home just after 3:30. The rest of our day was ordinary - it was formal night so I did my nails, and Ken went off to tea. Then trivia for me, a later afternoon destination lecture and then get ready for dinner.

 

It was a wonderful table at dinner. One couple was British but the husband was born in Iraq and grew up in Baghdad. The other couple were from Istanbul. Despite the geographic and cultural differences, our commonalities were numerous and we had a wonderful time. All three of the men were mathematical/engineering minds and got along famously. Lots of laughter which is a sign of a great table.

 

We got to bed after the concert by Michel Bell and by then the ship was rocking and rolling. It was a long, noisy, night. Dh has hives from using the shampoo at the spa and I've got the beginning of the cold that's been running round the ship so we were up and down through the night for assorted reasons. The movement is fun since we aren't sea sick. But we are beginning the day quite tired.

[fdnycruiser]

Sorry you're not feeling well,but thanks for the account of your very busy day.

[CanadianKate]

Finally, a sea day so I can try and catch up on my writing.

 

January 27th we had a rough night. I had expected my cold to keep me up and Ken's hives to disturb him but then a rough sea added to the excitement. We were quite tired the next day, but had another day of touring to do on Wednesday.

 

Napier is the Art Deco architectural capital of the world. It may have fewer Art Deco buildings than other cities but as a percentage of the buildings, it would be the most. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1920s and they decided to rebuild using Art Deco due to the strength of the building materials and the lack of ornate design (since many of the Victorian-style building adornments had fallen and injured people during the previous quake.)

 

Unfortunately, we saw little of Napier as we had chosen a Maori cultural experience for our tour.

 

We arrived late into Napier. We were to be docked by 12:00 and our tour to leave at 12:30 but everything was pushed back as the Dawn Princess' arrival delayed ours. Our tour left even later than others due to a miscount of passengers on the bus, so we sat for ages waiting for 2 more people who didn't exist.

 

Once we were under way things went fairly well. The views of the countryside were amazing including the obligatory fields of sheep.

 

We were headed to a family run Maori cultural centre called Arch of the Ancestors. Our guide talked to us about the countryside along the way and about the Maori history and culture. Traditionally, newcomers are challenged by a warrior and so we were to put forward a champion to meet the challenge. Ken volunteered. Once we passed the challenge, we would be greeted with a musical welcome and expected to respond with the same so we practiced a short Maori response on the bus.

 

Arch of the Ancestors was located well up a hillside, away from roads and completely quiet. It was such a relief to be away from the rumble of the ship's engines, the rumble of the bus or the sound of traffic. I miss 'silence' (I use the term loosely since even at home there is the sound of the traffic on the highway a few km away.)

 

Ken did fine as our champion and didn't get killed.

 

The warrior came up threateningly, tossed down a flower fashioned from leaves which Ken carefully picked it up.

 

After the welcome song and speech, Ken responded by rubbing noses with the warrior. We did fine singing our response.

 

The centre offers a Maori culture summer program for children and they had not yet gone back to school so there were many children as part of our experience there.

 

After the welcoming we were shown two aspects of Maori life, their musical instruments and eels.

 

They demonstrated the sound from conch shells and from a ostrich leg bone fashioned into a flute.

 

Eels were a staple in their diet, the main source of protein. The eels (called "tuna" in Maori) swim far upstream so as the people moved farther and farther inland, they were able to keep their food source.

 

We were quite late getting back to the ship, past the 'all aboard' time, so we didn't have time for a leisurely driving tour around Napier to see the buildings. We did catch sight of a few but didn't bother to take shots from the moving bus.

 

My cold was quite a bit worse and so I opted to stay in for the night, having a light room service meal and watching old episodes of Downton Abbey from bed. Gabrielle, our butler, also brought me hot water, lemon and honey for my sore throat and developing cough. I went to bed well dosed up.

 

Ken in the meantime had a wonderful evening. He wanted to be socializing with others so headed off the bar and found two of the performers and asked them to hook him up with a date. He ended up at a birthday party with a group of world cruisers, including one of my favourites from trivia, and they made sure he brought me home a piece of birthday cake.

 

We slept fairly well, the seas having calmed down from the night before.

[CanadianKate]

We traveled between the North and South Islands overnight Wednesday to Thursday. Expected rough weather in the Queen Charlotte Sound. Had more smooth sailing. The weather continues to be charmed too.

 

Our waitlist on the dolphin tour didn't clear so we decided to explore on our own. On the way in to Picton, we saw a large school of dolphins so didn't regret missing the tour.

 

We arrived just after noon and after having lunch we headed off into town. We arrived just as the ferries from the North Island arrived so the shuttle was late starting but we walked along the well marked path and were in town in no time flat. The path leads pedestrians safely through the port area especially when the passenger and freight ferries are unloading. It was great to be able to follow it, knowing we were where we were supposed to be.

 

Found milk to drink and some stamps. Our errands run, we headed off to hike Victoria Domain, the large conservation area beside the harbour.

 

On the walk over, we spotted a huge sea ray in the marina. Not a SeaRay (brand of boat that was sold at the marina where my Dad kept his boat) but a sea ray. It is the first I've ever seen in the wild.

 

The hike up the hill was lovely. It was a cool day according to Fernando the cruise director and while the mercury didn't indicate a lot of warmth, the sun here is very hot so my vest came off within a few blocks of the ship. And I sweated profusely along the way once hiking.

 

The views were of the harbour, the sounds were of birds and insects (a steady of hum of those) and the trail was scary for me (not very wide and a long drop down) but I managed it and we did about 5K along the trails.

 

We had started on the lower trail, the switched to the upper trail, got back to almost the start before heading up to the peak.

 

Our maps were poor and the guide-posts confusing so we always thought we had gone farther along a trail than we had. After making it to the top, we headed back down by a road that came up the rear of the hill and walked along a green space valley back into town. Along the back we saw horses and, of course, sheep (even though we never left the town.)

 

We showered when back at the ship and I attended trivia. By then it was time for sail away.

 

There was a before-dinner concert by Michel Bell. I haven't mentioned his concerts before but enjoyed them. His wife accompanies him on piano and is a dynamo. He sang for the Fifth Dimension but also sang a lot on Broadway, including playing Porgy in Porgy and Bess and Joe in Show Boat. This was his third show but second on this segment of the cruise. He repeated about half the material from his first show and I was slightly annoyed but his version of Ole Man River was so awesome, I was glad I had a chance to hear it a second time and feel the chills come over me one more time.

 

We had dinner out on the pool deck with friends. It was very windy and a bit cold but the hot, volcanic, rocks we cook our meals on also kept us warm, and the staff wrapped us in blankets as well. So, while our nacho chips and salad leaves would blow away, the main course warmed us nicely. After dinner we went up and played Name that Tune. Still came in second (or last if you consider there were only 2 teams!) but had a wonderful time.

[CruisinPashmina]

We are loving the descriptions of your journey, especially as you give us the small details which remind us of treasured similar experiences..rough weather, ports, tea and honey, cabin dinners, DVDs, Name that Tune, pals from Trivia., new friends, all of it..the simple, fun, SS pleasures. Thank you for taking us along. Please keep posting..SO much appreciated!

[duct tape]

CK, you are getting me thru the winter.

[Silver Spectre]

Thanks for your detailed posts CK, it is great to be able to travel along with you.

[CanadianKate]

Duct tape: you've had an awful winter, glad I can help.

 

Our winter was really bad, early, so we thought it would be better weather while we were away. Instead, it has been as bad or worse than before we left and we get back on Feb. 14 so still have 6 weeks of full winter to live through. Not sure I'll be able to revert to winter after such a great southern hemisphere summer.

 

The weather on this trip has been exceptionally good. We are in the Tasman now and it is just long swells and sunshine. No white caps at all.

[CanadianKate]

Today is Superbowl Monday at Sea!

 

 

By 11:30 a.m. the Venetian lounge was filling up quickly with US Football sports fan who had a great way to enjoy the day at sea.

 

 

Three big screens, popcorn, drinks, hamburgs, hotdogs, french fries and apple pie (talk about an American menu!) were offered up.

 

 

Originally the feed was the Fox internet feed but moments into the game it was obvious that the bandwidth would not be enough. No plays were interrupted but it was switched over to the ESPN feed for a brighter picture and no delay but no Superbowl Commercials.

 

 

Not a football fan (one of the Artists of Silver Sea had to tell me who to cheer for) and so now that the commercials aren't part of the package and I've had my lunch, I should head out but there's a great energy here and I've found an electrical outlet so I'll stick around.

 

 

The staff have done a fabulous job.

[CanadianKate]

I'm feeling completely out of place as far as date and time goes. We went through another time change last night so are now on Fiji time (according to my tablet computer.) I keep my computer on Ottawa time so I know the date and time at home. My phone is on ship's time so I can use its alarm to get me to shipboard things on time. My mp3 player is also on ship's time and I use it to tell the time when I wake in the middle of the night. My tablet shows both - home time and ship time, on its clock program. Our cameras are set to GMT so they never need changing but I do need to remember this when looking for photos from a certain date since GMT date is often a day behind my calendar day. Thus, some photos I took on Wednesday Jan 29 have a Jan 28 date on the file.

 

According to the chart on the wall in cabin, we were in Christchurch/Akoroa on Jan 31, which my pocket calendar tells me was a Friday. That sounds about right, it was a business day there.

 

The day wasn't a complete success. The port for Christchurch used to be Lyttelton but that was damaged too badly in the earthquake of February 2011 to be used, so cruise ships use Akoroa, a lovely seaside village which is now invaded daily by thousands of people. There is no large pier so all ships must tender into the local pier. And those wishing to visit Christchurch must then board buses and take the winding 90+ minute, drive across the mountains of the Banks Peninsula, with the pass at 400m high. You know it is a tough drive when the driver keeps asking if people are feeling OK and there are car sick bags at each seat.

 

The roads over the mountains to the coast were closed due to landslides and boulders blocking the roads after the earthquakes, cutting people off from their homes. They literally drove as far as they could and then walked over the mountains to home, using hiking trails. Two people were killed in separate incidents by boulders loosened by an aftershock, hitting them on the hiking tracks.

 

We anchored a little late, once again behind the Dawn Princess. Because we were tendering, our 9:30 tour had to meet at 9:20 in the lounge and from there we were taken to the tender. There was a confusion of some sort, with people from a later tour getting on the first tender, which meant 7 of the 49 people on the tour didn't have spots on the first tender. For some reason, the second tender wasn't ready so it was a 20+ minute wait for the tender and then boarding and crossing. We got onto the bus and then couldn't move because our bus was blocked in by others. We eventually got off 45 minutes late.

 

The drive across was uneventful and somewhat interesting although the clouds were low so the views not as stunning as they might have been. There were lots and lots of houses for sale and when questioned the driver said it was mostly due to the bus traffic from the port. People are tired of dozens and dozens of buses holding up traffic on the road each day. There are some who are tired of the earthquake risk as well but I could really see how the bus traffic would make life difficult for the locals.

 

We skipped the scenic viewing spot that overlooks Christchurch on the way in because we were late, and arrived at 12:15 at a bus drop off point across from a museum. We were given 35 minutes to find washrooms and a place to grab some food before our 12:50 double decker bus tour of the former core of Christchurch. There were only 22 on our bus (the second bus had left on time and those passengers were off exploring the city) but we were all being sent to the same set of washrooms and the same cafe which didn't sound like a great idea since we short on time so Ken and I headed off in the opposite direction without thinking.

 

This is where the enormity of what happened started to sink in. While there were lots of office buildings in the direction we headed, when we got to them, they were all closed off. Sure, I could see restaurants on the ground floor but the buildings were unsafe and nothing was open. Thankfully, we were moving fast (little to no traffic!) and got to the ReStart Mall where we found washrooms and lots of places to grab a bite, so we shared a panini before rushing back to the meeting point. Our rushing at least gave us a taste of the resilience, hope and recovery the city is beginning to feel.

 

The ReStart open pedestrian mall is made up shipping containers arranged as a shopping mall, each with stores and services. In total there are 16 containers, holding 27 shops. It is a bright, hopeful, and happy place, part of the recovery now that the 'Red zone' has been reopened to tourists. There were street buskers and tables selling crafts as well as the stores. I just wish we had had time to properly enjoy the place by eating at one of the second story patio restaurants with an overview of the area.

We rushed back for the overview tour, taking a spot on the top of the double decker despite the heavy mist. I had a rain jacket and Ken's hiking clothes are warm even when wet so we put the rain poncho over us as a blanket as we drove around.

 

The devastation is total. Before the earthquake the area had 2500 buildings. Of those only 800 will remain standing, only a few of those above 2 storeys. Everywhere we saw a vacant lot, there would have been a building before. And vacant lots were almost everywhere. The shaking caused liquefaction, the ground under the buildings liquifirf so even those built to earthquake standards and undamaged by the quake are now on unstable foundations and must be brought down. And demolition is slow because blasting can't be used. Outside of the central area, 10,000 homes had to be demolished. There is a shortage of demolition experts and construction people as well as restoration experts so the recovery is slow.

 

The people are very afraid of going into tall buildings and so even the remaining tall buildings are not fully utilized. The new building code will limit buildings to 7 storeys high.

 

The well known ChristChurch Cathedral has been in a state of limbo right now because the Church of England would like to pull it down and rebuild but a group of engineers are trying to save it so the matter is before the courts. Apparently, the Supreme Court has recently ruled in favour of the Church.

 

In the meantime, the Diocese has just built a temporary Cathedral a few blocks away. It seats about 700, is built of cardboard tubes, wood and steel and was opened in August 2013 at a cost of NX $5 million.

 

The Catholic Cathedral also suffered major damage but it is going to be rebuilt.

 

At the top center is an alcove that had a statue of the Virgin Mary. Originally she was standing, looking over the church but by the end of the quake she had rotated 180 degrees. Some say she was turning her back on the church. The statue has been removed during the restoration.

 

Empty lots are being filled with spontaneous art installations called gap fillers. This is where our lack of free time was a shame, I would have loved to walk around and photograph may of them. Among the gap fillers is this one, a set of 185 unique chairs, all painted white, one for each person killed. It is across the street from the former site of the Canterbury Television building. It completely collapsed, killing 115 people in that one location.

 

Our local bus tour ended after 55 minutes and we were then given another 35 minutes of free time - not enough to really explore the red zone which was a 10 minute walk away. So we went off looking for ice cream - no luck, and then back to a souvenir 'shop' near the bus meeting point where I spent a bit of money buying a bracelet, cross, and Christmas ornament. There was a wonderful art installation about dyslexia which I would have loved to explore but we had run out of time so we headed back to the bus.

 

We left on time, which was ridiculous since we'd be back with hours to spare until the last tender and had only received half of the itinerary in Christchurch. The mood on the bus was angry and the driver was taking the brunt of this.

 

The drive back was in almost complete silence. Here are a few more shots of the views:

 

We were dropped back in the 'shopping district' of Akoroa by 4:15 and went and bought fresh milk and search for ice cream. No luck, the shop was closed. So we took the 4:30 tender back to the ship. We made it just before they stopped serving tea!

 

It was galley dinner on the ship that night. Casual dress (yay!) and the food is all laid out in the galley and we all go in to pick out what we want to eat. It was a chance to eat more lightly although I still had two deserts.

 

I ended up complaining to the shore excursions about the tour because we had missed such a significant amount. Going through my pictures is depressing because we have poorly framed shots from a moving bus of sites where rebuilding and hope was represented. If we had not made it to the ReStart Mall the takeaway from the day would have been overly depressing.

 

The last tender was at 6:30 and it was 2:30 when we left the city so there was more than enough time for us to spend additional time in Christchurch, but our driver simply didn't offer to do so, our SS escort didn't ask and the ship's tour department had not told the driver to add the morning delay onto the afternoon. Silver Sea simply did nothing to recover from the poor start much to my disappointment. I ended up investing 3.5 hours of bus ride for two 35 minute block of time to explore, including eating time.

 

 

 

This was not an external event causing delay, but a domino effect starting at the wrong people boarding the first tender, then no second tender available, then no instructions to the tour operator to make up the lost time at the end of the day and no attempt by our SS escort to advocate for us. SS failed at every point to recover the tour's value.

[dusababy]

But you Kate, have given us valuable insights into Christchurch - eyewitness - that haven't been available to me before. Thank you so much for your attention to detail in sharing a journey that I won't be able to take at this stage in life -- I'm grateful!

[duct tape]

We have been in Christ Church in both good times and bad. It really breaks your heart. I am very curious to see the shopping mall made from containers. Sorry your day was so screwed up.

[CanadianKate]

Dunedin was on Saturday, February 1st. Our tour for the day was to take the Taieri Gorge Railway from Port Chalmers to Pukerangi, about 64 km. We were only in port until 4:30 p.m. so this was an early morning start.

 

For once we beat the Dawn Princess into port and she was still docking while we came down the gang plank to get on the train. It was RIGHT THERE! So cool.

 

We headed through Dunedin, along fertile ground and then along the gorge, not too high up, so I wasn't too freaked out. But mainly because I had an aisle seat on the mountain side, vs the drop-off side. And they served a lovely morning juice break, then morning tea. Ken was out on the viewing platform for a lot of the ride so I left the picture taking to him.

 

We saw sheep (of course), horses (breeding race horses there) and llamas?!!!! (The llamas are used to guard the sheep.)

 

We crossed over many viaducts, including the largest steel structure in New Zealand.

 

The first stop where we got off for a stretch was Hindon and the views were fine there. Still not too high, just 71m.

 

We stopped at 248m at a spot called "The Reefs" and Ken got off the train to take photos. Someone called out to me as I stood up "Don't look at your husband!" which meant I looked. And squealed and quickly turned away. Then took a photo.

 

I did get off there and there's proof. Another guest took my picture and then a picture with Ken (once he discovered me - he didn't expect me to get off.)

 

A short way up the line was the turnaround point at 250m The top was plain, not craggy, scary mountain top as I had imagined so I had a good walk around at the top. There we waited for the train carrying the Dawn Princess tour (they had two engines, 11 passenger cars, compared to our 1 engine, 3 passenger cars) to get into the station. They missed our previous stop because the train was too long for that stop. Once they got fully into the Pukerangi 'station' (there's no platform or building) we slipped past and headed back to Dunedin.

 

The view at the top reminded me of Alberta's Badlands

 

On the way down we had a lovely box lunch. The trip was going a bit faster. As we got back into the flat land, we were given the choice of getting off at the Dunedin Train Station stop and walking around the town and taking the shuttle back to the ship, or just viewing the station and then heading back. We stopped once to wait for traffic on the line. Then we stopped again for a longer time. Turns out there was a cow and police and others had the line closed as the chased the cow away! That took over 30 minutes. While it was frustrating to watch our time at Dunedin slipping away, it beat the last time I was stuck on a tour because that time (in Manilla) we had not been fed and were on a bus with no washroom. Ken and I spent the time checking email on our phones since we have a data plan here in New Zealand. In the meantime, the SS rep on board contacted the ship to alert them to the problem and when we were moving again, we heard that an additional shuttle bus had been put on so that we still had the time to get off in Dunedin. That's how hiccups in tours are handled.

 

The stain glass and ceramic tiling in the station was gorgeous.

 

I got off the train in Dunedin because my legs were longing for a walk around, and Ken continued back to the ship by train. I found the shuttle after picking up milk at a grocery store and caught the shuttle back to the ship. It was nice to approach Port Chalmers from a different angle and see the tracks from afar.

 

I was back in time for tea and trivia and we had a lovely dinner with friends and then caught the show by the Artists of Silver Sea, Motown music. It was very well done, the best ensemble show by them yet (although I've skipped the shows that don't interest me so can't comment on all of them.)

[drron29]

Thanks Kate for your description of Christchurch.We were last there on Boxing Day 2010.We arrived just as they had the largest aftershock following the earthquake.It was scary.We were booked to stay at the Novotel but couldn't drive to it.Rojaan walked in to cancel our booking.They were not surprised.

[jpalbny]

Sad to hear about Christchurch. We enjoyed the city from Lyttelton, back in '08 before all the earthquakes - just hopped on a public bus to the city and wandered around for the day. I suspect much of what we saw is now gone, or unoccupied...

 

We keep in contact with a couple from Auckland who we met years ago on another cruise. Two of their children work for the ChCh police force, so we've had some firsthand descriptions of the devastation from them. They talked about the original quake (one of them was on the 6th floor of the police station when it struck) and being based in tents for a time afterwards during the recovery efforts. There were thousands of aftershocks in the subsequent months. Scary.

 

A shame about the cathedral. The building and its interior are/were lovely, and the view from the bell tower was beautiful. I hope it can be restored, but if the foundation is truly unstable, I guess it may have to be rebuilt. :(

 

Have enjoyed your blogs so far; keep up the great descriptions of the stops. Bringing back some nice memories, thanks!

[CanadianKate]

Last sea day for me. Tomorrow morning is Sydney. Starting packing last night and hope to be almost finished by this evening so I can enjoy my day in Sydney tomorrow.

 

The Tasman Sea is calm. My butler can't believe how smooth this crossing has been compared to last year. The wind is high but for some reason that isn't causing problems aside from the panel between balconies banging away (there's a bolt missing.)

 

Later today I'll update about Dusky and Milford Sounds. They were stunning!

[duct tape]

CK, you must get someone to carry on in your stead! How about Steve/Janet/Bill/Carolyn? We will miss you here. Enjoy Sydney.

[CanadianKate]

Sunday was cruising the Dusky and Milford Sounds on the south west coast of the South Island. The scenery was gorgeous.

 

We were into the Dusky Sound shortly after 8 in the morning. It reminded us of Alaska or Northern Ontario. Except for this shot which reminds us of a piece of art at our daughter's Godparent's home.

 

Some of my shots have the surreal feel of a painting, not a photo.

 

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the colours became more vibrant.

 

As we left the sound around 11 in the morning, the mist on the coastline was lovely. There are dozens of sounds along the south-west coast but we only explored two of them. This area of New Zealand is virtually untouched so is an area of natural beauty. Milford Sound is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Milford Sound is also the most wild and most wet part of the coastline.

 

It is unusual to have such a sunny day in either of the sounds. But the weather was gorgeous all day long. It has been cool as we went further and further south. We started the day at a latitude slightly farther south of the equator than our home is north of the equator. The weather was in between 16 & 21C (60 - 70F) until mid afternoon when it went up to 28. Ken actually had time sunning out on our balcony.

 

We arrived at Milford Sound at 4:00 p.m. as scheduled but the sound is very narrow so we had to wait, once again, for the Dawn Princess to get out of our way.

 

As we waited we were overwhelmed with the grandeur of the scenery. This is a fiord with the sheer cliffs right to the edge of the water.

 

The weather changed very quickly. In just about 30 minutes, the weather dropped from 82 to 70 degrees. The sun was still warm but the sound was very windy. As the sun shone on the sound, it warms the air which then rises since the sheer cliffs create a chimney effect. The cold air off the Tasman Sea then comes rushing in. So it got windy and cool and the water became very choppy.

 

Farther into the sound the whitecaps were visible in my shots. A small boat rendezvoused with us to deliver passengers who had gone on an overland trip, leaving the ship when we were in Dunedin and staying overnight in the Fiordland National Park.

 

There were several waterfalls, some so high that the water evaporates before reaching the water's edge. Because we had sunshine, it meant we got to see a rainbow cast by one of the waterfalls. And there were lots of seals on Seal Rock.

 

It was awe inspiring, compelling scenery. The observation deck was very crowded but once we turned around (with a warning from the bridge that it would get very windy so to be prepared), I headed back to the stern, and stayed on the back of deck 8, outside of the Panorama Lounge to get views of the sound as we left. I stayed out for the full time, almost 2 hours, wrapping myself in a blanket to warm up. I had been at trivia before we arrived at the sound and headed straight out without stopping at the cabin to grab a hat and jacket so after ages outside I was cold. Before going back to the cabin, I had hot water and lemon in the Panorama Lounge while Ken helped someone with their iPad. He's got a reputation on board as a techie.

 

We ended up eating in the cabin that night because I was so tired from all the fresh air. Then we got to bed early. Even better, the time was set back an hour so we had a good rest overnight. We fully expected a rough night as we started to cross the Tasman Sea but the wind continued to be head on and there is no swell at all so the crossing has been smooth.

 

Monday was Superbowl Monday and I spent most of the day watching the others watch the Superbowl while writing travelogs. I also attended a seminar on pearls and opals. In the evening we had a lovely dinner out on the pool deck. The heaters are working there now, so we weren't cold at all. We skipped the show in order to spend some time packing.

 

My goal is to get everything packed tonight (Tuesday) so I can enjoy tomorrow with my son. We will be getting up insanely early to watch the approach into Sydney which people tell us is amazing.

 

We have been completely blessed with a smooth crossing and great weather. We left LA on January 6th and we have had only one quite rough sea day where moving around on the ship was tricky. I've worn my sea bands for several days of that time and taken my (expired) ginger tablets on several nights and a couple of times in the day but I have not needed to take any sea sickness medicine so the bottle of tablets I bought for our West African Cruise will expire without ever being touched! We've had sunshine almost every day. The worst weather was probably in Tonga although we had showers a few other times as well and I got soaked in Honolulu in a tropical shower that lasted 20 minutes and then gave way to sunshine for the rest of the day.

 

That being said, I'm still very ready to get off the ship. The rich food, the constant attention from staff, the constant socializing, is too much for me to take for more than a few weeks at a time. And, with all my travel, whether by ship or for business, I'm ready to head home after 28 days, so I'm anxious to get off the ship now and at least start on my way home. There's still another 11 days to go, but most of that time will be with my son, so that will make the time go by quickly.

 

Duct Tape I talked with Bill and will work on Carolyn. She's facebooking so it is just a matter of cutting and pasting those posts into here.

 

The world cruisers have lots of adventure ahead of them. Egypt is already out but Bangkok and Sri Lanka are iffy as well.

[CanadianKate]

Forgot to update the Venetian info for this segment:

 

 

For this segment 260 Venetians on board with a combined total of 58,469 days aboard. That works out to an average for 224 days per passenger! Since we are only at 135 by the end of this trip, obviously there are some heavy hitters aboard.

 

 

Most days aboard is 1428, with another at 1260. At the Venetian reception there were four who received their 100 day recognition, and one couple each who crossed 250 and 500 days.

 

 

According to my butler, over half the ship will be leaving in Sydney so it will be a busy disembarkation day.

[RachelG]

Kate, just catching back up with your posts now that our Caribbean cruise is done. Really enjoying these as we are doing Auckland to Melbourne next Feb. My husband loves to hike and I am happy that it sounds like these are readily available hiking opportunities.

[CanadianKate]

Sigh, not the best of last days on board.

 

First: I blogged too soon. As Duct Tape wrote last year, the Tasman is changeable and we've had a rougher ride since noon. Not horrendous but bad enough that they substituted karaoke for the disco tonight.

 

Second: We'll be tied up at 6:30 not 8 as originally planned. Which means it will barely be light as we enter Sydney harbour tomorrow.

 

Third: service at dinner tonight was abysmal. And apparently they ran out of roast prime rib. So they brought a piece of prime rib beef, cooked up like a steak. At the very least, they should have come to the table and explained the situation and then asked what to do, rather than try and pass off a piece of steak as a piece of roasted prime rib. Then the one person who had order that would not have been left sitting without a meal for 8 minutes while they took it back to get the roast and them returned to say it wasn't available. Of course, the salmon could have benefited from the extra 8 minutes of cooking so it was left half uneaten on those plates. Plus we had to ask for bread. And breadsticks. And sour cream for the baked potato.

 

Fourth: my laundry wasn't picked up by 9 this morning. It was out with 15 minutes to spare but no-one picked it up. So we called the butler at 9:25 and she said it would be taken care of. I don't have it back this evening. This is an issue because I have one pair of long pants with me on this trip and have been wearing them steadily for the past few days as it has been chilly. I spent today inside so I didn't need the pants but will need them for tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. when I intend to be on deck. Won't have them. What annoys me about this is I did a load of laundry myself today of things that can't go in the dryer. If I thought I wouldn't have pants for tomorrow, I would have washed them myself today. Then I could have gone outside since I can wash and dry them in under 2 hours.

 

As well, without the rest of the laundry, I can't finish packing tonight. So I'm off to bed and will try and figure out a way to fit everything into my time tomorrow.

[Mr Luxury]

Kate,sounds more like a nightmare than a vacation.

[duct tape]

Hope the day goes better. Enjoy Sydney.