Live! The Grouch on the Noordam for 38 days to New Zealand, Sept. 30, 2018

[NSWP]

13 hours ago, puppycanducruise said:

Milford Sound sounds amazing.  Maybe someday I'll get to see it too.

Thanks for sharing.

Indeed Milford Sound is awesome, done it twice. Put a NZ cruise on your bucket list. A pity Noordam does not have bridgecam, then you could see the journey.

[erewhon]

Thanks for the reports.

Pleased that you  had a smooth crossing of the Tasman Sea.

Yes. Milford /Fiordland are worth a visit.

[DoggyDaddy]

We were on the Noordam on this cruise last year. Our TV had both a fore and aft camera, but the aft camera kind of sucked. We went from San Francisco to Auckland. A great trip!

 

DD

[whogo]

November 2, 2018. Port Chalmers (Dunedin)

 

We passed our southernmost point last night, something south of 46 degrees latitude as we sailed between the South Island and Stewart Island. The ride was so smooth at 2:00 AM that it felt like we were docked.

 

Beautiful sunshine greeted us in Port Chalmers. Grassy hills looked like Middle Earth, there is just something about the shape of them. We debarked next to stacks and stacks of debarked logs. 45°48.83' S, 170°37.68' E.

 

The Port Chalmers cruise welcome center is well done. Book any number of excursions right there. There is even a departure board for independent excursions, hope the rest of our ports operate the same way.

 

We booked the Taieri Gorge Train and Otago Peninsula tour through https://www.shoretripsandtours.com Met our tour guide Marty from Back to Nature Tours inside the welcome center and boarded his micro bus just outside. Only nine of us on the tour, the bus would have held more than twice as many.

 

Took fifteen minutes to reach the Dunedin (pronounced dunn EE dinn) railway station. Described as Renaissance Revival architecture, the station is the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere, I'm not telling you which is first. I added to the building's photo count.

 

Our wooden rail car was from the 1920's. The ride would be fun through the flat wheat fields of Kansas, but we had some serious scenery in the Taieri River Gorge with steep mountains, exotic (to us) flora, rapid flowing river, craggy schist, and a waterfall. Bought sandwiches and drinks (nice, hoppy Emerson 1812 pale ale for me) onboard. Roughly two hours up and two hours back with a half hour to switch engines at Pukerangi at the top. 58 km one way, top speed near Dunedin was 62 kph per my GPS.

 

Reconnected with Marty in Dunedin for the Otago Peninsula tour, drove about 20 minutes to Allan's Beach oceanside, saw three southern sea lions there, a few birds on the way, gannets, cormorants, paradise ducks, and stilts. Temperature had dropped, I needed my light jacket for the first time today.

 

Back to the ship about 4:30, we walked out of port and wrote a few railway postcards at The Portsider pub. Helpful barkeeper, nice wood fire in the stove, I enjoyed a hoppy Superdank IPA by 8 Wired Brewing Company. Could have spent an evening there. Mailed five postcards and we were back aboard minutes before the 5:30 deadline.

 

Heard there was a royal albatross nesting site at the harbor entrance and darned if I did not find them there, neat. Also saw a couple of dolphins, worth standing on the cold, windy promenade deck to see.

 

Listened to a few songs at BB King's after a late dinner, skipped the performance by the singers and dancers.

 

[colbe]

Kia ora. Welcome to New Zealand. You are doing a great job selling our wonderful little country. 😀

[Krazy Kruizers]

This sounds like a port where you could have had more time there.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your report, pleased you enjoyed your Dunedin visit.

 

[Bruinboy]

Mr Whogo ... Mrs Bruin and I are doing a Food and Wine Magazine excursion in Dunedin.  I’ll certainly look for the Portsider Pub as well. Remember high fives on Thursday!!!

[whogo]

Saturday, November 3, 2018. Akaroa.

 

Stopped early in the harbor, 43°49.52' S, 172°55.55' E. We decided to stay in Akaroa, Christchurch is 90 to 120 minutes away. Twenty minute tender ride was bumpy, water splashed all the way to the back of the boat.

 

We did not stop at the blue pearl shop on the wharf, headed right on the beach road past the yacht club (members only) to the lighthouse and then headed inland in Thane (two syllables) Garden, nice heavily wooded area with some huge trees, some ferns and lots of other flora we could not identify, no tended plants and flowers that we found. Well maintained walking trails, Mrs. Whogo marched me up hill and down dale. Anglican cemetery is up top with a warning sign that the recent earthquakes could topple headstones. Strange country where cemeteries are damaged in earthquakes. At home in the Midwest tombstones stay up until vandals knock them down. Also made it to the Roman Catholic and dissenter's cemetery. Not sure what a dissenter is, maybe a Methodist or a Presbyterian.

 

I noted that trees were planted in commemoration of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 and Queen Alexandra's (Edward VII's wife?) coronation in 1902 and other events.

 

Heard beautiful bird songs, could not spot the little buggers. They kept plenty of foliage between us and them. Any birds we saw zipped away too quickly to identify, except for a pair of mallard ducks, or what looked like mallard ducks, anyway. Found a playground, played on some dangerous equipment that would bring lawsuits in the USA. We survived.

 

Headed back to town for lunch, had green mussels at The Trading Rooms. The mussels have green shells, not green flesh, thankfully. Very good, would have been better served in a broth. I enjoyed a well deserved pint of Mac's Three Wolves pale ale. Saw a kid feed sea gulls, a capital offense in my book, left it to someone else to mete out his punishment.

 

I went back to the ship for a bit, should have changed to shorts, it was 76° F. Wanting another beer, I had to earn it by heading back into Thane Garden and finding a few new trails and traipsing some repeats. Monteith's Pointers (no apostrophe) Pale Ale at Bully Hayes was good with a quart of water chaser. Long line for a tender after 5:00, must have boarded people long after the posted 5:30 time for last tender.

 

Lost at evening trivia, had good prime rib for dinner and hung out in the piano bar for a while. We took in the late show in the showroom, Patrick McMahon. Rock and roll singer/guitarist did John Denver, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash.

[puppycanducruise]

Yes, I want to go to New Zealand.

Your commentary is fabulous.

Thank you.

[whogo]

I appreciate the kind comments from my fellow Cruise Critic members.

 

Sunday, November 4, 2018. Picton, New Zealand.

 

Solo breakfast in the dining room for me again. Noticed we were going backwards, figured we were about docked. Must be some challenges or potential for high winds, there were two huge tugs and the Noordam tied up with six lines to the front, two to the side in front, and similar lines in the stern. Maybe they were protecting the sailing yachts anchored just astern ('astern' is sailor talk for behind).

 

Have I mentioned how beautiful New Zealand is? Can't overemphasize it. There is something about the ocean and green hills that I have not seen before, everything is so New Zealandy. More debarked logs in port, Monterrey pines are ready for harvesting in just 25 years, are cut off, delimbed, debarked, and cut to length by specialized forestry machinery.

 

Mandatory shuttle to Picton was well organized. A local security worker mentioned that queuing in the sunshine would be nice, then backtracked to say that this area has the highest rate of skin cancer. That's not mentioned in the tourist brochures. She uses SPF 50 sunscreen, not 70, she wants some vitamin D. Took about 10 minutes to shuttle to the information center, handy to the little town of Picton. We used the tourist map to orient our 1.5 hour walk through the woods to Bob's Bay. Woods were much like yesterday's without the massive trees, quite pleasant. Returned to walk the town of Picton, bought postcards and enjoyed a couple of Diet Cokes, were joined for a chat by Diane from the piano bar.

 

Returned to ship for lunch, Lido leg of lamb for me. Wrote our cards and were shuttled to our afternoon excursion. Noordam is docked in Shakespeare Bay and separated from Picton Harbor by a peninsula that contains the Kaipupu Wildlife Sanctuary. We took a shuttle to Picton Harbor to catch a boat ride back to Shakespeare Bay not far from the Noordam, a long route to get back where we started from. Guide Jill took us on a two mile nature walk around the peninsula, pointing out the plants and birds. The sanctuary keeps predators out with an exclusion fence, volunteers trap introduced invasive species; rats, mice, stoats, and possums. Saw any number of traps and one successfully killed rat. Volunteers also set up nesting boxes for blue penguins, seeing the penguins in a couple of the boxes was a cruise highlight. It's surprising how far a penguin will hop up a hill to nest. Missed seeing a weta, Google an image of that insect, if you dare.

 

We refreshed with tea and biscuits (Anzac cookies again) and returned to Picton Harbor.

 

We stayed in town for a while, I had what the locals were drinking, Mac's Gold All Malt Lager, at Seamus' Irish Bar, pleased to imbibe in a place that uses an apostrophe correctly.

 

I stumped Diane in the Piano Bar once again. Comedian Darren Sanders had us roaring with laughter in the showroom, one of the best entertainers we have seen.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sounds like you had a lovely day and a great excursion.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your reports.

Pleased that the weather permitted your visit to Akaroa.

[whogo]

I delivered the following official looking notice to 10 cabins chosen by a random number generator:

 

Dear Holland America guest:

 

Your cruise fare was calculated on the basis of 38 days of 24 hours each. A corporate audit found that your Noordam cruise has six 25 hour days and two 23 hour days, a net gain of 4 hours. To properly bill you for those extra hours we have added $33.54 to your onboard account and increased the hotel service charge by $8.34.

 

(signed)Holland America staff

[Krazy Kruizers]

You are so funny!!

[whogo]

Monday, November 5, 2018. Wellington, New Zealand.

 

Only three nights left, we are running out of cruise. Excitement of the day: Our shampoo and conditioner dispensers in the shower have been topped off. We received a port charge refund of $83.59 with not enough time to drink it up.

 

One of us would happily do a world cruise. A thirty-eight day cruise is not too long, I could go another eighty. I packed well, except I needed to buy shoelaces in Hawaii and should have brought AAA batteries for my mini-mag lite. Might look into an LED flashlight for longer battery life. Would also have to plan on more clothes wearing out or getting hopelessly stained on a longer cruise.

 

Docked at 41°16.13' S, 174°47.23' E. Wellington is another well organized New Zealand port. Included shuttle bus with two drop off points and an excellent map got us on our way.

 

Visited the Te Papa New Zealand National Museum. Arriving before 10:00 opening, we were allowed into “The Bush”, an outdoor exhibit focused on geology with plenty of greenery to shade the area. Spent most of my time in the “Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War” exhibit, a timeline and multimedia account of the horrors of that campaign. Recommend you read up on Gallipoli.

 

Maori culture is another focus of the museum, I was impressed by the items made with kiwi feathers, who'd a thunk it? Also saw one of Captain Cook's recently found cannon that had been dumped overboard to lighten the ship to get off a reef. We had lunch in the museum, a lamb wrap and soda for me. Fantastic museum, our time there was well spent.

 

We walked to the cable car (the similar device in Dubuque is called an elevator), always fun, rode up the incline to the Botanic Garden. Huge garden, nice view of Wellington. First stop was the Sundial of Human Involvement, where you stand on the date and raise your hands above your head as the pointer on the sundial. It accurately read 1:00 PM.

 

We worked our way downhill past plants arranged by location (Australia, South America, etc) or type (succulents, ferns, etc). The rose garden was coming into bloom nicely. It is definitely a world class park.

 

Our route took us through the Bolton Street Cemetery. They'd removed a bunch of graves to put in a highway, must not have learned a lesson from the movie Poltergeist. Speaking of movies, we saw a tombstone for the Tonks family, might be kin to Nymphadora Tonks from the Harry Potter franchise.

 

Excellent day in Wellington. Back aboard in time to write postcards, take afternoon tea, and lose at afternoon trivia as we sailed away about 4:00.

 

Beef Wellington in the dining room, an evening trivia loss, Planet Earth II in the showroom (great film, live sound track added nothing for me), and the piano bar to end the evening.

 

 

 

[erewhon]

Pleased that you had a good day in Wellington.

Yes, Te Papa is well worth a visit.

[whogo]

I delivered the following official looking notice to the same 10 cabins as earlier:

 

Dear Holland America guest:

 

We find that with Daylight Saving Time ending in the USA, you have gained another hour of cruise time for which we have added $8.34 plus $2.09 hotel service charge.

 

(signed)Holland America staff

[Sailnsurf]

As you come towards the end of your cruise - thank you for your entertaining and humorous reports. I have had many a laugh following your journey. 

[whogo]

Tuesday, November 5, 2018. Napier, New Zealand.

 

I awoke first, as usual, and left Mrs. Whogo her requested glass of water. Returned to the bathroom to see that I had given her my dirty water glass. Moved her glass to my spot, she will never know the difference. Don't tell her.

 

We were docked and cleared before I was ready to leave the ship. 39°28.47' S, 176°55.28' E. Arrived in town at the information center at 9:00 via the shuttle and booked a 10:00 walking tour of Art Deco Napier. Wandered town with Mrs. Whogo admiring the architecture until she took to shopping in the thriving downtown, lots of local businesses. I bailed on her and the shopping until we met for our tour.

 

The Art Deco Trust did a dandy job on our tour, beginning with a half hour film that told of the 1931 earthquake and fire that destroyed much of the town. The earth rose about two meters and stayed there, turning about 20 square kilometers of sea bed into dry land.

Rebuilding started immediately with earthquake proof steel and reinforced concrete, most of it in the art deco style of the time. Our guide Anita, originally from the Netherlands, issued receivers to allow everyone to hear her without disturbing passersby. She and other locals pronounce the style art deeko instead of art decko. Good introduction to the architectural motifs of the style and the hour walk tookk us past the highlights.

 

We bought postcards and wrote them at Zambrero Mexican Restaurant. I had a Four Stroke Pacific Pale Ale by Zealandt Brewery, ordered nothing to eat, although the aroma was tempting. The experience was lessened when a guy with huge ear gauges sat down where I could not avoid looking at him.

 

Mrs. Whogo and I split up again. I walked a bit on the Marine Parade and headed back. Glad I returned to the ship early, a brass band performed old songs and a half dozen antique cars were on display. I had a good time talking to their owners. The 1936 right hand drive Buick was my favorite, in beautiful shape, three (?) owners, never restored.

 

Diane in the piano bar does a special performance on the penultimate night. Bruinboy, you could be the second person ever to request, “Gimme a Pig Foot and a Bottle of Beer”.

 

Just an hour left on election day here, yet the polls won't open for hours in the states. Being this side of the international date line is weird. I have been delightfully free of electioneering.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love your reports.  I laugh so hard at times that My eyes are watering.

[ozcruizer]

Art deeko is the New Zealand accent!  We pronounce it decko in Australia.

 

Ozcruizer

[St Pete Cruiser]

Wow, $83 port charge refund, nice.  Loved your rebilling for extra hours on board due to daylight savings time.  Please don't share with Seattle accountants.  

PS: We have videos of you using the elevators for blackmail if needed!

[erewhon]

Napier is a good place to visit.

 During cruise ship visits the old cars are usually on display, plus the band to help entertain visitors.  

[Bruinboy]

Mr. Whogo. Give me a Pig Foot and a Bottle of Beer ... got it. You will always be number one in my book!!!