A muse on the Muse.

[drron29]

Sail away.

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It looked like we would finally get a good sunset.

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But the clouds rolled in and that was as good as it got.

[jpalbny]

Wow, Christchurch still looks devastated. Perhaps a little better than the years immediately following the quake, but your pictures show how much is left to do. Sad to see. The gardens are still beautiful, though.

 

Is that a replica of Greenwich Observatory in Lyttleton?

[drron29]

It was one of the world's timeball stations but was demolished by one of the aftershocks in 2011.Only the tower has been rebuilt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyttelton_Timeball_Station

[drron29]

We awoke the next morning when docking at Picton.Just a short walk from the dock to town.it is a really beautiful spot at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound.

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Just a few nice buildings.

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We walked right around the town and were going to have a coffee but at all cafes there were long lines so we decided to go back to the ship.Through the War Memorial arch.

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[drron29]

 

Another Inter Island ferry steamed up the sound,did a quick U turn and backed into the dock.

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A last look up the sound.

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At the dock is a museum containing the Edwin Fox one of the last surviving merchant sailing ships.Built in India she carried troops to the Crimean War,convicts to Australia and emigrants to the USA and New Zealand.No longer competitive she became first a moored freezer ship then a coal ship in 1905 after having all rigging removed.She was abandoned in 1950 before being taken over by a group who wanted her preserved.

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Back at our dock the Inter Island ferry is actually as long as the Muse.

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[Stumblefoot]

45 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Back at our dock the Inter Island ferry is actually as long as the Muse.

That's amazing!

[drron29]

 

That night yet another ferry arrived and we watched the unloading.

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An engine shunting caused a delay.

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An old train presumably used for tourist excursions.Though it hadn't moved all day.

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After dinner we went to the Panorama lounge for an amarula.Thought we must have been on the wrong ship

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We didn't leave until midnight.We were asleep by then but this was the scene as we retired.

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The next day was a sea day and was going to be a formal night.Here is the view on waking.

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It was only when we left the cabin we realised it was Valentine's day.

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[drron29]

That day we stopped mid ocean for testing of the thrusters.We were in sight of land.

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[drron29]

 

Time for some more food.First a lunch in Atlantide.We tried to have a light lunch.

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Rojaan had a prawn cocktail and the pasta with prawns.

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I had the jerk pork and it was very good .

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Then our second dinner in Kaiseki.Always the same menu but it was so well done we thought it was worth a second time.We sat at the other end of the cooking area with the sous chef.

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And the sous chef.

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When we sat down he said he knew us from the Explorer.I then recognised him as the egg cook at breakfast on the Explorer.This is why we enjoy sailing with Silversea.Seeing people being given opportunity to progress and learn new skills.This was Lucro's first contract in Kaiseki.He performed very well as a teppanyaki chef.

[drron29]

Another dinner in Atlantide.Slightly different menu.

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Rojaan had the foie gras to start.I had the crab and beer bisque.The foie gras was good the bisque missed the mark and was very salty

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Rojaan had the lamb chops and I the Chilean seabass.Both were very good.

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Desserts and I had what the called stracciatella but 2 flavors-fig and almond.really nice.

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Rojaan had the pavlova.

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[drron29]

The next morning we anchored off Gisborne.Once again we just got the tender to town.

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A shuttle to the CBD.Two of the attractions in the tourist pamphlet are this statue and the town clock.

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We just walked around and I admired a few buildings.

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The last was an old hotel badly damaged in the 1931 earthquake.It lost it's tower and the upper floors appear empty.

 

[drron29]

The last of Gisborne.

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This was opposite the pick up point for the shuttle back to the port.

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The muse from the port with a tender and a dredge working the channel in the foreground.

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Overlooking the port is Titirangi Hill the site of an old Maori Pa.

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The dredge.

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[Stumblefoot]

7 hours ago, drron29 said:

Then our second dinner in Kaiseki.  Always the same menu but it was so well done we thought it was worth a second time.We sat at the other end of the cooking area with the sous chef.

When (notice I didn't say "if") we sail together again, you and Rojann are going to have to educate us on the value of Kaiseki at night.  For some reason, we've always been willing to pay the upcharge for La Dame, but have never been able to pull the trigger on Kaiseki as $120 seems pricey to us for teppanyaki.

[drron29]

That's OK we can always do Kaiseki for lunch with no supplement!

[drron29]

That night our dapper Cruise director Jimmy introduced the pre dinner show by the voices of Silversea

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[drron29]

 

They really put their heart and soul into it.

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Jimmy reappeared as he had an important job to do.

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Introduce Captain Alessandro Zanello with a definite aussie twang in his voice as his mother is australian and he lived for some time in Sydney

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[drron29]

One of the highlights for us is the farewell for the crew.We knew quite a few-wait staff,bar attendants,butlers and suite attendants to the cooks and office staff.

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In the middle is one of our favourites-Putu.

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We were on his very first cruise on the Explorer.Shy,lacking confidence and basically a bus boy.But we could see he would be a success.Improved on our next 2 Explorer cruises we were on and a delight to meet him om the Muse.He is now on the bar staff on the pool deck during the afternoon and in the Panorama lounge at night.He is from Bali and he wed his sweetheart in a traditional Balinese ceremony in December.The wedding photos were stunning.

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[drron29]

The next port was listed as Tauranga.In fact it was Mt.Maunganui the port for Tauranga.There was no shuttle provided into Tauranga.So we disembarked and walked around Mt.Maunganui.Although there were blue skies it was blowing a gale.

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We walked along the foreshore to the mount.

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[drron29]

There wasn't much to see.Most of the buildings are new holiday apartments and the CBD is typical of a cheap seaside resort.The only decent looking seafood restaurant wasn't open for lunch so it was back to the ship.There was a local market close to the ship with basically very little though mrsdrron did like one woman's work and bought 2 tea towels to turn into other craft pieces.Some views from the ship.

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A timber ship heads for the harbour entrance-it seems quite narrow.It is predomintly a timber port

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A harbour cruise vessel came to give us the once over.

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We decided to have our last lunch in Kaiseki.We were the only guests.It was a really good lunch though.

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[drron29]

Not much of a view over the dock.

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We sailed early as speed to Auckland had to be reduced because of many whales in the area.sadly none made themselves visible.Sail away

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Our final dinner was once again in Atlantide.We thought the standard of food there was excellent.So we started with caviar-why?Because we could

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Two other excellent starters-Beef tartare and pumpkin soup.

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finally a different version of apple crumble.

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[Elginjock]

Thank you drron just brought a big smile to my face seeing Putu who we met in 2014 on the explorer. Lovely young man and I hope we meet up with him again.Thoroughly enjoying your posts.

[CruisinPashmina]

Thank you for all the photographs. When you and your wife sail I know there will be pictures and that’s a great treat! I especially LOVE the photographs of the wonderful crew...so many of whom I have sailed with for years. Hi, Chester, I see you!

[Stumblefoot]

15 hours ago, drron29 said:

That's OK we can always do Kaiseki for lunch with no supplement!

Agree!  We love lunch in Kaiseki.  And, while I don't know if there is anything to it, I find the rolls and fish fresher in Kaiseki than in La Terrazza.

[bebop bonnie]

Again, thank you for all the info and magnificent photos in this thread!  My mouth is watering from all the food pics!  We board the Muse in a month!!  Can't wait!

[Emtbsam]

Captain Zanello is one of our favorites.  Did he do his lunchtime chats?  We recently met Putu and agree completely that he is delightful.