Wellington Oct 30

We met Des and the bus at about 8:30 in the morning and set out for our day touring Wellington. Our tour last week was the Lord of the Rings tour. This tour was different. The cold wind and rain were similar, though.

After a quick trip through town we stopped to ride the tram up to the Botanical Gardens. We really didn't have time enough to see the gardens because they cover a large area on a hillside overlooking the city. In the 30 minutes or so there, we walked the short paths near the top to view the overlooks of the city. I think the blooming season was past. We didn't see the gorgeous azaleas blooming like we did last time.

Our next stop was at a Maori village. The Maori were the first people to reach New Zealand only about 1,000 years ago. Their legends say they came from Hawaii; the anthropologists say they maybe came from Taiwan or southeast Asia. They are not related to Australian aborigines. In appearance, they seem “Mediterranean” to me, southern Italian perhaps. The Maori of the far south are taller, have lighter skin, hair tending to reddish, and green eyes, so our guide said.

Maori are completely integrated into the culture and are about 15% of the population. Intermarriage has always been accepted. Amoung those married to Maoris are Scots, English, Chinese, and Kiwis.

This village was a relatively modern creation, not a history lesson but a look at the way the Maori live today. During WWII, this parcel of Maori land was confiscated for a military base. Sometime after the war, the Maori successfully appealed for the return of some of the property. They were given 24 base houses and a little bit of land. From this they have made a village with a Maorae (a traditional style meeting house), a cultural center with an art school where they preserve the art of carving and the old ways and an FM radio station broadcasting partly in Maori language. They were especially proud of the canoes that were finished just last year and the new meeting hall (soon to be museum) that was also very new.

The village and the visit were nice and set the mood for lunch which was a hangi lunch. Hangi is the name for pit barbecue here. They dig a pit, fill it with wood, put river stones on the wood and set it on fire. About 3 hours later, the wood has finished burning and the very hot stones are on the bottom of the pit. The food was wrapped, tinfoil in these modern times, and covered with the earth dug out of the pit. It is left for a few hours and is then ready to dig up, unwrap, and eat. Hangi was chicken and pork cooked with potatoes, squash and cabbage. The food had a very smokey flavor due to the pit cooking. We were given a choice to have the hangi or order from the menu. Of course we had to try the hangi. Those who opted to order from the menu said the food was delicious but it was 45 minutes before their food arrived. It put us behind on the tour and everybody became somewhat frustrated.

The rest of the day was spent at the Te Papa Museum. It was a huge place. There was no way to see it all in an hour and a half. We skimmed the surface.

Back in our room at 9:00 pm. All aboard was at 9:30. We were back in plenty of time. I was tired and after reading email went to bed. Jack stayed up for the sail away.

Oct 29 Jack's Birthday

Happy Birthday to me
on a cruise ship at sea
off the coast of New Zealand
Happy birthday to me.

Happy Birthday to me
on a cruise ship at sea
Could it be any better?
I'd like warmer weather.

Dunedin part 2, Oct. 28.

We met on the dock or a tour with Indigenous Trails tours owner and guide Des Harris. Des is a character. Our bus tour of Dunedin city area went to “the steepest street in the world.” It has a slope of 1:2.7 in part. Compare that to the maximum slope of about 1:17 on an interstate highway. I walked up part of it. It really is very steep.

After that, we needed some refreshment so we went for tea at a local place. I chose to get coffee from one of the slide filter type of pots. Maybe I mentioned these before when we had coffee on the “Lord of the Rings” tour. You put the coffee in the bottom of a pitcher, pour in hot and then slide a filter down from the top to the bottom, leaving filtered coffee in the top of the pitcher. That time they pushed too hard on the filter and forced grounds around the edge of the filter resulting in chewy coffee. This time I think they double loaded the grounds. It was very strong – basically a very large espresso. I like these pots. I may get one when we get back home.

We went to see the albatross colony but the albatrosses didn't cooperate. We did see many cormorants and seagulls and some beautiful scenery. Then we were off to see the rare and endangered yellow-eyed penguins. It is brooding season so those we saw were sitting on eggs in comfortable little A-frame cottages with an ocean view. It was a big deal to see one stand up and change position. There are less than 4,000 of these left in the world.

We had an excellent lunch in Portobello, a village on the bay.

Our tour of the Cadbury chocolate factory was a disappointment. Much of the work is being transferred to Australia to better serve the Australasian (read Chinese) market and the machinery is being taken out. We saw one of the very last remaining machines sitting there shrink wrapped and ready to be moved out. About 50% of the workers are losing their jobs. The sadness was palpable.

About that time a severe wind gust, the leading edge of a coming storm, hit the ship and broke two mooring lines. They called in two tugboats to hold the ship against the pier and would only allow a few people at a time on the gangway to limit casualties in case it fell in the water. The strong wind was blowing directly down the bay causing a “seiche” - basically blowing the water out of the shallow bay. That made it too dangerous to attempt to move the ship down the narrow and shallow channel that was left. We had to wait for the wind to diminish. Instead of leaving at 5 p.m., we left at 7 a.m. the next morning. This means that we must skip the next port at Christchurch, a definite disappointment. I can't fault the Captain's decision. I wouldn't have driven a motorboat down that narrow channel in that wind, much less a ship like this.

We are going direct to Wellington. There was supposed to be a change out of entertainers in Christchurch. Those folks will now fly or drive to Wellington. This will wreak havoc on the Cruise Director's schedule, but that is why he is paid the big bucks.

It is all part of the adventure.

Fjordland, Oct 27.

The day dawned clear and bright. Beautiful. 52 degrees and wind at 52 miles an hour. We got up at 5:15 to watch the entry to the fjords. It was soooooooooooo cold.

Milford Sound was a completely different place this morning from when we were here last week in the rain. Really magnificent. Fresh snow on the peaks. Brilliant colors. But because it was not raining so there were not nearly as many waterfalls.

We also were able to go through Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound today. The wind was from the east and so did not present the same safety hazard as last week. The weather socked in with low clouds and fog. Dusky Sound looked like Milford Sound did last week so I didn't take pictures there.

All day was spent out on deck bundled up from the cold. The hot chocolate tasted really good when we finally came in. There were not many who braved the cold with us. Most stayed inside and watched thought the windows.

At dinner we have new tablemates. Elizabeth and Micheal are Cruise Criticers from the UK and were followers of the blog. They know Jack and me very well already and we are having fun learning about them. Our table is the same table with the same servers as last month and again there are only four of us. The other four moved to anytime dinning before we got to meet them.

We are on out way to Dunedin NZ.