Hong Kong, China

Brace yourselves. This is going to be a long one. In fact, I’m breaking it up into two entries because we can only put 4 pictures on one blog. It’ll still be hard to choose 8 from these two outstanding days in China.

I was prepared not to like Hong Kong. From pictures I’d seen all my life I expected a big, dirty, scary city with people I couldn’t relate to and customs I wouldn’t understand. Instead I found a sparklingly clean, beautiful city full of lovely, youthful gracious people. The water was not filled with junks and men in coolie hats fishing for a living. It was teeming with ferries taking people to and from work and sailboats and cruise ships carrying visitors and tourists.

We were up before dawn for our sail in to Hong Kong harbor. We watched the sky get lighter as we entered our berth and just as they were tying the ship to the dock the big orange morning sun rose over one of the buildings across the bay. There was a collective gasp from the spectators on the deck at this sight and we were all joyous at the realization that we would have a clear, sunny day. After so many rainy dull days the good weather was very welcome and worth the wait.

The Hong Kong skyline rivals New York City in its expansiveness and number of skyscrapers. There are 7,000 people per square kilometer here and people are practically living one on top of the other. The skyline is high rise apartment building after high rise apartment building. We were docked in Kowloon, which is one of the 3 provinces of Hong Kong, the 3 being Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. Kowloon is the shopping and entertainment district, Hong Kong is the financial district and the New Territories are the outlying areas.

We embarked on a tour called The Best of Hong Kong. Driving to our first stop we looked down the side streets and it was an amazing sight. As far as you can see the roads are topped with Chinese signs, lanterns, banners, etc. A closer look at the high rise apartments revealed laundry strung out on lines. Our guide, Polly, explained that almost no one has a clothes dryer because it is too expensive, so they hang their laundry out the window to dry.

Our first stop was the Bird Garden. This is a small space on a side street where people bring their birds in cages and hang them up side by side so the birds can socialize. (I am not making this up!) Apparently most people live in a space too small to have a dog or cat so the Chinese love their birds. We saw many caged birds, some accompanied by their owners and some unaccompanied, getting to know each other. It was kind of a day care for birds.

Right next to the Bird Garden was about 4 square blocks of flower vendors. This is where most of the flowers are prepared for hotels, restaurants, office buildings, etc. and it is a place of beautiful colors and fragrances.

Next stop was the first of the markets, the Jade Hawkers Market. We strolled through one side and out the other and spied another market in the next block that looked intriguing. It was the local residential market and it was really fascinating to see. No one tried to sell us anything because they knew we weren’t buying so it was just easy to walk along and stare at some of the most unusual and unidentifiable food we’d ever seen. Included were grubworms and what we later found out were bird feet, which is a delicacy in China. We were also told later that dogs really are eaten here; it’s not just a myth, but Polly assured us that we wouldn’t be trying any today.

From there we went through the tunnel under the bay to Hong Kong where we visited a tea house and a Taoist temple. The temple was quite busy as it is the beginning of Chinese New Year and people do a lot of worshipping this time of year. They buy about a dozen sticks of incense outside the temple, light it and take it inside. They do some praying over it while gazing at some of the most frightening statues you can imagine, then they leave gifts at the altar, mostly oranges it seemed. There was a man hanging huge coils of incense from wiring on the ceiling so the place was thick with incense smoke and it was hard to breathe.

Onward to the funicular ride which would take us to Victoria Peak with views overlooking the city. The funicular was quite crowded with standing room only and seemed like it rose at about a 45 degree grade. At the top was a very modern shopping center with several restaurants, one of which was our lunch stop, an art deco restaurant with spectacular views of the city. One reason I like cruising is so that I DON’T have to eat off the ship, but we keep taking tours on this trip that include food. I really didn’t want to eat in a Chinese restaurant but I was a captive. Well, it turned out to be delicious. And my favorite dish was the okra. (And I’m not making that up, either!!) Several people were surprised to find they really liked the okra. There was a chicken dish and pasta, too, and it was all very good.

After lunch we made our way to the opposite side of Hong Kong to the famed Stanley Market. This is the market that everyone was looking forward to. And it really was fun. We bought lots of stuff. Polly gave us 1 ½ hours there and that was all we needed. Shopping is such a big deal in Hong Kong that when we returned to the ship, we found two brand new duffel bags on wheels, gifts from Holland America. I guess they assumed we would all need additional bags after our shopping expedition.

That night we met some friends and ventured off the ship for the light show that the city performs every night. Hong Kong has made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running consecutive city light show. At 8PM sharp the music begins and the lights go on. There are lasers flashing and many of the buildings are lit up with different colored and configured lights. It lasted for about 15 minutes. Then we moved on to the notorious night market. This was a lot of fun. Vendor booths were lined up for several blocks, selling all kinds of wares like souvenirs, clothes, household items, electronics, jewelry, toys, you name it. We bought more stuff there but the best part was the people watching.

Manila, Philippines

Today we’re sailing the South China Seas and the waters are furious. I’m on the 9th floor of the ship and when we hit a big wave the spray shoots up to the windows. I look out on whitecaps all the way to the horizon. Earlier today I walked out on Deck 3 which is much closer to the water and watched as the ship’s bow smacked down on the waves. The ship shudders and rocks and you wonder why it doesn’t fall apart on impact.
What to say about Manila! Well, not much. We took a tour which included an ancient fort, two museums and a church. I don’t think there was much else to see there because most of the passengers took the same tour. The pictures we’re posting are of (1) the welcome sign and band playing upon our arrival; (2) a vehicle called a “jeepney” which is used for public transportation around the city and you see them everywhere; (3) one of many streets that encompass the market area that the tour bus drove through but didn’t stop; (4) and the best one of all, which was the view of Manila as we were leaving.
The best thing about the stop in Manila was that our lovely and charming Filipino staff and crew got to see their families. Most of the service staff is from the Philippines and we have gotten to know many of them so it was heartwarming to see them with their wives, husbands, parents, grandparents, children, brother and sisters. Holland America allows them to bring their families on board while the ship is in port and during the afternoon the pool was overrun with Filipino families eating and drinking and enjoying being together. I’ll bet more ice cream was dished out yesterday afternoon than the whole 53 days we’d been aboard.
So that’s all I’m going to say about Manila. There was just nothing there to inspire me to keep writing about it. We’ll be in Hong Kong tomorrow for a two-day visit so I’m sure I’ll have lots to say about that.
PS: I just found out that Ed put the picture of me on Dutch night on the blog. He sneaked that in on me. Just wanted everyone to know that he wrote that commentary and I didn’t. Of course, he didn’t include the picture of himself in his Dutch hat.

Muara, Brunei

Muara, Brunei
As I’m sure you’ve discovered, Ed was finally able to get pictures on the blog, so now you’ll have something to look at and it will make my job easier.
We were docked 20 miles from the city of Muara and we didn’t see it at all so I can’t say a thing about it. We had opted for a trip to the Ulu Temburong National Park. All the shore excursions are marked with a symbol to tell you how strenuous they are and we always looked for the one with the 4 people which means it’s the most arduous. So today was a “4 people” tour.
It was raining cats and dogs when we and about 30 adventurous shipmates climbed on the bus. During the 10 minute ride to the boat dock, our guide, Tom, told us a little about life in Brunei. Brunei is a sultanate with their King being the last of an unbroken line of descendants dating back 600 years. There is so much money in Brunei that every person has at least 2 cars, housing is cheap or free, education is free, health care is free, and all because of oil. He said that if we were to go to the city, we would see how “flashy” they are and that the King’s palace is the largest royal palace in the world. I regretted that we had only one day here because that I would like to see.
At the dock we boarded a speedboat for a 45 minute ride to a small resort village where we then got into small vans which took us 40 minutes away to an inlet on the Temburong River where we boarded longboats, each of which held 5 people, a driver and a guide. It was raining fairly hard at that point and we were all huddled underneath the plastic raincoats they had given us, but after the 30 minute longboat ride most of us were pretty wet. The ride to the National Park lodge was beautiful. The river snakes it way through mangrove forests and a dense jungle which brought to mind the phrase “the wilds of Borneo.” Ed got to see a monkey but I missed it. When someone yelled “look at the monkey” I looked up into the trees but the animal was on the shore and before I realized it we had passed it.
When we got to the park we were greeted by two Bruneian ladies dressed in traditional costumes. You can see them posing for a picture with Ed. They gave us a snack of unidentifiable origin and after pretending to eat it (Ed ate his and lived), we set off on our trek. We had been warned that there were 1000 steps to climb on our hike but it turned out to be 1226 steps. The first thing we encountered on the way was the suspension bridge that spans the river tributary. Only five people could cross at once and it was quite slippery. We had to hold on to the safety netting all the way across. After the bridge the remaining 995 steps loomed before us, taking us straight up to the top of the mountain.
When we finally reached step number 1226, we breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that we were at the base of the canopy walk, a series of 5 scaffolding structures and bridges that shot up 15 stories or 150 feet. Of course, we couldn’t come all this way and not climb the scaffolding. As we rose higher and higher we realized we were in the treetops, sometimes above the treetops, and as the wind blew and the trees swayed it gave the illusion that the bridge was moving and it really freaked me out! Ed, who doesn’t like heights, didn’t mind it at all. At that point we were about 1500 feet up (above sea level) in the air standing on a few pieces of aluminum and feeling quite exposed and defenseless. I was very happy to get back on the ground again.
Back down the 1226 steps we went and by the time we got to the suspension bridge again our legs were trembling uncontrollably. It was a very strange feeling. People all around us were exclaiming about how tired they were and how that had taken so much out of them, but I have to say that the whole day was exhilarating to us and we were pretty pumped up.
When we got back to the ship we felt hot and dirty and went immediately to our cabin, put on our swimsuits and robes and got into the Jacuzzi. When we felt refreshed we got a drink and went out to the back pool deck as we were sailing away from Brunei and wanted to watch our departure. I took Ed’s picture and decided to put it on the blog because he looks so cute in his little Amsterdam robe with a Miller Lite in his hand.
On to Manila!!

Dutch Night

Sometimes at dinner in the La Fontaine Dinning Room we have a theme night. One night it was Dutch Night. A picture can tell a 1000 words.

World Cruise Itinerary

Follow us as we cruise Around The World

Ship Facts
Cruise line Holland America
Ship name ms Amsterdam
Ship's Registry The Netherlands
Passenger capacity 1,380
Crew members 647
Gross tonnage 61,000 grt.
Length 780 feet
Beam 105.8 feet
Maximum speed 22.5 knots

Day 49, Sea Day

We are traveling north through Indonesia on our way to Brunei, Malaysia. We’ll be crossing the equator back to the northern hemisphere and winter, although it will still be in the 80’s here. We have traveled 15,750 miles from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Today the seas are mild 1.5 to 4 foot waves with partly cloudy skies with a 9:00am morning temp of 81 degrees.

I have hopefully figured out how to upload pictures to the blog (without erasing themselves) and have plugged in some older pictures throughout the blog. You may want to check them out.

ED

Bali, Indonesia Pictures

Bail, Indonesia
1st pic Hindu Dancer performing Traditional Dance
2nd pic Ed & Suzanne dressed to enter Hindu Temple

Bali, Indonesia

Bali, Indonesia
After Perth, we had three sea days and the first two were rainy and dull. In his 1PM bridge report on the second day, the Captain told us that we were heading toward Cyclone Nicholas, that he would try to stay on the outskirts, but that we should expect high winds and rough seas on Tuesday. We all braced ourselves for a battering, but Tuesday dawned clear and warm and we had our best weather day in weeks. Go figure!
Also on Tuesday, as we walked the deck, we noticed a large instrument called an LRAD, or Long Range Acoustical Device. Along with the LRADs there were huge fire hoses strung along the deck and several sailors walking around scanning the horizon. They were looking for pirate ships which I guess are fairly common in this area of the world. Apparently if they spy a menacing ship they turn on the noise machine and spray them with water. We’ll just have to take their word for it that this technique is effective against modern-day piracy.
As much as I’ve traveled, I still don’t know geography very well. I thought Bali was a city, but it turns out it’s an island all to itself. Because of the low tides, we had to anchor quite a distance from the dock and take tenders into the port. We were scheduled on a Virtuoso tour for the day. At the pier I was captivated by our welcome. The Balinese had decorated the gangway with their traditional checked cloth, lacy umbrellas and beautiful girls waiting to greet us with flower petals. The girls were quite young and extremely heavily made up and were wearing traditional costumes and headdresses of brilliant colors and shiny fabrics. At the end of the pier was a 20-piece “band” playing the most unusual music and instruments I have ever seen. The music had no melody, just a haunting beat that was almost mesmerizing.
We barely got past the band when the street vendors swooped down, hooked their claws in us and wouldn’t let us go. I’ve experienced this in many places but never quite as unrelenting as here in Bali. Even when we were on the bus they were at the windows begging us to buy their crafts. It was heart-wrenching; however, as we drove away, the vendors we had rejected smiled happily and waved us on our way.
We had a fantastic guide named Uta and it really is true that a good guide can make or break a tour. He delighted us with his stories and jokes and sheer joy of living, so much so that I was torn between watching him and looking at the scenery. But the scenery inevitably won because it was just so unbelievable and awe-inspiring. And this time it wasn’t only the natural beauty but the structures lining the roads that were so fabulous.
Most of Indonesia is Muslim but in Bali 80% of the residents are Hindu and their religion is the most important thing in their lives. There are more temples on Bali than there are houses. And it is these temples that were so amazing to see. Most of them were huge, elaborate, open-air buildings embellished with bamboo lattice work, filigree, statues, gargoyles, you name it. Around every corner loomed another enormous statue representing some aspect of Hinduism. Outside of almost every edifice was a shrine, usually draped with black and white checked cloth which symbolized the yin and yang, or balance of life. Hindus have a strong belief in karma and reincarnation.
Our main attraction on the tour was a visit to a temple with lunch and a traditional Balinese show. When we got to the temple there was a welcoming procession of beautiful made-up girls who gave us each a hot fragrant towel for our faces and a flower for our hair, men included. The same type of 20-piece band was playing under a pavilion with exquisitely-set tables for our lunch. As the meal was served, we were entertained by dancing girls and the band. It was a performance I will never forget as it was the most unusual and exotic dancing I have ever seen.
Our day included the obligatory visits to the wood-working shop and the batik factory, but I won’t go into that. I haven’t begun to do justice to this most unique and beautiful island. We really only got a snapshot of it in one day. It’s not a place we would want to live or maybe even come back to but the impression we got was that the people of Bali are easy-going, happy, polite and very friendly. Oh, yeah, with maybe a few pirates scattered here and there.
Onward to Muara, Brunei.

Yanchep National Park, Western Australia

Melbourne, Fremantle and Perth Australia

Melbourne Downtown Victoria Train Station Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia
When we sailed into Melbourne on Tuesday, the weather was gray and overcast and a little cool. After all the talk of the Australian summer, I was disappointed, but the weather did clear up as the day went on. It still remained cool but sunny. From the port in Melbourne we took a tram into the city. Melbourne has a phenomenal transportation system; trains, trams, buses, ferries, you name it. After the big tram we caught the little City Circle tram, which was free and looks and feels like an old-time trolley. Visitors can hop on and hop off at any time. As we rode around the city we saw the beautiful architecture, a blend of old and new, but the old buildings were the most beautiful and interesting. The Windsor Hotel, the Princess Theater, the library, the government buildings were all grand and regal and, oh so British. We were charmed by the layout of the city; there was Collins Street and then Little Collins Street, Flinders Street and Little Flinders Street, etc. One was a large boulevard and the next was a small road, almost an alley, and they lay side by side, each offering a different atmosphere. The big street was bustling with people and traffic and boasted the huge buildings, while the small streets had the quaint shops and coffee houses. We found ourselves stopping twice for the delicious Australian espresso coffee and needless to say, with all that caffeine in my system, I got very little sleep that night.
Our first stop off the tram was Victoria Street Market which was an amazing place. It takes up several square blocks and sells everything you can imagine from food to furniture. We browsed until our short attention spans for shopping were exhausted, but not before I purchased a new top because, as you ladies can imagine, I’m getting very tired of the clothes I brought!!!
We walked and walked around the city until my pedometer registered almost 8 miles. Our last stop was at Cook’s Cottage, the Captain Cook we’ve heard about ad nauseum on this trip. He’s the one who sailed around the world 3 times in a 750 foot boat and found Australia. (How many times have our anthropologists and historians in our speaker series reminded us how lucky we are to be sailing in this ship instead of Cook’s 750 foot sailboat? As if we need to be reminded!) Cook’s cottage was brought from England panel by panel in the 1930’s, reassembled, and sits in Fitzroy Park, Melbourne’s downtown park.

Fremantle/Perth

It took 3 days at sea to go from Melbourne to Fremantle. Right in the middle of those three days was Valentine’s Day and that evening one of the staff members joined us for dinner at our table. When that happens, the wine is free and free flowing. After dinner was the Valentine’s Dance and more drinks were consumed by me and to top off the night we went to the disco and danced the night away. So, Friday was a totally lost day.
Yesterday we docked in Fremantle, which is the small port city for Perth. We were booked on a tour to the Yanchep National Park. At the park we saw the adorable koalas in their natural habitat. They just stared at us as if we were the novelty. As we walked along the path through the park we came upon a kangaroo family; the father was quite large, the mother was smaller and was lying under a tree with her baby by her side; alas, not in her pouch. As you can imagine, this trio drew a crowd and after a while Daddy Kangaroo became nervous and stood up and gave us a glaring look. He stood this way for several minutes and when he thought it was safe, he gave Mommy some sort of signal and they all got up and ran (or hopped) to another location, right across our path. It was breathtaking and so exciting.
We had a special program with an Aborigine man who told us about his culture and showed us some of their primitive tools and weapons.
We had lunch under a pavilion and we saw a kookaburra. He wasn’t sitting in the old gum tree, but was perched on one of the support beams under our canopy. I had never seen a kookaburra and was surprised at how big and cute they are.
We saw black swans in a lake near the park. Black swans are found only in Australia. I much prefer the beautiful while swans we have at home; these black ones looked like they had been swimming in a tragic oil spill. Our guide gave us some bread to try to coax the swans to the shore and Ed snapped a picture of us throwing the bread with birds flocking around us and we’re standing under a sign that says “Please don’t feed the birds”.
We stopped at a lovely park that overlooks the city of Perth and we were sorry that we couldn’t stay one more day there and explore the city. We had opted for the National Park experience over the city tour and are glad we did but would love an opportunity to see Perth. I guess we’ll just have to come back. We spent the evening in Fremantle’s entertainment district and it was a lively place, full of young people celebrating a summer Saturday night. We were very sad to leave Australia because we’ve loved our time here, but we sailed at 11PM for our next destination, Padang Bay, Bali, Indonesia. We’ve spent this whole cruise at tropical islands and Australia, which is so American. From now on the ports of call are going to be exotic and quite exciting. If you think the blogs are long now, just wait.
As you’ve probably discovered, Ed has persevered and was able to get a few pictures on the blog. The ones of Sydney came through very well but since then the others won’t upload or download or load any which way. But he continues to work on it and we sure hope we can include pictures to go with my wordy, wordy epistles. By the way, we love the comments people have put on the blog. We hope there will be more as we go along.

Sydney, Australia

We’re sailing on the Tasman Sea again, between Sydney and Melbourne. I’m on the back deck by the Sea View pool. It’s warm and sunny and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. Frank Sinatra is singing, people are sunbathing, a crewman is varnishing the guard rail and I’m blogging. It’s a very peaceful scene.

Our two days in Sydney were phenomenal. We got up early the first morning. Coffee and sweet rolls were promised at 6 with narration by Barbara beginning at 6:15. We discovered upon emerging from our cabin that it was raining and foggy outside and we were disappointed. So we went up to the Crow’s Nest, the lounge at the top front of the ship, to watch the cruise into the harbor. We sat with a couple of our friends for a half hour or so, then went outside and braved the weather. Regardless of the rain, Sydney harbor was a beautiful sight. Our ship got the primo docking spot, just across the bay from the legendary Opera House. As we ate our breakfast on the Lido Deck, we had a bird’s eye view of the Opera House and the city that was just waking up on this Saturday morning. In spite of the weather, we were excited. We were in Australia.

We had a tour planned for the morning. Our first stop was the Opera House where we had a guided tour of the facility. The inside of the building wasn’t as plush as I’d expected it to be; a lot of concrete and wood paneling, but the story of how it was conceived and given birth was fascinating. Not being opera lovers, we didn’t schedule a night at the opera as many of our shipmates did, but part of me wishes I could have seen a performance there as the concert halls were designed for perfect acoustics.

From the opera house we motored around the city, looking at the views and the upscale suburban neighborhoods. Our tour guide, Lynn, was telling us about real estate values and prices and said “You know what they say about real estate: ‘position, position, position’”. I got a chuckle out of that phrase.

When Lynn dropped us off at the ship she said that Murphy’s Law would dictate that the rain will stop now that the tour is over, and she was right. As we ate lunch, the sun came out so we set out for a walk around downtown Sydney. It was Saturday afternoon and the streets and shops were very busy. The streets are quite narrow so there’s a lot of traffic congestion but it gives the city a cozy feeling. Sydney is immaculately clean, quite a feat when you realize there are 4.2 million people living there. It’s a very nice mix of old and new buildings; the old ones are made primarily of sandstone which is a reddish gold color and gives a nice contrast next to a building made mainly of glass. Statues and monuments adorn Hyde Park, a huge green space in the center of the city. Since the weather was fine, people were out enjoying their Saturday afternoon. We saw several wedding parties having pictures taken in Hyde Park, then moving on to their respective receptions in their Rolls Royce processions. February is the month of Chinese New Year and there is a large contingent of Chinese in Sydney. Every day was a celebration of some sort going on and Chinese people flooded the streets for the festivities.

We had made a date with Dick and Debra to meet for dinner and our chosen rendezvous spot was the 30’ long by 20’ high woman made out of peaches, the pedestrian-stopping work of art that was perched on the grounds of the modern art museum adjacent to our ship. The woman lies on her stomach with her legs at a 90 angle and her head and arms like a sphinx. I wish we could attach pictures to the blog because she is something to see.

The four of us went to The Rocks, an area right behind the museum which is the first settlement in Australia, the one those bad convicts from England developed in 1788. There are still buildings erected by the first settlers and the area is very quaint, with lots of narrow alleys and twisting streets. We had a glass of wine at the first hotel bar ever established in Australia and settled on an Italian restaurant for dinner. We had a lot of laughs and a good time was had by all.

Sunday morning we were on our own and began our day at the Rocks Market which is a weekend crafts market just a block from the ship. A good people-watching place. After that we walked uptown to the Queen Victoria Building, the old train station that was converted into a shopping mall. It’s a magnificent building full of stained glass and wrought iron, featuring a revolving wax figure of Queen Victoria surrounded by several crowns, scepters and pieces of jewelry worn by the royals in the 19th century.

A stroll through the Botanical Gardens came next. My favorite things there were the castle-like government building, the gigantic old fig trees and the thousands of bats hanging in a grove. These are yellow faced flying foxes similar to the ones we saw in Tonga but there were many more in the Botanical Gardens and they were more active; dozens of them were flying over our heads and squawking. The bats are large enough to provide a decent sized meal and many Aussies eat them.

After the gardens we were thirsty so we went back to The Rocks and had a glass of wine while sitting in a pub window watching the people at the market. Then moved on to walk the Sydney Harbour Bridge, affectionately known as the “Coat Hanger Bridge” by the Sydneysiders. The bridge is one mile across with outstanding views of downtown, the Opera House and the ship. On the way back to the ship we stopped at another old hotel with a rooftop bar for our second glass of wine.

Had dinner on the ship then took off again for another walk At 9 we met our friends Austin and Brenna for yet another glass of wine (well, I had 2) before embarking on the ship for our departure. Austin and Brenna are staying in Sydney for a couple of days and then going to the Great Barrier Reef before rejoining the ship in Perth. We had a great day. We think we walked about 12 miles over the day; our legs and feet felt every mile.

A couple of observations about Australia: where the Jamaicans say “No problem”, the Aussies say “No worries”. And the whole time we were there, I didn’t hear one person say “G’Day Mate”.

Milford Sound

Remember that short blog I’ve been promising? Well, here it is.

Christchurch

Windy, cold, foggy, rainy, gray and ugly. Went to town, bought a jacket. Move along, nothing to see here. Watched the Super Bowl on the ship. The end!

Dunedin

Now for another long one! We were up at 5:30 to see our arrival. It was nothing special but the sunrise was nice. We had a tour at 8:30. Our bus driver, Bloke, kept us entertained and informed as we drove around the lovely bay. At one point he drove by his grandchildren’s home and all of us had to yell “Hello Tuppence and Thruppence”. The town of Dunedin has some charm but not the charm of Wellington. Luckily, our tour didn’t include the town. We were headed first for the Penguin Place, the Yellow Eyed Penguin Conservation Reserve. The Yellow Eyed Penguins are an endangered species, the rarest penguins on Earth and found only in New Zealand. The preserve has built a system of hides and tunnels for visitors to view the penguins. We walked in silence through trenches dug into the ground and covered with camouflage and we were eye level with the penguins. We saw about a dozen babies and only one adult. Most of the adults at that moment were swimming about 20 miles out into the sea to get food for their babies. They eat the fish, then go back to their nests and regurgitate the food for their young ones. They do this every day for the first 3 months of their offspring’s lives and then, without weaning the babies, they stop feeding them. The babies, who are now adolescents, are kicked out of the home and forced to live on their own. The adults then gorge themselves on food until they’re fat, then rest and party for a few months until its time to breed again. The preserve does not feed the penguins or control their lives in any way; all they do is band them, track them and observe them. They do have a hospital where they can care for them if they are sick or injured.

After this tour we traveled on to the Royal Albatross Centre which, you guessed it, is an albatross preserve. These birds, as adults, have a wing span of 10 feet. We were warned on the way up to the nests that it is rare to see an albatross actually flying. It was guaranteed that we would see birds sitting on their nests because there were several newborn chicks. As we were watching the nests, suddenly over the top of a hill came a huge bird, swooping down toward our viewing area. No one was prepared for this sight as we all screamed “Oh My God”. Our guide, Grahame, said “No, that’s not God, it’s an albatross and all of you should play the lottery tonight because this is a very rare sighting.” The bird circled our viewing booth about half dozen times before he landed. We were all breathless with excitement. It’s true that we were lucky to see it because later we asked our shipmates who had also gone to the preserve if they had seen an albatross flying and no other tour had seen it.

We visited the only castle in New Zealand and the best part of it was the views it gave of Dunedin and the harbor. On the way back to the ship we stopped in town to see the railroad station which featured mosaics made of Italian marble. We were exhausted by the time we got back, so much so that we skipped the Mardi Gras party that the ship threw last night.

Milford Sound

Yesterday we traversed Milford Sound. It is actually three sounds; Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound, which are all part of Fjordland National Park, one of the largest national parks in the world. The scenery is indescribable. It’s a series of majestic mountain ranges plunging into the sea. We were incredibly lucky because this area gets an average of 183 days of rainfall a year but it was clear and sunny with the temperature in the low 60s. Because of the rainfall, almost every surface of the hills in Dusky and Doubtful Sound is covered with trees, shrubs and moss-draped crevices. In the afternoon we entered Milford Sound, often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World, which was the highlight of the day. Here the mountains are rocky with snow-covered peaks and scattered clumps of moss, ferns and trees. Waterfalls trickled out of the mountains into the sea. There is a 7-8 foot later of fresh water, under which is salt water, and the two don’t mix. The mountains are so close on either side of the ship that we felt we could almost reach out and touch them. In the morning people were out on the bow of the ship huddled in blankets with binoculars and cameras, braving the winds that felt much colder so close to water level. The ship had coffee and sweet rolls for everyone. In the afternoon the ship’s crew offered the passengers bowls of pea soup and cups of hot cider, which apparently is a tradition when sailing through Milford Sound. Our shore excursion specialist, Barbara, gave us a running commentary of what we were seeing and her lovely melodious voice added a wonderful atmosphere to this vision of grandeur. As I stood there contemplating the magnificence of this sight, it was impossible not to believe in a God that would give us such a glorious gift.

Today we are rockin’ and rollin’ on the sea. We’re traveling through an area that the Aussies and Kiwis call “the ditch”, which is the part of the Tasman Sea that connects New Zealand and Australia. So far this is a very rough passage. Water is sloshing out of the pool upstairs, practically flooding the decks around it. The outside Walkaround Deck is completely devoid of people because of the huge sea spray that engulfs the deck when we hit the waves. I think most of the older people are staying off their feet for fear of falling. I think its fun.

We have one more sea day before we reach Sydney so, until then, g’day mate.

Dunedin, Australia

Sun rise

Penguin colony

Albratross

Wellington, New Zealand

I promised myself that this would be a short blog but that was before I saw Wellington. Too sleepy to get up and out at 6:15 when the coffee boy came to the door, we turned on the in-room closed circuit TV camera to see the ship’s position and stayed in bed until we were docked. I didn’t realize for 12 hours what a mistake that was.

Wellington didn’t look like much initially. We were docked adjacent to a lumber yard about a mile from downtown. We decided to walk to town instead of taking the shuttle. The downtown is surrounded by hills with houses and apartments overlooking the city. It’s a small city even though it’s the capital of New Zealand. We wandered a little and then rode the cable car up to the botanical gardens. Before we left Ed had said he didn’t want to spend any time at the botanical gardens and I said OK, that I just wanted to see the rose garden. We ended up spending about 2 hours there because it was out of this world. By the end of the second hour Ed was in touch with his artistic side and was taking close up pictures of all the amazing flowers. The views from the top were breathtaking.

Wellington is divided into four quarters: Lambton Quarter has some of the most sophisticated and unique shops found nowhere else but New Zealand. Willis Quarter is a wonderful mix of shopping, civic buildings, galleries and the City to Sea Bridge. Cuba Quarter is funky, diverse, young and vibrant. And Courtenay Quarter is the heart of the entertainment district, with museums, movies and live theatre. We walked almost 8 miles exploring all 4 sections.

The waterfront is lively. It was Sunday so there was a clown show, a hula hoop contest for kids, a horse show, and water sports going on. I had to keep reminding myself that it is summer here. The weather was perfect; about 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

We were due to sail at 6PM and dinner was at 5:45. When we got to the dining room and I sat down I realized that I just couldn’t stay there; I had to witness our departure. I had missed watching our arrival into Lambton Harbor and I wasn’t going to miss seeing the ship sail out. So I told Ed to order my dinner and I took the camera and ran up to the front of the ship and I’m so glad I did. As I stood watching the indescribable views, I though to myself that I can eat a million dinners but I may never again have the opportunity to see this fantastic sight. I think Wellington is a place I could live happily ever after. And they say we haven’t seen the best of New Zealand yet!

Tomorrow we’ll be in Christchurch but it’s Super Bowl Monday and it sounds like most of our festivities will be on the ship.

Auckland, New Zealand

Thursday night we put out our room service card asking for coffee at 6AM because we wanted to be up to see the ship sail into Auckland. At last, a big city!! At 5:50 the tiny knock came at the door, waking us both out of a deep sleep. The waiter apologized for being early, saying that orders were slow that morning. But we were fortunate because the ship was at that moment passing the buoys that signified the entrance to the Auckland harbor, so we raced upstairs to the front of the ship to see city lights for the first time in almost a month. As the sun came up we saw the bustling city; cars, buses, people rushing to work. We were psyched.

This was the second of our 7 Virtuoso Voyager Club tour days and we all met in the Ocean Bar for our departure. There were 35 of us going. We got on a luxury bus and traveled around the harbor and we could see why Auckland is called the “City of Sails”. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of sailboats in the harbor. It was a spectacular sight. The bus took us on a tour around the harbor as the driver gave us the highlights of the city and life in New Zealand. Our first stop was the Auckland Museum where we had a private tour of the Maori section of the museum. The Maori are the first people to inhabit New Zealand and still exist in the country today. After the tour a group of young Maori people put on a short performance of their traditional song and dance.

From there we traveled one-hour north to the wine country. What we’ve seen of New Zealand so far is clean, tidy, modern, and as close to American as you can get. The countryside is rugged and yet beautifully manicured, bringing to mind the California coast and the hills of South Dakota all wrapped up in one sensational package. No wonder people say that New Zealand is the most beautiful place on Earth, and we haven’t even seen the best part yet.

We went to Heron’s Flight Winery and restaurant for lunch and the wine flowed for over 2 hours. The vineyard and winery is owned by an American and his Kiwi wife. It sits on a hillside so the view from one side of the winery is up the hill and the view from the other side is down the hill and the combination of the greens of the trees, the sculpted hedges and the rolling hills took our collective breaths away. Those of us who were there for the first time were in awe of the beauty.

Auckland’s traffic jams are legendary, especially on Friday at rush hour, and we were almost late getting back to the ship. Last call for passengers to board was 5:30 and we got on at 5:25. Again we rushed to the front of the ship to watch our departure. A large group of New Zealanders had gathered to bid us farewell and it was an awesome sight to see them waving and cheering us on as we backed out of the harbor.

Today we did the second walk for breast cancer. It was cold and windy outside so we did our walk around the pool with the dome closed. We did two laps for those who have died, two laps for those currently fighting the disease, and two laps in hopes of a cure. After our 6 laps the crew read names that passengers had submitted of those they wanted to be recognized and then they put a large wreath into the pool which had all the names inscribed on it. It was a very moving ceremony and many of us were in tears.

I always think I’m going to make these blog entries short but I guess my enthusiasm gets the best of me and I just keep writing and writing. Tomorrow we’re in Wellington, New Zealand and we don’t have an organized tour planned; we’re just going to explore on our own. I’ll give you a full report on that later!