Monday, Feb. 4, Christchurch
Each morning in New Zealand we have woken at 7 am to an announcement by the cruise director that “New Zealand Biosecurity Regulations prohibit the removal of certain items from the ship, which include fresh fruit and vegetables, meat of any kind, prepared meals (including sandwiches), diary products, any other consumable food item, and flowers, seeds or plants. Only commercially bottled drinking water is permitted to leave the vessel. All guests are requested to present their hand luggage for inspection to the Quarantine Officers stationed at the gangway. This is to prevent the introduction of new pests and diseases into New Zealand and to protect the local agriculture. New Zealand officials may impose on-the-spot fines for breaches of these quarantine laws. Bruce explained that if he does not give the announcement the ship will not be cleared and no one permitted to disembark.
As we left the ship, our bags, camera cases, backpacks, pocket books, etc., were inspected by the NZ officials. In addition, a dog (always a beagle) sniffed each person and bag. You are asked to hold your bag low so the dog can reach it. One of our table mates was putting her bag within sniffing range of the dog when the dog gave a bark. Jane was horrified and couldn’t imagine what she had. When the bag was emptied, at the very bottom was a tiny bud from a lei given to Jane several days previously. Fortunately, Jane wasn’t arrested or fined on the spot, the inspector disposed of the flower bud and we all had a good laugh at dinner that night.
Holland America provides shuttle buses from the dock to downtown and when we return to the ship the bus is boarded by an official at the cruise ship terminal. The official walks the length of the bus and checks each person against their Holland America key card and their photo ID. An unlikely bunch of terrorists I am sure.
The morning dawned cool and drizzly. We are docked in Lyttleton and at breakfast up with a couple from Stuart, FL to share a taxi to the Antarctica Encounter and Museum. The shuttle courtesy of Holland America to Christchurch took about a half hour. It was an interesting ride along the harbor on what we consider the wrong side of the road Once in Christchurch we grabbed a taxi ($40 for 4 of us and headed out to the International Antarctic Center.
Christchurch is the jumping off place for most of the research that goes on in Antarctica. The United States has a large presence where supplies and research materials begin their journey to the scientific bases in Antarctica.
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, driest and highest continent on earth. It is twice the size of Australia in the summer. In April the sea begins to freeze, spreading out around the continent during the winter until in late September or early October it has more than doubled its size.
The amount of precipitation that falls in Antarctica is comparable to the rain fall in the Sahara Dessert. Only an average of 2” of snow falls at the South Pole! Survival clothing doesn’t need to be waterproof….it doesn’t get wet. Even if you lie on the ice of Lake Vanda for as long as you like you won’t get wet.
The Antarctic Center made us wish the grandchildren were with us. They could have visited the specially designed “blizzard room.” We donned heavy parkers and put rubber boots on over our shoes. After entering the room, it began to get dark, the wind started to blow, and the temperature dropped. Two corners of the room were designated “safe” corners for those who couldn’t stand the wind chill which went to colder than you hope to ever experience.
It was on to feeding time at the blue penguin exhibit. The little blue penguin is the smallest and most nocturnal of the 18 species of penguins in the world. Like the kiwi the blue penguin is flightless. Using it’s flippers it “flies” though the water reaching speeds up to 6 kilometers an hour. It can dive up to depths of 30 meters to catch the small fish it eats --about 24 a day.
The female penguin lays two identical eggs which take about 37 days to hatch. At about 8 weeks the chicks are ready to go to sea where the will spend most of their first year, not coming ashore until they are at least 10 months old. Only about half survive their first year.
We tried unsuccessfully to get a cup of coffee in the coffee shop attached to the museum but it was too crowded, they were too slow and we wanted to catch the bus ($4 each) back to the city.
Once back to the city we wandered around for a short time and then caught the shuttle back to the Amsterdam for the super bowl party. The Queen’s Lounge was decorated with balloons and hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, and chicken wings were served. Bar service was available but until the last few minutes it was a pretty subdued crowd. Sadly, at the games end we cleaned up and went to dinner.
Tonight’s movie: Michael Moore’s Sicko. The entertainment: Comedian Frank King, one of the few American entertainers we’ve seen. Someone commented that the Americans have priced themselves out of the cruise ship entertainment market.
Tuesday, Feb. 5 Port Chalmers/Dunedin.
A wee bit of Scotland in southern New Zealand. And what a delightful city Dunedin was.
Captain Cook stood off the coast in 1770 and reported penguins and seals. This lead sealers to the area and the early years of sealing lead to a feud between the sealers and local Maori. European diseases and epidemics later reduced the Maori population by great numbers.
Dunedin was established at the Maori village of Otakou. It was originally called New Edinburgh but soon re-named Dunedin, the old Celtic name for Edinburgh. Dunedin is a planned city and the designer was instructed to emulate the characteristics of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the landscape made following the plans difficult. The world’s steepest street, Baldwin St, rises
With a l to 3+ grade. Every year a race called the Gut Buster is held on the street. Did we say that Dunedin was a college town?
After breakfast we joined Bob and Phylis Isban from Osprey, Florida to tour the city.
The Otago Peninsula forms the harbor and the road along the harbor gave us a very scenic from our dockage at Port Chalmers to Dunedin. The Peninsula is a renowned eco tourist area giving visitors an opportunity to see the Royal Albatross, the rare yellow-eyed penguin, seal, sea lions and many water and wading birds.
The center of Dunedin is aptly called the Octagon and there we picked up the hop on, hop off bus for a narrated tour of the city. At $20 per person it was a great way to get an overview of the city and its history. The hop on hop off allows you to do just that. If you get off, another bus will be along within a half to three quarters of an hour for reboarding.
One stop where the bus waited for us was the old railroad station. Now owned and maintained by the city or an historic trust it is a train station in the grandest sense of the word. The floor is made up of thousands of tiles. If I ever remember the name of the famous company that made the tiles I’ll post it later. .
Returning to the ship for lunch we then set out on foot for the little town of Port Chalmers. Like all the other ports we visited the commercial dock area is covered with stacks of cut trees and in this case a pile of wood chips that would cover a city block. Well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but if I can get the pictures up you’ll see what I mean.
After dodging lumber trucks and shuttle buses we wandered around (up hill of course) Port Chalmers for a couple of hours It was like stepping back into time with just a few shops, a lot of empty stores, a hotel out of a western movie and a small super market. And a used book store!
Really used books, not gently read books like we sell at the library in Bonita. The people, like everyone we meet in New Zealand ,were very friendly and helpful. Our only purchase was a roll of mints and a bottle of New Zealand wine.
It was back to the ship for Mardi Gras. The dining room was decorated with balloons and streamers with masks provided for the ladies. The staff were dressed in costume from the King of mardi gras to jesters and the like. Between the main course and dessert the waiters and kitchen help paraded around the dining room mardi gras style. A party was held in the Crow’s Nest for the night owls (read those who stay up until 11:30).
It’s sad to leave New Zealand. The country is beautiful and varied and the people wonderful.
And we can almost understand the language they speak.
Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Today we cruise the three major fiords (that the New Zealand spelling as opposed to the Norwegian fjord) within Fiord land National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site. The fiords can only be described as indescribable. Or perhaps jaw dropping. As we left the Tasman Sea and entered the first fiord, Dusky Sound about 8 am every camera on the ship came out. Later in the day we cruised Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound, each one more spectacular then the previous. Milford Sound is known as the wettest place in New Zealand. It rains an average of 182 days a year with an annual rainfall of 6813 mm. There is a 50% chance of sun. Someone must be looking out for the Amsterdam because we had a sunny, reasonably warm and clear day!
Dusky Sound is 30 miles long and was (of course) discovered by Captain Cook during his first expedition in 1770. The area was once home to the moa, a large bird similar to an ostrich but many times larger. The moa was hunted to extinction. Captain Cook had an exploration camp on the large island he named Resolution Island after his ship, the Resolution.
Cook did not enter the second sound, Doubtful Sound, as he thought it was just an inlet. The sounds make such quick bends and turns it is easy to see how he was fooled.
The area is home to seals, a very small pod of bluenose dolphin (about 50-60),penguins, albatross and many other birds.
There are no roads into the sounds with of one exception, a road, open only in the summer, to the base for tour boats at Milford Sound. Unless you’re on a cruise ship you can only view the Sounds by trekking in (sometimes it takes over a week), taking a small excursion boat, or flying over in a small plane or helicopter. There are reportedly areas in the interior of the park when no human has yet to set foot.
Glacial activity formed the land which rises to 6,600 feet at the northern end of the park.
The sides of the cliffs are granite, quartzite, and limestone. Chestnut and oak trees cling to the sides of the cliffs and form a temperate rain forest. Moss hangs from the trees and grows underfoot.
The water in the sounds is 600 to 1,000 feet deep. Because of the heavy rainfall, there is a deep layer of fresh water, stained dark brown from the tannin from the trees, on top of the sea water. The dark, fresh top water allows black coral trees to form and grow under water. Some of the black coral trees are reported to be 300 years old.
Milford Sound runs inland 9.3 miles and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise almost 4000 feet on either side. Absolutely incredible!!!!
The good weather held until we returned to the Tasman Sea. The days are getting longer (more clock changes tonight and tomorrow) and it is still reasonably light at 9 pm.
Everyone hates to leave New Zealand but Australian is just across the Sea , only a little over a thousand miles away.
Thursday, Feb. 7.
The Tasman Sea. Our good luck and smooth seas have ended. Someone must have offended King Neptune. Today we are experiencing force 9 winds (strong gale) and 12 foot seas. Between bouts of feeling a bit under the weather, I tried to go on deck for some fresh air. It was probably a good thing I couldn’t open the doors on either side of the ship as it was pretty nasty out there. The winds are now(8:45 pm) clocked at 44.5 knots and the seas described as “rough.”
Feb. 8, Friday, Still at sea but it’s a bit calmer.
Not much to report so I thought I would put in a little about our home away from home.
Built in 2000 in Italy, the Amsterdam is the flagship of the Holland America fleet. Not a “mega ship” by any means, she has a capacity for 1,380 passengers, is 780 feet long, 61,000 tons, is powered by 5 diesel generators, and uses 32000 gallons of diesel fuel a day. Maximum speed is 24.5 knots. From Ft. Lauderdale to Sydney we will have traveled 11,299 nautical miles.
The Amsterdam is considered mid-size in the cruising world. She has a wonderful art collection on board, with paintings, ceramics, statutes, ship models and the like scattered everywhere on board. The floral arrangement in all the public areas are very unusual and very beautiful.
There are 10 passenger decks, 12 passenger elevators, 2 swimming pools--one with a retractable roof, 18 public rooms, two jewelry shops (one very, very expensive), a two-tired dining room, a library, movie theater with pop corn served at each movie, a larger theater for shows and entertainment, a medical center with doctor and 3 nurses, a beauty salon, health spa, walk around deck and more. There are 3 self service laundry rooms with coin operated washing machines ($4. For a large load), free dryers and irons and ironing boards. I only use the laundry room to touch up items as our travel agent gave us laundry service as a gift. How much nicer than wine.
Speaking of wine…..it’s expensive. You can buy it by the glass, the bottle, or in advance.
A bottle of wine that would go for about $10 at home is $32 onboard. You can bring wine on board for consumption in your cabin only. If you want to have it in the dining room there is a corkage charge….I think it is about $15 or $20.
We like the Amsterdam because of it’s size and the fact it is not glitzy and gimmicky. We don’t need a rock climbing wall, skating rink or water slide but do appreciate the teak deck chairs, blankets on deck when it is chilly, a Lido and dining room staff that knows our names, and coffee and tea served on deck.
On this world cruise there are about 1214 passengers and a crew of about 626. Most of the crew are from Indonesia or the Philippines. They sign on for the entire four month cruise.
It will be very difficult to get back to Falmouth and have to plan meals, cook meals, serve meals, wash dishes, make beds, do the laundry, get up from the table for another cup of coffee, take my own towel to the pool, not to mention clean the bathroom, vacuum, or change the water in the flowers in our room and drive to where I want to go. I think the motto on the ship is “ask and you shall receive.”
Tomorrow, Sydney.
We have been advised to be up on deck or in the Crow’s Nest (a lounge on deck 9 at the bow) by 6:00 a.m. to witness the sail into Sydney Harbor. Thankfully, they will be serving coffee and “opera house” rolls at that ungodly hour.
