Windy Wellington!

After a smooth sailing from Dunedin last night, we arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand located on the south coast of the North Island, and tied to the dock at 8AM. Captain had two tugs assist in securing the ship to the dock as the city was measuring up to it's breezy nickname.We ordered in room service for breakfast and had a leisurely disembarkation into the cruise terminal. Lots of staff on hand to direct us and a male 'glee' club serenading us with barbershop-like songs as we pass through to the shuttle buses ($5ea return) to take us into town.
WHile waiting for the shuttles to return from dropping off earlier passengers, a rain squall hit the dock, soaking most in line and turning brollies inside out. Peggy and I broke out the rain ponchos we bought at Phillip Island Penguin encounter and stayed mostly dry. We stopped at visitors information for directions and a map and hten visited the Te-Papa.
This popular Museum has the intriguing stories of Wellington's social, cultural and maritime history. Exhibitions use precious objects and stunning special effects including a tank with a giant squid measuring over 10 feet long!
After visiting the F1 exhibit consisting of race cars dating from the 1950's to the present models, hosted by Visa Platinum, we left the museum for lunch at a local restaurant of soup and sandwich (Peggy), chips, and a meat pie (Brian).
We then walked to Lambton street to take the cable car up to the Botanical gardens and an awesome view of the City. We 'streetwalked' Lambton before catching the shuttle back to te ship. A scuffle broke out when the head of the queue ended up at the end of the bus that didn't open and later comers boarded ahead. Not great crowd control, but some pretty shabby behavior by some of our ship mates.
Back to the ship to find the elevators out of service during a test of the electrical system, so we got some good exercise today!

Missing Christchurch

We continue to be 'middle of the pack' in trivia with our 'septic' team-members (an aussie term for Americans). Nice folks but not a 'rounded' group... need input from Aussies or Brits.

Overnighted at the dock in Dunedin during a westerly gale (force 9) which was forcing the stern away from the dock, breaking a mooring line to the extent a tug had to stay on until 11PM pushing against the stern. The deep water harbor at Port Chalmers has a narrow dredged channel with exposed sandbars either side of the channel and the good Captain Edward Perrin (remembered him from the transatlantic cruise) didn't want to risk having the Star run aground.We sailed away at 7AM causing us to miss Christchurch and the Antarctic exhibit and we are now heading for Wellington.

I am battling a cold/ticklish cough making sleep challenging for both Peggy (my snoring) and I (my coughing and stuffed nose). Drinking plenty of liquids and some cold 'meds' seems to help.

We have met some nice folks at dinner; Dan and Harriet from Cleveland, and Iain and Amanda from Simcoe, who have invited us to join them for the Formal dinner November 2nd (note to self, need to buy a dinner jacket in Wellington).

Dunedin

We shared a table at dinner last night with Myrna and Wayne from Lacombe, Alberta, and Brian and Sandra from Newcastle England. While discussing our various plans for touring Dunedin, we agreed to meet this morning and try to secure a 6 passenger cab so we could follow the suggestions Marc Pavior-Smith, our ex-pat New Zealander from Sydney, recommended. We found Liz and her Toyota van, so boarded for a three hour tour. We started out at the steepest road in the world, boasting a 35% gradient, travelling up and back down in the van and receiving a certificate of authenticity at the bottom, validating the transit. We then travelled to Signal Hill for a great panoramic view of Dunedin a town that emulates a Scottish hamlet which was surveyed and planned prior to the arrival of scores of immigrants from Britain in the mid-1800's.
We visited the First Presbyterian church a beautiful NZ standstone edifice built in the 1800's and then the train station which boasts tiled walls and floors and some great stained glass panels with train images.
Afterwards we visited the Settlers museum for some insights into the relationship between the settlers and the Maori, first nations peoples, who negotiated away the rights to much of NZ for a song. Mediation and restitution only occured in the mid 1990's. After getting dropped off back at the 'Octagon' a central 'square' in town, we found a nice bistro restaurant for lunch and some NZ lager.
We returned to the ship via bus shuttle ($7.50PP one way) just ahead of increasing winds and a driving rainstorm ( and in time for afternoon trivia!).

Fiordland and Heading for Dunedin

We spent two days at sea from Sydney to NZ playing trivia and passing the time. The Production show last night, 'Words and Music' was great and all about Broadway shows and tunes, making us want to return to NYC. Later a group called Liquid Blue played some 60's and 70's tunes in the Explorer Lounge.
After two days at sea we arrived at the NZ coast this morning. The seas last night were, again, rough and caused us to sleep parallel to the headboard to 'rock' with the ship head to toe instead of side to side. We finally got up around 8AM to find we were already transitting Milford Sound in Fiordland, NZ. THe region is a national park which was first found by Europeans when Cook arrived in 1773. It was recognized as a park in 1952 and a world heritage site in 1986. The area reminded us of other transits, particularly Active Pass between Galiano and Mayne Islands, and the vegetation is similar (less teh arbutus).
It was clear and sunny early but, after a midday nap, the ceiling came down adn visibility is now less than 1/2mile.
We were again middle of the pack in trivia, but meeting some nice folks, Dorothy and Tom from Upstate New York, Bill and Nancy from San Francisco, and Dave from Chicago.
Tomorrow morning we arrive in Dunedin, a community with a strong Scottish heritage. We will likely hire a taxi to take us to several of the attractions Marc Pavior-Smith suggested. We are looking forward to doing a bit of walking, as the weather has closed down the outside decks causing us to feel a bit sluggish.
A pending cold is not helping either. As tomorrow is an early start, we will order room service and have a quiet night tonight.

Heading for NZ

Embarkation was a breeze as most had already boarded the ship, when we arrived at the terminal at 5PM. We had a buffet dinner, as our luggage hadn't arrived in the cabin yet and smart casual was the dress for the dining room.We departed Sydney harbor at 9PM on the 24th after two great weeks in Australia. Captain Edward Perrin, our master aboard the Grand Princess transatlantic cruise, is at the helm.
Sunday was a lazy day at sea, with a few trivia contests to fill the time. WE teamed with a couple from NY, Dorothy and Tom, and Dave from Chicago, and finished in the middle of the pack. Dinner was again buffet style and we caught the headline performer, the lead singer of the Little River band, who put on a very good show with the Princess stage band to a less than energetic audience.
The seas were quite rough last night, and it continues into this morning as we approach the fiords off of NZ. There are 200 people on board doing a round trip (60 days) and we met some who indicated that they had to miss one of the transits and Dunedin last cruise due to the weather. Time will tell.

Last day in Australia

We can't believe it has been over two weeks since we arrived 'down' here. We have had some great experiences and memories and met some wonderful folks. Re-uniting with Marc and Barbara has put an exclamation point on our time here, as their hospitality and generosity has been world class, and 'thank you' seems to fall so short.

YEsterday, we went to Paddy's market near chinatown. It is in a huge building with hundreds of 15 x 15 ft stalls with all kinds of 'stuff'. We bought some tea towels, a couple pairs of shorts and a polo shirt, but could have done more had luggage weight not been an issue.
Afterwards, we caught the monorail to Queen VIctoria building, a beautiful, large sandstone edifice that contains some very high end shops, Dolce and Gabbana, Ferragamo, etc. We visited a souvenire shop for some baby 'Ugg's' for Peggy's beautician and had a nice lunch. Peggy visited the washroom and came out all agog about the red leather couches and marble countertops.

Marc and Barbara returned to teh condo and we checked out as they took us to 'Home World', the worlds largest display village on a large tract of land that home builders use to exhibit their designs and finish. There are over 180 homes which are open to the public and ultimately will be sold off to form a new subdivision. We walked through several and it gave us a good sense of the costs in Sydney for constructing homes of varying fit and finish.
http://www.homeworld.com.au/index.php


We returned to Rosemont Manor for happy hour and enjoyed the company of M&B's cruise companions, Brit and Jennifer, who had just returned home from the transatlantic cruise aboard the Emerald Princess. We enjoyed a fine meal of BBQ's steak and sausages, Corn on the cob, asparagas and salad and washed it all down with some good Australian wine. WE discussed a possible 18 day future cruise with an itineraries starting in Buenos Aries and ending in Santiago, Chile. HAL ($6399) includes a cruise of the Chilean fjords where the Princess ship, the Star ($3045) is too large for that transit. Both are in January 2011, so our RCI credit might work for one of them.

The Star Princess sails at 9PM tonight, and we now look forward to that leg of our adventure.

Blue Mountains and Sydney by day

We took the Grayline tour to the Blue mountains. They get their name from the hue the hills have as a result of the oils given off from teh Eucalypts in the heat. We stopped en route to see a wildlife refuge and pet and photograph KOalas, Wallabees, and see Wombats, Crocs, and a myriad of birds. After viewing the 3 sisters rock monoliths, we went to a scenic stop for lunch, a ride on the steepest railway (52deg) on earth followed by a walk through the forest floor back to a Gondola ride up to the facility. It was a very hot day and the coach's A/C was not working well. After a stop at the Olympic Village, we abandoned Dave and hte coach in favor of a river ferry ride ($11 for two) back to Sydney. It was a great way to finish a very nice day.

Today we toured 'THE Rocks", an old area of town htat has been revitalized with shops, cafes and hotels. Afterwards, we took a harbor ferry to Darling Harbor for lunch and a bit of Shopping, followed by a monorail ride to Queen victoria building and a return trip to the Sydney tower for OZwalk which we missed the first visit. Sydney harbor is as beautiful as advertized with great modes of transport over and around it.

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Sydney tower and Manly Bay

We were freelancing today, on our own, as Marc and Barbara dropped us off at 1130PM. We were awakened by the phone at 720AM by the concierge asking if we had a Gray Line tour, as the driver was looking for us (!). I was convinced that the tour was Wednesday (tomorrow) so we hurriedly negotiated a change in the departure date.

We had breakfast and Peggy did a bit of laundry, then we struck out into the heart of downtown Sydney. We jumped aboard the 555 bus, a free shuttle around the downtown core and we got of near the Sydney tower stop. The tower is 305 M tall to the viewing platform, affording awesome 360 degree views of Sydney, its harbor, and hte outlying areas. We took a load of photos and mailed a postcard from the top.

After a snack of chips, we rejoined the 555 down to Circular Quay and boarded the harbor ferry for Manly. It is about a 30 minute ride across Sydney harbor and departs from right beside the famous Opera house. From the ferry dock, it is a 5-10 minute walk to Manly beach via the Corso promenade which is bounded by shops and restaurauts on both sides.

Manly beach faces out onto the Pacific Coast with only 1000 miles of water between it and New Zealand. After a filling Thai lunch at a restauraunt overlooking the beach and the South pacific waters (around 330PM), we returned to Sydney and back to the hotel via taxi (we learned the free shuttle bus ends at 330PM).

We are off to the Blue Mountains tomorrow morning at 0710.

Sydney and surrounding areas

Marc picked us up at the hotel on Sunday morning and took us on an all day 'hop-on, hop-off' tour of Sydney. We went through the Rocks, and up to Bondi Beach area and then on to the Olympic village of the 1990 Olympics. The Olympic flame has been converted to a water feature in the park, and the ground is inlaid with tiles representing all the gold, silver and bronze olympians. We found Daniel Igali's as well as Simon William's tiles and the fact that Marion Jones two tiles have been removed as her victories were found to be performance drug assisted.

After touring, we returned to Marc and Barbara's beautiful home in Pennant Hills and met Barb's brother, Ian and his wife Ros. After drinks, we had a great BBQ'd leg of lamb dinner and then dinner table discussions with the four on a range of topics. We never seemed to run out of things to talk about.

This morning, we had breakfast and Barb prepared a picnic lunch and we ventured north to the Hunter Valley Wine region for some samplings. We stopped at a quaint little hamlet, Wollumbi for lunch. The region is noted for Semillon and Shiraz grapes, but had a couple of nice Pinot Noirs which we purchased.

We returned to Sydney for dinner at M&B's lawn bowls club and then they drove us back to the condo downtown.

They are great hosts, and great ambassadors to Sydney (even though they are Kiwis) and we owe them a lot for their hospitality.

We have the next three days on our own downtown and a tour Wednesday to the Blue Mountain region West of town.