Pictures

Gisborne on the walk into town from the port.

Christmas atmosphere on the Golden Princess

One of Gisborne's3 rivers

Afternoon tea on the boat

From an exhibition on protest in NZ.

A wake at Te Papa

The violinist whose music I enjoyed.

Akaroa 

Dunedin 

Aramoana 

Albatross colony 

Milford Sound

Melbourne and More

Had a short day in Melbourne, getting off to a hot and humid day after 10 or so.  By the time we got off  the ship,went through Customs, got our myki cards for public transport, walked to the tram stop it was already mid-morning.

Found Target and had a browse but didn't see anything wearable for myself.  Dieter got himself a dashing new short sleeved shirt, navy with Australian wildflowers in red and white, and another dark blue t-shirt. 

Couldn't get my bearings for some reason and as we had to be back on board by 3pm we didn't have enough time for the art gallery which I had been looking forward to.  Another time, another trip hopefully.  Did make time for a good cup of coffee at a trendy cafe.  By this time it was lunchtime and the streets and trams were packed with people out and about for lunch.  

Found the right tram and the right direction to get back to the port, then a warm walk back to the ship and the long queues of people waiting to get on. In-transit passengers had their own shorter queue, thank goodness.  Now there are 2000 new passengers on board, milling around familiarising themselves with the different venues and restaurants.

This is the second of three days at sea, so a lot of sleeping, eating and reading are our main occupations. The Christmas decorations are up and I heard Christmas carols being played in the background at breakfast this morning.  The patisserie buffet even has a delicious stollen which we have been indulging in.  

Haven't found the aerobic studio yet but it sounds a bit energetic to me.  The decks are also a bit windy for promenading.  It is warmer than it was in NZ waters and the larger number of children and teens are enjoying the pools.  Don't think my bathing suit will get wet somehow.  I will be going to the gym next Monday to get fit again once I am home.  

There are more family groups aboard now, and quite a few Asian travellers.  Have not come across many of the Kiwis aboard. We blend in like our feathered counterparts.

Today I went to a technology session, making the most of your Smartphone, all about apps.  Unfortunately my iPad was out of action for a couple of days and wasn't loading but it has come back to life again and I will be busy answering and reading my emails.  

Tonight is a formal night and I will be dressing up in my finery for the occasion.  The Rhapsody Trio is playing at 6 pm so better get a move on now. 

Dunedin and Fiordland

We  spent Saturday cruising round the sounds.  Doubtful Sound was cancelled as it was too windy, rough and cloudy but later in the morning we went up another sound, Thompson Sound, Thompson being an early surveyor, and then on to Milford Sound.  The weather improved a bit but was windy out on the deck where you had to go to hear a commentary. There  is a man from DOC on board commentating as we go and he also gave a presentation in the cinema on the fauna and flora of the area. It is certainly an easy way to travel and to see the essence of a place. Now  on our way out of the sound heading to the open seas en route to Melbourne.  

Listening to some lovely Gypsy-style violin music, easy listening I suppose you would call it. Puts me in a good frame of mind for the evening.  There is a full programme each day and night. Last night we went to a programme Dancing through the Decades  and I managed to get Dieter up to dance when it got to the 70s.  YMCA and the ilk. Anyway I enjoyed it all and we hadn't had a dance like that for quite some time.  There was an even older lady than me up dancing.

The food continues to impress. Last  night it was lightly pan fried orange roughy that I enjoyed for my main.  For dessert I had a stack of 3 meringues filled with cream and garnished with strawberry and a coulis. I usually manage an entree and salad as well as main and dessert. 

Friday  was Dunedin. My friend Pat came and picked us up at 10.30 and we drove straight to Olveston, a lovely home which had belonged to a well-to do family, the Theomins .  It was crammed full of beautiful china, clocks, oriental antiques, lovely artworks. We went on a an hour long conducted tour which was the only way of seeing the place anyway and was well worth it. There was a lovely garden as well. I took quite a few photos outside but unfortunately there was no taking photographs inside.

We then drove out to St Clair for lunch. St Clair is where I grew up and we went along the beach where we spent a lot of time as children, past our old family home which looks like a very small villa.  The sunporch down one side has been demolished and a carport put in its place.

Had lunch at a lovely cafe overlooking the water with the sun streaming in the window. Sampled the famous South Island cheese rolls.

From there we went to my sister Mary's grave. I always try to visit it when in Dunedin. She died in September 1966.  Last time I was there I arranged for a lovely china red rose to be put on her grave and it looks very nice.

After that it was time to drive back to Port  Chalmers and get on the boat again. They  had a highland pipe band playing on the wharf which added to the atmosphere. We had very good weather up and until including Dunedin and now that we are on the ship for a couple more days until we get to Melbourne it doesn't really matter that it is a bit overcast.

The days pass very agreeably with a lot of eating  and resting on our part. One meal blends in with the next. The range of food and delicacies from around the world are amazing.

 Starting with breakfast there are delicious pastries, breads and cold cuts plus all the usual cereals fruit and eggs done every which way. Lunchtime there an array of salad ingredients, hot and cold dishes, cakes and desserts to tempt the palate,

Dinner in the dining room is a selection of 5 or 6 gourmet choices for 5 or 6 gourmet courses.

There is entertainment right through the day and night at a number of different venues something for everybody I would say.  I am happy doing nothing but have been enjoying the Rhapsody Trio with the Hungarian violinist every evening - if we can get a seat.

I could very soon get accustomed to this shipboard life.

Breakdown at Sea

Today Sunday the 6 December the Golden Princess broke down for a couple of hours or more.  

Suddenly there we were no lights, then very dim lighting and the ship bobbing around going nowhere fast.  The automatic system for getting the generators going had failed and the engineers were using  a manual system.  In the meantime the NZ Coastguard had been informed!

Rushed to the cabin to have a drink of water and use the toilet before neither was available.  There were updates fro the Captain which stressed how the engineers were making progress.  The finally after a long couple of hours we started moving again.  The loos are flushing again, water is flowing through the taps and hopefully I will get that cup of tea my tongue is hanging out for, now that the lifts are running again.

Don't know how the NZ Coastguard would have coped with 2938 stranded passengers and 1000 crew stuck out in the Tasman somewhere!

Wellington and Akaroa

With 2938 passengers and over 1000 crew it takes a while to disembark each day with queues for shuttles and sometimes at the buffet at breakfast time.  We were bringing some bound volumes of coin magazines that Dieter was bringing to get to a collector in Upper Hutt saving about $10 in postage by doing so. I was nearly foiled by an officious woman from the boat's crew who informed us we couldn't "offload" anything without getting a clearance from Customs who arrived on board at 7 am and had been and gone 3 hours previously.  Nothing would move her.

Struggled back to the cabin with this carton all done up with string, Sellotape and stamps and disembarked for the day and with the aim to get that carton off by hook or by crook.  Anyway helpful NZ security people,  who couldn't have been more helpful contacted Customs who came back to the boat,  looked at the parcel from the outside, xrayed it to make sure it had no drugs in it and off we went off the ship with it to a Post Office downtown and it is  now on its way to Upper Hutt, freeing up a shelf in one of Dieter's bookcases at home.  What a kerfuffle.  We got a shuttle to town and back as the wharf was some distance from town. 

Went to the public library for some respite after that episode to pick up and send emails, then went to Te Papa to look at the NZ  art, then a collection of Modernist decorative arts collected by Walter Cook, who in a moment of confusion I thought they were referring to Captain Cook but no, this latter day adventurer and collector acquired  stuff from Wellington design shops and antique shops  from the 1960s onwards.  My kind of stuff too.  

Looked at another permanent exhibition of refugees' sobering stories of what they escaped from to settle in New Zealand over the decades.

Dieter wanted to look up an old friend  who worked at the NZ Film Archive near the Cuba Mall which we did and spent a half an hour catching up. He and his wife had a cute little cottage in Thorndon, a bit like our first Clarence St house filled with collectibles and treasures.  When their 2 kids got older they shifted to a bungalow which looks just as beautiful, and much tidier than our place ever will be with their collections of this and that all displayed beautifully. 

We then got the shuttle back to the boat by which time we had missed lunch and it was just refreshments and afternoon tea.  I had nachos, a scone and a piece of delectable pecan slice.  

We have been dining a bit later as there is some very nice gypsy type music  being played by a trio in one of the foyers every evening from about 5 to 7 with a couple of intervals between.

Today was Akaroa, a very  picturesque place with it very old wooden cottages, roses and plentiful cafes.   Once again we had to get a tender in to shore because the ship was anchored about 18 nautical miles out.

We walked  from one end of the village to the other and back again, stopping to look in shop windows.  Everything was crowded with us passengers  everywhere.  Some went on daytrips further afield as far as Arthur's Pass but we were content with the local scenery.  

This is the view from our cabin window when  we got up this morning.  

There was a very warm norwester blowing  by about 1 pm so we queued up to get a tender back and lunched back on the ship at 2pm.  Met a couple of nice women from Melbourne at lunch today and had a good chat.  At breakfast time where we usually join others at a table people  are not so talkative. At night we could join others but it is quite nice being together being waited on like in a restaurant.  Well it is a restaurant.  Today they had turkey at lunch time so a foretaste of Christmas.  And cherry pie for dessert.  It was a buffet with lots of choices.  My clothing is getting rather tight.  Will need that last week's exercise at the gym before Christmas.

Tomorrow is Dunedin and another story.

 

Gisborne

Just been listening to some lovely gypsy-type strings music played by the on-board Rhapsody Trio.  The foyer where they are playing is all sparkling with Christmas lights on garlands swathing the staircases and there are two big Christmas trees adding extra atmosphere.  

We have left Gisborne now and are sailing ever so smoothly to Wellington where we will be tomorrow Wednesday morning.

For our visit to Gisborne this morning we had to get a tender into Eastland Port, as the ship is anchored out about half an hour out of the Harbour.  It is not deep enough for such a huge ship.  We were greeted by local guides in bright green t shirts and straw hats answering questions on where to go and what to see.  It was just a 10-15 minute walk into town following a route chalked on the footpath along the waterfront then over a bridge and there we were.

It was another warm day so made our way to the library to pick up emails and send off another one or two.

There was a craft market there in a local square for cruise passengers' benefit.  Am conscious of not accumulating more stuff so after duly admiring some  mosaic-framed mirrors and chatting to the Maori woman who made them, moved on to the museum  over the side of the river again.

There was an exhibition of old portraits and other photographs by W. Crawford, an early local Gisborne brewer turned photographer who recorded local family and social life.  Round the turn of the 19th century and later.

The local Maori history formed the greater part of the main exhibition area.   Te Kooti and the battles round Gisborne feature.  

Another collection of beautiful Lalique vases in the most beautiful colours were in another room along with other decorative arts collected by the same collector, Professor W Richards if I remember rightly.  

After all that walking  and culture we decided to walk back to the city centre and get a shuttle bus back to the port and get the tender back to the ship.    

Lots of other passengers had the same idea and we had to queue for a half an hour before it was our turn to ply the waves back to the ship.  

Had a very late lunch, a rest and read in the cabin, and now this lovely music to herald the evening. Will be dining round 7.00.