Auckland

Do I like Auckland?    I have to admit that it’s never swept me off my feet.  I do like New Zealand – except Auckland. For some reason, I can’t relate to this city. It’s more than all the construction activity in the port area and elsewhere around the city (for a new underground railway), so perhaps my feelings are irrational, but there it is. Perhaps it’s partly because once you get away from the waterside area, it seems to be just another city?    For some reason, we don’t have a full day here. We’re supposed to be back on board at 2.30 pm. Perhaps it’s the tides, which we were told influenced the arrival and departure times of our relatively large ship at Tauranga.   Anyway, I can live with the comparatively short stay here.

We went off the ship and had a great coffee, in a laneway cafe – friendly and wi fi available (so that’s a plus for the city)!   I then walked around the waterfront area, which is being developed even further with the “Wynyard” development.    Yes, lots of eating (and drinking?) options, and plenty of charter vessels available, but an hour or so was adequate.

Sunrise entering Auckland harbour

Construction work for underground railway, in front of port

Lots of big yachts, many available for charter

City skyline

Pedestrian bridge

Harbour bridge

Many dockside eating options (in background)

City skyline (again)

Mount Maunganui

My impression of Mount Maunganui  last time was that it’s actually a pleasant little “village”.   The atmosphere is still here, but on this trip it seems bigger than I recall. However, the shops are all very tourist-oriented (no supermarket, just expensive convenience stores)!     Checking the schedule of cruises calling here, during February there’s a ship here on average every day.    Perhaps this is a busy time of year, but it certainly suggests that the cruise industry makes a significant contribution to the economy around here.  In particular, it’s the jumping off place for tours to Rotorua.   It also has quite a few apartments, in some ways like a mini-Gold Coast.    I’ve also read that it’s a busy cargo port, which is consistent with the facilities in the port area.

Last trip, I did the walk up Mount Maunganui.   I plan to repeat that later in the day.  did this walk …err, climb, again – being careful to get out of the way of the iron men and ladies doing it at a much faster speed than me (one even had a pack).    It’s 232 metres in height (but it seemed more…?).  Very worthwhile, for the sense of achievement and for the views, north along the coast, inland towards Tauranga and south along the surf beach.

The closest large town in Tauranga (which is the town mentioned in the itinerary), and there’s a dedicated bus service ($15 return) but we‘re not planning to didn’t do that.  There were plenty of shops in the immediate area (and S was very happy with her purchases!)

My access to wi fi cost me a cappuccino, but definitely worth it!

Arriving Mount Maunganui

Sheltered beach (there’s also an ocean beach)

Looking north along the coast

Looking down on to surf beach

Close to summit

Summit

Track on way down

Another view of surf beach, on the descent

Gisborne

For some reason, our cruise itinerary this time took us to Gisborne, instead of Napier (as was the case last time we did this cruise).    Well, although we found Napier interesting last time, we’ve never been to Gisborne.  Again, we had to transfer to the wharf using the ship’s tenders (apparently our ship is too big to come to the wharf) but there were free shuttles into town – a nice touch, even though the drop off point in town was right in front of an arts & crafts market!    I walked back to the ship from town (about 10 minutes), and was very impressed with the number of volunteer guides along the way.    In fact, there have been lots of helpful guides in most of the ports.  Thinking about it, there are volunteer guides around Melbourne too, but I at least tend not to take too much notice of them.

Gisborne itself seems to be a pleasant town.    I’ve read that it’s close to the most easterly point in New Zealand, so is first place in the country to see the sun each day.   And the local chardonnay is said to be well known.  It’s also noted as the first place in New Zealand that Capt Cook landed at, although he didn’t get a very friendly reception.    I had some spare time and am regretting that I didn’t walk to one of the monuments to him;  I just wasn’t organised.

The local library is in the same street as the shuttle bus stop, and they were very helpful giving me instructions to log on to the wi fi.

Market, around the corner from the main street

The main shopping street

Unusual “settlers” window at All Saints Church, Gisborne.

Clock tower, Gladstone St, Gisborne

Marina, Gisborne – there are a couple of bars here, so would have been a good place for a drink!

Wellington

The ship berthed at a working wharf, so we weren’t allowed to walk into town. Free bus shuttles were provided instead, which operated very efficiently on a loop, with two stops at each end of the main part of the city – and lots of helpful (volunteer?) guides. For some reason, we had to be back on the ship by mid-afternoon, which suggested an early start. As it turned out, S had booked a sight-seeing tour, so I went my own way. Given the timings and shuttle arrangement, this was quite a satisfactory outcome.

I headed to the nearby Te Papa museum, which I hadn’t visited last time we were here.    This meant “passing” on the cable tram, but I decided I could live with that.   When I got off the shuttle I asked about wi fi, with the answer being “it’s everywhere” – which in fact it is!  Very visitor (and student) friendly.

The museum building is big, with a range of “interesting” spaces.    The displays are very well done, although predictably dealing with the themes that you’d expect:   settlement from the time of the Maori arrivals, the Europeans, people from the South Pacific and, yes, refugees.    There’s a very frank acknowledgement of the massive amount of forest clearance over the years – started by the Maoris, but reaching a crescendo in the late 19th century.    There’s a viewing platform over the city and a couple of places to get a decent coffee!   There are special exhibits for Gallipoli and the Terracotta Warriors;  having seen the Terracotta Warriors in China, I didn’t think I needed to pay to see them here, and there was a queue for the Gallipoli exhibit, so I passed on this as well.

Outside in the grounds there’s a compact but extremely well presented “bush city”, with areas including caves, swamps and various types of forests.

Outlook from ship at wharf!

Entrance to Te Papa museum

Display of “Terracotta lanterns” in museum courtyard

Settlement over the centuries

Confronting the forest clearance issue

Differing interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi

Outdoor viewing deck

Display

Swamp in “bush city”

Several levels

Forest

View over city

Akaroa

As with our last cruise, the closest that cruise ships can get the Christchurch is Akaroa.   When I was subsequently in Christcharch in 2016, I noticed then that there was still a lot to do repairing the earthquake damage.   So we didn’t think it worthwhile to try and get there while at Akoroa.    Nor was there a need to do the TranzAlpine train trip again, as not only did I do it on our last cruise to these parts, but I did the complete trip in 2016.

Akaroa is a small town on the Banks Peninsula, with a French heritage deriving from the fact that the first settlers in the area were from France, although they arrived after the British had claimed the whole of New Zealand.
Today it receives a lot of calls by cruise ships.   I don’t know if the restoration of Lyttelton as a cruise destination for Christchurch is on anyone’s agenda, or what will happen to the town of Akoroa if the ships end up going there instead. In the meantime, access from the ship is by launch shuttle to the small wharf near the town’s main street (very tourist oriented!).

I seem to recall being taught that the Banks Peninsula was so-named after Joseph Banks because of the variety of botanical specimens he found here. However, on my earlier visit to this area, and again this time, I was struck by the number of nearly-bare hills, with wide expanses denuded of tree cover – and lots of sheep!

We walked the length of the town, which was busy because there was another cruise ship as well as ours in the harbour plus there seemed to be a number of local activities since it was Sunday (such as a local dragon boat racing competition). Lunch was at a local mid-range restaurant. So, all pleasant enough before a short queue for the return to the ship by tender.

Ship’s tender (capacity 90 people)

Hilly but lots of bare areas

B&B

Along the waterfront

Dragonboat races

St Patrick’s

Some remnant vegetation

Departing Akoroa Harbour

Dunedin

Cruise ships arrive at Port Chalmers which is about 14 kms out of Dunedin.   We “passed” on the organised excursions, and took the “shuttle” into town.    So long as you had NZ currency, this was a breeze.   It was very well patronised, too, although it hadn’t been given a lot of publicity on the ship.

We checked out St Paul’s Cathedral, the “First” Presbyterian Church, the small but good art gallery, the famous railway station and the local equivalent of Woolworths (to stock up on mineral water).   After having coffee at the art gallery, there were noises in the Octagon outside – the Scottish bands were gathering.   I couldn’t count how many there were, but obviously there was going to be a “band-fest”.   Things didn’t seem to be moving very fast, and there was a hint of a shower in the air, so we didn’t wait to see the outcome – but suffice to say, I’ve never seen so many sets of bagpipes in the one place!

Free wi fi was provided in the terminal building, which is a nice touch (although it did drop out occasionally).  There was another cruise ship in Port at the same time as us, but the local tourism authorities certainly deserve credit for rising to the occasion – everything is extremely well organised.

St Paul’s Cathedral, overlooking Octagon

Modern addition to interior of St Paul’s

Rabbie Burns statue. Apparently this is Dunedin’t first statue, obviously reflecting its heritage, although he died before Dunedin existed.

Nolan in the art gallery

Bands rehearsing

More rehearsing

Tuning a bagpipe? I thought that was impossible!

Railway station……the obligatory photo!

Fiordland

We had a couple of “sea days”, and on the following day, it was “scenic cruising” through Fiordland. We enjoyed the Fjiordland crusing when we did it 5 years ago, but on this trip we did it in reverse order.    Our day this time consisted of cruising into Milford Sound (early in the day) before pivoting and returning to the Tasman Sea, then passages through Thompson/Doubtful Sounds (about lunchtime) and Breaksea/Dusky Sounds (late afternoon). Especially in Milford Sound, there are many waterfalls and all offered quite close-up views of the steep sides.

At one point in Doubtful Sound, we passed another Princess line cruise ship travelling in the other direction. The crew in our area were quite excited, waving and calling out. I think some of them had worked on the other vessel, and perhaps they knew others who were on board her.

Our trip so far has included a few patches where the ship has moved quite a lot (although you wouldn’t say it has been “rough”), and on the day cruising through Fiordland the sectors in the open sea were quite “vigorous” at times. The weather has been showery: patches of rain but occasionally sunshine.

Cruising – setting sail

By the time this is posted, we’ll be out of range of on-shore internet, but I thought I’d record some more thoughts.

I guess it’s stating the obvious, but I haven’t purchased internet access while on the ship.   It’s expensive and apparently slow.  And I don’t have the elevated status of “frequent cruisers” who get a free allowance.    So, I’ll be making do as and when I can with wi fi access when in port, which I found last time to be basic but adequate.  Time will tell if the same applies on this occasion.

There are a couple of “sea days” before we reach Milford Sound, and my intention is to “chill out” in the self-contained little world of a cruise ship, everyone living in the ship’s own reality with hardly any connection to the “real world”.

I’ve brought some reading, including a Maigret story. Thanks indeed to B for his  very thoughtful gesture of this book.  It was hard to resist the temptation to start reading it before we left, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to put the book down.

Cruising – boarding

Last time, I was able to post my initial impressions while still within sight of the coast.   This post is actually being prepared after boarding but before departing (a couple of pics added just after departure).  We’d been given a time to arrive to board, which seems logical:  there are a lot of passengers and a finite time within which they have to be processed.   There were lots of staff around (but it helped to have printed out our baggage tags and boarding passes beforehand), and things moved along quite well – except the security clearance.   There was a lengthy queue for this, but we were directed to sit down in rows while waiting our turn.   It seemed to take longer than it actually did;   in fact, I think the time taken from getting out of the taxi to getting into our cabin (sorry, “stateroom”) was about 35 minutes.

The muster drill took place after boarding but before departing.

View from balcony before departing

The accommodation is fine, although our “stateroom with balcony” doesn’t have an Australian power point.  I was prepared for this, and have a US style adapter.  It does have a lot of storage spaces, including a kind of “walk-in robe” area.   The balcony is larger than I was expecting, but it remains to be seen how much use we’ll make of it.

Getting ready to depart. Slight delay due to wind.

Farewell Port Melbourne!

Cruising (2)

The emails are still coming.   The latest one to arrive was a “move over” offer:   accept a lesser cabin and we’ll give you a heap of “on board credits”.

The cruise company is obviously fine tuning the allocation of cabins.  We had a similar offer the last time we took a cruise, although then it was more generous but involved going on a different cruise.  This time, we chose our cabin (sorry, “stateroom”) as part of the booking process, but there’s also an option just to specify the category you want but not the actual cabin.  I read that  some cruisers do it this way in the hope that they’ll be upgraded, and no doubt the cruise company is arranging things to meet the commitments they’ve given.

Be that as it may, we “passed” on this offer.   Some of the lesser category cabins on this ship are not at all desirable, so we wouldn’t want to take that risk.  On top of that, I’m hopeful that we won’t spend as much on board as the credit that’s on offer (although time will tell!) – although I see that the offer is for a “refundable credit”……..

EDIT – and after posting the above, yet another “offer” arrived by email:    “Move over” to another cruise (can’t be longer than this one), and it will be “free”, with fare (but not taxes) paid on this one transferred across as “refundable onboard credit”.   Well, we actually paused for a couple of nanoseconds this time before we rejected it:   challenges in finding another cruise, packing well advanced for this one…..

But if anything had arisen in our lives that had us wavering whether we wanted to go ahead on this trip, the offer could be attractive (and probably easier than claiming on travel insurance).   The challenge would be not to spend the “onboard credits” so as hopefully to get at least something by way of an eventual refund!