On to auckland

Bay of Isles

Being at the front of the ship means that we are privy to all the noises of the ship including the increase in activity as we get close to an anchoring spot, and more especially when you are berthing. Today this is a tender port and so we began to sense the changes in the motion of the ship as we came into this aptly named place: Bay of Isles. You see little lumps of earth on the horizon and they are so dense they seem to be continguous.

The men call orders to each other as we approach the anchoring spot and then you hear the loud noises as the anchors are dropped.

Connectivity

The first thing we do is see if we have connectivity and yes we got Voda NZ and soon after a welcome message. However this is 2G so it is impossible to really do anything with it. We are hoping that it will improve when we are onshore and so we are taking our Apple devices to get them up to date. It is such an adjustment to not be able to use them freely as we so much take for granted at home.

Senses

There is something about being on a ship that heightens one’s senses. The light seems so much brighter; the dark so much darker. You are aware of sounds of the ship and motions of the deck and ocean. The wind over the ship is unique. The smells are different as well. Even the food smells are more noticed.

Southern Hemisphere oddities

The sun rotates to the north as it goes from East to West. Water circles the drain in the direction opposite to at home –though you don’t really notice this unless you want to. Currents and winds are different than the Northern Hemisphere and make for good trivia questions.

Room Service

This is such a convenience on port days when you want to sleep later and conserve your time. If you want a greater variety or larger servings you have to go out. They brought lunch to the cabin when we had friends here for the sail in and they will even bring you tea in the afternoon.

NZ agricultural requirements

No fruits, plants, etc. and only “commercially bottled water”. The latter was new to us but the ship traditionally sells bottles of water as you leave the gangway. I save my bottle and refill it for obvious reasons.

Top Brass

The rails going down the stairs are all made of brass and there is a crew of young people you diligently see polishing this brass. It looks lovely but what a job.

Russell New Zealand

Our tour today was to go Russell New Zealand which was it’s original capital. Except that the current Russell is not at the same site as the original capital which now has a Maori name. I know, it’s confusing.

So we got on this boat which had a gorgeous 25 y/o Adonis with a voice like Paul Hogan. There were probably 25 to 30 of us and he kept us enthralled with stories true and perhaps not so true. He was aided by 3 women who did most of the real work while he waxed on. He is good in this role but one wonders about his future.

So we were dropped off in this cute little town called Russell where it would be hard to get lost. We first found proper hats to cover our ears and neck (those are somewhere in that mysterious luggage that got left in LA), then to the local version of 7-11 where we got diet Cokes. The exchange rate was 75 cents USD to each NZ dollar. The Cokes cost 8 NZD. You do the math. I showed our pathetic group of coins to the clerk and asked how much it was and she was good enough not to guffaw when she said: 1.70. Couldn’t even by a Coke with that!

We then went to look for the church with bullet holes Adonis had discussed. We found the correct church we think but never found bullet holes. In discussion with others, they didn’t find them either.

The architecture is sweet but hard to describe. They have large verandas around many of the homes with large porches and carved out decorations between the poles that almost look like lace curtains. Lots of Emu themed souvenirs.

The boat picked us up (we lost someone at this point but we know he made it back to the ship before we left) and we next had a meal prepared on the little boat. The food was extremely good with a choice of fish, venison, or lamb. Regular potatoes, sweet potatoes and a green salad topped it off.You could have coffee, hot tea, or purchase wine. Remember the exchange rate I listed earlier? If you purchased wine, it is a direct exchange rate that is 1 USD for 1 NZD “because of the effort of making the exchange.” The tip we left was in USD. We then wandered in and out of inlets where we saw homes clutching the sides of the hills that began at over 1 mil NZD and UP. One rented for $24,000 per night (USD? Or NZD? What does it matter?) and sleeps 12. They have air b n b here and these are listed if you are interested.

Eventually we were deposited back where we started at the tender pier and we hopped on a free shuttle the few miles into the little town with Neil at the wheel, a jolly, happy fellow who clearly loves his job. He told us there was free WiFi near the library and I misled Ed about half a block before I realized he had seen a sign for the library. Along the way we ran into our cabin steward who wanted a picture with us.

Eventually we found the library where the free WiFi is outside only. There were only 4 seats outside so all over the lawn where folks of all ages spread out on the grass like lizards on one of the Galapagos Islands, trying to catch up with their WiFi needs. I didn’t think my bladder was going to make it (drink a lot of fluids in hot climes) and to make it worse, my left leg had gone to sleep while I was busy with my WiFi and literally it had no sensation for quite a long while. Eventually I unwound and stood and Ed and I went in pursuit of a public toilet of which they have many here: they are clean and have anything you need. We wanted to look at a local craft display in the park but our time was drawing short so we again joined Neil in his shuttle bus and came back to our ship. We knew the ship wasn’t going to leave without us as the captain and his family (the almost two year old was clutching her own key card) were on the tender with us! I used the Jacuzzi as I was sticky and it sounded like a good idea. It was. I am ever so grateful for free laundry.

Laundry around the world

And speaking of laundry, we saw a long sloop (schooner? ) sailing by today with the laundry hung on the front of the boat. Each time we travel, I see less and less laundry being air dried though there was some in Tahiti. It is amazing what you can find out about a family by viewing the laundry line.

And so tonight I again laid out our laundry for inventory and bagging.

And while I’m at it, we passed the Laundromat here the other day and they were doing some repairs there. I’ll report further sometime.

Tonight’s entertainment was the Aussie woman again. She’s fun but I didn’t feel like going and so Ed didn’t go either, sitting on the couch needing toothpicks to keep his eyes open.

Tomorrow Auckland

We are looking forward to this visit and will tell you more in the next post.