ALWAYS FIND TIME FOR THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY TO BE ALIVE
Sydney, Australia
Cruise the Southern Fjords
Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand
Akaroa, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand
Tauranga, New Zealand
Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand
The New Zealand cruise had to be one of Lady and The Pirate's most exciting adventures. From The Pirate almost missing the ship in Australia, to the rough seas around the southern fjords of New Zealand, there was a lot to experience even before they'd taken in the beauty of New Zealand.
Lady and The Pirate generally try to arrive at their embarkation port at least a day early and, once in awhile, they even occasionally spend a day or two at their disembarkation port if there's something exciting to do and see. This was certainly the case with this cruise as Lady and The Pirate were both excited about Sydney Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. Rarely do they have separate embarkation and disembarkation ports, but this was one of those times, and both were new ports with new cultures and new experiences.
Like many of the international flights they've taken, Lady and The Pirate boarded another redeye flight and headed off for the cruise. This time it was Australia for a cruise to New Zealand. Like the trip they'd taken to Singapore, this trip would also see Lady and The Pirate, along with Steven, lose an entire day in the air. Friday, February the 1st, came and went while they were in the air. It's a strange circumstance of flying over the international date line from the United States. Of course, you get that lost day back when you fly back from Asia or Oceania. Because the plane landed in Sydney in the morning of February 2nd, Lady and The Pirate checked in to the hotel, grabbed a quick nap and headed out to see a few sights. They knew they only had the one day so The Pirate booked their hotel as close to the major attractions of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House as possible. It turned out to be a bit cloudy and a little chilly, but everyone had a blast taking in the sites.
For about two seconds, The Pirate considered waking up the next morning before the cruise and climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. You have to book it and it does cost a tad, but it's an experience that, had they had another day to rest up, The Pirate and Steven would have certainly attempted. It's really not that difficult for climbers but the height can be daunting for those with any degree of acrophobia. The Pirate does want to return one day and climb it.
Three other unique things worthy of remembering happened to Lady and The Pirate in Sydney. Upon landing, someone else took Lady Michelle's luggage because it looked identical to hers. Oddly enough, Lady Michelle's luggage was rather unique and she even purchased it because of that. It just seems someone else had the same idea. Fortunately, once they got back to their hotel, they discovered the error and took the luggage back to the airport. The airport then transported Lady Michelle's luggage to her. But being stressed, as anyone will tell you, doesn't really capture how she felt not having her luggage for such a long trip. Lady Michelle wants everyone to know the importance of taking at least a change of clothes in your carry on in case this happens. It should go without saying, of course, that you should carry all your medications and important documents in your carry on.
The second unique thing that happened to Lady and The Pirate, along with Steven, is that a stranger struck up a conversation with them during lunch and picked up the tab for the whole meal. That was an incredible act of kindness. All he asked was that they pay it forward. The man only cared to meet them and have a good conversation over lunch.
Finally, All three had boarded the ship and it was less than an hour before the final all aboard time when The Pirate realized he'd left his wallet in the hotel safe. He frantically ran down to the boarding area and pleaded his case to retrieve it. The hotel was about a fast 15 minute walk from the ship and he was allowed to give it a try. He did, however, have to leave his passport on the ship. This meant that had he failed to make it back, he would be stuck in Australia without it. Australia is also, by the way, a nation requiring Americans to obtain a visa to visit. The Pirate called the hotel while in transit and asked them to gather his wallet from the safe and he would pick it up at guest services inside the door. His only proof of who he was would be to show them his license inside the wallet and hope they'd believe him. Long story short, the wallet was at guest services, they identified The Pirate, handed him his wallet and he raced back to the ship to make it just as they were closing the gate. Lady Michelle watched him the entire time with their Life 360 App and met The Pirate at the gate on the ship. The Pirate definitely got his steps in that day!
It took two days of cruising to reach New Zealand from Australia, and another day of cruising the New Zealand Southern fjords of Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound before Lady and The Pirate reached their first port of call in Port Chalmers (Dunedin). The night before was fun for some and hell for others. Lady and The Pirate have yet to cruise the dreaded Drake Passage and experience the high winds and waves of the trip to Antarctica, but the trip cruising around the southern cape of New Zealand must have been close. When the crew gets seasick it's not a good sign. Lady and The Pirate picked a fine night to have sushi and for some reason they were dining almost alone. The restaurant only had one waiter. The others didn't make it. Surprisingly, that restaurant stayed open through the rough seas. I guess it takes more than a few waves to take out Lady and The Pirate.
Lady and The Pirate enjoyed Port Chalmers and Dunedin quite a lot. The Port Chalmers museum was interesting but The Pirate was in port to do his favorite activity...Ride the train! Lady and The Pirate, along with Steven, boarded the Taieri Gorge Railway and settled in for a four hour sightseeing tour on the Otago Central Railway along the gorge and Taieri River, passing through century-old viaducts and crossing old wooden bridges to reach the town of Pukerangi. The Pirate often video tapes his train rides and this one was no exception. Check out the video below.
Akaroa was the next port of call and it offered up a chance to see the 2011 earthquake affected city of Christchurch. Steven, Lady and The Pirate signed up for a private excursion to take in the city and enjoyed an English Punt ride along with fish and chips at Sumner Beach and some tasty English ales at Pomeroy's Old Brewery Inn.
Wellington, New Zealand, their first stop on the Northern Island of New Zealand, would offer Steven and Lady and The Pirate a chance to see Weta Workshop and Weta Cave, where the magic of Peter Jackson's "Lord of The Rings" comes together. The Pirate booked another private tour that also included a drive around the coast.
After a day at sea, Lady and The Pirate made it to Tauranga, along the northeastern coast of New Zealand. This is one port where cruisers can opt for a long excursion to Hobbiton and see the set of "Lord of The Rings". Lady and The Pirate decided they'd visit the set after the cruise while in Auckland, so they and Steven opted for other excursions. Steven and The Pirate chose to do something rather adventurous by visiting a volcano on Whakaari (White Island) while Lady Michelle planned a visit to the Rotorua Maori Village for a Haka performance. White Island has an active volcano and it became famous very later that same year after this for erupting and killing some of the tourists. Because of this, you can no longer go there. You can check it all out HERE. Well...Guess what?...Sometimes you have to roll with the punches. Winds were a little rough that day and The Pirate and Steven's volcanic island adventure got cancelled. They were disappointed, of course, but were able to join Lady Michelle for the Maori village excursion instead, and it turned out to be awesome! Haka are a variety of Maori culture ceremonial dances. The All Blacks are considered to be one of the best, if not THE BEST rugby teams in the world. For a video of their Haka, check out "The Greatest Haka Ever". Plus...If you think Congress here in the States can get a little agitated, they've got nothing on a Haka performed in New Zealand's Parliament seen HERE. Lady and The Pirate and Steven visited Whakarewarewa, a living Maori Village and you can check it out HERE. If you don't know, the Maori are the indigenous peoples of New Zealand and settled there just before 1300 C.E. It is believed that New Zealand was likely one of the last places on Earth humans settled.
Finally, Lady and The Pirate and Steven ended up in Paihia, New Zealand in the Bay of Islands and snagged a boat ride out to see the famous "Hole in The Rock".
After disembarking in Auckland, New Zealand the following day, Lady and The Pirate and Steven spent two additional days in Auckland taking in the Hobbiton Movie Set and venturing around the city. The Shire was remarkable and allows visitors to be hands on with many of the props. The story goes that the land was rented, Peter Jackson created his set for the movies, and then the owner requested it stay up for tourists. As a bit of trivia, the large tree in the background of The Shire didn't have the color Peter Jackson wanted, so he had each leaf painted by hand. Lady and The Pirate highly recommend anyone visiting close enough to see Hobbiton should certainly not miss it, even if you weren't huge fans of the movies. If you'd like to know more or get tickets, just click HERE.
Notes on this cruise:
The Pirate had a flight of beers at Pomeroy's that included "Day of The Dead" at 6.7%abv, "Barrel Jack" at 12%abv, "Baltic Porter" at 8%abv and "Cockswain's Courage" at 12.8%abv.
An English Punt is a long, narrow flat-bottomed boat, square at both ends and propelled with a long pole, used on inland waters chiefly for recreation. In many ways, it's very similar to a gondola ride except a gondola is designed for deeper canals.
Evidence of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake could still be seen around the city. At 6.3 on the Richter Scale, it certainly fell a tad short of the 6.7 that Lady and The Pirate experienced in Hawaii back in 2006. But earthquakes are as much about depth as magnitude and the Christchurch earthquake of 2011 was only 5km deep. 185 people were killed, 3,129 were injured and 100,000 properties were damaged to the tune of $28 billion. Lady and The Pirate got a chance to see some of the buildings still in need of repair. New Zealand sits along a major fault line in the Pacific. This is a video shot one minute after the earthquake HERE.
Sydney Pre-Cruise!
New Zealand's Southern Fjords!
