A Long Trip (Part II - New Zealand)
Monday, February 10, 2025 - To Sydney Australia then Queentown New Zealand
Did not do much today - went to the Asian Market on the 2n floor for hotel's breakfast before 9am as we did not want to wait for the dim sum restaurant to open later. The breakfast cost more than $40sgd/each - not worth it at all. I had mainly the porridge as my stomach was not doing that well - the fatigue is taking a toll on me.
Spent most of the morning packing, while watching my soap. Checked out by noon, then spent time in the hospitality suite till 3pm. Got to the airport before 4 for our 7:20 flight. Basically, the day of our travel is always a wasted day. Sigh ....
Spent most of the time at the airport in the Singapore airlines lounge. It's a decent lounge with decent food. In Singapore airport, the carry-on luggage is not scanned at security checkin, but at the gate before boarding. Different! ....
Heard a lot of good words about Singapore airlines but this was the first time we're on it. The business class was fine but I found it strange that the mechanism for laying down your seat flat was a manual process - you had to stand up and flip the seat back down. I had to ask the flight attendant to do it, so did the passenger across the aisle. Bob did as well. Not sure if it's an old plane .... The USB phone charger did not work and my iPhone ran out of juice by the time we were about to land, even though it was plugged in the entire time. Also they did not give the little pouches to the business class passengers - the first I've seen. No big deal, but not particularly impressed.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - Arrived in Queenstown NZ via Sydney, AU
Our flight arrived in Sydney before 6am local time (which was 3 hours ahead of Singapore). Both of us slept on the flight - I think I did for 3 or 4 hours, deadly tired.
We had to get our luggage and recheck them in to the flight to Queenstown, and we had to go through immigration/custom just for the transit. Our flight to Queenstown was 4pm. The luggage checkin would not open until noon. One of the kind Qantas airline lady was very kind and helped to check if we could change to an earlier flight - no luck, all full. So, we have around 10 hours to kill. Again, a waste of the full day ..... Right now we are sitting at the departure hall, waiting ....
Around 11am we decided to go see if we could check out luggage in. Luckily it worked. After we got our luggage checked, we were able to go inside security and went into the lounge. It was the priority pass lounge, a small one, with pretty shabby food but that was okay, at least the seats were a little more comfortable and not too many people.
We headed to the gate around 3. Even though we have economy seats, bob paid to get us exit aisle so we boarded early. A full flight. We had window and aisle seats bob Bob exchanged with the girl in the middle seat so we could sit together. Flight was less than 3 hours - only a little longer than the one to Bali. We landed in Queenstown just about 9pm local time - the sun was just about to go down.
Even from the plane we could feel the difference in landscape - we were on top of mountains - snow capped, then no snow. Before we landed, I looked out of the window and saw the big wings of the plane was almost touching the mountain!! I was really nervous! .... The planed landed heavily on the ground ....
New Zealand custom was really strict - with signs everywhere asking people to declare or get fined heavily. Bob did the online declaration already and we have nothing to be worried about.
Our rental car from from Budget, which shared the same counter as Avis. Rental car counters were all outside the arrival luggage exit. Now the trouble started - there was no place where I could get an esim and the rental car does not rent out wifi devices (I miss Iceland ....). So we got into our car - an Mitsubishi SUV. Without GPS, in the dark, with a strange car, and drive on the wrong side of road ..... we were lost after lost .... I was a nervous wreck .... I don't even know how we actually managed to get to the hotel - by the time we got here, it was close to midnight.
This Novotel Queenstown Lakeside is right in the town center. We were advised to park our car on the street (6pm-9am free), then pay for the valet parking for one night - $50NZD. Sigh ....
We checked into our room - #150 on the first floor. It was a heart-sinking moment when we opened the room door - a small room with 2 full beds, with old, dark, dirty carpet .... The hotel looked very old as we walked from the reception to our room. I did not expect luxury or anything close to Fairmont, but should be better than this!!....
Audley's partner "Pacific Destinations" left us a couple of mugs as a welcoming gift, and a letter summarizing the few days ahead when we are in NZ. And there was another bag of stuff in our room which contained some clothing - very puzzling! I took them to the front desk - they apologized saying it must be them who delivered someone else's laundry to us by mistake ....Ugh!!
We went to bed after 1am .... The beds seemed fine, and the towels etc were fine. They actually provide 2 bath robes and slippers - did not expect them from a hotel this level.... I always thought Novotel was pretty good, but NOT with rooms like this ....
Both of us were dead tired. We slept off and on in the airport lounge in Sydney, on the plane, etc. And we fell asleep rather quickly. Oh, I bought online esim from Saily - 20GB for 30 days and connected last night before bed.
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - Queenstwo: Sky Gondola, Kiwi Park, Glenorchy
I woke up at 8:30 then woke up Bob - he had to go outside before 9am to put our car to the 1-night valet. Opening up the curtains in the room, we realized the glass sliders of our room opens to a small patio in front of the lake! There were a number of people already walking/jogging by the lake. Now I witnessed first hand people in New Zealand indeed love outdoor life! And I continued to see this all day long.
Breakfast was good - service was friendly and food had enough variety! Eggs of different styles for order, meats, fruits, vege, cheese, gluten free things, cereal, etc. etc. And, they have bacons well done and not - the first I've seen and was impressed!
After breakfast, we consulted the activity center at the front desk. We ended up doing the following:
The town is actually quite small and easily walkable. It was a short walk from the hotel to the sky gondola, so we walked through town, poked into the nice stores on the way. The gondola ride (round trip) was $130 NZD for the two of us. The scenery at the top was worth it! This is really a beautiful town and environment!! The mountains, the lake, etc. Just beautiful! There were many activities when you get to the top - you can take the luge down, you can take your bike up and ride down, etc. etc, Of course none of those was for us.
After the sky gondola, we visited the kiwi park. The fee was not cheap, but since it goes towards the conservation, that's a good cause. I never knew anything about the Kiwi birds so I learned a lot. They are nocturnal creatures, so we had to go into a dark room to "see" them - they are really really cute!! After our eyes adapted to the darkness, we were able to see them. We watched one of them busy running around between its "house" and the surroundings, poking its long beak into the "ground" to look for food (insects). They do not/cannot fly as they really do not have wings (only a tiny stub). Later at the conservation show we learned more about them - they are the only birds whose beaks are actually the shortest because their nostrils are actually at the tip of their beaks!! Their eggs are disproportionally large and heavy - the mother kiwi birds go through significant trouble to carry the egg!
The rest of the kiwi park was not as interesting, but the conservation show was every educational. Unfortunately we missed the beginning park as we were having trouble finding our way through the park.
After the kiwi park, we wandered through the town and back to the hotel, it was after 3pm already. After a short rest, we decided to go visit the deer park. Bob got the car from the valet and I was asking help from the activity center. They checked online for us and told us today's visiting slots were all sold out. Sigh .... But we booked tomorrow, as it is actually on our way to Mount Cook Village, our second stop in NZ. Then the activity center guy recommended that we drive to Glenorchy along the scenic drive. He also recommended the local restaurant there called Mrs Wollys General Store. Since Bob would like to drive somewhere to get more familiar with the car and the road, that's what we did.
The scenery was indeed very impressive, especially since today's weather was very cooperative - not cold, not too warm, blue sky with beautiful clouds! The road was by the lake winding by the mountain side - a two lane narrow road. I was very nervous even though Bob was doing well. It turned out our car had the GPS map! It was very helpful.
The unfortunate thing was Wollys General Store was closed by the time we got there, after 5:30pm. Sigh .... I think this Glenorchy is a hiker/camper's paradise. The town was very tiny, with a few diners or bars. We went into a bar type place, looked at the menu and decided to try it. Its menu was funny, with a number of things such Shanghai pork bites, pork buns, dumplings, etc. I ordered a Shanghai pork bites and the buns, which turned out to be the same meat in both dishes. Tasted ok - too much added sauce but better than I feared. Bob had a burger. By the time we came back to the hotel, it was after 7pm.
It is 9:30pm now - still not dark yet. Looking out of the back slider, people are still playing by the lake ....
We need to be up not too late to get on the road, so time to wash.
Thursday, February 13, 2025 - Mount Cook after the Deer Park
Up before 7am and checked out of the hotel around 9. Our first destination was the deer park - the hotel's activity center guy helped us to book today's visit slot - fee was $75 per vehicle (NZD). The deer park was in the same direction as the airport and the traffic was quite bad. But it was not that far.
The deer park was actually a very large farm, with not just deer but all sorts of animals (pigs, goats, horses, bisons, etc. etc.). There was no people who managed the entrance or to answer questions - all explained in the email after we paid online. We forgot to get some $2 coins at the hotel so I was not able to get the food to feed the animals at the entrance. We only had a 1-dolor coin. Fortunately we ran into a mother and son Chinese couple who was very kind to offer us part of their feed - they did not have coins that I could exchange for. They came from JiLin (the north east of China), mother was my daughter's age and the son was Caleb's age. Very nice people! I also saw a couple of other vehicles of Chinese people - it seems to me that most Chinese people love to visit animal places and love to feed animals!! The drive into the park was on unpaved gravel paths. It was quite narrow - I thought it must be one way and there must be a loop somewhere to get out. But it turned out the path was actually two way which made me very nervous.... I did not dare to get out of the car much - the deer and the goats all knew that they could get food from the vehicles so they all ran towards the cars .... I would have loved to get out and feed them by hands, but I was not sure if I dared to be surrounded by them nudging me for food, so I mainly threw the food to them from the car window. At one point I had my window open one brave goad actually put its arm on the window!
I enjoyed the park and would have stayed longer, but the concerns about driving on the narrow paths made us cut our visit short. The people who owned this park sure have very smart business perspective! They charge $75/vehicle and limit the amount of vehicles per day to around 50. If you calculate, not a bad business and satisfies a lot of people's desire! So smart!!
After the deer park, we continued our drive towards the Hermitage hotel in Mount Cook Village which was about 4.5 -hour drive away. Because Bob was unfamiliar with the roads and with the car (all the switches are opposite of the equivalents on our our cars) so he figured we would allow more time. Both the GPS of the car and my phone's esim worked. And the drive on NZ highway 6 and 8 was really beautiful!! It is the beginning of fall in NZ and most of the mountains are golden yellow, with dark green, and some new green in the fields. Just really really beautiful!! I took a lot of photos and videos from the car - not ideal but impossible to stop the car to go outside. We drove through a stretch full of wineries, with fields of grape vines; then a stretch with sheep/cows/horses. We stopped at a roadside cafe and had some coffee and bakery - delightful! We also stopped at a winery hoping to get some bottles of water and use their bathroom. They do not have bottled water to sell but told us we could drink as much cold water on the table as we want. Later the young waitress actually found a glass bottle and filled it with drinking tab water to give us. People were all so kind and friendly!!
The drive was not easy but thankfully the road was not too crowded. We arrived at the Hermitage hotel inside Mount Cook Village (Mt Cook National Park) before 5. Due to scheduling reasons via Audley, we were not able to get the same room for our two nights here - tonight we have one room, and tomorrow we have a different but slightly better room. The front desk guy told me if we wanted we could have the same room tomorrow as we have today, but he said it would be worth the trouble to change to the lightly better room. He said we could check out at 11am instead of 10.
Our room is 610 in the Aoraki wing, on the 2nd floor. We were very pleasantly surprised with how nice the room is! It is not Fairmont delux room for sure, but we're perfectly happy with it - it is a room we would feel happy spending time in!! Our big window faces the snow peaked mountain.
After settling in we went to have dinner at the a la cart restaurant which is the Panorama restaurant. Unlike the receptionist told us, it requires reservation and we didn't have one. The waitress managed to let us in and we finished dinner shortly before 8pm - it was a set 3-course dinner, but food was just okay. I would be happy with just a good burger ....
Audley had arranged us to join a star gazing tour tonight at 10:30pm. The tour takes 1.5 hours so it'll be a late night for us. Thankfully tomorrow we have nothing planned.
Friday, February 14, 2025 - A Badly Needed Relaxing Day at Mt. Cook
We did not get back from last night's star gazing until around 12:30am, and we did not get to bed until after 1. Then I could not sleep and watched some soap. When we woke up this morning it was already 9:30!!! Breakfast ends at 10 so we rushed down to eat, then came back to the room to pack - checkout is usually at 10 but we had an extension till 11. Rush, rush rush .... Got to the front desk by 10:45 then found out our room was already ready!! What a surprise and a relief!!
Our slightly better room is 912 - in the same building but on a higher floor. Same room size and facing the same direction, but of course with a little better view because it is higher. In stead of two queen beds this has one king bed. But because of the bed is facing the window the TV is on the side wall. Oh well we don't watch it any way. The two larger sofas are facing the picture window, instead of on the side. Honestly, if they would put our original room on the higher floor I would rather stay in that room.
No plan today - I am indeed getting a cold, with a pretty bad running nose. Last night's good sleep did help otherwise today I would have been worse. We will go do our laundry now - a little apprehensive as I'm not sure what the condition the washer/dryer are in ....
We really did nothing today, except doing laundry. And it was a big ado about the laundry because the three washer/dryer machines would not work - another couple came to do theirs and none of us could make it work. Finally they sent someone (who was supposed to be the only person that can deal with these machines). He was a nice intelligent guy and told us the hot water does not work because it was ever connected. He rebooted the entire system and things finally worked! $8 for the wash, another $8 for the dryer, paid by credit card, and the soap was automatically included. That took a couple of hours. While waiting for the dryers, I chatted with the other couple - it turned out they live in Carlisle and the guy was also in the tech area, in sales I figured. They are doing a 2 and half week vacation in NZ and told me they took the scenic train tour from Christchurch. I later looked up that train ride and found out it was very famous and well rated! Too bad we're not able to do it this time, or this life time ..... Oh well.
We just rested for the rest of the afternoon - feeling guilty for paying this kind of price at such a coveted place and did not enjoy any of its activities. All the activities have to do with hiking, glacier, which somehow did not interest us, plus we really need one day to rest!
By 4pm we decided to take a walk outside and walked to the visitor center in the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. It was an impressive visitor center and displayed the history for this mountain. We ended up buying a few packs of the "crafty weka bar" which was a healthy bar and very delicious. They also sold beef Biltong - I did not realize in NZ they call beef jerkey bilton! I bought a spicy one - will see how it is.
On forgot to mention: last night at the star gazing tour we met a couple who has been traveling the world (they also take advantage of the star alliance airline around the world fare). They are from California and they sold their house and have been traveling around the world since 2019! When they go back to the US, they stay in air bnb etc. As much as I love traveling and seeing the world, there is no way I'd be willing to do without my home and my own bed.
Tomorrow is a leisurely driving day. We need to check out by 10 then drive to Christchurch which will take at least 5+ hours. After tomorrow night the drives will be longer and schedule will be a bit tight. I'm glad we rested today.
Saturday, February 15, 2025 - To Christchurch
6:15 pm now and we're in our room at Crown Plaza in Christchurch, after having some Asian food .... We left Mt Cook before 10am and arrived here shortly before 3pm. The drive was quite pleasant. Most of the way was very scenic and we stopped at a few lookout places to take pictures. The last 1/3 of the drive was mainly fields of crops and cattle. - sheep, cows, deer, horses, etc. As we approached the few cities, it became just like any other places. We stopped at one small cafe for a cup of coffee and Bob mainly drove all the way here.
I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to the place called Chamois Bar and Grill which was in the Mt Cook village (we wanted to walk there but turned back half way as we did not know how to get there and it was too hot for me). I had fish and chips and Bob had a burger. The fish and chips were not bad but quite greasy which mad me swear that today I would have Asian food! So I googled and found a place called Eight Grains Dumplings which was rated quite well. So after we checked into the hotel we took off for that food place. The walk was not far, maybe 15 minutes, and we got a glimpse of the city ....
The dumpling place turned out to be a restaurant inside a food court, among other eateries such pizza, etc. We ordered a dumpling sampling platter, a stir fried vegetable, a couple of steamed buns with roast pork, and Bob had a dandan noodles. We each had a beer. Bob's noodles seemed the best, the vegetable dish was ok, the dumplings were the worst I've ever had, and the buns were just edible. Sign .... I wasted our stomach room for such a lousy meal .....
The walk to and from the eating place allowed us to see this city - not impressed at all .... They city's main attraction I believe is the Cathedral Square but it is under a big renovation project! There are some rather contemporary buildings around it, but that is it. I do not have any desire to walk around it - not sure what the cruise ship will do when it docks here....
Our hotel is good and I'm satisfied with our room. It only has two twin beds but that'll do. We only have 1 night here and tomorrow we need to be up early (5:30-ish) to we can get to the ferry 1 hour before the departure time. The next three nights are all one-nighters and we'll be under time pressure. Glad we had yesterday's rest!!
Sunday, February 16, 2025 - To Picton then Wellington via ferry
It is 9:15 pm now. We are in our room at the Bolton Hotel in Wellington, NZ. It's been a long day of driving, especially since Bob is now under the weather, dealing with a cold, coughing.... We left the hotel in Christchurch before 7:30am and made it to the ferry terminal in Picton a few minutes before 1pm. We were already pretty much at the end of the vehicle line for boarding the ferry. Our ferry leaves at 2:15 and we were told to be there at least 60 minutes in advance. We were on time. The ferry was very much punctual and left at 2:15 on the dot.
The drive to Picton was not as strikingly beautiful as from Queenstown to Mt Cook, but still very interesting. The scenery was different, still mountainous but no more snow capped peaks. More farm fields, more colors, more cattle - so many sheep and cows. I do love the New Zealand scenery very much! We stopped a couple of times for coffee and rest rooms, and Bob pulled on the side to take naps a couple of times - I could tell he was not feeling that well .... Unfortunately I really do not dare to drive here .....
The ferry ride was almost 4 hours and we arrived in Wellington a few minutes before 6. By the time our car got off the ship and we found our way to the hotel, it was almost 7. The Bolton hotel was only about 5 minutes drive away, right in the city center. It seemed all the people arrive at the hotel at the same time and we could not even pull the car up to the hotel entrance. The porter helped us move our luggage into the entryway, and Bob had to park in the garage across the street, because the hotel's own valet parking was full. We waited for at least half an hour and finally got into our room 1004 - on the 10th floor.
We were quite pleased with our room - it is a small suite with separate living room and bedroom, with two queen beds. The living room has a kitchenette and a round dining table (which I'm sitting at with my laptop on it). The bathroom is a bit small, especially the shower, but Bob said the water is good, which is a big relief because the water at the previous hotels was all quite weak. Maybe tonight I will wash my hair.
After settling in at the hotel, we went out to look for dinner. The hotel's nice receptionist recommended an Asian place close to the hotel called The Dumpling House, so we headed towards there, but we first tried to go to the drug store. Unfortunately that drug store was already closed, so were most of the stores - it was after 7:30 on Sunday.
The dumpling house is indeed a Chinese restaurant (but it also serves Korean barbecue etc). All the waiting staff and people in the kitchen were all Chinese, and most of the customers were Chinese as well. There were many many selections and I was overwhelmed. I ended up ordering a couple of steamed buns, one with duck the other with braised pork. Neither was that great. I ordered a soup which was ok, a couple of lamb skewers which were good, a stir fried vegetable with garlic which was not bad, and a shredded pork with pancakes. All the dishes (except the buns) were quite authentic. But the place was more casual than casual and the service was random. Oh well .... First real Chinese food since we left home.
I would have really loved to explore this city more, but unfortunately we don't have the time.... We thought of getting up early and take the cable car to go up the hill (the hotel provided a one-way free ride) and see the botanical garden etc. But considering Bob's situation and the long drive, we won't do that. Not sure what our plan is when the ship docks at Wellington later. Maybe we will do it then.
The trip, even though it seems quite long, but we wanted to cover so many places so it is really quite rushed. Sigh ....
Monday, February 17, 2025 - Long Drive to Rotorua
It is 8:15 pm now and we're in the Regent Rotorua Boutique hotel. We left Wellington hotel at 10am and got to this hotel a few minutes before 6pm - 8 hours drive including a big detour due to SH1 road reconstruction. We were rerouted through a loop way in some volcano national park. The weather was not good - cloudy/drizzly, but we enjoyed some glorious clouds over mountain peaks. I could only take phone pictures through the dirty smudged car window while the car was moving.
Not sure why and how we chose to go through this small tourist town Rotoruo - not just foreign tourists, I believe local tourists as well. Maybe there is a big lake? Our hotel is in the town center, among hundreds of other hotels/motels. And there are eating places everywhere including McDonalds, etc. This so called "boutique" hotel is very deceiving, it made motel sounds more classy or more mysterious .... When we checked in, things became more clear. It is the worst one we've stayed so far on this trip - worse than the Novotel in Queenstown. They gave us room #2 - later I learned they have 40+ rooms altogether. The guest rooms are on two floors of separate buildings surrounding a central courtyard, with a heated swimming pool (who cares). Our room is on the 2nd floor tucked in the corner blocked by another building. There is no elevator, so we must drag our luggage up ourselves - no help was offered..... Since there is only one night, we did not say anything. Parking is on the street, but the hotel's small parking lot happened to have one free space and I grabbed it. I had to argue with another guest who wanted to move their car which was parked in a parking space on the street. Oh well!
Plus it was raining - drizzling rain enough to wet your clothes. So we decided to eat in the dining room of the hotel. It looked clean and upper scale and the menu looked fine. But the food was really quite bad - especially compared to its price. We both ordered the lamb trio. There were three types of lamb cooked - one was really tasteless and tough, the other was wrapped in cabbage which was ok, and the third was a few drops of lamb in some potato. Ugh!! We also ordered salad and some bread and a scallop appetizer which were edible. The whole thing cost us more than $100USD - what a waste! Sigh ....
Plan for tomorrow: get up at 6, have breakfast then take off between 8 and 8:15. Drive to the "Hobbiton Movie Set" for the 10:40am guided tour. The drive is supposed to take around 1 hour but we will plan in extra time. Need to meet the guide at the"Shire's Rest Ticketing Office" at least 20 mins before the tour. The guided tour is supposed to be 1.5 hr so I assume we will leave around 1pm an drive towards Aukland which will take a little more than 2 hours. Our hotel in Aukland is called "Airedale Boutique Suites" - I am scared to hear the word "Boutique"(!!!) now that I've seen the boutique place we're in .... But I looked it up online - I think it does have an elevator!.... This hotel is a few minutes from the Avis car return and from the cruise terminal, so it'll be convenient!
OK - time to relax and watch some soap! Bob is washing and will be going to bed - the only way to get better for a cold is rest. Unfortunately he has to do all the driving ....
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 - Tour Hobbiton Movie Set then to Aukland
8 pm now, we're in the hotel Airedale Boutique Suites, Aukland, and just put a load of laundry in the washer on floor 1 - this is a very welcome feature of this hotel! In addition to the self laundry which is a very nice surprise, our room is quite nice - a small suite with 2 twin beds and a small sitting room. Bathroom is adequate. We're pleased that the word "boutique" did not prolong its awful meaning since the last hotel ....
We left the "Regent" boutique hotel in Rotorua around 8:15 and got to the Hobbiton Movie Tour site around 9:45 - very glad we allowed plenty of extra time. The direction to the movie site was not straight forward and it took us a little while - first asked the Information center where the nice lady wrote down the directions. We were being too literal in adhering to her words and counted 10 km before turning right but that was a bit too far so we had to stop and asked again, then turned back to find the right road that led to the ticket center. Not knowing the Lord of the Rings trilogy at all, the name "The Shire's Rest" ticket office did not mean much to us .... But we finally got there! We gave our names and the time of our booking - the 10:40am tour, they gave us our tickets and told us where to wait for the bus. There is a bus every 10 minutes and you go by the timeslot bus you get the ticket for. We rote the comfortable bus to the site - I did not know what to expect at all. It turns out to be a small "town" of "hobbit holes" - very pretty "cave dwellings" with doors with different colors. Really really cute!! It is a guided tour and our guide was very nice and told us a lot of history and stories of the movie and the making of the movie. Now I want to go back and watch that trilogy! We walked by almost all the hobbit holes and even went inside one - very impressive!! I really enjoyed the tour!!! I feel it is like the Disney of the US but it's not just for kids. It is very well organized! And I truly love the entire environment - the movie set is actually within the live Anderson farm and there are cows and sheep and other animals all over the fields, vast fields! WOW!
The tour ended around 1pm as I expected. It rained a little during our tour, but it was a very welcome rain because they had not had rain for the past 3 months which is why we saw the yellow/gold grass on the hill and in the fields.
Driving to Aukland from Matamata (where the hobbton movie tour is) takes about 2 hours. It was the first time we drove on a multi-lane highway in New Zealand. And as we got closer to the city the traffic became quite congested. And as we drove into the city towards our hotel, it became even more hectic. But we finally got there! We were able to park the car right outside the hotel entrance, took all the luggage up to our room (#509), then came down right away to get gas for the car then return it to Avis/Budget. Nothing was that smooth as we really did not know what is where. By the time we got the Avis in the city, it was 10 past 5 and the office is closed .... We had no choice but drop the key in the after hour slot ad left. I was worried .... But there was nothing we could do....
We tried to use google map to direct us back to the hotel by walking - no luck. After asking a very kind lady, we were able to walk down Wellesley street then to Queen street where our hotel is on.
Our hotel is in central city but surely not a very posh nice area. There are lots of eateries near us, even a food court with mainly Chinese/Asian food, but we really would like to have a more relaxing clean place and have a sitdown supper. We asked the hotel and finally found a Korean restaurant very close to us. When we stepped in, they said they were full and wanted us to wail for half an hour. But a young guy came out from the backroom and took us in and sat us in the corner of the back room. Then he took us to the front room, at a table I actually asked for and was told it was reserved .... Very strange.... We order a bulgogi, a kalbi, a stir fried vegetable and some dumplings. Food was okay but the dumplings were pretty bad. The dinner cost us around $100 NZD (about $60USD), better than last night's but just so so. I saw the lady owner took two plates of dishes from a table (the people had left and might not have touched those dishes), and dumped them back into their food container to serve others .... OMG .... Glad we won't be back there again!!
Tomorrow we will board the ship in the afternoon. Our driving adventure in NZ has come to an end - feeling relieved! It really has been quite scary to drive here, even though I was just sitting there. Bob has been feeling quite confident about the driving but he kept mixing up the right hand turning signal and the left hand windshield wipers ... And he drove more to the left to avoid collision with the coming traffic. Sometimes he drove too much to the left and I felt like I would roll down the ditch .... I was very nervous all the time .... I hope the road in Australia will be wider!!
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 - Boarded the Ship Celebrity Edge
We got up before 9am and went down to have breakfast - Bob was coughing all night so neither of us slept that well but we rested. After breakfast we asked the front desk about the closest pharmacy and found out the checkout time is 10am. He told us the Chemist Warehouse is a few minutes away where we could get the meds, and he kindly delayed our checkout by 1 hour. We went to the drug store, asked the pharmacist who recommended a liquid medicine which is supposed to help Bob’s cough as well as his running nose, I also got him a jar of good Manuka honey. We walked back to the hotel, I packed, and we checked out at 11. Then we sat in the entrance lounge and waited.
When we first went down, there was a rather large tourist group waiting to checkout. After they left, it was quite nice to sit there and wait. People at the front desk were all very friendly and they said they would get us a taxi to the cruise terminal around 2:10pm since our board time was 3pm.
We met two other couples who are on the same cruise ship. One couple was British, from somewhere in the middle of UK. Nice oldish couple but I had a hard time understanding them because of the very heavy British accent. They are on the 11th deck, 2 above us. Their tour/cruise agent arranged the whole thing including the taxi to pick them up. They left the hotel around 1:30. The other couple were Chinese from Taiwan and they came from California. They decided to pull their luggage and walk to the cruise terminal. They were young and fit, good for them. The cruise terminal was indeed quite close. But even if we were younger I would not want to attempt the walk pulling all those luggage!
Our taxi came around 2pm and we got to the cruise terminal very smoothly. It was relatively smooth going through the whole thing, much better than I expected. The only thing that took a little time was because Bob could not find the email from Australia authority to me, the e-visa, I guess. He had applied for me and it was all approved, but he did not print it out. They checked online and all information was there, so they had to take my photo, etc. etc. It was all sorted out smoothly.
We had to go to the muster station, for safety information, the to our room. Our three other luggage would arrive a lot later. We have been on this ship once before when we did the repositioning cruise, but it is now totally different, totally renovated. The room is not big (much smaller than the Oceania room we used to get, at least it feels that way). The balcony is now part of the room, with a glass slider that can be pulled over. And there is top to bottom shade on the outside window which can be pulled down so the room is much larger. I kind of like it. I did my usually sanitization of the bathroom, and took out the stuff from our carryons. Two of our three larger luggage arrived around 4:30 so I was able to put stuff away - the last piece did not arrive until after supper.
We went to the BLU dining room shortly after 5:30 - there were quite a bit people there already, I had a white guzpacho soup, fennel salad, and lamb chops, Bob had pumpkin soup, same salad, and duck. I did not resist the dessert - ordered some sort of a peach thing plus pistachio ice cream - neither was that good to be worth the carb. I ate the ice cream and took a few small bites of the other. Won’t do it again.
After dinner we took a walk around the ship. Went into the theater on deck 5 and listened to Sarah Richards singing - she has a very good and powerful voice!! We also stopped for a few minutes to the guitarist/singer on deck 4 aft. The ship is TOTALLY different now! Much nicer and quite pleasant! We will explore more tomorrow.
We were hoping to take a nice walk on shore but did not walk long - everything was closed except restaurants. Back to the ship
Almost 10pm now - we will go to bed.
Thursday, February 20, 2025 - Another Day in Aukland
Almost 3pm now on Thursday 2/20 - I still cannot access my Wix website so have to write my diary on Notes.
We had a decent night’s sleep - Bob coughed half of the night then settled down. I gave him the Manuka honey water and he took the cough syrup and was getting better. The internet bandwidth was pretty shabby so I was not able to watch anything on my laptop. I tried the TV in the room - they have actually improved quite a bit since the last time we were on the cruise ship - they now have a number of free movies. I was not able to pick one I liked so I picked a Keanu Reev’s movie - OMG a really violent one! Can’t remember the name - I had to turn it off half way though lest I would not be able to sleep.
We were up before 8 then went to the buffet breakfast on the 14th floor. What a zoo!! Food supply was decent, just too many people. But we had to try because the buffet breakfast gives us more freedom, as opposed to sitting down and order. Tomorrow we might try the BLU.
After breakfast we set out to explore. It turns out we did not walk that far, just the area near the water front. It’s definitely the business district. And we found out how close our ship is to the Airedale Hotel! - The other day when we walked to the Chemist Warehouse, we actually were more than half way to the ship!! But, there would be no way we could have hauled all that luggage and walked! The cab fee was only $21NZD and was well worth it!
We walked less than 3 miles and came back to the ship after 12pm. We decided to explore the ship and try some lunch. We took the elevator to the 15th floor and looked at the roof top garden and the walking/running path, then went down to the next level (where the swimming pools are) and had some hamburgers. There used to be a healthy food bar there but it no longer exists. The burgers were ok - had to try it once, but I would not do it again. Then we walked the walking path once, played some “corn hole” game, and went down to the cafeteria on 14th deck and had an ice cream. If I had my Stelo patch on, my blood sugar would have shot through the roof!! ….
Back to the room now and Bob is taking a nap. His cough is definitely getting better but he’s not all well yet. Last night we cancelled our excursion booking for tomorrow - it would be a sailing trip at the Bay of Islands. Don’t think it would be good for Bob.
Oh, today we went into the Marriott and asked the concierge about biltong, he searched online and told us the “new world supermarket” seems to have it. So we went, indeed we found it there! We bought 10 bags and I was ecstatic!! But we both were very disappointed - they were NOT the same kind as what we got in Mt Cook visitor center. This is the Jack Link’s brand - absolutely NOT biltong! And it is SO salty! Very disappointed!! Oh well …. I thought I would be able to find biltong everywhere in NZ but I was SO wrong!! Nobody I asked seemed to know anything about it! Oh well ….
The ship will sail today at 6:30pm, about 3 hours from now. Don’t think we will get on shore again. Will have dinner early and participate in some ship activities. BTW this renovated ships truly quite impressive!! Lots of public open space to enjoy various activities. They even put in a lot statues here and there. Interesting!
The ship did not really sail at 6:30 which was the time for everyone to get back on board. The ship sailed some time before 8:30pm but it was so quiet that I did not notice. We had dinner at BLU at 5:30 then watched the 7pm magic/comic show by Jarred Fell - quite entertaining. After that we did not do much else - thought about going up to see more of the adult comic show but started feeling tired so we came back to the room and called it a night. But I watched the movie Devils wear Prada - enjoyed it again.
Friday, February 21, 2025 - Bay of Isles
We got up around 8 and went to the BLU for breakfast - it was a lot more relaxing than going to the buffet on the 14th deck. Shortly after breakfast, we went on shore. We had to get tender tickets - this is supposed to be the only port we have to tender on shore. With so many people tendering takes quite a bit of organizing, but the ship did a good job. We were given tickets for tender 15 and did not wait long. The tender was supposed to take 25 minutes each way but it felt shorter than that. The place we tendered to is Paihia which is supposed to be a city - I figure it is not on one of the islands of the bay, but a city on the mainland. It is well known for being a wharf “town” which I guess must be very touristy. There really was nothing to see or anything. We actually walked through a craft market in town and did not find too much attraction.
Then we took the ferry to Russel, which we were told was not really an island, but it was a rather lovely small town - residential and tranquil, with a nice beach. There is a statue of some figure of Maori culture right by the wharf, quite impressive. I also found it very endearing that on the dock of the wharf there wrecked two ladies with kids fishing. One lady had her young baby in a playpen while she fished, but the baby started crying so she packed up and left, saying she would put the baby to bed then come back. The other lady’s kid was a bit older and can be trusted to sit by the water helping the mom to fish. Very cute little boy!! I took pictures.
Then we walked along the beach to the end of the path. Bob had an espresso at a French cafe and we went into a grocery store and had two ice cream bars. We did not spend too much time there and took the ferry back. Then we immediately got on the shuttle bus back to the tender stop and got on the tender, back to the ship shortly after 1pm.
Could not control ourselves and went to the 14th deck to check out what’s there, and ended up having some Indian/Chinese food. Then we took a walk on the 15th deck, too hot (for me) to walk a mile, so we came back after playing a little pingpong there - we will go up there to walk a mile after dinner. BTW I really like this ship - despite the 3000 people (supposedly), there is enough public space that one does not feel too crowded. And there are so many activities!! Bob was wrong thinking we had been on this ship before - the ship we were on with the transatlantic cruise was on Reflection! This ship Edge is very new! Much more modern and definitely better, even though the stateroom is definitely smaller (narrower). But not to the extent you feel uncomfortable. I just do not feel like changing into anything less casual at dinner ….
But today I changed into a casual A-line dress - maybe better to utilize some of the stuff I brought on this trip - I really packed more than I should! Dinner was fine - Roger our waiter and his assistant (whose name I did not catch) were always very pleasant. Food was fine - nothing to write home about. At the end of the dinner they brought out the chef to meet each of the tables, He was a young African guy. Of course I said everything was good and we enjoyed them. But I was not being really honest - the food has been really just so so …. But why make people not happy for no purpose at all!
After dinner we double confirmed the location of the destination discovery talk at 8pm, then went into the theater to watch today’s show - it was the ship’s own production team and the performance is called Kaleidoscope. I did not have much expectations for it but was very pleasantly surprised - it was quite good!! I was especially impressed with the two dancers or acrobatic performers - the two girls were SO GOOD!
We had to sneak out a couple of minutes before 8 to attend the talk about tomorrow’s port visit. The ship will dock at 9:15am at Tauranga. We did not sign up for any excursions and will just explore the place on our own. The destination discovery host was saying this port is the most beautiful port - well they all say that. There are two long nice beaches, and a mountain Mount Maunganui. It would be great to climb to the top of the mountain (45 minutes), but the weather is warm (for me) and we don’t feel like we are able to climb that high. So I’m not sure what we will do ….Do not feel like going into the water either ….
After the talk we came back and changed back into shorts - we wanted to go to deck 15 and do our 1-mile walk. When we got up there, oh my there was a pretty strong wind in the darkness while the ship was moving…. We immediately turned back and each put on a fleece jacket, and went out again. Bob walked two laps and came inside the building as he was feeling cold, I did another 2 laps but still did not make the 1 mile …. It’s kind of scary to walk alone in the darkness on the vast ocean, with the wind ….
Will call it a night soon.
Saturday, February 22, 2025 - Tauranga
Another restful leisurely day. We were up around 8 and went on shore after breakfast at the BLU around 10. It was quite easy to explore the town. We first walked to a craft market in the “Coronation Park” in town, then walked down the street from there, thinking that would be the main street and the shops. But later we found out that was actually the end of the main street. And we found the actual main street with all the better shops which were quite nice, especially for such a small seaside place. There is actually a business center, with museums, etc. which is across the bay and will require taking a taxi or public transportation. I was thinking of going but did not do it. We were successful in shopping for a cardigan for Bob which was not too thick and more appropriate than the fleece for going to supper. Not cheap but definitely is useful. I also got myself a simple linen black dress - not cheap either but I think I will get some use of it.
The Mount Maunganui was less impressive than I thought. Maybe if we climbed to the top the view will convince me otherwise, but we did not attempt the climb. We looked at the beach which was nice. The color of the water was gorgeous!! Deep aqua blue!!
Came back to the ship after 1pm then went to the buffet on deck 14 shortly before 2. Had my Asian food fix which really was just so so, not even as good as yesterday. After the food, we took a walk on deck 15 - almost a mile. There was a country dance class at 3pm on deck 14 “resort” area. It took us a while to find out where that resort area was and by the time we got there the class started already. And it was by the swimming pool, under the sun, without any shade. So we stood on the side under the shade and watched. It was quite pleasant to walk on the track today, with a little breeze, more pleasant than yesterday. But to dance straight under the sun was not my cup of tea.
Shortly before 5 we went down to deck 4 to listen to the guitar singer group and enjoy a drink. Did not sit long before it was time to go to BLU for dinner. After dinner we went to the theater - it was going to be a show by someone named Stephen Barry but he was under the weather so they changed the program to be by a violinist named Yoomia (?). She was actually pretty good! She was Korean then immigrated to New Zealand, then studied classical violin in France and now she is a performer. Pretty cool.
At 8pm we went to listen to the destination discovery talk but today’s talk was mainly about this Celebrity ship Edge. It was built in 2018 and has a rather unique design. Personally, I like some of the design features but really could not understand or appreciate some others such as the so-called “Forest” - it is a design by some French/Swedish artist but most of us think it’s a pure waste of space.
We did another walk on deck 15 - bob did 2 laps I did 4. Tomorrow the ship docks quite late and we have an excursion where we will likely see the gannets so I need to bring my real camera. Better prepare it now.
Sunday, February 23, 2025 - Napier, Amazing Cap Kidnappers & Gannet Colony
I was up around 7:30 and Bob was up 50 minutes later, then we had breakfast at the BLU. There was a destination discovery talk at 10 in the theater, we went. The ship did not dock until after 12pm…
We went to the theater around 12:30pm and was told to come back at 1. We went back before 1 and it appeared we were the last. There were 3 small tour buses (offered by the local Cap Kidnapper and Gannet Colony company) and we got on one of them and had the last seats at the back. A bit disorganized ….
The cruise port is in Hawke’s Bay. The bus drove us through the city business center (CBD) which I really liked - It was the most pleasant city I’ve been to on this trip. Not a big city like Aukland and not a small town either. I wish we had the time to walk through town and by the beach …. I feel this might be my favorite city in NZ so far, unfortunately we did not get the chance to explore it more. But, our excursion today was really the BEST!
The bus ride took more than 1.5 hours to get to Cape Kidnappers which is now a private reserve owned by the Robertson family. There are 3 or 4 gannet colonies there, some date back to the 1800s. The one we visited today started in the 2000. All together there are more than 20,000 gannets there, one of the largest gannet colonies in the world. It was such a sight!!!!! I had never seen a gannet colony before - missed the one Mike mentioned in Iceland due to the weather. WOW!! So many of them!! Adults and chicks! I was so overwhelmed that I did not know how to take good photos of them! SO MANY ALL TOGETHER!! And they did not seem to mind the people watching them - of course the colony was roped off. But we were just a couple of feet from them! It’s kind of like the king penguins at Volunteer Point at Port Stanley. Unfortunately light wise it was the worst time of the day - around 3pm and the sun was quite high! I did bring the real camera and the 100-500 lens but I did not have the setting right so the focus was not right ….. Sigh ….
There was a sad scene: one gannet chick was dead (not sure why or how), another chick would not leave its side and just stayed there. It was heart breaking …. The weather was quite hot, under the sun, I wonder if they needed water ….
In addition to the gannets, the scenery was really breathtaking!! On one side there was the vast mountainous fields, and on the opposite side was the vibrant aqua blue ocean - unbelievable!! There were sheep and cow, but the bus was moving fast so I was not able to take photos.
Our bus driver was a retired air force person - very nice! He told us stories and histories of the place, but we were in the very back, with the NZ accent I could only get probably half of what he said.
One thing I learned while he was talking about the forests as we drove by was that the lumber industry if the 4th largest export of NZ. I saw from our ship after it docked that there were a large quantity of timber on the dock. He told us that they were all going to China!
Napier is also the fruit center of NZ (maybe one of them?) On our way, our driver pointed out the apple orchards, the vineyards, etc. etc. This is a lovely place!! I wish we stayed longer here!!
When we came back to the port around 5:30, the local people was so kind to put on an antique car show as well as a 1930s live music. Very sweet of them!!
Tonight we did not have dinner at the BLU as I am getting a bit tired of the BLU food …. So we went to check out the buffet on deck14. No gourmet food there but there were lots of options, so we ate there. I ate mostly the Indian dishes. The other Asian food did not look too appetizing for me.
We took a walk on deck 15 - 2 laps for Bob 4 for me. Did not walk much today at all. But I was truly surprised to find out my watch said I walked 9.4k steps today - how??
Tomorrow the ship docks at Picton where we boarded the ferry with the car to cross over to the north island before. But at that time we did not get to see the place at all. Will take the shuttle this time and explore the town.
Monday, February 24, 2025 - Picton, A Relaxing Day in a Lovely Small Town
Another relaxing leisure day. We were up around 8 and went on shore before 10am after breakfast at the BLU. Many shuttle buses were waiting right by where the ship docked and we went on the bus right away which took us to the Picton town center. It was a small town and did not take much time for us to go through all the shops of interest to me. We also went to the local craft market and picked a few trinkets. Important things I picked up: the herbal oil that would ward away the sand flies and the herbal ointment for after bites. I got quite a few bites. Sigh ….
We sat by the beach for about 20 minutes, people watching and enjoying the tranquil scenery. There were local people picnicking on the lawn, and the plump ducks immediately rush to join them. There was a man with a dog - the man sat down on the lawn and turned on his music (from the phone?), enjoyed the beach scene with his dog who rolled around and watched with his master. The man had a water bowl for the dog, poured water from his canteen for the dog, but the dog was not thirsty. He tried to feed the dog some treats, the dog turned them down. Then he took out some other treats, this time the dog ate them. I really wanted to go touch that dog, but did not dare to, as the dog looked like it might not like a stranger.
The temperature was in the low 70s but there was a breeze. With Bob’s cough, we decided to play safe and left. Got back to the ship around 1pm. We decided to check out the restaurant ‘Raw on 5”. It was not bad - the rolls were decent, and the stir fried udon noodles with shrimp was so so. It satisfied my curiosity. I think the Indian food on deck 14 buffet would do for me.
I walked 4 laps on deck 15 while bob went back and took a nap.
I did not realized how green Picton is until now. I got up shortly after 7 today and opened the shade - I was told to try watch the scenery as the ship pulls in the harbor. So it was a very lush green fiord. The ship is now docked in the bay, surrounded by the calm water and lush green mountains. Very nice! It is at a different part of the harbor where the ferry ships operate - we watched the Interislands ferries come in and go out. While we were sitting by the beach, another NZ couple was sitting there so we chatted briefly. They are from Aukland and they operate a B&B. When I told them yesterday we visited the gannet colony, they said we should visit them - there is a gannet colony right by where they live! They also told us there were two ferry companies at Picton - one is private, the other is the Interisland one. And they told us not long ago one of the ferries crashed right in the harbor. Something about the auto pilot went wrong and nobody knew how to correct it ….
In the harbor where our ship docked, we again saw SO MUCH lumber waiting to be loaded and shipped out! I think the lumber came from the woods nearby …. I wonder why China buys so much lumber ….
After bob’s nap, we decided to take a walk on the ship to see if there’s anything interesting, but did not find any. The music on deck 5 aft was fine but we had to go back to the room so I could change out of my shorts then we ate dinner at the BLU. I had my usual escargot and a salad, then the lamb shank which was way too much meat. I was stuffed. After dinner we went to the theater and watched the show by Jayden Smith (the program said it was Stephen Barry but it was not again). Then at 8 we went to the destination talk about Wellington tomorrow. From the talk, Wellington seems to be a very attractive city!! We will be up early tomorrow because I paid for the Viator tour for the Zealandia at 10am. We will take the cruise shuttle bus into town then take the cable car to the top (top of ??), then there is a free shuttle taking us to the Zealandia. I plan to see the botanical garden, walk the Lambton Quay street and the Cuban street, get a good view of the city from the top.
The ship will dock in Wellington by 7am and we will be up early. The ship has sailed already, very very slowly. The ferry took less than 4 hours, so our ship has to go really really slow.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - Wellington, the Windy City & Visit to Zealandia
I was awake before 6am but we did not get up until close to 6:30. Had breakfast at 14th deck buffet and ready to get on the shuttle bus to town around 8:30. The shuttle bus dropped us off at the Lower Lambton Quay area, which turned out to be just one street over from the Bolton hotel we stayed at. After we got off the bus, we immediately headed towards the cable car. The plan was to ride the cable car to the top, then take the free shuttle bus to Zealandia - I have booked and paid for the Viator tour of Zealandia at 10am. Because of the fact that I first booked the wrong date, then changed the date but selected the wrong location (I did Picton), after everything was corrected and only got response from Tripadvisor but did not get direct response from Viator, so I was a bit concerned - did not know what to expect when we get to Zealandia.
The cable car ride was smooth and easy - it reminded me of the cable car ride in HongKong, up the Victoria Peak. But this was a LOT shorter and smaller and less steep. After we got to the top, it was only 8:30-ish, so we thought we would walk to the Botanical Garden. As we walked then we found out it would be a rather long walk to the Rose Garden etc. so we turned back. Zealandia provided a free shuttle service to and from the cable car stop, but it would be quite a wait. There was no taxi and I did not know how to get one. Wanted to use Uber, but the app had to first update itself (as I have not used it for a long time). Then after it was updated, I could not login because it insisted on sending me a verification code via SMS which does not work! Sigh …. Had no choice but waited, until the shuttle came around 9:50, by that time there were quite a lot of people waiting for the shuttle. We got on since we were the earliest. After wegot to Zealandia, I checked in with the receptionist and it went smoothly - they had our names for the 10am tour.
The guy, Grant, was a retired naturalist who knows the place well and was passionate about the ecosanctuary, the wildlife and the plants. So what is Zealandia, I have to quote what’s described in the brochure: “Zealandia Te Mara a Tane is the world’s first fully fenced urban eosanctuary, with an extraordinary 500-year vision to restore the valley’s ecosystems to their pre-human state. Decades of planting, weeding and species reintroductions have shaped today’s experience, with wildlife now spreading beyond the sanctuary and native biodiversity increasing in Wellington.”
Grant guided us through a rather easy path and pointed out various birds etc to us. We saw the Tuatara, a lizard like ancient order of reptiles. Even though I have never been that interested in birds, some of them today were quite fascinating. I tried to take some photos via my phone but results were not that great. These parrot like birds were so smart - they knew how to open the lid to a box to get the nuts inside, then they held the nuts in their “hands” and ate them. Later there was one that landed on the ground. He (or she) was interested in checking out everybody’s shoes. Very funny!
The tour ended around 12:10. I was hoping to get some good Zealandia special things in the gift shop but there was none - surprising and disappointing!
The shuttle from Zealandia to the cable car was another rather long wait, as the bus can only take 9 people …. When we were back at the cable car station, we had the option to walk to the Botanic garden the down to the city center from there. Bob was reluctant so we took the cable car down. And grabbed some random food at the bottom of the station before wandering back to our cruise shuttle bus stop.
Wellington was indeed a very windy city! Today is another windy day - perhaps not to the locals but certainly is to us. The weather forecast says the wind is 25mph and the gusts are 41mph. Boy you can really feel it!! I remember a few days ago when we first drove here, the wind was so strong and I was wondering what’s happening. Now I know this city is famous for being a very windy place! It can really compare with Punta Arenas in Chili! My God! I was hoping to do some shopping but gave up - too windy to be fun walking the streets and my foot hurts ….
Back to the ship before 3pm. Then we had supper at deck 14 the buffet. Later we watched the 7pm show by a Polish musician Miro, and listened to the destination talk about Christchurch. I started washing quite early as I was quite tired but ended up going to sleep quite late because I watched a movie Edge by Anthony Hopkins, etc. A rather scary movie which ruined my sleep. Oh well ….
Wednesday, February 26, 2026 - Christchurch, the Sheep Farm Visit
We planned to be up by 6:30 but did not get up until almost 7:30. Rushed breakfast on deck 14 and made it to deck 4 for our excursion meet at 9am. The weather was cloudy, threatening to rain so we brought our rain coats which luckily we did not have to use.
Our excursion was group 12 and we boarded the bus quite promptly. It turned out there were two buses on this excursion, we and group 13. The bus ride was about an hour, along the winding mountain roads, and scenery was very pretty! Unfortunately I was not able to take any photos on the way.
The farm we’re visiting was Mannerly Family Farm owned by Mary and Ross Millar. They purchased this run-down farm in the 1970s when they first got married and slowly rebuilt the entire thing over the years. I cannot remember how many hectares of land they have but it’s quite vast. They renovated their house - a lovely lovely house, “California” style, with a swimming pool and a lovely garden. We’re appreciative they are willing to open their entire home to us visitors! They also provided refreshments - Mary baked short bread and meat rolls - delicious! I overheard someone saying that the cruise excursion aided their income. I’m glad. I would have loved to buy one of the wool knitted hat but we did not bring any cash - NZD or USD! Sigh ….
Ross showed us how he used his dogs to herd the sheep. The first dog was a young 18 month old collie and has been trained quite well. Ross used his whistle and directed the dog to herd the 6 or 7 sheep back to in front of us. Later he called another “barking” dog who was a black lab to show how he used the barker to her the sheep. I absolutely loved it!! And I actually touched the sheep and felt how thick their wool coat was! Wow!!!
Later their friend Dan demonstrated shearing the sheep for us. I learned that they can shear the sheep in 3 minutes. The wool coming off the sheep was about 1kg which sells only $5NZD and the shearer gets $3. He dragged one sheep from the stable on its back and put him/her between his legs. The sheep was SO DOCILE!! I asked if the sheep actually enjoys being sheared. He said he’s not sure if they enjoy the process but they do flourish after all that wool being taken off! They usually shear the sheep once a year. If the wool sells well sometimes they do it twice a year.
I feel really really sad for the sheep …. They are such kind and docile animals…. They get herded by the dogs and go wherever the dog wants them to go; they get sheared of their coat and eventually they sacrifice their lives …. Just cannot think too much or too deep about it!! It makes my heart ache ….
After the farm visit which was around noon, the bus drove us back, first through the city Christchurch. It was the first time we got a very good look of the city. When we were here last time, we spent only one night and our walk through town was to and from a food court in a not so great part of the city (I assume). This time the bus drove us through the entire city center which was actually quite lovely!! I would have loved to walk through the botanical garden and some other areas. We saw the Crown Plaza the hotel we stayed at and the cathedral square which we walked through. We did not know that this city was struck badly by a 7.9 earth quake around 2011 which killed more than 200 people and destroyed most of the town. The cathedral we saw being renovated was destroyed by the earthquake, so were many other buildings. The bus driver told us since the earthquake a lot of people moved to the surrounding towns and those towns are now flourishing, but also created transportation congestions. We were thinking of getting off the bus and explore Christchurch more, but decided to get off at Lyttelton, the small town our ship docks in. That was a poor decision, as this Lyttelton town had really NOTHING except a sled dog statue which was cute - reminded me of the dog statue in Japan….
We’re back to the ship around 2:30. Went to deck 14 and grabbed a few bites of snacks, made a reservation at the steak house for Friday night 5:30 - we’re kind of tired of the other food on the ship.
Tonight we will go to BLU and participate in the usual activities - show followed by destination talk.
Thursday, February 27, 2025 - Dunedin, the Last Cruise Port before Sydney
The last day at the cruise port Dunedin was quite nice, even though we did not get the chance to visit the part that is the world’s best wildlife capital.
We were up before 7:30 - much later than we planned. We rushed through breakfast at the BLU and got on the shuttle bus to Dunedin city center by 9am. We had a Dunedin panorama excursion that started at 12:45pm so we thought we would go into town on our own and explore the city at little bit.
The shuttle bus dropped us off at the Octagon city center, and we walked down a few of the streets branched off from there, including the famous landmark the old train station. I poked into a few stores and grabbed a few t-shirts. Then we took the shuttle back to the Chalmers ship port terminal around 12:10pm. After a brief stop in our stateroom, we went down to join our excursion.
It turned out that the panorama excursion was basically a bus tour around the famous spots of the Dunedin city, with the bus driver telling us the stories/histories of the city - rather interesting, better than us blindly wandering around on our own. In addition to pointing out all the famous historical buildings and sights, the bus stopped at the old train station for about half an hour. We went into the building this time. Then the bus stopped at the famous Baldwin St. I attempted the not so steep first part of the street and gave up the effort at the beginning of the steep part - I could have made it up to the top, but making it down would be the difficult stretch so I gave up. The street was no comparison to the Lombard St in San Francisco which was much prettier! This one might be steeper at 38+ degrees. It was a residential street and a few houses along the street had pretty gardens and there were a couple of small shops taking advantage of the famous street, nothing that interesting. Finally the bus stopped at the Dunedin Botanical Garden for one hour which was great! This botanical garden must be the best and most pretty we’ve seen around the world! Loved it!
Back on the bus and we were back at the cruise terminal before 4:30pm, the all on board time, I rushed to deck 15 hoping to catch a few shots of the mountain scenes I was not able to catch. Unfortunately the angle and light was not right. Oh well!
I guess it is a regret that we did not get to visit the part of Dunedin that’s the world’s wildlife capital, with fur seals, albatross, penguins, etc. But in a way I do not regret, as it would be almost impossible to take good photos with the cruise excursions …. I wish there would be a next time we could come here on our own ….
After 5:10pm now and the ship is slowly moving. For the next 3 days we will be sailing through the sounds/fjords. I will be starting to pack - need to pack the big bag so that we could leave it in the hotel or the airport for the entire time we’re in Australia,
We plan to dine at the BLU then go watch the show at 7pm followed by listening to the talk about the sail tomorrow. Tonight’s show was by a comedian which was entertaining. The destination talk was informative. We will need to be up early hoping to see the sunrise and some wildlife at the Dusky Sound.
Friday, February 28, 2025 - Last Day of February, Sailing Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound, and Milford Sound,
Today our ship sails through three fjords - the Dusky Sound, the Doubtful Sound, and the Milford sound (btw sound is the same as fjord). We were up a few minutes before 7, quickly washed and rushed to deck 15. There were already some people there. It was rather chilly - we had our down jackets on but I had to go back to the room to fetch our beanies. The sunrise scene in the fjords was pretty. I had my real camera with me. It was difficult to take photographs because the glass railing was pretty high. I had a decent spot until another man squeezed in front of me. Later I noticed some animal in the water far away - too bad I did not bring my long lens. They were possibly dolphins. Later we went into the thermal spa area which our aqua class is entitled in. Much less people there. But the wind was wickedly strong. Bob did not go outside. I attempted a short while. Then we went back to our room. It was 9am and the BLU dining room was closed (so did other dining venues except buffet on deck 14). We went to the buffet - oh that was a real zoo! It felt like the whole ship was there and we could not even find a table to sit down and eat. Ridiculous.
We came back to the room after the late breakfast. I pulled down the window and we enjoyed some scenery. By that time we were pretty much out of the Dusky fjord and were sailing along the Southland shore. I decided to tackle some packing and pretty much packed the big soft bag, which we’re hoping to store in the Sydney hotel while we tour Australia and pick it up when we leave for Japan. It was around 12:30 when I finished packing.
There did not seem to be any activities that really interested us. We walked around the ship a bit, sat down in a quiet corner on deck 4 for a short while, then came back to our room. The ship is now probably sailing through the Doubtful sound. From our window, we can see the mountains along the shore rather closely. The mountains are covered with lush and dense green, and the top are shrouded in clouds - quite pretty. I think we will be in Milford sound by the evening.
For the first two sounds, the ship sails one way. But the ship will sail in then out of the Milford sound, so we can stay at one side and see both, assuming the light cooperates.
We’ve been sailing at the south western part of New Zealand. This part of the country must be very sparsely populated and full of amazing natural beauties! There must be a lot of wildlife - I regret we did not bring the binoculars ….
After today’s fjord sail, the next two days will be pure sea days sailing across the ocean to Australia. I will read my Japan book.
Had dinner at the BLU - so so food but our server George and his assistant are nice. The food is never too heavy so that is nice. The chef at the BLU really is not that great a chef. Oh well ….
Saturday, March 1, 2025 - Sea Day #1
The ship notified us to move the clock back by one hour last night. I did not do that as I thought my phone would automatically do it so this morning when I woke up and saw it was after 7:30am I thought it was already the new time. But it turned out that out in the ocean there is no time zone so my phone remained at the old NZ time. I guess by the time we reach Sydney it will automatically change the time zone to be 2 hours behind the NZ time. Any way, we were up in time to eat at the BLU before 9am.
No plans for the day, besides doing some walk on deck 14 and read my Japan book. Rather boring - maybe we will go to the Club and see what’s going on.
I canceled my Netflix subscription before we left on 1/31, but just got charged another month’s fee for February. Tried to login to Netflix but it’s not allowed because it is a streaming site. So filed a case with Paypal. Sigh ….. I though I took a picture of my Netflix subscription but I guess I did not …. Can’t find the record …. Oh well! Learned another lesson. I thought I have been careful enough, but I guess not ….
Somewhere around noon time, we went to the theater and listened to the captain’s talk about the ship, The captain is from Greece and speaks with distinct accent which makes it a bit hard to understand at times. But I could understand more than 80%. He’s a humorous man and we enjoyed his talk. Then we went to the Club, first attended the Cha Cha Cha dance class - did not learn too much since Bob could not follow and I’m not that skillful either. Then we listened to the best enrichment talk! It was by the naturalist Celia Garland and the topic was Sea Birds. I was extremely impressed with her knowledge and presentation skills! One of the best I’ve attended!! Her website: www.celiagarland.com. I really learned quite a bit and admire her so much!! Tomorrow she will give another talk about the Australian animals at around 11:15 - we will definitely go!!!
We had dinner this evening at the “Fine Cut” specialty restaurant - a steak house. Not bad at all. I enjoyed the steak and the side order of sautéed spinach. Rest is so so. After dinner we went to the theater. It was already past 7pm so we did not get seats and I stood while I wanted Bob to sit at the only seat available. It was a lady singer/entertainer. After the show, we went to listen to the destination discovery talk about Sydney.
Tomorrow is our last full day on the ship. There are two things we want to attend: 10:15 talk by the cruise director and 11:15 enrichment talk about Celia. Will pack the rest of our luggage and suitcases must be out by 10pm. We’re group12 - will exit the ship on Monday 3/3 at 7:50am.
It’s 9pm now here (in the middle of the ocean or Tasman sea) and 8pm Sydney time. I will start doing some packing now then go to bed.
Sunday, March 2, 2025 - Sea Day #2, Last Full Day on the Ship
Last day of the cruise before disembarking at Sydney tomorrow.
We changed to Sydney time since last night. We were up around 7 and had breakfast at the BLU. Didn’t do anything worth mentioning and headed to the theater on deck 5 before 9:30. Celia’s talk about wild Australia was at 10:15 - again very interesting and loved it. Then Dominic’s talk at 11:15 - surprisingly good! It’s the first time in all the cruises we’ve taken that a cruise director was so personal and talked about his own experiences and the life of the crew - their dorms, their dining area, their activity area, etc. etc. Absolutely enjoyed it! Must give a really good review!
After the talks, we went up to deck 14 and grabbed some buffet food. Even though not gourmet, I somehow liked it better than the BLU - getting quite tired of the BLU food. I’m thinking tonight we will do the buffet as well ….
Bob played the black jack tournament, did not win the $ but hopefully had fun. He was number 2. Then he did the whisky tasting at 2:45 - I think he enjoyed it. I sat in the chair outside the BLU (where the tasting occurred) and rested.
Don’t think there’s much more interesting thing to do rest of the day. I might go up to deck 15 and see if it’s walkable, while Bob is taking a nap, After dinner I will finish packing the luggage to be put out by 10pm. Tomorrow we need to be up by 6 and out of the room before 8. Another hectic morning.
Bob and I looked through the days in Australia after Sydney, when Bob has to drive for another 5 days before we fly to Tasmania. It will be another week of pressured driving …. We really should have allowed one more week to do the tour. It is way too rushed …. Sigh ,,
I already purchased the sim for Australia, from the same Saily company as in NZ. I will activate it once we arrive in Sydney.
The Edge performance team put on an excellent show tonight - Some of the dancers were extremely talented acrobats - they were amazing! We really enjoyed it. I usually do not watch these cruise shows but this time was different.
Finished packing the luggage and put three pieces out. Tomorrow we will have one small suitcase plus the camera bag, in addition to the backpack and my handbag. All ready. Will be up at 6.
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