DOWN UNDER

NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA - Posted MARCH 1, 2008 from the Torres Straits

We are half way around the world now and really beginning to settle in. They are going to have to do some major prying with crowbars to get us off this floating utopia in April!

We have always loved days at sea and we have settled into a bit of a routine:
6:00—Approximate, depending upon when the pre-dawn sky off the balcony wakes us for Sunrise.
7:00 – Breakfast delivered to our room. Dining on the balcony while reading our daily devotionals—the Bible (Don is trying to keep up with his men’s Bible study at home by reading Genesis) and “The Intellectual Devotional” which has a reading for every day of the year about a topic in seven categories—History, Literature, Visual Arts, Science, Music, Philosophy, and Religion. Many of the included subjects (one page each) are relevant to this trip around the world. This morning we just read the part devoted to the Taj Mahal which we will be visiting in a few weeks. In fact, we are becoming so smart about so many things, we manage to stump our nightly tablemates on a regular basis with our trivia questions.
10:00—Attend the first morning lecture if interested ( today was former astronaut Wally Cunningham)
11:00—Attend the second morning lecture (today was by a very entertaining Oxford University professor about eating insects with crunchy samples to try!)
12:00—Lunch in the Britannia Restaurant—forced to eat a four-course meal again!
2:00—Don and Larry play duplicate bridge; Marilyn gets some personal time to go to the afternoon classical concert, see a movie, read a book, etc.
4:00—Relax and check the official calendar to see if it’s a “formal, semi-formal, or elegant casual” night so you can decide what in your wardrobe you can still fit into for whatever category it is—major stress! Basically every night is what most of the world would call a dress-up night—when it’s “elegant casual,” men don’t have to wear a tie, just a jacket
5:00—Cocktail hour—sometimes in friends’ cabins, or official parties given by the Captain for various passengers (i.e., full world cruise, frequent Cunard travelers, etc.)
6:00—Seven-course meal in the Britannia Restaurant.
8:30—Evening entertainment in the Royal Court Theatre.
9:45—Evening Ball in the Queen’s Room (honestly we haven’t made many of these because we’re exhausted by then!)

Clearly, it’s a tough life. But for days in port, we really have to be organized ahead of time to make the most of our time ashore. We usually put in quite a bit of effort booking our own arrangements via the internet versus going on the ship’s pre-arranged excursions.
We have had an unusually large number of cloudy and rainy days at sea, but fortunately most port days have been very good weather. In spite of the prevalence of clouds around the ship, however, we have managed to see some beautiful sunsets with both the green flash and the even rarer blue flash phenomena.

We sailed into the impressive city of Auckland, New Zealand in the early morning of February 15. Many small boats welcomed us outside the harbor and escorted us into dock in spite of being 5:00 AM in the morning. We discovered through email correspondence with Betty Christian of Pitcairn Island that she would be in Auckland visiting her daughter and new grandson. It was great to spend the day with Betty, her daughter, Darlene, and three-week-old Caleb. Unfortunately, we missed Tom Christian who had just returned to Pitcairn a couple of weeks earlier.

The next day in Napier, thousands of people lined the dock and the hillside welcoming the Queen Victoria. It even included a formation fly by with 5 vintage aircraft. The Queen was the largest ship ever to visit Napier and it made an amazing 180 degree turn in a tight harbor. We had a great wine tour visiting five vineyanrds in the Hawkes Bay region. Returning back to Napier, we got to visit shortly with Raelene Christian and her husband, Steve. Now we have met three of Tom & Betty’s four daughters. Besides the arrival of the Queen Victoria, the city was celebrating their annual Art Deco festival with hundreds of antique cars and everyone wearing early 1900’s vintage clothing.

Sunday, February 17 found us in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. We visited the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, and then walked the town looking for a restaurant or pub open on Sunday in the CBD (central business district). After more than an hour, we eventually finally found The Black Harp Irish Pub which provided the energy needed for the long walk back to the ship.

After three more days at sea, we arrived in Melbourne, Australia on February 21. Test your Aussie knowledge. (No worries, Mate!)

What is a Roobar?
What is a Smash Shop?
What is a Pokie Machine
What percent of Australians vote?

During our voyage, we met a lovely couple from Melbourne who suggested that we call the limousine service they regularly use to arrange a tour of the Yarra Valley wine region (is there a pattern here?). Our driver, Alberto, met us at the dock in a red Mercedes van and whisked us, Jane and Dennis Fennessey, and some new friends from Boston, Chuck and Susan Bridges off to explore five vineyards. We had a perfect, sunny day (after a string of rainy days according to the locals), saw some beautiful countryside, tasted some great Shiraz, had an elegant lunch at Chandon, and even had time to do some shopping at the famous Victorian Market. During the course of the day, we discovered that the Bridges and Don had all graduated from Denison University, a small college in Granville, Ohio. Also Susan and Jane discovered that they had pledged to the same sorority, and Dennis and Don the same fraternity. Our group had a lot more in common than just the love of good wine! Later that night before we sailed out of Melbourne Bay, the city saluted the Queen Victoria’s visit with fantastic fireworks and fanfare.

Two days later, on Saturday, Feburary 23, we sailed into spectacular Sydney harbor about 5:00 AM. We were surprised to see over 75 private boats waiting to escort us into this world-famous harbor--through the famous South and North Heads (cliffs), past the Opera House and to our dock beside the Harbour Bridge. We hopped the local train and bus and went to beautiful Bondi Beach. It was a perfect day with great surf, big waves, fine sand and a multitude of young people. Larry, Don and Dennis braved the monster waves and got a lot of thrills from surviving the pounding the ocean gave them. That evening we, the Fennesseys and Christine dined at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar—delicious seafood and world-class view of Sydney Harbour. Then we attended Verdi’s “Masked Ball” at the Sydney Opera House which was a very special experience for us opera fans. Our cabin balcony on the ship overlooked the Opera House and we certainly savored those once-in-a-lifetime views for the two days and night we were berthed there.

On Sunday, the Fennesseys and Christine sadly had to disembark the ship as their segment was only from LA to Sydney. Christine desperately wanted to extend her cruise but found out not only was the ship sold out, there were 500 people ahead of her on the waiting list! So we helped our friends settle into their Sydney hotels, then all of us took a ferry to Darling Harbour for lunch which gave us great views of the Queen Victoria in Sydney Harbour. The sail away from Sydney that evening was definitely historic and will be one of the most memorable events of the entire cruise. Both the Queen Victoria and The Queen Elizabeth 2 were in Sydney for the weekend. The two ships did an elaborate “Whistle Salute” as we passed Fort Denison in the harbor with thousands of people lined up along the shore to see the last time these two ships would be together. There were 12 helicopters in the sky, a flotilla of over 500 private yachts and sailboats, and fireboats spewing huge fountains of water leading the back out to sea. The QE2 is completing her last world cruise (29th) and will retire as a floating resort in Dubai.

In Brisbane it poured down rain most of the day but we still had a great day. Our friend, Rob Thomas, met us at the dock and drove us down the Australian Gold Coast. We had lunch at a scenic winery near Mount Tamborine, then did some essential shopping and got a quick overview of the city. Rob visited us in Scottsdale when he was touring the US with The Christians from Pitcairn Island in 2005.

Our final port in Australia was Port Douglas situated along the 1250-mile-long Great Barrier Reef. We went on a dive/snorkeling boat which motored out one and a half hours before we got to our first of three snorkeling sites—Castle Rock, Stonehenge, and the edge of the reef. We have done quite a bit of good snorkeling around the world, but this experience was absolutely the best ever. We just couldn’t believe the brilliant colors of the myriad kinds of coral and fish. We even swam with some sharks and held sea cucumbers in our hands! We all wore “diving skins” with hoods and gloves to protect us from jelly fish although we didn’t see any of those. We celebrated an unforgettable day by polishing off a two-liter box of Australian wine while waiting for the tender craft to get us back to our ship (remember there were eight of us working on it)!

Answers to the above Australian questions:

Roo Bar – A special front bumper on your car to bounce Kangaroos off if you hit one.
Smash Shop – An auto body repair shop.
Pokie – A Poker machine in certain lunch stops.
Virtually 100% of Australians vote since there is a $70 fine if you do not!

PS1: We are now sailing on a major cruise ship where the Americans are a minority. In fact we are outnumbered by the Australians 1st and English 2nd!

PS2: Best wines: Sauvignon Blanc = Clifton Road 2007 from Hawkes Bay New Zealand
Shiraz = Cat Amongst The Pigeons – Nine Lives 2006