Doubtful, Dusky & Milford Sounds

Remember to click on pictures to get the full version.

We spent the day scenic cruising though several of the fjords in the southwestern corner of NZ.  The first thing you may notice is the change in clothing that we are wearing.  Remember the shorts and tee shirts of Bora Bora?  Well, here is how we are dressed now.  Not a pair of shorts in sight.

To give you an idea of what it takes to cruise through Fjords here is a picture of our navigation chart.  You can see the plotted course in the channel with all the turns.  You can also see how close we are to the terrain.  The straight red line toward the top of the screen is the projected course if we don’t turn.

I won’t go into a lot of detail on which fjord is which and all the intricacies of the day.  Here are some shots of the scenery we pasted.

This waterfall is in Milford Sound.  Milford Sound is the most famous tourist site in NZ.  It was called the eighth Wonder of the World by Rudyard Kipling.  The little yellow specs you see to the right are Kayakers.

This zoom shot shows a “day cruiser” taking tourists up close.  They actually get into the waterfall spray.

Ok, here is a close shot of the kayakers for our more adventurous readers.  You can take two and three day camping trips kayaking the fjords.  Not exactly our style of travel.

And now we say goodbye to NZ and set sail across the Tasman Sea heading for Tasmania.  Two days at sea to get there.

We enjoy your comments and e-mails so keep them coming.

Ken & Noreen

Christchurch, Dunedin and Oban NZ February 11-13

We continued our marathon visit to NZ with a series of visits to small towns with interesting aspects.   Our first port for this entry was Christchurch.  You may have heard of it as the home of the International Antarctic Center.  This is the starting point for the trips to the South Pole.  You may have heard of some of the names such as Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton that were here.  Today it is a modern complex of buildings including a very nice Antarctic attraction, passenger terminal, and equipment storage area. 

Here is a picture of the van that took us out to the Center.  Our photographer didn’t tell us about the sign but we loved the penguins on top of he “Penguin Express.”.

The US hanger as part of the international group.

This is the Boeing C-17 that is used to make the flights to the South Pole during the season.  I couldn’t get any closer.  There is also a C-130 that I didn’t get a picture of.

Inside the exhibit at a base recreation.

We took a  ride in a snow cat made by a Swedish company.

An interesting item with this vehicle is that it floats.  Here we are in three meters of water (and dirty windows).

This was what we had time to do in Christchurch except for a great lunch in a local restaurant.  A picture of downtown Christchurch.

On to Dunedin (February 12th).   I think I mentioned that a chief export from NZ is timber.  Here is a picture of a ship loading timber across the dock from us.

Dunedin is also famous for it’s Albatross Colony that lives on the tip of Otago Peninsula.  Sorry, no pictures of them.  Noreen and I took an easy day wandering around the town.  Any Cadbury chocolate lovers out there?  This is the home of the Cadbury factory.

Local row housing.

And single family homes.

For you nautical types, note how narrow and widening the channel is.  It is almost like a slalom run.

Next was Oban, Half Moon Bay.  The town is located on the eastern coast of Stewart Island at the south end of NZ.  The area is also home to the Rakiura National Park.  There are only two directions in this town area…….up and own.  Here is an picture taken while walking up from the tendering dock.

A shot of a house built for the slope.

The off- season population is about 400 people.  Yep, back to more on the ship than on the island.  In season it is about 2,000.  The ferry service is kind of small.

OK, they really have bigger ferries.  But this is really the only jewelry shop….really.

They do have a number of cars and need to be careful of the local wildlife.

Remember the shot of the ship through palm trees in the south pacific.  Here is a shot of the ship through the local vegetation.  No palm trees here.  I am at Lookout Rock one of the highest locations on the island.

Panoramic shot of the island area as we sailed out.

That is all for this entry.  Things were quiet on our last few stops.  Tomorrow we will be cruising through the Fjordland National Park and Milford Sound before heading out into the Tasman Sea and over to Tasmania. 

Ken & Noreen

Napier and Wellington, NZ

Remember to click the the picture to get the full view.  I’m working the problem.

We arrived in Napier early in the morning of February 9th.  On February 3, 1931 the area suffered a major earthquake.  It was devastating for the local area but had two unforeseeable outcomes.  Almost 40 square KM of land was raised and added to todays Napier landmass.  The second result was that the town was rebuilt using the Art Deco style that was popular at that time.  The Art Deco buildings have been recognized as architecturally unique and Napier is known as one of only two restored Art Deco towns in the world.  The other being South Miami Beach, FL.  Here is a picture of an Art Deco style in Napier.

We haven’t shown you a New Zealand trademark yet.  Here we are with a Kiwi.  Yes, It is stuffed.  The bird, not us!

For some reason the ship was greeted by the local antique car club.

This picture shows the type of terrain around Napier.

We spent a quiet day in Napier wandering through the town.  Then on to Wellington.

This is the entrance to Wellington harbor and surrounding country side.  You can see the rocks in some of the pictures making staying in the narrow channel very important.

This is an island ferry that goes between the various NZ ports and islands.

Wellington is the capital of NZ.  It is a modern and active city.  We had a very nice lunch in an English type pub and then headed over to the NZ National Museum.  This is a picture of the building.  The floating crane in the picture is an early model steam engine that is being restored.

At the entrance note the two languages.  NZ has two primary languages, English and Maori.  Most signage and such are in both languages.

The museum has a number of exhibits and information on the formation of the land and earthquakes.  NZ  is known among the locals as “Shaky Islands” due to the number of earthquakes that occur.

We haven’t taken any pictures of monuments so here is one.  We’re not sure what it is for, there was no marker.

 

One of the chief exports from NZ is lumber.  This picture from Wellington can be seen in every port we stopped.  All this lumber will be shipped in one day and replaced.  It is a 24/7 operation.

 

Panoramic view of the harbor from our docked ship.

As you can see we had a couple of quiet days in NZ.   We’re stopping at a lot of ports and it’s nice to just relax and wander around.  Everyone we have met are very friendly and helpful.  They are proud of their country and love to share stories of the history and accomplishments,  Now on to Christchurch.

Tauranga 2/8

On to our next stop – Tauranga,  The harbor and area is dominated by a large volcano. 

Another View

I left early in the morning with two fellow travelers in a rented car to Zorb.  Basically Zorbing is getting inside a 12 foot diameter ball and rolling down a long hill.  Here is how it looks.

The ball is filled with 6 inches of water in the center chamber to help you slide around.  Here you can see a person inside the ball as it comes down.  Sometimes they balls get away and take off across the county-side.

 

Someone coming out of the Zorb at the bottom.  You can learn more at Zorb site 

The Zorb is in Rotorua about 75 KM away from our port.  Here are some country shots during our drive.

As we drove though the country-side we passed many small towns.  One was named Te Puke which made for some strange store names.

In the afternoon Noreen and I walked around downtown Tauranga. 

How they handle their graffiti problem.  A couple of walls set aside for the artists.

We finished our visit and set sail for Napier.  We hope you are enjoying our travels.  We are enjoying your comments and e-mails.  Keep in touch.  We’ll “see” you again soon.

Ken & Noreen