Advertisement
Published: February 16th 2011
Edit Blog Post
"Hole in the Rock"
Sailing in the Bay of Islands, NZ We cruised into the Bay of Islands on February 7. That means that we only have four months of cruising left until we reach Southampton, England on June 7. I was wondering if I should start packing. Anyway it is always so beautiful to sail into this lovely northern tip of the “land of the long white cloud.” Some of our passengers had private car tours so we escorted them ashore on the ship’s tender and then took a long hike into Piahia. We missed the Whaitangi Day celebration by one day which was unfortunate but we saw the remnants of it with the tents and all the visitors. There is a local crafts market set up whenever a cruise ship is in. So we went to our favorite vendor who handcrafts magnets from paia which is like mother of pearl but is actually the outer shell of an abalone. We have bought these magnets as gifts for our Cruise Specialists guests for the past four years. This year the crafts people remembered us and were happy to give us a discount on their wares.
On the ferry over to Russell we met some vacationing Aucklanders. The woman is in
charge of the New Zealand baseball program. They recently had NY Yankee outfielder Curtis Granderson as their guest and he put on baseball clinics and promotional programs. American baseball is just now garnering some interest here “downunder” and he was a good ambassador for the sport. An interesting note is that Mr Granderson makes more money each year than the entire NZ All Blacks Rugby team. When we told her that we were Giants fans and had just spent October cheering our team on to the World Series Championship—she really got excited. We formed an immediate baseball bond.
We arrived in Auckland at daybreak and said farewell to about half of our passengers. Then my brother came aboard with his two year old daughter. It is so good to see Steve and Ellie. The stewards and stewardess, lonesome for their own kids, played with Ellie and gave her cookies and candy. You could tell that they just longed to embrace a baby as they were missing their own toddlers.
The four of us hit the road and drove over to the Coromandel Peninsula which is east of Auckland. This is a rural corner of New Zealand and fortunately
the summer season had just ended the previous weekend so most of the tourists had left the area. We found a two bedroom apartment in Whitianga—pronounced Fiteeanga as the Maori pronunciation of “wh” is “f”. It is very rugged country and quite beautiful on the eastern side of the North Island. It was fun to cook dinner and breakfast and shop in the local markets. I won’t be cooking for about six months so this was a real treat for me. The next morning we headed out to Hot Water Beach where at low tide it is possible to dig up some sand and watch the hot springs bubble to the surface. Kevin and Steve went surfing in very high waves while I tended to a sleeping Ellie. I was happy and relieved to see the two return from the sea!
The next day we drove to Tauranga to meet up with the ship. Cyclone Wilma had passed through Coromandel the previous week and the evidence of its fury was noticeable. Some of the roads were still closed due to mud slides and washed out bridges. We made it back to the ship in time for lunch and a
quick swim with Steve and Ellie and then it was time to say goodbye to my baby brother and his baby.
That night we celebrated Kevin’s birthday. We got together with other February birthday celebrants, Chick and Sue, George and Fran, Duffy and George for a lovely cocktail party on the fantail and then dinner in Compass Rose. Chick and Sue had decorated the table and we all exchanged presents and joie de vivre for a fun, memorable night. We toasted Captain Dag who celebrates his birthday on the same day.
Luckily the next day we were at sea and what a lovely morning to wake up to White Island which is a very active volcano just off the coast. Because of the way it is situated in the sea, it is possible to get very close to it. We could see some vents spewing sulfuric steam and smoke. There were thousands of white birds perched on the side of the island and the sky was filled with the volcanic clouds. It was quite a treat to view an active volcano up close and personal.
The capitol city of Wellington is a great place to visit. We
Surfin' Steve
Riding a wave at Hot Water Beach walked the waterfront to the Te Papa Museum. This is reputed to be the best museum in all of New Zealand. It certainly is lovely and has an extensive collection of Maori artifacts. There was a special exhibition of the European Masters. Probably the most surprising thing is that admission is free to the museum. We enjoyed an exhibit of Brian Brake--a Kiwi photojournalist who also took many famous travel photos. We are trying to learn more about travel photography in order to have better pictures on our blog. By afternoon it felt like we had walked ten miles so we took the ship’s shuttle back to the port and sailed away. There was a block party on board as we left Wellington. My brother had given us a poster he found which is an aerial photo of the “Cake Tin”--the large sports arena in Wellington. The picture was taken during the Rugby 7s championship tournament in 2008. It just so happened that we were in port that night and Steve an Kiwis Rhian and Peter had joined us for dinner on the ship. The Voyager looks beautiful in the twilight docked across the street from the stadium. We put
Kevin & Steve
Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Peninsula the poster on our door and it was the hit of the block party. Now we are off to the cool South Island—cool in more ways than one.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 12; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0742s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb