January 30 - Fjordland National Park, Milford Sound

Wow,  Wow, Wow! Today we spent the day sailing through Fjordland National Park in New Zealand.  We sailed through three sounds, Doubtful, Dusky and Milford Sound.  My friends in  the entertainment department on the ship advised me last night that I had to get up by 8 AM or I would regret missing some of the national park. It was tough but I did get up on time. When I opened my drapes, I found myself looking at a thick layer of fog with some shadowy formations peeking through. Fortunately the weather gods once again smiled on us and as the day progressed the fog lifted and we ended with another one of those days with a Carolina blue sky and white puffy clouds.

Fjordland is the largest national park in New Zealand and one of the largest in the world.  It encompasses approximately 3.1 million acres, nearly 5% of the total area of New Zealand, and was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1986. The area was well known to the Maori and according to their legends the fjords were carved by a demi-god whose name I can’t remember (Maori names are very long).  Captain Cook during his travels in the Pacific came here in 1773 and stayed in one of the harbors for 5 weeks.  He didn’t sail into most of the fjords because he was afraid that if they sailed in they might not be able to get out again because of the steep walls around them since they were relying on wind to move them.  That’s how one of the fjords we sailed through, Doubtful, got its name, He called the bodies of water “sounds” but technically they are fjords carved eons ago by glaciers.

As the fog lifted we were surrounded by steep walls of rock mostly covered with lush trees and bushes.  The southern ranges of the Southern Alps of the South Island cover most of Fjordland and account for the very high walls around us.  Most of the national park is inaccessible by main roads.  Milford Sound, the last one we visited, is the exception.  There is a discovery center at the head of that fjord and people can take boat trips and kayaks in that area.  The other fjords are only accessible via dirt and gravel tracks.

As we sailed to the head of the most spectacular one, Milford Sound (named after a place in Wales called Milford Haven) the walls around us rose 3900 feet or more.  The end of the fjord is nearly 9.5 miles inland from the Tasman Sea.  Along the way we passed two peaks, the Elephant at almost 5000 feet and the Lion at nearly 4300 feet high.  After rainfall there are many temporary waterfalls which dry up after only a couple of days but there are two permanent ones. Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls.  As we moved along we had a school of 6 or 8 dolphins who played alongside the ship occasionally breaching.  I don’t think any of us managed to catch a picture of that because it was so fast.  I’m not sure what species they were but they were smaller than the ones I’ve seen in aquariums.

I really can’t express in words how absolutely beautiful this place is. The sheer majesty of the rocks and the colors were breathtaking.  I’ve been fortunate enough to visit fjords in several countries and these were about the most impressive ones I can remember seeing.  I don’t think my photos do them justice but they’ll give some sense of how beautiful they are.

This is how the morning started.  I was thinking I could have slept longer.

Things started to lighten up a little. These were in Doubtful and Dusky Sounds.

Then the sun appeared as we sailed toward the star of the show.

Heading up Milford Sound

The pictures are inadequate.  All I can say is you just had to be there to experience the beauty.    Now we're off to the Tasman Sea to make our transit to Australia.  I've got three days to rest before I get to set foot on my last of the seven continents.

January 30 - Middle Earth

No, we’re not in Middle Earth today, but I wanted to talk about the place I didn’t go the other day. Someone (Katie) was a little disappointed but I just didn’t feel like six hours in the bus.  I did have some new friends who went and they’ve air-dropped me some photos. (Isn’t it wonderful that we can do that?)

Evidently when the film company wanted to film the Lord of the Rings movies here in the various locations the arrangement with the New Zealand government was that upon completion of filming, they would leave the locales exactly as they were before they started.  Hence, the group that went out to “Middle Earth” saw beautiful scenery but absolutely nothing that was any part of the set.  They were shown lots of photographs in big books by the guides and told that was how it looked during filming.  Don’t get me wrong, my friends said the natural scenery was beautiful, but they didn’t see Edoras or anything else.  I’m uploading a couple of what they gave me so you “get the picture.”

This is what one saw in the film

This what is there minus sets and computer generated graphics.  A little different?

Here's their guiding showing them one of the photos

Anyway, I just thought I'd write down to remember what magic is done in films nowadays. They can make us believe anything.

January 29 - Oban, Stewart Island, New Zealand

This is our last port call in NZ and it is such a lovely day.  We are anchored just offshore this little island, the southernmost point in the country.  It’s located at 46°54’ S 168°08’ E.  Despite being in such southern latitudes, it’s very lush and green and the temperature is quite moderate.  Today the temperature got up to about 63°.  In the winter (our summer) the low temperature generally stays in the high 30’s to 40’s. The population is around 400 and it does have a school for children in grades 1 to 8.  After that kids have to go to the mainland for boarding school or live with relatives there.  The main occupations are fishing and working in tourism.  The island is home to the Rakiura National Park in which there are many species of birds, including among others albatrosses.

There were only a few tours offered and they all involved bird-watching.  Not that I dislike birds, but when I went on tours on previous cruises and the guide would say”oh look, there’s a yellow-bellied whatever,” I almost never saw it and that can be quite frustrating.  Instead I decided to take the shuttle into the little village of Oban and have a little walk around.

Oban is named after the town of the same name in Scotland. Yes, the Scots who came to Dunedin migrated here as well.  In Gaelic Oban means “little bay.”  This village lies along Halfmoon Bay and is tiny.  There are a few shops, a couple of rustic looking hotels and some restaurants.   Didn’t go to it, but one of the restaurants is supposed to have great fish and chips.  I wasn’t hungry, so maybe I’ll have to try it next time I come.

This and the one above are views of Stewart Island from my veranda.  Looks rather idyllic, doesn't it?

This and the next ones are of downtown Oban

I was walking around and I encountered a local lady limping along with an elastic stocking on one calf and foot.  I said “oh no, we’ve got an injury here.”  She told me that she’d sprained her ankle doing laundry. I told her she needed to stop doing laundry. Shortly thereafter I went into one of the few shops, this one selling nothing but clothing made of NZ merino wool.  I found a lovely sweater in the most gorgeous shade of teal and as I was paying for it the limping lady came in (apparently she works there). I said oh there’s the lady who hurt herself in the dangerous sport of doing laundry.  The lady waiting on me started laughing.  She said “so that’s the story she’s telling.”  According to the saleslady the limper owns a gin distillery and the gin won an award and she and her husband were celebrating when she took a tumble.  I don’t know which is true,  but the second version sounded like more fun..   I took a little walk along the waterfront and after a few minutes headed back to the tender dock.  

I spent the afternoon catching up on e-mails and writing about yesterday’s excursion. One funny thing (at least to me) I should mention is about BLT’s.  I love BLT sandwiches and on one of my last cruises I let that be known and whenever I went into a dining venue for lunch they would ask if I wanted a BLT today.  Somehow the word preceded me because every day I get asked if I would like one. Now I call that service.  By the way, they make a very good one.

I also forgot to tell something about the topography of the South Island which is what accounts for the contrast in landscapes. Lying in a roughly North-South direction are what are called the New Zealand Alps.  On the western side of the mountains is the Tasman Sea; clouds roll in laden with moisture from their passage over the water. When they get to the mountains they release that moisture and so the western shore is very green and lush.  On the eastern side where we were in Lyttleton and Christchurch the landscape is therefore more arid in the summertime.  Dunedin, yesterday’s stop, is  pretty far down on the southeastern coast so it’s not getting as much of the effect of the mountains. 

Tomorrow we'll spend the day cruising through Milford Sound and then it's off to see kangaroos.

January 28 - Dunedin, New Zealand

Today I’ll start with a little education I’ve gotten about names of some of the places I’ve been.  I’ve already mentioned about some of our earlier ports (Auckland and New Plymouth).  Nelson it’s pretty easy to figure out is named for Horatio Nelson, the hero of Trafalgar.  I’m slipping though because it wasn’t until today that our guide Malcolm told me what should have been obvious; the first European to see this place was Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer, and this is New Zealand as in "Nieuw Zeeland" (new sea country) in Dutch.  I should have figured that out a long time ago. 

Dunedin, our port today, was settled by many Scots and the name comes from the Gaelic Dùn Èideann or Edinburgh.  This is the capital of the Otago region on the South Island and the second largest city on the island.  We docked in Port Chalmers which is about 15 km from Dunedin at the mouth of Otago Harbor.  The ship couldn’t go up to the head of the harbor because it’s so shallow we would have run aground.  I opted to take a tour into the town with a tour of the city’s main sights and a stop at Olveston House about which I’ll tell more later.

Lots more wood destined for China.  If we don't watch out they'll own everything

As with every place we’ve been this area was settled by Maori in the 13th or 14th century. Captain Cook anchored off what’s now the coast around Dunedin in February 1770 and he reported seeing penguins and seals. When word of that got out, sealers began to come. They were followed by whalers and by the 1830’s it had become an international whaling port. In the 1840’s a group of people who wanted to found a Free Church of Scotland community arrived and liked the area of Dunedin.  So in 1848 this place became officially the special settlement and immigrants from Scotland began arriving. By the end of the 1850’s 12,000 Scots had arrived. They raised sheep and farmed and fished. In 1861 gold was  discovered in nearby rivers and streams and a Gold Rush began.  This was alluvial gold, meaning it wasn’t mined; instead it was found panning and digging around rocks in the rivers.  After word of gold got out new settlers came pouring in and for a time Dunedin was New Zealand’s city with the largest growth of population.

Today the population is about 135,000.  Dunedin is the home of the University of Otago, NZ’s oldest university founded in 1869.  The university has one of only two medical schools in the country and the only dental school. It’s also the place where the first daily newspaper in NZ was published.  Because of the wealth that flowed into Dunedin during the gold rush era, there are many lovely Victorian and Edwardian homes and some of the public buildings are very ornate.

As we drove into the city our first stop was the railway station.The building was opened in 1906 and was built by an architect named George Troup who earned the nickname “Gingerbread George.”  As you’ll be able to see in the pictures it is very elaborate. The guide told us the exterior is Renaissance Revival and made of basalt with lighter stone facings.  It’s got a clock tower and turrets and is very impressive.  Inside it’s just as elaborate.  In the main hallway the floor is made of 750,000  Minton tiles with designs of train engines and train cars.  Around the balcony up above is a frieze of Royal Doulton porcelain.  It’s an impressive building.  

Avery fancy railway station

This Royal Doulton was around the entire station hall

Just some of the 750,000 mosaic tiles in the station floor

After a look around we headed up to a viewpoint in Unity Park for a great view of the city and a look at the monument to Richard Byrd.  Admiral Byrd, a Virginian I might add, left for his first Antarctic expedition in 1928 from Dunedin. The view was pretty spectacular.

Tribute to Admiral Byrd

Looking down on Dunedin and the harbor

Next we drove back into the city and saw other gingerbread buildings that were the court building and some other government offices. Malcolm then took us to see the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street.  It has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.  Other streets claim to be, but they zigzag up while Baldwin street goes street up at about a 35° angle!  We got off the bus and walked to the foot of it to take pictures, but no one tried to walk up.  I wonder why.

Baldwin Street

Next stop because we were a little early for the main attraction was the botanical garden. This city has the kind of flowers I remember seeing in places like Victoria, BC.  While we didn’t have much time what I saw of the garden was beautiful.  An interesting (at least to me) aside was that when Malcolm parked the bus by the entrance to the garden a young man with a little curly-headed boy in tow came by.  They were Malcolm’s son James and grandson Jack who will be two on 02/02.  Little Jack didn’t know what to make of us ladies coming over and cooing over him.  When his grandpa asked him if he’d like to see the bus he began to cry.  I think we overwhelmed him.

Last we went to the Olveston House, a historic home that was left to the city of Dunedin. The house was built between 1904 and 1907 for the Theomin family.  David Theomin was a wealthy merchant and he and his wife Marie were avid collectors who traveled the world collecting all sorts of things, everything from porcelains to Japanese weapons.  They were patrons of the arts and hosted many musical and social events there. The family had two children, a son Edward who never recovered from his service in WWI, and a daughter Dorothy who never married.  Upon Dorothy’s death in 1966 she left the house, all its contents and a sum of $4000 annually for its maintenance and upkeep to the city of Dunedin. At first the city council wanted to sell the house and contents because they didn’t want to maintain the place. There was a public outcry and a foundation was formed to raise funds for maintenance. The place now serves as a museum and does lots of educational programs. 

These two are an exterior and interior shot of Olveston

To be perfectly honest, the interior of the house was not really to my taste.  There was lots of dark wood paneling and to my mind too many things everywhere.  I’m not into modern stuff but I like things a little lighter and airier. It was quite interesting though that the Theomins thought of every detail. For example, in the kitchens there were custom made pottery containers for every spice known to man each with the name baked in when they were made.  Being a fan of Downtown Abbey I was amused to see the bell system similar to the one in Downton to call for the servants.  In most of the rooms no pictures could be taken in the interest of preserving the fabrics and woodwork.

When we left the house it had just begun a light rain.  I’ve been so lucky with the weather.  We boarded our bus and on our way back to the ship we stopped at the University of Otago to take a picture of the belltower and the Maori pou, similar to a totem pole.  The campus was a study in contrasts.  The belltower was similar in style to the railway station and around it were some very modern glass and steel structures.  Then we were on our way back to reboard the ship.

The pou on the campus

The University belltower

Of the cities I’ve seen in New Zealand this was actually my favorite.  I could imagine living there.  I think the climate is pretty temperate. They have good medical facilities.  The cost of housing there is apparently much more reasonable than in Auckland and the flowers are beautiful. There's not much more one could ask for.

January 27 - Lyttleton (Christchurch), New Zealand

It’s another sunny day here in New Zealand.  I had to get up early to go on a tour and when I opened my drapes I found I had three visitors on my veranda.  Today’s vista is very different from those of the last few days. The hillsides surrounding the harbor are not covered with lush green foliage.  Instead they remind me more of the hills around southern California.

Lyttleton is the port for the city of Christchurch which is the capital of the Canterbury region of New Zealand.  It’s on the east coast of the South Island.  As of 2023 Christchurch had a population of not quite 400,000. As with other parts of New Zealand the area was first settled by Maori people.  The British came in the 1840’s and the city received its charter in 1856 which actually makes it the oldest city in the country.  Lyttleton is about 7 miles from Christchurch and accessed quickly via a 2 km tunnel.

Today was the day I was supposed to go to Middle Earth but the six hour plus bus ride was unappealing.  Instead I’m off to see a sheep farm. I’ve seen those before, but the ride there gave me an opportunity to see some of the countryside.  Unfortunately all tours today left early so I had to drag myself out of bed.  I shall need a vacation from my vacation.  We boarded our bus with our excellent driver Wayne and headed  east on a winding road around the estuary Lyttleton lies on.  I was sitting up front and I was impressed with Wayne’s skills.  We went through hairpin turns on a road that often had a significant drop-off. Along the way we passed fields with sheep and cattle and others with big bales of hay and other forage for the livestock.  We passed a few lakes which were brown in color because they’re shallow and always quite windy so the bottom silt is being roiled constantly.  

After an hour we arrived at the farm we were visiting, Manderley.  Two gold stars if you can figure out where that name came from.  The farm couple, Ross and Mary, met us as we pulled into their drive.  They live in a trim house built back in the 1880’s.  It looked like it was in great shape and it had both a nice pool and a lovely garden.  The house is at the foot of a pretty significant and steep hill.  Ross first told us a little about his dogs. They are either border collies or a mix of collie and retriever.  One is a pup still in training.  I had no idea, but he told us a well-trained sheep dog can be sold for as much as $9000.  He proceeded to give us an example of their herding ability. Using just his whistle he sent the dog up this steep hill to where a group of sheep were grazing.  They were so far up I could barely see them. The dog rounded them up and then began moving them downhill.  The farmer wanted half to go in another paddock near the foot of the hill and just by whistling he got the dog to separate them and move then appropriately.  A group of six came down to stand near us and the dog sat and watched them.  If they began to move he would go to them and round them up again.  All this with just whistles.

This is Manderley

Farmer Ross

Way up sort of in the middle next to to tallest trees were a bunch of sheep

This boy raced up the hill directed only by whistles from Ross down below

And he brought these guys down to visit with us

This pup is in training. He  desperately wanted to get in on the action but he's not ready for primetime yet.

Next we went into a shearing shed and Ross gave a lamb its first shearing.  The farm has two kinds of sheep, regular wool ones whose wool is used primarily for carpets and merino wool sheep whose wool is used for fine clothing.  Lambs wool is frequently used to make baby clothes.  Adult sheep are shorn once a year; lambs are shorn more often because seeds from plants in the fields get stuck in their wool and can eventually work their way into their skin causing irritation.

Well, this was one laid back lamb.  Ross held him sort of between his legs and began shearing him. As he did the lamb would just flop around any way he was pushed and it probably took 7 or 8 minutes to complete the job. The lamb’s skin was so soft it felt like velvet and he seemed quite happy to be rid of that hot coat.  It is summer here after all.

Here's Ross getting ready to shear. Doesn't he look like the stereotypical Kiwi or Aussie sheep farmer?

The lamb is feeling much lighter after getting rid of his heavy coat.

After the shearing we went to the house to have some tea or apple juice and cookies.  In addition to sheep Manderley also has cattle.  Last year when I visited a sheep farm in Chile the  farmers there told us about the low price of wool, and evidently it hasn’t improved.  I gathered that many sheep farmers are raising fewer sheep and more cattle because there’s more money to be made in the latter.

And now you know more than you ever needed or wanted to know about raising sheep in New Zealand. We took our leave of the farm and headed back toward Christchurch.  I remembered that not so very long ago Christchurch experienced a couple of devastating earthquakes.  Wayne, our driver, told us about them. In September 2010 a 7.1 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was west of the city struck.   A second one with an epicenter closer to the city that was 6.3 struck in February 2011.  Despite being lower it was more intense and violent so it did more damage and caused 185 fatalities.

We got a little tour of town and if we wanted to we could stay and catch the ship’s shuttle back to Lyttleton.  I didn’t see anything that caught my eye so I stayed on to go directly back to the ship. Rebuilding is ongoing.  To give you an idea about the priorities, the sporting facilities which were destroyed have been almost completely rebuilt.  The big Anglican Church has not.

More New Zealand tomorrow. Goodnight for now.