January 24 - New Plymouth, New Zealand

It’s a partly cloudy day here in New Plymouth.  This is the major city in the Taranaki Region  on the west coast of New Zealand’s north island. It’s also the only deep-water port on this side so it’s important for commerce.  We’re docked in the port which is mainly industrial and there are piles and piles of timber waiting to be loaded and shipped someplace.  Additionally, this area is known for dairy farming and oil and natural gas exploration.

Just a few logs waiting to be shipped

This place had been settled by Maori.  Beginning in the 1820’s the Maori began having contact with European whalers and traders looking to buy flax for cloth.  A trading post was set up here by a Brit named Barrett.  He negotiated with the Maori and helped to facilitate the purchase of land from them.  Back in England the Plymouth Company set about finding settlers from the western part of the UK, specifically around Plymouth in Devon, to immigrate to this new place.  To help induce them to come they named the new settlement New Plymouth.  (As an aside, we Americans learned about a Plymouth company who settled in Massachusetts.  This wasn’t the same bunch.)

The first settlers finally arrived around 1841.  Not unexpectedly land  and ownership disputes erupted with the Maoris and in 1860 New Plymouth became a fortified garrison with the arrival of 3500 Royal troops.  They fought the first Taranaki War and the disputes were settled.  I’ll leave you to figure out who prevailed.

So it’s very pleasant outside today.  There’s a little breeze and the temperature is about 68°.  I’m going on a short tour this afternoon.  I’ll have more to say about this place later. 

I’m back.  The tour was not very good; in fact, we all went and had a talk with the Destination Services manager.  I won’t go into detail; suffice it to say it was not up to snuff. I think the area outside the city is probably very pretty, but New Plymouth (pop. 67,000) is unremarkable except for the art center  which I’ll tell more about in a moment.  Our driver took us to what was supposed to be a 360° panoramic viewpoint.  Not so.  We pretty much saw the dock with lots of timber waiting to be shipped to China (of course) and our ship.  Our drive through town passed nothing picturesque and we came to a man-made lake with the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge which was interesting to see.  On the lake there were water-skiers and people swimming.  

The panoramic view that wasn't

The Te Rewa Rewa Bridge

Our next stop was the Len Lye Centre and it was the highlight of the tour. Len Lye was a New Zealand artist known for his experimental films and kinetic sculptures. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything quite like his work.  The sculptures which he called “The Tangibles” consist of various pieces of flexible metal which is moved by I guess electricity and makes marvelous shapes as it’s rotated and spun and also makes interesting sounds.  I really can’t find the words to describe it.  If I can figure out how to upload one of the videos I made I will; otherwise you’ll have to look at some of the still photos and take my word that it was amazing.  The building itself is spectacular The exterior is undulating walls of what looks like mirrors.

The mirrored exterior of the Museum

Well, I've worked and fiddled and I can't figure out how to get a video to work in the blog, so I'm just posting a few still photos of these strange kinetic sculptures.  You'll have to take my word that they move  as a result of electricity and magnetism, and they are very interesting. So sorry!

This was called progression and was a flexible metal (steel?) band that wobbled back and forth on the table beneath it banging the little orange ball above as it did and making a gonging sound.

This is a black and white striped rod that begins to spin faster and faster and as it does flexes to make all kinds of geometric shapes.  It's called Zebra

This is Storm which flexes and wobbles and makes a crashing noise like a big thunder storm

There are about seven very thin rods in a circle with one in the middle and they begin to spin and make lots of  shapes.  It's called "Witches' Dance."  

This is a column of white albatross feathers with a cascade of light coming down through them.  The feathers have some symbolism in the Maori culture and the blue lights represent the waterfalls of New Zealand.

I'm not sure who this fellow is except that he is a Maori and I thought he was interesting.

I do have to confess that while I thought this was all interesting, I'm really more of a Monet, Van Gogh kind of girl.

We came back to the ship and had our discussion with the Destination manager which turned out to be productive for me.  During the course of the conversation I learned that the tour I had booked in a couple of days, the Journey to Middle Earth, involves a little over six hours on a bus with limited bathroom facilities along the way and a sandwich in a “rustic” setting for lunch.  I’m sorry to say that as much as I would like to see where the Lord of the Ring films were made, that sounded unappealing. Katie, you’ll just have to Google to see some pictures.

Back aboard we played trivia late afternoon and were only ten points shy of winning.  Tonight I’m dining with the sand artist I saw the other night.  That should be interesting.  Then the entertainers on the ship have a show and of course dancing 

January 23 - At sea someplace

I think we’re sailing in the Tasman Sea southbound along the coast of North Island, NZ.  Overnight we must have sailed around the northern tip of the island and made our way from the Pacific Ocean.  Last night it was a little rough.  Dancing was interesting; you look like you’ve had a little too much liquid refreshment but it’s just the rocking and rolling.  During the night when I got up to use the loo I managed to scrape up my arm as the ship lurched when I stepped up into the bathroom.  I thought I’d packed everything, but lo and behold no Band-Aids.  I can tell you that toilet paper and a rubber band do a pretty good job.

We started our journey up in Auckland and went north around the top of New Zealand.  Now we're in the Tasman Sea sailing down the west coast.

Tomorrow we'll be right smack in the middle of this map in New Plymouth.

Today we have a couple of lectures – in the morning there’s one on Maori culture and this afternoon there’s a lecture on “Women in Sports” by a woman who was the manager of a men’s rugby team.  Despite the fact that women and sports are hot topics now I can’t imagine that she’ll be talking about the hot button issue.

I’m not sure of the demographics on the ship.  We seem to have quite a few Americans but there are many Aussies, Brits and Kiwis too.  I met one Austrian lady yesterday and her English seemed limited. She was supposed to join us at my hosted table last night but didn’t show.  I hope it wasn’t because of a language barrier.

In a little while I’ll be off to Trivia..  At the moment I’m hanging out at the Seabourn Square, kind of the Central Park of the ship, to give my suite attendants a chance to get me straightened out again.  

This is Seabourn Square, kind of the heart of the ship

Here's Danjel (pronounced Daniel), from Bosnia who makes wonderful capuccinos and mocha caramel lattes

It’s much later.  Trivia was fun; we have a US/UK team, which isn’t always as good as having one with several nationalities.  Despite that we did pretty well.  We picked our name and it’s “Ship for Brains.”

The lecture on Maori culture was quite interesting.  I didn’t make it to the one on Women in Sports, but I can watch that at some later date on the TV.  Tonight was a formal night with a captain’s welcome aboard cocktail party first followed by a special dinner.  I haven’t gone to the welcome parties recently but I did today.  I met a nice couple from New Jersey and saw some more old friend staff members from previous cruises.  Dinner was at the Staff Captain’s table. It was a small table which I like.  The Staff Captain is from Bulgaria and seemed kind of shy.  Or maybe it was that we three women at the table were dominating the conversation.  I was seated next to him and he did become more animated when I asked him about his family (he has two sons and a daughter) and when we talked about his time in the navy.

After dinner the show was a piano recital by a marvelous pianist names Panos Karan.  He's Greek but studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and has played in places like Carnegie Hall.  I liked him because before each piece he told us something about both the composer and what his intention was when he wrote the music.  That helps me to have a greater appreciation of what I’m listening to.  After the show, in keeping with my tradition, I went down to the club.  The band knows the songs I like and since there were few people there they played them.  I was the only one who got up and danced and I’ve found that with each cruise I’ve gotten less inhibited.   I don’t feel any trepidation at all now about being the only one on the floor. It got pretty rocky and around 11:45 I decided to call it a night.  Even in bed I could feel a lot of rocking and rolling.  I’m guessing there are probably some passengers not doing well.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for today.  Tomorrow we’ll be in New Plymouth, NZ. 

January 22 (continued) - We're at sea

 I just had to report that I made it to the ship, my bags came and I'm settled into my home for the next four months.  The room is in good shape and plenty big enough.  I'm in bed now, but tomorrow I'll post a few photos so you can see what I have to suffer in 😊. 

Embarkation was easy and I went immediately to start my routine of a mixed green salad for lunch.  At 5 PM we had a sailaway with the band playing out by the pool. There are so many people I've met in pre- vious cruises that it feels like old home week.  I was invited to dine with one of the singers and it was a delightful table with just him, one other very nice lady and me.  After dinner we went to the show which featured the "Sandman," an artist who does quick art using only varicolored sand.  I had no idea what to expect and I have to say he was great.  He's a Maori and he told stories from Maori lore as he made his sand pictures.

After the show I went to the club and I did my first dancing of the cruise.  Only one other couple got up and danced but that's okay.

This was a Maori writing translated into English. I thought it was interesting to see the two languages side by side.

Tomorrow we have a sea day which will be wonderful.  One last thing.  I 've been intrigued by the Maori language and it turns out it's similar to Hawaiian. The hawaiian language has 13 letter while Maori has 15 because they added a wh and an ng letter.  When I walked through the terminal to get on the ship I passed a ladies room marked "women" and "wahini," which is Hawaiian for girl (woman).

Anyway that's all for now.  Bon nuit.  

January 22 - Time to board the ship

It’s Monday morning here. Already I’m having trouble knowing what day of the week it is.  I had another good sleep and in a little while a car will take me to the Seabourn Odyssey.

I’ll tell you now about my afternoon yesterday.  All 13 of us decided to continue on following the morning tour.  Our driver Jason was to have left us at a stop on Queen Street and give us into the hands of a new driver Chris and a guide Mairie.  Unfortunately they were stuck in traffic because many of the streets were closed by a massive protest downtown.  Three guesses what the protest was about.  If you guessed pro-Palestine and Houthis you get a grand prize!  So Jason began the afternoon’s drive.

We headed west out of Auckland toward the coast.  Auckland is a unique city because it has two harbours, one leading out to the Pacific and one to the Tasman Sea with nothing between NZ  and Australia.  Our drive took us through the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park.  It’s composed of about 70 square miles of forests where the government is trying to restore forest that had been disappearing and also trying to eliminate pests which were brought to the country and are eating the eggs and chicks of native birds thus endangering them.  The Waitakere Range are a mountain barrier separating Auckland City from the Tasman Sea.  The highest point over 1500 feet.

In the far distance is the Tasman Sea, the body of water between New Zealand and Australia and reputed to be one of the roughest in the world.  We shall see in a few days.

Some of the scenery along the way

Interestingly, much of New Zealand was deforested, first by the Maori who were boat builders and then by the Europeans who came next.  There is a big effort to reforest, so much of what we passed through was new growth.  Our first stop was the Arataki Visitors Center.  Arataki is a Maori word meaning “Pathway to Learning.”   The building is built of Kauri wood in the traditional Maori style of a great house.  In front is a tall pou, a Maori totem pole, with carvings of important Maori ancestors.  They are all men and very fearsome looking.  In the little museum inside there were some female carvings.  Jason told us that when Maoris fought battles (they were evidently a pretty bellicose people), the men would be in front throwing rocks and brandishing clubs.  The women were behind throwing curses. Apparently the curses were just as feared as the more physical things.

The great house at the Aratiki Visitor Centre

The Great Ancestors on the pou, totem pole.  If you look you can clearly see they are all men.

The pathway to Learning with the names of the five ancestors

There was a nice view from the path by the center of the shoreline with the Tasman Sea.  Some of the group took a walk through the rainforest.  A couple of us stayed behind and watched a lovely video about the area.  In addition to the Kauri trees, the forest has lots of very large ferns, a few palms, and Pohutukawa trees which are called New Zealand’s Christmas trees because they bloom with massive red flowers in December.  The forest is full of a variety of birds and these pests which are being eradicated.  They include rats, rabbits, pigs, ferrets, weasels and possums.  Some of the latter were brought in to get rid of the first couple.  The plan didn’t work; they all just multiplied.  The hope now is that they’ll be eliminated by 2050.

A pohutakawa tree in bloom

From Arataki we drove on winding roads to the west shore.  We had to take a detour because last January the North Island was hit first with massive rain; in 6 hours they received the equivalent of a year’s worth.  Immediately following they were hit with a cyclone, their name for a hurricane.  In Auckland there was massive flooding and in the mountains there were lots of landslides so roads are still under repair.  

Along the way we passed through what was New Zealand’s first wine country.  It was settled in the early 20th century by Croatians who planted vineyards.  Eventually those disappeared and were replaced with large orchards of pear, apple and plum trees.  Those are gone now and what’s left are small farms.  

A view of the western shore from the high road

Piha or Lion's Rock

Piha Beach

We made our way down to  Piha, a village and black sand beach on the Tasman Sea.  Piha in Maori means “the wave coming off the bow of a ship.”  A distinctive sight on the beach is a massive rock, Piha rock or the Lion Rock because some people think it looks like a recumbent lion.  The beach is black and Mairie had two large magnets with her which she put in the sand and when she picked them up they were covered in black sand.  Because of the iron people have to be careful when they walk barefooted because the sand gets so hot it can burn one’s feet.  Piha is a big surfing beach and there were a few surfers out looking for the next big wave.

Our driver and guide offered us some tea or juice, cookies and a taste of Makuna honey.  It’s a honey from here in NZ which has both anti-biotic and anti-fungal properties and so is very healthy.  It was delicious!  After a little interlude we headed back through the winding mountain roads and arrived back in Auckland.

I think I should say a few words about the name of this place.  The first Englishman who signed a treaty in the 1840’s had been mentored by the man who was Viceroy of India.  His surname was Eden but he was the Earl Of Auckland.  In honor of his mentor, the place was named Auckland and around here there is a Mt. Eden.  The original capital was further north in a town that had the nickname of “the hellhole of the Pacific.”  The British didn’t want their capital known as that so they moved it here and established this city.

New Zealand had an election last year and the government changed from being ultra-liberal to very conservative. Of the Kiwis I have spoken with I’ve heard people who are skeptical of the new regime and those who are welcoming it.  I guess time will tell what’s better.  Since I’m always interested in more practical things I asked about income and taxes.  Apparently the average income is between NZ $48,000 and NZ $68,000 and the taxes on that bracket are about 28%.  There is a GST tax on everything, including food; that’s like the VAT tax in Europe. There is a National Health Service which is evidently pretty good for routine things, but if you need something like a knee or hip replacement you can wait a long time to get it.  That’s the same thing I’ve heard about other countries with national health care.

That’s about all for now.  I need to get ready to go to my home for the next 110 days.  I’ll check in later.  

January 21 - Ki aora from sunny Auckland

After a really good night’s sleep I was up early (7- ish which anyone who knows me is early). I was ready to see Auckland.  The tour company I’d booked picked me up and off we went in a minibus with 13 of us plus our driver/guide Jason.  The first thing I learned is that the flat part of the city is all reclaimed land.  Evidently the reclamation began in the mid-19th century and the old, original city is hilly.  The hills are actually parts of dormant and extinct volcanos, some 60 around this part of the North Island.  Just west of Auckland there is a super-volcano which hasn’t erupted in millions of years.  The crater lies about 50 km, off-shore in the Tasman Sea off the west coast of the island.

I know this is hard to see, but this is a very steep street we went down in the original part of Auckland. It reminded me of the chase scene in the original Bullitt movie with Steve McQueen.

We drove around the cruise port – there were two ships there today- and the old ferry building.  With only a few exceptions all the buildings in this part of town are modern.  We headed up the hills into the older part of Auckland. We made our way through commercial districts and as we climbed higher in the hills we came to residential neighborhoods.  The higher up the hill the grander the homes.  These were the places where the managers of shipping companies and merchant houses lived.  The houses are primarily made of wood from the Kauri tree, a native wood which sounds like it’s similar to teak.  It’s evidently sturdy and resistant to insects and weather.  The houses were in a pretty ornate style with lots of carved lintels and framing around porches.  On one of the hills overlooking the city we passed by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Many of us have heard of Gallipoli, over in Turkey, where Australia and New Zealand lost many men in a botched campaign during WW I.  What I didn’t know was that New Zealand lost proportionally  by population more soldiers than any other country fighting in that war.  Approximately 100,000  Kiwi soldiers fought in WWI and of those about 18,000 died and 41,000 were injured and wounded.  As a result there are a number of memorials around commemorating the troops who served.  

One of the older ornate buildings we passed as we climbeda hill on Queen Street, the main street

The War Memorial Museum

The old Government Buikding

The Church of England Cathedral

That completely ivy-covered building on the left is part of the University of Auckland as well as the modern one next door.  What a contrast!

We drove through the University of Auckland which has approx.. 40,000 students and is the largest one in the country.  It’s on summer break right now and classes won’t begin again until late February.  The university has five campuses and includes a law school and three research institutes. It was founded in 1883 which makes it pretty old for what is a young country.  We passed the government building and a military commander’s building .  All of those were in a Victorian style.  Next we headed across the Auckland Harbour Bridge which crosses the Waitematā Harbour thus connecting St. Mary’s Bay on the Auckland side with the North Cote  suburb on the north shore.  One of the activities available here is bungee jumping from the bridge.  I may try many things, but bungee jumping is just not on my to-do list this visit.  Maybe next time.

The Waitematā Harbour Bridge.  No Bungee jumpers that I could see.

On the north shore we drove through the village of Devonport.  It’s a delightful suburb of the city.  There are lots of little art galleries on its streets.  It’s a place to come back to if I ever come again. I asked about the cost of the houses in the neighborhoods we passed.  The ones on the higher ground in Auckland sell for $3 to $5 million NZ Dollars.  (1.6 NZ dollar to $1 US dollar.)    We drove to a beach which lies on the Pacific and has white sand.  It was a lovely day and Sunday so there were lots of families out.  A sailboat race of tiny sailboats that looked a lot like sunfish was going on. Jason wanted us to see the very white sand.  On our way around Devonport we passed the Royal New Zealand Naval Base, where there were two small ships.  Jason said that they are essentially the whole navy. Next we drove to the top of Mt, Victoria where we had spectacular views of Auckland’s downtown across the harbour.   

The beach on the Pacific shore

The view from Mt. Victoria

After leaving the mountain we drove back across the bridge and drove down to the Westhaven Marina, the largest marina in the southern hemisphere with over 2,000 slips.  As you probably know New Zealand is big into ocean sailboat racing and has won the America’s Cup several times.  On the first occasion that NZ won, a crazy protestor broke  into the Royal New Zealand Club where the cup was kept and smashed it in protest of something..  Nowadays there is tight security to keep the trophy safe.

A tiny pasrt of the Westhaven Marina

Just to show I was really here with the bridge in the background

After our brief stop there it was time to head back to downtown and for the tour to end.  As it turns out several people were going on for the afternoon tour and since there was room I decided to go along. The afternoon tour was going west to the shore on the Tasman Sea and through a national park.  I’ll write about that tomorrow.  For now I’ll say good night because my eyes are closing.

January 20 - I’m finally in a Land Down Under

My last entry was on January 18 and I didn’t miss a day.  Nope, the time is 18 hours ahead of EST so I arrived her Saturday morning, January 20.  I lost a day of my life!  (No worries though because I’ll eventually get it back when we cross the International Date Line later on my cruise.)

I feel lucky to be here because things didn’t look too bright in LAX on Thursday evening. My flight from Dulles arrived early and I transferred to my next terminal and went to the Polaris Lounge for a little while.  (It can’t hold a candle to the one in DC.)  When it was time to board I went to my nearby gate and got on our 787 bound for Auckland.  All the passengers boarded, up in business we were offered prosecco or water, and the chief flight attendant came around to confirm our dinner orders.  That’s when the problems started.  First our pilot came on and told us there was a light out on one wing and it would be just 15 minutes delay to replace the bulb.  Half an hour later he came back on and said they had found a whole light assembly out and it would take longer than expected if it could be fixed quickly at all. So he asked us all to deplane and take everything with us.  He further said if the lights couldn’t be fixed promptly, HQ in Chicago would have to see if they could rustle up a substitute aircraft that was nearby.  

We all dutifully got off and then hung out at the gate for a couple of hours. Things looked bleak because ours was a full plane and there just aren’t that many flights going to Auckland to rebook us.  Someone was looking out for us though. There was a spare 787 in a hangar at LAX!  Yay!  The plane got moved to the gate, the luggage was transferred, the plane was cleaned, fueled, and provisioned and at about 12:30 AM (3.5 hours late) we departed.  

The flight was uneventful if long.  It was around 12 hours of flying time which was less than I thought but still seemingly endless.  I watched several movies and might have dozed for an hour.  Thankfully the car and driver I had arranged checked and knew we were delayed.  In Auckland we had more fun.  I thought going through US Customs and Border Control could be difficult sometimes, but let me tell you, we look great by comparison. While in line I did meet some of my future cruise mates which was nice, but it was a long wait and we were in a line for people with nothing to declare.  I had to go in an additional line because one of the questions asked was if I had more than 3 months’ worth of medications with me.  Of course I do; I’m going to be gone for nearly 4 months.  When I told the official why he told me “next time make sure you only have 3 months with you.”  I looked at him in disbelief and said yessir.

I got to my hotel around noon and had to wait a little while for my room to be ready.  Despite knowing better when I finally got in I took a shower, brushed my teeth and took a nap.  I’m just too pooped to do much today.  My hotel is located on a yacht harbor and it’s a beautiful sight.  It’s about 80 degrees and sunny – quite a change from home.  Here are a couple of pictures of what I see from my balcony.

This is the inner courtyard of my hotel and I thought it was pretty.

Here’s a little about Auckland.  It’s  on the North Island and the largest city in New Zealand with a population of close to 1.5 million as of June 2023.  It’s also very diverse in the central city with 39% of the population being from countries other than this one.  Apparently in the late 20th century the country opened up for immigrants and now has a large population of Asians and Pacific Islanders.  The area was originally settled in the  first part of the 14th century by Polynesians who developed the Maori culture.  The first European to record seeing New Zealand was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642.  In the 1840’s the British came along and signed a treaty and claimed sovereignty of the country.  In 1907 New Zealand became a dominion and in 1947 it gained full sovereignty.  It does still retain the British monarch as the titular head of state.

My first impression of Auckland is that it's a very modern city as you can see from the few photos above.  The tower is the Sky Tower, a telecommunications structure that’s about 330 meters tall.  My driver told me you can up to the observation platform and walk around outside.  So sorry, but I don’t think I will do that.  The last time I went up in something like that I hugged the wall the whole time.  I was surprised to see that it’s hilly too.  I don’t know why I should be, but somehow I thought it was flat in my mind’s eye.  It reminds me a little in this respect of Seattle or San Francisco.

Today about all I’m up for is a little walk around the harbor.  Tomorrow I have a tour booked to see the major sights.  Tonight I’m just grateful that I made it here sort of on schedule.  So ta-ta for now.

January 18 - My odyssey begins

Here I am sitting in the United Polaris Lounge at Dulles International outside of DC.  I had a car and driver pick me up this morning and we went very uneventfully up I 95.  I checked in quickly and then got assistance to get me out to my concourse and the lounge.  I confess I’m not hesitant at all to ask for wheelchair assistance in these airports because they are so big and on occasion in the past I have felt like I was walking to my destination. Today I’ve already walked more than 3000 steps and I had a ride to get here.

Anyway, my bags are checked and one suitcase was picked up yesterday and is being shipped to Sydney to meet me there on February 6th (fingers and toes crossed). I can’t possibly have forgotten something I should have packed because I have so much stuff with me.  If I have, I probably don’t need it anyway.

As we drove out to Dulles I was remembering the first time Al and I flew out of here;  I’m really dating myself, but it was 49 years ago. At the time I remember as we drove out we puzzled over why anyone would build an airport in the middle of no place.  Boy, has it changed!  Gone are the farms and forests.  The terminal has been added onto and there are extra concourses to get to by train.  This lounge that I’m in is brand new and huge.  I just had lunch in the sit-down dining room where I had a very good burger.  The spoiling has started already.

Washington and Northern Virginia had a pretty big snowstorm a couple of days ago and I was worried that my flight might be delayed or canceled since more snow is supposed to come tonight. Fortunately it looks like there are no delays.  I was also a little worried that my flight might not go because it was scheduled to be on a 737 Max 900, the ones that have been grounded and as far as I know not yet cleared to fly.  Thankfully a different aircraft is being used so all should be well.

Well, that’s it for the moment.  I board in an hour and will be on my way to LAX.  I have a pretty short layover there and then it’s off to New Zealand.  There should be a car to pick me up when I get there  Saturday morning Auckland time and I think I’ll probably crash in my hotel room.  Oh, by the way, the time difference between EST and Auckland is 18 hours (!!!). They are 18 hours ahead of us.  (How long will it take me to get my body clock right?) I booked a tour of Auckland for Sunday so that I will have to be up bright and early. 

Here are a couple of photos of this place just to put something more than my words on the page.