Our Trip to Australia and New Zealand

Trip 1-22 Jan, 2007 Australia-New Zealand cruise aboard the M.S. Statendam (Holland America). Karen (pronounced CAR-en) and Dave Gibson booked this trip back in June and asked us to go with them (we met the Gibsons on the Holland America Ryndam, during a Millennium Cruise through the Panama Canal). We (Jacqueline and Robin Simonds of Beagle Bay, Inc) thought that was a fine old idea and signed up—never guessing that in the Fall we’d buy a new house and start renovating, vastly complicating our lives! But I’m glad we went, as we got some much needed rest as well as seeing a part of the world we’d always wanted to see.

New Zealand

New Zealand or, as the Maori call it, Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud), is an amazing country, divided into two islands with distinct characters. Then there’s Auckland—which is to New Zealand as New York is to the U.S. That is, everyone in the world knows that NYC is a big city in the States, but Americans don’t feel it represents the whole country. Same thing for Auckland and Kiwis. So, with that in mind, I’ll break up my tale into three parts.

Started cloudy and foggy, but cleared quickly. We were up early (about 7:00... but since the clocks were moved ahead one hour, by body time, 6 a.m.) for pictures of Milford Sound. (It’s part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site ) The excursion guide, a man who speaks English as a 3rd or 4th language... and not very well... goes on and on at fractured and idiomatically incorrect length. I’d throw my sneaker at the speaker, but I don’t think it would help.

Milford Sound is stunningly beautiful. We're very lucky it is so clear. This area gets so much rain that there is a 10-13' layer of fresh water on top of the salt water from the sea! Here we saw the famous Mitre Peak, Stirling Falls and the Hanging Valley, waterfalls and wonderful coves that are just breathtaking

The Hanging Valley with Stirling Falls

A close-up of Stirling Falls

Some of the passengers got off the Statendam and on to this boat to have a long tour and hike through Fjordland National Park.

The water is fabulously clear and this wonderful green. There is also very little boat traffic... and even less in the other sounds.

We saw the Milford Sound Deep Water Observatory off in a distant cove. It used to be a power plant, once upon a time. You can go into it and see the underwater scenes... which are supposed to be as stunning as the landscape above water. Milford Sound has one of the largest black coral reefs in the world. Most are in the Caribbean and are being harvested for jewelry, but this is protected.

Apparently (and I found this out while writing the blog) Milford Sound was the setting for the scene in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring where they paddle through the Argonath, as well as scenes involving Isengard, Lothlorien and Amon Hen at nearby Glenorchy.

Took a 2 hour nap as we sailed back to sea. But grabbed lunch and cameras as we headed into Doubtful Sound (so called because Captain Cook looked at the entrance and thought it looked doubtful that it was anything more than a shallow cove... it goes on for miles).

One of the coves at Doubtful Sound

Doubtful Sound is just breathtaking!

Later, we went through Dusky Sound. Really fabulous scenery. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

What a wonderful day we picked to sail through!

12 January, Dunedin

Cool and overcast. Docked next to an enormous pile of wood chips as we did in Burnie.

Got up to board the Victorian (actually Edwardian) era Taieri Gorge Railway train right off the dock. We were told the train was over-booked and they were having trouble fitting us all in.

Finally—once we were served champagne (that always cheers up my morning!)—got underway and went through Dunedin—a charming little city with Scottish roots—and then straight up the Taieri River Gorge. The train traversed wonderful iron bridges and terrain that made Robin’s model train heart go thumpity-thump along with the clickity clack of the rails. We didn’t stop nearly enough to suit Robin and his camera, but did talk to our seatmates who owned a model train store.

A couple of passengers clapped on their cell phones the minute they sat down. One guy must have placed 50 calls during the ride—mostly to hear college football scores. Why didn’t he stay home?

J with a statue dedicated to sheepdogs (NZ sheepdogs are no particular breed--anything that herds is good enough)

The terminus of the ride up was some little spot in the mountains where the locals all know to come and sell their stuff. We bought honey.

Headed back down and got stuck outside of Dunedin. Took us 1 hour to go 3 miles, because a power failure had fritzed out all the signals. During the wait, we watched the most amazing machine compact junk in a scrap yard. Because they couldn’t guarantee the conditions on the line clear down to the ship, we were deposited at the Dunedin Railway Station, a stunning piece of architecture with Royal Dalton tiles on the floors and walls and fantastic stain glass windows.

Our tablemates were at the Pinnacle Grill, so just the Gibsons and ourselves at dinner.

13 January, Christchurch

Foggy, cool ... and the requisite pile of wood chips outside our verandah.

We got up early for the "Backcountry Explorer Excursion" we’d booked with the Gibsons. Got down to the theater where we were supposed to congregate and discovered they’d already called the tour. We rushed down to the bus, expecting to find Karen and Dave already on board... but they were no where to be seen. A few minutes later, we saw them get on the bus beside us. We expected them to be right behind us as we took off... but we didn’t see them again until lunch.

We drove up to New Zealand’s Southern Alps [and please DO click on the link to see what we missed!]. The bus driver, and later, our guide, were very disappointed in the low-hanging fog and kept telling us how much we were missing. It was still plenty beautiful. But I will have to go back there again to see the mountains properly. Went to the Waikanai River (which is very low, on account of the drought) where we took a jet boat (a boat developed in New Zealand. Our driver told us Kiwis are mad for speed and I believe him) to a rocky shoal quite a-buzz with black stinging flies. Luckily, I brought the bug spray, but they were very persistent!

The jet boats dropped us off at a rocky shoal, using temporary docks... which were a bit precarious. Jacqueline sits on a rock as fellow passengers make their way to shore. Off camera, the jet boat got stuck on the rocks.

Once everyone’d had their jet boat ride, we were loaded into 4 x 4 buses and taken up the steepest dirt road I’ve ever seen. The driver—who also owns the company—developed the road from a Nineteenth Century stagecoach track. He personally dug it out and re-gravels the very narrow, steep-with-scary-drop-offs road. GULP! At one point, the driver pointed to a train: “Oh, he’s about to go over a hundred year-old viaduct. You lot want to get a picture of that?” “Yes!” my spouse answered without hesitation. Suddenly, the driver veered across a pasture and headed right for a cliff edge—stopping within inches. R jumped out (nearly falling over the edge) and snapped a picture that was too blurry to be useful.

Do you think sheep station folks get a little bored? What made them plant this tree inside an oil drum outside a farm house?

Gorgeous scenery... which would have been even better with a view of the mountains.

Robin thinks you should compare the picture of us (left) with these sheep. Which is the resident and which is the tourist?

We drove to Flock Hill Lodge, a former cattle ranch that is now a fairly upscale tourist motel and restaurant. There we finally saw Karen and Dave who had been waiting for the 4 x 4 bus for 2 hours. Boy, when we get a confusilation going, we really do it up right! Went into the lodge for a lovely lunch, followed by a slice of the delicious New Zealand dessert, Pavlova, which is a sort of meringue cake.

Hopped on the tour bus for the drive back down to Christchurch. As we were driving through the last of Flock Hill, the driver pointed out an area where The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had been filmed. Sure enough, you can tell the area he was pointing at was the scene of the final battle where the Witch is defeated. They had to build a big gravel road to bring busloads of 650 people a day for three months. Quite something, what a to-do movie-makers cause!

Down in Christchurch, we got a full city tour with a stop at the stunning Mona Vale estate. Even though it was raining (the tour guide asked if I was holding the umbrella over Robin to keep him dry or the camera. “The camera, silly,” I replied), was totally gorgeous.

The reflecting pool at Mona Vale Estate

Mona Vale Gardens

Then we were taken to the Cathedral and the square around it. Should have gone and explored the Cathedral, but we got distracted by shopping! There were some buskers—which we would call street performing, but this is a higher art—entertaining in the square, and our guide explained that the World Buskers' Festival was in just a few days.

As we were headed back to the port, we turned a corner with a lawn and an enormous bent and rusted pair of girders. "Why does that look like something from the World Trade Center?" I asked my spouse. "Ladies and Gentlemen," the guide said, "that is a piece of New York City's World Trade Center. Christchurch hosted the first Firefighters' competition, and the meet was dedicated to all the fallen firefighters around the world. Beams from the Trade Center were sent ahead to make a memorial here for the games." You just never know when remembrances from that day will show up....

I love Christchurch!

Returned to the ship just before it cast off. Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill with Dave and Karen.

Slightly overcast, but warm. Awoke next to a very large freighter being filled with wood chips from an enormous pile. It’s official, we’re on the Wood Chip Tour!

After breakfast, we took a shuttle into Picton—which on your average day is the home of 3500 souls and is closed up on Sunday. The shuttle driver informed us that the merchants had opened their stores especially for us.

There’s a lot of redevelopment going on in the town, indicating how much the town is invested in tourists. As Burnie, Australia did, Picton reminds us a lot of Maine. We stopped to look at the real estate listings in the window (just to see how prices compared) and a fellow stopped to chat with us about how values had increased and how it’s all really rather a silly amount to pay that amount for dirt.

After lunch, went on the “Wines of Marlborough” tour with the Gibsons. The Marlborough wine region has become renown internationally for its Sauvignon Blancs and Rieslings, so we were all very much looking forward to this trip. Unfortunately, it was totally frustrating, as the tour bus drove and drove and drove (with the driver nattering on and on) past vineyard after vineyard with nary a stop. I’d rather have been sampling wines instead of sitting on my bum on a bus!

Stopped at the Forrest Estate Vineyard, one of the key vineyards in the valley. The Doctors Forrest have devoted their lives to the development of NZ wines. Dr. John Forrest is the leading proponent of screw-type tops... an application I really hated until I tasted the wines. We especially liked the “Late Harvest Reserve Riesling.”

Then we were taken to this... um, mini-mall called “The Village.” I don’t know who paid for the stop, but it was a terrific disappointment with a terrible little wine shop. However, while there, Robin stepped into the café and bought an ice cream called “Hokey-Pokey,” which is rich high-cream-content ice cream mixed with honeycomb (or caramel in other locations) DELICIOUS! The bus driver came over and clapped Robin on the shoulder. “Good on you! That’s the best of New Zealand, that is.” He was right! I had to go get my own.

Jacqueline and Robin Simonds, Karen and Dave Gibson at the Forrest Estate Vineyard, Marlborough, New Zealand

After driving around some more, finally taken to the Montana Vineyards. They are the region’s first, most trend-setting and largest vineyard. The name comes from the view of the mountains—not the American state. In fact, in the U.S. they are forbidden to sell their wine under their own name and go under “Stoneleigh” or “Marlborough Reserve.”

We had a lengthy tour of the facility—the kind we’d all been expecting when we booked the tour—before a wine tasting. Again, we liked the Late Harvest Riesling and bought a bottle (for use in our room, since we’d never get it through Customs). The red we’ve had from this vintner is “Marlborough Triple Bank,” which is very nice once it opens up.

Got back to the ship late... they’d had to hold sail-away for us.

The Captain announced two things: the first, that there was a bad weather system incoming, so instead of staying in Picton’s harbor overnight, we’ll make (slowly) straight for Wellington (The distance between the South and North Islands isn’t very great, but the channel is notoriously rough).

The second was that, due to the demands of the Holland America marketing department (!), we would be sailing into a cove to view "Captain Cook's obelisk." The Captain gave us to understand he thought little of this ("It's really nothing special"), but he had to. So we sailed into this small cove and went around in a circle. I saw the obelisk but didn't take a picture because it was... nothing special. However, there was a three-masted ship in the center of the harbor and judging from the folks hallo-ing us, was filled with kids on some sort of training cruise. They seemed very surprised and amused to have this monster ship sailing in circles around them.