Serene Wandering

We arrived in Hobart Tasmania, our first port in Australia. From our balcony, we had our first views of the city. We could see some timber at this port, but not as much as in New Zealand!

We can see the Viking Orion that came in just after us. We always enjoy seeing what other ships are about.

The sea days were very nice, but we had a full day excursion planned highlighted by a trip to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.  The sanctuary had been highlighted in our port talk.

But first, there was official Australia stuff to take care of.

Everyone on the ship, all 1900 passengers, had to go into the customs terminal, show our passports and our completed declaration form. Australia has even stricter bio-security measures than New Zealand and it is taken very seriously.

We had purchased a paua shell in New Zealand and didn’t know if it would be allowed. We declared the shell, with the expectation that we might have to surrender it.  

Shore excursion groups were gathered and taken through the process.  Passengers without excursions filled in before and after.  No one was allowed to reboard the ship until everyone had gone through the process.

We went through Australian security and still didn’t know what will happen.  We declared the shell and were told they’ll take care of it when we disembark in Sydney.

So, on with the tour.  Our guide gave us some information as we traveled to Bonorong.

The island of Tasmania is shaped like an inverted triangle, and is roughly 150 miles south of the mainland.  It is the seventh largest island in the world.

There is nothing between Tasmania and Antarctica to the south or between Tasmania and Argentina to the west.  As a result, they have some of the world’s cleanest air.

Dutchman Able Tasman was there in the 1600s.  In the late 1600s, Tasmania was identified as an island. The French were in and out.

Tasmania was established in 1804 as a military outpost by the British.  From 1804-1856 Britain sent lots of folks as convicts, some imprisoned for very minor offenses.  After four to seven years, some were given a small land grant.  Military, free settlers, and convict settlers are all part of Tasmanian and Australian history.

Errol Flynn was born in Hobart. Tasmania. He was expelled from all of the high schools in town so his father sent him to England to finish school.  He came back to Tasmania briefly before heading to Hollywood.

Queen Mary of Denmark was born and raised in Tasmania.  She met Crown Prince Frederik, now King Frederik X, at a pub during the Sydney Olympics in 2004.

The shelters on the left house INCAT Tasmania.  They make high speed ferries that are used all around the world.  The picture on the right is a picture of the one they are currently working on. Hull 96, the first all electric ferry, will be heading to South America to move people and vehicles between Buenos Aires, Argentina and Uruguay.

Sheep and cattle are also dominate industries in Tasmania. There is a plethora of mining as well.

Of course there is a timber industry.  Tasmania has a policy of one tree cut down, three trees planted.

This processing mill creates all the newsprint for all of the newspapers in Australia.

The cherry industry is worth $80 million dollars of cherries sent to Asia.  The netting protects the cherries from birds and we saw a lot of them.

Growing hops is yet another agricultural industry.  Part of the product is sent to Germany.

Tasmania has both the oldest hotel, and the oldest brewery in Australia. It also has the oldest casino and golf course.  That course is the second oldest in the world after Saint Andrews in Scotland.

We arrived at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.  It is privately owned and takes care of animals that have been injured and/or need care.

Fred is a 112 year old sulphur-crested cockatoo.  He outlived two families before being donated to Bonorong.  He speaks, but we didn’t hear him.

We saw rainbow lorikeet.

These are the grounds where the kangaroo roam.  They are free to engage with people or retreat to areas where people don’t go.

We found that most of the kangaroos had already eaten their fill, but there were a few.

We came upon this group just hanging out by a complimentary feed box.

We were told to pet them in their chest area.

We saw a few Tasmanian Devils.  They are marsupials and have a pouch.  However, they aren’t much like kangaroos!

This is an albino padmelon.  He was found as a tiny joey after his mother was killed by a car.  Because of his albinism, he had no opportunity to make it on his own in the big world, so is a permanent resident of Bonorong.

This is a blotched blue-tongued lizard. He was cool!

We saw a wombat who was rescued by a passerby when its mother was hit by a car. This seemed to be a common theme at the sanctuary.

Bonorong provided us firsts in many ways. It was clean and interesting and well done. One of my very few regrets on this trip is that I didn’t buy a sweatshirt from Bonorong to support their efforts. I wonder if they ship to the US…

Next, we went to Mt. Field National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We enjoyed a 20-minute walk through the woods – quite different from walking the Promenade Deck.

There were two kinds of trees of interest- the first was Vegetable Lamb, a manfern.

The second are Eucalyptus Regnans, the tallest flowering trees in the world.  They can also be called mountain ash and are among the world’s tallest hardwood trees.

We arrived at the very nice Russell Falls, probably at about 20 percent capacity flow.  The falls were protected by the government in 1885.

We visited Curringa Farm. Sixth-generation farmers Tim and Jane Parsons, run an operation that is 1/3 sheep, 1/3 crops, and 1/3 tourist.

Obviously, we were the tourist component! They offered wine and beer – the beer being from Cascade Brewery, the oldest in Tasmania.

We were randomly given lamb or beef tickets. Both meats were wood fired.

The lunch was quite nice. Randy had lamb and I had beef. Of course, we shared and we both preferred the beef. That is probably just because it is what we are used to.

There are eleven accommodations ranging from studio to farmhouse available for rent.  

In the crops portion of the business, they grow a variety, including opium poppies for pharmaceuticals. Tasmania grows 50-60 percent of the world’s legal opium poppies, and is the only place in the southern hemisphere allowed to do so.

Other crops are primarily grown for seed production and export. These typically include carrots, cabbage and onions. The food product is mostly left in the ground for the sheep to eat.

And speaking of sheep, when the farm is at full capacity, they run 3,000 sheep. Their focus is lamb meat production.  There are only 27 males on the farm, giving each about 50 ewes.

They shear their ewes once per year.  It costs the farm $4.30 per shear and they receive about $2.00 per sheep wool.  The sheep shearers come back about six months later for face and back end touch ups. This helps with birthing.

This sheep’s wool (on the left) is used for products that won’t touch the skin. The loose wool on the right is Merino, designed for use for clothing. We were able to feel the difference.

The sheep on Curringa Farm are Suffix. The strength of the breed is reproduction.  During the last trimester, the ewes are fed grain.

The ewes live here six to seven years and then become mutton.

There was a very matter of fact approach to the lives of lambs and ewes. That was a little difficult for me who wants to make every animal (except snakes) a pet. The vibe felt different than the New Zealand sheep farmer we’d met earlier.

They did seem to value their dogs!

We saw three dogs. They are Smithfield breed, a type of English Sheep Dog. Two of the dogs are very experienced and we got to watch a demonstration.

Lucky is a year and a half old and in training.

On the way back to the ship, our guide pointed out this blue tree. It was painted by a group called Rural Alive and Well.  These trees are a symbol of their efforts towards suicide awareness and prevention. Unfortunately, suicide in rural Tasmania are higher than other areas.

Our tour was 25 minutes late getting back for the “all aboard” time on the ship. The crew were literally rolling up the gangway after us.  Thirteen minutes after we stepped on board, the Westerdam sailed. If you book your shore excursion through the ship, they will wait. If you book it another way, they may not.

Next Up: Another sea day!

Our second sea day was January 28, 2025.

The map shows we made progress towards Hobart!  

A look outside showed it was raining!  That was good because everything had been coated in a light salty crust due to the sea spray and wind.

Not much to see from the observation deck!

We went to a Cruise Director’s coffee chat.

The interviewees were two cadets on the ship.  The cadet program seems like an internship.  The terms are three or four months long.  Upon completion, the cadets go home to complete exams and wait to see if Holland will hire them as Third Officers.

Regina is from the Philippines, an electrical engineer, and working in the Electrical Department in Engineering.

Salma is from Morocco and graduated from naval training in Morocco and in the UK.  She is training in all things on the bridge and aspires to be a young captain.

Salma and her husband have only been married for three months and apart for most of that time. 

His ship, the Seabourn Quest, was in Lyttelton/Christchurch on the same day as the Westerdam last week so they got to see each other. (We have a cruise booked on Seabourn next year and I took this picture just in case it was our ship – it wasn’t.)

Our next activity was a port talk on Hobart, Tasmania.

Initially, the British set up a military post in Hobart to deter the French.  In 1803, European settlement began along with penal colonies.

Ian, the port consultant told us lots of things but we had a full day excursion in Hobart so didn’t have extra time.   There’s nothing wrong with knowing there are lots more things for a future visit.

He told us about an extinct Tasmanian tiger at the museum.  It was a carnivorous marsupial and hunted to extinction.  The last known tiger was seen in 1936.

We also did not go to Port Arthur penal colony, but it sounded very interesting. In 1830, the British developed a prison of “reform” at Port Arthur.  Over 10,000 convicts spent time there.  It closed in 1874.”

We went to an Australian Brunch in the main dining room hoping for some meat pies, kangaroo pizza or Australian brew.  Those weren’t available. I had pasta and Randy has fish and chips (with calamari and shrimp).

After brunch we tried to walk the promenade deck but it was closed.  We walked around deck 3 on the  inside and ended up in the gift shop again.

The alcohol was mostly on the floor because of the rough seas.

We spent time in the ship’s library. It was quite a big deal for many cruisers when ship libraries were taken away during Covid.  The libraries have returned in the last year or so.  The Westerdam library was quite well stocked.

We went to the Ocean Bar and found Emely setting up for the Mixology class. 

Randy enjoyed mixology classes on a previous cruise so signed up again.

Augustin, with Holland America since 1999, began by explaining his bartender tools. He said experienced bartenders don’t use jiggers because they count the drop sounds.

They began with a cosmopolitan.

And then a Cosmopolitan with raspberry liquor.

Randy recognized bartender Mark from doing the Mixology class on Nieuw Statendam in 2023. Mark, in the center on the Westerdam picture, is on the right in the 2023 “graduation” picture.

I left to get seats for the next event in the World Stage, Port Consultant Eli’s, presentation about Australia.  

He showed several interesting facts about Australia and its size and sparse population.

This is how the Australian airline, Quantas began!

Major exports of Australia are coal, iron ore, natural gas and EDUCATION.  People come from all over to be educated in Australia. This fact will be visited in a future post, so take note.

Ian was beginning a section on how aboriginal peoples used song lines and constellations to travel, communicate and maintain history.

Then he started getting interrupted by security alarms and calls for emergency personnel.

We didn’t know what was happening but hadn’t been instructed to go to our cabins and get life jackets.  Our presenter kept trying to keep going with his talk.

On the fourth interruption, the captain said there had been a cabin fire on deck seven and it was handled. The emergency crew was dismissed.  (We heard later it had been an electrical fire but no details.)

The last section of the talk was about creative expansion of solar production and technology.  Unfortunately, any chance I had of really listening to technology information had gone away with the interruptions.

Randy noticed that the captain seemed to be changing the route, and the captain later said he was doing so to avoid most of the bad weather. 

We had a very nice table for our dinner at the specialty restaurant, Pinnacle Grill.

One of their specialties is a bacon clothesline.

We finished the night with another show by Rebecca Kelly.  This was a tribute to Carole King.

We gained another hour as we went to Hobart and our next shore excursion.  We should see a Tasmanian devil!

Next up:  Hobart, Australia

We were at sea on January 27, 2025.

There we are – out at sea!

When I left you last we were heading into a night of rough seas.  They were indeed!  We heard the impressive stats in the morning but I didn’t get them down.

The rolling wasn’t really a problem but the corresponding rattling in a ceiling panel was brutal.  Randy made it some better by stuffing a washcloth between a panel and the wall.

We told our stewards, Boby and Bayu, and they said they would put in a work order.

We went to the World Stage and watched a very good presentation on Aotearoa.  That is the Māori name for what is known as New Zealand.  Eli, the travel consultant, reviewed the history of the Maori arriving, eventual colonization by the missionaries and the British.  Ultimately the Maori have regained their language, culture and equal rights (without a lot of the pushback seen in other countries) to the betterment of all New Zealand/Aotearoa.

Our next activity was a Future Cruise Presentation.  Luke, future cruise consultant, said Holland America has 836 cruises offered currently, going to 400 ports, on seven continents.

Holland has four classes of ships:

R Class (2) – 1400 guests

Vista class (4) – 1900 guests

Signature (2) – 2100 guests

Pinnacle (3) – 2700 guests

We are currently on Westerdam, one of four Vista Class ships.

We think that Future Cruise Consultant is the best job on a ship!  We’ve already spent time with Luke, booking our first ever aft cabin (back of the ship).  There are benefits for booking on board, so we usually take advantage of that perk if we know a cruise we’re interested in.  Our new booking won’t take place until late 2026.

We returned to our cabin and watched some Monday afternoon football!  (It was Sunday in the US).

I went to guest services and changed my remaining $125 New Zealand  to $65.09 USD. Then I exchanged $62.17 USD for $90 Australian.

We had a dressy night dinner which we kind of complied with.  Our dressiest clothes didn’t survive the move to the RV eleven years ago and we’ve never replaced them.  Dressy nights are getting more and more casual anyway.  It is nice to see those who enjoy getting all fancied up. 

The ship saves the “best” dinner menus for dressy nights.  Escargot and lobster were on the menu but neither of us chose them.

We went to a cocktail chat with the cruise director and Rebecca Kelly, the performer from last night.  She was quite interesting and it is always fascinating to hear how people enter a cruise ship career.

Next up was piano artist, Bernard Walz in the World Theater.  He is a premier Australian pianist with multiple awards. That show was great.  We loved how they had a camera showing him playing from above.   

We’ve never thought entertainment was Holland America’s strength, but the offerings on this cruise have been very good.

The ship was rocking when we went to sleep and was still rocking when we woke up.  Randy said he went out into the hallway over night with another washcloth to stop a plumbing closet door from banging, as the latch was left unlocked and needed a special key to close it. So he provided a solution to the banging. The noises from the previous night must have been fixed though.  He said he saw lightning out in the open ocean. After limited sleep the night before, I slept through everything.

We also got an extra hour of sleep as we are heading west!

Next Up: A second sea day!

We entered Fiordland National Park at 7:30 a.m. on January 26, 2025.

The park, established in 1952, is five percent of New Zealand land mass.  It is in the southern tip of the South Island.

Our day was spent sailing through the park with a national park employee providing commentary.

I started by watching TV in our cabin with narration and going out to our balcony on the starboard side when it seemed warranted.

We entered Dusky sound and learned that Captain Cook and his crew spent about five weeks here in 1773.

Some of the 365 islands in Dusky sound have unique ecological aspects.  One island had half of an entire bird’s population in the world.   Another has had no mice or rats since 2023!  One has the entire world’s population of a flightless parrot.

This sound is the first place where a boat was built in New Zealand and the first where beer was brewed in the country.  There is an island, named Barrell Island, where they cut the wood for the beer barrels.

The fourth largest island in NZ is in the Dusky Sound and is the site of the largest eradication effort.  Four thousand traps continue to be set to rid the island of invasive species.

The reminder in the elevator that it’s Sunday marks the halfway point of our cruise.

I went to the Crow’s Nest for coffee, croissants, commentary and view.  I was not alone!  Randy went off for a regular breakfast in the Lido.  This allowed us to be out of our cabin to give our wonderful stewards time to do their thing.

For those that don’t know, the Crow’s Nest concept is very common on cruise ships – a gathering place in a top deck at the bow with great views and opportunities for drinks and light snacks.

After the Crows Nest, I walked down from deck ten to deck three.  Along the way I saw six photographs of the Westerdam or early iterations of the Westerdam. 

Randy and I spent some time walking on the promenade deck, listening to commentary and watching the sites.  Walking around a deck, listening to an audiobook and seeing the views,  is one of my absolute favorite things to do on a cruise ship. 

The crew offered Dutch Green Pea Soup – a staple on Holland America ships.

I knew I’d like it but Randy generally does not. I thought the soup was delicious.

Randy tried it and found it OK. 

The ship had made its way to Doubtful Sound, the deepest in the national park at 443 meters in depth. 

This sound has the sixth largest island in New Zealand.

We saw exposed granite surfaces from glaciers that came through millions of years ago.

We sailed through the first half of the sound before turning around.

This was the view as we left Doubtful Sound.

Randy hung out on the Promenade Deck while I went up to the cabin to write.

We eventually joined forces again for drinks in the Ocean Bar. There, Randy learned that the bartender crew would be offering Mixology classes, something he thoroughly enjoyed on the Nieuw Statendam in 2023.

In the afternoon, we went to a presentation in the theater by the national park representative.  Almost everyone on the ship was there and we weren’t there soon enough to get good seats. (The theater seating on the Westerdam is a weak link compared to the 180 degree theater viewing on the larger Holland ships.)

We learned that sounds are flooded river valleys and fjords are long, narrow inlets of the ocean created in a valley carved by glacial activity.

The places we are visiting in Fiordland National Park are actually fjords but the people who named them in the late 1880s didn’t understand the difference and named them sounds.

There are a lot of marine mammals in the park but we did not see any.

It was time to enter our last sound (really a fjord) of the day – Milford Sound. We had actually heard of this one before!

We saw a number of waterfalls.

We crossed waters with a much smaller touring vessel.

We were told there would be more “traffic” in this sound. We even saw a small community with a few buildings and runway in Milford Sound.

This looked like a glacier but we were on our balcony, not listening to the commentary, so don’t know for sure.

Two helicopters flew right by.  The view is great from the ship but might be even better from the air! Once again, the ship did a turn around and we headed back out Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park.

In his 5:00 briefing, the captain said we were entering “weather” and asked us to stow away items in our cabins that might take flight. We weren’t worried. Randy doesn’t usually get sea sick anymore and I never have.

There were noticeable swells at dinner.  

It reminded me of when we experienced much more severe swells during our Norway cruise last winter!

There was a cocktail chat with the Cruise Director and the Head of Housekeeping.  He told us that, for 1933 passengers, he has a crew of 155.  That includes 43 cabin stewards. 

The laundry crew runs 24 hours per day with enough linen to change everything twice a day.  They clean 200-300 bags of guest laundry daily. They even have special machines and processes for linen from rooms where people have been sick.

Three tailors help with crew uniforms and minor repairs for passengers.

The final area of emphasis is cleaning public areas.

He said that turn around days, when passengers leave and new passengers come on board, are very stressful because they really only have a few hours to be ready. 

We finished our day with a program in the World Stage, vocalist Rebecca Kelly. She was pretty awesome.

Next Up: The itinerary’s first true Sea Day. Whatever will we do? (We didn’t have a port on this day, but it was pretty scripted going through the National Park.)

We were in Dunedin on January 25, 2025.

“Oh my, what a shock.”  That is what Randy said when he looked out our windows and saw logs, thousands of them, again.  We learned this species of pine originated in California where it takes 200 years to mature.   The species was brought to New Zealand where a different environment and modifications allow the pine to mature in 25 years.  These timbers are sent to Asia.  Much of it will be made into particle boards – some returning to New Zealand.

This is our last port in New Zealand.  Then we have a few sea days and begin the Australia portion of the cruise.

We had room service for breakfast today, something we rarely do. Today it seemed appropriate since we were time crunched for the dining room and had pretty much sworn off the Lido buffet for this trip.

Our excursion was the Albatross Cruise and Natures Wonders.  It held the possibility of seeing albatross, seals, sea lions and penguins.  And a boat ride! And an eight wheel drive all terrain vehicle! 

After a very short bus ride from the port, we boarded the Albatross Express.  We were told the catamaran has Euro-Six engines for lowest emissions. It is also equipped with impellers, not propellers, to protect the wildlife.

We were required to stay below as we left the harbor.  I had moments of discomfort as I remembered a similar situation near Cozumel, Mexico.  That had been my first ever experience of claustrophobia and I do my best to avoid similar situations.  Fortunately this was just a few minutes.

We passed our ship, the Westerdam.

Our guide asked if anyone from North America knew the term “red right returning?” Randy did, and explained it.  Our guide said that North Americans are the only ones who do it that way in the world and that everyone else uses green on the right return.  We were glad to hear about that because when we’d been watching the Singapore cargo ship a few days ago, we recognized that he was operating on a whole different set of rules than we understood. 

When looking along the hillside, we saw these vertical lines of trees going up the hill in several places.  We were told that it was likely a natural barrier to keep the sheep and cattle at home.

As we sailed out of the Otago Harbor,  our guide explained that Captain Cook discovered that Polynesian people occupied the largest area known at the time.  

That area was a generally a triangle formed by Hawaii (1), New Zealand (2) to Easter Island/Rapa Nui.  On this map Samoa is (4) and Tahiti is (5).  Fiji is excluded on the western side.

New Zealand was the latest large land mass to be “discovered” other than Antarctica.

We boarded busses to go to a private farm.  We got into an Argo, an eight wheel all terrain vehicle.

We passed a World War II bunker.  The bunkers were built all along the east coast of New Zealand to protect against the Japanese, but were never used. 

We had nice views at the top but the fog was rolling in!

We came back down and had a chance to watch some New Zealand Fur Seals. This area of rocks is home for the mothers and babies. 

 

We saw some very young ones!

We saw babies nursing.

Some were in the grass above the rocks.  These were the smart seals!

The babies will be here about six months at which point they will go out to sea with their mothers.  They will continue to live in this general vicinity, but not this specific cove.

We also saw the nastiest looking kelp.  It looked like something out of a horror movie.  We were told it can grow up to a meter a day and has no commercial use.  That seems like a missed opportunity!

This young seal seemed very interested in all the people.  I wonder if this curiosity will be to his benefit or detriment.

We walked a bit to see this sandy beach.  The owners of Nature Wonders are keeping this beach only for the wildlife. 

We could see a few sea lions in repose on the beach.

The real prize is to see a yellow-eyed penguin on the beach.  We didn’t, but learned they are the third largest penguin in the world and have this area as one of their remaining habitats.  There are not very many of these penguins left and will likely be extinct in 15 years.

We were able to see the other native penguin, the Blue Penguin.

Natures Wonders has set up a series of doors where the penguins can be peeked in on.  The penguins access a natural burrow on the opposite side and create a nest or den.  They can be observed by peeking in the doorway.

Different burrows are utilized different years as the penguins choose. We were able to see three in use.

The first door opened to a parent penguin (unknown whether it was mother or father) and two five day old chicks.  We only saw one of the chicks and didn’t want to stay too long to see the other.

In the second opening, we saw two 9 week old siblings. They were very fluffy and cute – much cuter than the picture shows.  They will be gone soon, no longer needing to be fed when they learn to eat fish on their own.

The third box held an adult that was molting. 

We returned to the reception center and had a hot mug of tea and a scone.

On the way back down we saw a Harrier Hawk.   I was on the wrong side of the bus so this is a stock photo.  We were told that this type of hawk is New Zealand’s only raptor.  They eat mostly rabbits.  

Seeing these hay rolls reminded me of something we’d been told a few days ago.  Someone in New Zealand invented a biodegradable hay roll cover.  The hay rolls just stay in the fields.  Eventually, the cows (sheep?) are brought to the hay roll to feed eliminating the need to transport the hay roll.  Makes sense to me.

It was time to re-board the Albatross catamaran.  It had begun to rain but we knew we wanted to be up top, regardless.

We passed the Tamara Head lighthouse. It was built in 1864 and is still operating.

We were told that a species of albatross nests towards the top of this point.  Our guide said that our best result here would be to see a white head peak up above the grass as they were nesting.  There was not very much wind and they prefer to fly when it is windy.

Just when we were feeling disappointed, we began to see albatross in the water.

Supposedly, we saw three different species!   We were rocking and rolling so much that even taking pictures occasionally was precarious enough.  I didn’t attempt to take any notes.

I do remember that our guide said that none of the three species of albatross will go onto land – even though it is close. They come here from thousands of kilometers away for feeding.  It’s an easy run to the grocery harbor!

It reminded us of when we saw and learned of the albatross on Kauai.  Those albatross parents would fly all the way to Alaska on their feed run.  See that post at Kauai: A Rainy Island and Albatross.  They really are very interesting birds.

On the way back towards  the ship.  Randy talked with our skipper, who is also the ranch owner who owns pretty much the whole peninsula where we spent the morning.

Perry explained and demonstrated the light system for boats coming into the harbor.  If you are coming straight in the light is white (as this photo shows in the middle right). If you are slightly to left or right of straight in, the light will be red or green.  

We saw penguins in the water.  I didn’t hear, or remember, which kind.  They were quite small and would disappear and then pop up again 20 meters away.

Perry and Randy had quite a conversation.  Perry said that it was soon going to be time to start shearing on the farm.  He has about 2500 sheep and he, his son-in-law, and the dogs would do it themselves.  In season, Perry has sheared 300 sheep a day for many years.

Back on board Westerdam, we were feeling fondly about our first trip to New Zealand.  We sat on our balcony and watched people come and go.

 

A couple of gulls came to visit on our balcony, but I only got one to pose for a picture.

Randy noticed that our Holland America Navigator App said the temperature was -34 F and -36 C.  We had our jackets on but it wasn’t that cold (and the conversion doesn’t compute either).

After dinner, we returned to our balcony to look for the albatross. We had been told that we’d see them as the ship left.

We had a different view of the WWII bunkers. We saw six or seven along our way.

First of all, we had a much better view of the albatross that were nesting when we were on the sixth deck of a cruise ship than we had from water level.

We stood on our balcony and spotted albatross, seals and lots of penguins!  So cool!

We ended our night at the Rolling Stone Lounge. I got a picture before the dance floor filled.

Next up: Sailing Fiordland National Park Sea Day

We were in Christchurch on January 24, 2025.

Because we almost always choose to be on the water when we can, our excursion today was jet boating on the Waimakariri River. 

The river flows 94 miles from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean.

We  traveled about 45 minutes from the pier to the river.  We passed through Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island.

The area has Māori origins from way back.  More recently, British pilgrims from Canterbury arrived in 1850.  The pilgrims were in four ships sponsored by the Church of England.  Christchurch became a city by royal charter in July 1856 and is the oldest established city in New Zealand.

Where North America has states and provinces, New Zealand has regions. Christchurch is in the Canterbury region – again harkening back to its British roots.

There were substantial earthquakes in Christchurch in 2010 and 2011.  The severest (magnitude from 7.1) struck on September 4, 2010, and a large, destructive aftershock (magnitude 6.3) occurred on February 22, 2011.  There were many other lesser aftershocks.

Our jet boat guide divided us into two groups.  Here we are, ready for fun!

At the last minute, they moved us to the first group which meant we both got a side seat!  Randy is in the back in a blue jacket, I am right in front of him.

We did a couple turns to know what to expect!

Heading down the river!

The view down the shallow river.

This machinery is to pick up rocks that have broken up as they catapulted down the river.  The rocks will be used by the company to make concrete.  It is a win-win because the river would eventually back up the rock removal and the company gets free resources.

We were on a Hamilton jet boat with no prop and no rudder.  Because it is missing prop and rudder, the boat is able to scoot along in only 3-4 inches of water.  It has two engines pumping water through an intake system that allows for 500 horsepower.

The day we went, there was about 35-36 cubic meters of water per second going down to the Pacific Ocean.  When accommodating rainfall or snow melt, the regular flow is 1000 cubic meters per second.

We boated on a braided river, a wide riverbed with small streams criss crossing. 

We’ve seen rivers of this type before but the term was new to us.

And our ride was complete – completely fun!

On the way back, we saw black swans on the River Avon.

The rest of our day on board was pretty chill.  It was nice to have some down time on the balcony.

We did go to a comedian Paul Adams’ show in the evening.  We hadn’t gone to his first show on board but heard good things. He was clean funny.

Next Up:  A wild, wildlife day!

We were in Picton on January 23, 2025.

We went to breakfast and saw and heard the announcements about bio security for both New Zealand and Australia.  We hear or see reminders 10 times a day. Good for them for protecting their home lands but we’ve tuned them out by now.  

We intended to walk around the promenade deck, but found it blocked on both the port and starboard sides.

 

We gave up and I went to the crows nest and got a mocha and chocolate croissant.

We came out onto a deck at the bow and looked out at Marlborough Sound.

 

Once again, we are docked where they are storing timber for loading. We have seen this so many times that I’m surprised there are any trees left in New Zealand!  Most of the timber goes to China and the primary species exported is Radiata pine.

 

A crew safety drill began as we were preparing to leave on our shore excursion. 

Our activity today was to ride the Marlborough Flyer. It is a heritage train powered by a 1950s locomotive. 

 

We passed through vineyards, some planted in the 1870s. 

The Marlborough area produces 80 percent of New Zealand wines across 150 wineries.  They are mostly Sauvignon Blanc.

We had free samples of a local white but had to pay for our glasses of red. We purchased a cheese board to snack on.

This train transported two future Kings of England, the prince of Wales in 1920 the Duke and Duchess of York in 1927.  Looking forward, we didn’t see William, Prince of Wales or Prince George.

Our ride was about two hours before we stopped in Blenheim and took advantage of the opportunity to get another New Zealand meat pie. We chose steak, cheese and bacon.

It is similar to an empanada in our world, but seems to be baked not fried.

We saw this memorial on the hill. Blenheim’s 16-metre-high clock tower was completed in 1928.  It is the Marlborough region’s principal memorial to locals who died in World War I.

The train cars were made between 1911 and 1914. The engine was made in Canada.

On this journey we went up and down one of the steepest gradients in the New Zealand at one and 37. It goes up one foot over 37 feet.

It didn’t seem steep compared to the trains we’ve been on in Colorado.  In fact, we missed noticing it at all on the way up so tried to pay attention going down.

We were above sea level and heard the braking but did not have a sense of steep incline. 

We crossed through the wetlands, home of an abundance of birds, game, fish, and unique vegetation. 

The wetlands are being restored to the benefit of the bar-tailed godwit.  This bird has the longest migration in the world from summers in Alaska to winters in New Zealand.

A male bar-tailed godwit was tracked while completing the 7500 mile journey.  He flew non stop for 11 days reaching a speed of 55 mph!

So many sheep!

So many vineyards! 

There is our ship, hiding behind the logs!

We went for drinks and, once again, no Bailey’s so no chocolate martinis.  The beverage team is out of Bailey’s ship wide. I tried to ask if they usually have Bailey’s or if it just isn’t standard practice to stock it in the South Pacific.The answer was that it is usually available and the bar waiter didn’t know why they were out. 

White Russians today!

Usually, the process of transferring a pilot between the pilot boat and the ship is relatively straightforward. We’ve seen it take just moments many times. We watched for several minutes as this transfer was made quite difficult because of wave action. It was eventually accomplished.

After dinner we wandered into the gift shop aboard the ship.  Randy jokingly asked if they had any Baileys.  The clerk said “the ship” had just come and bought the last eight bottles from their stock!  Some people are having chocolate martinis tonight!

Next Up: Jet Boating!

We were in Wellington, New Zealand on January 22, 2025.

Our day began with Randy walking around the promenade deck while I worked on the blog.  We needed to upgrade my Internet package from one device to four because the pictures I was taking with my phone weren’t getting to my iPad efficiently where I wanted them for the blog. 

Randy came in and said he had seen whales, or what we thought were whales given the visible blow, so we headed to our balcony.  He said other photographers were looking for albatross. 

The blows happened too quickly to get a photograph, but here’s a nice photograph of the ocean from our balcony.

The flowers from our travel agent are beautiful and smell great every time we walk in our cabin!

Soon, we were docking in Wellington.

Our excursion for the day was The Storm Coast. 

We drove along Wellington Harbor, reportedly one of the finest natural harbors in the world.  Unfortunately I had chosen seats on the wrong side of the bus.  Our driver told us there have been many shipwrecks along the storm coast but evidence above the water has disappeared.

We stopped for a view of the Pencarrow Head Lighthouse (the one above), placed to protect boats as they enter the entrance to stormy Wellington Harbor.  The lighthouse was constructed in 1859 and was the first permanent lighthouse in New Zealand. It was constructed from sections of iron that were shipped from England. Its first keeper, Mary Bennett, was the first and only female lighthouse keeper in New Zealand. The light was decommissioned in 1935 when it was replaced by the lighthouse below that still operates.

This is the entrance up to Pencarrow Lodge.

Our visit began with tea, something we are getting quite used to.  We are usually touring during the day so tea is substituting for our midday meal.

At some point we had been told to try a meat pie and here was an opportunity at morning tea!

We had some free time to explore the area around the lodge. Somebody ready to take up shearing?

The sheep that were gathered for our demonstration have a nice view!

Our host began telling us about his farm and their life. Sheep have been farmed in the area since the mid 1800s.

In 1981, there were 70 million sheep in NZ. There are under 30 million now.  It seems like we see sheep everywhere even if there are ONLY 30 million of them. 

Pencarrow Station is one of the earliest-settled sheep and cattle farms in the Wellington area.  This rendition began in 1990 with tours beginning in 1998.  

At that time the Pencarrow Station’s current owner was on another very large farm owned by his family. He started shearing at 12,  At 15, he sheared 300 sheep in one day.  He said that never happened again. 

He bought the station two years ago and runs it with his wife, and two daughters,  and a “bit of hired help.”  They run sheep and beef on 1000 hectares.  (A hectare is approximately 2.5 acres.)

This owner embraces science for soil and feed decisions.  

Brass, 5, has a big bark and the sheep can hear him from quite a distance, causing them to gather.  He was also loving any attention he could get!

Spade is mixed partial border collie.  He’s nine and he is the silent leader.  He moves the sheep where directed.

Most farmers train their own dogs.   This owner uses a dog whistle that really extends the range in which he and the dogs can work.

He has four dogs that run in two teams.  Usually, a farmer has a young dog learning from the older ones. He had nine dogs at one time.

These sheep are Romney.  The breed originated in the UK, but has been in New Zealand for 150 years.   They have a 150 percent lambing rate per year.

Brass has spoken and the sheep are gathered.

Now it is up to Spade to get them in the pen!

We had a shearing demonstration. He won’t shear if it is too cold as it takes the sheep a week to acclimate to having less wool.

This owner shears at 6-8 month intervals.  Shearing only once a year makes it harder for the sheep to recover, statistically reducing herd survival. 

This amount of wool is worth $2.50 but costs $5 to shear and process. Meat is currently more profitable than wool. 

All that economics made me glad I bought a New Zealand garment there made from wool and possum!

We had the good (harbor) side of the bus on the way back.

We saw this concrete block jutting out into the water.  We presume it was for loading and unloading sheep or cattle.

We saw ferries likely going from Wellington to Picton.  Wellington is the southernmost city on the north island while Picton is the northern most city on the south Island – a distance of about 40 miles.

Picton is the next port on our cruise.

We continued our day with drinks in the Gallery Bar – all by ourselves.

This is my espresso martini and Randy’s rum and coke.  Randy initially ordered a chocolate martini but they didn’t have any Bailey’s.  That’s the second time on this trip. Bailey’s must be a northern hemisphere staple, not southern.

We walked a bit through the ship and enjoyed some of the art.

We strolled around the promenade deck a few times before dinner. 

Good evening from the Westerdam!

Next Up: Picton and a train ride

We were in Napier on January 21, 2025.

As we woke up, our ship was heading to Napier, NZ.  Residents in Napier are the first in the world to see the sunrise given the international dateline.

We are on board the Westerdam, a new ship to us. This class of ship is smaller than the previous Holland America ships we have sailed.  For a couple of days we’ve been thinking that we miss the Dutch Café, the 180 degree screen in the main stage, and the New York Deli. Yet, we’re settling into this smaller ship.  

This is the lovely Gallery Bar.  There are paintings in every possible space.

The Westerdam also has these great elevators on the port and starboard   sides allowing for very nice views of the port or the sea. There are two elevators on each side of the ship, which are steps away from our cabin. For some unknown reason everyone gravitates to the main central elevators, that take a long time to arrive and are often full. We have found the four outside elevators are fast and appear to be less used. We exclusively use these now. The larger ships do not have these elevators.

Our first activity of the day was a Cruise Director Talk with the Chief Engineer. We have seen him around the ship in coveralls checking lifeboats and other safety equipment to keep his “hands on the ship equipment”. It was satisfying to see a senior officer doing this work.

They talked azipods and stabilizers, engines, and desalination. 

There were two statements that I understood and remember. Sewage treatment is so effective that the results can be released in Alaskan waters.

There is a Zero Overboard policy for waste disposal.  There is extensive recycling and the money earned goes into a crew fund. (They are the ones doing the work!)

Our excursion for today was to Cape Kidnappers Station to see a gannet colony, one of the largest on the mainland in the southern hemisphere.

On the way we saw the six sisters houses that were built by a wealthy doctor with six daughters.

As we neared our destination, we learned this land was once part of a ranch that began in 1859.  The initial owner purchased 13,500 acres from the New Zealand government.  Within two years, he had cleared enough bush to run 8000 merino sheep.

By 1900 the owner had broken up the farm into five 2500 acre stations. Those were sold off.

We visited one of them, Cape Kidnappers.  It is still an active farm. It also has a golf course and lodge for the ultra wealthy. 

The farm operates with 2000 head of sheep and about 500 cattle. 

Supplying beef is a major export of New Zealand.  At least the cattle here live a nice life before their demise.

With the owner of an adjacent station, they have created a sanctuary for native species.

They have installed specialty fencing which have been very effective at keeping out pests and vermin.  They are designed so that it falls back towards an animal trying to climb it.

There are also numerous traps around to get anything the fence hasn’t stopped. They rarely catch anything anymore.  

All this is to benefit the flightless kiwi (national bird) and other native species.

Again, the scenery was stunning.

We were also stunned when we got our first view of the gannet plateau colony.

We were also stunned when we got our first sniff. Whew! That was really stinky!

Gannets live in Australia and New Zealand. Four colonies live on Cape Kidnappers totaling about 20,000 birds.

This colony is the largest on mainland New Zealand and an estimated 10,000 birds live on this plateau.  Gannets have been nesting here since the 1870s and have not been impacted one way or another by the sanctuary.  The adult gannets arrive in July and engage in courtship and nest building.  After raising their chick, they’ll leave in April. Gannets eat raw fish, specifically herring, anchovies and squid.

According to our guides, male and female gannets have no difference in appearance.  It was mentioned that if an adult brings seaweed back to a chick, it is likely a male doing that.

They share both incubation duties and the responsibility for rearing the chick.

 

A chick will live at this colony for about 15 – 16 weeks. In that time, its appearance will change dramatically from a black naked bird to a white fluffy chick. By three months of age it becomes gray and speckled.

The parents feed them to 50 times their birth weight. The chicks are fed on demand but that is generally at dawn and dusk.

In the colony, each little hill is a property. Randy observed a young one starting to wander off, and the gannets around it made sure it went back on its little mound.

The chicks leave in March.  Their very first flight is all the way to Australia, non stop. The trip will take them 4-7 days.

If they survive the trip and their early years, the gannet will return here to find a mate.  They generally mate for life.

 

A gannet typically lives 20-24 years but may live up to 33 years.

There are about 5000 gannet on another colony closer to sea level.  The sandstone formation, The Shard, is behind.

The government started the Cape Kidnapper’s lighthouse in 1897, but it wasn’t a high priority. A light beacon was finally installed in 1963.

 

On the way back to the ship we saw some Freedom Camping sites along the beach. You are able to camp at a Freedom site for free for three days before having to move on.

In 1931 there was an earthquake that destroyed almost all of Napier.  British insurance companies refused to provide payment because it was “an act of God.”  The town was rebuilt, using an art deco style.  

As we returned to port, we had to show our ship card and a government issued ID. That seems to be a NZ thing and not something we usually experience.

As we approached the ship we were able to see some vintage cars with men dressed in period clothing for our enjoyment.

We were also serenaded by a local musical group! Thank you Napier!

We had pre-dinner drinks and music in the ocean bar.

Then dinner!  We had arancini as a starter.  We didn’t even know of arancini before we went to Italy a couple years ago.   We love traveling!

Next up: Wellington and sheep dogs!

The ship arrived at our first port, Tauranga. Our shore excursion, Bay of Plenty: Rich Land, Rich Culture, was the last excursion group to leave the ship.  It made for a quiet couple of hours onboard as most people had left to explore on their own or on earlier excursions.

We went up to the Crow’s Nest and found an old friend!  My family learned this game we called “shu-buck” from a Dutch family when we lived in Bangkok.  My parents ordered a board and discs that we had for many years.  Randy eventually made one for our family and we don’t remember what ultimately happened to it.  On board, it is called a “sjoelen .”  There was a competition on board but I didn’t participate.  Was 50 plus years of experience too much of an advantage to exploit?

We hung out on our balcony and watched the tugs navigate this cargo ship from Singapore.

We headed to the theater to gather for our excursion.  We were on time, but almost late!  We now know we need to always be early!

This process is sometimes poorly done, but the excursion crew on the Westerdam seems to have a good system.

Of course, we received some local history on the way to our destination. The Bay of Plenty was named by Captain Cook upon his ship being fully resupplied by the Māori. 

Our guide told us that this is the largest port in New Zealand exporting timber, dairy products and 198,000,000 trays of kiwi fruit.  That means BILLIONS of individual fruits.

This is what The Mount looked like from the ship.

There are Norfolk pines planted along the bay.  Missionaries planted them as a sentinel to tell seafarers that this was a safe place to land. 

They probably also liked that new growth looks like a cross.

Still on the bay side, there are salt water geothermal pools.

The surf beach is on the Pacific side.

This little bungalow has heritage status and sold for $4 million NZ, roughly $2.25 million US.  The outside cannot be changed.

These are flax plants.  Flax was brought here in the 13th century.  The Māori were able to weave it into many needed products.  Flax was the first product exported in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Māori came from other Polynesian islands and brought crops that they had been growing at home.   Those coming from Samoa brought taro root, those from Tonga brought the mulberry tree,  those coming from the east brought the sweet potato.  The sweet potato quickly became the staple diet for Māori.

Warriors had observation points on elevated terraces to see intruders approaching so they could defend the villages. Modern trench warfare grew out of this type of defense.

Our first destination was a Māori marae, or gathering place.

We were given instruction on how to proceed respectfully.  

The women gathered at the front of the group right behind our “chief.”  The men were around and behind to keep the women safe.  

A member of the family came and challenged us as to whether we come in peace.  He threw down a feather.  When our “chief” picked it up, they knew we were friend, not foe.

We removed our shoes prior to entering and agreed to not take pictures inside.

They sang a song of greeting to us and we sang a song in return “You are My Sunshine.”

They told stories and entertained us with more songs and dances. 

When they asked for first women and then men volunteers to learn some of the traditional dance moves, neither of us volunteered.  

Afterwards, our Māori hosts invited us to take pictures with them.

Schools in New Zealand were started by the missionaries.  They banned students from speaking the Māori language.  It was almost eradicated by the 1950s.  Efforts were initiated to revive the language in the 1970s.  Today, schools operate in both languages or bilingually from preschool through university.  Both Māori and English are official languages of New Zealand.

In the distance we could just barely see the island where 20 tourists and two guides died in 2019 when a volcano erupted unexpectedly on Whakaari, the White Island.  There is a Netflix program about it called The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari.

The most common crops here are kiwi fruit and avocados.  Everyone seems to have one or both trees.

In the early 1900s,  a teacher ate Chinese gooseberry in the Yangtze valley.  She brought some back to New Zealand.  Her brothers were horticulturalists and the results developed into a massive industry.

A Kiwi is the national New Zealand bird. It is flightless and elusive.  A kiwi can also be New Zealander.  The fruit is not kiwi, it is “kiwi fruit.”

Almost all of New Zealand’s immense and world-famous kiwi fruit crop is grown in this small area.  There are 2500 orchards growing billions of individual fruits that are picked one by one.

These are accommodations for harvesting workers.  The fruit is picked 3-5 months a year.  Harvest is 12 hours per day, six days a week. The workers generally come from Polynesian Islands and NZ has strict regulations and protections regarding their pay and accommodations.  Accommodations must include high speed WiFi for them to stay in contact with their families.  

There is a very elaborate process for pollination and growth and harvest season to season.  We spent thirty minutes learning about it!

It began with how they trick bees into pollinate blossoms that have no nectar!

These teepees are vines that weren’t pollinated but saved for the next season.  Also notice the wind breaks in the background. All of the orchards have them so the wind does not bruise the fruit and lower the grade classification.

Growers use an organic insecticide but do not have a problem with birds because the fruit is picked before it is ripe.

These gold kiwi are just a few weeks into their development.  Even though they are already the size of what we typically see in our neighborhood grocery stores, they will double in size and be classified as Grade A.  This classification level of crop primarily goes to Asia.

The fruit is picked hard (not ripe) because the market is at least six weeks to six months away.  Fruit can last up to a year through processes they have developed.

Green kiwi fruit was the primary market for decades but 80 percent of the fruit was lost by disease.  They grafted vines to grow gold kiwi fruit onto still healthy green vines to create a gold fruit.  That is now the primary crop with the best, again, going to Asia.

Ruby Red Kiwi is in development!

Kiwi fruit is very healthy nutritionally – we’ll have to eat more.

We had a nice treat with tea at a local community center. We sampled green and gold kiwi fruit! The gold was so good!

There are so many restrictions on taking products into Australia that we didn’t get any lotions or soaps or chocolate.

Back on board we had dinner at our favorite specialty restaurant, Canaletto.

Then we went to the captain’s welcome toast.  He gave us a little information that the Westerdam had her maiden voyage in 2004. The captain’s career began with Holland America in 1992. He introduced his senior officers and gave a toast to our journey.

We stayed in the theater then for a wonderful show called The “Shredderz” .  A woman on cello and a man on electric guitar combined classic rock and classic sounds strange, but it worked very well.

We concluded our night at Billboard Oboard.  This venue is available on all Holland America ships and incorporates two piano players playing together.

It was a great day from shore excursions to dinner to shows. This is why we like cruising!

We were in Tauranga, New Zealand on January 20, 2025.