Sydney, Australia February 28-29, 2012

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Our two days in Sydney were terrific.  Once the ship arrived and we were able to disembark, we went with a group to do the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb.  The bridge opened for climbing in 1998 and has been running tours every ten minutes throughout the day, with peopling ready to climb to the top and see the city and harbor from a different vantage point.  The bridge is 134 meters tall and 1,149 meters long, with over 6 million rivets are holding it all together.  The bridge climb itself includes nearly 1,400 steps, not an activity for those with bad knees. The design used for the bridge was based on that of the much-smaller Hell’s Gate Bridge, located in New York City.  The Harbor Bridge is the largest single span arch bridge in the world.  Anyway, we climbed to the top, lucked on the nice weather and had our picture taken by the tour guide (can’t bring your own cameras).  A fun thing to do and we’d do it again!

Hikers

Sydney Street Scene

Pour me one, Mate

Historic Bar

After the climb, we stopped at a historic bar, The Hero of Waterloo, located in ‘The Rocks’ area to celebrate with our group.  This bar was a place that the old sailing ships would use to ‘recruit’ crew for their ships.  They did this by waiting until they were dead drunk and then stick them in a chute which slid down to the wharf where the ships were located.  Good story.



Really - a pay phone!

The rest of the day we spend wandering around The Rocks area and Circular Quay, near the ship.  We actually buy a phone card and call Lesley & Geoff from a pay phone. Can you believe they still have pay phones all over this city?  This is because free Wi-Fi is hard to find.  Even at Starbucks, Wi-Fi costs money to use.  McDonalds is free but not very good, mostly because they have so many people trying to use it.

Lots of Interesting Old Buildings

The evening is the World Cruise Cunard Ball.  It is held in the Sydney Town Hall building with everyone in their beautiful formal wear – ladies in gowns and jewels and men in tuxes.  The Town Hall was built in the 1880’s and houses an absolutely huge, powerful and magnificent pipe organ, well maintained and in great working condition.  We are greeted as we walk in by the CEO of Cunard and the Captain of the Queen Elizabeth ship, along with several of the officers in charge of the various departments on ship.  There is a children’s choir singing and once everyone is seated the organ is played.  WOW!  After that, the food and wine were continuous and a jazz singer and band started playing.  Dancing continued on throughout the evening.  Back on ship, we collapse.  A great party and definitely Cunard let you know they appreciate you as a customer.  The only slightly sad thing is our charming Captain’s announcement that he is leaving our ship in Hong Kong for a much needed break after being with this Queen from drawing board through its maiden voyages.

The morning of February 29, Steve makes the comment that maybe this extra day is meant to offset the one we lost, February 15, when we crossed the International Dateline.  More Okie logic?  Hhhmmmm.

View from our balcony

The Sydney Opera House is adjacent, across the bay, from our room balcony on the ship.  It is an amazing complex.  We walk over and take a tour of the building.  Did you know there are actually four different venues inside – theatre, symphony, rock concerts and opera?  The building took 13 years to build and cost over $100M, which the Australians paid off in 1-1/2 years.  The original architect quit during construction and never saw it completed.  He died two years ago, but his son is now involved and they are making significant modifications and improvements.  One of symphonic hall features is yet another landmark organ, a ten-thousand pipe tracker organ, the largest in the world, not the powerhouse of the Town Hall organ but nuanced and great in its own right.  The Opera House structure is concrete and steel covered with tile panels which never have to be cleaned.  The weird thing for Lynn is that the tile came from the same town Sweden where her grandmother was born.  It is definitely worth taking a tour of this iconic structure.

Afterwards we walk up George Street and back down on Pitt Street, enjoying the architecture and ambience, and stopping in various shopping arcades.  It is drizzling when we begin our strolling and then it starts really raining.  At least it is warm.  We learn that this is the kind of weather they have been having all summer because of La Nina.  Maybe why the USA is so mild this winter?  This isn’t the best weather to wander around in so we head back to the ship to rest and then get ready for our evening of opera. 





Sail Away from Sydney

We see and hear Puccini’s ‘Turandot’ this evening.  What a fantastic production!  The voices, orchestra, sets and costumes, everything, rival the Met and we feel so fortunate to be able to experience the Opera House at its best.  Another amazing evening!  We run back to the ship in the rain because the ship-provided buses will take forever to load and unload.  We aren’t the only cruisers scurrying in the pouring rain and indeed, we beat the bus by a good thirty minutes.  Back on ship, we change out of our soggy clothes, grab a late-night snack, then stand on our balcony gazing over the Opera House and talking about the opera we’ve just seen.  The Captain announces at midnight that the ship is pushing away to sail away from this beautiful city. The ship may have departed Sydney but we have our wonderful Sydney memories to hold onto.



Arrival Sydney February 28, 2012

Iconic Sydney Opera House 2012

Arrival in the harbor before dawn there are Spectacular views of the Opera House, the Skyline and the Bridge.  The ship has to dock by 7 am in order to not conflict with the rush hour ferries.  We couldn’t resist posting a couple of pictures this morning before we hike the bridge and wander Sydney the next two days.  Wish you were here!

Arriving Sydney before dawn

Sydney skyline before sunrise

Steve ready to hike!



Lynn Ready for Opera!

Melbourne, AUS & at sea - February 26-27, 2012

Arriving in Port Phillip Harbor this morning, the bridge and city come into view as the sun rises.  The Holland America ship Vollendam, also on a world cruise, is already docked.  The birds are going wild over the water churned up as our ship does a 180 turnaround in the tight pier area so as to face seaward for the sail away tonight.

Melbourne Harbor Bridge

Melbourne Skyline

Before telling about Melbourne, a quick recap of the stargazing last night on the Lido pool deck at 10 PM.  The lights were turned off and two of the ship’s officers gave a talk, complete with laser pointers to share exactly where constellations, unique stars and other astronomical features could easily be seen.  It was a spectacular heavenly display of the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds, both only visible in the southern hemisphere.  Just setting in the west was a small slice of Moon, along with Venus, Jupiter and Uranus, while Mars rising in the east.  It is always amazing to see the Milky Way, something that most of us can’t see in the night sky anymore due to light pollution.  What an amazing creation by our God!

1883 Bank then Stock Exchange

Arcade Shopping

Alleyway with cafe

Artist Alleyway

The Block Building w/Arcade

Melbourne is a city with an easy to use-and-understand tram system.  Our tour leaves on the tram from the port, heading directly to Collins & Queens Street.  After losing and retrieving half the tour when we disembarked the tram, we walk and learn about the history of the city, the history behind amazing buildings built in the late 1800’s and the city’s arcades and alleyways that are lined with shops and small cafes and restaurants.  It is a Sunday so lots of people are out, simply enjoying the beautiful day in the city, watching us watching them.  One of the alleyways is filled with university students eating a late breakfast; we could have easily been in any US university town.  Another is an artists’ graffiti display, approved by the government for painting on the sides of buildings.  Funny thing is when we reach the Federation Area there is a 60’s American car show with many Mustangs and other well preserved muscle cars.  The tour’s last stopping point for us a café for a coffee and brownie. 

Mustangs!

We leave the tour at this point and search for the basic tourist necessities: free Wi-Fi and inexpensive postcards.  We score the postcards, and the associated expensive postage. There are all the usual signs for USA businesses – McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, 7-11 and Starbucks – intermingled among a plethora of Australian and European shops.  The tram takes us back to the ship and we get to cool down. The weather has been like Florida – 90 degrees & sunny.

Melbourne street view

We dine as the ship sails away from our first Australian stop.  Now back out to sea, we are headed around the southernmost tip of Australia and up the east coast to Sydney.  The seas are calm with a few showers, and warm.

Today while at sea, we have interesting lectures and entertainment.  Warren Fahey continued his lecture on the history of Australia with a twist.  Today he spoke about the first ships that came to Australia from Britain, bringing in convicts, what these “cruisers” did once they arrived and how things changed once the Gold Rush occurred. In the afternoon, a talent show comprised of fellow cruisers; then a 45 minute show by a choir comprised of 100 additional cruisers.  The choir sounds great; very nice!  After dinner we are entertained by Ian Cooper, an Australian violinist whose talents are amazing. 

Our ship will have over 600 passengers disembarking in Sydney.  Some will be boarding the Queen Mary 2 in a week and continuing their world cruise.  Others are arriving home in Sydney while others are visiting family or friends in Australia and New Zealand.  One person I spoke with today is boarding the Vollendam and heading back to the USA.  The ship is in Sydney harbor for two days.  We are looking forward to our adventures in Sydney!

Can’t forget – here’s the latest nautical term:

Sailor’s Bib – The portion of a Navy enlisted uniform that hangs from the back of the neck.  It started when it was the fashion for sailors to have long hair.  To keep it from blowing into rigging or machinery, they would braid their hair and dip it in tar.  When ashore on liberty, they would cut a bib out of sack cloth and tie it around their neck to keep from getting tar on their one good shirt.  The bib eventually became an official part of the enlisted uniform.

At Sea enroute Melbourne, Australia Feb. 24-25



Tasman Sea

The ship is crossing the Tasman Sea commonly referred to as the Ditch.  We can now say that we have “Crossed the Ditch.”  The seas are quite rough – 12-14 foot waves and rainy the first day.  The second day, the seas have calmed down to 6-8 foot waves and the sun is shining brightly.  The temperatures are still quite cool – in the 50’s yesterday and today the 60’s.  We are told by the time we arrive in Melbourne it will be in the 80’s. 



It’s hard to go to the gym and exercise when the seas are so rough.  We spend our time at lectures, reading and blogging.  The lecture yesterday and today was presented by Dr. Gary Darby and provided an illustrated history of Aboriginal Desert Art and Bark Art.  He also brought some original art with him to purchase.  Amazing art.

Running on the Deck



Deck instructions

This morning, the Tasman Sea was calm enough to allow us to walk around the deck.  Three times around equals 0.9 miles and we work towards 6 times around just as the sun comes up and before it gets too busy.  It’s nice to be out in the fresh air.

Sunrise February 25

The entertainment last night was a group called ‘The Aussie Boys.’  Their show included popular music written or performed by Australians, such as the Bee Gees, The Seekers and that song called “I come from a land down under.”  Quite good.  Tonight is Dixie Land Jazz by the ship’s band.  Also, the movie Australia is playing in the theatre.  Later in the evening is going to be a Star Gazing session on the open deck with two of the ship’s officers.  Right now the sky is clear so we hope it stays that way so we can see the Southern Cross!

Tomorrow the ship arrives in Melbourne.  The Queen Elizabeth sails in through Port Philip Bay around 5 AM (1 PM EST, Saturday) which takes 4 hours from the Point Lonsdale entrance to the dock.  The passengers cleared customs for Australia yesterday.  It’s an interesting process.  The customs agents come on board and then the guests and crew report with passport and custom cards at a certain time during the day for clearing of customs.  This way when the ship arrives in Melbourne, everyone will be ready to just disembark the ship and go on their tours or wander around without standing in line at immigration.  Very efficient.  At each port there is still a lot of security getting off and on the ship; no problem for us!

For personal use!

Cruise musing:  Right near to the elevators we see the commonly known as ‘barf bags’ for those passengers still being bothered by the rough seas.  We haven’t seen anyone use one but there were a lot of people missing at dinner last night………..


Dunedin NZ February 23, 2012

Sailing in to Port Chalmers NZ

People Greeting & Military Bunker

The ship sails into Otago Bay to Port Chalmers, about a 20 minute drive from Dunedin.  Rocky, steeply inclined hills line the bay.  Several cars have driven along the shoreline road, stopping on one of the highest hills to take pictures of our ship coming in this morning; they then race back, as if attempting to beat us to port.  Bunkers have been built into the side of the hills, obviously for military protection sometime in the past. 

Port Chalmers is a quaint town where early settlers began shipping refrigerated meat and dairy products destined for Britain in 1882.  This port was the last visited by explorer Robert Falcon Scott before heading south on his ill-fated final expedition to Antarctica.  It was also the launching point for Shackelton and Byrd for their Antarctic expeditions. 

Carey's Bay Hotel & Restaurant

Lunch

Just one kilometer walk away from our dock is Carey’s Bay, with a restaurant and hotel built in 1874 from local blue stone.  This is our choice for a traditional seafood lunch.  We felt as if we were back in the Scottish Highlands.  The soup had ginormus New Zealand green lip mussels, clams, oysters and prawns. 

The weather today is dismal – constant rain and low clouds.  Our bus commute into the city of Dunedin is very dreary, with not much to see out the foggy window as the road hugs the bay front.  Dunedin is the oldest city in New Zealand, founded in 1848 by Scottish immigrants who christened it with the Celtic name for Edinburgh.  Gold was discovered in the hills near the city in 1861, thereby putting it on the map.  The population today is 123,000, of which 22,000 attend the University of Otago, located in the center of the city.

St. Paul's Church in Octagon area

The architecture in Dunedin is interesting and many of the buildings from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s are still well tended.  The Dunedin Railway Station is very impressive (excluding the never-ending lineup of tour buses).  Inside there are beautiful doorways, counters and tile floors.  It today houses the local information center, a sports museum and an art museum.  The St. Paul’s Anglican Church sits right on the edge of the middle of the town, an area appropriately called The Octagon.

Speight Beer

We wander down the street to visit the Speight Brewery, the southern-most brewery in the world and to make a quick stop in the Cadbury factory store (yes, actually they make some chocolate here and distribute from here, probably another “southern-most” phenomenon).  With the pouring rain not letting up, we decide to pass on walking the steepest street in the world – Baldwin Street.  Back to the bus and onto the ship.




Along the roadside

While the rain made the scenery less visible and appealing, we can appreciate that this must be a very beautiful city with the surrounding hills and water.  Maybe the next time we visit we will have a sunny day. :-D
 

Sailing off late afternoon, the ship will be going around the southernmost tip of New Zealand’s South Island, into the Tasman Sea and across to Melbourne Australia, a welcome two-day cruise.  We turn the clock back one hour tonight for Australia’s Daylight Savings Time.  Our departure is postponed by an hour or so because three-hundred-odd cruise passengers are aboard a somewhat-delayed sightseeing train.  Interesting as well:  More passengers are joining the cruise here in Dunedin today.  It pays to ask questions of and work with Cunard since they certainly seem willing to work with guests to create custom cruise experiences!  Again, we see people by their cars from the roadways along the harbor waving their hands and beeping their horns as the ship departs.  The Captain blows the ships horns in a fond farewell.

Wellington NZ February 22, 2012

The ship is greeted by ten jet-skiers this early morning on arrival in Oriental Bay, the main harbor of Wellington, which is the capital city of New Zealand.  The weather is cool and clouds are rolling in.  By the time we get off the ship, it’s raining.  We are docked by the sea container docks, right in the downtown commercial, retail and financial area of Wellington.  There are stacks of pine logs waiting to be placed on a container ship and taken off to various Asian countries. We learn that native California pine trees grow twice as fast here as California.  This also explains the huge begonia flowers we see later at the Botanic Garden.

A “highlights” tour takes us all over the city area.  Wellington is situated on very hilly, near-mountainous terrain, and little was done to disturb the natural rise and fall of the land as the city expanded. The road hugs the water as we peer out the rainy bus window during the early portion of the tour. The houses that sit high on the hillside to our right are actually built up there with no roads to them. The garages are along the roadside and there are both very long staircases and paths, and in some cases private cog-cable car systems, leading to their homes.  There are bicycle and pedestrian paths everywhere along the water front.



Wellington NZ

Wellington consists of beautifully distinct neighborhoods, each with a unique character.  They have an “old-but-maintained” feel, similar to San Francisco and Geneva neighborhoods. Intense land use is the rule here, with architecturally diverse commercial and residential structures nestled in and designed for where they will fit, yet the city does not have a crowded feel.



Steve & Friend

Peter Jackson Studios is located in a suburb near the airport, a short drive from Wellington city centre. The Hobbit is currently being filmed there. As the bus takes us by the studios, we can barely make out the green screen outdoors, behind the fences that are keeping nosey people out. 

Mt. Victoria is the highest hill in Wellington. The bus navigates the narrow winding roads to the lookout on top.  Through a tunnel and then along the steep roadway up, we are told that the scene in the Lord of the Rings, where Frodo and friends hide on the side of the road from the black horse riders, was filmed in this park area. The huge trees do seem familiar. There is a fantastic view of the city, harbor and surrounding mountains at the top of Mt. Victoria. 



Old St. Paul Church

Many of the buildings and houses are made of wood in New Zealand, originally because of its ubiquity, now because of the threat of earthquakes. The people learned that it would be a good idea after an earthquake hit in 1855. This earthquake destroyed stone buildings (while many wooden buildings survived) and elevated the sea floor where the airport and much of present-day Wellington are built.  We also make a stop at Old St. Paul’s, a small, beautiful Anglican Church built in 1866 and being preserved as one of the few gothic-style wooden churches in the world.

Ships Maori Traveled to NZ

Representative Maori Chief House

The last stop on the tour is to the Te Papa Museum.  This amazing place is the national historical museum of New Zealand.  We are given a one-hour “quickie” tour by a delightfully animated guide and learn much in that short amount of time.  There is also one minute of silence observed for the 165 people who died one year ago today, at 12:51 pm, when the earthquake struck Christchurch, NZ.  Flags are at half-mast today in memory of this sad event.

The city is very nice, clean and easy to get around.  We are sure that if the weather had been nicer, we could better appreciate the beautiful trees and mountainous scenery surrounding the city.  Sailing away, more of the mountains are visible as is a quaint lighthouse at the start of Cook Strait.

After sail-away and dinner, we see a Maori culture show in the ship’s theatre performed by an accomplished New Zealand dance group, Te Oranga Ake.  They perform the traditional dances and include the hair-raising haka made famous by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team.

We now leave the North Island of New Zealand and are on a journey to the South Island to visit the city of Dunedin and on the way.  The Captain says he will search the bays and estuaries for whales, albatross and penguins and let us know of sightings.

Cruise Musing:  For Lent, Steve says he is giving up getting angry at people who can’t seem to get back to the bus on time during tour stops.

Auckland & At Sea February 20-21, 2012

Sailing along the rugged coast of New Zealand this morning, a full rainbow is visible over the ship.  The temperature is cooler – in the 60’s with a high in the low 70’s.  This is summer in New Zealand, spotty clouds and showers and warm sun.  The people are concerned here about the ozone being gone and the sun being more intense.  It does seem noticeable or is it just that we haven’t been out in the sun very much?
 


Arriving in Auckland

Our Ship in Dock

The ship docks at the Viaduct Harbor terminal in the downtown of Auckland.  We enjoy seeing the office buildings and the Sky Tower as the ship docks.  A Princess Cruise ship and a small-but-stately cruise ship, the Orion, come into port just after us.  The America’s Cup Race was started here in 2000 and the Rugby World cup in 2011 which resulted in an expanded and updated the harbor port area.



Our day in Auckland is spent touring the Devonport and North Shore area, providing us with spectacular views of downtown Auckland.  To reach Devonport, we must cross the Auckland Harbor Bridge, a lattice bridge built in 1959 and attempting to keep up with the traffic demands in and out of the city.  Before we cross the bridge, the tour takes us into the fish market area and close to Westhaven Marina, where over 2,000 boats are moored.  We are told 1 in 3 people in Auckland own a boat.  Just on the other side of the harbor we make a stop at a lake made by an ancient volcano.  Some of the homes in this area are on the lake and just across from the harbor and sea. 

Auckland from North Shore

Auckland from North Head

In Devonport, our tour takes us up the North Head hill, a mound used by the Maori people as well as later New Zealanders for defending the Hauraki Gulf.  Tunnels were built in the 1880’s to store munitions and for defensive purposes.  These tunnels were also used in WW1 and 2 as a part of a chain of forts in the region.  From the top, we can see para-gliders, a beautiful North Shore beach and across to Auckland.  As we look out to the ocean, we can see Rangitoto Mountain, the youngest of the volcanic mountains, having erupted just 600 years ago.  We are told that possums were a big problem in the New Zealand area and that they used various methods to eradicate them.  Then they switch and tell the story of the famous clothing made with sheep’s wool and possum hair.  I must have missed something.

Steve at the Tunnel

Walking path in Devonport



North Shore Beach

After the tour, we lunch at a café in Devonport and walk around looking in the shops during a slow mild summer day with a gentle breeze and drifting clouds.  Fish and chips are everywhere!  It is a well preserved and historic downtown, reflecting it’s naval and sea faring history. We even see a couple of young naval sailors walking around in their white shorts and sailor caps.

Entrance Ferry Terminal Auckland

The ferry takes us back across the harbor bay from Devonport to Auckland and we chat with a woman who has lived here her entire life.  She tells us about the weather (last week they had two water spouts) and the concerns about expanding the container harbor area.  She bids us a safe sail and, we to her, a good day in the city.

Gollum scares Lynn

View of Rangitito Mt. from Tower

In Auckland, we walk to the Sky Tower so we can experience the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere and witness people bungee jumping from the tower, and as a bonus, we spot Gollum in the associated gift store.  Best place for a panoramic view of Auckland and some good pictures.  The city is hilly and looks like many cities – people walking around in suits and young people walking around with their faces glued to their phones, texting.  Our day onshore has slipped away so we must head back to home – the ship.

At night the ship sails away with the harbor lights flashing on and off and the tower flashing as well, signaling to the ship and its passenger farewell.

Our time at sea today is filled with lectures about the culture and history of New Zealand and Australia, providing us more reasons to be excited for each future stop. (Did you know New Zealand was settled mostly by the Scots and not by convicts?  And did you know that New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893?) Another presentation is by the owner of Hunter’s Vineyard telling all about the wine industry of New Zealand.  We expect there will be someone aboard at Melbourne to provide insights on the Australian wine industry.

It is Shrove Tuesday and that means for the British – Pancakes!  They are served at every meal and the crew has a pancake relay toss for fun and our entertainment. Hope you are having something good to eat on what we always called FAT TUESDAY.

The ship will reach Wellington tomorrow and then Dunedin, with no intervening sea day to catch up on blog writing until Friday.

The Nautical Term of the Day:  Gyro Compass.  This is a compass that is not affected by magnetism so that the compass adjustment is no longer necessary, nor corrections from compass to true bearings.  Repeaters are normally driven by the master Gyro Compass for use on the bridge and to feed electronic equipment such as radar and electronic dead reckoning instruments.