My Adventure Down Under

Today was our second day at sea. The expedition team and myself were frantically working on photos for the slide show. I had taken over 1000 photos so far and the goal was to have every passenger represented in the slide show as well as to cover the complete trip.

The final lecture today was Rob talking at the Titanic dives. While not applicable for our voyage in New Zealand, over 50 people were on hand in the theatre on deck 6. His slides were great and based on the interest from people who stayed after the lecture; he may get some business from our passengers.

It was a bit rainy in the morning, but the weather cleared enough to keep the seas relatively calm. The original plan was to make a diversion to White Island, which boasts a smoking volcano cone, but to stick to the schedule, we headed straight for Whangaroa.

After dinner, there was a sing-a-long in the Galaxy Lounge on Deck 6. When we went up, the seas had taken a turn, and it was rock and roll up there! It was so bad I could barely anchor myself to take a photo. Nevertheless, about 15 people appeared and sang for about an hour. The only problem was the piano player never changed the key to accommodate semi-drunken singers. Many of the songs were too high for them and as a result, we sang Take Me Home Country Roads 4 times during the hour because it was in the right key for them.

The piano player, Peter, is Hungarian. He was on a cruise in the Caribbean and I had to devise a way to get him from Antigua to New Zealand avoiding US airports (so he wouldn’t have to obtain a transit visa, which can only be obtained in your home country). He flew Antigua, Heathrow, bus to Gatwick, Hong Kong, Auckland, and Napier! He was worth every penny!! He’ll be our musician on the European cruises also.

Tomorrow is golfing at Kauri Cliffs, the sister property of Kidnappers.

Today was our second golf outing at Cape Kidnappers. Everyone was very excited about the prospect and vowed to concentrate on their golf today instead of the scenery. After the shotgun, we were seated inside and Mrs. Robertson came down to the pro shop and climbed up and opened the windows for the air to circulate. They are both very hands on with their two properties.

Each day, expedition crew members were on hand to take photos of the course and our golfers. For our last night on board, they do a slide show of the entire trip and give everyone a copy of the CD as they disembark the following morning. It also gives them a great opportunity to see the area and take photos of something other than sea mammals and birds!

At the end of the day, we boarded the ship to cruise to our last stop, Whangaroa.

We docked this morning at Napier on the north island. Napier is a quaint seaside town (aren’t they all?!) with Art Deco flavor. Their Art Deco festival was the previous weekend but they were continuing the festivities with the worlds longest lunch table. Not sure if they broke the record or not!

Cape Kidnappers is an area where Captain Cook landed and his translator was taken hostage and later killed. It’s also the home to a Julian Robertson lodge and course. Julian is a hedge fund pioneer, went to school at UNC Chapel Hill, and bought several thousand acres in New Zealand and is currently valued at $900 mil in wealth. You drive about 45 minutes out of Napier, pull into what looks like a cattle/sheep farm, buzz the pro shop who opens the gate for you. You drive another 45 minutes through winding hillside trails, switchbacks, until you reach the top of the cliffs.

WOW! That’s all I can say about this location. He took a rolling hillside sheep farm and someone wedged a world class golf course into it. It’s challenging and sometimes you are hitting over a ravine full of fern trees or sheep are running through the green while you are trying to putt. It’s still a working farm! The pro shop retained many of the old sheep farm equipment and is designed to look authentic to the time period. Even the bar stools are constructed of old tractor seats.

The wind was very strong and everyone was prepared for rain. Fortunately, the skies held off and it was a great outing. Perhaps the best part was the ship sent its chef and crew with supplies to the course and grilled lunch for everyone. It was great food and enabled some of the crew to be off the ship. They even managed to hit some golf balls for the first time. We took a golf cart and drove the course and even managed to have a conversation with a foursome who was waiting on some of our players to finish the hole. Turns out it was Mr. Robertson himself out with some US friends. He was so very nice and in this small world we live in, one of his fellow players knew some of our golfers.

The other interesting area nearby is the worlds largest gannet colony. Special 4-wheel drive vehicles transported golfers after the round to the colony perched on the edge of the white cliffs. The smell was horrible, but the sight was amazing. They lay their eggs there, and the young take flight from there. Their first flight is 1600+ miles to Australia with no stops.

After the round, it was back to the ship for dinner and golf awards. The option for dinner in Napier was available, the ship reserves transportation for the crew into town until midnight, but everyone stayed on the ship. Why go elsewhere when the food is five stars here! Many of the crew did spend the day in town, some making phone calls back to the Philippines.

As you notice, there was not much going on after dinner. People were tired and knew they had to get up the next morning for golf. The most I ever saw were a few folks having a last cocktail in the lounge. I’m sure this suited the crew also.

Tomorrow is a repeat of today.

The next morning we docked in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and had our first breakfast on board. My cabin is next door to the restaurant, so my commute is 10 seconds! The breakfast was wonderful! Continental with cereal, fresh juices, fruit I don’t even recognize, hot buffet, and best of all: name what you want from the chef in the kitchen. It was great! This was also the standard for dinner service. There was never a dessert menu so you just ordered what you wanted. Last night I ordered chocolate ice cream with sprinkles, just as a test. I got chocolate ice cream with sprinkles!

This morning we were scheduled to tour the national museum, TePapa, in small groups. It was only a 5 minute walk from the ship and for my taste, was a bit overdone. There was not a space on the wall anywhere that wasn’t covered with some graphic, sign, artifact, things hanging from the ceiling, it was too much. My eyes never had a moment to relax. I heard someone say it was like the walls were yelling at you!

The items therein were typical houses, carvings, canoes, and jade. The Mauri people are descendants of the people found in New Guinea, Samoa, and the same ones who populated Hawaii. There were different tribes who lived here and once Captain Cook arrived, followed by the missionaries, the Mauri were engaged in a civil war. They finally signed a treaty with the British, but due to some poorly translated passages, they lost their land. In 1975 a tribunal was launched to investigate reparations and should conclude their work by 2016. The tribes petition to receive compensation for their lost land and sometimes they are asking for an apology, some ask for money, and one tribe asked for the tallest mountain peak, Mount Cook to be renamed the original Mauri name, which was granted. All in all, they have managed to solve their problems in a civilized way.

The Mauri language is mandatory for all school children so most are bilingual. There are very little 100% Mauri people remaining, but most Kiwis’ can claim at least a portion of Mauri genealogy.

There is a full expedition team on board the Orion. They are employees of the ship and are all naturalists, scientists, and have extensive backgrounds in research. Rob is a Kiwi and was raised in New Guinea, He has worked for the NZ government with conservation projects for many years, is a translator for tours, has circumnavigated Antarctica and as a side project, is co-owner of a deep sea diving expedition diving on the Titanic and the Bismarck (he’s the one who worked with James Cameron preparing for the movie). Mick is an Aussie, former college instructor (tertiary education as they call it) and specializes in sea mammals. Darrin and Steph, engaged about 3 weeks, are both naturalists with several years of expedition service in the region.

One of the passengers came to me this morning and wanted me to find her and 3 other ladies knitting needles and yarn. My only contact with retail outlets on this is a choice between the ship boutique (and it’s pearl jewelry) and pro shops, not exactly the hotbed of kitting supplies. I hoped the next port of Napier might yield some shops nearby the dock. There would still be one day at sea after that for them to knit.

Today we are playing Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club (sounds just like it looks). It’s a semi-private club in a small seaside city on the commuter train line. You can’t see the ocean anymore because of the houses built on the shore. When we arrived, we quickly saw that the course was nearly complete brown with drought conditions. When a ball dropped, a small cloud of dust arose. Not the best for golfing but we’re stuck with it!

On the ride out, I was chatting with the bus driver and found out that he needed to go to the local shopping mall while everyone was golfing. We chatted with the other 2 drivers and the consensus was there might be knitting supplies there. I had also been asked to locate a Mahjong game also, so maybe a toy store would be there also. We drove a 50 passenger bus about 10 minutes down the road to the mall.

This mall was like the malls of the 70’s in the US. It was one level, straight line with anchors at each end. Nothing exciting, but once they outgrew the enclosed mall, they just kept adding on store fronts all around the perimeter. It was a maze of sidewalks! We spotted the toy store so that was covered, and since he parked in the loading zone, we quickly canvassed the mall for knitting. After asking several folks at Woolworths (which was a grocery store) we found a placed called The Wool Shoppe. He went back to buy his item and a lottery ticket, so I purchased the knitting supplies and walked to the toy store by myself. I was nearly run over by 3 different cars before I could make it to the toy store. These people are the worst drivers I have ever seen. I found the game and made it back to the bus alive!

We were back at the course and I was sent to #18 to monitor play. In front of #18 was the putting green and I was entertained by a group of 8 year old boys with their golf lessons. The lady instructor worked very hard to keep them interested and to coach them not to make excuses for their poor putting. Already at this age, they were saying “that piece of grass was in my way” “the wind was too strong or it would have gone farther!” Very funny!

At the conclusion of play, I used one of the double carts (4 players and 4 clubs on the same cart!) to run a shuttle from the clubhouse to the buses. Everyone is so very nice when it comes time to pack their clubs. They all want to help even though we have plenty of staff people available to do it for them.

Once back on board the ship, we all hurried to shower and change for a 6pm lecture by Rob on NZ history. Although Kalos has never offered lectures before on their cruises, there were over 80 of the 93 passengers at his lecture. At one point, he made reference to the differences between US and NZ laws. For example, automobiles ALWAYS have the right of way! That it explains my near death experience in the parking lot of the mall. They expected me to get out of their way and I, the opposite. Sure wish someone would have told me!!

That evening we had dinner on deck. Most of the passengers opted for the downstairs restaurant, which was great for us. The maitre’d Clinton doted on every detail of the meal service and made sure we had a great time upstairs under the stars.

Have you ever met anyone who has enough money to hire a great golf course architect and build his own course? How much money does that take? Oh, and did I mention building your own clubhouse with spa?

Today we took everyone to play “The Hills.” Michael Hill, of jewelry fame here in New Zealand, had so much money he didn’t know what to do…so he took some of his pasture land and built his own golf course. One member. Himself. The clubhouse is half under ground with bar, dining table for 14 and spa. All of the artwork on the course and in the clubhouse was done by his son.

Through an odd twist of fate, we were allowed to play the course. It’s only 10 minutes from the resort and passengers were very excited about access. They just finished the New Zealand Open there so it was in great shape, if you like an undulating course over rolling pastures where you can’t always see the green from the tee!

Of course, the first thing everyone does is grab some clubs and rush to the practice tee. It was a beautiful setting reached by walking a small footbridge over a stream. I’m talking a bridge about 3 feet wide and about 2 feet above the water, water that was ankle deep. How do I know it was ankle deep?

I was taking photos of the area when I heard a BOOM! It was a passenger falling down on the bridge, or rather sitting down on it. She got back on her feet as several people ran to her aid. She said not to worry, it was just like when you know you are going to fall while skiing and you get ready and just sit down. That’s exactly what she did. Apparently, the practice tee was damp with dew; the bridge was slightly leaning to the back corner, and was made from treated logs (sort of like railroad ties). That was a lethal combination and though it didn’t look slick, in golf shoes, you just slide right off.

She went on her way, I went back to photos, and then I heard a SPLASH! It was another person falling on the bridge and yes, his foot went in the water ankle deep. Fortunately neither person was injured but I had to stand there for another 45 minutes saying, “Be careful when you cross the bridge, it’s slick.” It was funny however, when several other people made a big deal about being careful, taking little baby steps, pretending to use their golf club to balance themselves, etc…. These folks are very funny and are enjoying themselves very much!

I decided to take foursome shots on tee #1, for those groups who could FIND tee #1. Apparently, Mr. Hill has his farm hands put out the tee signs and markers. They had mistakenly marked hole #1 as hole #17. They also put the tee markers on the tee crooked. If you used them to line up, you would be hitting to the hole next door!

We transported them back to the resort and had dinner in the Japanese restaurant on property. Most everyone else went into town so it was very quiet.

When I got back to my room, I discovered I had left my balcony door open and the room was full of gnats. My bedspread was covered in gnats, and it was about 90 degrees! I had asked for two days for my heat to be turned on, and once the weather warmed up, they decided to do it! I called the front desk and asked them for a fan, which they gladly brought but I couldn’t get the gnats to go away. I tried to kill some, swat some, and in a momentary lapse of reason, sprayed bug spray on some.

Don’t ever spray bug spray on a comforter indoors. What a dumb thing to do. I couldn’t open the windows or doors to air out the room—no screens. The most I could do is wait for the fan to make it livable space again.

I finished packing and got to bed around 1am. Next stop is Christchurch and the ship!