My Adventure Down Under

Today was our first day at sea. With good weather, we cruised to Marlborough Sound, an area between the two islands that comprise New Zealand. It was the site of Captain Cook’s first landing and is a protected nature area. It was a great photo opportunity, and an opportunity to use the zodiacs which would be required at our last stop (no dock available). We all gathered in the lounge with our smaller blue life vests. The expedition staff gave a brief introduction on how to wear the vests (more of “how to get inside them”), how to board a zodiac, and how to grasp forearms when doing so (if you let go, they still have a hold on you).

What followed should have been videotaped! The contortions, the twisting, the 2nd attempts. The problem is the vests do not come unbuckled. You have to put them on like a shirt, over your head then put your arms through the straps one by one. Several techniques were visible, none easy and certainly none comfortable. Everyone finally made it though.

Down to the embarkation platform, which is a hydraulic platform that is lowered from the cop of the ship. Eight people to a zodiac, three zodiacs to a pod. We motored to each island to view birds and their habitat. There were no beaches for landing, which was fine by me. The thought of these people having to jump out of the zodiac and wade ashore was nightmarish—they couldn’t even get the vests on easy!

We were out about an hour then back on board. I stood at the top of the platform stairs and took photos as people came back. Lunch was served on deck as we departing the sound for our voyage to Napier.

Knitting was spotted followed by many thanks from the ladies. Several groups formed bridge foursomes and many passengers were in the hot tub on deck 5 or reading on the sun deck. There was a great demand for massages, so much so that we could have used 2 masseuses.

Up next was the bridge tour. Groups of about 20 were escorted to the bridge where the Captain gave a wonderful presentation on the ship and it’s capabilities. Turns out the captain was perfect for PR relations, very funny and full of great one-liners. I guess he gets the same questions every cruise. The ship had state of the art electronics (it’s only a few years old) and is controlled with a joystick and a bow/stern thruster. There are always two crew members on duty at all times on the bridge and even though everything is planned with GPS, they still mark their direction and position on a map each hour and are all taught Morse code, light signaling, and how to navigate using a sextant and the stars.

He explained that the only ships who have the right of way all the time were fishing boats and sailing ships and that all other ships must defer to them, worldwide. He also explained the fire systems (which had already been used in our trip. The folks across from my cabin piled up their bed pillows until they reached the reading lamp and started a fire. It’s not fun to come back to your cabin and have the fans blowing the toxic fumes from your area!). Someone asked about a laminated index card affixed to the instrumentation panel. Once side says “Fins out” the other side says “fins in.” It’s a low tech solution to a potential devastating accident. Before you enter a port or lock, the stabilizer fins on each side of the ship must be retracted. There is a warning light on the control panel, but this captain's back up system was this card. Apparently there was an incident where a captain entered the Panama Canal locks with the stabilizers deployed. Everyone had to disembark and fly home after that incident!

The funniest explanation was the traditional ship wheel on the very front of the control panel. It’s fake! They had so many people question how the ship is steered, they had a crew member carve it and bolt it to the front. It’s a great photo opportunity also!

After the bridge tour, there was a 2nd lecture on sea mammals of the area. Again, 80+ attendees. Mick did a great job despite being quizzed at the start on the characteristics of mammals. He had a simple slide outlining the 5 characteristics. Someone raised their hand and asked if there were any animals that only have 4 of the characteristics of mammals. He managed to think of a few, and then a second hand asked if there were any who only had 3. Afterward, he said he felt like he was back teaching college with first semester freshmen! He also told us they see a whale at least once a day in these waters but by the time they make an announcement, it would be gone.

Dinner was incredible—again! We always have two menus to choose from. One is the ship’s standard 5 courses with two options for each and the second is a gourmet option from a chef in Sydney. Mix and match! Two wine choices with the meal with others on request.

There was a little dancing after dinner by about 8 folks. I snapped a few shots and then it was bedtime.

Did I mention 42 below? It’s a New Zealand vodka. Very nice. Very popular.

Tomorrow we dock in Napier for play at the #1 golf course in the world, Cape Kidnappers!

Bags were outside the door at 6:30 this morning and after a quick breakfast, I was off to the airport to get 102 boarding passes. My pre-ordered taxi never arrived, so I spotted a group of people getting into a taxi bus. I walked over and asked if they were going to the airport. What luck! They were going to fly to Milford Sound via fixed-wing that day. They said I could hitch a ride which was great. They were ophthalmologists world wide here for a congress on glaucoma. It was fun ride with them.

At the airport, I rounded up the Air New Zealand duty manager who didn’t have the tickets printed! I had only 30 minutes to get their seats assigned, printed boarding passes, and alphabetized so we could distribute when the buses arrived. This airport is so tiny, in the middle of this project, the duty manager had to put on his vest and go land an airplane!

I barely made it and our buses arrived. We got everyone organized, and through screening in about 10 minutes – we prohibited carryon luggage! We already knew how restrictive they are based on my previous flight from Melbourne so we just told everyone “no carry-ons.” It was great.

Once we landed in Christchurch were boarded buses for one of two tours: a sheep farm or an architecturally interesting house and gardens. You would eat lunch at your first destination then switch places to tour the other one.

Our first stop was Flaxton Farms. It was an 1830’s circa farmhouse with fields of sheep. As the bus arrives, the family/hosts are waiting outside and waiving. Graham, the dad, with the most friendly smile and most charming straw hat; Emily, his wife, the cook, and perfect hostess; their two daughters, 8 and 10 (they had the day off from school because company was coming).

This is a working sheep farm that had been in his family since the gold rush of the 1830’s. There were English gardens and sheep barns. He escorted us to the first field where we find 3 border collies. They are trained to assist him with the sheep, over 6,000 of them. The dogs were great. They were chained to a small cart just to keep them away from people. You never know who is afraid of dogs so he only released them one by one until he saw that everyone was ok with them.

Individually, they all decided I was their buddy!! They would do what he asked of them, he would begin talking to the group again, and they would run past everyone to find me. It was pretty funny. Of course, I was giving them all kind of affection, something they were not used to. These are working dogs, not family pets. They were in no way mistreated, but they don’t sit around begging for treats, playing with toys on the living room floor. They thought I was great just for giving them belly rubs!

The coordination of Graham and these dogs were unbelievable. He would give them a verbal command (“wallygo” which was a contraction of a longer sentence from years past) and they would go round up the sheep. He demonstrated one dog first. Then he demonstrated a technique of the younger dog. He put about 20 sheep in a loading chute and told the dog to make them move and turn in the right direction. The dog jumped over the fence onto the top of the sheep’s backs. He walked down the sheep’s backs, all the while the sheep were turning the right direction and getting in a single line. Never saw anything like that before.

Next he sheared a sheep and let everyone feel the different types of wool. Merino was everyone’s favorite.

Next he took us to a huge field to show us two dogs working at the same time. In this field were 200 sheep. He sent the dogs to the far end, about a football field away. Then ran the perimeter and got behind the sheep and all of the sudden, the sheep began to run in our direction. It was so impressive to see. He then instructed the dogs to bring the sheep around behind us, so they completely circled us with only the dogs guiding their actions. Unbelievable!

At some point, one of the dogs took a dip in the pond and then came to me for his head scratching. I would up with a muddy paw print on my shorts and a tongue lick on the camera lens!!

They served us lunch in their garden. Amazing meal on antique china, homemade food and lemonade, nice wines, and the girls helped pour the drinks. It was a marvelous experience. They only do this for our golf cruises and after hearing him describe the price of wool and lamb, I’m sure they benefit from the income. I had about 12 people ask for their address so they can write a thank you note.

We switched to the gardens and the interesting house. It was designed by one of the famous New Zealand architects (can’t remember right now) and there were 6 acres of gardens. It was very peaceful and the art work in the house was exquisite.

We boarded the bus for the hour trip to Lyttleton to board the ship.

The Orion is a small expedition ship, built especially for Antarctic trips, able to withstand ice and turbulent seas (which you will see later on came in handy). There are only 55 cabins with luxury amenities and décor. Marble bathrooms, gleaming brass circular staircase surrounding the glass elevator, and 73 crew members to service 102 passengers. Nice ratio!

We boarded, discovered our luggage had already been placed in our cabins, had champagne, and watched the ship depart. The luggage was trucked in, nearly didn’t make it because the ferry was late, and a few pieces were misplaced. I told the passengers that when they arrived if they had strange luggage in their cabins, AND if they clothing didn’t fit them or they didn’t like the selection, to phone reception.

There was a mandatory safety drill followed by crew introductions. We all had to bring our life jackets to the lounge and put it on for inspection. We then had to walk in a line with our hands on each other’s shoulders to the upper deck by the life boats. This is the new ship and they have the enclosed life boats and we were all assigned a boat. We then met the full crew.

Earlier when I boarded, I was hurrying somewhere for some reason, and I rushed past this man standing in the foyer. Never paid him any attention. When I returned, the first officer said “would you like to meet our captain?” I said “Sure” and looked around for Captain Stuebing from the Love Boat. Instead I was introduced to a 45 year old German fellow, thin and handsome in his white uniform. He was charming and had worked his way up the cruise ship corporate ladder to ship’s captain. He has a reputation for one of the best captains in this part of the world, but is no-nonsense. It’s by the book, no deviations. Safety first. More on that later too!

This is a German built and owned ship (owned by a lady who use to work for Cunard Lines) and the officers are all German or French, and the crew is Philipino. The expedition staff is all Australian or Kiwis and is very knowledgeable about the area, the mammals and the birds.

I slept great that night. My cabin is next to the restaurant and back staircase on the 3rd level. The higher you go, the more expensive the cabins become, culminating with the owner’s suite on deck 5 with its parlor and double balcony. My cabin is really only for one person, the best place in the ship for turbulence (more on that later also) and is the cabin the captain uses during the Antarctic cruises.

Tomorrow is docking in Wellington and golfing again.

Sports. Sports on tv, sports in the newspaper, sports everywhere you look.

Australia is a very "fit" place and it seems that everyone is active in sports. Of course, there is the Australian Open held about a 5 minute walk from the hotel, the soccer stadium, the cricket stadium, the footy stadium, skulling, surfing, skiing, golf, lacrosse, lawn bowling, etc.... They are a very active people and to their credit, it's hard to spot an overweight person on the street. There are leagues for all different sports.

They are VERY serious about their golf down here. There are numerous public courses, but most courses are very private, members only. We had some difficulty in getting our players on the courses, some do not allow visitors at all, and some only allot a dozen openings on a Monday for visitors.

There is also no such thing as a golf cart. Everyone walks with a trundler (pull cart). Most use a caddy or a forecaddy. The elderly ladies will sometimes use an electric trundler, but most I saw were just putting along (putting, get it?! I crack me up!)

So, the most coveted tee time is at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Royal courses are the ones granted such status by the Queen. RMGC, founded in 1891, only issues 12 visitors slots each Monday. We were very lucky to obtain the slots and through a member who is on the cruise, was able to petition the course for 12 more slots each on Thursday and Friday. Apparently this guy is a "big" guy, so they granted his wish.

The greens fees are $530 but it does include a caddy. The dress code is very strict. All men must wear white knee length socks. Now, while their "official" code says shorter socks are ok, we were told that you can be asked by the marshall to purchase proper socks before teeing off. Also NO cell phones on any course down here. Mandatory. They told us that even though we are not out on the course, we should turn off our cell phones and if we need to take a phone call, we should go back to the tour bus. Like I said, they are serious about their golf. Interesting though, the course is very strict on so many things, but they allowed ladies to be members starting in 1892, much earlier than most courses in the world. The ladies locker room was a museum of photos, old golfing attire, and trophies.

Sue took our 12 players to RMGC while I took the guys who drew the short straw to another private course, Kingston Heath. After they were off, I had the pro shop call a cab to take me to RMGC. Since most of the courses are private, the taxi drivers have no idea where any of the course are. My driver had no clue. I had written directions and he had a map so I was good to go! He drove while I frantically searched for the roads in his map book. We only had two U-turns during the 20 minute trip. When we arrived, I said "nice driving." He said "nice navigating!"

Let's me also say that crossing the street is very polite as well. It's well-known that crossing the street in a british driving rules country can be deadly. OUr instict is to look right, when we should be looking left. Their crosswalks are all auditory equipped with tones for the blind, so that's easy. Also, NO ONE goes until the tones sound. NO ONE jaywalks. But they do walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk than I'm used to. I think I single handedly slowed down one block in Chinatown by weaving back and forth.

Our golfers finished their rounds and the caddies took their clubs and shoes for cleaning. There are huge fines in New Zealand if your golf equipment is dirty. We have already had a set of clubs impounded by the agriculture customs service in Auckland.

After lunch in the clubhouse, we returned everyone to the hotel. There was no scheduled dinner, so Sue and I walked to a local seafood restaurant. They served something called "mud bugs" which after investigating, are like prawns. I did not order them. Ick.

During the ride to the course, I was chatting with a couple from Michigan/Boynton Beach. Did I mention that all of these people have multiple residences and multiple country club memberships? They asked where I went to school and I said Centre College. She said "in Danville?" I said, "yes, and why do you know Danville?" Turns out that one of the long time attorneys back home who I know has a summer house next door to them in Michigan and she even had an aunt and uncle retire to Danville. She was just there 2 weeks ago for her aunt's funeral. Small world huh?

Tomorrow we transport everyone to the airport for their flight to Auckland, then Group #3 passengers begin arriving. I'm going to do some quick shopping. I had some clothes stolen during my trip down, and the worst things they could have taken, they did: my black shorts, black pants, my one sweater, and black crop pants (btw, I do own 2 pairs of crop pants now-- I guess I got over it like Lisa has been telling me for years!). The department store here is called "Davy Jones". Makes me laugh.