Dunedin

Dunedin is a college town and it boasts its Scottish Heritage.  We bussed from Te Anau, passing about three million sheep on the way.  By now, the Crystal Symphony had caught up with us and was in port a few miles away.  We kept our eyes open for anyone we knew, but didn't see a soul.  All the shopkeepers thought we must be on the ship and kept asking how our cruise was going.  We laughed:  we got off that boat over a week ago!

Our hotel, while nothing to crow about, was perfectly located: across the street from the Cadbury Chocolate plant, next door to the police department, right in between two huge grocery stores, and an easy walk to the sights.

The town is very proud of its train station, which dates from 1906:

Inside, the train station is really beautiful and it's not just for show.  They run about 100 trains a day. Check out the waiting area:

The inlaid floor:

And stained glass:

There's a church on every corner in Dunedin, but their pride and joy is the First Presbyterian Church of Otago, which also dates back to late 1880's and was founded by William Cargill, Captain of the 74th Highlanders, and Reverend Thomas Burns:

Inside the church:

We wandered by St. Paul's Catholic Church just as they were starting a short pipe organ concert "for cruise passengers".  Close enough.  We enjoyed the concert:

Dunedin marked almost the end of the adventure.  From there, we took a beautiful bus trip across the plains and hills of Central Otago, back to Queenstown.  A quick overnight stay and we were on our way home.  The latest (they say it's the last) Hobbit movie was about to premiere, and Air New Zealand was doing everything Hobbit.  The Boeing 777 was decked out in a Lord of the Rings paint job and even the safety film was produced in Middle Earth.  Fun!  Watch the safety film on YouTube here:

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Av6a9N6wIofVAOsBQ4W3dO6bvZx4?fr=yfp-t-103-s&toggle=1&fp=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=air%20new%20zealand%20hobbit%20safety%20video

Link to Kepler Track Album

Here's the link to our Kepler Track Album on Picasa:


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Enjoy!

Another Rainforest...The Kepler Track

It's about a one-hour walk from the Radford's Motel to the start of the Kepler Track.

Here's our starting point, after breakfast pies from Miles Pies.  We ate pies two nights in a row, too. It was another of those "must do" Te Anau things.

Notice that the parking lot's wet?  In Te Anau at this time of year, everything's wet all the time.  Do take a good look at that blue sky.  It didn't look like that when we got back.  More on THAT later.

The Kepler is a loop track that takes three to four days to cover.  More camping out for the hale and hearty.  Leaving the hotel, one circles the east end of Lake Te Anau, passing their wildlife center before arriving at the start point of the track.  At that point, suddenly, you're in the rainforest.

This looks like a Hobbit house, complete with chimney!

This rainforest is very dense, and it's really beautiful.  We hiked almost to the top of Mount Luxmore and back.

Here's a great link with more information about the track:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/fiordland/eastern-fiordland/kepler-track/track-description/

Once we cleared the track, just past Dock Bay, it started to rain.  Actually, it poured.  All the way (an hour!) back to the motel.  All we could do was put up a hood, duck our heads, and keep going.  We were never so wet in our lives.  It turns out that waterproof boots are not so waterproof when the water is running down your legs into the boots.  But since we were soaked, we ran over to the store for salad and to Miles for pies.  We really wanted to go back over and get on the track from the Rainbow Reach side, but the weather didn't cooperate for the next couple of days and our boots hadn't dried out yet.  So we proved that we had enough sense to stay in out of the rain.

Next stop:  Dunedin


 

Link to Milford Track Album

Here's the world's longest link to our Milford Track Album on Picasa.

If the link doesn't work, let us know and we'll see if we can get it to you another way!


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The Milford Track

For this stay in New Zealand we had one major objective:  hike on the Milford Track.  It's true that hardier souls actually start at one end or the other and hike the whole 33.5 miles.  They contend with heat, cold, rain (and plenty of it), mud, no plumbing, and sleeping in huts (BYO sleeping bag).

For others, there are the guided day hikes.  Most of the day hikes begin at the Lake Te Anau end of the track, but our host Kerri at the Radford's Motel turned us on to a small company called "Trips and Tramps" that specializes in small groups.  They start the day hike at the Milford Sound end, so as an added attraction, one gets to see the road to Milford and the Sound.  Perfect!  And we actually hit the only day that it didn't rain!

Here's the road to Milford:

A parking lot denizen, the Kea bird.  At least this one was on the ground.  On the way back, one was on the roof of the van:

Lots of things in the area are named Sandfly this or that.  Sandfly cafe, Sandfly Souvenirs, Sandfly point.  Sandflies are like those little no-see-ums that getcha.  Oh, and they like to get in your eyes and ears.  Fortunately, we had just enough breeze to keep most of them away, but we were still nursing some bites when we got back to Naperville.  Here we are at Sandfly Point:

To get to Sandfly point, we had to cross a portion of the Sound by small boat and scramble ashore.  From there, we were on the Track, which goes through a rain forest.  Here's a sampling of what's to be seen.  It is obvious why so many people take this hike:

It's spectacular.  At Giant's Gate, there is a swinging suspension bridge.  After the rough seas we'd encountered on the crossing, walking on this thing was nothin'...

Gordon, on more solid ground:

And finally, a stop at Milford Sound.  Our tour mates took the a cruise on the Sound, but we opted to walk around a bit instead (like we hadn't walked enough for one day).

Long, fun day.  We started at 6:00 a.m. and got back to Te Anau at 6:00 p.m. Not as bad as the people touring Milford Sound from Queenstown, though...they wouldn't see their hotels until after 8:00.  So, this is a hint:  If you're going to the Milford Sound, stay in Te Anau.  At Radford's.

Eight Days at (Urp!) Sea

Pick up course 212 degrees and straight on until Auckland.  Aside from some major plumbing issues caused by fellow passengers who were not clear on the concept that marine commodes should only be used to dispose of that which has already been eaten, things began well.

The daily "at sea" routine was shortened.  Going for a Promenade just couldn't be done.  Way too hot out there.  Better to sit inside and drink champagne.  Greg The Butler continued to pamper us all.  Let the party continue!

For crossing the date line, one gets a certificate.  But crossing the equator calls for a ceremony that dates back to the 1500's.  It is during this ceremony that all Pollywogs (those who have not crossed the equator by ship) become Shellbacks (those who have).  We, of course, are now three-time Shellbacks and get to laugh at the initiates.  King Neptune and his court arrive:

And they regale the officers with gifts.

Next, the Pollywogs are dragged in...

The Pollywogs, it seems, are guilty of many heinous crimes, such as leaving the show early to be the first one in the elevator or eating lunch while reading the dinner menu.  To atone for their crimes, they must first kiss the fish.  Now here we have a complaint.  On Regent, that fish is real!  They got it outa the freezer!  On Crystal, the fish looked suspiciously plastic.  Anyway, having given up the kiss, the Pollywogs are covered with yucky stuff and thrown into the pool.  This couple takes the dunk for the most horrible crime of all...they brought their children on a Crystal cruise.

For the next couple of days, the captain turned on the seat belt sign.  It was rough.  Water crashing over the bow kind of rough.  Even Pati started to feel a little rough! More champagne!!  Followed by howling at the full moon:

The weather calmed down and we arrived in Auckland.  It seemed strange, after 28 days on the ship, to sleep in a bed that wasn't rocking.  Had a nice view out the hotel window, though.  Believe it or not, people bungee jump off that tower.  NFW.

Next, a flight from Auckland to Queenstown on the South Island and the party continues.  But without Greg The Butler.  Oh, we miss that guy.

Hawaii

Four days of sailing into the Pacific sunset finally gave us a good sunset...

...and we arrive at Honolulu.  Now, let' all correct our pronunciation in accordance with our Hawaiian guide.  It's pronounced "Hoe-Noe-Lew-Lew" not "Ha-Na-Lew-Lew".  All good?  OK.  Here we are:

The ship stayed overnight, here's the area where we were docked:

The next day, we actually took a shore excursion!  That we PAID for!  It's no secret that we are both interested in World World II and have been since we visited the Netherlands for the first time. Gordon hadn't been to Hawaii before, so a trip to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial was a natural.  On the way, we were treated to not only very Hawaiian pronunciation, but a good history lesson.  Seriously, look up and read about Hawaiian History.  It's very interesting what we weren't told at school.  Also took a quick drive by several of the main sights.  Here's good King Kamehameha:

At school, we did get the story of Pearl Harbor and the destruction that rained down on a sleepy Sunday morning in December.  The Arizona Memorial, of course, is located over the top of the sunken  USS Arizona which protects those who perished when she sank.  The wall at the memorial contains their names:

Of the few Arizona survivors, a number have chosen to rejoin shipmates after their own death.  A somber ceremony is conducted and the urn containing the ashes is lowered into the ship, by divers, near this stack:

The divers say that when the urn is introduced, a phenomenon occurs that causes it to be pulled away deeper into the ship.

Last, we drove through the Punchbowl National Cemetery:

Next stop is Auckland, New Zealand, eight days away and on the other side of the date line and equator!

Up Your West Coast!

Between the Panama Canal and San Diego, we saw flying fish and Pacific Dolphins...people were dashing all over to see them...but you hadda be FAST to get pictures, and we weren't, so take our word for it.

As mentioned before, we couldn't go to Zihuatanejo (which is really the only place we considered getting off the boat).  So it was on to Acapulco.  We value our lives and belongings, so we stayed aboard.  Looking ashore, two things were prevalent:  for one, polluted air.  It looked like Los Angeles did back in the 70's.  The other?  Volkswagen Beetles.  Real ones.  All over the place.  They use them for taxis.

Here's the view from the ship (see the VW taxis?):

And, goodbye Acapulco:

Next stop, Cabo San Lucas.  Not a big deal unless one wants to buy the usual cheap Mexican silver or a sombrero or two.  It does have its pretty parts, though!

Back in the US of A again, we called at San Diego.  Here, we actually went ashore.  Pati had her hayday in San Diego back in the late 70's, flying her boss's girlfiends around and spending most weekends in the area.  She was amazed...while some things were the same, so much has changed! Here's our ship, docked at "what has changed", but it's next to "what's the same":

The waterfront area is much improved, the there's even a tram through the middle of downtown.  We walked around and were amazed by the Jessop Street Clock at the shopping mall:

Huge clock!  (I said "clock").

The aircraft carrier USS Midway is now a museum at the waterfront:

And check out this fun statue nearby!

Here's one thing about San Diego that hasn't changed.  The people on the left side of the airplane can still wave to the people in the bar atop the El Cortez hotel.  At the water, that's Anthony's Fish Grotto on the right.  It's been there for-freaking-ever.  The red-hulled ship is the Barque Star of India.  Same for her.

Departure from San Diego meant four days at sea on the way to Hawaii, and the usual "at sea" routine, breakfast, read a book, take a walk, and then wait for Greg The Butler to arrive with afternoon tidbits and his traditional Bon Appetit.  Let the party continue, as he would say.