A day at sea. Facebook The routine doesn’t change much. We slept in a bit and then go for breakfast in the buffet. Then we play cards (Golf) up on the 14th floor near the pool but in the shade.
We ate lunch in the dining room. Our waiter (Rhina) was assigning people to tables. When she saw us coming she greeted us and asked if we wanted a table by the window. She said to wait while she checked. She came back and found us a quiet table by the windows.
I will give lunch a C. I ordered chicken and waffles. The chicken was very good fried chicken (two wings and a thigh). The waffles were made back in Obama’s presidency.
The afternoon was a time for dozing and reading on our balcony. Penny did our paperwork necessary for entering and departing Australia and then entering thr USA, all which will happen on Saturday.
Dinner was catching up with our almost tablemate, Jenny. It was also another night of our wait staff “singing “ for us. We got to hear “Sweet Caroline “.
The show this evening was a performance by Steve Larkin. He sings songs by Freddie Mercury and Queen. He sang very well. He was also a comedian of sorts. A lot of audience interaction
Today was to have been a second day anchored off of Mystery Island, Vanuatu. By the way a bit of a Google search unraveled the mystery of why mystery island has that name.
First of all, the island is called Inyeug by the inhabitants of the nearby islands. In 1974 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip visited the island as part of the tour of what was then part of the British Empire. The people who were reporting on the visit to the media thought they could spice up the report a bit by calling it Mystery Island. The cruise industry does very little to dispel the misnomer.
That was the plan but last evening the captain announced the we would not return to Mystery Island because there was a medical emergency on board that required hospitalization. The nearest place to transfer the patient was in New Caledonia. So we would go there and an ambulance boat would meet us.
So that is what we did and about 8:00 this morning the transfer was made. We then began to make our way slowly to Brisbane. The slowly was to avoid getting there too early. At about 9:30 another announcement was made by our good captain. It seems that there were two more people that needed to be transported to the hospital. So we turned this rig around and went back to New Caledonia.
Now the mystery has transferred from the island to the question of what was wrong with these three people. The captain did not divulge that information but he did encourage the passengers to appreciate that the cruise line would have done the same thing for each passenger and/or their loved ones.
So Penny and I had a relaxed day. We ate lunch in the 2-70 cafe, soup and salad was the option.
We played two different rounds of cards in the Music Hall. I was generally humiliated in both rounds.
After lunch, before round two of cards, I thought it was a good plan to nap to gather strength. That seemed to help as I won the afternoon card games.
Dinner tonight was Italian, so-so quality. The wait staff serenaded us with Italian songs. They were enthusiastic if not always on key.
After dinner we went to the production show called “Sonic Odyssey”. Penny saw someone play an earth harp before on America Has Talent. The strings are stretched from the stage above the audience to the balcony railing. There were also singers and dancers as part of this very spectacular show which we really enjoyed.
Tomorrow and Friday are also sea days.
Where the white breaking waves are is the Great Barrier Reef. I can’t get used to it being so big and long. We have only seen a small part of it on this cruise.This is our dinner companion. She is from Australia and her name is Jenny (Jennifer). The lady in Red is my bride. They are encouraging the wait staff.
They were enthusiastic if not always on key.The evening entertainmnet
We arrived at Vanuatu early this morning. Vanuatu became a republic in 1980. Since then all land is owned by the government and a few kastom owners. The best I could figure that would be a tribal leader. Individuals can lease property for at most the useful lifetime of a coconut tree, about 75 years.
Our excursion started at 7:15 am and was a Keamu cultural village immersion. Keamu is the name of the village that is near the beach on the main island. The residents of this village have created a business during the cruise ship season. They create a realistic portrait of life on the island some 25 to 100 years ago that would have included no running water and no electricity. But today they have running water from springs in the hills above. There are solar street lights. And I can assume they have a way to charge their phones some were carrying. But they did a great job of display the traditional means of gathering and using the plants. Two ladies sat weaving from palm trees leaves. They were very adept.
I kinda wish my mother was still with us. She would have been shocked to learn that she did not come up with the idea that a fly swatter had two purposes. Here they bundle the fiber of a palm leaf and they use it for swatting flies and misbehaving children.
We were told of the mats that were woven and used as bedding. They might cushion the sleeper a bit. I was reminded of the camping equipment we used to rent from the Utah State outdoor center. A camping mat came with a sleeping bag. The mat was very thin and you could do a great reenactment of the princess and the pea while trying to sleep on one of those mats.
This afternoon I did a second excursion to the main island a bit further north up the coast.
This one was called fire walking and Kastom Magic tour. The first stop was educational. We learned about the day of yore when Europeans began to arrive. At that point in time the people who lived here did practice cannibalism. They assured us they that was no longer practiced. We were shown how they shelled a coconut back in the day when they were effectively in the Stone Age. No metal tools at all. A sharp stick held up right by a boy was used to smash through the tough husks of the coconut.
He then pointed to the tree I was standing under and said that coconut tree belongs to his grandmother. That coconut tree produces coconuts that are very sweet. I looked up and saw the tree was full of coconuts. I immediately recalled that each year worldwide there are ~ 10 deaths attributable to shark attacks compared with ~ 150 deaths worldwide caused by falling coconuts. I immediately moved locations. I was not going to push my luck.
We were shown how with a stick you can get the coconut out of the shell all ground up and ready to eat.
Next in our education was the fire walking demonstration. This was said to have been a rite of passage for the boys. Girls did not participate.
A bed of rocks had a bundle of sticks and leaves set on top and put a blaze. It took 10 or so minutes to burn down. Then a fellow used a fly/kid swatter to make sure that none of the embers were left on top of the stones. Then this fire walker gentleman emerged from a hut and walked across the hot rocks, then he repeated the walk two more times. Then we were asked to examine the soles of his feet for blisters. None were found but he did have a very even coating of what we were to think was soot. Then they threw some water on one side of the rock bed and it sizzled.
Now I am not a physicist but I do play one in my dreams. I also do not want to make fun of anyone who might think this was showing great courage and the power of the mind to control the body. But nevertheless let me point out several things.
A. Heat rises and a fire built on top of rocks would soak up relatively little of the heat in the short time the fire burned.
B. The gentleman who walked the rocks was out with us but he went inside of a hut and emerged when it was time to stroll across the stones. When he showed us the soles of his feet I suspect that he had painted something on the bottom of his feet that made us think that he had soot from the rocks but which in fact protected his feet a little bit.
What of the sizzling water that was thrown on the rocks to show how hot they were? Well you may recall them sweeping of the embers and remaining half burnt but still glowing sticks all to the far side of the rocks or certainly off the tops of the flat stones. When the water was thrown it was not on the rocks where he walked but on the still burning twigs on the sides or between the stones Thus it created the image of very hot rocks but one the other guests was seen right after all of this putting his hands on the rocks with no difficulty.
Ok I feel better after explaining the mysticism of this.
But I did prove an old saying that we used to say. We were invited to move if the smoke from the burning twigs began to bother us. I moved three times to three different sides of the fire and each time the smoke came right towards me. Thus adding scientific evidence to the old saying “smoke follows beauty or handsomeness.” Obviously it is true.
It was a good day in the country of Vanuatu. The people are very hospitable.
Sunrise in the Pacific Ocean. I heard that! Yes I was up early enough to see the sunrise.Our good ship from the beach of Mystery Island. The island and how it got the name are a bit obscure.Obviously no child labor lawsThe guitar player is lateThe agua marine waters are heavenly The dog waiting for a dog fight
Evidently the dog fight was scheduled for another day. Today was the dog romp on the beach day.
The quintessential tropical island That warning sign puts a bummer on the whole tropical paradise thing. We were told today that the islands of Vanuatu have 4 underwater volcanoes and 8 or so run of the mill volcanoes. Punctuated by some 500 earthquakes each year.
I knew I should have taken that underwater basket weaving class when I had the chance.
I started this video just after she said that baby chicks on the island are particularly vulnerable to being eaten by cats and dogs. So you build one of these and put the chicks inside till morning.
Basket weaving done while you wait.
A little history.When you live in paradise why should you not have a bird of paradise to decorate
Someone was having a good time.A plate you do not need to wash and a chunk of pineapple with a thorn for a toothpick.CarvingsSchool is outThat building is the schoolDemonstrating how a stretcher can be made with leavesBoat driver #1Boat driver #2The fire walking demonstration being preparedThe deadly coconut treeMy new best buddiesbye!
The water colors are amazing
The waves breaking out towards the horizon are: “The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, separated from the coast by a channel 160 kilometres (100 mi) wide in places and over 61 metres (200 ft) deep.[6] The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms.”
Today we docked this massive ship at the port of the capital city of Noumea in the country of New Caledonia. New Caledonia is a territory of France. The official language is French. Many people also speak English partly because their neighbor with which they trade a great deal is Australia. Because they are an official territory of France, the country of New Caledonia are members of the European Union.
Our excursion today is to see via bus the city of Noumea. And to stop at the aquarium.
Our tour guide was Michael, he was very helpful in trying to teach the mostly Australian folks ( 2 Canadian and 2 USA)
He volunteered to us that he had 40 years of tour guiding and that he had just turned 60.
He told us that along with many Europeans in the middle of the 1800’s, the French government exported criminals from the prisons in France to the new facilities in New Caledonia. And like the prisoners transplanted into Australia, the French sent prisoners from France to New Caledonia. The prisoners built a great number of the buildings here.
We learned that the main religions here are Catholic, Protestant (mostly Anglican) and more recently the immigrants from the Middle East also brought the Muslim faith.
The majority of the people are part of the catholic faith. We were taken to the top of a hill overlooking the bay and city. Also on that hill were lots of religious icons based on an adoration of the Virgin Mary.
Michael inferred that this adoration of Mary was mostly restricted to New Caledonia. Having been to South America and the southern US, I can confirm that the adoration of Mary is alive and well there.
The sign above the entrance reads Notre Dame of the pacific, pray for us.
Michael took special efforts to warn all of us tourists that if we were to walk around in the afternoon to be very careful not to break any laws. Justice here is evidently swift and punishments are severe.
The aquarium was very good. They do not try to display the aquatic life from around the world. They concentrate on tropical sea creatures from the Great Barrier Reef that lies just a few miles from main island of New Caledonia. The coral and fish are magnificent in their colors.
They have a display of sea turtles. We were informed that they are caught in trolling nets and brought to the aquarium where they stay for a month and if they are well they are returned to the ocean. Then new specimen are brought in for their vacation in the aquarium.
They had all kinds of aquatic fish. One of the displays is in a pitch dark corridor. There they have on display the bioluminescent fish that live in the dark and attract prey fish by lighting up their nose or lower lip.
You will be happy to know our three hour tour did not end in the predicament the crew and passengers of the S. S. Minnow found themselves in.
We have been relaxing in our room and on our balcony.
Dinner this evening was a Taste of Great Britain. Guess what they served. You are correct fish and chips with mushy peas. The dessert was sticky pudding. The English and their empire all have an issue with the term pudding. It means dessert. So they had carved beef with Yorkshire pudding. In this case it is blob of some bread-like dough they deep fry until it is almost black. They forget to do what the English do who serve Yorkshire pudding with gravy.
At dinner we were sailing, no steaming, no dieseling, maybe just moving the ship south so that the strong sun was coming in the window we sit by. The hostess asked if we wanted the curtain down. Yes, please. The curtain went down and a bit more. Then part way up. Then down again. We then asked if it could be half way down. So they got that to happen just about as the sun was setting.
We are sitting in the theater to watch Duck Cameron. No, not a typo his name is Duck as in quack quack. He was very entertaining getting several people from the audience to participate.
Duck was a very good sleight of hand magician. He spent the first half of the show without speaking.
Good day
PS. McHale and his navy were no where to be found.
Morning view out the balconyThese reminded me of the badminton birdies on the Nelson art museum lawnOur ship has not left me here yetAustralia gave these guns to New Caledonia for defense against invasion. They have a navy and army, but have never been invaded.There is a crab in that hole.
New Caledoniians are skinnyStrange fish
Do not want to meet a shark this bigThe blue water of the pacific is sometimes green
So this morning’s crisis: I had to change my clock on my phone. We lost an hour of sleep last night (I only got about 9 hours) and with no cell service on my phone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean I actually, and with tremendous effort, had to change the time manually.
Ok, I know what you are thinking and some of you are saying it out loud (DV, CS). First world problems, right??
Well, yes, that is very true. I am very fortunate to be here.
Walking the running track this evening a baby who learned to walk just a few days ago reminded of Logan S. Just after he took a few tenuous steps we put him a ship where the floor was moving. Not sure if that is teaching kids to be persistent or if it just the cruelty of the adults trying to get a few laughs.
The evening on a ship sailing in the South Pacific is magical. Cool breeze is perfect.
The show this evening is Belinda Marks. An Australian singer. She was a very good singer. Her stage presence was just a little forced. But a nice evening
Morning lay about.Some wake activitySunset 1Sunset 2Sunset 3 goingSunset 4 goingSunsat goneWall climbing – not me for sureNot at all sure what the purpose or meaning is for the pink bear?
Did you notice the colors in the sunset. Where do you suppose that color comes from?Belinda Mark
Success! I did not wake Penny up this morning. She woke me up and greeted me with the news that our Qantas flight had been cancelled. Oh goody.
We tried getting information on our phones but we ran into issues with the WiFi connection. We have two devices at a time package. At one point the app said we needed to connect to the desktop version of Qantas. So I turned off the WiFi on my phone and turned on my computer. But my computer would not connect to the WiFi package. So off I went at 7:35 to the computer help center on deck 5. I was first in line for the 8:00 opening. There was an information sheet that said I needed to go to logout.com on my phone to actually logout. Turning off WiFi doesn’t log you out.
So I got the computer logged in and we discovered that Qantas had rebooked us on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney and from Sydney to LAX. They canceled the direct flight from Brisbane to LAX. But the flight Brisbane to Sydney was too early. We could not get off the ship in time to make that connection. So we needed to call Qantas.
So we could use Skype to call but that meant logging off the computer and back on to my phone.
There were a few fits and starts but we got Annie on the phone and told her our story. She looked and said there were no seats on any other flights to Sydney that morning and could we fly the next day? No we can’t. We said we would fly economy to Sydney as long e we kept our premium seats for Sydney to LAX. She found one that gave us less than two hours to change planes. We asked if that was enough time to change in Sydney. She said yes. But then asked us to hold.
When she came back she had miraculously found premium seats on the 12:15 to Sydney which would allow 2:35 minutes to change planes to LAX. Our bags would be checked through from Brisbane to LAX.
We said. yes book it.
We were about to end the call when I asked if we had assigned seats. She said yes and no. She fixed the no part and all is well.
So this morning was much more stressful than yesterday alarm disaster BUT it was not my fault . So I will take the win.
So we had breakfast about 10:00 and are now on our balcony looking at the nearly calm blue Pacific Ocean.
Dinner tonight was fun. Our table for two is near a window. A second table for two was right next to our table. Last evening no one sat there. Tonight a nice Aussie lady Jenny sat there. She is a frequent cruiser and was assigned a table for 8 last evening but she was only one there. So she switched to our table mate table. We had a nice conversation. She has had a pen pal since childhood from the USA. She only recently traveled to the USA to meet her pal. It turned out great she said.
The show this evening was “Feathers and Sequins “. Show boys and girls with some singing.
Well let me tell you the story of this morning and you can then decide if I managed to set a world record for the worst beginning of Valentine’s Day ever!
My lovely bride was being very kind last evening and doing laundry for us in the washer and dryer in our apartment suite at the Adina. She got to bed very late. She was sleeping so well she did not even wake up, that is until 5:00 AM. Let me add this detail to our story. We had no plans for the morning. We did not have to vacate our room until 11:00 to head to our ship. So she and I, especially the she part had planned on a nice sleep in. Well at 5:00 guess whose phone alarm began to play Good morning, Good morning from “Singing in the Rain”. No, it wasn’t Penny’s, it was mine! I had set it for the previous morning as a backup for Penny’s alarm for our trip to the airport. (No, that was not necessary because she never oversleeps. ). I had changed the time on an alarm I use at home set to repeat every day. So this morning’s alarm was yesterday’s 5:00 alarm that I silenced but did NOT turn off.
Whether or not you agree that Penny’s reaction to that unwanted alarm was justified or not is irrelevant. Penny was madder than a wet hen when that alarm kicked in. Nay, she was madder than a nest of hornets that had been poked. She was, I kid you not, madder than a mosquito in a mannequin factory!
Now Penny and I are as different as can be when it comes to going back to sleep when we wake up. I can and she cannot.
I apologized three times but she was so mad the apologies did not register. She got up and took a shower and was not too worried about any noise or lights or hair dryers or anything she might do. The aim of this was to help me understand what I had done.
So now we return to the original question. Did I manage to pull off the worst Valentine’s Day morning in the history of bad morning?
Being the loving wife she is, by the time we left for the cruise ship at noon she had forgiven me, well at least she allowed me to get on the ship with her. Of this forgiveness I was very grateful.
The forgiveness may have been partly because I left the room for a couple of hours in the morning.
I went out and walked around. The hotel is across the street from some government buildings and an open green in front of the treasure building. There was a great deal of activity in the park. There was a lady just finishing a yoga class. Later there was what I thought was the weirdest sport ever. It turned out to be a team building activity. I rooted for team 4 as I walked by. They were appreciative.
Another block brought me to the Queens Wharf and the pedestrian bridge going over the Brisbane River. So I took a stroll across to the other side where the performing arts center was and also a pretty cool Ferris Wheel.
Also on my side of the river there was the Star building 23 stories above the city with a well advertised public viewing area on the roof. It was very nice. Part of it had a glass floor and there were two brave or insane people washing the windows on the outside on a narrow ledge.
We checked out and rode in a Tesla Uber to the cruise terminal and checked in. We were at the front of the line talking to the person taking our picture and over the Public Address system they called for Charles Ray Owens. I started to run for it but bucked up and identified myself. It turned out that they wanted to return my global entry card that I had dropped from the pocket in my passport.
After that it went smoothly. We ate lunch and then our room was ready but our bags did not arrive until around 3:30.
We explored the ship including our table for dinners. We met our actual waiter and she was very helpful. We are sitting by a window which is nice.
As I write this we are sitting at a show in the two-70 theater that will begin at 8:00 and then a second show at the other end of the ship at 9:15 will begin.
Bad morning, an ok walk around Brisbane and so far a good start to the cruise.
So I was reading about toilets swirling differently in the southern hemisphere that northern. It turns out there is truth to this for big weather events. But the forces that cause cyclones to turn the opposite direction as opposed to hurricanes doesn’t affect water in toilets or sinks. They are likely affected by the direction the jets of water enter the toilet. Or as in this demonstration my swirling. the water.
Across from hotelGuess who.A beloved politicianAdina hotelWant a building with gardens sticking out?Art workPedestrian bridgeMāori political person with important things to sayon the pedestrian bridge A wheel of the Ferris typeIn the star buildingThese are the public elevators you don’t have many choices as to the places they will let you get off.I thought this guy on 23rd floor had cool hairInsane folks
Glass floor to freewayInsane folksStuck my camera through the crack in fence to take picture of ledge from their sideat the first show of the cruise
Our flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia was quite nice. I rewatched a movie. City of Angels with Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage. Very touching movie.
We arrived and took a taxi to our hotel which wasn’t ready yet but they stored our luggage while we ate lunch at a pancake place that was in an old church building. It was an interesting place with good pancakes, ok eggs and not so great sausage.
After lunch we took an Uber to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Turns out they provide sanctuary for many other Australian animals as well.
We bought entry tickets and special time to get up close and personal with a koala. We had about an hour to wait for our koala time slot. We decided to walk around the sanctuary. It is pretty large and the place has a maze of paths and gates and dead ends. It was hot and void of staff. What happened was that we were lost trying to get back to the koala starting place. We almost died! We finally made it back with a minute to spare. We did get in line to be with the koala and the line moved slowly. Penny was able to get some water and we were very refreshed by getting to pet the koala. It was a great, really great, experience. We then sat in the koala kingdom. An open area with picnic tables and trees full of eucalyptus leaves with cute koalas in abundance. We also had visitor who walked in or flew in. See the pictures.
We then got an Uber back to our hotel. And I went to a grocery store very nearby to purchase some dinner foods. We are staying in Adina apartment. We have kitchen stuff and a washing machine and dryer. Penny has been doing laundry while I went shopping for food.
Tomorrow we start our island cruise.
Pancake Manor in a converted churchGreen turtlesLarge lizardRabbitThe Nubian donkey has a cross on its back because it was said that this was the ancestral breed that carried Jesus to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. According to the legend, the donkey knew that Jesus was facing a trial and much suffering.Guinea pigGoat giving me the eye
HogKoalaKoala and PennyRay and koalaPenny and Ray and koala
Australia brushturkeyBlack cockatoo.Flying fox (not currently flying)
Day 30. Wednesday February 12, 2025 (Also Thursday morning)
Well today was the day we were going to middle earth. Sadly, today was also the day Penny was dealing with a cold and did not get a lot of rest last night. Consequently she opted not to go. It was a good day but would have been better if she had been with me to listen to me ooh and aah and a few “would you look at that!”.
The day began at 9:30 by walking across the street to a large driveway for picking up passengers. There I met several other folks waiting to be taken by Cheeky Kiwi Tours to Hobbiton.
Gary and adult son Matthew are from London. They were nice. Gary’s wife did not join them today.
Our driver for the day was Simon. He was also our DJ for our drive. He hit all the decades from the 60’s to last week. There was also a mother and recent high school graduate son on our tour. They were from Florida and the subject of country music came up so we heard some of that.
It was 2 hour trip to the Anderson farm who was a New Zealand sheep farmer who won the lottery of sorts when Peter Jackson stopped at his door and asked if he could look at his farm land to possibly use for a film. Mr Anderson was watching a rugby match on the television and said, sure just make sure you shut the gates after you go through.
The hobbit village was originally made to be temporary and after the movie they were removed. When the movie made a bigillion dollars the Anderson family and Peter Jackson teamed up to recreate the hobbit village and two buildings that you could actually go inside. This hobbit village was only used for the exterior shots in the movie. All of the inside shots were made in a studio in Wellington. The Proudfoot family home was created here in 2013. It is very impressive. I will try to upload the video.
Penny was feeling pretty good when I got back around 6:45. We opted to have our last New Zealand dinner at Lord Nelson steakhouse. I had a ribeye marinaded in teriyaki sauce which I am pretty sure they forgot to do. But it was still a good steak.
It was a very pleasant day in the Shire. I had a great day.
The rest of the evening was spent packing and weighing our suitcases for our flight this morning to Brisbane, Australia. We arranged for an Uber to pick us up at 5:30 for 8:40 boarding. The Uber driver arrived at 5:15 about 45 seconds after we got to the pick up spot. We arrived at the airport at 5:45. Penny booked Premium Economy tickets for us. Air New Zealand has a premium luggage check in place that is very fancy. It had machines but also very helpful people to check us in. I felt like a very important person in the VIP area.
We were way early but I am sure I would have been a nervous Ned if we had waited any longer. We are at the gate.
Getting close to the shire.GollumThe mountain beyond the ShireThey provide a person guide for a group of 40 They leave every 15 minutes and our guide was from England.The first steps into the ShireHere we are in Baggends, The ShireEach color of door belongs to a different hobbit family name. The higher up the hill side the hobbit hole was located the wealthier the family was. At the bottom of the hill was a pond. In our society a pond front property would be more expensive?small town bulletin boardThe pond. The wake was made by that duck landing and skiing across the surfaceI am a Greybeard the wizard sized fellow on this 65% sized hobbit holeI have lots of Party business to discusss.Inside the Proudfoot homeThe shire millIn the green dragonThe fishing hole
We had to say goodbye to our new friends and acquaintances today. Most everyone on the Viking post extension are heading home today.
We will be here in Auckland until Thursday morning. We had no plans for today. The weather turned out to be awfully nice. So we opted to walk down the gentle sloping street for the 15 minute trek to the wharf area. We opted to visit the New Zealand Maritime Museum. We arrived about 10 minutes before a very knowledgeable guide started his complementary tour. We were joined by 8 other folks and taken to see the highlights of the museum.
The first section of the Museum told the story of the first people to sail the South Pacific. Recent studies of both archaeological and DNA have confirmed that the people came from Southeast Asia some 5000 to 6000 years ago. The last major land area to be found and settled was New Zealand around 1300 AD.
Our guide made a concerted effort to emphasize that these early navigators had an extensive knowledge of the natural world that they passed down through generations without a written language.
They understood the skies, the swells in the ocean, the changing clouds on the horizon and so much more. They developed navigation instruments that corresponded to the stars that gave them the ability to travel into the unknown and when they found habitable areas they could travel back to the starting place and tell others.
The story of the Europeans who came to this part of the world was much like many other places like Africa and Asia and the Americas. Europeans ventured forth with the goal of creating a profit. The East India trading company is a prime example.
Another section of the museum was the recent progress in sailing competitive yachts. There was a 49 minute documentary film of the crew of the ENZA New Zealand catamaran that won the Jules Vern Prize for the race around the world by sailing. It was pretty amazing to watch. Here is a link to a YouTube video from BBC. https://youtu.be/CUYEjJ8pHGk?feature=shared
Then there was the section about the exploring the oceans at the bottom of the world. Roland Amundsen lead the first crew to reach the South Pole. Ernest Shackleton “In 1914, Shackleton made his third trip to the Antarctic with the ship ‘Endurance’, planning to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. Early in 1915, ‘Endurance’ became trapped in the ice, and ten months later sank. Shackleton’s crew had already abandoned the ship to live on the floating ice. In April 1916, they set off in three small boats, eventually reaching Elephant Island. Taking five crew members, Shackleton went to find help. In a small boat, the six men spent 16 days crossing 1,300 km of ocean to reach South Georgia and then trekked across the island to a whaling station. The remaining men from the ‘Endurance’ were rescued in August 1916. Not one member of the expedition died.”
The walk from the museum back to the hotel had a bit of a surprise. You remember that gentle sloping hill we walked down? I do not know how they did it but somehow they transported Baldwin street from Dunedin the world’s steepest street to Auckland. Perhaps it just felt that way.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was tucked into a small food court in an old warehouse. The pasta was good and familiar.
Tomorrow is Hobbiton.
Our guide at the Maritime MuseumThe question is WHY would you try to attract sharks to your canoe?the marina parking for the Maritime MuseumThe stick chart was used to instill in the navigator the knowledge of where the stars were.chainArtistShe took this pictureAnd transformed them into this artand this artThe smallest ship model we saw. I am amazed at the concentration it took to accomplish this art.HMS Bounty Anchor
. So I will take the win.
Traveling with Ray Owens 