Dunedin, New Zealand

October 28th

Today we joined the tours with Des Harris of Indigenous Trails.  Joyce Caballero worked very hard arranging these tours that will cover all 4 ports in New Zealand.

Our tour started with a drive thru of Dunedin.  Dunedin is located in the southeast of the South Island on the Otago Peninsula.  Originally a Maoris settlement, Dunedin was first discovered by European whalers in the early 1800s.  By 1848 a group of Scots settled in Dunedin to escape religious persecution.  The city was laid out to resemble Edinburgh.  In fact, Dunedin is the Gaelic work for Edinburgh. Our first stop was Baldwin Street which is said to be the “World’s Steepest Street”.  Delia climbed all the way to the top and was back down within 10 minutes!!!!  We stopped for a coffee near the train station.  Bobbie and Jack were taking a Taieri Gorge train excursion that started at the train station.

   

 

We then headed out on the Otago Peninsula to the Royal Albatross Center.  We saw many sea birds but unfortunately no albatross.  This is their nesting season and since the winds were fairly calm, there were none flying.  Apparently, they use wind currents to fly.  The scenery was beautiful and worth seeing even without the albatross.

After a good lunch, we headed to Penguin Place to see the Yellow-eyed penguins.  These penguins are very rare.  Apparently, there are only about 4000 worldwide and about 1000 of them are on the Otago Peninsula.  After seeing the thousands of penguins in South America, this was a different experience.  We were able to view a few of the yellow penguins sitting on their nests but there were none of them walking around.  Still, it was a really neat place to visit.

 

Our last stop of the day was at the Cadbury Chocolate factory.  obviously, I really enjoyed this!!!!! Cadbury has always been one of my favorite candies…it was fun to see how the chocolate was made.  Please note how “stylish” Rich and Delia look!!!!  Went back to the ship with enough chocolate to last the whole cruise.

 

All in all, we had a very nice day and we are looking forward to the rest of the tours in New Zealand.

**********News Flash*********8PM.  The Captain just announced that due to heavy winds, the Star Princess will not be able to leave the dock.  The winds are are not forecast to decrease until early AM.  The Caption stated that it would not be safe to try to navigate the narrow channel.  This will mean that we will miss the port of Christchurch that was scheduled for tomorrow.

 

October 29th

SEA DAY…for all my Mah Jongg friends…I have found games.  Looks like I could play twice a day on sea days.  I played this AM..got a jokerless hand by myself!!!!  In all, won $2.75.  Will probably loose it all this afternoon.  I am trying to convince Bobbie to play.  Really haven’t seen too much of her and Jack…guess they are busy doing their own thing.  They had changed their dining time so we miss them at dinner, also.  Hopefully, when we get to the Pacific Islands we will see more of them.

Cruising Fjordland National Park

October 27th

*****A note on last night’s Formal night…Charlie’s tux pants fell down on the way to the show.  He hadn’t even had anything to drink!!!!  Guess he will wear his suspenders from  now on*******

This morning we crossed the Tasman Sea and approached the western coast of South Island, New Zealand.  We will commence our day cruising Fjordland by first entering Milford Sound.  This is one of the most accessible of the glacier carved fjords which scatter the coastline.  Milford Sound boasts some of the most beautiful natural scenery to be found in the area. Mountain peaks and waterfalls cascading over granite cliffs dot to landscape.

  This morning lived up to all of our expectations.  The scenery was spectacular.  It was pretty cold out on deck but we were dressed for it.

                                                                                       

After cruising Milford Sound, Delia and I headed  to the laundermat to do a little wash.  Bobbie also joined us so that was a pretty busy place. Not exactly a place to spend your vacation but sent I am basically a very “frugal” person this is a place for me.

We then proceeded along the shore coast of Fjordlands National Park and entered Thompson Sound. The Fjord leads to the deepest inlet within the area, where ancient untouched rain forests are testimony to the grandeur of such a place.  We cruised this Fjord for about 20 nautical miles before leaving it thru Dusky Sound.

 

We are now on our way around the the southern tip of New Zealand heading toward our first port of Dunedin.

Pre-cruise in Sydney

  October 21st

Today we toured on the Hop on/off Bus.  The first route we took was to Bondi Beach. 

The views were spectacular.  We sat on the upper level and the sun was pretty hot.

 

We then took the HOHO bus that toured the main sites of Downtown Sydney.  Sydney is really just a big city without much history.  The Sydney Opera House was really something to see as was the Harbour Bridge…Bobbie and Jack climbed the bridge !!!! They are a lot more adventurous than I am…..

 

October 22nd

Today we took a tour to the Featherdale Wildlife Park and the Blue Mountains with Delia and Rich.  This was the day of the bridge climb for Bobbie and Jack.  We really enjoyed the wildlife park.  We all wished that we could have stayed there longer.  The kaolas and the kangeroos were so cute.

It was then on to the Blue Mountains.  The views were spectacular…but when you live in the Smokies , it is really hard to say they were better.  I love the Smokies and I don’t think anything can compare.

October 23rd

Today we took the ferry to Manly.  This was really a very nice day.  The ferry ride was very enjoyable.  The day was warm but there was a nice breeze.

We all enjoyed our stay in Sydney but it really wasn’t what I had thought of when I “dreamed” of visiting Australia.  I think to really experience Australia you really need to get out of the city.  Maybe I was just jet lagged but I am looking forward to getting on the ship tomorrow.  Hopefully, some day, I can return to Australia and see more of the country.

October 24th

Today we board the Star Princess to start our 30 day adventure back to LA.  I had arranged transfer to the cruise terminal for 10 people.  The van arrived to transport us without a luggage trailer.  This proved to be very interesting!!!!  I really can’t believe we made it.  We were packed in like sardines….

Check in was slow but we made it.  Below are views from our balcony.

We have 2 sea days and then we cruise the Fjordlands of New Zealand and then the next day will be our first New Zealand port of Dunedin.

 

I am writing this blog in hopes that I will be able to upload it when I get connected to the internet early tomorrow.  If not, this will be a very short lived blog as the internet is very expensive and I must be able to write off line and upload.

We're here

We left Knoxville on October 18th. Susie drove us to the airport for our 11:30 flight. Each and every one of our flights was completely full.....felt like canned sardines..all packed in. Met up with Rich & Delia and Bobbie & Jack at LAX. That is probably my least favorite airport of all times. Flights went surprisingly well. Air New Zealand was very good especially for the $460/person we all paid..what a bargain!!! And another blessing...all the luggage for 10 people made it here!!

We arrived at our hotel (Rdyges World Square) at around noon. Luckly, our room was ready but the rest of the group had to wait. We picked up 2 other couples for the transport from the airport. Susan and Norb Doll and Marina and Chuck Stewart. We walked around a little and just relaxed. Weather was warmer than I expected..probably in the mid 70's. Went to the hotel "Executive lounge" for drinks and snacks. With prices as the are in Sydney..this will probably be our dinner most nights.

Today, we hope to possibly pick up a Blue Mountain tour that Marina and Chuck have booked otherwise, we will probably do a hop-on-off bus to see Sydney.

For all my worries about flying and wearing the compression garmets, I made it thru the flights with flying colors!!! Now the plan if to sit back and really enjoy this cruise that I feel is truly a gift I did not expect to be able to do. Thanks for all your prayers and for the man up stairs!!!!!

Preparing is not easy

This has been a very busy few weeks. Think things are pretty much ready. Still have my list of calls to make to credit cards and to stop the mail and paper. Still got a few medical visits this week but I'm good to go!!! Pick up my compression sleeves on Tuesday to wear on the plane. At least I got colorful ones...they are plum!!!!Am not looking forward to these flights. Just found out that the carry on weight is 15lb....thanks Bobbie!!!! Guess we will be taking 4 check thru. Suitcases are out..one is packed....three to go