Our departure from Tasmania took us across the Tasman Sea which apparently is quite notorious for being rocky. It could have been much worse, and was less rough than the day we rounded the northeast coast of Tasmania from Melbourne. If you look at our itinerary, you will note that the New Zealand segment of our trip is by far the busiest as it is the only time of the trip that we have seven consecutive days with ports plus our busy day of scenic cruising of Fiordland National Park, New Zealand’s largest national park. (For those of you who have traveled to Norway, they spell it with a “j” and New Zealand spells with an “i”.)
Nearly everyone was up bright and early on November 9 as we were scheduled to sail into the first sound (fiord), at about 7 AM. The bow was open for people to watch us sail through and the port lecturer explained where we were and what to notice. We made no stops in Fiordland, but a number of guests transferred to a boat for an overland trip to Dunedin. Once they disembarked the ms Amsterdam, the ship turned around and retraced its path out of the Milford Sound. Milford Sound is in far southwestern New Zealand, so we had come back out and travel around the bottom of the south island of New Zealand before beginning our voyage up east coast. We were fortunate in that the sky was blue which we understand is a relative rarity. The area experiences rain between 180 and 200 hundred days with rain per year. However this day was not one of the rainy days. We lucked out again!
For those of you have not been fortunate to travel in any fiords, they are characterized by steep mountains dropping into the sea and are noted for their magnificent scenery when weather cooperates. As we sailed, we could note mountains behind mountains which gave different shadings of blues, purples, greens, and browns depending on how close they were to us and what the topography was. Many waterfalls cascaded down into the fiord, some with strong force and others with a trickle. Sometimes one could see waterfalls start at the top of the mountain, then disappear behind shrubbery and trees and then reappear as it reached the water. Other times, the falls themselves dropped straight down into the fiord. The rush of the falls was dependent on snowmelt and quantity of rain. I spoke to one English lady who told me as we watched the fantastic natural beauty with the background of sunshine and blue sky, that her sister had been there a few years ago and had seen nothing because it was rainy and foggy. We were most fortunate!
Now we have visited three of the four major fiords in the world. In addition to New Zealand’s, we have seen Alaska’s and Norway’s. The only one we have not seen to be able to compare is Chile’s. Gratefully, we have seen all three fiords in sunshine. Every one is beautiful but they do have some differences. Alaska’s have the added bonus of the glaciers and glacial scenery with the calving of ice into the water. The mountains of Norway are sheer drops into the fjord and many are quite narrow so that one feels that they could reach out and touch each side. New Zealand’s are wider and the ship doesn’t come as close to the shore and gives a wider sweep of panorama. (It’s somewhat similar to how I would compare the American and Canadian Rockies. In the American Rockies, as in Glacier National Park in Montana, one climbs steep mountains with frequent hairpin turns. In the Canadian Rockies, one drives the highway, observing the mountain scenery from a greater distance.)
After moving back into the sea for a few hours, we headed back into the Thompson Sound and exited through the Doubtful Sound. Later in the day, we went through the Dusky Sound for a couple hours. While the day was filled with beautiful sunshine, it grew very windy. At one point, I found myself on a vantage point above the bow off the sixth deck. Barb had been there but wisely went back inside. I remained to take a few more pictures off the port side. A lady had gone to the same area and suddenly the wind grew ferocious and gale-like. Unfortunately the door to the inside there said “staff only”, so we had to go in the public door on the starboard side. Both of us grabbed the handrails and bucked the high wind. At one point, my glasses nearly flew off, so I had to take them off and hold them as I groped my way along. She started down a staircase on the port side but a man was coming up and told us we couldn’t get inside there either. Another man appeared too and when the lady had a hard time fighting the wind to get back to the 6th deck, she was assisted by the two men who were ahead of me. By clinging for dear life on the hand rail, we made our way against the wind to the door to the inside. By the time I got there, the lady was fighting in vain to open the inner door to the ship corridor. One of the men said, “It’s going to be crowded, but let’s all get in between the two doors, close the outer door, and then we will be able to open the inner door.” That accomplished, we all came inside, agreeing it was one of the strongest winds we had ever had to walk in.
As we exited the Fiordland National Park, we counted ourselves thrilled and fortunate for the sights we had seen. The cruise director told us that several people had told him that they did this cruise specifically because the park was on the itinerary.
Tuesday, November 10, according to our daily program, should be clear with a high of 51 degrees. However when we opened our curtains as we sailed into Dunedin, the skies were heavily overcast. Well, we figured, the skies will probably clear. But we donned the warm clothes we had had the foresight to bring knowing that southern New Zealand was the farthest south we would be on our journey and that it might be quite cool. In addition, we are guessing that it might be cool in Chicago when we get home on December 2! So, wearing a flannel shirt, sweatshirt, cords, a jacket, we set off on our shore excursion for the day. I was so proud of myself for bringing a pair of stretchable gloves that certainly came in handy. Dunedin is a city several miles from our docking location and we were in a working port. Lots of lumber was stacked along the port and heavy equipment was making piles of wood chips. The lumber was destined for a paper mill.
We immediately boarded a small boat for a scenic cruise to try to observe the bird and sea life of the Otago Peninsula. Among the more common and ever present gulls, we were watching for albatross some of whom have wingspans of 10 feet. The naturalist explained the seas were not as rocky as albatross like as they like to soar and glide with the wind. However all of a sudden she exclaimed, “There is an albatross coming toward us.” We snapped pictures and even those of us who are not birders could quickly note the huge bird flying with the smaller ones. Then, later, she pointed one out near a lighthouse and again we were pleased with the opportunity to have a rare view for us who don’t live in “albatross country.”
After the two hour cruise, we boarded a bus for a trip to the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre which is a working research center. We visited their small aquarium and saw several species of fish and sea creatures including live lobster-size crayfish, squid, and even some seahorses. Did you know that the male seahorse carries out the reproductive responsibilities? We then boarded some cramped 8x8-wheel vehicles for an overland adventure. Six of us per vehicle plus the driver, rocked and rolled over the bumpy roads to see a gray seal habitat with several seal pups. That was followed by a stop to see some rare yellow-eyed penguins. They were so rare, that we had to look along the shoreline and saw one sitting on a hill and by noting the penguin and aiming the camera, we could take a picture of the lone penguin from the distance. Back in our vehicle we rocked and rolled back to the headquarters for some lunch. Leaving there on the bus, we headed to Dunedin under sunny skies. We had experienced some relatively strong rain at the seal habitat, so were glad when the sunny skies appeared in the afternoon. The terrain was dotted with hills and sheep. We have heard estimates that New Zealand has anywhere from 35 to 70 million sheep which reminded us of Wales and Scotland.
When we returned to Dunedin, which by the way was named for Edinburgh, Scotland, our guide gave us a brief tour of that city. Our tour included various city sites with a quick photo stop at the architecturally interesting railroad station which had an ornate tile floor in the waiting room. He also showed us what Guinness Book of World Records verifies as the steepest residential street at 19 degrees.
Chuck
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