20170130: Back to the Past- The Long Trip Home

Monday, January 30, 2017 Back to the Past

Presumably, because it was Sunday, the annoying nightclub next door was silent, and we had a gloriously peaceful night.You could have slept with the balcony sliding door open, but Janet was having chills as it was with her cold, so we just enjoyed our last night in Auckland. We had leftover Chinese food (Hong Kong styled chow mein with soft noodles and chicken, and Beef Hor Fun-thick rice noodles) for brunch and used up our loaf of bread to make peanut butter and Vegemite, and peanut butter and sugar sandwiches for our airport waits. The take out containers were nice plastic reusable ones, so we had crush resistant containers for our sandwiches.

We had stopped by the nearby taxi stands (just at the corner of the block) and asked about cab fares to the airport, and most cabbies guessed about $50 NZD, depending on the time of day and traffic. There is an airport shuttle bus that runs up Queen street that takes about an hour and is $16 NZD per person, but we decided to take a cab to eliminate any uncertainties, and for the convenience of being dropped off at the check in counter with our suitcases. Our flight was departing in the afternoon, so we had a leisurely check out and then rolled our bags to the taxi stand. Our cab was a Prius, driven by a Sikh, whose command of English was marginal, but he was friendly and helpful. It was a glorious sunny day with temperatures in the 70's. His Prius's trunk was too small for our 4 suitcases, so 3 went in the trunk, one behind the driver in a back seat and Ben sat shotgun with Janet in the back. His cab was clearly a Japanese version of the Prius with only Japanese characters and a very busy LCD display on the dash showing power flowing back and forth between the gas motor, batteries, wheels and such. 

Too much information, if you ask me. We seemed to have pretty smooth sailing to the airport, which took about 30 minutes, but the fare was $80 NZD. That's about $50 US so we don't know if we got taken for a ride on that one, but it didn't seem like it. We later found out that Jack and Sharon figured out a way to use a coupon for a discount cab at half that amount when they left two days earlier.

We had to wait 90 minutes for the American Airlines counter to open, but snuck into the cue and used their kiosks to print out our luggage tags. We were first in line when the agents showed up. They don't have dedicated counter space at Auckland Airport. All the airlines share the facilities, and there are overhead Monitors that indicate what airline is using what counter space at the time. This was the case in Iceland as well.

There was no TSA pre-check cue, but security was a breeze in Auckland Airport, which was modern and comfortable. The TSA pre-check allowed us to keep our shoes on, so that was a benefit. They had a decent food court and lots of shops beyond the security check point. It was very much like Sea-Tac. There are lots of American fast food places in Auckland including Burger King, Carl Jr's, Wendy's, McDonalds, Subway and KFC. There are also lots of hole-in- the-wall shops that sell kabobs and fried chicken- a seemingly odd but common combination.

Our return flight to the US was on an American Airlines 787 Dreamliner. We had booked economy plus for our return trip, which provided about 4" more legroom. What that allowed was greater ease in getting into an out of your seats, but in the future, if we fly a 787 transoceanic, we'll probably save the extra fare and go economy since once you were seated, the experience was essentially the same. One difference was that in economy, you had bathrooms both forward, and behind the seating area, so that if service carts were in the isles, you could still get up and use a bathroom. In economy plus, first class was forward, and the only bathrooms were behind, so you had to time trips to the bathroom to when the service carts were back in economy. Also, the paper towels that they had on United Airlines were so soft and cheap, they would not come out of the towel dispenser if your fingers were wet. They would just disintegrate into bits as you tried to get a sheet out. This made a mess out of the United bathrooms. On American, they had much more sturdy paper towels that worked so much better.

Somehow, flying back into time into yesterday seemed easier than flying forward in time across the international date line. The flight was a few hour shorter, presumably because of the jet stream. Ben watched 13 Hrs (Benghazi movie) and all three of the Hobbit movies, and only took a couple of short naps between the movies, while Janet was awake for most of the flight, having been loaded up with Sudafed and Diet Coke. She spent hours playing Plants vs Zombies on the seat back entertainment systems, a game that she had plenty of iPad experience on before she uninstalled it because it was eating up too much of her time at home.

Flying into LAX seemed like we landed 20 years in the past because the airport was dingy, crowded, and poorly designed. We had to claim our luggage to clear customs. We seemed to glide past huge lines with the Global Entry status associated with our Nexus card membership. We had to have our fingerprints and pictures taken at automated kiosks, but didn't have to present our luggage to an agent for inspections. No radiation detection alerts either. The luggage hall was huge, and it took a long time for our bags to show up. Once we got our bags, we had to go through another customs check point, bypassing more lines with Global Entry, and then we had to drop off our bags to be rechecked onto our continuing flight from LAX to SEA.

We then had to exit the sterile area, and then clear security again. LAX's security check point had no TSA pre-check line. It was severely backed up, and highly inefficient. It was a good thing we had a 4 hour lay over before our Seattle flight. There were a lot of very stressed out passengers trying to make connecting flights. There were only 2 X-ray machines and one body scanner for hundreds of people in line, and no automated basket returns. Sea-Tac's security check points are vastly superior in technology and efficiency.

The terminals past security were bleak, with just a few overpriced vendors available to buy any food. The bathrooms had very narrow entries, allowing only one way traffic either in or out if people were dragging bags behind them. LAX is very sadly in need of a major remodeling. There terminals were very crowded and there didn't seem to be adequate seating. Our actual terminal was in a satellite that required a bus ride out across the tarmac, dodging taxing

airplanes, airport maintenance and operations vehicles, and other buses. That terminal had no services other than a premium American Airlines lounge for members only. There was no wifi or food vendors, but they did have bathrooms in the satellite. We spent most of our wait in the main terminal after staff at the bus transfer door warned us that there were no services out at the satellite.

The flight to Seattle was mercifully short, and we had booked economy plus for this leg of the trip as well. The tiny plane we flew (Embraer 175) would have made regular economy uncomfortable, so we got our money's worth out of this upgrade, even for a relatively short flight. Ben got a great view of the Central Valley, and the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges as we flew north out of his port side window, until we got north of Crater lake and then got into dense clouds for the rest of the trip. 

There were no views of St Helens through the dense clouds, and we didn't see Mt. Rainier until we were on final descent into Sea-Tac, when you could see the base of the mountain through the starboard windows. The mountain top was in the clouds.

We were happy to disembark into our familiar Sea-Tac terminals, and know we were nearly home. The Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle pick up was 90 minutes away, so Ben walked to the Jack in the Box on Pacific Highway south of the airport, 0.5 miles from the shuttle pick up area, to get dinner. It was cool, but pleasant outside, and if felt good to stretch out the legs and get some exercise. It was then nice to be able to sleep on the shuttle bus for the drive back to Whidbey.

When we got off the shuttle, and into our Volvo, Janet pulled out of the parking lot and Ben noticed she was driving on the LEFT side of the road. When he pointed that out, she laughed and said she was just testing. Price had stayed up and greeted us at home, which was nice. It'll take a few days to get back into the rhythm of things back at home.

We had a very enjoyable holiday, despite the flies along the Great Ocean Road, medical evacuation and shortened fiord cruise, bad weather in Dunedin and missed Akaroa port of call. We had a "Brilliant" time in Wellington, Tauranga, and Auckland, to use the local expression, and had thoroughly enjoyed our Melbourne pre-trip stay. Ironically, we didn't see a kangaroo, or kiwi (for certain in the pitch darkness) during our trip, but we had some great adventures. We had fun doing the trivia games with Jack and Sharon- something we never did on our prior cruises, and we'll miss our afternoon Princess teas.

20170129: Auckland Celebrates its Birthday

Sunday, January 29, 2017 Auckland Celebrates its Birthday

By some fortuitous circumstance, we happened to book our Auckland extension to include the weekend that Auckland celebrates its birthday. The waterfront was abuzz with activity. From our balcony, I saw a RIB(Rigid hull Inflatable Boat) towing what looked like 3 tiny wooden boats behind it into the harbor. There were shipping containers and canopies set up all over the open wharf. There were also several jumbotrons set up. Our plan for the day was simply to finish the city walk tour in the National Geographic guidebook.

Janet was hacking and not feeling well, but after dosing her up with guaifenesin, dextromethorphan, Aleve and Tylenol, she felt well enough to venture out of the apartment. We had a beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70's.

I failed to mention one major problem we ran into with our hotel, and that is that it is located next to a nightclub with an open air roof that blasts Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Rap and techno at 65dB as measured from our balcony. What is hard to understand is this nightclub is allowed to blast that music into the air, echoing off all the surrounding buildings, which are hotels, condos and apartments, until 4:30am every night. That explains the earplugs that we found on our night stands when we first arrived. This would be a perfect set up if you were a Vampire in Auckland, and habitually party from 9pm until 5am. Then you can sleep from 5am to 8pm with no disturbances. However, if you are not a vampire, I would not recommend staying in this hotel unless you are hard of hearing and can take your hearing aids out, and not hear a thing. The music didn't bother Janet at all, but there was no way you could sleep without ear plugs if you had normal hearing.

We had tea, coffee and toast with peanut butter and Vegemite for breakfast, and then walked down Queen street to start our tour. We went to the cruise ship terminal to bum off their Wifi. It turns out our hotel only gives you 1 day of free access, and then you have to sign up with their ISP and pay for any further access. Another reason not to recommend the Quest on Queen. Normally, only cruise ship passengers are allowed in the cruise ship terminal, but a Holland America ship had pulled in overnight, and we just blended in with the Holland America crowd. We had no trouble slipping in through a side door into the lounge area, where we were able to upload pictures and download our emails.

We then started walking through the booths and exhibits on the wharf, and found a ton of free stuff to do. Ben got to try his skill at driving both a container ship loading crane, and straddle loader in simulators for these machines. 

The supervising operator said Ben was a natural. The crane was more straight forward because it is an X-Y-Z operation and we were just picking up a shipping container, lifting it, moving it out over the ship, then back over the dock, and lowering it. You do have to worry about inducing a pendulum swing in the shipping container because of all the mass and inertia involved, but slow and steady gets the job done. The straddle loader, however, was a different story. The operator sits at a right angle to the axis of the loader's movements, so you look to your left to move forward, and look to your right to move backwards. The steering wheels are on the right, so when you move forwards, the steering is reversed, like driving a car in reverse. It took a little bit to adjust, but Ben did manage not to crash into stacks of containers or plunge off the wharf. The crane operator sits over 100' in the air, so judging vertical height is a challenge, while the straddle loader operator is about 40' up, and the cab sways a bit when you accelerate and brake. NZ now has ~40% female stevedores with the mechanical changes to loading and unloading cargo. Job requirements include having a driver's license and not being afraid of heights.

The Port was sponsoring helicopter rides around the harbor, so we were able to take an 8 minute flight for only $50 each. 

Normally, it would be twice that amount. It was a brief but thrilling ride out over the harbor and then circling around the Auckland bridge, flying around the Sky Tower, Port container ship and Auto carrier operations, and then back to the wharf. As we approached, the landing zone looked awfully small but the pilot put it down on a dime.

The Auckland Boy Scouts had set up the wooden boats that Ben had spotted being towed into the harbor, to teach people to row in teams on the water at the head of the wharf. It looked like a good recruiting tool.

There were free harbor cruises and bus tours that we took as well. Each explained Port operations, and while we were there, a huge auto carrier was unloading 8000 vehicles ranging from giant Catepillar Earthmovers to Toyotas. There was also a pair of container ships that the guide said you could tell were headed to Wellington because both ships were equipped with their own cranes that had to be rotated out of the way for the Port's container cranes to operate. 

The recent earthquakes in Wellington had knocked their cranes out of commission, so containers had to be manually unloaded by smaller ships with cranes designed for use in smaller ports without container ship cranes. There were straddle loaders zipping around like giant prehistoric long legged creatures that our tour bus was dodging. The harbor cruise was in a large catamaran that could hold 500 passengers. It was quite roomy, and we had no trouble finding comfortable seats. They highlighted the port operations, and as we toured the waterfront, one large container ship was arriving, one was leaving, and harbor security boats were buzzing around because of heighten security and all the helicopter operations. In addition to the helicopter rides, a rescue helicopter was also doing demonstrations. Amidst all the chaos we passed an 18' fishing boat with a family out jigging for dinner. When we cruised slowly around the container ship operations from the water, we saw someone on shore hook into and land a skate. They popped it into a cooler. The Maori apparently aren't as picky about what they keep as we might be.

We worked our way along the waterfront and saw several historic buildings on the National Geographic guidebook's recommended route and also saw several Wakas, or Maori war canoes. You could learn how to paddle and go out on one if you wanted to. At that point, we were hot, and tired, so we were happy to watch other people get yelled at by fierce looking Maori instructors as they learned how to paddle in sync. The Boy Scouts were probably much less intimidating than these Maori instructors. We also enjoyed watching people jumping off these enormous sea stairs that we saw from the Sky Tower the prior day. 

From the top of the steps, it was a 20' drop into the water, but the kids would start at the lower stairs, and they try to work up the courage to go higher and higher. A few made the maximum 20' drop, and boy, did they make a huge splash. Some of those kids were built like Samoans. We ended up circling back to our hotel, completing the guide book tour, and ended up at the Burger King across the street from our hotel to rehydrate and use their wifi. We were welcomed to find real Heinz ketchup packets in the bag with our French fries, but the Coca Cola tasted weird, like it had a hint of cloves, not unlike the weird tomato sauce that we had to buy at Lake Rotorua to go with our chips (French fries) there. Burger King appears to have the cheapest food in Auckland because you can get a burger, fries, drink and sundae for $5 AUD, which is less than $4 US. The next cheapest lunches we ever saw in Auckland were $10-11 per person. We returned to the hotel so that Janet could nap and recover.

During our bus port tour, we passed a large Countdown supermarket on the waterfront, so Ben went to see about buying some Tim Tams, which are "Biscuits" with two crunchy wafers held together with and dipped in chocolate that are quintessential Australian and New Zealand favorites, just like Vegemite. The Aussies and Kiwis on the ship raved about them, and complained there were none on board.

As he walked along the waterfront, Ben did find a Chinese restaurant tucked in behind a fence in an alley. It was an odd location, but there were a lot of Chinese people in there and the menu sandwich board out front had no English on it- just a bunch of Chinese detailing Chinese New Years banquet options. Their take out menu had both Xiao-Long Bao and noodles, so Ben got some take out for dinner. The supermarket was huge, and he did find Tim Tams to bring home. Oddly, as Ben was checking out at the supermarket, the man ahead of him in line bought two single cans of Heineken beer. This guy was obviously into his mid 50's but the clerk had to call and have a store manager approve the purchase. That caused a bit of a delay. I'm sure the Aussies would have never bothered to card someone at a bar, let alone require a store supervisor to approve all alcohol purchases made in a large supermarket.

Janet woke from her nap recovered to some degree, and redosing medications helped get her up and running. We could see the Jumbotrons on the wharf from our balcony, and hear that the Auckland Symphony and Choir were performing. You could hear the music blasting from the speakers on the wharf, although not quite as loudly as it had be blasting from the nightclub next door every night. The concert was scheduled to run from 6-10pm, and it was about 6:30 when Ben got back with Chinese Take out and Tim Tams. We had a nice dinner in the apartment, got dressed and walked down to the wharf to get a closer look and listen of the concert. The wharf was full of people. 

Some had brought blankets and folding chairs to sit on, while every horizontal surface (benches, chairs, bollards, and concrete blocks) were covered with people, but for the most part, the crowd was very civil. It was like a Boston Pops concert. The climax of the concert included a laser light show accentuated by a fog screen generated by a Kiwi naval vessel tied up at the dock, and fireworks to John Williams' Star Wars music. 

The Kiwis and Aussies are both very big into John Williams, Indiana Jones and Star Wars. It was a great send off for us. The Aussies threw a huge deck party on our last night on the Golden Princess, and the Kiwi's threw a huge party on the waterfront for us on our last night in Auckland. You could get used to this kind of treatment. And the ultimate icing on the cake was that the annoying nightclub next door was closed, perhaps for Sunday or for the Auckland day celebrations, so our last night in Auckland was without the annoying ruckus and earplugs. Ahhhhh.

20170128: Waitomo Glow Worm Caves and Hobbiton

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Waitomo Glow Worm Caves & Hobbiton

We had to get up early for our pickup at the curb in front of our hotel for an excursion booked through Viator to see the Waitomo Glow Worms Caves and Hobbiton. The tour operator was called Head-First Travel, and they picked us up in a 12 passenger Toyota van that was already loaded with 9 passengers. Janet got to ride shotgun, while Ben rode in back with 5 Korean and two South American women. The driver was a Maori woman, and she made it a point to let Ben know he was the sole male in the van.

It was a 2-1/2 hr drive to get to the Waitomo Glow Worm caves from Auckland. It doesn't seem like that takes as long to get from Sea-Tac to Whidbey Island, but it does. Much of what we drove through was hills covered with sheep and cattle.

Glow worms are actually larval flies with an interesting biology. The female lays clutches of 20-50 eggs on the ceiling of dark caves, though which rivers flow. The first larva to hatch starts its life off by eating its brothers and sisters. It then fishes from the ceiling of the cave by dangling long snares of silk coated with sticky saliva, using bioluminescence within its body to act as bait. Insects that are swept into the caves with the river water fly up to the tiny spots of light, which in a pitch black cave, look like a starry sky filled with millions of stars. These insects get caught in the threads, and are reeled up and eaten, kind of like cave jellyfish. It takes 6-12 months for them to mature into flies. The adult flies have no digestive system, and live for just a day or two with the singular mission of mating and laying more eggs to start the cycle over.

We visited 3 caves. The first was the Waitomo Glow Worm cave. This cave is a limestone cave with typical limestone formations, and a slow running river flows through it. They take you into the darkness, and then load people up on boats. The guides then pull the boats through a pitch black grotto using a network of ropes to reveal what looks like a sky filled with millions of stars. The stalagmites and other anomalies in the cave ceilings create dark areas between stars, so it looks like you are looking through a tree canopy at a star filled sky. It is pretty amazing to see, and it's hard to believe what you are seeing. It can easily be described as magical. The first person to have floated into these caves and saw we were seeing must have been truly flabbergasted. You aren't allowed to take any photos or videos in the Waitomo cave, but when you start your tour, they take a picture of you in front of a green screen, and are happy to sell you a booklet with you photoshopped into pictures of the caves for $35. We'll just keep those memories in our heads.

The second cave was the Ruakari cave. This cave has a river rushing though it, and it is most noted for what they call Blackwater adventures, where they put people in wetsuits, and then they go through the caves on inner tubes, or boogie boards, with hard hats and headlamps. One of the guides explained that participants are taken to an open part of the river where they have to practice the technique of plunging blindly, rear-end first into the river with their inner tubes. Once they are proficient, they take them to the start of the cave, lead them down to the river, shut off the lights, and make everyone take that plunge of faith in absolute darkness into the river. As exciting as that sounds, we chose to do a more pedestrian and drier foot tour. This cave tour was a nice compliment to the Waitomo cave because it did allow photography and had similar limestone cave features, including glow worms. We did get to see the glow worms up close when the guide shined a flashlight so you could clearly see the threads that they use to capture their prey. Seeing the actual worms was trickier, but they seem to suspend themselves from the cave ceiling in a hammock, and look like smooth worms about 2cm in length. When she turns off the flashlight, you can see them bioluminescence originates from somewhere in the middle of the body. They don't look the least bit scary, but they are nearly impossible to get a good photograph of using just an iPhone camera. Seeing them against the background of the limestone is like spotting Waldo. There were several areas where you could see the blackwater adventurers passing below in the river. Surprisingly, the 5 Korean women in our van had signed up for the Blackwater adventure. During the entire drive out, they either slept, or were putting on makeup and taking selfies of each other. After the adventure, the were right back to sleeping and putting on make-up in the van.

The third cave was the Aranui cave, supposedly discovered when a Maori hunter's dog chased a large pig into a hole in the ground. This cave is supposedly larger but of the 3 caves we saw, we would skip this one because you had to climb up at least 400ft in altitude along a steep path and then stairs to get to the entrance. This cave is a dry cave, so there are no glow worms, but it does have giant cricket-like bugs called wetas near the entrance to creep you out. This cave also had lots of stairs going up and down. It was truly amazing how the Waitomo and Ruakuri caves were so well developed with walkways, LED lighting and handrails. They were nearly ADA accessible except that if your scooter battery died in there, you'd really be in trouble, and you had to climb into a boat in darkness to see the glow worm grotto in the Waitomo cave. By the time we got the Aranui cave, we were pretty much "Caved out". So we would recommend future travelers to see the Waitomo and Raukuri caves, but skip the Aranui.

We had booked the 3 cave tour package through Viator, and while the tour operator also offered options to see Rotorua and Hobbiton, we were not interested in touring a movie set. However, they pretty much force you to see it because it is a part of any tour package you can buy. 

Seeing the Shire, and tiny hobbit houses was cute, but it's beyond me how they are going to be able to keep pumping tourists through this site for much longer, unless Peter Jackson comes up with an ongoing string of Hobbit and Lord of the Rings derivatives. It was impressive how they had a continuous string of huge Hobbiton tour buses going in and out of a very busy visitor center. 

They do take care to maintain the Shire in a pristine state with fresh hobbit clothes on the clothes lines, and meticulously maintained gardens and lawns. We did get to visit the Green Dragon pub at the end of the tour and enjoyed a beer. Janet even got to have a taste of "Ginger Beer", which turned out to be "Ginger Ale". She finished off with a stout, while I enjoyed an IPA.

The drive back was just as long as the drive out, but much of it was on motorways with the same countryside, so we got a bit of sleep, except perhaps for Janet, who rode shotgun he whole way. Our driver drove like a true Maori warrior, tailgating, speeding, and passing on curves. We were periodically awakened by a sudden slamming on of the brakes. It must have been killing Janet the whole time to not be shouting at the driver. Because they drive on the left, Janet also was quite sure we'd be killed by all these people on the wrong side of the road every time we went through an intersection. This reinforced the wisdom of us booking a guided tour, instead of driving a rental car.

It seems Janet has come down with the cold that Jack and Sharon picked up, so as soon as we got back to the hotel, she showered and crawled into bed. We have another full day in Auckland with nothing planned so far tomorrow. Then we fly out on the 30th to travel back in time to arrive in the US nearly the same time we leave New Zealand.

20170127: Disembarkation, Auckland

Friday, January 27, 2017 Disembarkation, Auckland

We awoke to find ourselves tied up at Auckland's cruise ship pier. The waterfront is thoroughly modern and developed. We could see the Auckland Hilton on the neighboring pier. We decided to walk off the ship with all our bags, so there were no delays with finding and claiming them ashore. Auckland's cruise terminal and downtown are pretty pedestrian friendly. We were easily able to walk straight up Queen street from the cruise ship terminal to our hotel. We walked right past the entrance and realized we'd missed it when we saw the building numbers, which aren't posted consistently, were in the 100's. Our hotel was at 62 Queen Street. Once we paid close attention to the building numbers, we found the entry, which was marked with an overhead sign. The entry itself was no more than a doorway wedged between boutique stores. We were able to drop off our luggage, and the staff actually took them behind a locked door and gave us a claim ticket. It was nice to know nobody off the street would be able to sneak into the luggage room.

We had agreed to rendezvous with Jack and Sharon at the iSite visitor information center at noon to meet for lunch. Unfortunately, there are multiple iSite visitor information centers around central Auckland, including one at the cruise ship terminal, and another one at the base of the Sky Tower landmark. Jack and Sharon's hotel was just a block from the Sky Tower, so we walked up to their hotel, and found out at the front desk that they had left their luggage, but had left to tour the city. We were at the iSite visitor center at the base of the Sky Tower at noon, but Jack and Sharon were no-shows. We thought they might have ended up at the cruise ship terminal, which was indeed the case. Janet and I made reservations for 2 to dine at the Orbit Restaurant, which is a rotating restaurant in the Sky Tower, very much like the Space Needle. The earliest reservation was 2pm. We had heard that when cruise ships are in town, it can be very difficult to get a reservation for lunch, so we felt pretty fortunate. We then walked around Aotera square, and through a shopping mall with a variety of restaurants, bowling alley and movie theater.

We then walked back to Jack and Sharon's hotel, and just as we walked into the lobby, Jack was at the front desk, checking in. They are staying at the Econolodge Central Auckland, which is less than 0.5mi from the Quest on Queen. They got a great rate of only $50 NZD/night, compared with the $143 NZD/night we were paying. We went up with them to see the room, and were a bit taken aback to find the doors of vacant rooms wide open, leading to a bathroom consisting of a toilet, tiny sink, and shower smaller than the cruise ship’s, and a bedroom just barely big enough for a double bed. It was hard to imagine how a hotel room could actually be smaller than an inside cruise ship stateroom, but they managed to do it. Downstairs in the lobby, they had a large dining room and lounge, so as long as all you do is brush your teeth and sleep in your room, this would work out.

Jack and Sharon were in various stages of dealing with a cold, and were eager to get a nap in, so we left them and decided to meet them at 4pm in their hotel lobby. We went back to the Sky Tower, and were allowed to go up to the Observation decks of the tower in advance of our dining reservation. For a second, Janet considered skipping out on the lunch and just taking a free ride up to the observation decks, which costs $33 NZD per person. 

However, we were hungry, and looking forward to a nice meal. If you have dining reservations, you get to ride up for free, but have a minimum $50 NZD per person meal requirement. They do have a special $50 NZD deal where you can have an appetizer and Main course, or Main course and dessert. Interestingly, in New Zealand they refer to appetizers as "Entrees", Main courses as Mains, and desserts were desserts. 

Janet had a heritage sun dried tomato and mozzarella "Entree" followed by a lamb shank, while Ben had a seared tuna "Entree", followed by ox-tail and beef fillet on Kumara (Maori sweet potato) with beets and beans. Both meals were excellent, and we got to circle completely around the Auckland skyline. We had a beautiful sunny day in the mid 60's to lower 70's. The waiters asked if we were from the Cruise ship, and they were quite impressed with the Golden Princess. It was quite the sight on the waterfront from the Sky Tower. While we were dining we did see two people doing the "Sky Jump", where you are harnessed to a cable, and jump from just above the restaurant level all the way to a target on the ground. They don't actually free-fall, but the cable lets them go down fast enough for a real thrill, slowing them down as they approach the ground. 

There are a pair of cables off to each side, and a camera goes down with the jumper to record their facial expressions. The experience is $225 NZD per person. For those not so inclined to jump, there is a narrow catwalk that you can go out on, tethered from above. That was only $145 NZD, but I'd say NO THANK YOU to either offer.

We also checked out the cafe below the observation deck which was selling sandwiches for $11-15 NZD, and crisps (chips) for $4-5 NZD. So if you went up to the observation deck and had a sandwich and crisps, you'd be in it for just $10 NZD less than what we paid for a gourmet meal with excellent service and an unbeatable view of Auckland.

We met Jack and Sharon in their hotel lobby as agreed and did some of a walking tour from a National Geographic New Zealand Guide Book Ben had brought along, which took us to Albert Park to see the Auckland Art Gallery, Old Arts Building and Old Government House, which had been the Governor's mansion when Auckland was the capital until the capital was moved to Wellington in 1865. Visiting royalty has stayed in this mansion. 

Now it serves as a student union building for the university that now occupies the area. We then walked back across Albert park, which had been divided up by temporary chain link fences to prepare for an outdoor concert. It took some exploring to find openings in the fencing to get back across the park. We then went down Courthouse lane, which had been a paved Romanesque piazza, but which was currently in a torn up state, undergoing remodeling. We did come across homeless and beggars, who appeared to be mostly Maori, but it seems that Seattle has Auckland beat for throngs of homeless living in tent cities and on the streets.

We got to our hotel, and checked in. When we opened the door, we were pleasantly surprised with a large fully furnished apartment with a nicely appointed kitchen, living room, separate bedroom with a queen bed, and extras like a washer/dryer and dishwasher. There was also a nice balcony with a partially obstructed view of the harbor. 

We could see the Golden Princess being escorted by tugs out into the harbor, and then sailing off. Jack and Sharon brought the champagne that we won in the last trivia game. We finished that off, toasting the Golden Princess as she sailed off.

We then set off to find a place to eat dinner, which was trickier than it sounds because Jack and Sharon are pseudo-vegetarians and not very adventurous when it comes to dining. All the places I found on Yelp with 4 to 4-1/2 star reviews either did not have suitable vegetarian options, or were too expensive. After going through 5 or 6 of these, hunger won out and we ended up at an unrated Malaysian chain "Pappa Rich's" in the mall across from the Econolodge, which offered some vegetarian stir fries with tofu "Chicken" or tofu "Lamb", as well as noodle dishes for less than $16 NZD. All the other restaurants we checked out were charging closer to $22-25 NZD per person for dinner. 

There was a Burger King and Carl Jr's where you could get a meal for less than $10 NZD, but again, no vegetarian options there. Ben had a good bowl of spicy noodle soup, while they mixed up Janet's and Jack's fried noodle dishes, so Janet's was too bland and swimming in thin gravy, while Jack's was too spicy for his liking. Sharon's vegetarian fake chicken stir fry was just OK. It was unfortunate that Jack & Sharon's last dinner in Auckland ended up a disappointment. I guess next time, we'll save the hours of walking around and just dine separately, since a Dominos cheese pizza would have fit Jack & Sharon's needs, while Ben & Janet would have eaten at the first 4 star rated Yelp restaurant we visited just 5 minutes into the search.

Jack and Sharon head to the airport tomorrow mid-day for their return to the USA, while Janet and I have to get up before the crack of dawn to catch a 6am bus tour of the Waitomo glow worm caves. We stopped at a small grocery store and were shocked by how expensive everything was, even accounting for the exchange rate of $0.72 NZD to $1.00 US. We picked up a loaf of bread, a small jar of peanut butter, and a can of sardines for a quick breakfast in the morning and lunch during our excursion.

20170126: Tauranga and Rotorua

Thursday, January 26, 2017 Tauranga, Rotorua

Blue skies and a warm breeze greeted us as we found ourselves already docked in Tauranga when our alarm clock went off at 7:30. Our ship was docked behind the Celebrity X Solstice along a huge pier. We had breakfast in the buffet and met up with Jack and Sharon. 

We had booked a tour for all four of us through Viator to tour Tauranga and Rotorua. This is the center of Maori culture and agriculture. We started driving around the base of Mount Maunganui, which is a pretty good landmark to get your bearings in the area. We then drove along what was described as the best beach in New Zealand for major surfing competitions and triathlons. Along the beach front were the homes of the mega-wealthy.

Our guide said that real estate prices were being driven up by wealthy foreigners, and that homes in Auckland were beyond the means of most teachers. This was causing a shortage of teachers. There was one comment about borrowing Trump to do something about that. The next stop was a waterfalls where you can sometimes see extreme water sports fans careening over the falls in rafts, kayaks or bogie boards, but no-one was in the water, perhaps because the weather had been unseasonably cool and wet.

We then drove through some of the industrial areas and suburbs before ascending into farmlands with alpacas, sheep and dairy. He said we were taking the scenic route, and that we would return to the ship via a toll expressway after we were done in Rotorua. We the descended through a series of gorges with narrow switchbacks and narrow shoulders.

Off in the distance, our guide pointed out views of Mount Maunganui over our left shoulder. It was funny that he pulled over at what was a scheduled viewpoint to see Mount Maunganui and our cruise ship, but new houses were constructed within the last few months that obliterated that view, but we could peek between the houses to see them after all.

We eventually rose over a crest of a hill revealing lake Rotorua, which is a shallow but large lake. An earthquake 200 years ago caused the earth's crust to rupture over a 17 mile long area and caused the lake's level to rise 30'. There is an island in the middle, kind of like Wizard Island in Crater lake, although Crater Lake is much deeper and bluer. The waters at one end of the lake are severely polluted with sulfur and other minerals because there is a lot of geothermal activity along that shore. 

We arrived at our main destination, a Maori cultural center called Te Puia. It is a place that includes some of the most active geothermal sites in Rotorua, and combines this with a Maori cultural center kind of like the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, but only with Maori exhibits. The geothermal sites were like Yellowstone, and Iceland. 

We were fortunate to catch two of the major geysers erupting, shooting streams of boiling water like a pair of fire hoses at a 45 degree angle to each other. There were also steam vents, bubbling mud pools, and fumaroles filled with boiling water. They use one of the steam vents to cook meals served in the cafeteria. The mud pools were called the Frog Pond because when the steam would erupt in a bubble, this usually was accompanied by a frog sized blob of mud that would shoot in a parabolic trajectory from one mud pot to the next, looking like frogs jumping around. One annoying feature was a large drone buzzing around like an enormous wasp above one of the boardwalks. Park employees were stationed there with an iPad and were selling tourists drone shot video of tourists standing on the boardwalk with the geysers in the background.

The cultural center features a large marae, or ceremonial house, where they do scheduled performances introducing some Maori customs and traditions. They put on a very good show with very talented performers, but we noticed that none of the women had the tattoos around the lips and chin that considered customary in some Maori clans. The performance was very much like the demonstrations we have seen at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. 

They also have workshops where Maori artisans learn and practice skills such as wood carving and textile arts. It was very interesting to see how they take a flax leaf, and strip it down to bare fibers with a green-lipped mussel shell, and then spin the fibers into twine on their calves. This technique also removes hair at the same time. 

They have a Kiwi bird house that has one female Kiwi living in it. These birds are extremely endangered, and nocturnal, so it is very rare to spot one in the wild. The enclosure was pitch black, and I couldn't see the person in front of me in line, let alone a Kiwi bird, although the person next to me did see it, as well as Jack and Sharon. They said it was surprisingly fast, zooming from one part of the enclosure to another. I'll have to remember to bring night vision goggles next time. They did have a stuffed Kiwi on display, as well as a stuffed stoat, which is a small ferret like animal that was originally imported to get rid of rabbits, but which instead made it a habit to feed on bird eggs. The rabbits were just too fast. New Zealanders and Australians have issues with the stoats causing extinctions of many bird species. When we were on Quad runners in Wellington, we saw stoat traps set up along a fence line.

We were taken to the Lakeside Cafe on the shores of Lake Rotorua for lunch. We had fish and chips. You have to buy ketchup and tarter sauce. The ketchup was made by a division of Heinz, but was called "New Zealand's favorite Tomato Sauce". This tasted nothing like American ketchup. It had a hint of cloves, which was distracting. I guess if you ever decide to live amongst the Kiwi's, you had better learn to eat your chips (French fries) without ketchup.

The last stop was a Kiwi fruit farm. Jack said that Kiwi fruit were actually Chinese Gooseberries. These were imported to New Zealand, where careful breeding efforts have produced two local strains, the Green and Yellow kiwi fruits. The green ones were what you normally see in a grocery store. 

The yellow kiwi fruits have an almost smooth skin, and yellow to gold colored flesh. The flavor is similar, and both are sweeter and milder than the Chinese Gooseberries. We learned that the leading producer of Kiwi fruit in the world is Italy. Who knew? New Zealand is number 2.

Our final stage show on the ship was a song and dance tribute to broadway artists, and it was another entertaining show. We brought our remaining bottle of wine to the theatre and finished it off while watching the show. There was a big party on the pool deck to celebrate Australia Day. 

They had a pie eating contest, egg in spoon races, and line dancing. The Aussies sure know how to have a good time. We chose to finish packing and retire early, saddened by the knowledge that this was our last night on this cruise. We arrive and disembark in Auckland in the morning.

20170125: Gisborne- Eastern most city of the International Date Line

Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Gisborne, New Zealand

Gisborne's claim to fame is in being the easternmost city in the world with respect to the international date line, so people of Gisborne are the first to see the new day's sun rise. 

Since we were cruising off the east coast of New Zealand, we were actually able to catch the first rays of the sun even before the people of Gisborne. There were clouds on the horizon, which caused the sky to burn with a deep red glow, casting an eerie red reflection on the waves when the sun rose above the horizon. As it continued to rise, blues, grays and pinks replaced the deep red, eventually turning the sky blue and gray. A freighter was off our starboard stern several miles off, providing some perspective.

Gisborne has a shallow harbor, so the ship has to set anchor a mile or so outside the harbor. Tender boats are used to ferry passengers from the ship to shore. These are covered catamaran hull boats that are probably 40' long. They hold 80-100 passengers each, depending on how tightly you pack 'em in.

 

There are 4 of these boats, and it takes a while to get 2500 passengers to shore. The ride from the ship to shore takes 30 minutes each way, so we get less time to explore a port that requires tender service. After we had breakfast, we had to wait a half hour to board a tender and hit the dock about 10am, when the museums and shops opened. The temperature was pleasant in the low 70's and partly cloudy, so we were comfortable in shirt sleeves. The town is quite small, and you could walk the perimeter of the town including the entire waterfront in 2-3 hours. They have a busy Main Street, and an open air mall, where a Maori cultural demonstration was scheduled for 12:30. The town is proud of offering free Wifi (GizFizz Wifi), so we were looking forward to getting our pictures and emails updated. We were able to log on outside several municipal buildings (police station, library, visitor information center), but found the internet connection very poor- dial up speeds at best, with frequent disconnections. It was like being back at the City Limits Hotel. Bad internet must be something Aussies and Kiwi's just put up with. 

We pretty much walked around the whole town and saw a tiny museum honoring Maori who had served in past wars. These included Maori who had "won" the right to fight in the name of the Queen through treaty negotiations. The Maori, who were allowed to practice some traditional warfare techniques, suffered high casualties. There wasn't much more to remember about Gisborne. 

We were greeted by a small Maori dance school group at the dock, who did some traditional singing and dancing. This same troupe showed up at the open air mall, in front of the McCafe, to do the public demonstration that all the tour bus operators dropped off their passengers to see. 

We had walked there, and the place went from deserted to Macy's Day Parade crowds in minutes as multiple tour buses disgorged their passengers into the small mall. It was a cute show, kind of like the ones you see in shopping mall stages in Hawaii all the time. The girls all had the distinctive black tattoos around their lips and chins, which can be a bit disturbing to see at first. We don't know if they were real tattoos, or temporary tattoos for show make-up because all the girls, even the younger ones had the full treatment.

We headed back to the boat and arrived back on the ship late for lunch, but early for tea, so we picked up some sandwiches and salads at the International Cafe. This is primarily a coffee bar, but to compete with some of the 24hr food offerings of other cruise lines, they added a soup station, panini presses and a case stocked with donuts and jelly rolls in the morning, and pastries the rest of the day. You can get a light bite there anytime. We favored the Cuban and Chicken with Pineapple paninis, and they had a good shrimp salad and Greek salad that wasn't available in the main buffet.

We took a short nap and then had a light tea before the Egg drop contest, which was scheduled at 4:30. When we originally signed up, it looked like there would be plenty of competition, but as 4:30 rolled around, we were the only contestants who had built an entry. So it looked like we would win, so long as we hit the target, which was a 4'x4' square set about 4' out from the edge of the ledge, and produced an intact egg after the drop. The host tried to drag out the contest by interviewing me before and after the drop, but the whole thing took less than 15 minutes. Despite the fact that there was only one competing entry, there were probably a hundred spectators filling the atrium, hoping to see a lot of egg yolks being spilled. I dropped my device from deck 7, down to deck 5, or about 35'. The modified pulp drink carrier landing pad and drag balloons worked perfectly in stabilizing the device so it hit pad first, and as the drink carrier collapsed on impact, it absorbed shock and prevented a bounce on impact, keeping the device in the target. While I had high confidence in my technological design, I did not have a chance to test it, and I was very happy to see the egg emerge intact. We won a Princess sport water bottle. We were certain we would get another bottle of champagne or carabiner key chain, so that was perhaps an upgrade.

After dinner, we saw the stage show, which was a pair of jugglers who did a pretty good job with some juggling in the dark with glow in the dark and strobing items, as well as some dancing moves with lots of lifts, music and costumes. In a change of pace, they had the beautiful woman assistant do a few lifts of the male lead. They had won the Australia's Got Talent show in the past, and it was easy to see how they managed to do that.

They had a new game show called "The Liar's Club", where 3 staff celebrities where shown a word, and then each would try to explain what the word meant while convincing the audience that they were telling the truth. Each competing team was given a stack of cards with the team number on them. After each word, each team would give one of their cards to the celebrity on stage who you thought was telling the truth. The theatre was pretty full and there were about 20 teams competing. There were 4 words. The first was "Futz" and the proposed definitions were "German for passing wind", a version of soccer played on a smaller indoor field with small teams, or "a person getting blown down by a gust of wind". The second was "Haboob" and the last two words were Baldersnatch and Groak. We knew pretty much that Futz was fart (quit futzing around), Haboob was a desert sand storm, and that baby birds groak(begging for food from others), but had no idea what Baldersnatch meant, except that as the host was advancing the slides, she advanced too far, revealing for a tiny split second the answer, which Sharon caught as being a term in online communities to describe a mythical monster. When the host tallied up the scores, we were astounded that there was only one winner team that had gotten all 4 answers correct- and that was our team! Chalk up another bottle of champagne!

Jack and Sharon headed off to the piano bar, while Ben and Janet went topside to check out the movie under the stars, but it was cold , windy and raining lightly, so we just picked up a few snacks and headed to the cabin to watch "The Good Dinosaur" on TV. We also got details on disembarkation, reminding us how close to the end of our trip we were. Just Tauranga tomorrow, and then we wind up our cruise in Auckland the next day. This trip has just flown by!