20170124: Wellington

Tuesday, January 24, 2017 Wellington

We were greeted by rays of sun and a blue sky through our curtains as we woke up for the day. The forecast was for a high of 67 degrees with partly cloudy skies. 

We had no trouble getting hooked up with our tour operator because we had booked this tour with Princess. The process is quite organized. The printed tickets that the ship issues specify a location and time to meet. In this case, we were supposed to meet at the Vista Lounge at 8:30am. When you check in, the staff match up your ticket to the right tour group and you get a colored and numbered sticker, and are seated in a section of the lounge with other people in the same tour. We had purple group 11 stickers. When all group members are accounted for, and the tour bus is ready, they call your group number and a staff member escorts you down the gangplank to the awaiting bus.

Our bus was headed to headlands across the bay from downtown Wellington, so we didn't have to go around the earthquake damaged roadway. We drove through the suburbs of Wellington, and then into the countryside, which looked very much like mountainous areas near home, but with some unusual looking vegetation, as well as familiar vegetation. We could recognize gorst, which is a nasty invasive weed at home, as well as in New Zealand. After 30 minutes, the tour operator drove up to what looked like an abandoned logging road with a gate. He hopped out, opened the gate, and we proceeded up a long, winding, steep and twisting logging road. As we drove upwards, we saw breathtaking views of the Wellington Bay Area, and could actually see our cruise ship in the distance, which against the background, looked like an enormous building, dwarfing anything else on the waterfront. It took 15 minutes to get to the top of the headlands, where the Quad-runner tour operator's base of operations was. They had a small office with restrooms, and a deck with a spectacular view of the Bay below. After signing waivers, we were led to a gear shed where we were offered raincoats, boots, and chaps to wear to keep our clothes clean. They said there was a trade-off between keeping our clothes clean, and being too hot. Since it was only predicted to be in the 60's, most people opted to wear the rain coats, and the boots were pretty much mandatory. We also were fitted with gloves and helmets and then we saddled up our rides.

We received a crash course on how to operate the Quad-runners, which fortunately had automatic clutches, and could be operated for the most part just by keeping them in 2nd gear. Then we had a practical, driving a short way to an area with a short figure 8 course with various challenging terrain features. We received hints on how to deal with steep side slopes, rocks, ruts and uneven terrain. It was clear that two of the tour group were very marginal, and were going to be a problem. The tour operator offered to let them take the tour in a Jeep, but in the end, they decided to go for it.

So we headed off on their ATV tracks, which started at the top of the headlands, and then wound up and down ravines and slopes, revealing even more spectacular views into hidden valleys and the ocean. 

Some of these tracks were quite challenging, but well within the capabilities of the Quad-Runners. Riders were bracketed between the group leader at the front, and his daughter at the rear, so that anyone who got into trouble could get bailed out. Janet was clearly in the group that wanted to run full out and was having a ball. Ben had to push the envelope of his comfort zone to keep up with Janet. We worked our way up towards the front, and would race from one viewpoint to the next, and then wait for the slow-pokes to catch up. There was plenty of stimulation to get the adrenaline pumping. I was surprised by how tired my hands got after the first several miles. 

We drove from what was an elevation of nearly 3000ft, all the way down to sea level to where a river drained into the ocean. We descended from pine forests with invasive gorst undergrowth, into rocky sheep filled meadows, and then down to rocky ground with patchy shrubs and sand. We then turned up the riverbed, crossing the river several times, with the water rising to above the foot plates on the Quad-runners. You had to steer around the larger boulders in the water, and counter steer to offset the tendency of the current to push you downstream.

We had a picnic lunch at a nice spot on the river bank, with do-it-yourself sandwiches, chips, salsa and a variety of cookies and candies for dessert. Despite the presence of sheep and visible droppings of various types all around (sheep, goat, cattle), and flies associated with the droppings, we weren't bothered at all by the flies, which were happy just buzzing around poo piles.

After lunch, we then faced the task of working our way back up the river bed and then climbing up the hillsides to get back to base camp. At one point, we passed the skeletal remains of a goat that the guide said washed down from the hillside during the recent rainstorm. The return route took us up a couple of very steep, loose, twisting and rocky tracks that required that you charge up them pretty aggressively to keep from losing traction and sliding back down. Like I said, there was plenty of stimulation to keep the adrenaline going. Fortunately, nobody had any serious mishaps or unscheduled dismounts. The return route took us into a dense mixed forest with tree ferns and temperate rain forest like canopy. Hidden within this forest were some of the biggest mud holes you can imagine. When we churned through these, mud was flying all over. The ruts in these were at least 18" deep and the longest was probably 20' long, but we managed to power through. It was a lot of fun. Just past the monster mud holes was the base camp. We had mixed feelings about our ride coming to an end because it was so much fun, we could have gone on for more, but we had been at it for more than 4 hours and our hands and backs could feel the strain.

We stripped out of our gear and were treated to soft drinks and beer at the office deck. It was a nice way to end our tour. The driver dropped us off at the ship, where a long line had formed to board. So far, this was a real highlight of our vacation.

After showers and some laundry, we got together with Jack and Sharon for dinner in the dining room. They had another specialty "Chocolate Journey" dessert, which is always something to look forward to. 

The stage production for the evening was called "Stardust" and featured music and dances from the 50's and 60's. Princess cruise lines does a pretty good job recruiting and training singers and dancers for their stage productions, and the technology they have available for stage effects is second to none. We have yet to be disappointed by one of their productions. Jack and Sharon opted to skip the stage production in favor of a 60's sock hop going on on the other end of the ship with the ship's live band "The Pentatonics" who Jack and Sharon really enjoyed dancing to.

We get the ship's newsletter delivered in the evening, and found out that the egg drop contest has been scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. It's a good thing we got the design and construction done early.