Day 32 - Sunday Jan 29 Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Bay of Islands photos

position at 7:00 am: S35:15:17 latitude E174:061:13 longitude
(Bay of Islands, New Zealand, close to Russell, NZ)
temperature: 74F, 100% humidity, cloudy
distance since FLL: 11,874 miles

Woke up to a gray cloudy rainy day. There were dolphins playing beside the ship on and off through the early morning. They were enormous ones. We ordered room service this morning since we have to meet for our tour at 8:05am. Time to test Debbie's new plan for getting a chocolate croissant. No joy. Really nasty chocolate-topped doughnuts were delivered instead. Now Debbie is really getting testy. Especially since we had Voyager Today on the TV and Jamie said it is a 30-minute tender ride to Waitangi which is where the tour letter says we are going to and returning from. She hates tender rides worst of all. Jamie said no tender would travel until it had at least 80 people aboard, so everyone better be where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be or it would mess up transporting all the ship's population that they had timed out to a T. What are the chances of this happening? Not a great start. The forecast today is a high of 72 degrees with a 70% chance of rain. Taking umbrellas again today. Yesterday they warded off the rain, maybe today too. Keep fingers crossed.

We have had very sporadic Blackberry and internet signals. Debbie's Grandma was to have surgery on Friday the 27th and we have had not had any word yet. We hope it is a no news is good news scenario or because of the sporadic Blackberry and internet signals. Keeping fingers crossed on that score as well and wishing Lee all the best.

Here is the brochure entry on the ship's tour that we are taking today.
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Bay of Islands Countryside Drive

Duration: 4 Hours.
Hiking.
This pleasant drive in the Bay of Islands region by private mini-coach will take you to some of the more interesting 'off the beaten track' places. You will have the opportunity of seeing fine Maori arts and crafts, taste delicious local cheeses and be taken on a guided tour through the Kawiti Glowworm Caves.
From the Waitangi Wharf, you will be transferred to nearby Mountt Bledisloe for panoramic views across the Bay of Islands. Then see the picturesque Haruru Falls, before continuing on to the Kerikeri area where you will have the chance to sample delicious local cheeses at Mahoe Cheese.
Next stop is in the little township of Moerewa, where the local Maori community have built up a thriving arts and crafts cottage industry. Take a look at their galleries where fine wood and bone carving plus art and fashion clothing are made on site. Continue onto Kawakawa, where the stop will be made to see the amazing Hundertwasser designed toilets, that are quite unlike any in the world!
Finally, visit the beautiful Kawiti Glowworm Caves, where you will be guided through the caves by a local Maori elder. These caves have strong ancestral ties to the local Maori people who have lived in this region for centuries. See the amazing stalactite formations and the glowworms that light up the highest ceilings in the cave.

Then return to Waitangi Wharf via Paihia.
Please note: This tour involves considerable walking, including 150 steps inside the Kawiti Glowworm Caves.

Program Pricing
Adult: $59.00.
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We received a letter a couple of days before this tour telling us that there would be changes. Instead of Kerikeri, we were taken to Mahoe Cheeses outside of Oromahoe. The visit to Moerewa, the arts & crafts community was canceled. We did visit a furniture, wood and fibers gift shop at the cheese place where we got to taste some 18-month old Edam and see some of the cheese workshop through glass and have an opportunity to shop. At the Kawiti Glowworm Cave, there was no local Maori elder available, we got a grand-daughter and her 2 young cousins, who are guides in training. After the tour, we were taken to the Copthorne Hotel where we had tendered in and given a really bad buffet lunch. Apparently we needed to kill time before they bused us to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds for the "Birth of a Nation" special event. The special event was really special. They had catered food there that would have made a really great lunch if we hadn't just eaten cold, overcooked roast beef (lamb?) and cold, overcooked root vegetables, bread, salad, fruit and chocolate cake. Anyway, we only had about 30 minutes to tour the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and visit all the Maori demonstrations that RSSC had set up before we had to be seated for the performances under an enormous tent. The demonstrations and performances were great. We really enjoyed it. The Maori specialize in making scary, threatening faces and shaking their hands, like a tremor, and then the war dances always ended with nose touching, so everyone is friends. Then they sing happy-sounding songs but with the same hand tremors and scary faces. It is a little confusing. Capt. Dag was called onto the stage for the first dance/song and had to represent us as the visitors/foreigners. He kept a straight face and made peace for our group. It was a moving ceremony for those who were paying attention. Sadly, there are always some will not. And they were making rude comments about the performers and laughing out loud and the MC had to remind them that we were honoring all of our ancestors (or dishonoring as the case may be!). We had a really good time there and it is a special place that celebrates the creation of the country of New Zealand. They were gearing up for the annual Treaty Day so we got some extra special touches for our visit. We also really enjoyed our morning tour. We probably would have been happier if they had either let us have lunch at the special event, which clearly someone had planned for since all the food was there. Or, if they had let us have a bit more time at each stop on the tour instead of rushing us along to get us to the hotel buffet on time. It did not rain until after the end of the special event, but then it really kicked up. We were lucky.

Our morning tour: we started off at the Kawiti Glowworm Caves. There were 3 buses and each must have started somewhere different. We loved the caves, the glowworms, and the nature trail back to the parking lot. Frankly, this outdoors walk was where most of the walking and 150 steps were! But, it was an amazing landscape and we were happy it was not raining. Apparently, they have had heavy rainstorms for the past several days and were thrilled when we brought sunshine, but it was very humid and moist here anyway. It was pretty comfortable inside the caves. The glowworms are the larva of a fly. The eggs are laid and when they hatch they spin themselves a hammock with threads hanging down to "fish" for flying insects. They live in this tube/hammock for 11 months and eat mosquitoes and flies and moths. They are all attracted to the fishing lines by the glow of the larvae poop. Finally, they spin a cocoon and turn into a fly. They have 3 to 4 days to mate and lay eggs and then they die. It was really fascinating and not a very big cave. So, it was not too scary or overwhelming. The whole walk inside the cave was on raised wooden walkways and stairs and ladders. They were wet and slippery though, so we all went very slowly and carefully. Back on the bus, we backtracked to Kawakawa and the Hundertwasser Public Toilets. It was a charming little town that this former Austrian architect/artist chose to live and die in, and clearly showed his influence all over the tiny downtown. Clay bought a really nice wooden walking stick in the gift shop across the street from the toilets. He needs it! Then, we went to try cheese and visit another gift shop. (Cow's milk cheese. The guide says they are moving away from sheep and into cattle in this area. He also said they have 3 local wineries and that Susan Sarandon had just bought one of them.) We bought a set of wooden coasters here. They have a lumber yard across the driveway and a huge kauri tree stump out in front. Then we went to Haruru Falls. The guide, Bruce, told us that they are a set of horseshoe-shaped falls like Niagra. Yeah, but a LOT smaller! It was a nice scene. Then we drove up to Mt. Bledisloe for the view of the bay and the 2 cruise ships anchored in it. It was a good tour.
The tenders did run full and it was a long tender ride. The bay did not provide a very smooth ride in either direction. There were large crowds today with the holiday weekend here, the Treaty Day approaching and 2 cruise ships in a remote area all at one time. The Pacific Princess was also in Auckland yesterday. Someone said that it was also in Papeete, but we thought that was the Tahitian Princess. (Just checked the pictures, it was the Tahitian Princess.) We were a half-hour late leaving Bay of Islands so we hope this won't cut into our time in Sydney!!! ;)

Tonight was casual. So, we just kind of drifted off into Compass Rose. We have a problem. We asked for menus several times when we first boarded and we got them, but we always had to argue for them. They want to sign you up for a program where they will give you all the menus for your cruise at the end of it. We had to explain after each meal that Clay was keeping a journal and he could not use the menus to help him work on it in real-time (and get it posted on the internet on a daily basis) if we did not have the menus in real-time. About 5 days in, Patrick got us and our menu request and told Clay that they would deliver all the menus for each day during the night before. They have. It is some kind of service they provide for people with dietary special requests that allows them to see the menus in advance and they have until 10am to discuss them with someone in Compass Rose.

Anyway, these menus have never 100% represented what was actually offered on any particular evening and lately they seem to be diverging more than usual. Tonight for example, we were not wild about anything on the menu, but when we got there Debbie noticed that they were serving fresh New Zealand raw oysters on the half shell. The menu said they would have fresh marinated New Zealand calamari salad. We would not have made a trip anywhere for that. But, for oysters? Clay would go some for fresh raw oysters on the half shell. The serving was 3. He ordered a double and sucked them down. It was maybe the best thing he has eaten on this ship, but he wouldn't have known and might have missed them. And, they will remain undocumented except for this because Clay does not mark up the menus when he scans them.

We begin to cross the Tasman Sea tonight and we have heard so many horror stories for so long. Pray for us!

Tomorrow night we have our invitation for part 2 of the celebration rotation. We have been invited to the laundry room for a cocktail party. The invitation says to wear the suggested dress code of the evening (which will be Informal on Monday!) "or you may wear just a plain white 'T' shirt for the party." Just? Nothing else? That is not going to go with the Informal dress code after 6pm, but this may explain why we never say anyone in the dining room the other night (which was casual) who had come from the Laundry Room party!

Bay of Islands photos