Day 1 - Back Aboard the ms Noordam

We're due to board the ms Noordam at midday. Our short five-night trip brings us to Astoria, OR; Seattle, WA; and Victoria, BC. I am purposely leaving the travel computer at home, so there will be no blog posts between this and one next Sunday night. I will, however, choose some of the best photos and include one or two from each of our days on this mini journey. 

The ship just pulled in from the South Pacific today. It starts regular summer service to Alaska after we depart on Sunday. This ship spends most of its time between Auckland and here. 

The last time we were on the Noordam was when we took the fall trans-Pacific to Australia and New Zealand. That was in 2017. It was a much longer 42 nights aboard. On the way, we stopped in Hawaii, Fiji, American Samoa, and New Caledonia. You're used to seeing it from the other side but we sailed right by this:

 

Back Before We Left

Day 42 - We're home! Crossing the Pacific was much faster by plane than on our cruise ship. In fact, we got to New Westminster before we even left Auckland, but let me explain.



Today was our last morning on the MS Noordam. We got up at our usual time, but we'd already heard announcements for those who had early departures. We had planned to walk around Auckland for a second day, but we needed to get off the ship at 9:15 AM. Even though there was absolutely no rush as we had a late night departure, we found that the idea of sitting in an airport wasn't so bad. The weather was nice in the city, but we'd have to pay to store the bags and then we really felt as if we no longer had a home in the city.

We got to the airport by taking the SkyBus service on our own, from very near Wharf 10 downtown. We spent a lot of the day there, right through sundown. Not a very good selection of food, I must say.





At about 11:10 PM on November 6th, our wheels left the tarmac. We left a little later than scheduled as the wind was in our favour and the pilot didn't want to get us into busy LAX too early. Air New Zeland crammed us into economy on a brand-new 777. Our scheduled flight of 12 hours, worked out to be only around 11. Yah, then LAX.

Los Angeles is still a zoo for transiting passengers. We queued, scanned our passports, queued again, talked to the Homeland Security agent, rolled to the luggage carousels, picked up our bags, queued some more to recheck our bags, went outside, waited for the free airport terminal shuttle bus, got our at terminal 6, waited for an elevator, queued some more for security, had a patdown, and rolled to the gate at the very end of the terminal. The wonderful process took about an hour and a half.

We had more time to wait as the Air Canada flight didn't load until 5:50. We got off the plane at YVR at around 9:10. By the time we got out of the airport it was after 10:00 and damned cold outside. We took the SkyTrain all the way to downtown and then the other line to New Westminster.

Was it 10:45 PM already? It is still November 6th, so we got back before we left.

Auckland, New Zealand

Day 41 - We awoke in the final destination of our 42-day cruise. I love a city which puts its cruise ship port right in the center of the downtown. The nose of the MS Noordam is nearly touching Quay Street.



We usually don't try to do tourist things when visiting. I mean, for example, tourists come to Vancouver and flock to Capilano Suspension Bridge, we haven't visited it in 21 years. So, we think it is better just seeing how the streets are set up and walking a lot. We did. Walking all the way up Queen Street takes a while. We even forwent an elevator ride up 'Sky Tower' but did go into the basement where the tickets are sold.

We walked about 7 kilometers returning to the ship for lunch. It was definitely time for our last short nap on a Holland America Lines mattress. I do not know when we'll take another cruise. I do know that this is a nice city to end our extended trip here!

After, a bit of something to eat, we took a hop and skip down the Waterfront area.

Tauranga, New Zealand

Day 40 - We have stopped today before heading to our final destination of this cruise. Today we are inside the 'Bay of Plenty'. We docked before 8:00 and had left the ship before 9:00. We took a cruise ship shuttle to the downtown area of Tauranga. In order to get there, the bus had to travel through a mostly port-related industrial area. Boy, New Zeland surely does ship a whole lot of lumber, I hear mostly to Japan, India, and other parts of Asia!



Downtown didn't require a whole lot of time to explore. The weather was a little grey but the temperature at 17C seemed okay. In fact, we noticed in the news that Vancouver is now experiencing 0C temperatures at night and snow flurries! By the time it was ready to really shower, we were ready to go back to the ship for lunch.



Later in the evening, we saw the area at which the Noordam was docked. Mount Maugnanui was a nice landmark and the generally good weather makes the beaches near here popular for both surfers and sunbathers. I really liked the little cafes, bars, backpackers, and boutiques in town there. Any place which sells Turkish kebabs is a place for me. These factors did make me think that during Vancouver's rain, this area will always be having summers. Hum.

Napier, New Zealand

Day 39 - We had a short day in this Hawk's Bay town. The MS Noordam did arrive at about the time we woke up at 7:00 AM but we didn't disembark until around nine. Shuttle buses took us right to the downtown Information Centre.

First, we walked through the main area. This town was devastated by an earthquake in 1931. When rebuilt, many of the buildings were in art deco style. Recently, the city seized on this fact and is promoting itself as a tourist destination. Supposedly the weather in Napier is sunny for over 300 days per year. We ran into a few sprinkles but it did not matter that we left the umbrellas in the stateroom.





We also walked down the extensively upgraded waterfront to the New Zealand National Aquarium. We paid $NZ 21 each. The facilities did include a nice room-sized tank with the glass corridors so viewers can walk right through the marine environment with fish swimming over one's head. We also saw the mini New Zealand only penguins. Several were in a large pool area and I think may have been rescued animals.





Interestingly, we were most interested in the live exhibit that wasn't from the sea at all. We wanted to see kiwi birds before leaving this country. They are flightless birds who forage at night. Therefore, the area where they were is kept dark during the daytime. There was special sound-proof glass as kiwis are very sensitive and skittish. These birds have long beaks with the nostrils at near the tip. They are one of the only bird species which can use a sense of smell.





We must have spent at least an hour and a half in the Aquarium. We waited for the shuttle bus, rather than walk the kilometer or so back into town. We spend a bit of time enjoying the day which had warmed up to around 22C. We got back at 12:45 before the 1:30 deadline. The ship sailed out at 2:00 PM.

This was the last Gala Night on the MS Noordam. We've been here long enough to have had seven.

Wellington, New Zealand

Day 38 - Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. It has a bit of a contest with Auckland as to which is a more livable place. Today our ship was docked from 8 o'clock till 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Shuttle buses ran us into the city as we were docked at a working port. They took about 15 minutes because of the rather heavy traffic.

Downtown was clean and well organized. Similar to other cities on this trip, volunteer tourist guides were at many street corners ready to help with any questions. We first headed to snap a picture of the "Bee's Nest" building near the Parliament. We walked along a high street back towards the centre of town and noted where the tram funicular started.





Next, we made our way to the waterfront and walked along nearly to the National Museum. I'm impressed how bilingual signs offer the site names in English as well as Maori. We came back through the Civic Center and soaked up a bit of free wifi. It seems the city government offers it all over the downtown area.



We paid 7.50 roundtrip each for the tram funicular up. We walked pretty much around the free botanical garden. The whole back side of the hill is cultivated wilderness, so close to the center of the city. This was one more reason which added to my positive attitudes about Wellington. It is modern and the city core is relatively compact. Most of the CGI for the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films was done here.







It was windy and I guess it always is. I could easily live in Wellington.

Picton, New Zealand

Day 37 - There was really little need to stop here but it did give an enjoyable day near the top of the southern island. Most of the population of New Zealand live on the northern island but the major connection is by the way of ferries into Picton. The city is very scenic.











The biggest claim to fame of this town of 3000 are the hiking trails and nature walks. We live in British Columbia so others may have been more impressed with the vistas and the change to see wildlife. Instead, we leisurely walked around the inhabited areas. We soaked up a little free wifi at the library. We returned to the ship early for a late lunch and a nap.

Port Chalmers / Dunedin, New Zealand (Part II)

Day 37 - This title was originally supposed to read, AKAROA / CHRISTCHURCH. However, we got a special announcement from our captain last night saying the Port Chalmers authorities were not allowing us to exit due to fog at the mouth of the harbour. So, we stayed the night with a scheduled departure of twelve noon today.

We liked Dunedin enough to head back the twenty or so minutes which it takes to get into town. Holland America Line picked up the shuttle costs today. (Oh, and we got a complimentary glass of champaign at tonight's entertainment.)







We walked in another direction when getting downtown and discovered a lot of shops we'd not have otherwise seen. I liked how a modern shopping complex was created by linking together historic 1930's shops. We even, unlike our nature, decided to buy a souvenir. We had $10 in Australian cash and the shop we were in took foreign bills. We got a small replica of a kiwi bird for the curiosity cabinet at home. We also got back a New Zealand one-dollar coin sporting a kiwi.



Even in the afternoon only half of the trip out to the sea was clear. We made it safely through the fog although the channel did appear a bit tricky. Speaking of which, today is Halloween and of course, the North Americans on board wanted to acknowledge it. The staff created jack-o-lanterns and passengers judged them to come up with a winner. Other staff, especially those in the casino, got dressed up a little. Silly, but why not?

Tomorrow, we and all of the MS Noordam should return to our normal itinerary. Tonight, however, it is Halloween aboard the ship.

Port Chalmers / Dunedin, New Zealand

Day 36 - We were late getting in today. The harbour entrance was immensely foggy in the morning. Our schedule called for us to arrive 9:00 am but it wasn't safe for our cruise ship to head in. We waited outside in the thick fog and did a few circles. We eventually arrived in Port Chalmers but the gangway wasn't ready until 12:30 PM.



Jay and I took a shuttle bus to Dunedin but first had to run out of the port area to find the one ATM. It cost us $15 each for the roundtrip tickets. It had: Pretty land, A few sheep, a bigger population than I expected on the south island.









We stayed pretty much downtown by the Octagon. We did see the old rail station but not the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Before boarding the return shuttle, I had a beer in the square although Jay had ginger beer. Earlier he had picked up a baby sparrow stunned by a window and placed it out of harm's way off the sidewalk near the same place.

We were back on the ship after the half hour drive back at around 5:15.