New Zealand
DAYS 31-40 – Like 8 slices of the most yummy pie imaginable, we stopped at ports daily all along the eastern and southern edges of the northern and southern islands of New Zealand, and our last port, Oban, was on the little island south of the South Island, named Stewart Island. Each port seemed to top the last port like scoops of ice cream!
We started in Auckland at the north end of the smaller North Island, and then each and every day we would pull up anchor and travel during the night to arrive at a new port early the next morning. In addition to Auckland we also explored Tauranga, Napier, Wellington (the capitol city), Christchurch, Dunedin, and Oban.
Each city had its own wonderful character, from the glamour of the America’s Cup sailing races to the famed green-lipped mussels of Wellington, to the sheep ranches and fascinating sheep dogs in Christchurch, to the penguins and kiwi birds of Stewart Island. The influence of England is seen everywhere, from the meticulous urban planning and fascinating architecture to the friendly, energetic, nature-loving people who cherish their area’s natural treasures, rolling green hillsides, and farms.
New Zealanders also pay great tribute to the Maori tribes who occupied the islands prior to the English settlement of this country in 1850, as well as the more than 2/3 of their nation’s young men who went to help support the United States and England in World War II.
Today New Zealand has a total of 4.3 million citizens, and more than 30 million sheep! The country also sends enormous exports of fast-growing Canadian pine tree logs and chipped wood to China, all harvested from huge tree farms all over the islands. For every tree harvested, 7 more are planted, making this a very large industry for the nation worldwide.
Earthquakes are common in New Zealand, and one in Napier leveled the city in 1931. The city was completely rebuilt in the popular Art Deco style of the time, and these buildings are now historically protected and, along with South Beach in Miami, Florida, are considered the two best Art Deco towns in the world. (We were greeted by Napier townspeople in their beautifully restored 1930’s vintage cars and costumes and a live band playing music of that era as our cruise ship arrived in their harbor!)
Here area a few selected photos from each of these delightful ports:
This huge rubber ducky was moored in the middle of the beautiful yacht harbor in Auckland, New Zealand…this is a city enraptured by sailing, rugby, and shopping!
The spire provides a 360-degree view of Auckland from a restaurant at the top, and the building with a loop on top to the left provides a place for the brave to bungee jump…sorry, we didn’t “jump” on this opportunity…
Maori tribal dancers came aboard our cruise ship one evening to show us their traditions with music. They have maintained their customs in spite of the contemporary population growth and development of their original New Zealand lands.
Tauranga harbor is ringed with wonderful green mountains and we enjoyed a delightful opportunity to walk the city, ride the buses, and meet the truly friendly New Zealanders here.
The Art Deco streets of Napier, New Zealand feature beautiful gardens, life-like sculptures of 1930’s figures, and gorgeous buildings that reflect this style of architecture everywhere.
Typical gardens throughout Napier showcase scores of flowers unique to the climate of this North Island in New Zealand.
This mounted kiwi bird shows the large size this species of flightless birds can attain. These birds originally had no predators on the New Zealand islands, so they eventually evolved into ground birds with little, useless wings. Now they have been moved to unpopulated islands with no predators and they are all protected.
Some of the vintage cars that greeted us at our ship’s dock in Napier.
The old and the new blend together in Christchurch.
We went to a sheep ranch in the Christchurch, South Island countryside to watch the sheep dogs work with only whistle signals from their owner to bring the sheep in from the pastures for shearing their wool.
We attended a city-wide annual street festival in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand that had live bands on every corner and hundreds of booths selling every type of local product imaginable.
Larry is coming up from one of the fantastic “tracks” or hiking trails we experienced on Stewart Island, a very sparsely populated island just south of the South Island in New Zealand. By this time the weather was getting colder, as we are close to Antarctica…and we were all wearing the winter coats we had packed for our cruise!
Our last day in New Zealand was actually spent on the water exploring Fiordland National Park, a World Heritage site. We cruised for many miles on the western coast of the South Island in New Zealand. There were waterfalls, icebergs, seals, and remarkable jutting cliffs as our big cruise ship went deep into three of the most famous, narrow fiords – Dusty Sound, Doubtful Sound, and this truly “a la mode” sailing into Milford Sound, the site of the famed Milford Track hiking trail known world over for its beauty. The temperature here was in the 50’s midday, and on this special scenic cruising day we continued to have glorious sun-filled weather… just as we’ve had throughout all our excursions and anchorages in New Zealand.
Our captain did a full 360-degree spin of our cruise ship right in front of this gorgeous waterfall, the perfect end to a magical 8- days visit along all the coasts and major cities that make New Zealand one of the most special places to visit in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment