Amazing Australia!

Australia

DAYS 43-47 – We ventured across the Tasman Sea for two days after leaving the western coast of New Zealand and reached the island of Tasmania, Australia on February 17th.

Tasmania is a large island south of the Australian continent, and is a state of this huge nation.  Hobart is the state capital and the largest city in Tasmania.  The entire island was originally the location for penal colonies beginning in 1803.  The island housed thousands of convicts transported there from England.  We also sailed to Port Arthur to visit the sobering remnants of one of the largest prisons, which were actually dungeons beyond belief!  Now this island is rich in protected biodiversity areas, gorgeous mountains and the home of the world renowned Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra – quite a transformation from its 200-year old first settlements!

If any of you were following the PBS/cable television ventures of “Whale Wars” and the ship, the Sea Shepherd, featuring the environmentalist  crew members who were trying to protect the whales in the Antarctica, we were amazed to be in their home Tasman Sea and Hobart area when the Japanese whalers admitted defeat after years of harvesting whales here.  This news made headlines in Hobart, and many whale lovers around the world were thrilled to learn that Japan was going to give in and end their whale-killing operations south of Hobart.

We continued our Australian voyage northward along the east coast as we sailed into the gorgeous Sydney harbor at sunrise.  (Larry and I had been in Sydney for the harbor fireworks celebration in 2000 to welcome in the new millennium, so this arrival into the harbor and seeing the Sydney Opera House from the bow of our ship was an extremely special remembrance for us.)

We heard the news of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand while we were in Sydney, and even though we were grateful that we had departed Christchurch 10 days before the earthquakes that flattened this city, we were so saddened to hear of the loss of life there and see the crumpled buildings that were now only recorded in our memories and photos and to be no more.  Holland America corporate and most of our fellow cruise ship passengers donated thousands of dollars to the New Zealand Red Cross in an effort to be of some help during this tragedy.

Our final stop in Australia was Cairns, the city famous for the Great Barrier Reef and one of the most spectacular protected coastal rainforests in this area of the world.  This was the first and  only excursion on a rainy day on our voyage thus far, and even though a tree fell across our roadway from the heavy rains as we headed up to the top of a rainforest mountain and stopped all traffic for an hour, we felt a rainy day in the rain forest was pretty darned appropriate!

From Australia we are headed on to Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, when we will post our next blog.

Here are a few photos from our Australian adventures…

The famed “Tasmanian Devil” is actually a pretty docile little guy about the size of a wire-haired terrier.  They don’t attack people – they eat rodents  – and this accommodating photo subject was actually just taking a toothy yawn after waking up at an animal sanctuary in Tasmania.

The darling young koalas in the Tasmanian sanctuary were orphans, and their fur is is softer and thicker than angora.  They are marsupials and the sanctuary staff and volunteers wrap these orphans in soft baby blankets so they feel they are in their mother’s pouch, safe from the scary world until they are 9 months old or older.

Sunrise as we sailed into Sydney harbor and glided past the gorgeous architecture of the Sydney Opera House.

The often-photographed “coat hanger” bridge in Sydney Harbor.  You can walk all the way across the top of the bridge for $100 if you want to…the little black dots you can barely see at the very top of the bridge arch are actually a group of walkers who are tied to each other for safety.

The Sydney skyline is impressive, and a gorgeous dining room is at the top of the tall sphere.  Everything about Sydney is beautiful – the Queen’s botanical gardens, the harbor, the architecture, and most of all, the people.

This is Stein Kruse, the president and CEO of Holland America and his wife, Linda, who came aboard our ship for a few days in Sydney to kick off gala celebrations and “Mariner Appreciation Day” for all of the ship’s guests who had earned the benefits of their mariner points by taking this world cruise.  Their daughter is strongly considering attending either ASU or the UofA in sunny Arizona this fall.  (Holland America, based in Seattle, has 17,000 employees.) 

We took an amazing 5-mile tree canopy gondola trip through and above the towering tropical rainforest just below us in the mountains outside of Cairns, Australia.  Most of the trees were 100 feet high or more, and it was pouring rain…a misty, exciting, and quietly magnificent way to experience Barron Gorge National Park, a World Heritage natural wonder.

New Zealand A La Mode

 

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.

   Wellington, New Zealand, is the capital of the nation.  It is a truly modern, bustling city with gorgeous harbors.  We took this cable car up to a fabulous botanical garden.

Christchurch, New Zealand is a city of Gothic architecture.  Most of the wonderful historic structures withstood a 7.2 earthquake two years ago.  (Earthquakes are very common in New Zealand. This is a city that really needs many more construction companies and architects to help them restore the many structures that did suffer structural damage.)

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.

The Charm of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific

 

Cook Islands

DAYS 26-29 -  Captain James Cook discovered many islands in the South Pacific, and our cruise included stops at three of these small, beautiful and charming islands, Rarotonga, Niue and Tonga on Sunday through Thursday, January 30th to February 3rd.  Nearly 170 islands are located within the Cook Islands and Tonga Islands area; many are not inhabited.

What happened to February 2nd?  Well, we lost that day (Wednesday) as we ventured across the International Date Line!

All of these islands are very laid back, extremely friendly, and self supporting with all of the fishing, chickens, fruits, and vegetables that are found all over each island.  Coconuts, bananas, mangos, avocados, papaya, pineapple, and melons are everywhere.  The islanders have small markets in the center of harbor villages, and many just sell their surplus from little stands in front of their homes.  Another wonderful feature…almost all of these Cook Islands have no snakes or poisonous creatures of any kind!

We particularly enjoyed Rarotonga Island.  It has magnificent mountains with dense rain forests, thousands of flowers of every hue, white sand beaches and turquoise bays all around the island formed by protective coral reefs.  We could not dock at several of these islands because of these barrier reefs, so our cruise ship anchored off the coast and ran our tender boats back and forth to shore all day long so we could explore each island at our own pace.  We saw many darling one-story beach condos and apartments that could be rented for $800 - $1,000 per month, all with direct access to the sandy beaches in front of them.

To see these islands you can take one of two buses that travel the perimeter roads on these islands.  They travel clockwise, and counter-clockwise, every hour…it was so easy to get on and off these buses to explore these islands.

When we leave the Cook Islands we will be traveling south/southwest for two days to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday, February 6th…marking the first month of our cruise which left Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on January 5th.  We will be stopping at many ports on the North and South islands of New Zealand, taking us more than 10 days to explore.

Here are a few selected photos from the charming Cook Islands:

Looking back at our anchored ship, ms Amsterdam, from the shores of Rarotonga Island.

One of the Cook Islanders who greet cruise guests as we arrive…Larry enjoys this part…they all seem to be this beautiful!

The Governor’s Palace on Rarotonga Island.  You can see the beautiful weather we are having this entire trip…no rain storms or rough seas during the entire first month of our voyage!

Thunderous “blow holes” along the coral coastline sound just like a stallion snorting as they explode high into the air on the island of Tonga.

Look closely at the black spots in this photo…those are fruit bats asleep and hanging upside down in the trees during the day!  They have a two-foot wing span and they help with island plant pollination, along with the island’s honey bees that create some of the world’s most treasured natural honey nectar.  Photo is from Tonga Island.

We were fascinated with the Tapa Cloth designs created by island artisans who pound tree bark to paper thin thickness and then apply natural dyes with brushes made from seed pods.

Exiting the Panama Canal into the Pacific

DAY 5 - Continued from our last blog…

 You can see the white side of our ship on the left and the less than two feet of clearance space on either side of the lock for our ship!  You can also see the “mule” up ahead on the tracks keeping our ship perfectly aligned with the sides of the canal locks using enormous wire cables managed by pulley systems on each of four “mules”   The lock on the right allows another vessel to go through the canal at approximately the same time as our ship.

 The last lock fills up with water under our ship, bringing us to the Pacific Ocean level using only the gravity of thousands of gallons of water to raise our ship and the gates in front of us.  We were guided through the entire Canal by an extremely experienced Panama Canal Pilot on board our ship to assist our captain and crew.   The final lock gates open in front of us as we head out into the Pacific!

 The bow of our ship is guided toward the Bridge of the Americas at the end of the Canal.

 Looking back to see the impressive skyline of Panama City as we continue our exciting adventure taking us south over the equator and on to Ecuador and  Peru in South America.

 

 

 

 

Fascinating Ecuador Was Hard to Leave…

Continued from Ecuador…

DAY 8 - I loved everything about Ecuador!  It is a gorgeous country with an extremely friendly and hard-working citizenry.  Larry has been here before, and I vowed to return to this emerging tourism country to explore more of its natural wonders and the magnificent mountain areas that are located directly on the world’s equator.

Even though the country is located in what would seem to be a very hot place on our globe, the cool Pacific breezes kept the temperature a perfect 75 degrees in our port, and the mountain areas in Ecuador are much cooler both day and night.

Larry’s camera caught me as I was falling in love with this finely-woven Panama hat, and I purchased it for only $30, feeling guilty for paying such a low, low price for all of that work!

When we returned to our ship after our visit to the Panama hat factory, I took a photo of the American flag that flies on the deck of the ship in the dock beside our cruise ship. The armed Army and Navy personnel (seen under the thatched roof shade structure) stand guard 24/7 on this vessel.

 As our ship’s captain sounded the three blasts of our ship’s horn to signal our departure from our port in Ecuador, the ever-present tug boats and pilot boats were there to accompany us until we were out of their harbor.   It was hard to leave Ecuador after only one day in this great country.

I got Larry to smile for my camera as we were pulling away from our Ecuador port.  With each port departure there is a fun Bon Voyage party where the ship’s pool areas are decorated with international flags.  The festivities are generally accompanied by tropical drinks, champagne, great beer, and music from our ship’s talented live band. 

Our Last Day in Lima, Peru…

Day 11 - Our second day of exploring the city of Lima took us on an excursion to the old colonial central part of the city where the gold-clad exterior and interior decorations in cathedrals and government buildings were wondrous to see.

We could not take photographs inside many of these buildings, particularly the monasteries where the priests and nuns were living and working.  The walls of these buildings were covered with restored fresco art and huge original Ruebens and other masters’ oil paintings that truly awed me.

I will include one or two of the photos of the interiors and exteriors of these 15th Century buildings that had so much intriguing history to tell!

This is the central plaza in downtown colonial Lima…I had to take the picture of the horse statue, of course.

  This huge sculpture is found at Lover’s Park along the seashore in Lima as we traveled to other areas of the city on our day-long excursion.

 We stopped at some of the shops that have really wonderful local crafts, such as this vendor’s little fluffy llama wool figures that just had to come back home with me for my two darling granddaughters, Katie, 10, and Brianna, 8.

Peru – Land of the Llamas

Lima, Peru

DAY 10 – As we traveled south during the night and the next full day, we followed the coast of Peru to the port of Lima (Callao), Peru, arriving at 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, January 14th.  Lima was founded in 1537 and it has become a main port for Spanish commerce in the Pacific. The city has 8 million people and it seems like they are all out on the roadways at the same time!

This is our first two-day stay in one port city. Many fellow passengers took a side excursion by flying inland to Machu Pichu, to take advantage of this extended stay in port.  Larry and I have been to Machu Pichu, so we used this time to explore everything we could in Lima.

Our ship held a wonderful Peruvian BBQ party with a live band on the pool deck to greet us as we arrived back at the ship from our first full day of shopping and sight-seeing in Lima.

Here are photos of a few highlights we experienced over these two days:

 This is a seaside multi-floor shopping center in the Miraflores section of Lima, complete with Starbucks, TGI Fridays, and wonderful shops with all kinds of local artisans’ high quality goods.

 Here on display in a shop are some contemporary alpaca wool weavings showing unusual three-dimensional designs on perfectly flat wall hangings.

 Here are two of our wonderful Indonesian kitchen staff members, Lila and Ira, as they serve us in their costumes at the shipboard Peruvian style BBQ deck party at the end of our first day in port in Lima. (They have learned almost everyone’s first name by the end of the first week on board…impossible, but true!)