Day 6: Fiordland, NZ (Grand Princess)

If something is pretty easy or lazy, we describe it as “cruisey”.

I think I know where the word comes from – being on a cruise.

If I said we did nothing today it would be the understatement of the year. Yesterday I started by reporting that we had done very little. I’m exhausted thinking about how much we did yesterday compared to today.

Today – Monday 07 November 2022 – we cruised around the fiords at the bottom of the South Island of NZ.

Milford Sound is probably the most famous (or well known) of those, with the others having names that I can’t say I’ve ever heard before.

I am pleased to report however that the other main fiord we travelled along was Te Awa-o-Tu (or Thompson Sound), which then became Doubtful Sound.

Today started like every other day, with one minor exception. Because we had an early start in Milford Sound – 7.00am – we set the alarm for 6.30am. For those of you who had to go to work today, let’s just say that we set our alarm today in solidarity with you!

Mind you, 6.30am here in NZ is only 3.30am at home in Brisbane, so I’d like to think that we were at and about long before any of you.

Up, showered, dressed and we were in the Horizon Court just around 7.15am for a light breakfast. As we sat in the restaurant we watched the amazing scenery of the fiords glide by.

Breakfast over and we went out on deck on Level 14 to look at the view.

Now there are two important things that I need to tell you at this point.

1. The last time we were on this ship (this actual ship, the Grand Princess), we sailed out of San Fransisco under the Golden Gate Bridge, and we drifted around Glacier Bay in much the same way that we are today drifting around Milford Sound.
2. Similarly to Glacier Bay, the photos of Milford Sound are a very poor second place to actually seeing it for real.

Actually, the other thing where Milford Sound had similarities to Glacier Bay is that it was FREEZING out on deck.

So cold. So, so cold. Cold enough to freeze the you-know-what’s off a brass monkey.

The scenery was breathtaking .. or maybe it was the cold that was breathtaking :). We sailed to the end of Milford Sound, then the ship did a quick U-turn and we sailed back out again.

Left turn at the end, down the coast for an hour or so, and we turned into Thompson Sound, which then became Doubtful Sound.

Just as spectacular, just as cold, and just as impossible to capture in a photograph.

Thompson/Doubtful Sound has the doubtful added bonus of rain … so it was mostly viewed from the safety of the inside of the dining area.

Thompson/Doubtful Sound also has the bonus that you can sail in one part of it, hang a sharp right-hand turn and sail out a different bit.

And I’m very sad to say that is about it for today. All very spectacular and beautiful, but not much in the way of achievement. We both felt a little under the weather today. My nausea has carried over from yesterday and both MBW and myself have had headaches and feeling fatigued. We both had a nap today after lunch, but still feel like a quiet night in.

We had dinner again at our favourite restaurant – Botticelli – and looked to see if we might go to the 7.30pm show. Funny thing is that it is a Dolly Parton tribute show, which happens to be the exact same show that we saw on a 3 night Country Cruise that we did just a few weeks ago.

And while it was an OK show, let’s just say that she is no Dolly Parton! And it wasn’t worth seeing again.

So we decided to hit a new high in decadent laziness, and we called it a night. Showers, into our Jim jams (it’s only 8.00pm) and we will watch one of the late release movies that they have available onboard.

We even ordered room-service coffee!

I’ve activated our NZ SIM card, so we are now also connected with the outside world again, and you will be getting updates on our travels! If you are reading this, then that means we got it all to work!

Early start tomorrow as we will be in Dunedin and we need to get out amongst it. The ship has arranged busses for the very reasonable* cost of $25/ea one way, or $35/ea return, for the short 7 miles (about 10-11km) trip to town.. I’m sure that I can get an Uber for less than the combined $70 bus trip.

(* That was sarcasm in case you didn’t recognise it).

I have to say that I am looking forward to having my feet on solid ground again.

That’s about it.

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022