Category: NZ2022

The Eagle has landed, or the Grand Princess has docked … one of those.

We were told that we would be docking in Melbourne early – they were taking the pilot on around 2.15am – and when I awoke around 5.15am everything was still and quiet. No more rocking and tipping and churning.

It all felt very much like we were tied up at the Melbourne port, and a quick peek out the window showed no signs of ocean rushing past at 21 knots as it had been for the last three days.

Everyone gets an allocated disembarkation time as designated by the colour and number on your luggage tags. We were RED3 and we were scheduled off around 9.20am.

So up, dressed and pack our final bibs and bobs and we were out of our cabin by about 8.15am. We needed to be out by 8.30am so that they could start cleaning the rooms and getting ready for the next cruise that sails to (and possibly beyond) Brisbane.

You know how when you watch reruns of “The Love Boat”, the passenger’s cabins are huge with enough room to invite 10 or so of your best friends over?

Hmmm, not so much. I’m sure that there are some cabins that are that big, but not in our price range.

First passengers were due to disembark by about 7.00am, no doubt dictated by connecting flights or other travel demands. Everybody gets a disembarkation location assigned with your group (RED3 = Explorer’s Lounge on Level 7 by 9.20am), so we went down to the International Café on Level 5 for a final coffee and pastry, and our last hurrah.

And then we realised … nobody was leaving the ship … and announcements were being made that “at the current time we do NOT have immigration clearance to disembark …” This went on until about 9.30am or so.

They told us one night on the cruise that there are people from 50 different countries working on the ship. Many – the vast majority – from Singapore and the Philippines, but also others Zimbabwe, Ukraine, and Grenada (Caribbean).

A lady with a beautiful, regal accent – she might have been an African Queen – started making announcements about how it is illegal to take “frrruit and other prrrohibited items frrrom the ship”.

Not a lot of people can roll their R’s like that and make a mundane customs announcement somehow exciting and interesting.

Word on the street was that the lack of approval for disembarkation was due to the (unknown) number of COVID cases, all of whom were confined to their cabins until the last call to disembark. Apparently Channel 7 News were at the port trying to speak with passengers, but we didn’t see anyone. Not exactly the ship’s fault that someone brought COVID on board and shared it around.

We finally got the nod to get off around 10.30 or so, and there were quite a number of people with rising levels of anxiety about their connecting flights, and behaving like they were the most important people in the universe.

Everybody knows that you allow some schedule contingency for the unknown unknowns, or even the known unknowns. Or is that just a Project Manager thing? You never leave yourself a very tight window for transfers.

“Hope for the best, plan for the worst,” as Jack

Fortunately we had the presence of mind to book a late flight home. Our flight wasn’t scheduled for 3.20pm, so we were in no rush.

We had paid for an airport transfer, so getting to Tullamarine was painless.

Collected our luggage at the airport and did a bit of moving stuff around to balance the load. Printed our luggage tags and said goodbye to our suitcases, and went through security and looked for somewhere to sit.

Coffee and a sandwich at extortionate rates in the airport, so we used their bathroom facilities more that we needed to, to get the maximum bang for our buck. In the air by 3.30pm local, and on the ground in Brisbane around 4.30 local.

Lovely trip away with MBW. We were supposed to do this trip exactly 2 years ago, but we all know what happened then … but we finally did it and had a great time. I do think that 13 nights aboard a cruise ship is about my limit.

Our favourite youngest son picked us up at the airport and brought us home.

Now we need to start planning the next trip somewhere. Maybe a short van holiday?? Maybe I need to accrue some leave – or retire – first?

Editor’s note: I lost almost 2kg on the cruise. It must have been that bug I had and the subsequent loss of appetite. Yay for me! 🙂

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

Our last day of the cruise. Our last day at sea. And what a cold, overcast, and choppy day that it was.

The Captain warned us last night that today could be rough, and he wasn’t kidding. Something about being in Bass Straight.

All of the decks were closed, so that must have made it tough for the committed smokers to fill their lungs with something other than oxygen. Smoking is not allowed inside the ship, and only in a couple of limited deck locations, and most of the decks were closed … bummer.

It never ceases to amaze me how the waves can make a ship of this size bounce around so much. There was one time today where it felt like we must have hit an iceberg. There was this crash that virtually knocked you off your feet and the whole ship shuddered.

Bouncing, and lurching, and dipping.

I’m assuming that it was just a really big swell that hit the ship at just the right place at just the right moment that caused the impact. I’m also pretty sure that there was no serious damage inflicted as we didn’t have to grab our life jackets and head for the lifeboats.

So that’s a good thing.

It was a day of just hanging around and reading. I borrowed a Jack Reacher book from the onboard library and I have been enjoying it, although I suspect I’m not going to get it finished before we disembark tomorrow morning. So we just hung around.

Breakfast. Coffee. Read. 

We went to a culinary demonstration in the Princess Theatre this morning, presented by the Executive Chef and the Director of Hotel Operations. One responsible for all of the chefs, and the other responsible for all of the waiters and drinks staff.

It was a great show – they just did some demonstrations, showed how they cook some meals, had some fun, and showcased some of their teams.

Because of COVID most events were moved to Level 14 on the top deck, and then closed anyway because of the weather. A really quite unpleasant day. Everyone walking around like they were drunk (… I suspect that many of them were, BTW), but very hard to walk a straight line without falling over or bumping into someone/something. More staggering than walking.

A good day for finding a quiet corner with a view of the ocean, and reading a book. A good excuse to do nothing, actually. Other than drink coffee. Certainly better than staggering around the ship.

Lunch. Read. Coffee. Read some more. Drink some more coffee.

Back to our cabin late afternoon to see what we have to do about packing our suitcases, and the instructions were all there … so we packed up most of our stuff, locked our bags and put them outside ready for collection.

The COVID situation onboard is clearly getting worse because there are an increasing number of cabins with room service trays out in the corridor, and last night our waiter at dinner told us that all of the room stewards had been repurposed as room service stewards to keep up the demand. That probably explains why the restaurants have been quite empty.

COVID, plus people that don’t want to wear a mask all of the time, plus those that simply don’t want to take the risk and would rather isolate so that they don’t get it, rather than because they have (got it).

Everywhere you look there is another room service steward pushing a trolley around … although we were also told that all 1,000 staff on board had been tested and nobody gave a positive result.

I find that a bit hard to believe, but whatever …

Dinner at Botticelli restaurant again, then up to Level 14 to see if there is a sunset, but we saw something better than a sunset – Australia!!

Turned our phones off Airplane mode and we could check emails, talk to the boys, update Facebook, catch up on the news …

Another music trivia game and it is all done. No more trivia games. No more prizes. I’m sure that we could go to the nightclub and find some action, but …

We need to wind our clocks back another hour tonight to bring us back to Melbourne time (DST), and then we will wind them back another hour tomorrow to bring us back to Queensland time.

We’d put our bags outside our room before dinner and they were gone when we got back tonight. Hopefully we will be reunited with them again when we disembark.

All reports are that it will be cold in Melbourne tomorrow, and the boys tell us it has been stinking hot at home.

One more sleep.

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

I’m feeling pretty pleased with MBW and myself today. We got up early and went to Zumba up on Level 14 by the pool.

Just for full transparency, we didn’t actually do Zumba in the traditional “put on your exercise clothes, get on the mat, work up a sweat” kind of way. It was more of a “sit on a sun lounge, drink some coffee, and eat some danishes” kind of thing while we watched other people do Zumba.

I’m not expecting any heath benefits from doing Zumba this way, but at least we made an effort.

The day was a bit of a repeat of yesterday … nice (mostly) blue skies, sun shining, although the breeze was cool. The seas were a bit rougher today, so we sat on the pool deck listening to the crashing of waves and I was reminded of holidays at Tallebudgera surf beach. Except that the crashing of waves was the water in the pool sloshing from one end to the other and crashing over the edge of the pool.

Some of the braver souls went swimming, while some others – who should have known better – stripped down to their swimming gear and took more than their fair share of the sun’s rays.

I made MBW a nice cup of tea at around 10.30am and ordered a brewed coffee for myself (I told you it was a slow day), and by 12.00noon the magic app said that my coffee had been delivered, yet I have no recollection of receiving it or sense of pleasure from drinking it.

I assume it was delivered to some other lucky soul and I hope that they enjoyed it. Fortunately Jayson – one of the waiters that was hovering around – went and sourced me another.

We tried out the “Slice of Pizza” place on Level 14 for lunch today and it was really good. Then MBW decided that she needed some loaded fries from the hot dog place but I haven’t had much of an appetite since I have been feeling less than 100%, and the bowl she got me was just too rich for my liking.

Sitting out on the open deck just got too cold after a while, so we moved back aft (towards the blunt end) a little and up to the Conservatory on Level 15, where the sound of waves crashing was even louder, but it was warm and sunny out of the wind.

I could write a whole lot of words here, but really not much more happened.

Back to E521 for a nap, and then tonight was formal night so we put on our good clothes and I took MBW out for dinner.

After dinner they had the “Sweet Soul Music” show. Once again … or maybe I’ve only thought it before this … but the Princess singers and dancers put on a better show that the special guests. Sweet Soul Music was a great production with great music and a fabulous performance by the Princess crew.

Another game of trivia, then bed. Only one more sleep after this one and we will be back home!

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

This won’t take long.

It was a beautiful day today. Smooth seas, easy sailing, no being thrown around, blue skies … a simply gorgeous day. Certainly way too good to be at work.

MBW and I found ourselves a nice spot on Level 15 aft (that’s the blunt end of the ship) sundeck and read our books.

Several reasons for that:

• It was a beautiful day
• Masks are not mandatory when outside
• I still wasn’t feeling 100% and outside on the aft deck was probably the safest place – for me and everyone else
• We had nothing else to do and nowhere else to be.

I had a nap right there in my sofa chair on Level 15.

I wish I could be a little more prescriptive about where we are exactly, but I don’t really know. The blue dot (below) will give you an approximate location.

Dinner tonight in Botticelli restaurant at a nice intimate table for two – same reasons as before, just keeping anything that I might have (or might not have) to myself – then we found a quiet corner of Explorer’s Bar to listen to some live music and then participate in a fun game of “10 in 60 seconds”.

You have 60 seconds to figure out and write down (for example) the “top 10 pizza toppings world wide”, or the “top 10 countries with the most billionaires”.

All good clean fun, but then who would have guess that sweet corn is one of the top 10 worldwide favourite pizza toppings?

And that, as they say, is that. Game over, day done, and nothing left to do but go to sleep and prepare to do it all over again tomorrow.

If I had $1 for every time I’ve washed or sanitised my hands in the last couple of days, I could have bought a suite on this ship for MBW.

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

I have a couple of rules about asking questions:

1. Never ask a question unless you already know the answer.

The other is a variation on that:

2. Never ask a question if you don’t want to know the answer.

That’s all that I’m saying, but I’ll leave it to you to connect the dots.

I didn’t sleep well last night. When I went to bed I was shivering uncontrollably, and when I woke in the middle of the night I was lying in a puddle of my own sweat.

By the time I’d taken a tinkle and got back into bed I was shivering again.

Hmmm. That doesn’t seem quite right.

We woke in Auckland today. Funny thing is that one of my work colleagues – herself a native NZ’er – is also in Auckland today on holidays, and it’s her birthday. Happy birthday CK!!

It is unlikely that I will see her though, as Auckland is a big place.

MBW and I completed the normal ablution tasks and headed down to the International Cafe for a light breakfast, ready for a day in Auckland.

Sadly, and likely associated with how I’d felt during the night, I neither felt like breakfast, and nor did I feel like wandering around Auckland. MBW went off to explore Auckland while I went back to bed.

We were only here for several hours – 7.30am to 2.30pm – so I expected that I would miss our last port stop on the trip before we headed back towards Melbourne.

Around 11.00am I awoke feeling (a little bit) better and messaged MBW to see if she was having fun without me, when she walked in the door.

I learned that everything in Auckland is very close … for context for Brisbanites, if you could imagine the cruise ship docking at the Treasury Casino, that’s how close it was to the Queen Street Mall and the centre of the city.

So MBW dumped off all of her purchases and we headed back out for a look-see. It was cool but not cold, and drizzling.

The weather improved enough by the time we got back from a short wander in the city to have a light lunch upstairs in Horizon Court outdoor seating area, then enjoy the fresh air while we sat outside and read our books.

It’s always interesting when we have an “all aboard” at 2.30pm, and at 2.31pm they start calling some passengers by name – I assume that they hadn’t come back on board are were at risk of being left behind.

We stood up on Level 15 and watched the departure from the dock, a 90 degree turn to port (that’s left) and then we sailed out of the harbour.

The Captain came on the PA system with his usual stumbling, “English isn’t my first language but I’ll try to make it funny anyway”, long-winded speech about nothing important, before finally getting to the point – COVID cases have been identified on-board. That is the worst kept secret ever!

So now we are required to wear face masks at all times indoors unless we are eating, drinking, or in our stateroom.

That’s about it. A nice relaxing day and – sadly – our last port of call which means that we are now officially heading home to Melbourne, with 3 sea days ahead of us.

That should be exciting with COVID onboard. On the bright side, we got to wind our clocks back an hour tonight as we prepare to touchdown in Melbourne later in the week, so that means that I will either get an extra hour sleep tonight, or tomorrow with be a 25 hour day.

Or both??

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

Let’s play a game of charades. I’m thinking of a word, 2 syllables.

The word is often written with a number after it; a number between 18 and 20.

Give that some thought and Ill come back to it later.

Today we are in Mount Maunganui and Tauranga, and it was a warm, sunny, beautiful day with a gentle cool breeze. A “this is what it’s going to be like in Heaven” kinda day. The weather site said that we would need one layer and no wind jackets, and it was soooo correct.

Perfect day in paradise. Particularly after cold and windy Wellington, and the “severe weather system” that stopped us from going into Napier.

The Port of Tauranga is next to Mount Maunganui, and the township of Tauranga (population 140,000) is about 20 minutes down the road … and like all townships of approx 140,000 on a Saturday we were told to expect that everything would be closed.

We had our usual light breakfast from the International Cafe, plus coffee, and then we jumped ship and went exploring.

Another NZ friendly town, with lots of volunteers everywhere giving helpful advice and directions, and “Welcome Grand Princess” signs about the place.

The first thing that we found when we stepped off the ship, conveniently located in a little park right beside the wharf was … markets. Markets are a girl’s best friend.

We had a browse around but didn’t see anything for sale that:

• We wanted;
• We could fit in our suitcases; or
• We could smuggle onboard without fear of an invasive full-body cavity search looking for more contraband souvenirs.

Funny how some things are universal … like markets. The same all over the world!

We headed out on a walk to Mount Maunganui to see the view of this lovely beach we have heard about. There was some very low cloud so we couldn’t see much unfortunately, so time for ”Plan B”.

So instead we decided to catch a local bus down to the Bayfair Shopping Centre, because there is a KMart there. That was the logic, anyway.

We wandered the shops and “bought some stuff we needed” (code for “we bought stuff that we didn’t really need”) and decided we didn’t want or feel like hot coffee.

Now there is no need to panic. I know in previous blogs I have been very clear that if you ever hear me order decaf coffee, that it is code that I have been kidnapped and you should call the police.

But the weather was warm, the sun was shining, the people were friendly, and life was good … we thought we would get something cold like an iced coffee frappe.

McDonalds at the Bayfair shopping centre does not have a McCafe – Philistines that they are – so they have nothing remotely like an iced coffee frappe.

Next option was Starbucks. After waiting in line for about 10 minutes and having placed (but not paid for) my order, I was informed that “there was a minimum 20-30 minute delay for all drinks” … so I moved on again.

It shouldn’t be this hard!

Final option was the Coffee Club. They have a range of frappe options, all with multiple ingredients.

• Cookies and cream peppermint frappe.

• Mocha and whipped cream frappe.

• Chocolate chip and white chocolate frappe.

I managed to broker a deal with the lovely girl behind the counter to get an Iced Coffee and Caramel frappe without the caramel. She looked at me (and treated me) like I had just landed from outer space and she had never heard such nonsense before, but she complied.

While we waited, and with the benefit of 4G via our NZ SIM card, we did some WhatsApp calls to the grandkids and got our emotional tanks topped up.

After shopping we went back to the bus stop and waited to go back to Mount Maunganui and the Grand Princess.

Sun shining, birds singing, warm weather and potty mouthed teenagers and we could have been back on holidays at the Gold Coast.

Our bus driver for the trip back was an older, Asian lady who didn’t believe in the “squeeze the accelerator and hold it steady to give your passengers a comfortable trip home” approach to driving a bus. No, she was a subscriber to the “push hard and release the accelerator, push and release, push and release” approach which made her passengers resemble a bunch of bobble-heads as the bus continuously lurched backwards and forwards, and likely used 30% more fuel than it should.

We got back to Mount Maunganui with our heads still attached, took a look at the beach as the fog had lifted by now, and then walked back down a central street towards the cruise ship, checking out souvenir shops along the way.

Back on the ship for lunch, drop off all of our purchases, and into shorts for another quick walk around Mount Maunganui to buy an ice-cream.

MBW has it in her mind that she needs to consume a feijoa-flavoured ice-cream for reasons that I don’t entirely understand, but who am I to stand in the way of this need?

We got ice cream (albeit not feijoa, sadly) and then browsed a couple of second-hand shops to see if we could find some NZ bargains to take home with us. I mean, we regularly take other people’s stuff home from Op Shops – why not another country’s stuff?

Dinner in Botticelli again and a “Best of Britain” show in the Princess Theatre that was very good.

Back in our room for bed, found a plain white envelope on our bed, and it contained 2 face masks. 

I may not be a detective, but that looks like a clue and I reckon I‘ve got it figured out!

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

Angry. That’s the only way that I can describe today’s weather/sea conditions. The Captain wasn’t kidding when he said we were headed for heavy seas.

Those pictures don’t give any real indication of what the sea was like. The waves were smashing into the ship and we were really getting thrown around.

A word of warning: don’t settle in and get too comfortable today, this won’t take long 🙂

Because of the weather, we skipped Napier today and had an unscheduled sea day instead. Considering that we were supposed to spend about 9 hours docked in Napier, I don’t know what we did with all that spare time, but we couldn’t see land all day.

Actually, we couldn’t see anything.

Because we had nothing to do today and all day to do it, we had a bit of a sleep in and went to the Michelangelo restaurant for breakfast. All very civilised.

We were served by a young black South African man – whose name I’m not even going to try to spell – Mduduzi? – who told us that he has only been on the ship for 7 weeks. He trained and studied as a teacher for 5 years including doing his honours, but was unable to get a job as a teacher in South Africa.

So now he is a waiter on a cruise ship and seeing the world.

After breakfast we found a quiet corner on Level 5, had coffee and read our books. We went to the Explorer’s Bar late morning for Taboo (and won!!!), adding another couple of coasters to our prize collection.

A quick word of warning: if you are concerned about me over sharing, it might be best to skip these next couple of paragraphs!

For reasons that will become obvious soon, we decided to have lunch in the Horizon Court today. We walked up from Level 7 to Level 14 and it was rough. Not the walk, the weather. Really rough. The ship was being through around and – according to year 8 physics – the further towards either end of the ship you go, the more that you are thrown around. Something to do with leverage and pivot points, I guess.

So you can only imagine how very bad a decision I made to take a tinkle in the men’s room at the very back of Level 14 with the ship thrashing around like a wild horse in the rough seas. Forget having stage fright at the urinal – I took all of my powers of concentration to clench my core in order to remain upright, while simultaneously relaxing in order to, you know … tinkle. That was a tough gig and could have ended in disaster!

Welcome back to those of you who skipped ahead!!

A light lunch around 12.30 up in Horizon Court and back to our room for a nap.

We were invited to drinks with the Captain and his senior staff at 6.30pm tonight which complicates our standing 5.40pm booking at Botticelli restaurant for dinner – all first world problems, I know – so we cancelled our dinner reservation, and that’s why we went up to Horizon Court for lunch. I suspect that it won’t be just a intimate little soiree with MBW, myself and all of the ship’s executive staff … and I was right. We were there with maybe 300 other “special” guests … and that was the second Captain’s Circle party.

They give away some prizes, free drinks, and announce the passengers with the most “at sea” days. On this cruise, the winner was a couple who have clocked up 1,267 days at sea. By dead reckoning, that tells me that they have sailed for a full month every year for the last 42 years. Or 2 full months/year for the last 21 years.

These people have either too much time on their hands, or too much money. Or perhaps Princess Cruises is a substitute for going into a nursing home?

We went to the 3.00pm afternoon tea which was very nice and then spent a couple more hours reading our books and blogging. Afternoon tea was a substitute for dinner, and just to ensure that we didn’t starve.

After the Captain’s Circle event, we had a very light dinner at the International Cafe and then went to the Princess Theatre for the show – last night’s violin soloist (Christopher Watkins) with an piano accompanist playing Brahms to Broadway.

Very nice.

After that we grabbed some cheese and crackers and coffee, and made our way back to the Explorer’s Lounge for the ABBA Party … which was basically just a whole bunch of geriatrics wiggling and giggling on the dance floor with their wheelie walkers.

One can only take so much of that before someone puts their artificial hip out, so we called it a night … but it’s certainly something to look forward to when we get older.

Tauranga tomorrow, so – weather permitting – it will be nice to get off the ship for the day.

We have noticed that many of the staff are now wearing face masks and passengers are being encouraged to do likewise. Coming back from the ABBA Party tonight, we noticed that many of the staff seemed to be working late washing down walls, handrails and every other surface that they can reach.

That leads me to only one conclusion, and it’s a conclusion that I don’t care for. Me thinks we might have COVID on board 🙁

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022  

Welcome to Wellington. Windy Wellington I think it’s called and I can see why.

Brrr.

Wellington has to be the friendliest of all the NZ cities we have visited so far and we enjoyed the day.

The forecast for today was uncertain. The Captain said to expect inclement weather, so we were prepared.

An early breakfast in the International cafe including a coffee kick-start. Experience has taught us that you never leave home without having had coffee because you never know if or when you will get your next good one.

We disembarked about 9.00am or so and boarded one of the free shuttle busses that did a loop into town and back to the ship at 10-15 minute intervals all day.

Sorry for the poor quality of those photos BTW, they were taken through the tinted window of the Grand Princess.

At the drop-off location in the city we were met by some volunteers who answered our questions, gave us some maps of the city, provided some very useful tips, pointed us in the correct direction, and we set off exploring.

 First thing that we wanted to see was the cable car that takes you to a high point with great views of the city.

Cable cars have a similar effect on me as gondolas, except that gondolas require you to hang suspended over a dangerous drop, while the cable car is firmly on the ground, albeit still going up a steep hill. So I felt a whole lot more comfortable, and much less like I was about to plunge to my death.

And then a funny thing happened. We stepped off the cable car to be met by our (Wellington Point) next-door-neighbour – Alan – who was volunteering as a Wellington local guide.

Except it wasn’t Alan, it was his doppelgänger. Looked like him, spoke like him, had a goatee like him, except his name tag said “Ray”.

Alan from Wellington Point has a doppelgänger named Ray in Wellington.

Spooky!

We had a good look around at the cable car museum, checked out the souvenir shop and took some photos … then took the cable car back to the bottom to start exploring.

There were a few things that we wanted to see (or had been recommended to us) including the Beehive (Parliament House), the wharf and the museum.

Skies were blue but it was very cold and windy in Wellington.

We found the Beehive and took some photos (and then found out later tonight that they do tours of the building but we missed out).

There are lots of beautiful buildings and statues around Wellington, all photo-worthy.

We wanted to see the museum but it was at the other end of town, so we went in search of sustenance (coffee) first and supported the local economy, then kept heading down through the city.

In Brisbane, “Don’t walk” signs are a red LED outline of a man not walking, while the “Walk” sign is a green LED outline of a man stepping out and walking.

In Dunedin and Christchurch, their “Don’t walk” signs are similar to home, but their “Walk” sign is a green animated LED man walking – pretty cool!

In Wellington, the signs are represented by the red LED outline of a Māori man either not doing the Hakka (“Don’t walk”), or a green LED outline of a Māori man doing that Hakka (“Walk”).

We got down to the wharf and took some photos …

… and then circled around and went into the museum. We had been told that the museum is worth visiting and that it has an excellent ANZAC display which we were keen to see, especially as it is the day before Remembrance Day.

Free entry into the museum (really? Nothing is free any more) and we spent a delightful couple of hours looking at all of the different areas of the museum including whole areas on NZ history and immigration into NZ over the last 100 years.

The museum was very busy – I expect that is not uncommon – but there were a number of groups of children there including kindergarten kids, primary school kids and high-school kids. It was interesting to see some of the high school boys wearing traditional Māori school uniforms and sandals.

I mentioned earlier that Wellington has proved to be the most friendly and welcoming city so far.

In Dunedin and Christchurch we encountered a “Locals come first” attitude over and over, while in Wellington there were signs everywhere saying “Welcome Grand Princess”, and volunteer city guides at many of the key locations around the city.

In the museum we overhead a teacher instructing his primary school students that “… there is a cruise ship in town today with hundreds of international guests, so we all need to be on our best behaviour …” 🙂

Nice.

Final stop for the day was the bucket fountain which turned out to be a bust (or we are simply a cultural desert when it comes to bucket fountains) and we headed back to the free shuttle pick up point.

Back to the ship for a late, light lunch and to our cabin for a nap. It was a big walking day today, with both of us clocking up >20,000 steps and we were tired 🙁

Dinner in Botticelli (and another waiter who doesn’t know what a Lemon, Lime and Bitters is … do these people live in caves?) and a show at the Princess Theatre.

Tonight’s show was a violinist (“Fireworks on 4 strings”) who played a range of music from classical Brahms through to AC/DC.

A game show in the Explorer’s Lounge and we were in bed by 10.00pm.

Another great day in a beautiful – and friendly – city, and we consumed enough food to once again feed a small army. I have a working theory that walking 20,000 steps/day and climbing 157 flights of stairs will keep me from putting on too much weight and exploding, but it’s only a theory.

And I confess that I don’t climb 157 flights of stairs every day.

It’s either that or eat less, and I think it’s rude not to eat all three courses for every meal when someone has gone to the trouble of making it for me.

I did ask for my main meal tonight to be a “small serve”, but frankly I think it’s all too little, too late.

The Captain came on a few times during the afternoon/evening to announce that we will not be in Napier tomorrow and that we will have an unscheduled sea day due to the bad weather.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to panic until they put out the vomit bags, then I’ll know that it’s serious.

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022

Another day to go exploring NZ, this time in Christchurch. A day where we saw people at their best, and some people at their … hmmm … no so best.

Today was like a mirror image of yesterday, except rather than being in Dunedin we were in Christchurch, and rather than the weather being cold, it was really warm.

Short-sleeved tee-shirt warm. Wish I’d worn shorts warm.

We were up early again and down at the International Cafe by 8.15 for coffee and a light breakfast. We were off the ship by 9.00 and onto one of the free shuttle busses to Lyttleton – which for the record – is so close to the ship that I could have thrown a rock and hit it.

For reasons that are not entirely clear – but probably safety related – you cannot walk in the terminal area so they shuttle you out to Lyttleton. Once in Lyttleton you have the opportunity to catch a bus into town for the princely sum of $4.20 each way for both of us. That’s a total $8.40 compared to the $70 round trip that Princess so generously* arrange for the passengers.

(*Once again, that was sarcasm. You will learn to recognise it yourself soon).

The only catch is that there are so many people trying to catch public transport, that the busses turn up already overloaded and you cannot get on. If the bus driver does stop, it is only to say “full”; many of them don’t even bother stopping.

So MBW and I used our ninja skills and caught an Uber to the gondola for the princely** sum of NZD$9.15.

(**Not sarcasm. I thought that was pretty reasonable).

The view from the top of the mountain was nothing short of spectacular. Christchurch laid out in one direction with snow-capped mountains in the background, while in the other direction the port and ocean.

If I said that I enjoyed the gondola ride I’d be lying. Hanging suspended while going up a very steep climb did not fill me with a great deal of joy, and it was only worse coming down … feeling like I was only a moment from disaster. But I put my big boy pants on and pretended like I was having fun 🙂

Clearly many people from the cruise feel a similar way to us about paying $70/couple return for an $8.80/couple return trip on public transport. The busses today were packed.

We waited at the bus stop outside the gondola for a good 20 minutes until the #28 bus came along, and it was full to the gills. If you have ever wondered how sardines feel when they are put into that tin, I have a pretty good idea.

The bus was so full in fact, that after a half dozen people got out, the driver apologised that he was STILL overloaded and that we would have to wait for the next bus.

I knew how that was going to end, so we found an alternative route – thanks to the magic of Google Maps – and with just a little bit of bus hopping we got to the city in just two shakes.

Christchurch is a very pretty city with lots of green trees, grass, and a clean river (the Avon) running through the middle of town. Nothing like that disgusting brown quagmire that is the Brisbane River; the Avon is very clean and pretty.

Not much to report here I’m afraid. We walked around and looked at stuff. MBW bought a souvenir apron, we looked at street art, bought some lunch, and decided around 1.30pm that we had seen all that we were going to see, and we we didn’t want to miss the last bus back. We consulted Google Maps and we were back at the bus terminus for the trip home around 2.00pm.

We had to be back onboard the Grand Princess by 5.30pm or we’d be swimming, and given how crowded the busses were going into town, then all things being equal they would be just as bad going back to Lyttleton.

And they were.

When we found the correct bus stop, there were already 40-50 people ahead of us lined up, and when the bus arrived it was like feeding time at the zoo. People – adult people – who should have known better, were pushing and shoving and behaving like wild animals not just to get on the bus, but to get a seat … and then hogging seats for themselves and their bags.

The driver declared that he was full a little while after we got on, with MBW jagging possibly the very last seat on the bus.

Other than being squishy and hot, the drive back to port was uneventful.

We passed a primary school – a place where these poor kids were undoubtedly being taught to speak with a funny accent, and therefore being set up to be picked on for the rest of their lives for saying things like “fush and chups”.

We got back to the ship around 3.30pm, went back through security and back on board. Coffee, chocolate chip cookies (freshly baked) and then MBW announced that we needed to do some washing. Acknowledging that it hasn’t exactly been hot and sweaty weather for most of the trip, a week in the same pair of jeans is probably about the limit before a trip to the laundry is in order.

Washing into two separate machines (it was a quiet afternoon in the Level 8 laundry), and we had 25 minutes to kill before they needed time in the dryer … so back to E521 for MBW to have a bit of a read, and I managed to squeeze in a quick nap.

We have been having dinner in the Botticelli restaurant each night because it is at the back of the ship and most people seem to prefer the other venues. There are many options for meals – Horizon Court on Level 14 which is the buffet, Michelangelo and Da Vinci on Levels 6 and 7, with Botticelli on Level 5. Then there is the International Cafe mid ship Level 5 where you can get food/snacks any time of the day or night, and a pizza place on Level 6 (or level 7???).

Oh, and a burger place on Level 14 near the swimming pool.

Anyhow, the menu at all of the restaurants is the same, and there are two menus each night – the “Princess Favourites” that is available every night and the nightly specials.

So we have a standard booking for 5.40pm at Botticelli and we had dinner at a shared table with 5 others – 2 couples and a single lady.

I think that the ship’s captain must have an unhappy home life. I suspect that he isn’t allowed to speak much at home because when he gets onto the ship’s PA system to make an announcement, he just goes on, and on, and on, and on …

We heard all about the forecast weather for tomorrow, and how it is likely to be cold and windy and that we should expect inclement weather. Why say “inclement weather” when you can just say “rain”?

Blah blah blah blah blah …

There is a chance that if it gets really windy we may not be able to get into some of the upcoming ports.

Blah blah blah blah blah …

Enjoy your dinner and sorry for interrupting … That’s 10 minutes of my life I’ll never get back 🙁

After dinner we went to the Princess Theatre to see the Donna Campbell show. She was the one that did the Dolly Parton show that we saw on the P&O cruise a few weeks ago, but this time she had a different show.

She was OK. She did a better job that I could’ve done, but she just seemed to take herself too seriously. But that’s OK, it was a fun night with a few songs that you could sing along to.

We closed out the evening with coffee and a music trivia night in the Explorer’s lounge. All good fun, made better by the fact that we won a game and got a free Princess water bottle. Yay for us!!

Tonight is our last night on the South Island of NZ and overnight we head further north towards Wellington for the day tomorrow. Sailing out of Lyttleton there was a freight ship coming in. If you’ve ever wondered about the phrase ”passing like ships in the night”, hopefully this will explain it for you.

And that, as they say, is that. Bed, sleep, and do it all over again tomorrow in Wellington.

I could get used to this.

TTFN

G&KDoNZ2022

Lots of news today. Lots of exciting things happened, plus I am going to come clean about a dirty little secret, and there will be a quiz …

Today was very exciting because not only did we see land, we got to walk on it! Dunedin was our port destination for today.

And not only did we get to walk on solid ground, but we were able to get internet access!

We started the day in the usual way – wake, perform all of the usual administrative tasks, go for breakfast. Rather than going up to Horizon Court today, we went down to the International Cafe and just had coffee and some fruit and yoghurt.

We activated our NZ SIM card on the 2 degrees network, and we were once again complete. (You obviously know this fact already, because you received three days of blog updates all come in at once!)

We had already docked at Port Chalmers (like the Port of Brisbane, but they make it hard by not calling it the Port of Dunedin).

Some of the ports where we will be stopping have a free shuttle bus to town due (I believe) to ongoing earthquake damage, meaning that they do not want people walking around at the port. Other ports are so close to the town centre that you can easily walk there.

The only option that we had here to get from Port Chalmers to downtown Dunedin was to take the shuttle bus for the very reasonable* cost of $35 each return.

(*sarcasm)

We were determined not to spend that much, even if it meant splitting a cab with people that we didn’t know.

We got off the ship, went through immigration/customs and got ourselves into the port terminal. We found a lady and enquired about how to get to town, and we were advised that there is a regular bus service that runs every hour for the grand sum of … wait for it … $1.50/person each way. 

If you do the math, that’s $6.00 return for the two of us. If you do more math, that is $64 less that Princess offer a shuttle bus.

We had a bit of a wander around Port Chalmers, saw the bus coming, and queued up behind (maybe) 30-40 other people – tourists like us – and waited to get on the bus.

By the time about 35 of the people before us had got on the bus, the lady driver said she could not take any more passengers (even though the bus was only half full) because “locals come first”.

Welcome to Dunedin!

Fortunately another “Out of Service” bus pulled in right behind her, and he was more than willing to fill his bus to the gills and take the rest of us into the city.

Still traumatised by the “where did we park our car” experience in Melbourne, we make absolutely sure that we got a place mark in Google Maps for where we caught the bus back home, and went off exploring … for coffee 🙂

My mobile phone has a feature set called “WiFi Calling” which means that you are making calls using the internet (or more specifically the data on your phone). When you have this feature set and you are connected to WiFi, I found that my phone works as though it is in Australia – I can dial an Australian number and it sees the call as coming from my Australian mobile number.

“So what?” you ask? So you don’t need international roaming on your phone. You just need to connect to WiFi and you can make and receive calls normally.

Who would’ve thunk?

One of the most photographed buildings in NZ is the railway station building. Now that we were again caffeinated, we went off in search of this national treasure …

… and we found it, all wrapped up because it was getting work done on it.

Bugger. But we took photos anyway.

We had been to the local tourist information centre and been given some things to see in Dunedin, and the next place on the list was the Settlers Museum – a museum of all things historically Dunedin.

From there it was just a wander around town. There was nothing of particular interest that we wanted to see in Dunedin – just walk around a get a feel for the place.

We found the Octagon – which is the main hub of the CBD – and got our bearings from there.

Down the Main Street/mall and we found a Farmers (like a Myer), and this is where the dirty little secret comes out. I went looking for a new pair of chinos, because the ones that I brought with me on the cruise seem to have shrunk 🙁 I needed something that was a better, more comfortable fit.

We found a bakery and bought a light lunch and sat in the sunshine enjoying it.

The forecast for Dunedin today was a top of around 13-15 degrees, so we wisely wore layers. We both wore a long-sleeved tee-shirt with another shirt/hoodie over the top and our puffer jackets for when it got really cold.

They lied. It may have only been 15 degrees, but walking around town in the sunshine, we carried our jackets and other outer clothes for most of the day.

With limited ability to get around and with the looming threat of the Grand Princess sailing without us if we were late back, we decided to head back to the Octagon to catch the #14 bus back to Port Chalmers.

Now, here is the quiz. When is a Woolies not a Woolies? When it is …

… a Countdown.

We found the bus stop and there were already maybe 40-50 people queued up to catch it, so we had a realistic expectation that we would be waiting another hour for the next one … but when the driver arrived he happily took our $3.00, we all crammed in, and he even picked up more passengers on the way.

Back at Port Chalmers by about 3.00pm for coffee and a bite of (late) lunch and we headed back to our cabin to take advantage of the internet access while we were still docked and caught up on emails and news.

We pulled out from Port Chalmers around 5.15pm, sailed back out into the open sea and turned left (north) towards our next stop tomorrow of Littletown/Christchurch.

MBW read her book for a while while I had my customary afternoon nap, and we got  dressed for dinner in Botticelli restaurant again.

We had dinner at a shared table tonight, with Mary and David, and Carmella and Joe – all Melbournites.

Nathan Foley was the show in the Princess Theatre again tonight, and while he is not bad – a bit like John Farnham – it feels like he is trying too hard. Apparently he got his name in Hi5, the kids music group. He certainly got the crowd going, and once again sang all of the hits from the ‘50s through to the ‘80s.

Well, maybe not all of the them, but 45 minutes worth 🙂

The captain came over the PA system this afternoon telling us that a blood moon was occurring between 10.00pm and 11.15pm tonight and the weather forecast was favourable for viewing it.

A blood moon is when there is a total eclipse of the moon, with the Earth directly in line between the Sun and the Moon.

We were blessed with a spectacular sunset tonight after dinner, with the sky changing from purple to pink to orange, so we stood out on the back deck of Level 7 until it all got a bit too cold.

After dinner and coffee we tracked down a trivia night that was just our speed and speciality: Billy Joel and Elton John trivia where you get a bit of a song and you needed to identify it. If MBW and I have a speciality, this has to be it!

15 out of 20 was not too shabby and made us feel like winners, even if we didn’t (win).

Christchurch tomorrow. Another opportunity to disembark and walk around the city and see the sights. It should be another nice day!

TTFN

#G&KDoNZ2022