Cruise #5: New Caledonia and Vanuatu

A milestone cruise!  A new embarkation port! Three new ports to explore!  This one feels special already.

Day 48: Melbourne

Today was another very hot and sunny day, but it didn’t slow us down (too much). We had considered a couple of different options today- taking an all day van tour along the Great Ocean Road, and taking an hour long ferry ride to the coastal town of Portarlington, but, in the end, there were still so many things we wanted to see in Melbourne that we decided to just stay in town. We started the day around 9am by walking all along Victoria Harbour toward the south (we walked along it to the north yesterday), and then crossed the Webb pedestrian bridge over the Yarra River. That bridge is shaped liked a Koori eel trap. Because of course it is. Melbourne architecture is either creative or crazy.  I’m not sure which. As visual proof, I offer a few photos. 

We saw these wooden structures from our apartment. We thought that they were freight containers that had fallen off of something. What rubes we are!  They’re art!

We thought this one was falling into the water when viewed from our apartment. 

Our building. It must have been too boxy, so slopes were added to the roof. 

I wasn’t kidding when I said they had scalloped buildings. 

And that solar panel on top the building on the

 left is a wild thing.  It raises and angles throughout the day to best capture the energy of the sun. 

Construction cranes everywhere. 

The Webb pedestrian bridge. Because straight is so boring. ;-)

After four hours of walking we boarded a tram to take us a few blocks to Chinatown. We always enjoy walking through Chinatown areas, and Melbourne’s was no exception. The grocery stores alone are fascinating. About 1pm we stopped for lunch (Chinese, natch), and then continued on to the Chinese Museum, which was fantastic. It is divided into three main exhibitions:  Finding Gold, which traces the arrival of the Chinese to Australia during the Good Rush in the 1850s, including a model of a ship on which they would have traveled from Canton ; Dragon Gallery (amazing, with three of the large dragons that are carried during the Chinese New Year celebrations); and Chinese Australian culture. A special exhibit is currently being displayed on the Han Dynasty. This reminded me a great deal of the Shanghai Museum in China, one of the best museums I’ve ever visited. The Chinese Museum is spread over several floors, and we were there until it closed for the day. Fascinating!

But it was nearly 5pm by then, and we were hot and tired. We walked back to Bourke Street and caught Tram 86 (standing room only at that time of day) back to the Docklands and our apartment. We stripped off clothes and threw them in the washer and showered and even washed our Teva sandals before we settled down to eat peanut butter on crackers for dinner. We have just cereal left for tomorrow morning; our food purchases are working out well. 

Unfortunately, it is supposed to be very rainy tomorrow.  I’ve seen a forecast of over 3 inches of rain. Luckily, we only have to go from here to the Golden Princess at Station Pier. Our plan was to take trams but Uber might be a better alternative. 

Also, I’ve added photos to the blog posts from October 26 through November 19 (Port Chalmers / Dunedin). The rest may have to wait until Hawaii; this WiFi, though free and unlimited, is not especially fast. But we have sure enjoyed using it!

Day 47: Melbourne

During our short stay in Melbourne, we are so enjoying taking advantage of all the things that a cruise is not: no schedule, no dress code, no time pressure about missing the ship, good TV entertainment, unlimited WiFi, unlimited WiFi, unlimited WiFi. However, we also have to forage for food, take out the trash and make one towel each last us three days...or until we do a load of laundry. It’s a different, but welcome experience after six weeks at sea. 

We walked into our combined living room/kitchen/dining area this morning to this view. 

The Docklands area with the Bolte Bridge, the longest cantilever bridge in Australia over the Yarra River in the background. 

This area and that view are why we booked this apartment; despite the fact that we happily cruise in inside cabins for months at a time, we like our hotels to have views (even at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti in Papeete we had a view of the harbor). This entire Docklands area is very safe and very walkable, with shopping and restaurants all along the water. However, the architecture is definitely different. There is no such things as a boxy building. Here, buildings lean and curve and scallop. G calls it DUI architecture: Designing Under the Influence. 

A Google Maps Street View of our building. It looks like it was built from Legos.

It is a mixed use building, with just a handful of apartments mixed in with small offices. 

We ate breakfast overlooking that view. What you can’t see in the photo are the trams that run right in front of our building. In fact, there is a stop just 30 seconds from our front door. From Wikipedia:

Trams are a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of 250 kilometres (160 miles) of track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops. It is the largest urban tramway network in the world, ahead of the networks in St Petersburg (205 km), Upper Silesia (200 km), Berlin (190 km), Moscow(181 km) and Vienna (172 km). Trams are the second most used form of public transport in overall boardings in Melbourne after the commuter railway network, with a total of 204 million passenger trips in 2016-17.

Source:  Wikipedia-Trams in Melbourne

All tram rides within the CBD are free of charge. Even better, there is a narrated tram called the City Circle (Route 35) that runs clockwise and counter-clockwise on an hour-long route around the center part of the city. We started our day by riding this tram around the loop and then disembarking near the Flinders Street Railway station where we walked on the pedestrian paths along the Yarra River. We had booked an hour-long cruise on a City River Cruise through the Port of Melbourne and the Docklands to get a perspective of the area from the water. 

It was 1:30pm by the time we returned to the apartment and the temperature was 95 degrees on its way to a high of 97. While we were on or along the water it was bearable but as soon as we were walking to and waiting for a tram, it felt like an oven. As predicted, we stayed in our apartment until about 6pm (interneting wildly) when we took a tram just three stops to the nearest Coles Supermarket, and that’s when it really hit me. Melbourne- at least this part of Melbourne- is a really young city. At home there is a wide range of ages, so I never really take note of them.  On these Golden Princess Cruises, I am probably at or under the median age.  But at that supermarket today I was a full generation older than the average shopper. And they were a very international group of mostly Asian and Indian backgrounds. 

We picked up the items we’ll need for our last three cruises - more hand wipes, gum, mouthwash and toothpaste, protein bars for excursions- and ice cream and beer, because G was wanting some in all this heat. Heavily laden, we figured out where to catch a return tram (not easy, as it’s rarely in the same place we get off one) and returned to the apartment before the ice cream melted (barely). At almost 7pm it was still in the very high 80s. But the sun soon lost its most intense heat, and we walked around the marina area, grabbing Subway sandwiches for dinner, which we ate while we watched sunset from our apartment. 

Tomorrow is forecasted to be almost as hot, with Friday being much cooler (low 80s) and very stormy. Oh boy. Schlepping our backpacks and purchases back to the Golden Princess at Station Pier via trams could be a challenge. 

Day 46: Sydney to Melbourne

It wasn’t too hard getting up when the alarm went off today at 5am today; gaining two hours over the last three nights certainly helped. It was much warmer and lighter when the Golden Princess sailed past the North and South Heads at the entrance to Sydney Harbour than it had been over a month ago on our first turnaround day. The warmer part is nice, but we missed those gorgeous ‘sunrise over the Sydney Opera House’ photos too. Our arrival was definitely a bittersweet moment. We do love Sydney, and, in a perfect world, the Golden Princess would have continued to use the city as a home port for the rest of this season.

After breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet (always busy on turnaround day morning), we used Uber to get to the Sydney Airport ($29AUD) and by 10am were using a kiosk to print out our boarding passes. Going through security in other countries is always a mystery; our photo IDs were never once matched to our boarding passes and the agents looked at me like I was crazy when I placed my quart-sized bag of liquids on the conveyor belt. OK, so things are a little more laid back in Australia...the same country that won’t allow us to repeatedly get off and on a ship on turnaround day. ;-)

This was our first experience with Jetstar, Quantas’ budget affiliate airline. Well, it couldn’t have been easier or nicer. While I had stressed over the weight of my backpack, even filling my water bottle just half full after going through security to reduce its weight, we were never once asked to weigh our bags.  We got nothing (not even water) for free onboard, but for an hour flight, that’s not a huge hardship. The plane and seats were comfortable and the price (around $50 USD per person) was certainly right. We were quite pleased, and hopeful that our 10.5 hour flight from Melbourne to Honolulu in January will be as successful. 

Flying from Sydney to Melbourne was a treat. At one point, not long after we left Sydney, we could still see Australia’s eastern coastline, and there was just one long curved beach after another, as far as we could see. And then, after we passed the capital of Canberra, I could have believed we were flying over Kansas or Nebraska or Oklahoma. It was dry and rural, with occasional gently rolling hills. 

The Melbourne airport is modern and nice, and we purchased tickets ($18AUD per person) for the SkyBus that dropped us right in front of the apartment we had rented in the Docklands area in less than 30 minutes. We had visited the apartment building to get a look at it and the surrounding area last month, but didn’t know until today how nice our unit is. We did get a unit with a marina view, and it is fantastic. We are on the top floor and the tonight’s sunset was right outside the large floor to ceiling windows in our living room. We have a small kitchen and even a washer and dryer right in our apartment. And cable TV with DVR and a large shower and a king-sized bed...life is good. :-)

G turned the TV on to see NCIS was just starting, and I lost him for a couple of hours, but when he finally had his fill of real TV, we walked to a Cole’s Supermarket about a half mile away and got a few things for breakfasts and snacks and returned them to the apartment. We then walked along the marina area checking out the restaurants with their sidewalk cafes and found one that met both our needs and dined outside as we watched boats and yachts come and go. 

I’m not certain of our plans for tomorrow. It is supposed to be really hot, and we may curtail our sightseeing in the afternoon and instead go out before and after the intense heat of the day. Something tells me that some TV time in an air conditioned apartment might feel really good when the 95 degree heat is radiating off of all this big city concrete. 

Day 45: At Sea

Before I type another word, I must mention something I keep forgetting to tell you, that the Golden Princess has begun to look a lot like Christmas. Three days ago in Auckland, professional decorators came on board for the day and, by the time we returned to the ship after our day in port, it was transformed into a holiday wonderland, with countless trees and swags and lights and wreaths. I’ve gotten fairly used to spending Christmases at sea, but I never fail to appreciate the decorations that appear without needing to find storage tubs in the basement, carry them upstairs, untangle lights and cords and set everything up, and then dig the outdoor decorations out of the snow in January. 

However, the decorating this year did catch us totally off guard. Without the usual Thanksgiving celebration, it was akin to seeing the first Christmas tree appear in a store in mid-September. 

Back to today...

The fantastic weather we enjoyed most of this cruise is continuing right to the end. We are currently cruising directly west into Sydney, and it is now warm enough at this latitude that we can comfortably sit outside and use pools and hot tubs. Moreover, there has been little wind and minimal swells, and we can scarcely tell we are at sea, let alone the Tasman Sea. 

For all our cruising, we have never yet mastered the art of the ‘final sea day as the last day of a cruise’. Oh, we’re fine when we’re not getting off at the end of the cruise; it’s when we are that it seems like the day revolves around packing. Part of it, of course, is that we arrive with so much stuff (though, truly, I don’t think three pairs of slacks, three pairs of shorts and four pairs of shoes for four months is too awfully much).  But most of problem is the stuff we my husband accumulates along the way, like brochures and maps (because we’ll be returning to most of these ports next month, doncha know?), and Patters (I’ve resolved these won’t make the final cut when we fly to Hawaii) and Logs of the Cruise and Captains Circle pot pourri like photos and menus, which, God help us, we do still take home with us. 

So why, you might ask, are we inflicting this pain on ourselves?  While that very question was open to much debate over the summer, we know it’s the right thing to do and, in fact, a semi-purge of the contents of our cabin after 6 weeks is actually a helpful thing in the long run. 

The next cruise is a three-day repositioning from Sydney to Melbourne. Two days at sea and a lot of partying. The fact that there are no ports was alone enough to disincline us from taking that cruise. Couple that with the fact that we really wanted to spend some additional time in Melbourne (let’s face it, the two turnaround days we’ll have there, because of the Australian rule only allowing us to get off and on the ship one time, won’t give us much opportunity for sightseeing) and the fact that the short cruise was never included in any promotional pricing, so those three days would have been the most expensive three days of our entire winter...well, choosing to disembark the Golden Princess tomorrow, fly to Melbourne and then rejoin the ship there on December 1 was actually quite easy. Packing up today, not so much. 

It helped a great deal that we were able to watch Sunday NFL games on TV while we were in the cabin, especially that exciting Steelers-Packers game. We’ve seen precious little football this fall, which, considering how our Broncos are doing, is probably for the best, and I can’t say I’ve missed it too awfully but it was a nice distraction today. 

We went to British Pub Lunch in the Crown Grill, and debated where to go for dinner (we had already packed all our dinner clothes), but we get pulled in by the last night’s  dinner festivities every time. We have now mastered nearly all the words to Waltzing Matilda and can Aussie-Aussie-Aussie Oy-Oy-Oy with the best of them. And the photos of G Chicken Dancing with our waiters are always priceless. 

The entertainment tonight consisted of the finals of The Voice in the Princess Theater and comedian George Casey in the Vista Lounge. G is out listening to George rip on wives while I am going to happily use up our remaining internet minutes. We move clocks back another hour tonight, and I want to be up on the open decks for our very last sail into Sydney Harbour. 

Day 44: At Sea

I am starting this post while sitting in the Princess Theater waiting for vocalist Chris Powley’s second show. I’ll likely finish it here, too, because we enjoyed a highly restful but completely unremarkable day, and his will be short tonight. 

Despite moving clocks back an hour last night (as we will again tonight), I slept until 7:30am and woke feeling not at all rested. Luckily, there was nothing I needed to do today, and I even took a day of rest when it came to exercise. I met up with G in the Horizon Court Buffet (cereal, fruit and soy milk) where he announced that he wanted to get at least one suitcase- what we call the ‘common’ or beach suitcase- packed today. I was all for that; I knew that sorting through paperwork and pamphlets and maps would be a time consuming process and it would be nice to get it out of the way today.

By the time we finished packing that first suitcase, it was 12:30pm and we were getting hungry. We first went to the Canaletto Dining Room but I had not special ordered anything for lunch and one look at the menu told me that I’d be limited to a lettuce salad. I was hungrier than that, so we went to the Horizon Court Buffet where I had a multitude of vegan options. 

Still feeling slow, we returned to the cabin where we read and watched TV and I even napped for about 15 minutes. That was all I needed; I woke feeling more rested than I had in days. Tonight was the Captains Circle parties for this cruise, and we were honored to be the most traveled guests. We have been donating our award bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne back for an additional drawing (after the three bottles of Korbel are given away) at each party, and this time it was won by a couple who live less than a 45 minute drive from us. On this ship with around 150 Americans, who would have thunk it?

I haven’t mentioned the new boxes that are being gifted instead of the crystals now because I haven’t actually seen them yet. There is no way I can take home multiple boxes, and may select one at most before we disembark for good, but I’m waiting until after our return on December 1 to make a decision on that. If I do take one, I’ll post a photo of it. Like I’ve said, I was simply thrilled to get a crystal I didn’t yet have, and that was done on our first cruise. 

A shrimp menu item was adapted for me tonight at dinner, and made into a stir fry served with extra veggies and no white rice. Honestly, it’s better than having a personal chef working in conjunction with a personal nutritionist. I may starve in Melbourne (or eat junk), and will be anxious to return to the variety of nutritious food I get on the Golden Princess. 

And that brings me up to tonight’s show, which will start in a few minutes.

Our weather today was cloudy but mild, and our smooth seas are the talk of the ship. Honestly, if we had thought that Crossing the Ditch could be as pleasant as this, we wouldn’t have waited eleven years to return to this part of the world. 

Day 43: Bay of Islands

You can tell I’m slipping a bit. It might take me a day or two, but I’m spotting blatantly stupid errors in my blog posts. On one post, my day count was off by ten(!). On another, I titled and tagged the post with the wrong port name.  And last night I explained that it was my second time in Auckland, and then proceeded to tell you what I had done on my first two visits.

At dinner tonight, we told Albert and Gedde to wake us up if we fell asleep at the table. A few minutes later, a younger-than-me lady at the very next table fell asleep over her menu. Her table mates just proceeded with their dinner, and she finally woke up when their appetizer plates were being cleared. We get it. We’re all wiped out by the pace of this cruise and the level of activity in the ports. Two glorious sea days lie ahead, with an hour gained back each night, and we are very thankful indeed. 

I slept until 8am this morning, and, in our excitement to start our day, skipped breakfast altogether and packed a granola bar in my bag. We tendered over to the Waitangi pier, and then took a free shuttle about two miles to the village of Paihia. This region of New Zealand, called the Northland, is home to the area known as the Bay of Islands, the birthplace of New Zealand. It is comprised of 144 islands, none of them very large and some of them as small as a large rock. 

Maori legends tell the story of Kupe, the great Polynesian navigator who arrived from the mythical home land of the Maori, Hawaiiki, over 1000 years ago. In 1760, Captain Cook became the first European to sail into the bay, and the town of Russell was the first European settlement and the first capital of New Zealand. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi recognized Maori ownership of their lands and other properties and gave them rights as British citizens while Britain gained all of New Zealand. 

Our welcoming committee

Paihia is a launching point for several land and boating activities in the area. Though the day was largely overcast, it was also fairly warm and there was little wind. We thought a boat excursion that took us out among the islands (and that would allow us to sit as the scenery came to us) was a good choice for the day, so, at the tourist center where the shuttle bus dropped us off we signed up for the 11am Cliffs and Caves trip ($75 NZD / $50 USD per person)  That gave us just over a couple of hours to explore the area on foot, and we took a shuttle bus back to the historic Waitangi Treaty grounds, where we enjoyed learning more about the document that basically established the country of New Zealand. 

We chose to walk back to Paihia then, and arrived just in time for our 11am tour. Our boat was a sleek, 29-passenger high speed boat, not a jet boat, but one which traveled over 40mph over the water. We had to wear the lightest of life vests, basically just a harness, and sat in molded seats which made the ride more comfortable. Over the course of the 2 1/2 hour tour, we stopped (but stayed on the boat) at eight different islands, including one with a sea cave that the boat pulled into. The water in there was the brightest blue color and it reminded me a great deal of the sea caves we had seen in Malta last year. 

Black Rocks (map above)

Black Rocks



Marsden Cross

At Roberton Island (Motuarohia in Maori), the boat pulled up close to the beach and stairs were lowered for us to go ashore. This is the island where Captain Cook anchored the Endeavour offshore and is the first place he stepped in New Zealand. We had to take off our shoes and socks and roll up pants to wade through about ankle deep water to reach the beach. From there, we walked up a trail to the top of the island and an overlook with gorgeous views. 

Motuarohia Island

This is where things got tough. The path was narrow and steep, and tree roots acted as quasi-steps until it got even steeper and 2x10s were anchored sideways in the dirt to shore up dirt stairs carved out of the hillside. It was when I resorted to using four points of contact to pull myself up tree roots that I thought “Bloody bloody hell! Gosh darn it!” and wondered how a boat ride had turned into this. Still, I persevered to the top, where the views were spectacular and I could imagine standing right where James Cook had stood nearly 300 years ago and took heart in the fact that he had made many later visits to New Zealand and so must have gotten down alive. But the downhill is always the worst, and this downhill was no exception. Stick a fork in me; I was so done. 

But the views were great!

We returned to the dock in Paihia about 1:45pm and shuttled back to the tender pier. The last tender left at 3:15pm, so it was an early day anyway, but there was no question of doing anymore sightseeing. I had eaten only a granola bar all day, I was hungry and I was tired. The tender ride was long, and it was a relief to step back on the ship and return to our cabin about 2:45pm. 

We got cleaned up and were in the Horizon Court Buffet for sail away at 4pm. The views of the many islands and inlets lasted for hours, even after we finished dinner in the Bernini Dining Room and went to the 6:45pm Vista Lounge performance of the Blues Brothers Tribute show. It was fantastic, and gave me a boost of energy to get this post prepared. We sat on the Terrace Deck for a few minutes after the show and watched still more scenery go by, returning to our cabin when the sun set (if we had been able to see it) around 8pm. 

We can afford to be lazy tomorrow, and I predict this will be a very quiet ship in the morning. However, the next day we will need to be more industrious. We are temporarily leaving the Golden Princess during our next turnaround (we call it our vacation) and need to pack up our cabin.  And after nearly six weeks on the ship, that may take some time!

Day 42: Auckland

What a full and wonderful day we’ve had! It started by getting Thanksgiving greetings from home and ended half a world away with a Maori folkloric show in the Princess Theater. And, in between, we had several high points, too much walking, a history lesson and a revolving meal. 

First, though, I must amend last night’s post for the benefit of Cheryl, an Australian reader who has kept us well supplied with ideas for things to do in these ports. The best part is that, after years of reading this blog, Cheryl knows us as well as we know ourselves, and has suggested perfect ways for us to spend our days. However, we keep running into trouble with the details.  The Hot Springs Hotel in Savusavu was under renovation, the Casino supermarket in Noumea was closed the Sunday we were there and we had a misty day on Mystery Island.  It’s kind of become a joke between us.

Yesterday, Cheryl suggested a swim in the hot salt water pool at the base of Mt. Maunganui after we hiked around the mountain (notice she said around, not up, but, when one is married to G, it’s always up). So we schlepped swimwear and towels in a backpack up that darn mountain.  Well, I schlepped them to the mountain but happily relinquished my backpack to G when the going got tough toward the top. I stayed motivated, though, because I knew good things awaited us at the bottom. Well, after we walked (slipped) back down, we walked a little out of our way to where the pool was...and discovered it was closed for renovation from 11/8 to 11/24. If I hadn’t been so tired, it would have been laughable. 

This morning we were up at a respectable hour only because we had skipped all entertainment last night and went to bed early. After a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet (I’m still on the apple wedges, peanut butter and pumpkin seeds kick), we walked off the ship wearing just shorts and Ts. It was a beautiful day, mostly sunny and warm and just a tad humid. In Auckland, the Golden Princess docks right next to the ferry terminal and near the city center, just in front of the Maritime Museum. It couldn’t be easier. 

This was my third visit to Auckland. On my first visit, I took the America’s Cup sailing excursion offered through Princess. Auckland is known as the City of Sails, so that seemed appropriate. The second visit, G and I did what is known as the Coast to Coast Walk, a 16km (10 mile) hike across the city (hence, we walked across New Zealand!) from the Tasman Sea to the Pacific Ocean. It’s not just the length that makes it tough; the route passes five volcanic sites, including Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), the largest and most complex volcanic cone fortress in the Southern Hemisphere. The summit is 183 meters high and the C2C Walk passes right over it. Oh boy. Fortunately, we were much younger then.

There was no question that the C2C was not on the agenda today. Once again, we thought that a boat/ferry ride was a fine way to start the day, and so we walked over to the visitor information center (called i-Sites in New Zealand) in the ferry terminal next door to check out our options. We kept hearing from other passengers on the Golden Princess about the historic bayside village of Devenport, located on the North Shore just across the harbor from Auckland, and purchased a package that included round trip ferry tickets for the 12-minute ride (the price of these if purchased alone would be $12.50 NZD) plus an hour long small bus tour around Devenport, including being DRIVEN (yay) to the top of two volcanic cones. The price of the package was $40 NZD ($28 USD) per person. The tour and rides to the top of the volcanos were definitely worth the extra $27.50 NZD per person. 

The Auckland skyline

We arrived in Devenport by 9:45am, and spent the next 90 minutes walking around the waterfront, taking in all the Victorian architecture and beautiful trees and flowers. One tree in particular drew our attention; it had green leaves and large clusters of white buds that open into red pom-pom shaped flowers. The tree is a New Zealand Pōhutukawa, also called a New Zealand Christmas tree.

By 11:25am we were ready to sit down for awhile, and boarded the Devenport Explorer for an hour tour around the village. Our driver had lived in Devenport his entire life and was an encyclopedia of the history and geology of the village, as well as the exorbitant prices of the beautiful Victorian homes we’d been admiring ($2.5M NZD doesn’t go far here). 

What traveler doesn’t love old travel posters?

Those crazy-expensive Victorian homes

Our first stop was North Head, a volcanic cone that had been used by the military as a coastal defense installation since the late 1800s when the Russians started making aggressive moves in the South Pacific. In addition to providing panoramic views of Auckland and the Waitematā Harbour, we were able to explore the old bunkers and tunnels left behind. Spooky, but interesting. 

Click here for for information on North Head and its military significance

View of our next stop, Mt. Victoria, from North Head




Kind of spooky, but I was game

Still going

This is where it lost me. Definitely contraindicated with claustrophobia!

Another stop was Mt. Victoria, the highest volcano on Auckland’s North Shore, 87m high. It was a pure pleasure to drive up both of these volcanos.  We saw a few people walking up the road, but seriously, walking up a paved road to the top of a 260-foot high volcano is a whole different sport than what we tackled yesterday. Mt. Victoria offered views of the Waitematā Harbour but also the opposite direction to the inner Hauraki Gulf. Over the years, the peak and upper slopes of Mt. Victoria housed a signal station, artillery emplacements including a disappearing gun and concrete military bunkers. 

WW2 US Army hospital 
 

This is what an uphill climb should look like. ;-)


Disappearing gun at Fort Victoria

Click here for information on Mount Victoria

Relief map of Auckland Harbour

One of many float planes taking Grand Cayman and landing in Auckland Harbour 

Our tour returned us back to the ferry terminal about 12:30pm, and we had a decision to make then. There were several sidewalk cafes along the waterfront in Devenport where we could have had lunch, but we really wanted to take the ferry back to Auckland and walk to the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. We had tried this morning to make a reservation online for lunch at its revolving restaurant but there were none available. We thought we’d try again in person and, at a minimum, pay to simply go up to the observation deck. It wasn’t too far from the cruise ship, and, along the way, we stopped at another underground grocery store (we’re getting used to them) where we saw half the crew stocking up, and purchased some potato chips for G and a water bottle for me. 

From a pass through a grocery store...streaky bacon. 

The Sky Tower may have been only a few blocks back and a few blocks over from the cruise ship, but bloody hell darn it, those few blocks over on Victoria Street were uphill. Again. It had been a long time since breakfast, and I think we were both fading a little, but, hallelujah, once we arrived at the Sky Tower, we were able to get a table immediately for a late lunch in Orbit 360° Dining. Dining in the restaurant makes perfect financial sense;  a ticket to go up to the Observation Deck is $29 NZD per person. However, if one spends $30 NZD on lunch in Orbit 360° Dining (one deck higher), there is no charge to go to the Observation Deck or another lookout even higher. Sold!

Looking up up up

Auckland Town Hall

Auckland Harbour, the Golden Princess and Devenport in the near distance

The Auckland Harbour Bridge

We were seated at a table for two right next to the window and chose to order the $55 NZD two course lunch (I had a scallop starter and a salmon entree; G had a filet mignon entree and a dark chocolate dessert). The restaurant made on complete revolution each hour and we went around about twice, offering us perfect views of the Golden Princess, the Tasman Sea, the path of the Coast to Coast Walk we did 11 years ago and Devenport, including North Head and Mt. Victoria. And, a plus...unlike so many of those ‘revolving’ restaurants, the food was fantastic (it definitely made the cruise ship food we’ve been enjoying taste like family fare). 

Starter

Salmon

G’s dessert

Also available at the Sky Tower (for a crazy amount of money, like $200-$300 NZD per person): a tethered walk around the outside of the tower on an open 4-foot ledge (no railings) and also the ability to jump off the top, anchored by a wire.  It was kind of disconcerting to look up from the bottom and see a person spread eagle rushing toward the ground. 

Harnessed up

It was nearly 4:30pm when we left the Sky Tower, and,  while walking DOWN the hill that is Victoria Street we stopped to watch another extreme activity, a three-person chair attached by rubber bands to a crane-type support on each side. The people would be belted in, the rubber bands would be stretched, the chair released, and - BOING - the chair rocketed up and then ricocheted down and up several times. New Zealand was the origin of many extreme activities like bungee jumping and jet boating, so these sorts of adventures are very popular here. 

But could it stretch me out after too many nights on a too-soft Princess Luxury Bed?

We returned to the ship at 5pm after an 8-hour and 15000 step day, and let the headwaiters in the Bernini Dining Room know that we wouldn’t be using our table tonight. Instead we got cleaned up and went to the 6:30pm performance in the Princess Theater by the Haka Folkloric Group. We remembered this from 11 years ago, and, once again, it was excellent. I insisted on sitting in the front row, ostensibly to get good photos of the dancers doing the Haka battle ‘dance’, bulging their eyes and sticking out their tongues, but G was instantly suspicious when the bare chested male dancers wearing just black bikinis covered with fur loin cloths appeared in front of us (right in front of us!). Oh yeah, I forgot about that part. ;-)

Demonstrating the hongi, the traditional Maori greeting

Click here for information on the hongi

Maori poi balls

Click here for information on poi balls in Maori culture

Playing Maori games meant to prepare them for battle

Click here for information on the Maori Haka, the traditional war dance.  

We weren’t especially hungry after that huge lunch, but G grabbed a piece of pizza and dessert from the Buffet and I had broccoli and a wonderful lentil salad and it was still warm enough outside to eat on the Terrace Deck. We sat there until sail away at 8pm, but once the Golden Princess started making its way out of Waitematā Harbour and the sun set, it cooled off quickly and we retreated to the comfort of our cabin. G was asleep in 30 seconds and I will be, too, as soon as I publish this post. 

There is just one port remaining on this cruise. It’s been a bit of an endurance test, but we have our pushed ourselves to see and do as much as we can, despite the fact that we’ll be returning to most of these ports in just a month. We simply can’t count on again having the same glorious weather that we’ve enjoyed nearly every day, and that has been our incentive to keep moving. But the day after tomorrow...I’m sleeping until noon!