Day 69: Bay of Islands

It was a little bittersweet today to have reached our final port on this New Zealand itinerary, Bay of Islands. This cruise has been tough, both because of the pace and the fact that we have both been under the weather, but we still loved this itinerary. This cruise offers a little of everything, especially when the weather is as good as we’ve had for the past two weeks. Even in Akaroa, which we missed, the culprit was not rain but wind. And there are nothing like Kiwis for setting out the welcome mat and exuding overall friendliness. This is, without a doubt, my favorite country to visit. 

We didn’t dawdle over breakfast; we were in and out of the DaVinci Dining Room in less than 45 minutes. Unsure of what we would do today, we went down to the ship’s tender carrying nothing, but wearing our waterproof jackets. Though it was sunny early, it quickly became more overcast. Besides, even though it was comfortably warm, the jackets felt good when we sat on the upper, open level of the tender for the ride to shore. Once there, we boarded the free shuttle bus for the 5-minute ride to the little town of Paihia. It dropped us off right at the wharf, which also housed the i-Site (traveler information center). We did not recall, until we got there, that two years ago when we did a boat tour to the Hole in the Rock (a geological formation and a major attraction), our second choice was to take a ferry to the tiny historic town of Russell. When I said in my post three days ago that Wellington is the third capital New Zealand has had, and the first one was in the Bay of Islands, that first capital was Russell. 

The little bit of sun we had revealed the beautiful water colors

One of the 144 islands that make up the Bay of Islands

Actually, most of us don’t talk like that at all ;-)

For about US $8 each, we purchased round trip ferry tickets for the 15-minute ferry ride to Russell, and once there were totally enchanted by the town. In fact, G actually said that. He said, “This town is really enchanting”, and I was shocked, because I don’t believe I’ve ever heard him say the word enchanting in all the years I’ve known him. But he was right. 

We looked high and low and couldn’t find a kiwi

There were several restaurants with outdoor seating right along the waterfront, but we weren’t into a major meal. Instead we stopped in the tiny, but well stocked grocery store and bought chips (of course) and kettle corn (for me) and soda and a water bottle and sat down on one of the many benches right on the beach and watched the water traffic and people go by. 

They have very creative potato chip flavors in New Zealand as well as Australia

This sea bird held this position without moving for at least five minutes, 

then would dive for fish and hold it again

The town was only three streets deep from the waterfront, with lots of little shops and B&Bs and cafés and even a tiny historical museum, and after we were done snacking, we wandered the entire town, admiring the architecture and spring flowering trees and shrubs. 

Waterfront promenade in Russell

That’s a pohutukawa (New Zealand Christmas) tree in full bloom. 

We loved this architecture

(Steve and Linda are saying of course we did!)

Russell Wharf with the Ruby Princess in the distance

This house was high on a hill overlooking the water

 

White picket fences everywhere

The spring flowers were in bloom

Looking back from the wharf

The ferry ran every 20 minutes, and we caught the 3pm ferry. By the time we took the shuttle back to the tender pier and the tender back to the ship, it  was 4pm when we walked into our cabin, and we didn’t make it to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers tonight. Instead we went directly to dinner at 5:15pm. Despite potato chips and kettle corn, we were starving, and it’s a good thing it was Italian night. 

The sun finally came out as we were sailing away

Taken from our dinner table 

Day 11 dinner menu, page 1

Day 11 menu, page 2

The Princess Theater entertainment tonight was something different:  a husband and wife duo who performed a mix of dance, balance and juggling tricks. This is not normally my favorite kind of entertainment but they were quite good... and Mr. Six Pack was easy on the eyes, too. 

I truly enjoyed this performance ;-)

And, before I wrap this up, today was especially noteworthy because we could finally take our iPhones off Airplane Mode, where they have been been since we left Kauai over two months ago. You haven’t heard me mention T- Mobile’s fantastic international roaming with free texting and data...because it is time limited. If the majority of data used is outside the US for three full billing periods, they cut off the roaming service. This hadn’t been an issue in the first two seasons we had T-Mobile; we limited our cruises to just under three months and then spent a month in Hawaii at the end. But this year we are skipping Hawaii and spending the entire season cruising. In fact, as of today, we have not yet reached the half way point of our season (I know. I can’t believe it either). But our new billing calendar started today, and we will be home in less than 90 days, so we could finally start that clock ticking. This will make our days in Sydney so much easier. I have been using Google Maps to find transit routing and schedules, and then doing screen captures to refer to when we are out sightseeing.  I’ll be able to do that in real time now. 

It’s a very good thing. 

Bay of Islands Port Guide, page 1

Bay of Islands Port Guide, page 2

Bay of Islands Port Guide, page 3

Bay of Islands Port Guide, page 4

Day 11 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 11 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 11 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 11 Princess Patter, page 4

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!