New Zealand

There is something so spiritual and serene and calm about New Zealand. We only did one cruise there but we all deeply enjoyed it. There was minimal crew onboard and anyone who had a chance to go out was out. We had on opportunity to see Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin and the majestic Fiordland Park.

Wellington was our first stop, seems fitting as its the capital of the country as well. The weather was a lot cooler (lets say a good 15-20 C cooler than Sydney) than what we were used to.  My friends and I decided to explore on foot. We took a cable car to the top of Wellington and spent some quality time in the botanical gardens and greenery of the city and admiring the vista of the port. We ended up walking down instead of taking the cable car back down. We paused for a hot minute to have a coffee and a snack in an open air cafe and got attacked by a duck. We screamed so loud (and in unison) that we gathered some fame for it and were commended for it later in the day by some non-ship out of town visitors. We took a local bus around town and spent some time in the museums. What I really like about NZ is that all the museums are free an open to the public which is really nice for some of our crew members who send all of their wages home and spend little on their own enjoyment.

The day was quite enjoyable but the cherry on top was the Maori performance from the local artists once we came on board. It was very memorable and had me walking out of the theatre like I was partaking in a Haka.

Taking the Wellington Cable Car all the way up

RIGHT before the duck attack incident

This is one of the better clips that I took of the Maori performance of the local artists. Unfortunately I didn't get a good one of the men performing.

Buuuuutttt....basically my mates and I walked out of the show like this:



Our second port of call was Akaroa. Akaroa means long harbour and Maori and that indeed it was as we had to tender to and from land and the ride took a while.  My mates and I took a stroll through the adorable town. It has a very small town English feel to it, later I found the population was less then a thousand.  There were some cute markets and food outlets as well as mom n' pop shops.  We wondered around for a  bit and my peeps started climbing trees and picking cherries.  We scored $5 touques (that's beanies to the rest of you) for souvenirs and climbed in some pots for a photo op.  It's a very pretty and scenic port and very walkable even if the walk takes all of half an hour to get all around town.

The last port that we docked in was Dunedin which is known for it's Scottish ancestry.  The port facility was actually quite far from the town itself so I didn't get to see a whole lot.  My mate and I managed to take a stroll about town and all the crew members were ranting and raving about the world's steepest residential street.  We then followed the rest of the crew to the Cadbury factory as everyone seemed to be spilling out of there with kilos of the good stuff.  The choco was cheap as chips and a hell of a lot cheaper than Australia.  There ended up being a crew medical disembark so I had to rush back but I had about three hours of sightseeing before the call of duty.

Scenic route to the town of Dunedin

World's steepest residential street

Cadbury!

Perhaps the part of New Zealand that I enjoyed the most was the Fiordland Park.  It's the largest of NZ's national parks and one that the ship can navigate through.  Although it was quite chilly for me I spent majority of my day on the open deck taking in all the sites.  I felt a deep spiritual connection to the area and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for being given the opportunity to witness it all. The majestic fiords reminded me of a cross between Scottish highlands and Hawaiian landscapes. Just so green, mystical and beautiful.

We actually set our own record as the only ship in the  fleet to travel to the most southern and northern points than any other ship (New Zealand's South Island and Reykjavik, Iceland).  Look how amazing this place is!