Art Deco in Napier, New Zealand

Napier, New Zealand

Eastern Time plus 18 hours

We loved Napier! We had a fantastic day with our private tour guide, Robert. It was a special weekend in Napier. We arrived on Saturday, so it was really the biggest day of their year. They call it Art Deco Weekend. They were hit by a huge earthquake in the late 1930's and the city was rebuilt in the art deco style. Every year they celebrate on the weekend closet to the date of the earthquake. The people are dressed in the style of the 1930s, and many antique cars are seen around town. It is very festive with many, many events taking place.

As we pulled into port, it was obvious that docking would take a lot of maneuvering by the captain. We were the biggest ship ever to come to Napier. He had to do something like a Y turn to get us lined up at the dock. He had to turn around outside of port and reverse in. It took awhile so we were able to observe the city while it was happening. We also didn't arrive until 12:30 so it was light outside. We had a huge reception with people lining the dock, the hill and the street. We hadn't seen anything like it. The people viewing the ship caused a huge traffic jam. Stiring and Clare were in a cab and it took 1 ½ hours instead of the 7 or 8 minutes it usually took to go a short distance. (The trip also cost 110 New Zealand Dollars!)

There were huge piles of wood that were to be taken to China for paper and another section that was to be taken to China for toys and furniture. This is all farmed pine.

As we got off the ship, we were greeted by a huge antique car club. I wanted to take a picture coming down the gangway, but thought I might get pushed from behind as the passengers were so eager to get off of the ship. You can't tell by this, but I would say there were at least 100 cars.

We jumped in the van and took off to beat the traffic from the ship. Our first stop was a sheep shearing farm near Cape Kidnappers, one of the land formations of this area. The sheep dog in the demo is called a strong eyed hitting dog which is similar to a border collie or a type of border collie. She is worth about $2,500 NZ. Her name is Faye. She was excellent at rounding up the sheep, but she had her tongue hanging out here! We were shown how to shear a sheep in the modern way and also with an old time shears. This farm has been in the Gordon family for 6 generations. NZ has about 40 million sheep, about 10 sheep for each person. We were surprised to learn that China has the most sheep in the world. The farmers make most of their money in the meat rather than the wool.

Next we continued to wind through the agricultural area. The Napier area is a fruit bowl with the second most sunlight in New Zealand. Nelson beats them by just a few hours. The area is similar to the Napa Valley with 55 soil types, 3 rivers and frost is rare. They have great citrus, but can grow anything including over 100 varieties of apples. Napier is like California in the 1950s, but on the cutting edge of scientific advancement.

They grow many grapes for wine. These are sauvignon blanc grapes. New Zealand makes only about 0.5% of the world's wine, but has the highest average price per bottle because they make no bulk wine and they make their wine in the French style. We were in the Hawke's Bay area. Hawke's Bay is known for their red wines. Twenty years ago they had 9 wineries, now they have 62. We did a tasting of the Kim Crawford Wines.

We also stopped at the Craggy Range Winery... on our way through the Tuki Tuki Valley. Then went to a great cheese and ice cream place That is the name of the valley that is the sound of the heartbeat.
Then on to Temata Peak and the beautiful views.

On our way back to the ship we saw some of the Art Deco buildings.

Then back to the ship for a great send off with a Dixieland Band and crowds on the docks.

The City of Sails: Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

Eastern Time plus 18 hours

Jo and Greg, our tablemates, had to leave the ship today. They are from Melbourne which is one of our ports, but the ship was fully booked between Auckland and Melbourne. They were only able to book the 2 weeks between L.A. and Auckland. The good news is that they will be back in Melbourne when we arrive and we will spend the day together there.

I met a man from Auckland on Cruise Critic named Roscoe. Roscoe is will be boarding in Singapore and sailing to Southampton. He would have liked to leave from Auckland, but at the time he booked it wasn't possible. Since then, Cunard has been letting people on and off in every port. Jeff took a picture of us later in the day. It is a terrible picture of me, it was very bright and very windy, but I will post it anyway.

Roscoe and I have been emailing and he is also following the journey on Kazzie's blog and on mine. Roscoe told me to be sure to be out on deck early to watch our approach to the city and be there for the Maori Welcome. Great advice! Jeff wasn't feeling too well but I went up anyway to watch the action. It was too dark for most of my pictures to turn out because we docked at 6:30 AM, but here are a couple. The Maori dancers and their singing/chanting were really great. We docked next to the Hilton and it really echoed off the building, which made a great sound.
Jeff got up and we got off the ship. They were already starting to load more food. This was more fruit. A man made a comment about good New Zealand blueberries, so we will keep a lookout for those.

Our plan was to walk around Viaduct Harbour which was the home to the America's Cup Village the two times the America's Cup Regattas were here. It started to rain so we went into the Maritime Museum. We enjoyed the exhibits and the special section on the America's Cup.
This is saying by Queen Victoria is a classic part of the Americas Cup lore.

There was also a section with old outboard motors. Jeff is pointing to the Johnson outboard. It was labeled 1961, but he said it is a 1967 or 1968. This will not surprise anyone that knows Jeff.

We left to go on a harbour cruise that Roscoe had helped me set up from home. Auckland is known as The City of Sails. It didn't take long to figure out why. The rumor is that one in every three people has easy access to a boat. The place is covered with marinas with thousand of masts. A race with antique classic sailboats was taking place as we toured the huge harbor (gi-normous as our Aussie friend Jo would say). The harbour was beautiful and the wind really picked up which made for an exciting race. Roscoe says this is more like a Wellington wind, not an Auckland wind.

As we left the harbour cruise, Roscoe picked us up and took us for an hour and a half Auckland tour. It was absolutely wonderful. I was so involved; I forgot to take any pictures. It was great to see a beautiful city through the eyes of someone that lives there. Roscoe dropped us off for lunch at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron at the end. Once again our Nagawicka Lake Yacht Club Card did the trick for a reciprocity club entrance.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron was the home club of the Kiwis that won and defended the America's Cup.

We had lunch at the Quarterdeck Restaurant with a great view of the Bridge. There were a lot of boats going past all of the time. One guy even did the “Al wave” to try to get the attention of a passing boat.

The people were very friendly. One man noticed our Maritime Museum stickers. We left them on because we thought we might go back if we had enough time before boarding the ship. He came over to ask how we liked the museum. He said he had been the chairman of it and liked to know what people thought of the museum. We told him we really enjoyed it. Jeff then told him that he thought the Johnson motor was either a 1967 or 68 not a 1961. The man said, “Well it is not too much trouble to change a 1961 to a 1967, just a little line at the top!” We all got a laugh out of that. He also said that all of the motors there were very interesting because they were all made from many motors that weren't complete. They took parts from many to make one.

As we were leaving we were admiring the trophies in many, many cases. Another man came up and pointed out the Louis Vuitton Cup. He said that was as close as they had to the America's Cup now. (The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup is the challenger that races against the defender of the America's Cup.) They had this special case made for the cup, but didn't win it back. They feel a great sadness in the fact that Kiwi Sailors helped the Swiss win. He mentioned that now that Louis Vuitton won't be running the challenger series anymore, the cup isn't worth much. He joked that the Loius Vuiitton case it came in (red) was probably worth more than the trophy! We discussed the fact that a Maori man had come in and attacked the America's Cup while it was in their club. It was heavily damaged, but repaired in London. He said the new case is wired with alarms, but it had nothing then.

Jeff told him about the fact that the last time we were at the New York Yacht Club about 10 years ago, we saw the empty pedestal waiting to get the cup back; this time the pedestal was gone. The man said that when they got the cup the first time, it had to be unbolted from the pedestal it was displayed on. It probably never occurred to the NYYC that they would ever lose it. This was a great time for us because we felt so welcome there. I am sure this is not interesting to non sailors, but it probably is to those that followed the Cup races. Sorry for any mistakes I made. Jeff is not overseeing this message to correct it.

As we returned to the ship, we went to a mall so Jeff could buy some newspapers. He had no luck, but I got a great massage for about $20 US. The same massage was on special on the ship for $69 plus tip.

As we were returning to the ship, we saw this sign for the harbour cruise.There continues to be a lot of interest in the ship in every port.
We also saw the ship from this angle. I thought the drawings of the ship (that look just like this) were really odd because of the shape in the art work. Well, here it is.

I saw this little guy running off the ship as we got on. He looked to me like something out of Harry Potter, which is odd because I haven't read the books. At any rate, he sure doesn't look like a US student.

Jeff headed for bed; he still isn't feeling too well.

I went up on top and looked for Roscoe at sail away. Here he is in the center in the blue shirt. I called to him and it looked like he heard and saw me. It won't be long now until he boards in Singapore.

We had a great day and found one more place we love and would like to return to. Once again, thanks to Roscoe for a great day and his help in getting us organized.

Auckland Text Message

I just received the following text message:

IN. AUCKLAND. RAIN, BUT OK

Liz

A request for all of our Lake Country friends

Thanks again to all of the people who are commenting. . We love reading them and feel like you are all here with us.

A request for all of our Lake Country friends:

Please let us know if anyone hears of a place to rent for the summer and/or early fall. We are not sure if we will be spending much time in Wisconsin or not this summer. If we can find a place to rent we may spend more time there after all. If not, we will be in and out like last summer.

Thanks!
Jeanne and Jeff