Around the World in 365 Days: New Zealand to Australia

Days 124-125, Feb. 20^th-21^st: I almost forgot about Wellington! We had a sea day as we sailed along the coast to Wellington, New Zealand. The coast remained off our starboard side and we watched hundreds of gannets and other seabirds during yet another lifeboat drill. This one we gathered in Taverners’ pub, watched the demonstration of putting on our life jackets, put on the jackets, and then marched outside single file with right hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of you. John was like a Millennial- he wouldn’t get off his phone (drawing glares from many guests who take these drills much more seriously). The weather is cooler, mainly in the mid 70’s, so my afternoon walk is more comfortable. On the walk I saw a pair of albatrosses – pointing them out to Betty. 

Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, is a very government-oriented city, but with a focus on the environment. (It was very rainy, and my photos did not turn out well, so none will be posted). There is plenty of green space – with a City to Sea Walk that cuts along the hillside in a protected preserve. I walked up past the Beehive (a government building), through the cemetery, over the highway  and to the rose garden side of the Botanical gardens (free entry), and along the walk up to the cable car, then down a different part of the same walk. I lost the markers at a street below the cable car and got the attention of a young man in his school uniform covered with citizenship medals, choir, etc. He walked me to the top of the steps where my path continued (in case you find yourself in the same spot – on the road just below and with the cable car at your back, turn right past 3-4 of the houses and you find a steep set of stairs with the city to sea marker at the top). The young good Samaritan gave me the excellent instructions – “keep left and down – if you have to choose between those – choose down.” I followed those instructions and in ten minutes I emerged from the woods and onto Terrace Ave which cuts across the city. Unfortunately, I turned the wrong way on Terrace and ended up with a longer, and wetter, walk than I needed since it started to rain. I wandered in and out of a few clothing stores, looking for a new dress for formal nights, but could not find anything to my style and size. I met up with John at the very noisy Coco’s Bar and Grill at the corner of Victoria and Willeston streets, had a glass of wine, then proceeded to Foxglove’s on the wharf near the museum where we reunited with friends. A great friend of Liam’s is a doctor in the north of England named Jimmy and his wife Sue. They happened to be in New Zealand, and flew to Wellington to visit Liam and have dinner together (and meet up with their son, who just completed all his training to be a trauma surgeon. The son is a dead ringer for Harry Potter). Unfortunately, our departure time was changed from 11PM to 9PM, and Jimmy’s flight arrived at 6PM, taking close to an hour to get downtown. We did get to spend a lovely hour chatting, sharing a sauvignon blanc called Invivo, and not grossing too many people out when we talked “shop”. We dashed over to catch the last shuttle bus of the evening from town to the port – the lady from the visitor’s center “minding” us stated how lucky we were, for the last two hours people had been waiting in line for an hour or more – there were five people there along with our group as the shuttle pulled up.

Days 126-128, Feb. 22^nd-24^th: Sea Days: The guitar group had a fun last couple of sessions through the 23^rd – we never could arrange a “concert” in the Atrium, so instead we did a public jam session (as such) in Taverners’ Pub – a few people listened in, but we didn’t seem to bother anyone and enjoyed the time together. The news is full of worries about the coronavirus, now breaking out in Italy as well. With a disease such as this with asymptomatic spreaders, and the majority having mild symptoms of a cold, containment is a pipe dream. Be smart, wash your hands frequently, try not to touch your face after touching a surface, live your life and hope you’re lucky. In trivia – the last morning trivia with Alan, Jane, Patrick and myself – we won! It was a quiz about France, so I picked up another small bag. I decided I could use it to donate items in Vietnam or India – or whatever place could use the clothes and shoes we can’t stand looking at anymore. On the 24^th I had to say many sad goodbyes to friends. We plan to get the “band” back together in London in May, and I should be seeing guitar John on board again in Singapore. They finally had another karaoke night and I sang Space Oddity and Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da.

Day 129, Feb. 25^th: Sydney! I did not get up in time to watch us sail under the Harbor Bridge and by the Opera House – but a friend that did said they weren’t lit up. I did make it upstairs before we docked and got several nice photos of the bridge at dawn.

Getting off the boat in Sydney was a bit of a headache. After the tours they were disembarking deck by deck, but then we couldn’t hear anything on the PA system. John heard that independent travelers could disembark, so we went down to deck 5 to wait in line. It turns out they had only called decks 11 and 10, but we were there and decided at this point they wouldn’t turn us back once the line started moving again. They did not. We took the shuttle to the city center, then started our mission. We needed to get documents faxed to the states – John needed to fax one for taxes for the house through Air BNB (which we thought we had already arranged before we left, but apparently there was one form left to do), and I needed to do a Medicaid form for work. We sat at an expensive café near the docks while we sussed out where we needed to go (and ate a rich and tasty slice of warm banana bread with soft butter to fortify us for the day). It took two places, with good directions from the first office store. The clerk at the second office store tried for 45 minutes, but could not get the fax to work for either of the numbers – then said – “We could try to attach it to an email” – well, if she’d said that in the first place we would have saved ourselves (and her) over thirty minutes. The cost to scan and e-mail two documents? 30 cents. Now we were free for the day, we walked back towards the main harbor, stopping by the Music Conservatory to grab some water from the coolest vending machine I have ever seen, and clean toilets. The Conservatory is adjacent to the Botanical Gardens – high on my list to see, so we wandered the gardens,

then back to the Bayside to the Opera House. Next on the must see list – Harry’s Famous Pies – taking the longest possible way to get there from the Opera House. 21 years ago, I discovered I liked mushy peas – as long as they were on top of a chicken pie, mashed potatoes and gravy. For under $25 Australian John and I had meat pies, “chips” (French fries) and drinks with a view of the water while sitting on a shady bench.

The only remaining things on the check list was Centennial Park (which has a nice walk in the woods), shopping and casino. We decided to use Uber instead of the hop-on-hop-off since time is a factor (and it turned out to be cheaper). Unfortunately, John’s ankle starting acting up, so when we finally got to the park and to the area with the wooded walk, John was limping and we had a lot of walking still to do, so no woods walk. We found the shopping area of Bondi Junction – and I found my Clinique Redness Solution stuff at a Myers Department store inside a large mall. I hope the salesman works on commission – he was wonderful, and I bought a ton of stuff. He was sweet and divided my purchases in two separate transactions, which let me get a double bonus. With shopping done, off to the casino. The Sydney Star casino did not like me nearly as much as Auckland, and John had a hit and miss day as well. We ubered back to the boat instead of trying to get the shuttle, which was all the better due to the lines for the bus – several of our friends gave up and took taxis. We had our second favorite private sail-away party of the trip – this time the opera house and bridge were lit up in all their glory.

Days 130-131, Feb. 26^th– 27^th: Sea days with a lot of new people. We lost two guitar players, and gained two new ones. Both are excellent electric guitar players, at a playing ability that makes me feel very inadequate. When it comes to guitar – I have made it through pre-K and kindergarten, and am solidly in the 1^st grade. They are Juniors/ Seniors in their abilities. When I arrived at guitar just before 11, they were playing along with Joe – memorized and by ear, riffing away, and expecting others to follow – by the time I can figure out the chord they’re playing they’re already 2 more ahead. I explained I needed music written out. Basically, they need to dumb it down for me (like Alan and John did). I have already improved my skills on this trip, and they will likely continue to make me a much better player. Choir also returned to the routine and this part of the trip we are doing show tunes!!!! Starting with an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley.

Next up A few more stops in Australia, and a change in cruise itinerary