Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Live from Voyager—Feb 20 to Mar 6, 2018–Sydney to Auckland with RachelG

RachelG

By RachelG,
in Regent Seven Seas Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

RachelG "Live from...." Rare

RachelG

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Forgap, I can only imagine how scary a drive on that road between Akaroa And Christchurch would be with ice. It is totally narrow, curvy and steep.

 

The finger limes are as described, Eliana, and oh so good. They grow in Australia. Jackie, I haven’t seen them since our First sea day, so suspect they are gone now. They are really nice though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RachelG "Live from...." Rare

RachelG

Posted
  • Author
Posted

March 3, 2018–Napier New Zealand

 

I had been particularly looking forward to this port as we missed it due to weather on our Last New Zealand trip. The port is quite small, and a bit tricky to sail into.

 

The morning was nice and sunny, with a bit of a breeze and temps in the 60s, warming to the low 70s. Napier is interesting in that it was totally destroyed in 1931 by a huge earthquake that also caused a massive fire which burned down just about every building in the city. The earthquake also lifted up a large mass of land, increasing the size of the town considerably. The town was rebuilt in an Art Deco fashion, and now makes a lot of money off of tourism. The whole area is also famous for wine making and producing huge amounts of fruits and vegetables.

 

Our tour today was a wine tour. We started out driving along the Marine Parade which is a long street that goes along the shoreline. They have turned the area between the street and the ocean into a large park with playgrounds, art, and picnic areas, very nice. We then turned into the countryside. There were hundreds of orchards with fruit trees laden with fruit, mostly apples at this time of year but also kiwi and peaches. The ground must be terribly fertile, because I have never seen such abundant produce on trees. Then we started seeing huge vineyards.

 

The first winery was Moana Park where we sat outside under the trees and sampled a Rose, a couple of whites, and a couple of reds. Their wines are organic and supposed to be low in sulfites. We bought a couple of bottles of the Syrah to take home.

 

We then went on a long drive up a mountain called Te Mata to a overlook where you could see in all directions. It was a nice view, but I would have rather skipped this part of the tour and had a little time to explore in town. As it was this took a whole hour what with going up and coming down on a very narrow winding road.

 

The second winery was the Mission which is the oldest winery in New Zealand and was founded by priest who brought the grape vines from France. It is in a beautiful old building with a long lane lined with plane trees leading to it. The wine was very good, and reasonably priced as it is still a non profit organization. We bought the Chardonnay and some dessert wine.

 

By this time, we were starving as the tour had started at 9:15, and it was past 2:00. Neither of the tastings had included any food at all, not even bread or a cracker. The driver drove us through town to show us some of the Art Deco buildings, but I was too hungry to pay much attention. Again, the tour should have just skips Te Mata particularly since the two wineries were right beside each other, and we did a lot of backtracking and retracing our steps. I get that they did this because there were 3 buses, and they wanted to avoid having us all at the same place at the same time, which they well accomplished, but there was a huge amount of wasted time.

 

We got back right at 2:30, which was the time of the Gold, Platinum, and titanium event which was a special lecture by Terry Waite, who came aboard just to give the lecture. No food there either, but I really wanted to hear him speak, so I grabbed some crackers from the coffee connection to tide me over. His lecture was very interesting as he recounted how he survived almost 5 years as a hostage in Lebanon. He is not onboard the ship, but is in New Zealand right now and came aboard for the special lecture.

 

I walked outside to get the rest of my steps until we set sail and moved out of the protection of the harbor. It immediately became extremely windy and rough, so I gave up and went to trivia where we came in 2nd, a good group effort.

 

The crew show was at 6, excellent as usual. Then dinner in Compass Rose with the wonderful mushroom soup that used to be served in Signatures. I had the fresh fish then some outstanding berries.

 

By the time dinner was over, the seas were really moving. The show was “Broadway in Concert”. Which is fortunate since anything involving dancing would have been dangerous as well as impossible. The show was great, but by the end, a lot of people were distinctly green. Should be a good night for sleeping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gilly "Live from...." Rare

Gilly

Posted
Posted

Rachel, I love Te Papa and am so pleased you got to visit this time. But Maori food - not so much. Our Kiwi friends took us to a Maori restaurant in Wellington and recommended some kind of seabird, which tasted just like you might imagine. Not good. (Perhaps we might have guessed when they both ordered beef steak!) So, perhaps be thankful for dry, undercooked meatballs, for believe me, they'd taste a deal better than seagull/cormorant/whatever it was we ate!!

 

Happy Birthday George - a little late but hey, we'll take into account the time difference!. It sounds like it was a great celebration - thank you for the pictures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gilly "Live from...." Rare

Gilly

Posted
Posted

Puffin, Rachel? eeeeuw! You describe the seabird dining experience perfectly. Never to be forgotten.

 

I like today's itinerary - Te Mata is marvellous and I'm so glad you had such beautiful weather there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RachelG "Live from...." Rare

RachelG

Posted
  • Author
Posted

March 4, 2018–Tauranga New Zealand

 

After a pretty rough night of rocking seas, we awoke to a bright sunny day in Tauranga. We have been here before. It is a sort of beachy area with lots of vacation homes. At one end is Mt Maurangea which rises up out of the sea almost, and is covered with lush green trees and grass. There is a long wide sandy beach in front, with rolling waves which are apparently very popular with surfers.

 

On our previous trip here, we hiked the mountain and then went to the beach,but today, we were going inland as this is the portal to a magnificent mountainous area with geysers and all sorts of geologic wonders. Some people were off to see Hobbiton, but we were going to see nature.

 

We boarded the bus and took off, first through the town with beach condos and houses, then through kiwi and avocado orchards which went on for miles, then into pine forest with huge trees and ferns on the ground underneath.

 

After about an hour, we started to smell a distinct sulfur odor, so we knew we were getting close. We entered the town of Rotorua and ended up at Lake Rotorua where we boarded a paddle boat. There were 4 buses of us, but the boat was spacious and not crowded at all. A lunch buffet of several salads, a delicious fish, and chicken awaited. We paddled around the lake during lunch, then a Maori group performed a couple of songs and dances for us. They were very good, more entertaining than you would expect.

 

We reboarded the bus, and set off for the Wai-O-Tapu thermal park. First, we went to this large bubbling mud lake. Imagine a pot of tomato sauce on the stove, just starting to bubble. That is it, except with brown instead of red, and a strong sulfur smell.

 

Then we went to the main park, where there are three trails. One is 30 minutes, one 45 and one an hour and a half. We had a hour and a half, so you can guess which we picked. We were able to do the whole thing as were several others in our group. You just have to be an efficient hiker.

 

We went past all sorts of bubbling geothermal sites, geysers, effervescent lakes, hot springs. It was a wonderland of geology. Very stinky with a strong sulfur smell most of the time. Very interesting and way more impressive than Yellowstone or even the sites in Iceland.

 

Back to the ship, the Queen Mary had resumed stalking us. There she was, huge and casting a large shadow on our lovely ship.

 

They announced that dinner in La Veranda would be casual. Everyone was tired from a long day of touring, so we went up. It was delicious with a Mediterranean focus, very fun with friends. Then George went to make his donations while I went to the flutist concert as I felt guilty for skipping the other night. She was great, and I enjoyed it very much,

 

 

 

 

 



Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travelcat2

Travelcat2

Posted
Posted

Gorgeous photos! What are those things floating in the lake? When we visited New Zealand, Rotorua was one place that we really want to visit but were not able to. Thanks to your photos, I feel as if I have been there - without the sulfur odor!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zqueeze1 "Live from...." Rare

Zqueeze1

Posted
Posted

Rachel: awesome blog and excellent pics. We are thorough enjoying your narrative. I hope to do the same in six weeks on the renovated Mariner.

Happy belated birthday to George.

Z and TB

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RachelG "Live from...." Rare

RachelG

Posted
  • Author
Posted

March 5,2018–Bay of Islands, New Zealand

 

We awoke after a great sleep to a warm sunny day inside a bay surrounded by bunches of islands. We were in Bay of Islands which consists of at least 144 Islands, maybe more. We were surrounded by small and large forest covered islands.

 

Yesterday, apparently it had been pouring rain, but today was perfect with sun and temps in the 70s. This is a tender port, so we boarded a tender then a bus for our excursion. Today we were to go to the glow worm caves and a kauri forest.

 

We set off. The first hour and a half was a total waste of time. Not sure why we were doing this. We drove and drove to view the oldest house in New Zealand. Way out of the way and nothing to see or do. Then we went to a bathroom rest stop. why? If we had just went to the kauri forest, no one would have needed a bathroom, and we could have had more time there.

 

The Puketi Kauri forest is really special. Huge straight tall trees, not as big as sequoias but close. The forest is dense and cool. Not much light gets in there. You can smell the green. I loved this place. The trees are so peaceful.

 

After way too short time there, we reboarded the bus and headed for Kawakawa, which is a small town where we were to have lunch on our own. They also have some crazy public bathrooms.

 

George and I found a great sushi place. It looked pretty scary outside, but there were lots of customers, so we went in. Great, very fresh, delicious sushi.

 

Then on to the glow worm caves. This was amazing. No photos allowed because it freaks out the glow worms. We went down and down into a cave with stalactites and stalagmites, and soon glow worms which were so bright that we could see without any other illumination. It was cool and damp but so cool.

 

The return to the bus was long because there had been a mudslide due to the recent heavy rains, and a portion of the highway was taken out.

 

Back on board, we went to trivia and won again! Cashed in our points. Then packed. The worst part of any cruise.

 

I went to the pianist show which was great, then we had dinner in P7. Delicious! No show tonight. They are showing a recording of the Oscars, in which I have no interest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...