Day 32 - February 4, 2025 - Tuesday - Tasman Sea

Today marks about 25% completion of our Viking Cruise.  The next 25% will again compromise ports which we have previously visited with a few new one for us.  The remaining 50% will be almost all new ports with the exception of the last couple of ports in France and the UK.  Our leisurely, consecutive sea days will soon be ending with more port stops and fewer sea days.  I believe we have 15 consecutive port days at the end of our journey.   It makes me tired to just think about it!

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning.

As I have mentioned previously, I love walking on the sundeck.  It is usually quiet, especially in the early morning.

It almost feels like I am on a private yacht, or a ghost ship!  It seem difficult to believe there are 900 other passengers and almost 500 crew onboard with me.

We enjoyed a couple more quality lectures this morning.  One about the history of Sydney, Australia and the second was part 2 about the wildlife of Australia.

We had lunch in the World Cafe.  On all of our previous cruises there has always been hand sanatizing stations as you enter the restaurants.  These are still there as well as at various other places around the ship.  They are no longer dispensers on a stand but are built into the wall as permanent fixtures.  In addition at both entrances of the World Cafe you will find this:

Hand washing stations... very nice.

There is not a lot to post for today, but for those of you who have inquired about my photography equipment, I will say a few words.

Over the years I have used various cameras for travel.  I tried to leave my full frame 35mm home and use a Sony RXVII on one trip.  The Sony is a fantastic camera and weighs about 10% of my full frame with lenses.  Unfortunately, I was just never satisfied with the results, especially when severe cropping was required.  For this trip I went back to a full frame.  I am using a Nikon Z7ii mirrorless camera with two lenses.  Primarily a 24mm-200mm Nikon zoom and in some cases a 14mm-35mm Nikon zoom.  Most of the photos taken off the ship is with this camera.

My backup camera and the one used for most of the shipboard photos is my phone camera.  I use a Pixel 8 Pro.  I am amazed at the quality available with this phone camera.  It offers up to a 30x digital zoom with acceptable results.

I do all post processing in Adobe Lightroom before posting to the blog.

I have more to say, but I am closing out today's blog.  Not enough time and tomorrow we are in Sydney and it will be a busy day.

We did have dinner in Manfredi's Italian, the food was ok, nothing exceptional except the appitizer which was excellent.  Service was poor.  Kay and I had order an after dinner drink, after waiting about 15 minutes we just left.

The Viking Vocalist gave there last performance tonight, they exit in Sydney.  It was a "Beatles Songbook" program.  It was quite nice.

See you tomorrow in Sydney.

Day 30 & 31 - February 2 & 3, 2025 - Sunday & Monday - Tasman Sea

Good Morning!

How about an interesting fact about the Tasman Sea.  The Tasman internal tide is the only one known in the world that moves almost completely in one direction. It forms at a ridge south of New Zealand then pushes west toward Tasmania, where it breaks on the continental shelf.

Now you ask, what is an internal tide? An internal tide is a wave that occurs beneath the ocean surface, generated by the interaction of regular tidal currents with the ocean floor topography, particularly at features like continental shelves, ridges, or seamounts, causing oscillations within the stratified water layers of the ocean, essentially creating "hidden" waves that move through the water column with the same period as the surface tide; these waves are largely invisible at the surface but can be significant in terms of mixing deep ocean waters.   What makes the Tasman internal tide different is that it does not oscillate with the surface tides.

The Gulf Stream is not an internal tide but a current.  It is though influenced by internal tides.  And... now you know more about internal tides than you ever thought necessary.  Isn't Google wonderful.

Sunday morning we attended a lecture about the history of Australia up until the discovery of gold in 1851.  Dr. Babcock will be having the second part of this series in a couple of days.

After a brief recess, we enjoyed another presentation about Australian Wildlife.  This lecture also was part 1 of a 2 part series.

The ship's culinary team today produced a Sunday Brunch which was unbelievable.  The amount and variety of food was ridiculous.  They converted the entire pool area and the Wintergarden into serving areas.  I didn't get many photos simply due to the crowd, but here is one of just the "cake station"

This was just the "cake station", it doesn't even include all the other desserts available.  There were also stations for just about any variety of food you desired, from Mexican to Chinese and everything in between.

We enjoyed a lazy afternoon, the other 3 of our group attended a Q&A session with the Viking Vocalist.  They are debarking in Sydney and we will be receiving "new" resident entertainment for the next session.  This does not include the entertainers and performers who come on for just a short segment for a couple of weeks.  By interspersing the resident talent with the short term talent Viking maintains a nice variety.

Later in the afternoon we all enjoyed a presentation by a new lecturer, Dr. Charles Lineweaver. Dr. Lineweaver credentials include a BA in history, an MA in English, a BS in physics and a PhD in Physics.  His research areas include exoplanetology and cosmobiology.  In other words, he is involved in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Dr Lineweaver gave a very informative lecture and I look forward to his future presentations.  He was the stereotypical "absent minded scientist".  His train of thought would sometime jump ahead and he had challenges with the video equipment (not his fault).  

Monday is the second of three sea days.  After our normal early morning routines we attended ANOTHER lecture.  This was by another New speaker, Nitza Lowenstein.  

Ms. Lowenstein is a historian, journalist and radio personality in Australia.  After 35 years on SBS AUS TV/Radio she has retired and become a cruise ship lecturer... not a bad gig if you can get it!

Even after two previous trips to the "Land Down Under", I learned some new things about Australia.  

Our second morning lecture was another new speaker, Sandy Leong who gave an excellent presentation about how the discovery of gold influenced the development of Australia.

Ms. Leong is a historian  and a member of the Royal Historical Society with a gift for storytelling.

We enjoyed lunch today in the World Cafe.  In addition to there usual incredible display of food, today they featured a "Lamb Station".  

I enjoyed fresh New Zealand lamb chops, homemade naan bread, fresh cucumbers and tzatziki sauce.  I even made an exception and had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon at lunch.

This afternoon we had another excellent lecture by one of the "new" guest lecturers, Dr. Julian Dowdeswell.  Dr Dowdeswell is a retired professor of Physical Geography at Cambridge University where he was Director of the University's Scott Polar Research Institute for almost 20 years.

Viking has done an excellent job of acquiring speakers who were prominent  in their field and almost all of them seem to be able to present the material on a level that is deep enough for you to get a real understanding of the material covered without it being so academic that it is over the average person ability to comprehend.

I realize I post a lot of photos of lecture and entertainer presentations.  I hope it doesn't bore you too much.  I post these for my own purpose.  This blog serves as my journal of our travels and these photos serve to remind me of these lectures and performances which would otherwise slip away...

At dinner this evening we saw something unusual, another ship!  I took this photo from our diner table, through the window with my phone camera at maximum telephoto (30x).  I thought it was not too bad.  It appears this Carnival ship is headed toward New Zealand.

After dinner we enjoyed our second and final performance by entertainer John Milligan titled :Songs of Legends".  Milligan is a singer, pianist from Sydney.  He performed renditions from Queen and Elton John as well as several others.  It was a very enjoyable show.

Tomorrow will be our final sea day before reaching Sydney in the early morning.

Day 29 - February 1, 2025 - Saturday - Wellington, NZ

 Daybreak this morning was pretty drab.  It was overcast and misty so there is no "daybreak" photo today.  The good news is the forecast is for clearing skies.  I hope we will have a good day in Wellington.  We have a private 6 hour coastal tour planned.

As we come into port, there was a tremendous amount of timber on the dock.  This is pine which is raised as a crop for export.  It is not a native species.

The information from our excursion company was pretty clear regarding our meeting place... until we actually arrived.  It said after deboarding we should exit the cruise terminal and look for our guide in the private tour parking section.  Well, there is not a cruise terminal and since it is a working dock, there is no walking from the port.  The city of Wellington does provide a shuttle service to the city center.   

I telephoned the local tour company around 8:30 AM, our tour was for 9:30.  I had to leave a message but I quickly received a text in reply.  He said, oh, just exit the ship and your guide Athena will meet you just past the tour buses at 9:30.

This was apparently the tour terminal, a converted cargo container!

Our guide, Athena, did show up on time with a clean, modern Mercedes van. I'll tell you more about Athena later.  She informed us that there was one additional passenger to be picked up for the tour.  This made a total of 5 for a vehicle which could carry 9 plus the driver.  We had plenty of room.

The tour was described as a costal tour, and it certainly was.  In addition we made it to the two highest peaks in the area, visited the Botanical Gardens, the Parliament Building and Old St. James Church.  We had lunch as well.  

As you can see from my Geo Tracker map, we covered quite a bit of territory.  I estimated we did about 40 miles total.

I'll just post some photos with a comment occasionally.

This view is from Mount Victoria, also known as Wellington Hill.  This 643 foot tall hill has beautiful old housed except for the last third, which is considered too windy to live.  It can't be seen with enlarging the photo, but at the very right had edge, our ship is at dock.

We made a quick stop at the famous Weta Workshop, a company of artisans and innovators.  They have been recognized with five Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and dozens of other recognitions for their work in film and television special effects and props.  Some of their best known work was for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but include many, many other projects.

Our ship featured a behind the scenes tour of the workshop which I am sure would have been interesting, but there is just not time for everything!

Our tour included lunch which was had at a most interesting seaside cafe, The Chocolate Fish.

The building was nothing fancy, but they had a large courtyard with tables as well as a large playground for children.  Everyone we saw seemed to be locals.

There was a full menu as well as today's specials.  I was not familiar with gurnard fish, so I had to try it.  In fact several of us did.  It was an excellent white fish which was very lightly battered and fried.  I looked it up later and learned it is common around New Zealand shores.  It is a bottom feeder and looks similar to a catfish with wings.  The article said it was one of the world's most underrated fishes for flavor.  I have to agree.  I had a sandwich and some had it in a salad.

This photo of a Gurnard is from fishing.net.nz.

I asked about local beers.  It seems most of the beers in this area are IPA's which are not my favorite, but I order the Hazy IPA from a local brewer.  It is made with citrus and stone fruit.  It wasn't too high in IBU and the flavor was refreshing and complimented the fish well.

We learned that Athena who was born in Greece and received some of her education in the USA had worked with the Greenpeace organization for about 30 years.  She spent 7 years on a ship sailing around the world.  She fell in love with New Zealand and decided she has spent enough of her life trying to, as she said "save the earth".   Athena was very personable and knowledgeable.  She was a very good guide and a good driver - I certainly couldn't navigate some of Wellington's streets.  I just never could have imagined I would be driven around New Zealand by a Greenpeace protester! 

For a big dog you need a big stick!

Despite the temperature, we saw a lot of people swimming.  Our guide said the water was never warm, but that doesn't deter the locals.  Athena, our guide is originally from Greece and she said she does not participate in the frigid swimming.

Many, many beautiful Norfolk Pine trees in Wellington.

Athena navigated the narrow streets, which always had numerous vehicles parked on both sides of the street to the Brooklyn Wind Turbine on Hawkins Hill.  At 495 meters (1624 feet), the view is expansive and the wind is strong.

Kay trying to stay warm and not be blown away.

The view from Hawkins Hill

Up one side of Hawkins Hill, the fence for Zealandia may be seen.  This 500+ acre ecosanctuary is a groundbreaking conservation project that has reintroduced a number of species of native wildlife back into the area, some of which were previously absent from mainland New Zealand for over 100 years. 

Prior to the arrival of humans New Zealand was isolated and unique. Without any mammalian predators an ecosystem of remarkable flora and fauna had evolved – the likes of which could be found nowhere else in the world. Sadly, over the last 700 years, that paradise was almost destroyed by humans and the mammals they introduced with them. Introduced predators decimated New Zealand's native and endemic species, who had evolved without needing defenses from mammals for millions of years.  Feral cats are one of New Zealand's primary apex predators, hunting many of the native species.

Zealandia is an attempt to preserve and reintroduce some of these species in a protective environment.

This was the furthest point we went on our around the coast trip, to the Red Rocks Reserve.  

We then made our way back into town and visited the Botanical Gardens where we took an easy and leisurely stroll through the grounds.  The gardens were established in 1868.

The original parliament build and adjacent legal library.

The new "beehive" paralement building.  Can you guess where it got it's name?

Even the new building keeps some of New Zealand's Mauri roots as seen by it's entrance.

Our final stop on our tour was Old St. Paul's Anglican Church.  Consecrated in 1866, the church is one of Wellington's best loved heritage landmarks.  Built entirely of native New Zealand timbers - rimu, totara, matai and kauri, some of which are now impossible to find in quantity.

The interior is truly magnificent.

We were all pretty exhausted after our busy day, but I was excited to at least see the South Island as we passed thru the Cook Strait, even if I didn't get to visit the island.

We are now on our way to Australia.  We have three sea days to recover as we cross the Tasman Sea or "The Ditch" as it is referred to by the locals.

Day 28 - January 31 - Friday - Napier, NZ

Napier, on the east coast as have all the ports we have visited, is a beachside city known for its sunny climate, beautiful Norfolk pines and extensive Art Deco architecture.  Napier has a population of about 67,500.  It's twin city of Hastings is about 11 miles south of Napier.  Along with the surroundings towns of Havelock North and Clive the combined population of the area is about 137,000.  We were fortunate to visit all of these towns on our excursion today.

Napier is unique in it's architecture due to it's history.  In 1931 the city was razed by the Hawke's Bay earthquake.  The positive side effect of this disaster was that the lagoon adjacent to the town was elevated about 8 feet.  This allowed the reconstruction of a larger city.  It was decided they wanted something "modern" .  At the time, the most modern architecture trend was Art Deco.  Thus the city of Napier was born.

This is a stock photo.  I took a similar one, but it was full of cars, trucks and people!  

When we arrived this morning it was cloudy,  so I have no sunrise photo.  Fortunately the skies cleared by the time of our arrival around noon.

Watching the gangway being placed from our veranda.

Today we had a private tour we had booked prior to leaving home.  It was for a 4 hour tour.  Since we were expected to be able to deboard the ship at 1:00 PM and the last shuttle from town was 5:30, we were cutting it pretty close.

We met our driver, Ray, at the information center in town.  We learned there would be only 6 of us on the tour so that was nice.  Our first stop after a brief drive thru town was on the hill side overlooking the city.  Here we saw many of the older homes which were beautifully maintained.

View from the hill side

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Our comfortable 8 passenger Toyota van

This notice was on the back of the front seat.  I hope Ray doesn't practice this while driving!

After leaving town, we proceeded to Hastings and then into the countryside.

The tallest peak in this photo is our destination, the highest mountain in the region, Te Mata Peak.

I am posting several photos from the summit since it is so beautiful.

A panorama from the summit of Te Mata Peak at 399 meters, or 1310 feet.

The peak is a popular spot for hang gliders, anyone interested?

Ray, along with Janet, Kay and Carl.

Along our route, we passed many different crops and orchards.  Unlike our previous ports, kiwi was not their major export.  Wine, apples and pine logs make a large portion of the exports from Napier.  We went by many vineyards and apple orchards and there were thousands of logs in the port ready for shipment.

We did arrive back in port in time to not miss the ship.  At the pier there was a display of vintage cars and trucks along with the drivers also dressed in vintage outfits.  I believe these were preparing for the annual Art Deco festival which will be held in 2 weeks.  This festival celebrates the rebuilding of Napier after the 1931 earthquake.

Tomorrow is another port and another excursion.  We will arrive in Wellington, the capital  New Zealand at around 9:00 AM.