Auckland
The last couple of months we have been living out of suitcases… We are accustomed to being nomads, but not schlepping suitcases in and out of hotel rooms. So even as we were enjoying all the wonderful places we could drive to in New Zealand, we had in the back of our minds that it would be great to get on a ship and unpack for a nice long time.
So, on a slightly rainy day in Auckland, we boarded Holland American Line’s Noordam. We’d returned our rental car when we got to Auckland, and I was somewhat concerned how we’d get ourselves and what seemed like a lot of luggage to the ship. We didn’t feel like using the busses, as good as they are. Uber to the rescue! We were picked up in a beautiful Tesla, and the trip to the boat was fast and comfortable. And cheap! Soon enough we were settled into this huge floating hotel, and wouldn’t have to pack and unpack for a LONG time! Yay!
The view of the city was very good from our verandah. I like this shot that shows the old Ferry Building, dwarfed by modern high-rises, and even a glimpse of the Auckland Tower.
Leaving that evening was pretty special too!
Tauranga
Early the next morning we arrived in Tauranga, the port associated with Rotorua. I love watching us come into a harbour as the sun rises! You should be able to click on a picture to view it in a larger size, and if you do that below, you might see the statue of Tangaroa. He is the Mauri god of the sea, and it is his job to protect the sea and all its inhabitants. It’s not a very big statue, and from the distance we were it’s hard to even see it. But now you have.
I’ll admit I’m fascinated by the shipping capacity of these ports. At first glance, you see ships with containers stacked several layers high above decklines. And far more containers on shore. If you watch, however, you see a tremendous amount of activity, moving all those containers around, and (hopefully) getting them all in the right place on or off the ships. I did a little time-lapse video of one port:
Gisborne
Once our ship docked in Gisborne, we had this beautiful view of a “Little Hill.” It is considered special Mauri territory, but there are walking paths you can choose from. One circles the hill near the water, one leads up to the top in a long track, and the final one heads to the top in a steeper but shorter track.
Of course I had to see the view from the top, and… steep? No Problem! Except it was! It was very steep, and plenty warm, so by the time I reached the top I could definitely feel it! But the views were superb.
The mountain top (notice how now it’s a mountain?) is home to a Star Compass. There is a sign trying to describe how it works, but I must have been too oxygen deprived to follow it. OK, I still don’t understand it. The rock in the center is special, and there are points marked along the sides for star positions and island locations. How do you take this in a canoe? These guys were clever!
Here’s the map of the mountain with a spot indicating that I did indeed make the summit.
Occasionally they get the lifeboats/tender craft out to exercise them… Sometimes we need them to tender off to a port. This one is right under our verandah. Fascinating to watch them launch!
The Gisborne district is the farthest east of all of New Zealand, and so they claim to be “The first to see the light!” The Turanganui River near the port is the confluence of two other rivers, and claims to be the shortest river in the southern hemisphere. Or at least New Zealand.
Napier
More early morning docking shots.
We booked a trip from Napier to the world’s largest Gannet colony, leaving in the morning. As we left the ship, we met this guy with his little Austin. More about him and his buddies later… First we have to talk about the gannets.
This tour wasn’t organized by the cruise line, so we met in a plaza near Napier’s city info center.
We boarded a small bus, and drove through town for a while, then out on the cliffs on the other side of the harbour.
The little 4 wheel drive bus was exactly what was required to drive up the very steep dirt roads.
Wonderful views are seen from the top of the cliffs…
But if you look towards the ocean instead of the bay, you see gannets! Thousands of them! Our guide told us that on top of the cliff, and below it, there are about 20,000 pairs of gannets! They seem to like each other, because they are all crowded together – even though there is a lot of similar real estate a hundred feet away.
The adult birds are gorgeous… I can’t look at them without thinking of perfectly roasted marshmallows!
The juvenile birds look entirely different; very dark. Even though they are about the same size as their parents, they noisily demand to be fed. Here you see a little one getting fed… and looking pretty aggressive about it!
A couple of juvenile birds when they were not eating:
Midmorning on February 3, 1931, a massive earthquake hit Napier. A 7.8 magnitude quake leveled most of the town. Ground in whole areas was thrust upwards about 6 feet. There was a Royal Navy ship docked in the harbour, and while the whole bay rose, the water all rushed out to sea. The ship now sat aground on a huge mudflat! Almost before the quaking stopped, fires broke out and devoured what the severe movement hadn’t. With water mains broken as well as gas lines, the fires raged out of control. The navy ship was able to radio news of the catastrophe, and summon help. (water eventually re-entered the bay, but the ship had to be dredged out.)
With the city pretty much wiped out, the inhabitants said they would rebuild better than ever. City planners were commissioned, and building started up in an organized fashion… Art Deco was in vogue, and the city was rebuilt with attention to the latest style. This town is now claimed to have the most Art Deco architecture in the world.
What better way to explore the Art Deco capital of the world than in a 1938 Packard?? The Art Deco Trust has a few Packards from the period (and a similarly aged Pontiac,) in which they will give you a tour of the town. It was a great thrill for me! I like architecture, Art Deco, and Packards. Our driver was very informative and taught us about Art Deco styling as he drove us past plenty of examples.
Art Deco featured lots of repeating patterns, long horizontal Speed Lines, sunburst icons, zigzags, and other images.
Below you will see far too many pictures, but if you want you can enlarge them and see some of the styling cues he mentioned. I will admit the pictures are not great, because they were taken from inside a moving 1938 Packard. But I included a lot of them, because they were taken from inside a moving 1938 Packard!
The owner of the National Tobacco Company decided to rebuild his factory in the most grandiose style imaginable for a factory. He was laughed at when he did it, but it is so beautiful inside and out that the tour included the interior.
Art Deco often meant very elegant, excellent craftsmanship. That is very evident here – look at the hardware on the door. The front desk, with beautiful marble wall and delicate stained glass, is just used for receiving for the offices now occupying the building.
The dome over the reception room is far nicer than most factories!
There were a few areas that weren’t demolished in the earthquake/fires. Mostly they were wooden buildings, that could flex a bit while the brick or stone buildings shattered. A Napier man had made six matching homes near the shoreline for his six daughters. These homes were spared, and they are called the Six Sisters. Cute places standing proudly today.
The Public Trust office was the one major building downtown that survived the quake and fires. Its stalwart appearance gave some support for the rebuilding of the town.
Our Packard tour (Oops, I mean the Napier Art Deco tour) was late enough in the afternoon, that we were offered the fun of being driven back to the ship in the Packard. It sure beat the bus we’d have had to take otherwise!
I was quite surprised to see several antique cars lined up near our ship’s gangway. They were just here for our viewing pleasure. Proud owners stood by their cars, and would answer questions. A fun way to end the day!
Wellington
We spent a bit of time in Wellington a few weeks ago, so we didn’t feel like duplicating some of those sights. One thing that caught my eye, however, was the Weta Workshop. This is the film studio that did a lot of the props, costuming and special effects for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. When we were in Wellington before, I hadn’t been to Hobbiton yet, and having seen Hobbiton, I thought the studio here would be interesting. Tours of Weta are very expensive and all sold out, but I saw that the Weta Museum admission was free. So we took a long bus ride all across town to find this museum. It was free… and tiny. They had some props and costumes on display in less square footage than our motorhome. Surprisingly, there was an adjacent shop that was much larger! Weta does far more than Hobbit stuff – they did King Kong, and lots of other stuff that meant nothing to me so I don’t remember it. One is a (hokey) TV puppet show about futuristic space travel called Thunderbirds. If I were Weta I’d be embarrassed to admit to that one. Outside the museum are some really gross, larger than life (I hope!) trolls. Or ogres. Or whatevers.
Christchurch / Lyttelton
Lyttleton is the port city for Christchurch, and we were there briefly to catch a ferry to a nature preserve earlier. (We saved so much money doing these things by ourselves instead of booking through the ship!) We purposely skipped checking out Lyttelton because we knew we’d be back. Note the busses lined up to take cruisers on various excursions.
We did walk around the one main block of town, but returned to the comfort of the ship pretty soon, because it was getting cold and windy.
This little telegraph office was interesting. The first in New Zealand! It looks like just a façade in the picture… because it really is! It’s just a place holder to show what the original office looked like.
Dunedin
The next day was supposed to be spent at Dunedin, but the wind and waves were too high and the stop was cancelled. Too bad, because we liked that town, but at least we got to see it earlier!
We may not have gotten to Dunedin, but we got a beautiful sunset!
