Dunedin & Christchurch New Zealand

First, some corrections from the prior posting…80 Tons is a little lite for this boat, it is actually 800 tons…but no difference, Tasman still kicked our butt. (Some of the staff said it was the roughest they had ever endured, and the TV listed the winds as ‘Gale Force’. ) Also, we were on a coach in Denedin (Duh-NEED-in ) and a train in Christchurch….but let me catch you all up now that we are honest again.

Some New Zealand facts…..4 million people in the whole country, with only about 1 million on the South Island. There were once 80 million sheep in New Zealand…..and it has now gone down to only 40 million sheep. Dairy has picked up as the economics of Milk changes the mix. Still….there are sheep everywhere you look. They sometimes take them as pets…like we would a dog…..and whenever you see ‘dots’ on a far away hillside…assume they are sheep and you will be correct.

Monday the 15^th of February had us in docked in Dunedin near the southern most point of New Zealand. The weather was beautiful, light clouds and a high of 63 degrees. We boarded a coach right at the ship and headed up the coast on one side of Otago Bay, around Dunedin and then back down the peninsula, which borders the Tasman to the east and Otago Bay to the west. The driver was also the tour guide and was excellent.

First stop was the only Royal Albatross Colony that exists on an inhabited piece of land. This occurs on the very tip of the peninsula…Taiaroa Head….…and all other colonies are on islands south of here and closer to Antarctica. The nests were within easy viewing …as they have built a bunker into the hillside to observe. It is soundproof and very camouflaged….so the birds are not bothered. In an excellent presentation we learned that the wingspan of the largest Albatross can exceed 5 meters….yes folks, that is 16 feet. The species nests at this colony were around 12 – 14 feet. They have 3 joints to their wings…a shoulder joint at the body, an elbow joint, and a wrist joint, So when they fold up their wings on land…..it is a tri-fold. When the fly….and yes, we watched one take off……they jump into the wind and soar, using the end of their wings only ….and quite frankly…you can not see them move. They are very clumsy looking on land….and unbelievably graceful in the air. There are 19 nests and all but one has hatched a fledgling this season….with the last due to hatch any day. They have help…the rangers gather the eggs and ‘candle’ them after hatching…..and make sure they maximize the number of fertile eggs. We saw mostly chicks….with the parents taking turns tending…i.e. sitting on the chick and feeding it….both in ‘person’ and on the web cam on one of the eggs. When full grown these birds weigh about 36 pounds, and when the chicks first ‘launch’ they are fat and weigh more! When they leave the colony they don’t return for 5 years…..and they mate every other year. We could go on and on…it was very fascinating to see. Care to look…visit http://www.albatross.org.nz/

Oh Yeah…..we also visited a bunker where they hid big guns to defend the harbor. Bunkers built in the late 1800’s were updated to WWII vintage ‘disappearing 8” guns’, and we got to see how the troops manned them. They were never attacked…so cool guns…never fired in war.

Next….off to look at the Yellow Eyed Penguins at a conservation project that protects them. They are the world’s most endangered species of penguin….and there are around 30 of them in this colony. They nest in the woods around the sea….and walk to the sea to go ‘fishing / feeding’ from dawn to dusk. This project built a series of walks, blinds and tunnels to get you close to the birds. We saw several young chicks…like less than 2 years old…and a couple of molting adults. When they are molting…which lasts about 4 weeks…their feathers will not protect them from the sea….so they get no food or water for 4 weeks….and they work on getting very fat and then they just laz around. (So hey…we’re not just on a cruise…we are actually getting ready to molt…..! ) We did see one adult male, Mitch, making his way to the beach and out to feed….and it was a stitch. Beautiful yellow ‘headband’ …..but he waddles out to the beach, and due to a quickly receding tide…it takes him three tries to get into water deep enough to swim off. The female guide / naturalist was embarrassed for him! While there, we also saw New Zealand fur seals and a sea lion….and of course sheep.

Next stop, Larnach Castle and lunch. William Larnach, banker and politician built his mansion / castle on a promontory that can see both the harbor to the east and the ocean to the west. Wonderful place…lots of history, scandal, etc.….and extremely beautiful gardens. The present owner has restored much of the elegance of the place….but her real love are the gardens….which she was out tending when we visited. Wonderful turret at the top of the castle gives a stupendous view.

We had no shopping stop /time in Dunedin….which perplexed a couple of us. Any guesses?

Smooth sail out of Dunedin at around 6:00 pm. Doug and Randy went up to the top of the ship with Binoculars and camera to catch a last glimpse of the soaring Albatross as we came back by the Taiaroa Peninsula. Breathtaking…..

Docked near Christchurch…the Garden City around 7:00 am.

After a short ride out of the very busy container port…we boarded the Tranz Alpine Scenic train for a tour of the southern alps of New Zealand. So we headed inland up to Arthur’s Pass an elevation of 737 metres..or about 2500 feet. The scenery was beautiful…weather a bit rainy on the way up….but nice at the top. While at Springfield station (no Homer or Bart sightings reported) we fed a sheep white bread…..and watched a demonstration of a sheepherding dog. The dog was a border collie…and he had the sheep in the palm of his paws! They gave us tea and scones, cheese and crackers, and lunch on the train. After a ‘walk about’ at the pass, we boarded a coach for the way back down. Great views if the countryside, good facts by the guides, including pointing out where two hit films were filmed in this valley…The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and Lord of the Rings. Finished with a short tour of Christchurch…and about 30 minutes of shopping (Thank god !)…and back to the ship.

Doug and Randy witnessed the harbor pilot leaving the Rhapsody and jumping back to the pilot boat and returning to Christchurch harbor. Neither of us will be applying for that job!