I lost my train of thought. Where was I?
Oh, right. I started this diary series last November after a trip that took my partner and I, and three other family members, on a Down Under vacation. The last instalment was posted on December 14 2015, before I stepped away from the computer for a bit. The story so far:
Part 1 included a tour of Sydney, Australia and nearby areas, ending with our cruise ship sailing away from Sydney Harbour.
Part 2 focussed on a ship-board attraction, blowing hot glass at sea.
Part 3 included a visit to a wildlife sanctuary, to see Tasmanian Devils and other fascinating animals from Down Under.
Part 4 was a drive-by sailing through the Sounds of New Zealand.
Part 5 explored the city of Dunedin in what was a cool, drizzly, spring day in New Zealand’s south-east.
Tonight, we are a little further up the eastern coast of the south island, to visit Akaroa and Christchurch.
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TONIGHT’S FEATURE PRESENTATION: AKAROA and christchurch, NZ
Our cruise ship, Celebrity Solstice, moved us overnight from Dunedin to Akaroa. For this stop, we had to “tender” ashore. This port does not have the capacity to handle big ships docking, and so the ship anchors offshore, about a 15 minute ride by tender boat. Modern ships dual-purpose their life boats. These fully self-contained vessels can hold 150 to 200 passengers each, depending on the design and situation. They are known to the crew as “the boats”. On this day, 6 of the boats were put into the water (3 from each side of the ship) to tender passengers back and forth from ship to shore.
Deck 2 of the ship has built-in platforms at the water level, and we worked our way down there to get on one of the boats. But first, from high above, we can see a couple of the boats already deployed and hovering nearby, for their turn to pick up passengers. The beauty of New Zealand is in the background on what began as a cloudy and cool day.
Just as our boat pulls away from the ship, we get an impression as to how big the mother ship really is. The horizon is a bit off-kilter in this shot, as we were gently rocking on the water. If I correct the orientation for a level horizon, it looks as if the ship is about to dive under. Trust me, that didn’t happen.
Our primary destination for the day was Christchurch, about a 90 minute bus ride from the port of Akaroa. Our bus went uphill for about 10 minutes, then downhill for another 10, then pretty much level the rest of the way. The countryside here is spectacular, even on a cloudy and overcast day.
I suppose the relatively slow-moving tour buses might be an irritant to the locals trying to get to wherever they are going.
An interesting piece of artwork as we arrive in the city. Perhaps there is a significance to the stream of digits, but I’m not aware of it.
What many people remember about Christchurch is the disastrous earthquake that occurred on February 22, 2011, killing 185 people. The rebuilding effort continues to this day.
Below is a shot of the “white chairs memorial”. I had to take this from a slowly moving bus, as we didn’t stop at this location. There are 185 chairs in the memorial, one for each person who died. The chairs are all different, representing the young, the old, the disabled, and so on.
Not all of the damage has been repaired, at least as of last November when we were there.
Some buildings sustained more damage than others.
In some cases, shipping containers have been stacked up as barriers during the restoration process.
We stopped for a while to explore the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The clouds began to dissipate, the sun came out, and it became a glorious day. Within the Gardens, you will find a Rose Garden with more beautiful roses than you can count.
I like old trees.
At this point, I’ll just shut up and let the colors speak for themselves.
Entering the Rose Garden.
After leaving Christchurch and heading back toward Akaroa, our next stop was the Manderley sheep farm for a demonstration of herding with dogs, and a sheep shearing. We were also served a light lunch of tea, lamb sausage, and shortbread cookies.
I liked this collection of cones stacked in an outdoor brick fireplace on the grounds of the farm.
The terrain here is steep and rugged, and beautiful.
The working dogs were lined up, each waiting for his turn to perform in the show put on for us.
This one has his eye on…
… some nearby sheep.
This dog is almost unleashed
And he’s off and running!
There was a longer demo, in which one of the dogs ran full speed up a hill to round up the sheep that were up high, and bring them down. A different dog then herded them back up to where they were originally. The following video clip begins after the first dog has already run the long distance up the hill, and has brought the sheep part way down. He finishes putting them into the area near where we were standing.
This sheep is about to get naked.
And this is one sheep’s worth of wool.
Here’s a shearing demo clip.
The young ones.
As the day went on, and our bus worked its way back, the clouds went away and opened up to beautiful sunshine. Here’s what my notes, written later that day, say:
- on the way back the sun came out
- scenes had been stunningly beautiful then the sun came out
- wow on a scale of 10 pick a number between 10 and 12
Before heading back to the ship, we had time to wander about Akaroa a bit, and stop for lunch.
For the 5 of us, we ordered 3 of the Chef’s Lunch Special to share, and a pitcher of beer. The fish and chips were delicious. At today’s exchange rate, 27.80 NZD is about $19 US.
Each serving was actually bigger than this. This is one portion divided up amongst us.
At the next table to ours, a woman had her pets together on a leash.
We sat outdoors at this restaurant, which is directly across the street from the water’s edge. Stroll across the street, and this is what you see:
The word gorgeous seems inadequate.
Remember, this was spring time in New Zealand. Just a few steps away from our table, the local bees were enjoying their lunch buffet. They had no interest in us.
All good things must come to an end. Time to board the boat for the ride back to the ship. In good weather, they open up the seating on top of the boat.
And finally, we head around the aft end of the ship heading toward the loading platform.
We relaxed a bit, then opened a bottle of wine to enjoy from our balconies while watching the boats being raised back to their stowed positions at the end of the day.
As we ate dinner, the ship was already anchors up and heading toward the capital city of Wellington. Fog began to roll in. Later on, we were completely enveloped in very heavy fog. The ship’s horn blasted well into the wee hours of the morning, at about 2 minute intervals. That, combined with my ongoing insomnia of the time, made for a sleepless night.
Top comments for Wednesday April 13, 2016
From your diarist these evening, lotac:
When I saw just the title of Hunter’s diary “Call of the Dildos: The Ted Cruz Story”, I instantly knew there would be a snarkfest inside, ripe for picking. If you’re like me, you’ll find plenty to chortle over. I’ll give a h/t to David54 for recommending that The Donald get busy on Twitter.
Top mojo for Tuesday April 12, 2016
Top photos for Tuesday April 12, 2016