Freo

We should have been in Fremantle at 08:00.  It's now 13:50 and we are turning around - that is a sight - in the harbour, with a clearance of only 25 meters, getting ready to dock.

The reason for the delay was a storm last night into this morning.

 

Only the 2nd time in my life that I have seen the entire rainbow. 

 

 

 

 

Auckland 1

the Nippon Clip-on highway

The "Carnivalization" of Cunard

For those of you who do not know, Cunard is owned by Carnival, also owners of Carnival, Princess, P&O and God only knows what else.

And the Queen Mary 2 standards are falling, stupidly, in ways that are immediately apparent.

The pillow chocolates are about half the size of the ones previously left on the bed at night.  The “downsize” served as fodder for the comedians in the variety shows as well as for the (many) complaining passengers.

The shower caps given to the passengers are almost too small for adults.

The midnight buffet, which used to be open until 4 am when continental breakfast begins, suddenly, last month, closed at 1 am.  A group of us left the disco early and headed upstairs for a light snack of ……..spare ribs, only to find the buffet closed. It is now open until 2 and after that…room service which can take up to 45 minutes, as we are always warned.

World Voyages on QM2 used to be sold in long segments but then Carnival realized it could rake in much more by selling short segments – 8 days, anyone can afford that.  Just fill the ship, no matter what.

So, now the ship is often filled with uncouth louts of both sexes who have no idea of “dressing for dinner” on formal evenings and wander around in jeans, ragged shorts and shirts too small to accommodate the beer belly underneath – the dress code is only enforced in the dining room but the rest of the ship is a free-fire zone.

My last neighbors screamed obscenities along the hallways as a matter of course.  But, from Carnival’s point of view, they are fine.  The casino is busy, busy, busy and the earnings from the bar rise exponentially.

Last month, at high tea no less, a man at the table next to me picked up a fruit tart (small pastry cup with custard and glazed fruit) which crumbled in his hand.  He stuffed the pieces in his mouth and then licked his palm clean.  Reminded me of my dogs.

For me, the saddest aspect of the decline is the deterioration of the entertainment staff.  These are the “first line of defense” for Cunard and with the exception of the cruise directors, the social hostess, Janet, and 2 others, they are absolutely horrible, in appearance and distressing lack of education as well as general ignorance about manners and decorum.

From the way some of the entertainment staff speak to the passengers, you might be confused about who works here.

We are daily berated in line dancing – “What’s wrong with you? Are you all tired today”  “You don’t seem very lively”.  “Why aren’t you smiling?”  The previous trainer was even worse – she didn’t bother to learn the dances and tried to teach us reading the steps.  It got so bad that one of the passengers took over the class and fortunately did an excellent job. Nevertheless, she insulted us by saying that line dancing was only provided so that we (passengers) would have some way to pass the time.

I have been asked by many passengers to teach it but this is my holiday.

While they might be suitable for a Carnival ship (although I doubt even that), if they were on land, the only jobs they could get would be the ones asking, “You want fries with that?”

I cannot think of another luxury brand which has cheapened itself and survived.  And, it is all so unnecessary.  Leave or raise the Cunard standards and let the Carnival ships have the lager louts

Does anyone reading this know Sir Richard Branson?  He should put together a consortium and buy Cunard and rescue it from further “carnivalization”.

Ok, that’s enough whining/whinging about this tiny little first-world problem.  My voyage of discovery continues to be amazing.

But, I meant what I said about Sir Richard.

 

AUCKLAND

March 11, 2013   

The central part of New Zealand’s largest city occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean.

 Auckland’s nickname is the “City of Sails” and it has more yachts per capita than any other city in the world.  The harbor was full the day we visited.  If, as the inhabitants claim, New Zealand is “God’s own country”, Aucklanders claim, “God would choose to live and work in Auckland.”

As usual, we docked in a busy container terminal so we had to have photo ID with us at all times.  I had booked a tour so we followed the paddle holder to our bus.  Normally, there is a driver and a tour guide, but Ray, our driver, was also the tour guide and a very good one.

His first commentary startled us:  Auckland has many volcanoes, 14 of which are classified as dormant, not extinct.  The entrance to the harbor where we docked is dominated by the cone of Rangitoto – last eruption over 800 years ago but it rumbles regularly.

Maori tribes settled the area of Auckland about 1350 AD.  In 1840, Captain Hobson of the HMS RATTLESNAKE (how appropriate!) named the area Auckland after the 1^st Earl of Auckland and persuaded other English settlers to move in.  He was subsequently ordered to draw up a treaty with the Maori clans – the still controversial Waitangi treaty.

The first stop on the tour was the SKY TOWER – oh joy, a very high place!  An attraction (for some) is that part of the floor of the terrace on the 50^th ??  floor is glass.

Katie, who was also not excited about high places, joined me for a walk-about.  We discovered St. Matthew in The City Episcopal Church and it was open. 

Then we had a desultory cup of tea, complete with desultory service.

The tour was a short one, chosen deliberately as I now hate long bus rides.  Actually it’s my knee which refuses to cooperate.  But the driver thought we would not get our money’s worth so he took the “scenic route” to our next destination.  This meant a drive through exclusive neighborhoods with $5-30m homes - the NZ dollar and the American dollar are just about equal – and magnificent views of the various bays.  His commentary was just enough to be interesting but not overwhelming.

The highlight of the tour was of course the aquarium:  Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Encounter.

http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/

The Antarctic Encounter was first – a replica of the hut built and provisioned for the Scott expedition.  Sir Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912) and 4 companions made a sledge journey to the South Pole.  When they arrived they discovered that Roald Amundsen had beaten them by only a month.  All 5 died on the trip back to their base camp.

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) not only was the first to reach the South Pole in 1911, he was also the first to navigate the North-West Passage (1903-06) when he located the site of the magnetic North Pole.  Being photographed by his statue in Norway was a highlight.

As interesting as that was, the first marine exhibition was the main attraction for me – the giant squid.   There is a larger squid, the Colossal Squid, the remains of one are in Wellington, but this was quite a find.  They live at such great depths that finding even a part of one is amazing.

From there the path led to the tunnel with sharks and rays swimming around us.  Then, the various sea creatures, especially the sea horses and corals.  The time spent there went much too fast.

Paihia revisited - wish I could!

Some excerpts from the tourist information map:

 

Business Paihia – www.paihianz.co.nz

 

Missionaries were the first Europeans to settle Paihia in 1823, before the whalers in 1840.  They built a home, a store and the first church in New Zealand, constructed the traditional Maori way using raupo.

Across the water is Russell – shore destination for whalers and traders – which developed a reputation as lawless and bawdy, earning the title, “Hell Hole of the Pacific”.  Nowadays, there are frequent ferries which take from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of the boat.

Zane Grey, who books I devoured during my teenage years, helped to develop and popularize big game fishing.

Christ Church (a building in Russell, not the city 80 miles away) is New Zealand’s oldest standing church and still has the bullet holes from the Maori Wars.  No, I don’t know why they have not been patched.

Haruru Falls, the goal of our “war canoe” trip is horseshoe-shaped and aori legend says t5hat a taniwha (water monster) lives in the lagoon below.  He wasn’t home when we arrived.

Haruru was an aramoana – a seaway or ocean path – for the 9 kaianga (villages) between Haruru and Waitangi (3-4 km).  Missionaries reported seeing between 60 and 100 canoes pulled up on the mud banks. 

 

no more internet time

We pay for the internet and I have used most of the time for this segment.  I will publish again after Sydney, Tuesday.

BREAKING NEWS

March 17, 2013 – 12:00 local time

600 nautical miles due east of Tasmania 

The Commodore has announced the details of what we already knew – we are in a storm.

In this case, we are being influenced by 2 storms – depressions – and the waves which are now 5 m – about 15 feet – are expected to increase during the day, throughout the evening, only abating some time tomorrow morning.  The physicists reading this will be able to explain the momentary feeling of weightlessness which occurs when we seem to ride a wave.  It’s eerie and very exciting.

When the Commodore says to be aware of objects in the stateroom which might be “unstable”, such as the vases of my birthday flowers, and to use hand rails, it is really time to “batten down the hatches”.  I feel sorry for anyone in this storm on any ship other than QUEEN MARY 2.

 

UPDATE: 20:00 hours local time 09:00 in Berlin)

The weather is described as “rough” with waves of 6-7 meters, 18-20 feet and we barely feel it.  Love this ship!

 

Waka - Rowing the War Canoe

 

The Chief

 

 

 

 

The Chief's Grandson named Little Monster

 

 

 

 

Rowing towards the waterfall

 

 

Our goal

 

 

 

 

The other canoe - we came in first.

 

 

 

Good Bye, Paihia.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW ZEALAND - The Bay of Islands

May we please leave the Asian countries with intense humidity for a while and go straight to New Zealand??? It’s like leaving the instant mashed potatoes and overcooked broccoli and going straight to the dessert.

I’ll write about Sydney when we go back there in a few days.

I awoke as we glided past islands and rocks large and small, sprinkled in the bay.  What a glorious day – brilliant sunshine, a breeze and cool enough to warrant a light jacket.  We anchored off the coast and could see small settlements around the bay.

The first announcement was that we had been given clearance to leave the ship and that customs officers would be waiting to check our bags for vegetation which might harm the delicate ecosystem of New Zealand – no food, not even cooked, only sealed bottles of water.

The next announcement was that the Chart Room and Sir Samuel’s bar were overflowing with passengers waiting for the tenders.  Oh, oh – tickets.  By the time I got a ticket, it was for tender number 34 and they had just called 18.  So I went back up to deck 7 and walked around the deck.  There I met Christine and Keith, English but living in Australia, for about the same amount of time as I have been in Europe. 

I judged the time correctly – it helped that I could count the tenders leaving – and got back when they were calling 31.   For a change, I sat in the open top of the tender and it was very smooth until we crossed the wake of a speed boat.  Then we rocked and rolled for about 30 seconds – wonderful!

If you remember last year, there is a Bay of Islands in Australia and while there, I went to Airlie Beach. It reminded me of a small California beach community.   New Zealand’s      Bay of Islands is even more beautiful.  Of course it helped that the weather has been perfect since Sydney.  Any rain fell in the middle of the night.

New Zealand – made up of 3 main islands - was the last land mass to be inhabited.  Polynesians first came to NZ before AD 1,000 and settled mainly on the North Island.  They probably numbered more than 200,000 until the arrival of European diseases and weapons.

Abel Tasman visited briefly in 1642 but was chased away by the Maoris but not before donating his name to Tasmania and the Tasman Sea.  James Cook visited also and apparently got along with the Maoris better than Tasman had.

Unfortunately for the Maoris, whaling was very profitable for the Europeans and a whaling station was the first noteworthy European settlement.  But, unfortunately for the moas, giant wingless birds (how dumb is that?), the Maoris like to hunt them, apparently to extinction.

Then, in 1840 there was the Treaty of Waitangi, or rather the treaties, between the British and 12 Maori clans:  one version in English and one in Maori.  In all probability, some things got lost in translation as fighting continued.

Despite occasional and some continuing disputes, Waitangi Day is celebrated in February and there is a memorial park, which is near the wharf where the tender docked at Paihia. 

The village was open for the tourists, even though it was a Sunday and the Post Office, which was not open, had a sign in the window telling us that we could get stamps at the stationary shop across the street.  And everyone I have encountered since then has been as friendly and helpful as that sign.

I bought postcards and sat in the sun writing some of them and licking the stamps from the stationary store and then dropping them in the box for overseas mail.  They should be there soon.

Paihia is a village strung around the bay, charming and friendly.  I bought earring from Penny Ryan (www.pennyryan.co.nz) who uses facebook to keep the “Chinese” from stealing her designs. Good for her!  And the earrings are beautiful.  Her stand was part of a local market, equally charming.

The Waitangi National Reserve has a collection of Maori weapons including a gun which belonged to Hone Heke Pokai, one of the signers of the treaty.  There is a magnificent Whare Runanga –meeting house – with carvings to represent the main Maori clans.

There is also an enormous canoe – 120 feet long, about 40 , which can carry 150 warriors – named Ngatokimatawhaorua.  Try saying that fast!  That was the name of the canoe in which Kupe discovered Aotearoa – the Land of the Long Cloud – New Zealand.

I had signed up for a tour, The Maori Adventure, which I assumed would involve watching a hake, a traditional greeting, perhaps some singing.  “Hello”, she said.  “My name is Judi and I am going to show you how to get your life vests on.”

Life vests??  Then, 3 semi-naked men appeared and pointed to paddles on the ground and the very long canoes being pushed up onto the shore.  Shades of Norway and the King Crab Safari.

The clan chief told us about the legends of the gods, that the word “Maori” mean “almost human” and that they call themselves te papa – the people.  He then had us form lines and tried to get one or 2 men into each line and handed each of us paddles.  One by one, we climbed into the canoes and, after a prayer by the chief, we tried to establish a cadence for paddling – “paddle and tap, paddle and tap, paddle and tap”.  That didn’t work at all but somehow we managed to leave the shore and travel more or less straight.  On the way we learned about some of the trees, shrubs and wildlife along the shore.  And, I managed to paddle the entire way to the waterfall – about 4 km.  We had the benefit of an outboard motor on the way back.  Another amazing adventure!

Then the chief asked if one of us would be willing to say a prayer.  Had I had the chance, I would have recited a poem/song learned years ago:

I am the mountain, I am the sky, I am the swallow, I fly and fly

I am the river, I nurse the land, I am the mountain, I am, I am

We’re bound together, this world and me, I am a part of all that I see

I am the river, I nurse the land, I am the mountain, I am, I am.

 

A most wonderful day followed by an evening (3 + hours) of dancing:  line dancing, sequence dancing, barn dances, English country dances and regular ballroom dancing.

Sometimes, it’s a lot of fun being me!

 

Colombo

Colombo – this won’t take long

Sri Lanka has its own heat – absolutely searing.  As usual, we docked in the container terminal –heat-holding concrete.  We were told that because of the local taxi union, shuttle busses were not allowed.  We would have to walk to the terminal entrance and get local transport there.   The walk was about 35-40 minutes and after 15, despite my loose, all-cotton clothes, sweat was running down my face and back, really running – rivlets?  Whatever, it was totally icky!  ­­So, back I came and did my “shopping” at one of the stands on the dock, across from the ship. ­

Sangeeta, the World Voyage Concierge, had conducted a class on how to wrap a sari (or saree or sarie).  So, I bought one for the Oriental Ball the following evening.­­­­

 

 

 

Colombo has a natural harbor which was used by traders starting over 2,000 years ago – Greeks, Persians, Romans, Chinese and Arabs.  One of my heroes, Ibn Batuta, ca. 1304 – 1368, (see TRAVELS WITH A TANGERINE), who left home in Tangiers for a visit to Mecca and was gone 35 years, called Colombo “Kalanpu”.  Moslem Moor traders settled in Colombo in the 8^th century and their descendants now comprise the local Moorish community.

 The earliest recorded inhabitants were Singhalese from Northern India, about 2,500 years ago.  Later, Dravidians invaded from Southern India – see where this is leading?  Ethnic tensions flared in the 1980’s when some of the Tamils in the north of Sri Lanka, perhaps urged on by the Tamils in Tamil Nadu, (southern India), agitated for a separate state.   Government forces fought the Tamil Tigers¸ the separatists, until May, 2009.

I am sure there are wonderful sights in and around Colombo but this was another case of an official warning about possible terrorist activity.  So, I saw it from afar, or as Baltimorians would say, “from a fire”.

Also, there are thousands of prisoners – mostly civilians – who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – when the government army moved int.  Most apparently had no connections to the Tamil Tigers, at least no proven connection.

A factoid:  Sri Lanka is the 4^th largest producer of tea, after …..OK, number. 1 is easy, China.  India is number 2 but can you guess which country is number 3???  No, I didn’t guess it either.  It’s Kenya.

Cochin/Kochi - February 2, 2013

To catch up:

According to legend, Kerala, the state and area of Cochin, was Christianized by St Thomas about 20 years after the crucifixion.  Kochi means a “small space” or “small lagoon” in Malayalam, the local language. 

Spices, especially pepper, cardamom and cloves, have always been important exports.  The first European settlement was by the Portuguese in 1500 and 3 years later, Vasco da Gama established a trading station.  From then on, it was a fight for the very lucrative spice trade.  The Dutch pushed the Portuguese out in 1663 and the British pushed the Dutch out in 1795.  They stayed until Indian independence in 1947.

Because of the travel advisory issued by Cunard, warning of  the´possibility of “extremist activity” in Cochin, complete with embassy telephone numbers, I had booked a tour, “Highlights of Cochin”. I must remember to look up the word “highlights”.  The telephone numbers would not have helped much since they were for the embassy in New Delhi, far, far away. 

The bus was frigid and the heat intense so the contrast was most unpleasant, matched only by the high-pitched voice of the tour guide and her annoying habit of bobbing her head from side to side when she talked.  She probably wonders why we don’t.

First to the museum with a grand total of 15 minutes visiting time.  Joseph, the caretaker of the museum, showed us a typical Cochin door lock which included symbols of the different religious communities peacefully co-existing in Cochin:  Hindu, Buddhist, Moslem, Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Roman Catholic, Dutch Reformed, Confucianism.

From the museum, we were taken to the harbor for a walking tour.   This was a highlight:  the Chinese fishing nets.  Supposedly introduced by Chinese fishermen during the reign of Kublai Khan (1215-1294, the Yuan dynasty), these cantilevered nets are still in use.  A puzzle:  the blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay are always cooked alive.  We were warned not to cook them after they had died.  However, at the Cochin market (temperature about 85° F in the shade), the crabs were arranged in a circle, very, very dead but for sale.

The “lowlight” of the tour:  a large building, divided into walled-off section, each containing a different luxury item:  furniture (“we ship all over the world”, jewelry (more expensive than on the ship), clothing (lovely, hand-embroidered exorbitantly expensive items) and any number of metal, wooden and plastic knick-knacks.  Total time there: 50 minutes.

From there we were driven to the Dutch Palace.  The more than 19 busses and 100 + cars in the parking lot gave me pause and well they should have.  When the Dutch ousted the Portuguese, they destroyed some of the maharajah’s buildings.  So, they built a mansion, called it a “palace” and everyone was, in theory, happy. 

We were one group out of about 10 and there were 3 or 4 “minders” for each group because photography was not allowed. The palace has carved teak ceilings darkened with age and so the interior was dreary, hot and humid.  It was Saturday so there were lots of families with hot, cranky children.  I left early but by the time I got out, the sun was directly overhead and it was brutal.

We drove to Jew Town, the non-politically correct name of a section of Cochin which was the Jewish Quarter.  There is still a synagogue but services were being held for the 8 practicing Jews left in Cochin.  We were dropped off at a spice market, also overcrowded, but when you think of it, what would most of the passengers on a ship do with bags of spices?

I walked around the side and back streets, successfully avoiding the merchants who popped out of their shops as I approached.  One appeared so suddenly that I let out a little (maybe not so little) shriek which naturally brought other shopkeepers out.  Oh, joy!  I was not sorry to be back on the ship.