On the move

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

The monkeys stand for honesty
Giraffes are insincere
And the elephants are kindly but they're dumb
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum

So, what’s been happening?

The lyrics above likely gave it all away, but today I went to the zoo!

The Taronga Zoo is located on a steep hill overlooking Sydney Harbor. The animals living here definitely have the best views of anybody in town.

The Taronga Zoo is over 100 years old and the entryway to the park is quite reflective of that age. Curiously, the entryway has the heads (not real heads) of various animals protruding from the masonry as though they were game trophies hanging from the library in an English mansion.

The zoo is large, but not nearly as large as the San Diego Zoo, a zoological park with which I am very familiar. In fact, I found my visit to Taronga filled with many mental comparisons to San Diego’s world famous zoo. Although, Taronga may be smaller than the San Diego Zoo, it compares favorably in many other ways.

Taronga Zoo is a very clean place. It was difficult to find any trash, garbage, or other litter anywhere in the park. It is also easy to find a place to grab a snack, a beverage (even beer!), or a rest room. I also like the signage found everywhere admonishing me (the visitor) not to give any animal a bite of my burger or a sip of my beer. Yeah, as if I’d share a good bee-ah with any of these guys.

The main entrance to the zoo (pictured above) is at the top of the hill, and the pathways to see the animals wind their ways from the top to the bottom, making the park more accessible to elderly people or people who experience some difficulty walking, especially up hill.

Once a zoo visitor finds their way to the bottom, there is a “Sky Safari” (I like to call them “Sky Buckets”) that will take you pack to the top of the park where you can find a new path back to the bottom. This really helps to make visiting the animals an effortless thing.

Oh, yes! The animals!

This zoo, like so many others, has many of the African animals we learned to love as kids: giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and all the rest. However, I have a limited amount of time to spend here so I sought out the animals any visitor to Australia wants to see: Australian animals, of course. And here is a collection that I found and studied.

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• Kangaroos: In Australia, kangaroos are almost everywhere. The “big reds” are as tasty as they are ubiquitous. They make great burgers, but don’t take my word for it. Buy some, and decide for yourself!
• Emu: Along with the kangaroo, emus appear on the Australian coat of arms and, again like the kangaroo, are also considered to be a national symbol. And, once again, if you want to eat healthier but can’t seem to give up those cheeseburgers, the flightless emu can offer you the break you’re looking for.
• Wallaby: The wallaby is, like the kangaroo, a marsupial which means that they carry their young around in a pouch until the young ‘uns are old enough to care for themselves. They are smaller than kangaroos and, according to my personal experiences, far more polite.
• Koala: A cute, furry animal that should never, under any circumstances, be called a bear.
• Wombat: Wombats are nocturnal animals about the size of a small pig. In this post they are shown in a zoo, but I have had the heart-stopping experience of meeting up with one of these beasts on a dark road outside of Melbourne whilst riding a rented Harley. Buy me a bee-ah and I’ll tell you the story.
• “Silkie” chickens: These little “puff ball” chickens are not unique to Australia, but it was the first time I’d seen one in real life so I snapped the photo. These are not your ordinary chickens. Their feathery “puffs” are smooth to the touch (which is how they got their names.) they have five toes on each food rather than the usual four, and their skin (and meat) is dark grey to black. I think this bird could lend itself to some very unusual culinary artistry!

Now, there was an African animal here that I had some fun with and helped a gathering crowd obtain the photos they were after. Do you recognize this guy?

Yup, it’s a meerkat. Meerkats live in groups much like prairie dogs. They burrow into the ground and into hills. They’re very cute and are often photographed standing up on their back legs in groups. They only exhibit this behavior, though, when they’re on alert. If one meerkat sees, smells, or hears a predator in the vicinity, they will stand up on their hind legs (likely to get a better view) and will produce an “alarm” sound to alert other meerkats that danger may be close by. Today, as a small group of people watched the meerkats dig in the earth and look for food, no meerkat was “on alert” and all of the little guys just wandered around doing their thing.

So, I unlocked my phone, went to YouTube and searched for a video (with sound) of meerkats spreading an alert. Once I found what I was looking for, I played the video at full volume while holding my phone high enough to get the speaker higher than the glass walls that contained the meerkat habitat. Immediately, every meerkat in that exhibit was up on its hind legs and looking for the source of the danger. That would be me.

I wonder if they (the meerkats) ever figured out that it was me that sounded the alarm. Oh, well. The other zoo guests thought it was pretty clever and everybody got the photo they wanted.

Perhaps it’s just because I’m a foreigner and I’m not familiar with Australian animals in general, but I found some great animal watching outside of enclosures. They were just walking around the zoo, much like me. For example, before entering the park proper, I found this little guy rummaging around in the bushes. I don’t know if he’s an iguana or some other kind of lizard but there he was, in the wild, and as free as you please!

Another beast that could be seen everywhere would likely be kept in an aviary anywhere in North America. This guy is known as an Ibis.

This particular bird propped himself up right next to me as I was trying to eat some lunch. He was very bold and didn’t seem to care that I could (if driven to it) reach out and wring his scrawny neck with very little effort.

Our tour guide explained to us that these birds normally live in swamplands. They use their long beak to probe in the murky waters for insects and small fish. However, New South Wales (the state in which you’d find Sydney) has been suffering through a drought for seven years now. As a result, the wetlands are drying up and the ibis has migrated into the city where it has been living quite successfully. It now uses its long beak to open the tops of garbage bins at the zoo as well as those found all over town. Now, the locals (who seem to make up funny names for nearly everything) call them “bin chickens.”

So, anything else?

Ok, the animals at the zoo were both interesting and entertaining, but you don’t have to look much farther than the human animal and his creations to produce a little snicker under your breath. For example, this sign:

I wonder if this sign in simply informational or serves as a warning. I dunno, but I can tell you that I have decided to be very careful about how I sit down on one.

So, what’s coming up?

This is an overnight stay in Sydney which gives me more time to explore. Personally, I think everybody who visits Sydney should go see the Opera House, so that’s on my agenda for tomorrow!

Come back and I’ll tell you all about it.

Sunday, March 3, 2019
Monday, March 4, 2019

Once again we’re sailing west, setting our clocks back, and enjoying some marvelous weather while crossing the Tasman Sea.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Today, the main dining room put together a rather unique Sunday brunch. Rather than put out a big buffet and let people choose what they would like to sample, this brunch gave us everything!

When I was handed the menu I saw quite a selection of items. I sat for a moment just checking out the selection of foods under First Course. While reading the list the waiter came by my table with breakfast pasteries, some coffee, some orange juice and offered me champagne at the bargain price of 2-for-1.

Even with all of this food in front of me I started narrowing down what I wanted from the list of foods under First Course. While I was deciding, the waited brought to me a plate full of a big variety of goodies on it. It took me a second to realize that the plate that had just been delivered to me contained very small portions of everything on the menu!

I should have taken a photo of that first plate because it was beautiful and everything on it was fresh and delicious. However, I did take a photo of the second plate full of hot food items. Please ignore the bite I had already taken out of the Mini Chicken Cordon Bleu. I had already started to dive in when the thought of a photo occurred to me.

Everything on that plate was absolutely dee-lish! At this point I was getting pretty stuffed. Dessert was next and I’m not much of a dessert eater. However, when it arrived I couldn’t not try a bite of each.

When I walked away from that breakfast table I was most certainly in my happy place. So, I skipped lunch. I almost skipped dinner as well, but while walking through the Lido restaurant I saw this being served as an appetizer:

What a great day for food!

On Monday, I was out on the Lido deck, aft, in the Sea View Lounge when this happened:

These are the Maori performers we picked up in New Zealand and are traveling with us providing entertainment until we reach Sydney. It’s scenes like this that satisfy my goals for traveling. I’m mean look at that photo again. Three island women and Kahl Drogo!

So, what’s coming up?

Tomorrow we dock in Sydney, Australia. We’ll be there overnight so there’s lots of time to explore.

I’ll have more for you after we leave Sydney!

Saturday, March 2, 2019

After a quick voyage across the Cook Strait, the Amsterdam arrives in Picton! We’re only here for a few hours (8am to 1:30pm) so I dragged myself out of bed early (before 10am) to have some time to spend ashore.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Originally, I tried to schedule a Marlborough Valley vineyard tour for today. As it turned out, the amount of time given to us in port prevented any such tour. I guess that I’ll just have to enjoy those wonderful Kim Crawford wines having never been to the actual winery.

Still, the ship’s touring company was offering something that looked pleasant. It was a walking tour of Picton, with a guide who would tell us about the history and the economics of the area. The walk was schedule to last only two hours and cover about 1 mile. In the end, the tour was every bit of two hours and covered about 1.5 miles.

Although he was a little late arriving, our tour guide, Ray, was pretty cool. He really knew his stuff, although getting him to speak loud enough to hear about it was a problem, at times. Ray was an old retired navy man, and to hear him talk about life around the sea, you’d expect he had a peg leg, a pipe, and a waterproof bag of tobacco.

Ray shared with us some of the history of the area, which was very informative. One story that I found particularly interesting was that, in the time before the Māori’s arrived (and certainly well before the British settlers arrived) there were no mammals on the South Island. Instead, the island was well populated with many species of birds. The birds had no natural predators and so, over time, some lost their ability to fly. These now ground dwelling birds never took flight, and nested in trees, and seldom feared being eaten. One of those birds was the moa. At that time, New Zealand was home to the moa and it was the largest bird that ever lived.

After the Māori arrived, the moa became extinct rather quickly due to over hunting.

But, there were still lots of flightless birds left on the island including New Zealand’s precious kiwi. The kiwi is a flightless bird that nests and lays eggs on the ground. It is also the national symbol of New Zealand. Read on to see how this all fits in.

After the British arrived, they brought with them a variety of animals from home. This included dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, and rabbits. Over time, escaped rabbits began to breed like, well, like rabbits. Owing to the lack of predators on the island, the rabbit population soon soared out of control. Before too long, there were rabbits everywhere and they became worse than a nuisance, they became pests!

In an effort to control the rabbits it was decided to bring in some of their natural predators from home. These predators included weasels and stoats.

Well, the imported stoats set out to work as soon as they arrived. They are excellent hunters and killers. So did they take care of all of those pesky rabbits?

Nope.

From the perspective of the stoat, it seems, it’s much easier to raid bird’s nests on the ground and eat their eggs than it is to chase rabbits! It seems that, in New Zealand at least, eggs don’t run away as fast as rabbits do.

As a result of the stoat introductions, the kiwi (the national bird) almost went extinct. The thought of this happening is unbearable to the Kiwis. (The humans, not the birds, though I suspect the birds aren’t too keen on their own extinction, either.)

Continue to hold that thought.

On our walk around town we also got to hike just a little bit through a forest park near the yacht harbor in Picton.

Along the way we saw lots of stoat traps near our path and some lesser used paths as well. Ray, our guide, told us that residents in Picton (and some other towns on the South Island as well) have been asked to place these traps around their residential property, as well. Ray said the request is for at least every third residence to put in a trap.

Additionally, we were told that certain areas are being created that are “predator proof” and kiwis are being placed in these reserves to help them to boost their population once again. Making the reserve “predator proof” means not only tall fences, but also deep fences to keep the stoats from burrowing in.

Today, New Zealand is very restrictive about bringing animals into the country from abroad. It seems as though some lessons have been learned from their painful history.

Our walk continued around the harbor as we learned some of the history of the town. In the photo above, the left side shows a covered dry dock which houses the seventh oldest ship in the world (or so we are told.) Just a bit to the right in the photo, but farther in the distance, can be seen the Amsterdam.

Picton was once involved in whaling, acquiring 200-300 whales each season for over a hundred years. The boats they used are amazingly small (no photo, sorry.) I think it would have taken a very brave man to go out in one of the small whaling boats and harpoon one of the biggest animals on earth.

Once again, just like in Tahiti, Captain James Cook is celebrated and honored on this island as well. It would have been interesting to have met this man and to have heard him tell stories of his travels.

To get from one side of the yacht harbor to the other in Picton, one must cross the bridge, locally and lovingly referred to as “the coathanger.” And, I guess if you at the right angle, like maybe on a boat going under it, the bridge is shaped a bit like a coat hanger. On either end of the bridge, the rules for using it are clearly posted and strictly enforced…almost all of the posted rules, at least.

The harbor area in Picton has also been developed into a park and commercial area that is supporting of, and appealing to, tourists. Tourism is the number one industry in New Zealand. Pictured above is a nice clean open area adjacent to the yacht harbor that is sometimes used for public performances. Out of frame and to the left is a large grassy park where lots of people enjoying some live music on this Saturday morning. The local Lion’s Club was hosting a little party to raise money to support a local orphanage. I’d say the town was really hopping on this cool, fall-like day.

As part of the festivities, I was lucky enough to catch this quartet of bagpipers marching through the area, again try to raise interest in, and money for, the orphanage.

At the end of the tour, all participants were offered a long black (some way of serving coffee), a tea, or an ice cream. I turned down all of these offers since I had noticed an Irish pub very close by. I excused myself from the group and walked a half a block down to the pub. (It’s that “pub gravitational pull” once again.)

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This little place seem very authentic to me, as if it had been plucked right out of Dublin at set down here in Picton. And, that it was happy to be here. There was beer on draught including the ones you would expect. You could order up a pint of Guinness, or have a Kilkenny’s. Or, you could also find and enjoy a very decent Panhead American Pale Ale, which I did.

At about 1pm I started back toward the ship. “All aboard” was to be at 1:30pm so it was certainly time to go. On the walk back I came across a gentleman who was on his way to a car rally. He was planning to attend in his 1961 MGB, pictured here.

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This car was nearly as old as I am, and it was in far better shape! It’s really fun to see old classic cars like this one when they’re still running properly and reflect all of the love and attention that has been given to them. The only thing that could be cooler than driving around in this little blue british heartbreaker would be riding around on a BSA or Triumph motorcycle of about the same vintage. Huh, Matt?

So, that was my brief, but very pleasant, visit to Picton, New Zealand. Within an hour of my arrival back at the Amsterdam, we were pulling away from Picton and heading straight for Australia!

So, Robert, do you have any other friends on board?

Why, yes! I do. World, I’d like for you to meet Lizel!

Lizel works in the many bars on board and is second in command to the all powerful bartenders. It’s always very nice to hear Lizel call out my name when I come up to the Lido deck. She does an excellent job of keeping a cold drink at my table. She also knows that I’m seeking out craft beers from around the world. On Tahiti, while she was out enjoying some of her rare shore time (crew of this ship seldom get a whole day off) she remembered me and smuggled a bottle of Tahitian beer back onboard the Amsterdam, held it in her room, and the delivered it to me the next time she saw me on the Lido deck. I’m not sure which filled me with happiness the most, the beer she brought to me, or the notion of what she went though to get it for me.

That’s what friends do!

So, what’s coming up?

Next, we have two days at sea, then we’ll dock in Sydney, Australia. Two days at sea sounds good to me. I need that time to get all caught up on my posts.

I’ll have more for you later!

Friday, March 1, 2019

Woke up this morning in New Zealand’s largest (and capital) city. Wellington!

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Originally, I tried to schedule a craft beer tour. As it turned out, there were not enough people signed up for the tour and thus I found myself on my own.

Fortunately, the company that offered the tour was, at least, able to send me in the direction of a very good pub in the downtown area. Since the ship was offering free shuttle buses, and because one of the stops on that shuttle bus’s route was just a couple of blocks away from the recommended pub, I hopped on the shuttle.

Now, I don’t have a lot of photos of Wellington because I wasn’t really on a tour. Also, my main focus today was to try out some local Wellington craft beer, I didn’t really do any sightseeing. Additionally, Wellington is the national capital and it just looks like so many other large cities. In fact, Wellington struck me as something like San Francisco but with roads that curve every which way instead of roads that run straight (some would say San Francisco roads run straight up and down.)

After walking a couple of blocks I found the Fork and Brewer pub. The pub is in an old building downtown. It really doesn’t look like much, but they had a very large selection of beers (and also wines and a full bar.)

The bartender asked me what I would like and I told him I was not from the area and had no idea which beers I might like based upon their names alone. I asked him to choose four of the hoppiest beers he had. In a few minutes I was presented with four 150ml glasses, each filled with one of their home grown IPAs.

The Alpha Greek was my favorite, with a front to back tasting experience similar to what I would expect from a SoCal IPA. The Zeus Juice was a bit too flowery-tasting for me. I-P-Yay! and Feature Creep were both very good, but just couldn’t match up to the overall “goodness” of the Alpha Greek.

After I finished my flight of beers (and an Angus Cheeseburger and fries) I needed to move along. This was because Fork & Brewer was supposed to have fast internet (as well as food and beverages) but on this particular day the Internet was out. It seems I wasn’t having much luck in achieving my goals in Wellington.

BTW, the beer flight was $16 and the burger was $21. That’s $37 for 1.25 pints of beer, a burger and fries. Now after taking the exchange rate into account, that’s still $25.15 US. New Zealand in not an inexpensive place to live.

Leaving the pub, I started walking in the general direction of the shuttle bus stop. Along the way I found, Coco’s Bar and Grill. I stopped briefly to see if they had free internet, and they did! So, I went inside, ordered a pint of beer (a delicious APA this time) and sat outside by the sidewalk to enjoy my beer and being digitally connected to the world.

And, WOW!, was I connected! The wi-fi speed completely blew me away. I was now enjoying upload and download speeds almost 1/15th of what I have at home and it felt just super! And, it was easily 10 times as fast as the ship’s internet for which I paid dearly. So I used this “beer break” to upload photos and videos so that I could continue my posts on this site and keep you entertained and following along in my adventures.

So, I did all of the uploading of photos and downloading of system and app updates that I could fit into the time remaining. I did get back to the shuttle well before the service ended for the day, and in no time at all I was back aboard the Amsterdam.

Today I visited Wellington, just about the southernmost city on the North Island. Tomorrow, I visit Picton, just about the northernmost city on the South Island. Picton is a short visit (dock at 8am, cast off at 1:30pm.) We’ll see how much sightseeing I get down there.

Until then, adios!

Thursday, February 28, 2019

It’s an all day/all night cruise from Tauranga to Wellington.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Well, it’s another day at sea so, what shall I tell you about?

Hmmmmmm.

OK! I know!

Starting just a few days after we set sail from Ft. Lauderdale a surprise showed up in my stateroom. At first, I though perhaps Ayu, my stateroom attendant, had left something behind accidentally. On closer inspection there was a card attached. The card said what I was looking at was a gift on behalf of the Captain of the ship.

Digging in a bit, here’s what it turned out to be:

Inside of the protective plastic wrapper was this very nice, and very new, messenger bag. It’s full of nice pockets and divided areas. Since I received it, I’ve been using it to carry around all of my digital equipment when I go ashore. It can easily hold my MacBook Pro, my iPad Pro, my iPhone X, my iPhone XS, chargers, USB adapters, my Kindle Oasis, and a host of other small stuff that I use less frequently. I also keep copies of my official documents (passport, driver’s license, visas, etc.) in it, just in case.

It’s a very cool gift and it came totally unexpectedly.

Then, a little more than a week later, another interesting looking gift appeared in my stateroom. I was very amused to receive this little distractifier. (I just made that word up.)

This gift is still in the wrapper. I have not taken it out. It is a miniature Jenga-style game. Can you make that out from the photo?

To me, the most amusing part about this gift is something you may have already considered as you read these words. Can you imagine trying to play Jenga on a ship that is rolling back and forth and sometimes even shuddering in seas with swells up to 8 meters? I mean, even when we’re not in the roughest of seas, if we’re moving the ship is pitching, even if it is only a little bit. There is no amount of pitching that would be acceptable while trying to stack little sticks of wood upon an increasingly unstable base!

Then, tonight, a new little white box shows up, with a card again stating that it is a gift courtesy of the Captain and crew. I open the box and there is something wrapped in a soft piece of tissue. It’s almost exactly the size and shape of a new iPhone. An iPhone? Really? OK, I can always find a use for another one.

However, on closer inspection it turns out to be a very nice power bank! It’s a 10,000 mAh power bank with two USB-A ports! This means I could charge two phones at the same time, or offer to share some power with an attractive lady in electron distress. (I hope I get a chance to do that!)

One very eye-catching feature of this power bank is that while it’s charging, the top of it glows and shows the Holland America “Grand World Voyage” logo, reminds me that it’s the 2019 voyage, and mentions the Amsterdam. The glowing logo slowly pulses from bright to dim and back to bright again. It’s just the gadgety kind of thing that I love. It’s not a new iPhone, but I’ll keep it just the same. It’s one more thing to keep cozy in my new messenger bag!

I also received a box full of small, party-sized dishes that also represent the Grand World Voyage. I’m not too sure when or where I’ll get a good chance to use them, but I’ll take them home with me anyway. Maybe they’ll get some use at an “I’M HOME!” party sometime in the future.

So, any more friends on the cruise?

I’d like for you to meet Reb. He is one of the most important and most influential people on the crew of this ship. Reb is a bartender!

Reb and I hit it off pretty early in the cruise. His regular position is as the bartender on the Lido deck, aft, also known as the Sea View Bar. So, he’s the guy that conducts the “Cigars and Cognac” evenings that occur 4-5 times a week.

Reb is, like me, a big fan of Game of Thrones. We’ve shared our favorite moments from the various seasons. This particular conversation started the night I was wearing my Greyjoy’s Hot Dog sweatshirt.

I always have fun hanging out at the Sea View Bar with Reb. Like I mentioned earlier, Reb is an important and influential man!

What is it?

Well, look who just made an appearance. My towel animal for the night. This will be the last one since we’ve completely run through Ayu’s repertoire. It’s pretty clear to me what it is. Too bad we’re ending this with such an easy one.

Still, here’s your chance to end on a high note.

What is it? Post in the “Reply” section of this post, or send me a little jingle with your guess.

Tomorrow I’ll wake up in Wellington. I don’t have real big plans for Wellington other than to conduct my own “brews cruise” through the town.

G’night!

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Today is a day dedicated to my inner nerd which, by the way, is exhibited through my outer nerd, as you all know well.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Today is a day I’ve been waiting for since before I ever sailed away. Today, I get to leave the dream world of sailing around the world and enter the dream world of Middle-earth. Today, I get to go to Hobbiton and see where all of those marvelous tiny adventurers with big hairy feet live.

But first, I need to get from Tauranga harbor, where our ship is neatly tied up, to Matamata where the film set for The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy can be found, lovingly preserved and made available to all of us fans to visit and enjoy.

The bus picked us up at the dock and took us on a one hour drive over the coastal hills and into the valley that contains the little “town” of Matamata. I put “town” in quotes because this place is very rural. There might be 8,000 people living here, but it is mostly farm and range land, so most of those 8,000 people are very hard to see!

The name of the town amuses me because, in Spanish, Matamata would mean “Kill. Kill.”

In order to get to Matamata, our bus left the harbor in Tauranga and took us up into the mountains and through the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park. There is a narrow pass between two of the mountains and from the top we could look down into the broad valley where Matamata is located.

Now, Peter Jackson (the producer of the movies The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) came to New Zealand looking for a filming locale for the Shire. It needed to have a bit of an old-English countryside look to it, and one that would also remain close to the descriptions in the books. His location scouting crew started an aerial search and, after a while, they came across this bit of farmland owned by the Alexander family. On the land there were some small, rolling hills that looked almost as though Hobbits had already been excavating their shire. The land also had a small pond with an narrow arm to one side that could double as a river.

When approached by Jackson, the Alexanders admitted that they had never heard of the books and had no idea what Hobbits were. In the end, after appropriate negotiations, the set for the Lord of the Rings, (and later, The Hobbit trilogies) was secured.

Here is aerial view of Hobbiton as it stands today.

And here is another aerial view of The Shire, but from a much lower altitude.

And finally, here are a few of my own photos taken at ground level (of course) and placed here for your amusement.

Holly (pictured below) was the excellent guide for our group. She really new her stuff and delivered her narrative with so much energy as to make us start to believe we were actually in The Shire. Now, I’ve already been asked by a reader or two as to whether I saw any Hobbits. Holly told us very early in the tour that we should be on the lookout for Hobbits. She told us that when they see us entering the Shire they run away and hide since they see us as invaders. She also told us that if we’re lucky enough to actually see a hobbit that we should point that little scamp out to her immediately as she’s never seen one! <snicker>

We were also informed that everything we see in the shire is real. The hobbit holes are made with real and natural materials (so that they will last for decades and be around to thrill those of us who are fans for the stories.) The gardens are all growing real crops. The bushes and the trees are all genuine and not just Disney-like creations made for the set. Everything, that is, except one thing.

The old oak tree seen above Bag End is actually made of steel! It was constructed over Bilbo Baggins’ smial in order to be consistent with the book. The steel frame is covered with other materials so as to make the bark look real. There are also over two million silk leaves on the tree, each one hand sewn in order to make the appearance of the fake tree look as real as possible. But, that’s not all! Once the tree was constructed and properly placed above the Baggins smial, Peter Jackson decided that the leaves were too light of a shade of green. He had the team that constructed the tree climb up into it and hand paint each leaf a darker green. Clearly, he’s a perfectionist, but how would you like to work for that guy?

As we left the hobbit holes, we walked down a narrow path (well, a regular sized path for a hobbit) through trees and bushes until we rounded a corner. As we reached the clearing, there before us was this beautiful lake, the twin-arched bridge and The Green Dragon. The Green Dragon is the local pub for hobbits and humans alike!

Inside, we were treated to a fine brew (Good George’s Red Ale, in my case) and some treats to snack upon. I had a very tasty chocolate chip muffin with raspberries mixed in. Now, I’m not often excited by baked goods, but in this case it was easy to make an exception!

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After we enjoyed our break we had a quick stop at the gift shop (where I added to my growing collection of caps.)

Then, it was time to get back into our bus and return to the ship. What a wonderful day living among the hobbits. Though I didn’t see any of them, I left feeling like they were really there, hiding from all of us intruders. This was one of my favorite tours thus far on this trip to strange lands and strange cultures.

Once we returned to the ship there was still plenty of time left in the evening to explore town, so I took off to see what sights there were to see. I walked along the dock area and immersed myself in the wonderful views of the beach.

Continuing my exploration, I came across a very unusual “touring” vehicle. This V-8 powered trike is set up to accommodate two tourists and the driver. I love motorcycles, especially those that have been custom crafted. This one looked really exciting!

Somehow, I managed to find Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub and I was forced to go inside. Nobody was actually pushing me in the front door, but there’s a strong pull of gravity about these places that I simply cannot escape. Good thing they had some great beer and fast wi-fi. The fish and chips they served was pretty good as well. I hung out for a couple of hours until the sun was starting to set and I had to get back to the ship.

I got back just in time to head to the Lido deck, aft, and watch the Amsterdam pull away from the dock and set sail for our next port of call: Wellington, New Zealand. There’s a day at sea before we get there so I’ll have a little time to soak up some sun and do some reading.

All in all, it was a great day and New Zealand is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places in the world.

Well, that’s all for now!

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Where am I?

What’s been happening?

Today was a busy day, so let’s get to it!

Up early (for me) and I’m ready to board the bus to see the sights of Aukland. My focus, today, is to find out more about the Māori, the first people of New Zealand.

I think my fascination with the Māori began around the same time that MTV began, around 1980. I remember watching one music video that featured some Māori people doing a Haka dance. I didn’t know they were Māori, and I didn’t know what a Haka dance was, but as I randomly put the pieces together over the years, I started to “figger it out.” And, since then, I’ve had a certain interest in the mysticism of the Haka. So, the tour I chose for today was intentionally focused on Māori culture.

The bus arrived at the dock and we all boarded. The warmth of our welcome started even before we left the ship as you can see from this photo I took while descending the gangway.

We were headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum where, in addition to a large exhibit on New Zealand’s participation in World War II, there is a large exhibition dedicated to the Māori people and their culture. It was about a 30 minute drive from the docks to the museum and we got to see a little of the Auckland skyline on the way.

First of all, allow me to say that Auckland reminds me very much of San Diego, California. At least on the day I visited, the weather was nice but not hot. The city is very clean. It has a very active and “hip” downtown area near the docks, just like San Diego’s “embarcadero” area. As a native of San Diego, I felt very much at home in Auckland. Such a beautiful and inviting city!

And that big tower you see in the center of the photo above is very cool. It’s a lot like the Seattle Space Needle. It has a rotating restaurant near the top and it also has a thrill ride: you can go to the edge of the platform by the restaurant and bungee jump to the concrete below! Your jump is slightly controlled so that you always land on a receiving platform at the bottom of the tower, right on the sidewalk.

We were told that one elderly (yet spry) woman who was 92 years of age solicited sponsors on her cruise ship that would pay her if she were to jump off of the tower. She did jump off of the tower without incident, amazing everybody involved! She collected her pledge money and then donated it all to the local children’s cancer ward. There are still some very good people in this world!

We arrived at the War Memorial Museum and found out that it is a very popular place to visit for tourists, for the locals and the school children. Here’s what the lobby looked like when we arrived:

Because we were on a cruise ship tour, we were given special treatment. As soon as we were all checked in, we were greeted by an authentic Māori woman who would be our private tour guide through the Māori section of the museum. This section was not dedicated to war at all, but to culture. It featured art, life style, transportation, and history of the Māoris.

The place where our tour started was on the bottom floor which was filled with these huge Māori structures. The first one was a building that would be used as a central meeting place for a tribe. It would also be used as a place to punish malcontents, and host weddings and such.

We were told that the house took five years to carve and decorate, and was a wedding gift to a powerful member of a tribe. Sorry that I don’t have any interior photos.

An equally intricate and beautifully carved building was this food storage house.

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If you look closely, you’ll see a very small door at the bottom and center of the building. We were told that the door is made intentionally small so as to discourage raiders from stealing the tribe’s food. The door is too small for an adult warrior to enter. Sounds like a clever idea, but then, how do the people in the tribe get their own food into and out of the food house? As we were told, that is a job for the children of the tribe! So, I guess that if I’m a hungry invader and want what’s inside the food house, the first thing I must grab is a child! OK, that wasn’t too difficult.

We were also told that the food house would be placed on stilts and kept high above the ground to keep rodents and pests out of the food. That makes no sense to me since they built a door to let the kids in!

And, how do the kids get up and down from the storage house? I dunno. Too many questions, and not enough time. Or more accurately, why do I think of these questions after I’ve left the museum?

Leaving the structures we visited a room full of Māori arts. Here are some wonderful examples of gods and demons.

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One of the most impressive things I saw in this exhibit was a longboat that was created to carry 100 Māori warriors for long distances. It had room for them to sit, and even to sleep. This dugout canoe (built from a single log, mind you) was so huge there was no way I could get a photo of the entire craft. It was mind blowing! What I did capture, however, is an image of the decorative bow of the boat. That’s the best I could do.

After a little time being shown various pieces of Māori art, tools, and boats, were we taken upstairs to the top floor and into a small amphitheater. After the room filled, the lights dimmed and a cast of Māori came out to perform traditional songs and dances that had been handed down to them through many generations. The entire show was over 20 minutes long, so I won’t post it here. (If I did then I’d have nothing with which to bore you when I return home.) I will share with you about one and a half minutes of the Haka dance that they performed. I just love it!

It is important to remember that it is me that is so Māori focused and that Māori culture is not the primary reason for the museum that I was attending. It is the War Memorial Museum. Before leaving I did (rather quickly) walk through the war exhibits. I’m not enthused about wars, but walking through this part of the museum brought many thoughts to my mind. One thought was the bravery of the men who volunteered to go into battle to fight for what they believed was right. Another thought was that, perhaps, the glorification of that same heroism is what motivates other young men to step up become human fodder for the grist mill of war. And yet another is that everywhere in the world, men try to solve their problems by killing each other in a faustian attempt to be victorious. Personally, my thoughts run closer to those of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

”In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.” 

Neville Chaimberlain

In my mind all of this praised heroism likely entices young men to try to become one of those honored heroes, which prepares us for war, which promotes war, which creates fallen heroes, which we remember and praise. The cycles feeds itself. You may have a different opinion, and I respect that, but this is my blog and a place to state my own mind.

Still, the memorial museum is a beautiful tribute. The last chamber I entered was one that remembers those killed in during the New Zealand wars between the British and the Māori. Quiet, understated, and moving, it’s a painful part of New Zealand’s history which the country seems to have learned from and is taking steps to unify their people and move on to a better future.

On the way back from the museum, we took a round-about route that circled Waitemata Harbor. We passed through a very nice residential neighborhood. Our bus driver told us that the houses we were looking at were in the 10-30 million dollar range. Those are New Zealand dollars, but that’s a lot of money anywhere. He also told us that the average price of a home in Auckland was in the neighborhood of NZ$1,000,000!

After returning to the Amsterdam, there was still time left in the afternoon to venture out on foot. The pier where we were docked (Queen’s Wharf) is located right down town, and I had been advised that there was a couple of good pubs in the area. So, I set out to find them.

I found this charming little spot called 16 Tun. I ordered up a flight of beers (locally pronounced “bee-ah”) and proceeded to enjoy the brews as I consumed even greater quantities of their wi-fi. The wi-fi about ship is just terrible (I think I may have mentioned that before) and uploading of the photos you’ve been enjoying, while downing a pint or two of bee-ah seems like a very enjoyable way to spend time. At least it does to me. And, as a result, you get this page you’re reading now!

Ultimately, I had to head back to the ship or else face the consequence of watching it sail off into the distance without me. So, back to the Sea View Bar (Lido deck, aft) to prepare for departure and sail-away.

I hung out on the open-air deck for another couple of hours until the sun began to set and the air began to chill, then it was time to head back to my stateroom for a little square of chocolate dessert. It has been a long, yet very pleasant, day. I want the night to be just as pleasant.

Am I lonely?

I have been asked if traveling around the world solo for 114 days makes me lonely. Let me address this.

Am I lonely? No. It is very hard to be lonely when I’m around 900+ passengers that I see every day. In fact, sometimes I just retire to my stateroom or some other remote and unused part of the ship in order to have a little “me” time. The amount of human interaction aboard the Amsterdam is amazing to me, and almost too much for me to handle, at times.

But through those interactions, I have met some fun people. For example, nearly every day at 5pm (ship’s time) I join a small group of people to compete in a trivia contest. Here are the “regulars” in that group.

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“A woman has no name” really does have a name, but she asked me not to publish it, so what can I do?

Mark also has a wife that joins us. She has forbidden me to even take a photo of her, so I’ll just leave it at that.

Our team has yet to win a tournament, but we’ve had many fun evenings trying. I don’t exactly “fit in” with these good people (they don’t drink and I drink like a fish) but we all look forward to getting together each “at sea” evening to share what we know and to talk about our touring experiences.

OK, enough. Tomorrow we’ll arrive in Tauronga where I have booked an excursion to Hobbiton. You know about that place, right?

What is it?

Ok, on my last post I asked you to identify this little guy:

Everybody who was willing to post their guess said it was a snail, and you were all correct! Nice job.

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Well, as I woke up this morning, I’m still in pain. I had purchased a shore excursion to see the sights of Tonga this morning (I learned from my Bora Bora experience) but when the time came to get out of bed and get on with it, I had great difficulty raising myself up from the mattress. Once I was on my feet, I walked around the stateroom a few times to try to measure how I might fare on the excursion. Ultimately, and with great disappointment, I elected to not go. I really didn’t think I could stand any jarring motion as that is the kind of thing that really aggravates my condition.

So, I went back to bed.

A few hours later, I managed to get back out of bed and took a long hot shower. I let the water beat down on the epicenter of my injury for many minutes. In the end, I must confess that I felt somewhat better. I got dressed and went out to the Lido deck to, at least, get a glimpse of Tonga.

I have had a relationship with Tonga for many years. If you look at my email address, it ends in “ifyouwant.to”. The “.to” part of that email address stands for Tonga and it has been because this island nation offered the world access to their Top Level Domain that I could acquire an email address that gathers so many nice comments.

From the Lido deck, aft, I could see that Tonga, unlike Bora Bora, is a very flat place. I could see no mountains. (In Bora Bora, I could see no flat places!) Actually, the view reminded me very much of my visits to Florida.

Tonga is a country made up of islands. 169 islands, to be exact. Some of those islands could be seen lying just offshore of Nuku’alofa (which is the capital of the country.)

From where I was perched on the open-air deck, I could also see that the Tongans had set up a little marketplace on the pier just outside of the ship’s gangway. I decided right then and there that I was not going to come this far and not touch Tongan soil, back pain be damned! So I went down to, at least, take a look at what the vendors were selling and maybe pick up a souvenir.

The impromptu marketplace was strung out along the pier for what I would presume was the length of a city block. The vendors had created little “tents” out of collapsible awnings. Inside those “tents” could be found a variety of handicrafts. The were some beautiful animals carved from wood, some shell jewelry, and lots of the ever-present t-shirts.

I walked to the end of the pier, and then tried to walk into town, but after just a couple of blocks I decided that I was pushing the limits of my aching back. Maybe it would not serve me well to put too much stress on those muscles that were, only an hour ago, just starting to show some signs of healing.

So, I turned around and headed back toward the ship. On this pass, however, I decided to do some serious shopping and find something to help me remember this place and this day and how great it is to be on this trip of a lifetime. And, I found a souvenir that I think will serve me well for years to come. What do you think?

Coming back aboard the Amsterdam, I took a moment to consider some of the other passengers that I saw around me, many of whom were using walkers, canes, and even those “Hoveround” scooter things. Today was my first walk-around in several days, but I was out on the pier today enjoying my recovery. I may recover quickly, or it might take a few days more. In either case, I used that moment to focus on my good fortune. I am so lucky to be as spry as I am (though my spryness is suffering just a bit at the moment) and to know that my temporary disability is just that: temporary. So many others around me will never recover from their disabilities, may God bless them. I have flirted with not being able to walk around properly, and I don’t like it. I may yet face a more permanent disability but for now I feel that I can look trouble in the face and say, “Not today!”

After returning to the ship, I went back out to the Lido deck, aft (also known as the Ocean View Lounge) ands enjoyed a couple of Anchor Brewery’s Liberty Ales and enjoyed the tropical warmth.

I didn’t get to do what I set out to do today, but it was a very good day, nonetheless! My “shore excursion” was very brief but I found a souvenir, chatted with the locals, gave thanks for my improving physical condition, and focused on being in this glorious moment.

Not such a bad day, eh?