Wellington: Flavors for all the senses

Wellington: Flavors for the senses
We pulled into Wellington right on time. After about a 20 minute walk into town we could see why it is referred to as the cultural center of New Zealand. It is much more “eclectic” in terms of people and architecture. Besides being the city capital, one of the major universities, the University of Victoria, is there. They have a lot of outdoor art which I’ve always found fascinating; including some interesting signs as we were walking in shown in one of the photos below.
We took a walk up Cuba street, which bares a lot of resemblance to Castro street in San Francisco. The irony of the Cuba-Castro connection did not hit us until we got back on the boat. First order of business was lunch in a Café about ½ way up Cuba street. Then we walked all the way up to the end and back down the other side. There were lots of very interesting shops and bars – plus this really cool waterfall which is kind of a Rube Goldberg type thing very reminiscent of one at the Children’s museum in Indianapolis. We were both so low energy we went to a coffee shop for a Latte and I finally gave in to indulgence in a local delicacy called “slices” – which come in lots of flavors. They are basically a very dense sheet cake with an equally dense icing and sometimes and in-between layer, which are cut literally into slices. Chocolate- Caramel, Citrus, Mocha, Cherry, Peanut-butter Caramel. They are quite different and VERY satisfying. Note to Kris Parmalee if you’re reading this – you could do an AWESOME job on these. We’re going to look for a cookbook with these.
We then went through the Botanical Gardens. One nice thing about New Zealand is that they apparently don’t have Japanese Beetles – we went through lots of Rose Gardens that were amazing – and no little critters! We also went through the sculpture garden and they had some very odd pieces as well as some very interesting pieces. One is a staircase out of black granite labeled “Body to Soul” On each step there is a different word – on the first step is “BODY” and the last one is “SOUL” – what the artist did is change one letter on each step to get the progression from one word to the other. So Body became bony became bend…sour … soul. It was quite fascinating and the artist’s intent was to have the viewer contemplate the progression from body to soul that we all go through.
We ended up walking for almost 6 hours, ending up back in the Cuba district. Had a garlic bread pizza with sides of homemade pesto and olive tapenade and split a bottle of white wine, before walking back to the ship. We certainly slept well!

Why don't ships have seatbelts!

Yesterday was a day at sea. Ray did acupuncture. I enjoyed the sauna and spa. Our friends Jon and Charlie went to the kitchen tour. They met the person who’s sole job is to crack eggs. Apparently he cracks them 9 at a time. Like 4000 a day. Apparently they’ve tried using machines to do it, but get too many shell piece fragment in things, so they hired this guy full time. I can’t imagine doing nothing but that all day. And of course career wise he has no eggs-it strategy (that one was for Anne Luther-Sander). LOL!

Had a very nice dinner and then enjoyed the comedian showcase. Atlantis always brings a number of entertainers on board, including several comics. It was a good laugh. They each did a short segment and then they will have their own show later in the week. We went to a couple of parties and then turned in for the evening.
Sleep, however, proved to be somewhat difficult. The boat had been a bit bumpy all day, but overnight we encountered rough seas – 8 to 12 feet. Apparently there’s the remnants of a cyclone near by. During the day it was fun to watch everyone try to deal with the unsteady boat. It wasn’t clear who was drunk and who was just trying to get sea legs! Ray and I did a 2 mile walk around the deck and when we would cross either the bow or stern there was this odd feeling of weightlessness or extra gravity depending on the motion of the boat.

It’s one thing to be in an aircraft in a seatbelt during rough air (which I abhor) . It’s another to be tossed about while lying in bed trying to sleep and to be awakened every 10 to 30 minutes feeling like you needed to hold on to something so you didn’t get thrown out of bed. Kinda reminded me of some scene from a Jerry Lewis movie or something. Funny, but not very restful.

Today we’re in Wellington, which is the capital of New Zealand. It’s located at the south end of the north island. We ended up not getting a packaged tour for this port – the one we wanted was sold out. However, it’s supposed to be quite a walkable city – and it turns out we’re arriving early (12 Noon rather than 3pm) so we have most of the day there. Since we didn’t sleep too well, I’m kinda glad we don’t have a fixed schedule. They have the only cable car in the southern hemisphere which takes you up and over the city which is where I think we will start. The weather is supposed to clear up and there is a botanic garden near by which I’m hoping to get to. Cuba Street is supposed to have lots of cool shops and the like, so I’m sure we’ll stop there as well.

Actually, ever as I write this the weather has started to clear. It was very foggy and rainy yesterday – but as we’ve moved closer to Wellington this morning the clouds have cleared and it’s going to be a sunny day. Cooler than we expected (like in the 65 degree range), but still better than Indiana! The New Zealand coastline is quite beautiful to cruise past. Picture attached.

Day at Sea

We spent yesterday morning getting ready to get on the cruise. Ray bought housekeeping basics…I bought two pairs of shoes. I found a great pair of “tramping boots” (New Zealand for hiking boots) and a pair of exercise shoes – both of which are VERY comfortable. The shoes were a good deal – especially considering that the US dollar is worth about 25% more in New Zealand.
We had a lovely harbor-side lunch and then made our way to the ship. Check-in was remarkably easy compared with some of the other ships we’ve been on. Our room is bigger than on other ships – though that’s still not huge. What always amazes me about cruise ship staterooms is how well designed the storage is in them. They really know how to utilize every nook and cranny.
We did dinner in the “fancy” restaurant last night – it was good, but neither of us thought it was out of this world good. We were both kinda surprised they charged for it separately. The show last night was a Liza Minnelli impersonator – quite funny though I will admit to snoring part of them time being awakened by Ray laughing. We came back to find the pictured “towel dog” in our room – announcing the dog tag dance for tomorrow. It was a cute reminder of Babe.
Today is mostly a day at sea. We did do some scenic cruising past White Island, which is an active volcano. It was quite interesting to be able to get that close – you could certainly smell the sulfur. Tomorrow we arrive in Wellington, which is the capital of the country. The tour we wanted actually sold out like a day after it went on sale – so we’re going to do our own walking tour. We are actually arriving two or three hours early, so we’ll have plenty of time to explore with the guidebook we brought along.

It's just a theory...that was proven! Cell phones DO work in NZ

So theoretically our cell phones work in NZ - but not in Australia. I had turned my phone on when we got here and completely forgot about it. At 5am the phone starts ringing - bringing us both our of a sound sleep. I didn't get to the phone in time to answer it - then got a text. My sister forgot we are world travelers now - just calling to get my cousin's phone number! LOL - we got right back to sleep, but it was funny to think about how connected the world is now. Not that long ago it required overseas operators and scotch tape to make a connection like that. Now we do it unwittingly. Kinda cool to think about - and fun to hear a familiar sound from home.

btw - Rob Seibert...please call Anne again - she lost your number!

Auckland Tour

Today we did a semi-private tour of Auckland. We saw gorgeous countryside and waterfall. The land truly is beautiful. It reminded us a bit of Copenhagen, being a series of Islands. We then drove about an hour further out into the countryside for a sheep shearing demonstration. I had my doubts it was going to be worthwhile - but it was actually quite informative. The New Zealand record for sheering an entire sheep is about 15 seconds - given how large the animals are that's a pretty amazing feet. We had dinner with Jon and Charles and some friends of theirs from SFO. Jon and I went to visit the local gay bar for a quick drink and to meet some of the people who were on the cruise. It was fun, but we only stayed about 1/2 hour before deciding to head home and get ready to get on the boat tomorrow. I'm still hoping to find some shoes to wear - the stores here close early - like 6pm - so by the time we got back from the tour we didn't really have much time to shop. We can't get on the boat until noon tomorrow - so we'll have some time to shop beforehand.

Heading out to explore Auckland

Last night we met up with Jon and Charlie and had a great steak dinner. We got the best night's sleep in several nights and feel great. Today we're meeting up with some friends of theirs from SFO and we've hired a guide to take us around Auckland. I'm hoping to get some new walking shoes or boots. I brought a pair of sneakers with me that are identical to the ones I wear to work out (just newer) but apparently something is different - the right one is really painful to wear. Fortunately I have other shoes, but none really good for long walking. I'm thinking I will look at hiking boots - which they call "tramping boots" here.

Valentine's Day in Sydney

Valentine's day was really rainy. We did walk all over and Jim bought an authentic Australian hat made from Kangaroo - he wasn't going to get it, but Ray decided after we'd been shopping for a while that it looked good on him so we went back to get it. This will likely become his version of the Red Hat club. Pictures forthcoming. We had brunch in a lovely area near Oxford street and then dinner at a seaside restraunt directly opposite of of Sydney Opera House. It was still rainy - but it stopped long enough for us to enjoy a lovely dinner outside.

Walking back from dinner we came across "Martini Dry Cleaners" - our kinda cleaner! (Well, Ray's - Jim's not much into Martinis).