Smithy's Cruise Blog

We did eventually get to the 18 March after crossing the IDL.  And on that day we arrived in Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango). The Samoan group of islands are divided into Samoa (once Western Samoa) – an independant nation and American Samoa where we were.  Tutuila is the largest island in the American Samoa group and Pago Pago is the capital.

We arrived on a bright and sunny day and set off to explore the town.  A small museum offered some moon dust brought back by Neil Armstong on Apollo 11 and a few Samoan canoes but not a lot more. So we decided to get out of town and we selected a beaten up taxi (they were nearly all beaten up) which was probably the first Toyota ever built. But the driver seemed friendly and appeared to be able to speak English.

Unfortunately he spoke very little, so didn’t prove a great guide, but the scenery was terrific. He drove carefully and he stopped whenever he felt I ought to take a photo.

The island is lush – coconuts and bananas galore.  The massive rainfall that Samoa experiences keeps everything green.  The beaches are idyllic and the villages neat and tidy.  They are dominated by multitudes of churches and fale tele (meeting houses).  

No one could explain clearly why they might have 3 or 4 of these meeting houses in one smallish village.  Some said that they had large families and their houses were small so for weddings and funerals a family would gather in the fale tele. Others said the chief of the village would gather the villagers together in them whenever he had something important to announce. 

Nearly 5 years ago, in September 2009, an earthquake erupted near Samoa sending a tsunami into Pago Pago harbour and causing extensive destruction to villages, buildings and vehicles. There is still plenty of evidence of the damage although the majority of the restoration work appears to have been completed.

We survived Tropical Cyclone Lusi.  The waves measured 7 metres and the wind reached Force 8 on the Beaufort scale.  It was less severe than the storm in the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic that we experienced in the first week of this voyage.

Auckland is known as “The City of Sails”. It was a wonderful sunny day when we arrived before 0700. The Cruise terminal is at the bottom of Queen Street which is the backbone of the City and it is easy to explore on foot.

But one of the  problems with local maps is that they don’t show the hills. We set off up Queen Street with the intention of bearing off to the left to the Auckland Domain and the renowned Auckland Mueum.

I had forgotten that after half a mile Queen Street starts to rise.  I had also forgotten how many ladies fashion shops there are.  I would have welcomed a few big steps preventing us getting the wheelchair into them, but NZ is so good at accessability that I had to endure rail after rail of dresses.  It’s not an easy life!

We saw a shop advertising assistance with Apple products.  Jane has had email problems since her emails were hacked early on this trip. The very helpful chap, for a very small fee, seems to have sorted it out. Fingers crossed.

We were directed across the road to some coffee and free wifi in the City library. The coffee was good but the wifi was not. By then I had had enough of the hills and hailed a taxi which took us to the Museum. Had we walked and pushed we would still be there. It took 10 minutes up hill in the taxi.  The museum is excellent and I can recommend it.

I also wanted to see the Maritime Museum but by the time we arrived there it was closing. We had been there some years ago and my recollection was that there were some New Zealand Shipping Company documents on display. My father had served his cadetship with that company in the early 1930’s. 

I then explored the marina close to the ship and saw the 2 elderly Americas Cup yachts that are still being used for day sailing for tourists. My recollection is that Michael Yeomans had a day out on one of them many years ago.

The evening show was a Maori cultural performing group. I feared that after a tiring day I might fall asleep but they were loud enough to keep me awake and they were very good.

Before I tell you about Auckland I need to organise my photos but for those of you following our progress by satellite I have to report a change of plan.

We like Wellington.  Strangely Captain James Cook did not appear to be excited about it.  In 1773 he anchored about a mile outside the harbour and went no further.

The harbour is amazing.  Last time we were here it was a Sunday and there was a Dragon Boat

Championship taking place with scores of teams involved.  Our visit this year was on a Monday and the Waterfront was less frenetic, but it was a beautiful day and the locals and the tourists were out in force enjoying the autumn sun.

We were dropped off in the heart of the City at Brandon Street and made our way along Customhouse Quay.  There were too many boutiques and shoe shops for my liking.  “We have not come all this way to look at dresses” fell on deaf ears.

We eventually arrived at the Waterfront and meandered along to the Te Papa Museum of NZ. Last time we were pushed for time and did not enjoy it, but this visit was great. The museum is vast and modern.

New Zealand is exceptionally wheelchair friendly. Nearly all the buses have ramps.  The pavements are flat with dropped kerbs everywhere and there is access to all the shops (sadly!).  And the New Zealanders are brilliant, asking if everything is OK and offering to help with directions as soon as you peer at a map.

Tomorrow we are in Napier, but sadly we will not meet up with Roger and Susan Treherne’s daughter, Clare, who we saw last time we were there. She is away visiting relatives.  But we are due to meet Gretchen Watson’s mother, Maryjane, who is having a house built in the Hawkes Bay area close to Napier.

Maori settled around the large natural harbour in this part of South Island, New Zealand (the Otago region) from about 1100 AD, but it appears that when Captain James Cook came here in 1776 there were not many Maori still here.  In 1848 Scottish migrants arrived and established Dunedin (the Celtic name for Edinburgh).  It is New Zealand’s oldest city and it is home to NZ’s first University, The University of Otago.

Robbie Burns large statue sits above the Octagon, at Dunedin’s centre, and the reminders of that Scottish heritage can be seen throughout the City.

We docked on Sunday at Port Chalmers about 8 miles out of Dunedin. The shuttle bus had a ramp and we were soon on our way into the city at enormous speed, around the fringes of the harbour.

We imagined that everything would be closed, but that was not the case. John and Peter Stafford, the twins from Sandbanks, Dorset made their way to the Cathedral, found it was Commonwealth Day, enjoyed the last 30 minutes of the service and then were entertained to coffee and cakes by the great and the good of Dunedin.  No doubt they made a generous donation to the collection!

We explored the city, heading initially to the old railway station. It has been restored to its former glory and on the top floor is The NZ Sports Hall of Fame. Great fun with many familiar names from the past – Bob Charles, Sean Fitzpatrick and Richard Hadlee and many more! Yes honest.

We did not get to see the University and we know that Gretchen will give us a hard time about that, but we ran out of time after seeing the Cathedral and the elegant buildings in the centre of the City.

The Tasman Sea was easy on us.  The two days it has taken to reach NZ were calm – in fact apart from the massive storms experienced in the first 5 or 6 days after leaving Southampton, the oceans have been kind to us.

Milford Sound is a fiord on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  It is New Zealand’s most famous tourist attraction.  We arrived at the mouth of the Sound at 0730 and a commentary by one of the Fiordland Rangers commenced on the open decks.

I took up position on Deck 9 in front of the gym.  I used to think of it as my private deck – when the ship was new very few people knew how to access it.  Now everyone knows!  It was cold and visability was not very good.  The fiord is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise nearly 4000 feet on both sides.

I spotted in The Times today a photo of the Queen Mary 2 Captain.

Usually the Commodore of the fleet is in command of the flagship, but in fact the Commodore is here with us. I gather that when he took up the position he made it clear that he wanted to move around the fleet, rather than staying on QM2 throughout.  He joined us in Sydney and has a few days aboard familiarising himself with the ship’s systems before he takes over from Captain Inger, who goes on leave in Wellington.

Mike with Gretchen in Dubai.

Cunard have been producing a number of speakers on each segment and one of them is said to be the Celebrity speaker – John McCarthy, Admiral Lord West and Peter Snow so far and for this leg Roger McGuinn. I will report on him later as he has yet to speak. He was one of the founder members of The Byrds.  I have heard him before on QE and am looking forward to hearing him again, hopefully with fresh presentations!

The singers and dancers appear in a variety of excellent shows during each segment. In the past they have usually been made up of East European dancers, but 10 days ago they were interviewed on stage. All but one of the dancers are Brits and of the four singers, one is Irish, one Scottish, one American and one Canadian.

On Shrove Tuesday there was a pancake race with the singers and dancers and all the other departments taking part. It was somewhat less risky for them than the tug of war competition that they entered earlier in the voyage.

The Bridge team also entered the tug of war, led by the Deputy Captain (at the front – leading by example!).  The chap in the white tee shirt is the Captain’s husband. He told me later that his arms were covered in bruises and rope burns afterwards.  When he agreed to take part he had not appreciated how seriously some of the departments treated the event!

I have just bumped into Carol Marlow.  She was President and CEO of Cunard until about 5 years ago when she moved to the same position with P&O.  She left that job in September at the same as Peter Shanks, who had succeeded her at Cunard, left for pastures new. Carol is on QV for 2 weeks until Auckland as a passenger. I knew her well in the days when Cunard’s offices were across the road from our office.