Smithy's Cruise Blog

The largest island in the Hawaiian group is called Hawai’i or Big Island and Hilo is the county capital.  It is known as the gateway to the land of fire and brimstone and volcanos abound on the island.

When we arrived this morning it looked bleak. The Deputy Captain stessed that we could expect rain, but in the event we saw none and the weather was good all day.

We were here last year and explored the whole island in a large black sedan that I had booked on line some months before.  So this year it was the more mundane parts!

The two main volcanoes are Mauna Loa and the more active Kilauea.  They are sited in the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park.  Kilauea has been erupting for the last 20 years.

We also took in Macy’s, Sears and Wallmart!  At least they were airconditioned.  And when we arrived back at the ship the locals treated us to Dragon Boat races alongside the ship.

Each time we get back to the ship we switch on Sky News and today we were lucky enough to see John Noble from Southampton as one of the experts discussing the missing Malaysian 777.  Of course we regularly have the Sports News read to us on Sky by lovely presenter Charlotte Jackson (Chris and Alan’s  daughter).

Talking of Sport, the night before last I woke up at 3.50am (local time – no alarm) switched on the cabin TV with no volume to find the Saints live, 2-0 up away to Spurs with 25 minutes gone.  I sat through the rest of the match with its upsetting finish and then went back to bed and slept for a further 3 hours! 

I know that’s the sort of thing that Robert Gordon does down in Melbourne, but it was a first for me.

We have just crossed the Equator again.  But there is a big dilemma and dispute aboard QV.  It is about water.  Not the water in the ocean.  That is now calm and the effects of another Cyclone (called Mike) have disappeared.  As you will know the Pacific is the largest of the world’s oceans so there is no shortage of the stuff there.

It is the water on the ship!  I don’t mean that there is any sort of problem with the quality of the water. We have all sorts of water here.  Some is in bottles and sold to us at $3.95 (and many buy cheaper versions ashore and secrete them about their person when coming back on board).

 There is the water made on the ship and then there is the water that goes down the plughole. And that’s where the problem lies.

I tried again, after the Commodore had confimed that we had indeed crossed the Equator, and the result was the same – clockwise. 

Here is the sun overhead.

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.