30 August 2013 Bay of Islands

We arrived in the Bay of Islands this morning.  I always have my stretch and abs class at 7.00 and 7.30 so I am up to see us sail into these lovely places.  We got organised had some brekky, our tour was leaving at 11.30, we had to get ourselves ashore as it was a tender service today.  A very beautiful place indeed.  Our tour was a catamaran trip to the hole in the rock and around the islands, I did not know but there are 144 islands in the bay, two of them are privately owned and this happened in the late 1970s because the Government could not afford to buy them at the time, I am sure if they were offered to them now they would be able to.  The catamaran brought us back and Sam and I had a look at Piahia and then caught the shuttle bus back to the tender and then we sailed.  We have had dinner, I did a load of washing, I think it is easier to pack clean ironed clothes than dirty ones.  It is very rough tonight we will be rocked to sleep.  Sam is watching the Hawthorn/Sydney Swans game, he has been lucky enough to find a few Hawthorn games to watch  I am about to put my head on the pillow, hope all is well    Sabine and Sam  XXXX

We are now sailing towards Sydney, very hard to believe that the time has gone so quickly. 

29 August 2013 Auckland

We docked in Auckland this morning.  A very chilly and wet morning indeed.  We dressed ourselves for the weather.  350 of our buddies disembarked and no doubt 350 newbies embarked. 

Sam and I decided to take the ferry to Devonport.  This is a very pretty spot across the water from Auckland, beautiful homes, very expensive, but very picture postcard.  We headed up the main street when we got off  the ferry, found a nice coffee shop and when we went inside, we found Dallas and Don so we had coffee with them and then headed off to explore the place.  Sam went to the Navy Museum.  It did rain on and off but we did our best to stay out of it.  We contemplated doing the city as well but I must admit when we came off the ferry we were both pretty tired and came back to the ship.    Had a bit of a rest and then watched the ship leave, again it was raining, be good to spend a bit longer in Auckland, maybe anor time.   Sabine and Sam   XXXX

28 August 2013 Pacific Ocean

Today we had the "Missing Sunday" brunch as we lost the official Sunday by the crossing of the International Dateline.   Beautiful food presentation again, too much food as usual.

27 August 2013 Pacific Ocean

Ship life continues.  Very busy day today, our table partners and us of course are doing a bar crawl today, there are 11 bars on the ship.  We started at 11.00.  I had to head off at 12.00 as we had a rehearsal for our choir today, the performance was at 2.00 and it was lovely, Alan and Alana our musical directors were very pleased with hour well it went.  Lots of work goes into this and everyone is very committed.  We will then do “Now is the Hour” for the NZers who will be disembarking on Thursday and we will do this in the Atrium.  We will do “I still call Aust home” for us before we disembark.  Lots of people to catch up with before they leave.  All the best Sabine and Sam  XXX

26 August 2013 Suva Fiji

We docked in Suva, Fiji this morning.  On arrival in Suva the Police Band are playing and they are beautiful.  The first time I visited Suva was when I was 18 on a cruise, the ship was the Himalaya and the band was playing then as well. 

We were booked on a tour to a resort.  We met our guide and he directed us to our bus took about an hour to get there, and when we arrived I said to Sam I have been here before, it was the same resort I had been to on yet anor cruise when I was 21.  Sam took a photo in the same spot as I had had one taken 40 years previously. 

We were welcomed by the hotel staff, we were to have lunch and a performance.  I decided to go for a swim in the sea, so I went with anor couple, Heather and Ray, Sam decided with his cold he was best to stay sitting on the beach.  It was not quite as warm as Samoa but lovely all the same.  We had a lovely lunch and performance etc. and then headed back by bus to our ship.  We pretty much arrived back just very close to the time of sailing, the band was playing for us again, it is very special to have a band playing when you dock and sail out, it does not happen in many places these days.  Very lovely day was had by all.  We have two sea days before we arrive in Auckland.  

23 August 2013 Pago Pago, American Samoa

Pago Pago (pronouonced “Pang O Pang O”)

We docked this morning in Pago Pago, American Samoa.  American Samoa is comprised of six islands with a total land mass of 77 square miles, the main island Tatuila is 54square miles, with a population  of 57,500 (July 2008).  The Samoan island lies in the centre of the South Pacific, about 2,300 miles southwest of Honoulu.  Since 1899 it has been divided into Western and Eastern or American-Samoa.  The islands comprise the only American territory in the southern hemisphere. 

Pago Pago is the capital of Tatuila, its bay nearly bisecting the island at its centre.  Mother Nature created the bay when the seaward wall of a great volcano collapsed, allowing the water to enter the steep-side volcano and creating one of the best, most spectacular natural harbours in the South Pacific. 

Despite Western influences, however, Fa’a Samoa the Samoan way of life – still retains its basic unit, the extended family.  The larger family lives together in a group, with each nuclear family having its own fale.  A central fale is used for entertaining.  The extended family also elects a chief as its leader.  Family members stay together, even after death.  There are no public cemeteries for Samoans, the graves of loved ones line up alongside the fale.  The more important the person, the more important the marking.  All aspects of life are valued and children are treasured. 

Dress is important aspect of the culture, the women wearing their traditional puletasi  -  tunic and long skirt, bedecked with fresh flower leis.  The typical dress for men are bright knee-length wraparound skirts called lava lavas. 

It is an unincorporated territory of the United States, the inhabitants of American Samoa are U.S. nationals but not citizens, which means they cannot vote for U.S. president.  The governor, who heads the Legislature is elected every four years and the judiciary is run along American traditions. 

The territorial government is the largest employer here, while fishing is the major industry.  Interestingly, there are no European or mainland US planters in American Samoa, land may be owned only by fully fledge Samoans. 

(The above information was in our port guide, a bit of background is always good to know).

Again the weather was beautiful on our arrival, they have a very high rainfall, the day before four inches in the day.  We left the ship, a lovely market was set up, I bought quite a number of lovely things for various people, I always like to buy some of the lovely things, if we don’t we are not doing our bit really, I never ever bargain as I think it is disgraceful, we have so much and these people work so hard for what they have, whatever the price is I pay it and add some.  We booked a little tour with a family owned business, we were taken part way round the island, down to where the tsunami hit in 2009, very sad indeed.  There are many many sad poor dogs without homes, dear me I would like to build a rescue facility and take them all, when I think how fortunate my Chifley is and all the other family pets I know, life is a very strange thing, all accidents of birth I think.  Our guide showed us where there is a resort “Sadies” and dropped a few of us off,  we then had some lunch there with other CBFs we met up with and spent the afternoon swimming in such beautiful surroundings.  There is always the time we have to leave to get back to our ship, we all walked back I had to be back for choir practice at 4.30 we had to be on board by then anyway, very busy afternoon, after choir I ironed then put on my black load of washing, while that was happening, we got ready for dinner, Sam found the Hawthorn/North Melbourne game live so he was beside himself, that finished at 7.40 I collected the washing and we headed down to the dining room for dinner, we were the only two at our dining table, our waiters were very pleased to see us, they do not like it when no one turns up.  By the end of dinner poor Sam was quite unwell with a cold so we headed to bed, mind you I was exhausted too, a very lovely day indeed.  We have a sea day on Saturday 24^th, then completely miss the 25^th and arrive in Suva on the 26^th. 

Not too many more blogs for everyone to read.  Hope all is well, lots of love Sabine and Sam   XXXX

 

 

17 August 2013 Kauai

We docked in Kauai this morning.  Our tour was not meeting until 11.00 so we had the morning to ourselves. 

Kauai is geologically the oldest of the Hawaiian islands.  It is over 6 million years old.    It is the fourth largest island, situated 105 miles across the Kauai Channel, northwest of Oahu.  It was founded long before Captain James Cook descended upon the region in 1778.  Legend says that the Menehune, an ancient race of Kauians first settled hundreds of years before Cook arrived. 

Our tour took us to Waimea Canyon.  This a natural wonder and the stunning vistas go on for miles, one can see out to the ocean,  the colours of the canyon look like it has been coloured in with crayons, it certainly lives up to its nickname “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” Mark Twain called it that.  The depth of the canyon is 3,567 foot deep and 12 miles long. This was a reasonable distance which meant we saw all manner of lovely scenery and beautiful beaches etc.  Again lots of different people did many different things, waterfalls, some people took helicopter flights, some took flights, people do all manner of different tours.  In 1992 they had a hurricane which wiped out 3/4 s of the island.  Prior to this they grew sugarcane and pineapples, there were pineapple canneries etc., after the hurricane for various reasons the canneries closed etc so no sugarcane or pineapples are grown now, our guide said it was for various reasons, labour costs, etc. etc.  There were also two dairy farms on the island but that was wiped out also, everything is expensive as it all has to be shipped in.  They do have cattle but the people of the island cannot afford to eat the cattle on the island, way way too expensive.  The only thing they grow now is coffee and it is premium coffee. They also grow corn for human consumption and cattle feed.

Hollywood has had a love affair with the Na Pali coastline of Kauai.  Blue Hawaii, Six Days Seven Nights, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Descendents, South Pacific and Donovan’s Reef all having used Kauai as a location.  The Descendants with the lovely George Clooney is based on the story of the Robinson Family who own 3/4s of the island, they also own a little island, where there are only 200 inhabitants (all pure Hawaiian), once they leave the island they are not permitted to go back, the children do come across on Sunday eve and return Friday eve they board and go to school on Kauai.

A very beautiful place and of course you only get a glimpse in a very short day, one thing about cruising you see lots of different places and only for a short time, but it does give you a chance to say “Yes” I would love to come back or “No” maybe not, you have not wasted an entire holiday on somewhere not divine.  Anyway that is what I always feel.  Very eco friendly place, no building is allowed to be built higher than a Palm Tree.

Next stop is Pago Pago in American Samoa, once we cross the Equator and return to the Southern Hemisphere.

Lots of love Sabine and Sam  -  I am hoping to get a position as a travel writer on my return I am sure I will be headhunted by some lovely magazine.  XXXX

PS we have been blessed with the weather in our last few stops where there is generally high rainfall.  On our day in Costa Rica we were told that usually it starts to rain heavily around 8am and continue all day and that we needed a raincoat, which of course we did not have.  Well that day it was dry all day.  Also in the Hawaiian islands it remained clear each day, so we were very lucky.  Also along the Panama Canal it had rained all day the day before, but it was clear all day for us.