Dandan on NZ

I have received another one of Dandan's emails, he has 'done' New Zealand now.... over to Dandan...

"Hi. Happy New Year or Hogmanay, to you all, whatever you may call it and wherever you may be. We hope that yours was a truly good one, and that your plans and resolutions have survived the celebrations, alcoholic or otherwise and live on to flourish in 2006.

Anne and I had a great time with new friends as we saw the in New Year. The people on this ship are predominantly aged 55.plus. Consequently the music consisted mainly of the sixties and seventies variety. The Piano man and Hi Ho Silver Lining mixed with a lot of Abba, Tina turner the Beatles etc, was the order of the day. Anne’s legs unfortunately preclude her from dancing, but she sang with the best of them, and as a bonus woke up horse and virtually voiceless, O joy LOL

Today is Friday the 6th of Jan. Artemis is two days out from Auckland, steaming at 19 knots, heading for Tonga, backtracking in the south east pacific,. It is 8 AM and 28 degrees, partly cloudy, with a force three breeze, there is sun on the deck and Anne is up there making up for lost time.

Was it really only five years ago, I was, at this time of the year, working 14 hr days, desperately driving the year end figures, finalising last minute deals, anything to meet those targets. Whilst at the same time revising budgets, writing new pay plans and agreeing them with Japan, all for the for the launch of the new year on February the First, To start the same process again. Madness

I thought of this fleetingly, at about 6 A, M. this Jan 1st as I stood, at the bow of the ship, watching and recording, a sunrise of breathtaking intensity. Myriad shades of fiery Gold and red and everything in between were playing on the hills, sea and sky, as we approached the cliffs that guard the entrance to New Zealand’s, Marlborough sound.

It also caused me to stop and consider how I would find the words describe this New Zealand to you. After all I have already classed places and experiences as awesome etcetera, in my previous emails and with my limited vocabulary I am running out of the adjectives to do it justice.

The land of the Long White Cloud as the Maori call it, has so much going for it, with a climate ranging from that of the UK. At one end, to semi tropical at the other. From the craggy sound’s (fiords) and mountains of the south island, to the geysers and mud pools of the north, the whole place is a tree lover’s paradise. A verdant land, with its native bush, growing side by side with trees from all over the world that thrive in this climate, growing bigger and stronger than ever they did in there native lands.

A new land, constantly being changed by its volcanic heart, it has only been inhabited for 1000 years. For much of that time the Maori lived in harmony with the land
Unsurprisingly it is the arrival of the Europeans and the introduction of our pests, Rabbit, Stoat, Deer and latterly the Australian possum all of whom thrived, far beyond expectation that has threatened New Zealand’s natural infrastructure. For instance the possum was brought here for fur breeding, but in the anti fur times of the nineteen sixties, the usual well meaning but brainless, animal activist, freed a number from cages on farms, there are now an estimated sixty million, roaming the wilds and doing immense damage to native fauna. Many land owners have been reduced to dropping poisoned carrots from helicopters to try and contain the beast.

The kiwi bird national emblem of New Zealand owes its perilous existence to the stoat, which was introduced to hunt and kill the burrow living rabbits on the hillsides, unfortunately the kiwi too lived in burrows was bigger, slower and unable to defend itself and so became the stoat’s favourite meal, the end product was predictable, extinction

To its credit the government is working hard with programs to restore the natural balance by exterminating these pests, whilst installing captive reared, endangered natural species, on some of the many uninhabited islands that exist in abundance just offshore. A clever, ambitious and laudable attempt to restore parts of there country to its native state

Milford Sound and the Fiordlands: Are as beautiful to see, as they are difficult to photograph. The dark hills, looming mountains, and plunging waterfalls, all framed by a sky and sea, whose colours vary continuously, under the constantly changing light, play havoc with camera settings. I will not attempt to describe this magic area in great detail, suffice to say Milford sound is quiet, secluded, pristine and a must place to visit when in New Zealand.

Symptomatic of this area, was the fact that after a splendid day, the captain had to suddenly abort the entry to another sound as the weather closed in completely, the wind and sea rose and within half an hour, we had a full storm on our hands, causing us to shear away and head for open water and safety

Marlborough sound at the other end of the island while not as rugged, is still picturesque and stunning. The second home of the wealthy and the holiday playground of the young or water addicted, with countless boats of all shapes, sizes and persuasions from kayak, to car ferries, loitering, meandering or zipping around, dependant on size and the nature of there propulsion unit.

We visited a number of other sounds in the course of two separate days sailing among them, and it was thought provoking and a reflection on the size and grandeur of the places themselves that our 45.000 ton, 230 metre long ship, appeared to shrink, reduced somehow by its surroundings.

Dunedin was, wet, wet, wet, so we contented ourselves with some shopping and a visit to a chocolate factory, samples were nice.

You may remember when I left you last time; I had just chased up the ship to get a photo of an albatross. Well, here in Dunedin, whilst rounding the headland that guards the harbour entrance. I took a picture of it, and some groups of white dots on the green grass. As we left it astern the staff captain said on the P A ,as he was giving details of our course that, the little headland, housed a rare breeding colony of albatrosses. Having blown up those white dots on the computer I find they are large white birds with black tops to there wing. So now have just got to get the ships bird expert to see the picture and who knows, maybe I got lucky

Christchurch next: A city of parks, flowers, trees and rivers. We spent five hours exploring this super city by taxi and loved its diversity, its openness, and its cleanliness; many of the older buildings have not only been preserved, but taken into public ownership, restored and converted for public use and enjoyment. Alternatively the developer has been refused permission to knock down, but rather encouraged to reuse and modernise, much of this led by public outcry, that was actually listened too by those that represent them. Refreshing!!

One amusing anecdote was, that a well known London architectural practice, had been retained to use there considerable skills, to refashion an old building. Emphasising and capitalising on the fact that one of its aspects was south facing, they utilised as much as possible as window to catch the sun, unfortunately they had forgotten that this is the southern hemisphere and the world, including the sun, is the other way round.

Here an enlightened town council has put a law in place that says any developer seeking planning permission, has to gift the city 8% of the land, he is seeking to develop, which is then adopted by the parks dept and turned into a green space and looked after by them. Consequently not only is it impossible to infill on green places, but the percentage of green area remains the same, no matter how much the city grows in the future, unless of course that is, a Tony Blair or Gordon Brown Clone takes power

Wellington: A rough and windy day so bad that the ship had to employ tugs to pull her away and stop her or the quayside being damaged. We dropped any idea of sight seeing or touring, found a cyber café and chatted to our families and friends for a couple of hours. Weather had moderated so took the funicular to the top off the hill overlooking Wellington, shouldn’t have bothered, mostly the backs of buildings, oh well you can’t win them all. Down and back to the ship. Wellington unfortunately will have to be for another day.

Auckland: Didn’t get to view this city either, instead a three hour cross country ride took me to Rotorua, home of the thermal springs, boiling mud pools and geysers, fascinating, but vastly over commercialised and thus spoilt, but one shouldn’t be to critical as there are livings to earn, in a part of the country that does not have much industry,

Here we had a tremendous meal buried and cooked in an earth oven, over hot stones Maori style, with sweet potatoes, yams and salads, and the most delicious lamb, left pink and not overcooked as is the general way on the ship,

(Why do older people by and large like there meat well cooked. Is it, because they are the generation, who lived through the war and rationing years and therefore got used to cheaper cuts of meat being cooked longer? it is certainly much in demand on this ship)

This was followed by a Maori show, superb singing and dancing by a troupe, obviously enjoying themselves, especially, when as a finally the lady narrator told us we were going to join in one of the dances. Proceeded to teach us the Maori names for arms, legs, head, backside etc. and then launched into a Maori version of the hokey kokey, simple but hilarious.

Then on to a unique and interesting sheep show which defies my descriptive powers, suffice it to say it was clever, different, very funny and worth watching, however unlikely that may sound. But also served to remind me how much I miss our border collie that died last year.

Back in Auckland I just had time for some harbour photos, not unfortunately of the monster of a private yacht, that was moored on the other side of the cruise terminal to us, it carried a fifty foot yacht, a motorised gin palace of equal size, plus a helicopter and other toys, All the property of one man the Russian owner of Chelsea Football Cub. Whose name I can’t remember or spell

So that was my New Zealand, Beautiful, wild and different in many ways, not least in the fact that it has, I am told, three of its principle public offices filled by women, Prime minister, Governor General, and one other, I know not what.

I left, pleased I had come and hopeful off returning for a longer look.

Yes I did go past the Hobbit village and oak tree, it is here if you wish to come and see it. A whole little village is growing into a town on the back of it. Again, good employment for country people who need it.

So coming up for me, a string of Polynesian islands, for Anne some more sunny days on the deck, will tell you all about later.

Once again thank you for your emails, it is nice to know, we are not forgotten, if any of you don’t want to receive this stuff, let me know that too.

Regards Anne and Cliff."