A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
At Sea in the Tasmanian Sea
There followed two days of sailing back across the Tasmanian Sea. Once again, we were very fortunate to enjoy good weather for the entire crossing. We took advantage of this part of the trip to sit on our verandah, watch for the occasional albatros, and catch up on our email. Amazingly, we had access to the internet during much of the trip - even in the middle of the Tasmanian Sea. Satellites are expensive, but useful if you ignore the whole "intrussive technology" consideration. (This trip I noticed a major increase in the number of folks who were on line catching up with friends and family and posting their latest pictures to Facebook, Mobile Me, Flicker, or whatever.)
Holland America ended the cruise with a series of special lunches and dinners at one of which I was asked by a shipmate which New Zealand port I liked best. A very difficult question to answer. If one judged according to museums containing Maori collections, then definitely Auckland headed the list. If according to beer, then the first taste of Mac's Gold in Wellington would have to take the blue ribbon. Christ Church and Dunedin would fight it out for the town that best represented their settler's origins. If according to rare animal life, one would find Napier's kiwi matched against Dunedin's yellow eyed penguins for the honor. Napier would definitely take the cake for scones while Darwin in Waitangi would have to be given the first place for history even though Cook in the southern fjords was a very strong second. Our only disappointment during the entire trip was in shopping. We wanted a sheepskin coat. We found some, but they were of surprisingly poor quality and usually had a very off-putting tag that read "designed in New Zealand, made in China." I have concluded that I can not really answer the question as to what I liked best, but if someone were to ask me if they should include New Zealand in the list of must-visit places in the world, I would unhesitatingly say yes. As the English would put it- the country is" lovely" and the people are "delightful."
One custom that I really like is the Maori pressing of noses as a gesture of friendship. This t-shirt design with the two skin tones says a lot about the country's efforts to live harmoniously with one another.
