7-9 October Crossing a wild stretch of sea to home

Friday 7 October to Sunday 9 October

The Tasman Sea was living up to its reputation. 5 metre swells greeted us as we exited the Cook Strait.

It did not occur to me to check the pool deck - it would have been quite a sight. Photos of the sea do not really do justice to how rough it was. We all survived of course and I actually rather enjoyed the movement. It was rather bumpy during the night when we were in bed and the stern was landing with a thump as the ship rode the swells.

As a result of having to head south to get around the low pressure system (yes we were not in the thick of it) causing the high seas, we lost time and were delayed arriving into Sydney.

As a result we did not have to get up so early to see us sail into Sydney Harbour and the light was much better.

Sunrise from our balcony as we approach Sydney Heads

Sailing through the heads on a brisk but fine Sydney morning

Good view of the recent rock collapse

Manly Ferry and one of our submarines!

Royal Botanic Gardens celebrating two hundred years

And, of course, the Coathanger

Home sweet home.

6 October Picton

Thursday 6 October

Today we are across the Cook Strait in Picton, South Island. I had put together a self drive tour of the wine region which also included a visit to the Makana Chocolate shop and the Vines Village which had been recommended as places to visit. 

View from our cabin, of Shakespeare Bay where we are docked in Picton

The Vines Village is in a lovely location near Blenheim

The day started out a little cool

This, of course, is wine country

View of part of Brancott Estate

Inside the visitor centre at Brancott Estate

When the vines were originally planted the straight lines were lined up with a rifle eye sight

 After a drive to Brancott Estate to take in the view and sample a couple of their basic wines, we headed for Allan Scott for lunch.

This was certainly a wonderful place to while away an hour or so over fabulous food. The seafood chowder was simply amazing and the other meals looked just as good. The surroundings were lovely with very attractive gardens. A fine finish to our last port stop.

Lunch at Allan Scott Wines

The wine region in the Marlborough is very pretty

The send of by the Picton locals. Cruise ship visits are a big deal for these small towns

 We had arranged to get together with Jim and Anita and Tracy to watch our sail out of the Queen Charlotte Sound into the Cook Strait, just to celebrate our last port day.

Leaving Queen Charlotte Sound

The pilot has done his job

Sydney here we come

29 September to 5 October more sea days and Wellington

Thursday 29 September to Tuesday 4 October

Five more days at sea including crossing the International Dateline (so we skipped Sunday 2^nd). It’s hard to explain how much fun we have doing very little or nothing at all. I’ve caught up on some films, Ian walked the deck regularly; Sudoku, reading, catching up with this journal and some cross stitch too, all melded into our day to day lives.

Wednesday 5 October

Wellington, New Zealand was a peculiar port stop as we were due to arrive at midday and leave at midnight. Oh well, I had managed to organise a private tour to see the highlights of Wellington. Even though Ian and I had been to Wellington on two previous occasions we repeated only a couple of places we had been before. Our guide, Jennifer, was very informative and we all learned a lot about the town, its origins, history, climate and sights.

The weather was perfect; still windy – but this is Wellington, the windiest town in New Zealand. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. Anita and Jim and their daughter Tracy were with us as well as another lady, Brenda who was cruising with us all. More importantly our friend Anne was able to catch up with us to take the tour before going on a land tour of the North Island, a substitute she was able to put together after the disappointment of not being able to go on the cruise.

The pilot approaching to board our ship to guide us into harbour

Views of the Southern Alps on the South Island

Wellington Parliament

Older legislative buildings, still used for government departments

We enjoyed our time in the Botanic Gardens

Arriving at the Rose Garden our guide heard a bird. When she said it was the call of a tui I immediately tried to photograph it. Had no idea it would come out this well as I was facing right into the sun. I've always had an interest in this bird but never seen one before

Beautiful orchids and other exotics in the hot house

At the top of the cable car before our journey down

The tunnels are lit as you pass through - the Kiwi flag in this one

Oriental Bay, a picturesque place we have not visited before

View from the old Victoria Lookout towards the airport

Basin Reserve, the home of test cricket in Wellington

View across the harbour from the new Victoria Lookout

28 September Bora Bora

Wednesday 28 September

Happy birthday to Neil, what a way for us to celebrate (wish he could have been with us) by taking Patrick’s legendary tour in Bora Bora.

No words can describe our swim with the black tip reef sharks, feeding the rays and snorkelling with the coral reef fish followed by lunch on Patrick’s private motu. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Sunrise sailing past Raiatea

Approaching Bora Bora

The ceremonial opening of the oven. Unsure if Polynesians call it an imu or not.

Patrick's famous thigh tattoo

The ukelele was made by "Jack" from locally sourced wood

Patrick's daughter (on our canoe) gave us a beautiful Polynesian dance

But before we had all this fun on Patrick's private island this is what we did

Had a swim with the black tip reef sharks

swam with the singrays

Patrick was in command of the catamaran

We were in one of the traditional canoes

We swam with the fish around the coral reef

Difficult to capture the whole thing, but "I love Bora Bora" is spelled out on the sea bed

Thanks to Tracy, here's the complete picture