An Antipodean Adventure

January - February 2020
A 27-day adventure by Robert
  • 24footprints
  • 4countries
  • 27days
  • 210photos
  • 0videos
  • 44.6kkilometers
  • 30.6kkilometers
  • Day 23

    Halcyon Hobbiton

    February 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We arrived at our penultimate (meaning ‘beyond the ultimate’ according to the real Jean) port of Tauranga very early this morning. Another beautiful sunny day - the weather has been warmer in the North Island of New Zealand. Once ashore we decided to go on a tour to Hobbiton, where the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed. (Again this trip was half the cost of the ship’s version).

    Again we had a lovely, friendly and knowledgeable local guide - Garry - who stopped off at a couple of interesting spots: a local viewpoint; a Manuka Honey shop (with free honey flavoured ice cream), and a kiwi orchard 🥝.

    It was great to visit Hobbiton and see the familiar Hobbit holes. Everything was well organised and we had our own young guide, Caleb, on our 2 hour tour, who amused us with anecdotes from the movies, and pointed out where key scenes were filmed. We had one LOTR nerd in our group who kept interrupting and correcting the guide: ‘You see I was actually in the movies’ he explained. It turned out he was one of several hundred Orc extras. I took great pleasure in telling him that I was friends with Billy Boyd who played Pippin, one of the main Hobbits. As Jean would say, ‘ten up ye!’. The nerd’s Goth daughter and boyfriend subsequently took the opportunity to get engaged outside Sam Gamgee’s cottage, much to everyone’s delight. Our tour ended up at the Green Dragon pub where we were refreshed with complimentary Hobbit sized ‘pints’ of cider. Ah, just the job! 🍺

    Hobbiton is a great place to visit and highly recommended if you are in the area.
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  • Day 26

    Awesome Auckland

    February 15, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Sadly disembarked the ship after a wonderful cruise to spend our last two days in Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city where a third of the country’s population reside. Campbell’s Über app is coming in handy - very quick to arrive and half the price of the usual taxis. Like elsewhere in NZ (and indeed Australia), everyone has been very friendly and helpful - even the local bus drivers - it’s just like being back on the No. 57 😋.

    We were booked into the pleasant Quality Hotel in the residential suburb of Parnell. It is a lovely area, with a rose garden nearby and lovely Victorian villas. First stop was a trip up the Sky Tower - the tallest building in Southern Hemisphere. Great views over the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. This is Pride week with lots of events, so we attended a play called Provocation, based on true stories of murderers who had their sentence reduced because their victim was gay. Great acting and thought provoking.

    Next day we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour which which gave us a good overview of the city. Visited the lovely Auckland Zoo which was beautifully laid out, and seems to do a lot of work with endangered species. Our favourites were the cheeky meerkats. We then had a short ferry trip to the seaside resort of Devonport - a welcome relief from the busy city. At night we attended another Pride event - a stand-up comedy night with 8 top NZ comedians - hilarious!

    Today, on our last morning in Auckland, we arranged to meet up with my cousin David and his partner Brigitte, who had just flown over for Valentines from Australia. We enjoyed a long leisurely breakfast in their hotel and had a great catch up. Soon it was time to leave for the airport and face a long journey home 😕.
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  • Day 26

    Robert's Round Up

    February 15, 2020 in Singapore ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After a smooth 10 hour flight from Auckland we have arrived in Singapore, only to find our next plane - the 14 hour flight to London has been delayed by two hours due to the bad weather (Storm Dennis) in the UK. While we are waiting I thought I would reflect on our holiday experience over the past 4 weeks.

    In terms of the flights, Singapore Airlines was excellent, with good meals and refreshments on demand. On check-in at Auckland today, a very helpful SA staff member assisted us, and changed our allocated seats to give us extra legroom seats for the first leg of our journey. Great!

    The hotels booked on our behalf by Cruise Nation were all of a very good standard. We were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked both Australia and New Zealand - everywhere was so clean, and the people were exceptionally helpful and friendly. A great sense of humour was evident throughout. The smaller places we visited all seem to have utilised local volunteers (often retirees), who gave us a beaming smile and warm welcome, along with free maps of the area and helpful suggestions about local attractions. We were surprised to discover that tipping is not expected (compared with USA where it is virtually compulsory). The standard of living seems high, and workers seem to earn a good wage, without needing to depend on tips. We also loved the beautiful plants and vegetation, as well as the huge variety of colourful birds.

    Another interesting thing we noted in Australia was the extensive referencing to the country’s Aboriginal past - statements were read out before the opera, museum tours, TV programmes etc to the effect that it was important to recognise Australia’s indigenous people and culture. Australia Day coverage on TV highlighted the division in the country in as much as many people do not share the celebration of the arrival of British sovereignty with the first British ships on 26 January 1788. They instead refer to it as Invasion Day, mourning what is seen as the invasion of the land by the British and the start of colonisation. In New Zealand the indigenous Maori culture now seems to be part of everyday life for most New Zealanders, with the Maori language being taught in schools and spoken in the country’s parliament.

    In terms of the cruise, we were very impressed with our first experience of the Holland America Line. The food and service were excellent and all the staff and crew (mostly Indonesian) were cheery, well mannered and helpful. The entertainment was perhaps more sedate than that on some of the larger Royal Caribbean ships we have been on, but the production shows were very good and the ship did have franchises with the Lincoln Center Stage and BB Kings Blues Club. As we have cruised with a variety of different lines, we noticed a number of ‘extras’ not normally included unless an upgraded stateroom is purchased eg we had included: bathrobes, Elemis toiletries; daily fresh fruit in the cabin; complimentary room service 24 hours a day (no cover charge); good quality real napkins at all meals (including at the Lido buffet); real hand towels in all the bathrooms on the ship; free ice cream; and delicious free Five Guys-type burgers, hot dogs and tacos. Our cruise was the last for our Captain John Scott, and there was an emotional ceremony on deck as he rang the bell before entering his home port of Auckland for the last time.

    We picked up a few useful local words and phrases in Australia - Bonzer (good), Bogan (ned), Strewth! (It’s the truth) Yabber (to talk a lot).
    And in New Zealand - The Dairy (convenience store), Kia Ora (hello), Yeah-nah (yes, but I don’t agree with you), Sweet As (wonderful).

    All in all a wonderful holiday with many happy memories to treasure.
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  • Day 27

    Home Sweet Home

    February 16, 2020 in Scotland ⋅ 🌬 4 °C

    Thanks to Mags and Christine for their warm welcome home and some great Scottish cooking - mince and tatties with dumplings, followed by rice pudding and gingerbread, and a lovely cuddle from our two favourites. Now off to bed after our 40 hour journey home. 💤Read more