Starting off the New Year right with my bucket list visit to the countries down under! A cruise is probably the best way to get an overview of New Zealand and a corner of Australia. I sailed on a 12-day cruise on the NCL Spirit from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia with stops in the ports of Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin; New Zealand gives me an East Coast glimpse of this great nation. Then over to Australia with stops in Melbourne, Tasmania, Eden, and finally in Sydney to complete to trip. The NCL Spirit was the same ship I was on to Iceland in June 2019 and as expected it went into dry dock in 2020 with many new upgrades and it presented nicely.
Leaving Auckland turned out to be an interesting afternoon as it had started to rain the evening before; not just rain but torrential rain and it continued all of the embarkation day. It was so bad, I had to Uber over for just the 2 blocks to get into the terminal building! Subsequently, the entire city of Auckland was under a flood alert that night including the international airport which remained closed for 24 hours. Good thing we were able to depart around 6pm as scheduled.
The scheduled first port the next day in Tauranga to see the native Maori culture did not happen due to the weather and large waves as this was a tender port. So a day at sea and we move southward away from the bad weather to the port of Napier, New Zealand.
My first port of call in Napier, New Zealand involved a bus tour around the city. We were scheduled to be on the famous Hawke’s Bay Express tour train, but it was not operating at this time. Napier is famous for being rebuilt in the 1930s Neo-Classical style of architecture after the Hawkes Bay earthquake in 1931 that demolished most of the city. It now has created a subculture of Neo-Classical visitors in February of each year to celebrate the city’s architectural style. The city is a hub for the export of timber, wool, and frozen meat with most of the exports shipped to China.
Continuing our voyage south to the southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, we stop in the capital city of Wellington. Mainly a government, business, and technology-based economy it is considered the most southern of any world capital. Once again the Maori culture is evident everywhere as they were the original inhabitants of all of New Zealand. The tour that day takes us around the area of the city by bus and on foot to explore the city’s unique architecture and the effects of the largest earthquake ever recorded in New Zealand in 1855 at 8.2. The huge earthquake caused large sections of the ocean to rise and become a tidal swamp which is now being reclaimed and creating new land for the city. Famous for continuous earthquakes (we did not feel any that day), the city continues its rebuilding efforts today from the latest big one in 2016.
Our next port of call is Akaroa as the access point for a visit to Christchurch, Via a tour bus we make the 1.5 hours drive northward to visit the city on our own as we are dropped off in the center of the city. There was the availability of a hop-on hop-off train, but it was always completely full due to the large of amount of cruise ship passengers in the area, so we just walk around and shopped. We enjoyed some excellent fish and chips from a restaurant in the Terrace Food Market. Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand it is another city prone to earthquakes and is still dealing with reconstruction to this day.
We are finally to the southern tip of the South Island to the port city of Dunedin, the place where I was getting excited to see wildlife, especially Penguins! The Nature’s Wonders Wildlife Safari tour did not disappoint with a great view of fur seals, blue penguins in their natural habitats, and yellow-eyed penguins in the distance. Both of these species of penguins are very protected and are very rare to even be able to see them. Via 4×4 ATVs and mini busses they took us in small groups from the main visitor center to the shore where these animals were able to be seen. Although very overcast conditions did not allow us to see great views from above, it was nice enough along the shoreline to see into the distances. What wonderful work these guys do for preserving nature!
Our next few days would be spent cruising the sounds of New Zealand, Milford, Dusky, and Doubtful. While these were interesting, I have been spoiled by the Norwegian Fjords and they are much better than these sounds. We never even made it into Doubtful because weather conditions with strong winds prevented safe passage.
Goodbye New Zealand as we head across for 2 more days at sea and across the Tasman Sea to our first Australian port of Melbourne. Why we had to go up north first and then back south to Tasmania remained a mystery to me until it was explained that immigration was not available in Tasmania, so we had to make our first port of entry into Melbourne first. The Tasman Sea is known for being rough waters, especially during certain storms because of the various ocean currents that flow through here. Our crossing was a bit rough because of this with 30-40 knot winds and 15-foot waves, but the ship handled things just fine!
We arrive in Melbourne, Australia (another new country for me) and I booked a Leisurely Melbourne tour which was a bus tour around this great city. It is the capital city of the state of Victoria on the southern coast of Australia with a huge area of over 3800 square miles. Famous for many important events like the Australian Open, the Formula 1 Gran Prix, and hosted the 1956 Olympics; Melbourne is also home to many arenas for Australian Football, Cricket, and Swimming. Financial capital for most of the Asia Pacific arena, it boasts as a UNESCO world literature site.
Time to head back out to sea across the Tasman Sea to Tasmania, specifically the city of Burnie. Tasmania was the main reason for my booking this itinerary for the cruise because not every cruise ship stops there. Looking forward to the shore excursion “Devils and Roos” was exciting to see these 2 animals and hopefully many others in their natural environments. The Wing’s Wildlife Park located about 1 hour away from the port did not disappoint! Similar to the people in Dunedin, New Zealand these folks were dedicated to the preservation and care of their animals. The entire Park was organized very well and you were able to see lots of different wildlife from fish to monkeys, to poultry, to birds, to meerkats, to wombats. Of course, the highlight was the Feeding the Tasmanian Devils event and then the large area where Kangaroos and Wallabies were able to roam free. They sold feed for the Kangaroos and they were extremely friendly to the visitors allowing themselves to be touched while feeding. A highlight in the same enclosure was the albino Wallabies! It was a great day and I highly recommend this place to visit if you are in Tasmania.
Now we go across the Tasman Sea for the 3rd time back to Australia for a stop in Eden, Australia a bit up north on the eastern coast of Australia in the province of New South Wales located on Two Fold Bay. My shore excursion this time is a bus drive to the Sapphire Coast Scenic Villages where are able to see not only the historical whale and killer whale history of Eden but the entire coastal areas in the area. Eden involves a visit to the Killer Whale Museum and the historical tale about the village’s encounter with a “friendly” killer whale Old Tom who herded whales into the bay allowing for easy capture by the whalers. The coastal drive in this area features many beaches, national parks, and coastal wilderness from Marimbula to Bermagui. This entire area is the oyster farming capital of Australia, so I am sure fresh oysters were the norm at many restaurants.
We near the end of our great New Zealand Australia cruise and dock early the next morning in Sydney, Australia for debarkation. I choose to spend the night in Sydney, so I book myself on an all-day tour of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. This was a great way to get out of the city and see what else the area has to offer, and it did not disappoint! Yes, it was a few hours bus ride, but well worth it for the views and spending a half day at Scenic World a quasi-amusement park that features various ways to explore the blue mountains with breathtaking views. Your first “ride” involves an incline railway with a steep 52-degree angle drop to the bottom of the valley. Then a short 10-minute walk through the jungle forest you arrive at the next “ride” a large Scenic Cable Car (100 passengers) ride back up to where you started with stunning views along the way. The biggest sight to see is the Three Sisters, 3 towering sandstone formations created 200 million years ago and eroded by rivers, wind, and rain. Then you can take another cable car across the valley called the Skyway with a glass bottom view of the valley 270 meters below and a stunning waterfall. This whole aea used to be a major coal mine and therefore the railway. All in all a fun day!
Deciding to splurge to get my last night’s view, I stayed at the Four Season Hotel in Sydney Harbor. A fantastic hotel located in The Rocks neighborhood, just a block from the harbor with views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge made it all worthwhile. Nearby was a bar and restaurant area where I could enjoy a fantastic Kangaroo Burger ($27 AUD) and homemade lemon meringue pie ($15 AUD) from the Rocks Cafe. Who said things were cheap in Australia or New Zealand? Returning back to my hotel for my night views and thinking about this being in my top 5 cruises thus far.
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