Around the World Again

Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand – February 6, 2018

We were supposed to arrive this morning at 8 am but when I awoke at 8 we were still coming into the channel. The channel is fairly narrow and the Norwegian Jewel was ahead of her. Captain Jonathan told us that he did not want to get any closer until the Jewel was safely tied up. Because of this we did not start getting off until about 9:00. The morning was very cool (at about 50 degrees) and the captain made an announcement that people might want to dress accordingly. The day warmed up a bit but there was a constant change from sun to clouds and rain showers throughout the day.

I had booked a private excursion set up on our Cruise Critic roll call for a city tour of Dunedin. We were just a little late starting due to the back up in getting off the ship. Our first stop was at Larnach Castle which was started in 1871. There were a lot of steps inside so I only toured the ground floor. I joined Tom and Jeanette in the café and had a delicious scone with jam and cream.

After viewing beautiful scenes from the hillside we had a tour of Speight’s Brewery, the largest brewery on the South Island. The building is built over the natural spring that provides the water for the beer. They use 24 million litres of this water a year in the production of the beer and give away another million from the free water tap outside the building. At the end of the tour we had a sampling. We were given a glass of their Gold Medal Ale and then we could pour glasses of any of their other beers.

From the brewery we went to the beautiful railroad station which is the most photographed building in the country. We had an hour in which many took the chance to have lunch but I was still full from my scone. Instead I took advantage of the free wi-fi in the restaurant.

We then had a tour of the city center. Because it was Waitangi Day and a national holiday, there was very little traffic and we were able to see much of the city before returning to the ship.

I got back on board at just about 5 pm and was able to get to trivia by question #3. There were only four of us on the team and we ended up with 12 points and the winning team had 15 out of 17.

1)What was Sherlock Holmes’ friend Dr. Watson’s first name?

2)Which US city has more than 30 Buddhist temples?

3)What is the hardest bone in the body?

4)Which country has the most coastline in the world?

5)Who was the only living artist to have his work displayed in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre?

Sail-away was shortly after trivia. I went out on my deck to watch. There was a piper playing us out. We also had a short shower which produced a beautiful rainbow. The Captain announced that there was a colony of albatrosses as we were leaving the channel. He came back a few minutes later that there were also penguins so I stayed out on deck to take pictures.

All were present for dinner. I had the French onion soup, pot roast, and kiwi pavlova for dessert.

Really tired after the all day tour so I skipped the show. I was going to post this without the pictures last night but after two unsuccessful tries to get on the internet, I gave up and went to bed. That is why this post is late.

Port Chalmers…