Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Well, our rain making skills are not rusty; they were working a charm today. It was pouring when we arrived, and it rained on and off all day. Apparently there has been a bit of a drought here, so the locals were very happy about the rain, and so we were happy to offer them our rain making skills.

We were anchored off of Waitangi, and needed to take tenders to get ashore. They had 8 tenders in the water, and 2 docking platforms, but with everyone wanting to go ashore, we still had to go to the Queens Room to get a tender ticket, and wait for our number to be called.

They provide a shuttle bus from Waitangi to the town on Paihia. If you don’t want to take the shuttle, it is about a 20-minute walk along the shore to Paihia. In Paihia primary school children performing Maori songs and dances, accompanied by one of their teachers on a ukulele, greeted us. They were very good, and full of enthusiasm for what they were doing. A great introduction to a really nice little town. We stopped off at a souvenir shop, and made numerous purchases. The quality of the goods was great, and I was tempted to buy more – supporting the local economy of course.

There was also a craft market, with beautiful items on sale, all very tempting. They had some great possum and merino woolens, and I was particularly impressed with a mauve shawl, perfect for cool evenings on the deck, but it made me sneeze. So Brian was saved from the rather expensive purchase. Who ever heard of a possum allergy?

There was free wifi outside of the public library, so we briefly made use of it, but it was lunchtime by then and we wanted to have something to eat before going on our tour. Lunch took longer than expected, so there was no time for ice cream at one of the many wonderful looking ice cream shops alas.

We had booked a boat tour around the islands to the Cape Brett Peninsula and the hole in the rock. The weather had not improved, so we opted for an indoor seat on the upper deck of the boat. The tour started off well, and we settled in for an interesting afternoon of boating and island watching.

As soon as we got closer to the little islands the water did get a bit rougher, but nothing bad at all. One woman made a fuss because she was feeling seasick. Now I do empathize with people who get seasick – I too have had severe symptoms when sailing in very rough weather, or crossing the English Channel. However, usually after an extended period in the bathroom, I find the place on the boat with the least movement and sit with my eyes closed for a while, and that helps immensely. Well this woman did not need a bathroom, or even the services of the white paper bag the crew gave her. She just sat staring out at the water moaning. The crew were trying hard to help her out and gave her suggestions on how to improve things, but she refused to close her eyes or move to the lower deck where I am sure she would have felt better.

The man who was with her was infuriated to see the poor woman in such distress, and immediately blamed the woman’s condition on the fact that we had a woman captain and all female crew. The door between the bridge and us was open so the captain could hear all of the very rude comments he was making about her. He then deemed the conditions to be unsafe (they certainly weren’t) and demanded that we return to port immediately. The captain explained that we were in do danger at all, and that she would not be returning to the port. This infuriated him, and he continued to make loud derogatory comments, disturbing the rest of the passengers, and I am sure upsetting the captain and the crew.

Now Brian is usually very quiet and mild mannered, although he has been known to swear at inanimate objects such as his computer, the garage door, and the barbecue grill, and occasionally at the cats, but he does not shout at people. However he was incensed at how rude this man was being to the captain and crew, and I had to implore him not to say anything as I could see he was about to open his mouth. I thought that if he told the man off, that would encourage the other passengers to join in. I could sense that they were also feeling very angry with him. That would lead to general mayhem, and the ship would have to return to the port to off load all of the unruly passengers. Something like that might end up in someone’s blog, and possibly lead to an article in the Daily Mail as Cunard passengers are not generally known for their violent behavior.

So there was no violence, but we all had to endure the woman’s moans and the man’s insults. The captain was trying very hard to give us as smooth a ride as possible, but that did mean avoiding open water, and going very slowly, so she announced that we would not be going to Cape Brett, or the hole in the wall. I was very disappointed, but respected her decision under the circumstances.

Even with the change in itinerary the tour was great – we saw loads of birds, and looked out for little penguins, but they seemed to have taken the day off, as had the dolphins. The history of the islands was fascinating, and the captain told us great stories about the happenings on the islands. Who knew that the ubiquitous Captain Cook had also landed on one of them? There had been lots of murder and intrigue on the islands, but now they looked very peaceful, with appropriately sized houses (i.e. no awful mansions) owned by the rich and not so famous.

Mr. Complainer was not content with the change in itinerary, but did shift his attention from the captain and crew. He and another woman who was with him, talked non stop for the rest of the tour about their displeasure with their butlers. I felt so sorry for the butlers, who did not seem to be able to do anything right. The problem was that it was very hard to work out exactly what they were doing wrong, except they couldn’t read the minds of the complaining trio. They were so busy complaining in loud voices that they totally missed seeing the amazing gannets dive-bombing into the water to catch fish, or the huge flocks of shearwaters dipping in and out of the waves, or the isolated sandy beaches and quiet lagoons. They never heard about the fact that nearby Russell was the first capital of New Zealand, or saw the bay where Zane Gray used to go fishing, or learned about the treaty signed between the British and the Maoris at Waitangi.

When we returned to Waitangi the seasick woman, announced to all of us and the captain and crew that this had been the worst 3 and a half hours of her whole life.

We thanked the captain and crew for a wonderful trip, and took one of the last tenders back to the ship. On our return we went out on deck to take some photos of our beautiful surroundings. We ran into friends who had gone on the forest walk. Apparently their tender ashore had broken down, and it took them one and a half hours to get ashore, so their tour was significantly delayed. Then it rained the whole time they were walking in the forest. They were all smiles and raving about what a great day they had had.

When we sailed the Commodore warned us that we were heading into rough waters, and to take precautions to secure objects in our cabins.

We were planning to go to the alternate restaurant, Aztec, with our tablemates for dinner. However we were the only 4 people who had booked for tonight, and they need at least 10 people, so we agreed to eat there tomorrow night.

Dinner in the main dining room was delicious as usual, and we went to the Queens Room for what was described as Abba music and a 70s night afterwards. They were just finishing an Abba song when we arrived, but then they announced that there was going to be line dancing. Now I must say I do not mind line dancing that much, but Brian is not a fan, so we headed back to the cabin to prepare the cabin for a bumpy night. Brunhilda, the bromeliad, was safely positioned in the rubbish bin again. This has served her well on other stormy nights as I do fear that she will fall over and be damaged, but I am always concerned that we may forget to remove her in the morning, and our cabin steward will throw her out (although I have cautioned him on several occasions not to throw her out without checking with us first), and that will be the end of our wonderful plant.