BTimmer's Almost Live Downunder 2022 - (10/2/22 to 12/6/22 on the Westerdam)

[Btimmer]

Nov 13, 2022 Covid Numbers per the Captain @ 4:30pm in his departure announcement:

 

13 total cases; up 10 from yesterday. (11 passengers; 2 crew)

 

Mandatory interior masking is required except when eating or drinking.

[erewhon]

46 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

For Port Chalmers to Dunedin and Lyttelton to Christchurch the shuttle busses were $35NZ RT & $20NZ one way.  They were not free.

 

 

Yes, I reaise that  passengers are being charged to use the shuttle,  has HAL provided "free" shuttles elsewhere?

[Btimmer]

2 minutes ago, erewhon said:

 

Yes, I reaise that  passengers are being charged to use the shuttle,  has HAL provided "free" shuttles elsewhere?

We have a free shuttle off the port in Lyttelton and Wellington.  

[erewhon]

3 hours ago, Btimmer said:

We have a free shuttle off the port in Lyttelton and Wellington.  

 

You stated above that in Lyttelton that there was a charge for the shuttle.

So, Dunedin was  the first port shuttle charge since leaving North America?

 

 

[Btimmer]

1 minute ago, erewhon said:

 

You stated above that in Lyttelton that there was a charge for the shuttle.

So, Dunedin was  the first port shuttle charge since leaving North America?

 

 

For the working ports we have stopped at since leaving America, there has always been either a free shuttle through the port to a safe place nearby in that town or we could walk off the ship and through the port to the local town.

 

For Dunedin one could take a $35NZ round trip from next to the ship docked in Port Chalmers, take the public bus for $3NZ from a block away from the ship, or a taxi or Uber or private bus  from a block away from the ship.

 

For Lyttelton there was a required free shuttle from the ship to Lyttelton with a stop to transfer to a paid local bus or to the Information Centre a few blocks away. Or one could take a $35NZ RT shuttle from the ship to Christchurch.  
 

For the paid shuttles above, payment was made directly to the bus company (Richies) and HAL was not a financial middleman.

In no case has there been a charge for a shuttle to leave and return to the port from the adjoining town.

 

Does this make the shuttle information any more clear?

[erewhon]

Thank you for your reply..

[Btimmer]

Today in Wellington on Day 1 of our stop here, we rode the city bus to Zealandia (a zoological park) which costs $24NZ each and the bus was $2NZ each, walked down the hill from the cable car museum, and spent time in Te Papa (New Zealand's National Museum).  All totaled, we walked around 7 miles.

 

Zealandia was a wonderful place to visit with all sorts of birds and lizards, a couple of dams, and a cool suspension bridge.  The easiest way to see the birds is to stop and listen. The botanical garden is a nice way to walk down the hill from the top of the cable car. At the bottom is a vintage cemetery.  And the Te Papa museum is an excellent FREE museum featuring a major exhibit on Gallipoli and all things Māori.  I'll write much more detail in my daily blog.

 

Below are a few pictures. I took over 120 photos today and choosing which ones to share are hard.

 

 

Brown Parrot eating out of its foot

 

Takahē male.  They only have two of these birds on site to control the blood lines of offspring.

 

Cable Car

 

 

Extinct Mao flightless bird

Captain Cook's Cannon from his first visit to New Zealand

 

Mourning a fallen comrade at Gallipoli

 

Our first Christmas Tree of the Season

 

Back at the ship

Edited November 14, 2022 by Btimmer

[ScottishMaid]

Great photos! We went to all three of these places when on the Maasdam in January/February 2020. The Gallipoli exhibit was very moving. My Scottish grandfather fought there.

 

Sorry you missed Kaikoura. We did visit it on the Maasdam. The 7.8 earthquake in 2016 was devastating to the area. It is described well in the museum and also as you tender in you can see the rocks of the uplifted seabed.

 

Of course in the good old days of the Maasdam there were biology and geology speakers onboard to explain everything.

[Btimmer]

3 hours ago, ScottishMaid said:

Great photos! We went to all three of these places when on the Maasdam in January/February 2020. The Gallipoli exhibit was very moving. My Scottish grandfather fought there.

 

Sorry you missed Kaikoura. We did visit it on the Maasdam. The 7.8 earthquake in 2016 was devastating to the area. It is described well in the museum and also as you tender in you can see the rocks of the uplifted seabed.

 

Of course in the good old days of the Maasdam there were biology and geology speakers onboard to explain everything.

In 2014 we did the cable car, botanical garden and Te Papa.

 

And yes, we have fond memories of the Maasdam and sailing with you. 

[Btimmer]

 

Covid cases are up by 4 passengers to 1& cases in total.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lido deck main]

Hi Tim,

where were the above pictures taken I.e. Gollum  and company,  is that still Te papa museum?

[Btimmer]

4 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

Hi Tim,

where were the above pictures taken I.e. Gollum  and company,  is that still Te papa museum?

No, these were taken at the Wētā Cave studio in Wellington.  This firm did the large soldier figures in the Gallipoli exhibit at Gallipoli as well as being a creative resource for many motion pictures including the Lord of the Rings series, Hobbit,  and many many more movies.  I highly recommend this tour which takes about an hour and a half.  I don't offhand know the cost as it was part of our Tours By Locals Tour with Robbie.

 

[Btimmer]

Here's another update about dining options on the Westerdam.  A few days ago, they re-opened the Taco Bar in the Lido Pool area near the Dive-In.  We haven't tried it yet, but we haven't seen an operating taco bar on a HAL ship in a number of years.

[Btimmer]

And my last update for today is that the Captain said in his departure message from Wellington that we have 4 new Covid cases bringing our current total to 15. He didn't specify if it was passengers or crew (that I recall). Masks are required indoors except when eating or drinking AND they have staff positioned at the hand sanitizers to encourage use of those devices before entering the LIDO restaurant area.

[Btimmer]

In his departure message from Napier, the Captain indicated we now have 30 passengers and one crew member.  
 

In a personal chat with the Captain, he confirmed that we are docking at Circular Quay.

[Btimmer]

I just received this confirmation of the Port change for 23 Nov.
 

 

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION
Nov 23, 2022 Dec 06, 2022 Westerdam W279 Sydney Sydney

 Please be advised that embarkation for your upcoming Westerdam voyage on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 will now take place at the Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) rather than the White Bay Cruise Terminal (WBCT) as previously scheduled. The Overseas Passenger Terminal is located at Circular Quay West, The Rocks, Sydney, NSW 2000. Your disembarkation is scheduled to take place at the same pier.
Guests with a Holland America Line pre-cruise hotel or transfer will be taken directly from their hotel or the airport to the pier. Guests with independent transfer arrangements should be guided accordingly, and are requested to arrive at the time indicated on your boarding pass.
We look forward to welcoming you on board Westerdam.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Btimmer

[ozcruizer]

We have just received this information, along with an updated mask-wearing policy although you probably already know about that.  It's concerning, but we're still looking forward to embarking next Wednesday.

[Btimmer]

55 minutes ago, ozcruizer said:

We have just received this information, along with an updated mask-wearing policy although you probably already know about that.  It's concerning, but we're still looking forward to embarking next Wednesday.

I just received the masking letter, and it's been in force for the past week since the Majestic Princess incident.   It hasn't dampened our enjoyment of the cruise.

[Btimmer]

On a cheerier note, I enjoyed the garden by the info center. Plus we had a rainbow during our sail out.  Here's a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

Napier is the art deco capital of the world.  We did a vintage car tour in a '38 Packard plus there was a collection of them parked on the pier along side the Westerdam.

 

There's also a building with our family name on it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

We had a nice stop in Gisborne.  We walked around the town and along the beach before taking the steam train excursion out to Muriwai where some children performed Maori dances.  This railway is very unique in that the tracks cross the international airport runway.  It's the only one of its type in the southern hemisphere.  As we approached the end of the tour, we came close to hitting a lady and her dog who were walking on the tracks and oblivious to us approaching.  I was standing on the very front of the train and could hardly believe my eyes.

 

Our Covid isolation count continues to rise and is now 40 passengers and one crew member.  That's 5 more passengers than yesterday and 10 more than the day before.  Our Captain indicated that the currents are very strong entering the harbor at Tauranga and that's what's delaying our entry.  He also indicated that the tendering conditions for Waitangi (Bay of Islands) the following day don't look promising.  Perhaps we can reach Auckland early and have more than 4 hours there.  Here's a few pictures.

 

 

Sunset tonight 

 

Steam Engine

 

Memorial to Captain Cook's Cabin Boy who first spotted land at New Zealand

 

Captain Cook memorial

 

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Btimmer

[oakridger]

Tim, I'm happy to be reading your posts about New Zealand because I am definitely planning on going back!  You have already given me some good ideas on places to visit there. Unfortunately, on my cruise there in 2019 I wasn't feeling well for most of the ports then a bad storm kept us out of the Fiordland Park and Dusky Sound. I decided that I need to return!

 

~Nancy

Edited November 18, 2022 by oakridger

[Btimmer]

We did a fabulous excursion today to Hobbiton and Rotorua.  Pictures later.  Just as we were boarding our tour bus for the ride back to the ship, our independent tour guide informed us we were staying overnight due to poor weather conditions.  It's quite wet in Tauranga at the moment. And waiting for us was the letter from the Captain announcing the cancellation. So it's time to make lemonade out of lemons.

[Btimmer]

15 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Tim, I'm happy to be reading your posts about New Zealand because I am definitely planning on going back!  You have already given me some good ideas on places to visit there. Unfortunately, on my cruise there in 2019 I wasn't feeling well for most of the ports then a bad storm kept us out of the Fiordland Park and Dusky Sound. I decided that I need to return!

 

~Nancy

When we got back to the Tauranga  port, our guide took us on a little drive around the port area and I realized that we visited here in 2014, but didn't leave the port area. 
 

I'm glad my descriptions of what we do are of some help to you.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Btimmer

[ozcruizer]

Does that mean you will miss out on the Bay of Islands?  That would be a shame (one of my favourite ports in NZ) as I would imagine the ship would go to Auckland rather than the Bay of Islands.  Just get back to Sydney by next Wednesday!! 😜