Sunday, 13 November

Lyttleton, NZ 

It is early Sunday morning and the Westerdam has just docked in Lyttleton, the port for Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand's South Island. When I visited 30 years ago, I spent several days in Christchurch, so today I will skip the city and visit a working sheep station instead. 

There have been two major changes in the cruise itinerary. One, we will be skipping the port of Kaikoura, on the South Island, and instead spend two days in Wellington, the national capital at the south end of the North Island. This change is quite ok with me, since perhaps I can find a good restaurant for dinner in Wellington. But two, the shore excursion by bus and train up to Arthur's Pass in the Southern Alps has been cancelled. That's a bummer, but I substituted the trip to a working sheep station instead.

Covid Alert: Although HAL gave no information before boarding, I soon learned from other passengers that there we 40 cases of Covid when the Westerdam reached Honolulu, originally sailing from Seattle. I also learned that there were 20 persons still in quarantine in Sydney, last Tuesday. Finally, today the captain made an official announcement that three passengers and one crew member were in quarantine. And because there has been a new variant outbreak in New South Wales (Sydney area), everyone on board the Westerdam is now required to wear masks whenever we leave our staterooms.

With all that cheerful news, the blog will skip the unevenful two days at sea, and head directly to this past Friday and the first sighting of land in New Zealand.

Friday, 11 Nov 2022

Fiordland National Park, NZ

A beautiful sunrise presages a glorious day as the Westerdam sails into Milford Sound for a view of Mitre Peak, the most iconic sight on the South Island.

As promised, I shall now share my enlightenment about the difference between a sound and fiord, although the terms are often used interchangeably and often incorrectly. Sounds and fiords appear exactly alike as narrow inlets of the sea surrounded by high walls of rock. The only difference is that a fiord is created by the movement of glaciers, while a sound is created by the excess flow of a river. Thus, Milford Sound is officially a fiord, while Dusky Sound, which is our next destination is, indeed, a sound. Perfectly clear, yes!

More importantly, the natural magnificence of Milford Sound speaks for itself.

The Crew Serves Milford Sound Rolls to Passengers on the Open Bow

The Captain Makes Two Complete 360-degree Turns so Everyone
Has a Good View in All Directions

We depart from Milford Sound at 10am and continue a southward course to Dusky Sound, where we arrive at 3pm.

Both Sounds Present Views of Snow-Capped Mountains, Even in  Mid-Spring

The waters are calm and seabirds hover around the ship as we sail around the bottom of the South Island, from west to east. In the morning we shall reach our first port of call, Port Chalmers, for the larger city of Dunedin (doo-nay'din). The next blog entry shall report on my shore excursion there.