Australia and New Zealand
Mike and Judy Henderson
March 21 to April 9, 2019
We arrive at Picton today which puts us back on our original route, so I'm going back to the original map of our trip.
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4/2/2019 (Tuesday) We begin with a tour of the Marlborough Valley, going through a green and lush countryside.
Our first stop was at the aviation museum. Peter Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame is associated with the museum, and was instrumental in getting people who were experienced in movie scenery to work on the displays. Quite interesting.
They have an impressive collection of World War I airplanes. I'll post a few pictures here, but their collection is significantly greater. A very early Italian airplane, in unrestored condition.
Showing early "dogfights" with German aviators shooting at a British plane with a rifle.
The guide explained that the primary use of aircraft in WWI was for photo reconnaissance. Fighter aircraft were developed primarily to attack reconnaissance aircraft to prevent them from gaining intelligence about the battlefield. This is an early German fighter, the first with a synchronized machine gun, allowing it to fire through the propeller.
The famous Fokker triplane.
From WWII, a Stuka dive bomber (Junkers Ju 87).
When we left the museum we drove to the Yealands vineyards. It's a huge facility, with vines stretching as far as the eye can see. Their major product is Sauvignon Blanc.
Another view. That's all vineyards out there.
They're very much into sustainable practices. Here's their main building with solar panels on the roof. They claim that it produces about 30% of the electricity required for operation of the facility.
We took a bus ride around the vineyards. They have a few chickens at various places around the vineyard.
Rooster close-up.
Wine tasting. I don't think anyone bought any wine, because it's too difficult to carry on the tour. They had some good dark chocolate and I heard that some people bought that.
We next went to a working farm - sheep and beef cattle. Here's Steve Ferraby, the owner of the farm, talking to us on the bus. His wife, Carolyn, was very kind to us but I didn't get a nice picture of her. The ones I took she wouldn't want me to post.
They provided lunch. Some of us were seated at a table in the backyard.
While others were at tables under a cover and surrounded by flowers.
After lunch we had a tour of the gardens.
Then we moved to a different area to observe a demonstration of sheep dogs handling a flock of sheep. Here come the sheep down the hill.
Followed by Steve, the shepherd, and two of his four dogs. The other two were working the sides of the flock. Note how the sheep are not very perturbed by the dogs. They move, but as soon as they stop, they begin eating grass.
Here's a closer shot of Steve.
A couple of pictures of the dogs. The first is the "barker" which barks at the sheep and gets them moving. The second is of a sheep dog who herds the flock primarily by positioning himself so that the sheep move away from him.
Here the sheep are gathered together. A sea of sheep.
Steve used the dogs to bring the sheep by us in a file. Some of the sheep jumped the driveway - I don't know why.
A portrait of a New Zealand shepherd, Steve.
We moved into the shearing shed and Steve demonstrated shearing a sheep.
Here she is sheared, but no worse for wear.
Then it was back to the ship and dinner, and to bed.
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4/3/2019 (Wednesday) We pulled into Wellington this morning before dawn.
We had signed up for 4 x 4 tour. They picked us up at the dock in Landrover type vehicles. Here's a view into the back of one of the vehicles. From the seatbelts, it looks like they could put eight people in the back and one in the passenger seat. Eight people in the back would have been very tight and uncomfortable.
We only had four people in our vehicle, and Judy rode in the passenger seat so there were only three in the back.
Here's a look at the outside of the vehicle.
This was our driver.
We first drove up to an observation point in the mountains where we had a nice view of the city.
Along the back road we saw a couple of deer and this black goat.
We stopped at a farm where they kept deer. The deer were very tame and came to the fence looking for treats. Here's one stag.
Judy fed him some grass.
We continued along the road and could eventually see the beach we were heading for. We will go along the beach and around that point to the other side of the mountain.
We stopped when we reached the beach to photograph some seals sunning themselves there.
Here's one.
Then we continued along the beach.
We saw more seals along the way.
And sea birds.
Here are a couple more seals. Pretty relaxed.
We stopped at a point of land, and one of the drivers pulled out this cake. It was Ali's birthday (Ali is one of the Tauck tour guides).
Here's Ali with her birthday hat.
On the way back, we went a slightly different way and came to this cut in the rocks. It had a drop off on the other side.
With that, we drove back to the ship. While it was an enjoyable tour, it was very bumpy in the back of the vehicle as it drove over the irregular terrain. It was hard for me to get pictures, and many of them were blurred from bouncing around.
After lunch at the ship, Judy and I went walking in Wellington. We rode the funicular that takes you up to the top of the mountain.
We walked down the path through the garden.
And finished at the begonia house.
Then we walked back to the ship. Tonight is "White Night" where many people dress all in white. We didn't go to the White Night party at 9pm but many people wore white to dinner. Here's a view into the dining room that evening. Not everyone wore white, but many did.
We joined John and Charlene, and Marliese and Glen at dinner - it was Marliese's birthday and the crew prepared a birthday cake for her.
A closer look at the cake.
That was the end of a very full day. Tomorrow we arrive in Napier.