The Great Ocean Road - 墨尔本著名的大洋路
March 10, 2020 - We stayed with our friend’s family in Melbourne. They took us to the world-famous Great Ocean Road in……
March 10
We stayed with our friend’s family in Melbourne. They took us to the world-famous Great Ocean Road in Australia today. It was a long distance (3-4 hour) drive from Melbourne. We started the trip early in the morning and left the house at 7 AM. We stopped at Geelong for breakfast. Then we drove along a scenic winding road along the coast line. We had good weather again today. The Great Ocean Road was built by soldiers who returned after World War I as a war memorial. The road provides access to several breathtaking rock formations, including the Twelve Apostles, London Arch, etc. Even under the shadow of the Coronavirus fear, the parks were very popular. As the sun was coming down, we noticed smoking in the air. Fires were seen in far distance but we didn’t know if it was wild fire or intended fire. The sunset with the smoke was beautiful. We pulled the car over and took pictures.
The London Arch
The Twelve Apostles
At Geelong
Sunset under burning
We returned back to the city late after 9:30 PM. We went to a Szechuan Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We ordered several spice dishes. They were spicy but very good taste. Australia has good authentic Chinese food.
Moomba Parade - 蒙巴节
March 9, 2020 - Today is a public holiday, Labor Day in Australia. The City of Melbourne also held the Moomba Festival over ……
March 9
Today is a public holiday, Labor Day in Australia. The City of Melbourne also held the Moomba Festival over the weekend. The festival ends today with the Moomba Parade. The origin of the Moomba Festival might be controversial but based on what we saw, the Moomba Parade is just another multi-cultural celebration today. We took a bus from Blackburn to Melbourne downtown. Melbourne also has a transportation card with a daily limit of $9.00. The parade started at 10:45 AM. It was led by an Aboriginal group which was then followed by different floats with different ethnic groups and dance studios to show various cultures and performances. There were two dragon dances in the parade. There were a lot of people watching the parade - the coronavirus didn’t seem to scare people away. After the parade, we went to the National Gallery of Art. We had a simple lunch/snack in the café. We spent about an hour in their European Gallery. The museum is free except for the special exhibitions.
Afterwards, we walked to Shrine of Remembrance and other attractions nearby. We wanted to see the ocean too. We rode #16 light rail to St. Kilda Beach. The weather was perfect and the beach was beautiful. We stopped at a café guarded by two statures of a rabbit and a dog holding latte. We took a picture of them and that is the place to have another round of latte. We found a table sitting down with and that table number is 322. What a coincidence!
We watched people kiteboarding on the beach and running/walking along the beach. It looked like a perfect summer vacation place, beautiful and relaxing. We could spend another day or two there, but we needed to meet our friend in Chinatown for dinner.
St.Kilda Beach
We rode another train to Crown Casino first. We strolled around the area then went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We had the Lucky Crab cooked with goose liver paste sauce. The Lucky Crab, as the restaurant calls it, is a deep sea white crab, similar to Crystal Crab online. Interestingly, cooked crab remained white, not red like typical cooked crab. The dish was delicious. It was one of the best crab dishes we have had but it was not cheap - $350 for the crab. The dinner was very good. We all say Australia has the best Chinese cuisine including China but they are not cheap. We had good time.
Melbourne, Australia -澳大利亚墨尔本
March 7-8, 2020 - We flew from Sydney to Melbourne on March 7 to stay with Connie’s best friend’s family for a few days before……
We flew from Sydney to Melbourne on March 7 to stay with Connie’s best friend’s family for a few days before going home. Our friend picked us up at the airport. We didn’t do much that day and just relaxed.
On March 8, our friend took us to the Dandenong Ranges area to visit a couple wineries and Dandenong Ranges National Park. We had wine and cheese tastings in the winery. The William Ricketts Sanctuary was very interesting but also very strange. It is a sculpture park displaying many Aboriginal inspired spiritual sculptures created by William Ricketts. There was no way we could stay in the park after dark. After visiting the sanctuary, we wanted to visit a tea house but it was fully booked. There was no sign of COVID-19 in the town. Instead, we had lunch at a café at the summit of Mount Dandenong. At the top, we had nice view of Melbourne downtown.
At a winery
View from the summit of Mount Dandenong
Cockatoo Island - 悉尼鹦鹉岛
March 6, 2020 - Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in ……
March 6
Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour. The small island was used for imprisoning convicts. The prison on the island was even built by the convicts. The island can be reached by ferry. Later on, the island became a shipyard for military and commercial ships. Now, the island provides staycation accommodations. An array of tents are spread across the lawn facing Sydney Harbour with a view of Sydney Bridge. It has beautiful view of the harbor. There were a lot of high school students visiting the island when we were there. The weather was nice.
Tents in Cockatoo Island
We ferried out to Darling Harbour from the island. The people working in office buildings in the area were having lunch in the restaurants in the harbor. It was very busy and popular. We didn’t have lunch there since we had a place in mind: Peter’s Fish Market. We walked to the market and had fried fish, oysters, etc. over there. Then, we walked back over Pyrmont Bridge to another market, Paddy’s market. In the market, there are many small booths selling various goods from luggage to shoes. We did a quick tour in the market then we took the L2 light rail back to the hotel.
Connie was so tired so she stayed in the room. Chenggang adventured out for another historic site visit, Susannah Place. This three-story former cottage and store buildings were built in 1838. But in 1900s, after the outbreak of plague, just like today’s COVID-19, the government took over the area to make public housings for low income family. The tour of the house and the stories associated with it were very interesting and fascinating.
Connie’s college friend took us to Little Snail restaurant to taste nice French Cuisine. The restaurant is located in the Darling Harbor. Connie had snails and Chenggang had grilled kangaroo meat. Kangaroo meat tastes like beef. It was very good, delicious.
A Raining Day - 下雨天
March 5, 2020 - We bought two Opal cards for local transportation including train, light rail, bus and ferry. It had a daily cap of ……
March 5
We bought two Opal cards for local transportation including train, light rail, bus and ferry. It had a daily cap of $16.15. Today’s weather forecast was not very good; it rained all day but we still went to the Manly Beach via ferry. There were nice stores and restaurants along the beach. But because it was raining and windy, there were not many people on the beach. After walking for ten mins or so, we felt cold and decided to find a place to sit down and have a warm latte and half dozen of oysters. After the rain and wind seemed to slow down a little, we continued to walk along the beach in the rain. People were still surfing and swimming in the ocean. We ended at Shelly Beach and had another latte and half dozen of Sydney Rock Oysters and shrimp flatbread at the Boathouse café. Today was not the day to stroll along the beach. The weather was just not cooperating today. It just reminded us of the weather issues during our partial world cruise.
Manly Beach
We’ve hesitated to go on any cruise for last 30 years because we were afraid of motion sickness. But this time, we thought since we sailed through the Drake Passage in the last Antarctica trip, we should handle this trip well. Even with prescribed patches for motion sickness, we don’t think we’ve overcome motion sickness. If there was one negative thing about this trip, it was the motion sickness. It bothered us a lot. First, the patches had some side effects to deal with. Second, with >100 knots wind and 30 ft waves bombarding the ship, we just weren’t able to do anything except lie down on the bed. Weather issues also resulted in missing two ports and two sounds. Crossing the Tasman Sea was extreme. At the time, four major storms were converging on the path over the Tasman Sea. The captain decided to skip Hobart port and go up north to avoid the storms. Although no one said anything, we believe we were actually hit on the spots when the storms changed its course. The ship was shaking really hard even though the stabilizer was on over the night. We were a little scared then. Once the storms were over after the Milford Sound, the sea became calm again.
Once we were back to the hotel, the rain stopped. We had dinner in the hotel using $100 dinning credit they gave us. After dinner, we rode the L2 light rail to Chinatown then transferred to the L1 light rail. The plan was to go to the Fish Market and then walk over to the Darling Harbor, but instead we got off at the train at a stop before the Fish Market. To our surprise, the stop was underground. We didn’t even notice that the L1 light rail had already went underground from the surface. We were lost. We walked one direction towards the water but the streets were dark. Then we walked the other direction to a main commercial district as a couple advised us. We walked over Pyrmont Bridge into the Darling Harbor. The Darling Harbor looked like it had much more of a night life than in the Town Hall or the Ferry Terminal. There were a lot of things going on at night in Sydney. We really like Sydney.
Darling Harbor at night
The Journey Continues -继续我们的旅程
March 4, 2020 - Our World Cruise ended prematurely but this journey continues. We will stay in Sydney until March 7 then visit
March 4
Our World Cruise ended prematurely but this journey continues. We will stay in Sydney until March 7 then visit Connie’s best friend in Melbourne. We will fly back home on March 11.
Our plan was to visit a few historic sites today. On the ship, we attended several lectures about Australia history by Jill, a writer of 102 children books. We learned that modern Australia was first built by convicts from Britain. We visited the mint and the Barracks Museum, all built by convicts. Some of the convicts were sentenced to 7 years exile at age of 11-12 for stealing someone’s hat or chicken. It was pretty harsh punishment. We also visited the parliament of New South Wale (a state or province). Most westernized countries have open door government buildings. We like to visit them when we have a chance. It just reminds us how a free society, open government would be like. We also like to see churches on trips. We visited St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. Then it was time for lunch. We decided to go back to Taste of Shanghai again to have fried pork buns, rice cake and dale cake. It was a yummy lunch. After lunch, we paid a visit to Anzac War Memorial and the Museum of Sydney.
Crystal Serenity is leaving Sydney today. On the way to the Opera House, we took a few pictures of the ship to say goodbye. We picked the world cruise on Serenity based on an article from USA Today. However, after a 40-days journey with the ship, we felt a special connection with Crystal Serenity. There were more than 800 passengers on the ship - 327 of them were on the world cruise. Only 40 of them were first-time Crystal cruisers like us. We were considered young among the passengers - the average age on board seemed to be about 70 or higher. Many of them had been on a cruise many many times and some of them knew each other from previous cruises. We definitely felt strange or different among them at first, but by the end, we felt we had become one of them. We started to know some of them, having dinner together and touring together. We also promised to have dinner with a couple from Scottsdale together at their in-law’s restaurant when we got back to Phoenix. The passengers on board were easy to interact with and eager to share their stories about world travel. The crew on ship were also very friendly and helpful and after 40 days, got to know them more closely. We were disappointed to say goodbye to them prematurely. We liked the social aspect of the cruise but wish the population was younger.
Serenity is leaving Sydney Bay
Tonight, we watched Opera Carmen in the Opera House. The opera was Carmen in a modern setting. The tickets were not cheap, $170 each on the second floor but it was worth it.
Our World Cruise Ended Today - 2020年环球之旅半路终止
March 3, 2020 - Unfortunately, our 89 days world cruise is ended today, 49 days shorter than planned. The Crystal Cruise has ……
Unfortunately, our 89 days world cruise is ended today, 49 days shorter than planned. The Crystal Cruise has decided to cancel all port calls to Asia, adding a few more port calls in Australia and more sea days in Java Sea. They also offered us an option to end the world cruise in Sydney. They will refund all unused nights plus provide some credits for future cruise and $500 each person for travel assistance. We decided to take the offer and get off in Sydney to spend some time in Australia and then go home. Putting all of our stuff back into six suitcases was a stressful process but we finished in a couple days. We booked four nights at the Four Seasons Hotel not too far away from the cruise terminal via our travel agent. Because we booked through our Virtuoso travel agent, we got extra amenities like free breakfast, $100 credit, and a free upgrade. This is the first time we have booked hotels via a travel agent. We may consider this option more in the future travel.
Room Number of The Cabin We Stayed During the Partial World Cruise
LAST DAY - March 3, 2020
So today is the disembarkment day for us. We left the ship at 9:45 AM and were picked up by a private car. Four Seasons Hotel is a 5 mins walking distance away from the terminal but it took 10 mins to drive over there due to street traffic in Sydney. We were allowed to check in earlier and placed in a room with a partial harbor view. The room was nice. After settling down in the hotel, we headed out for sightseeing. We had Fish and Chips at the Rocks Café on the rocks first. Then we walked over the Sydney Bridge to Kirribilli. We saw Luna Park from outside and strolled along the coast line. We passed by Admiralty House and the Lady Gowrie Lookout. Then we got on a ferry nearby to get back to the hotel. Our credit card didn’t work for us at the Kirribilli Ferry Terminal but the workers were very nice and let us get on and off the ferry without tickets.
We visited the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. It is a beautiful garden and well maintained. We met Connie’s friend at the train station and took an Uber to a Shanghainese Restaurant, Taste of Shanghai. We had so many Shanghai cuisine dishes, like fried pork bun, smoked fish, etc. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. The streets in Sydney are busy at night. There were a lot of tourists and locals. We really enjoyed a full day in Sydney.
COVID-19/Going home - 新冠肺炎
Feb 28-March 2, 2020 (Day 38-41) - The COVID-19 epidemic is out of control as no one can predict. The confirmed cases were ……
Day 38-40 (Feb 28-March 1)
The COVID-19 epidemic is out of control as no one can predict. The confirmed cases were popping up everywhere around the world, especially in Singapore and Italy. One day we were told the Serenity would cancel the port call to Singapore and next day they canceled all port calls to Asia. The cruise revised the itinerary after Sydney to add more ports in Australia and more sea days from Sydney to Mumbai. Crystal Cruise also offered us an option to end the world cruise in Sydney. We took the offer and decided to get off in Sydney. As the COVID-19 epidemic is continuing to develop, it was hard to picture the ship safely docking in Mumbai or Rome. As today, Australia looks like a safest place to get off and go home from there.
Day 41– (March 2)
The ship anchored in Sydney not too far away from the Opera House in the morning. The immigration inspection process was a no-event process but took a little longer than expected. Again no one stamped our passports. Because we were expecting many port visits during this trip, we actually renewed our passports and asked for the 52-pages version to add more pages for all the entry and exit stamps. Funny enough though, we haven’t had a single immigration stamp. In a port in New Zealand, you could pay $2 to get a stamp on the passport.
Sydney in the morning
We went on a tour of “Blue Mountain Adventure”. The Blue Mountain is a mountain that may look blue from a distance. It is not too far away from Sydney. The tour took us to a wildlife zoo first and then we had lunch in a historic hotel in the blue mountain. After lunch we went on a scenic tour around the mountain including a steep train ride down to the valley, 30 mins walking and a cable car riding up. It had spectacular views but the tour was just long enough for everyone to take a few pictures then leave. Today was hot, close to 100 F. After lunch, the bus driver told us the AC unit on the bus was not working and he already asked for a new bus. Fortunately, the scenery tour would take about an hour, enough for the new bus to pick up us. Because of the late start of the tour, we got a 20% refund from the cruise line.
Blue Mountain
The ship relocated from the anchored site to Oversea terminal tonight. We took some pictures of Opera House from the ship.
Opera House
Milford Sound - 米尔福德峡湾
Feb 27, 2020 (Day 37) - s the captain expected, the ship was rocking and rolling last night. A big storm hit the ship really hard……
Day 37 - Feb 27
As the captain expected, the ship was rocking and rolling last night. A big storm hit the ship really hard. We could hear water running as the boat swept back and forth. We were woken up several times as waves hit the boat. It was the worse experience at sea we ever had. In the morning, we decided not to go up to the Marketplace at Deck 12 for breakfast. Instead, we went down to the Bistro at Deck 6 in midship to eat something. We felt a little bit better at Deck 6.
As we approached Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound in the morning, the weather turned for worse. The Serenity skipped both sounds (a narrow water passage between land) and went directly to Milford Sound in hope that the weather would be better. At 1:30 pm, the park ranger was on board and gave a presentation on Milford Sound. In the afternoon, the sea started to calm down and the rain stopped. At the end of the scenic cruising, even the sun tried to break out. Milford Sound was beautiful. Water was rushing down on both side of the sound. We never saw so many waterfalls in one place. That is definitely one of the highlights in this trip.
At Dunedin, NZ - 新西兰达尼丁
Feb 26, 2020 (Day 36) - We anchored at Port Chalmers, ten miles away from Dunedin. This time we did separate shore excursions for ……
Day 36– Feb 26
We anchored at Port Chalmers, ten miles away from Dunedin. This time we did separate shore excursions for the first time on this trip. Chenggang went hiking and Connie did Dunedin Architectural highlights. The hike took him to Mount Cargill Summit. It was not a hard hiking but it was pleasant.
The architecture tour took her to see buildings around two. The train depot building was the best. After both tours, we went out to town together again and had fish and chips for lunch instead of eating on the boat. We strolled around town and took a lot of pictures of various buildings. The weather was perfect. We had a starter, Fish Liver from Umi Uma.
The next few days we would sail cross the Tasman Sea. The captain spoke on the PA today. There were four major storms emerging in the sea. He expected 10-15 meter high waves in Tasman Sea. He said no mariner would cross it under such sea condition and decided to skip Port Hobart and going directly to Sydney. We would have an extra port day in Sydney. Tomorrow we plan to do a scenic cruise in Doubtful, Milford and Dusky Sound in New Zealand.
As we were leaving the harbor, we passed by an Albatross colony at the outlet, the largest one in New Zealand. We took some pictures with long lens and enjoyed nice weather for the moment.
At Akaroa, NZ - 新西兰阿卡罗阿
Feb 25, 2020 (Day 35) - Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, not ……
Day 35 – Feb 25
Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, not too far away from Christchurch. Since Christchurch was damaged by a 2011 earthquake, all cruise ships have been anchoring in Akaroa. We didn’t go to Christchurch and instead picked a tour of “high country adventure”, which we were attracted to because it seemed more adventurous. It was 2.5 hours driving to Springfield, a small town not too away from Christchurch. It was longer than everyone on the bus expected. Plus the driver went to a wrong place. The tour has two main parts, off-road drive and jet boat ride. The jet boat ride was fast and exciting. The speed can go up to 50 miles per hour. The driver did several 360 degree turns. We recorded the journey with our action camera. The tour ended in nine hours.
At Akaroa
Picton, NZ - 新西兰皮克顿
Feb 24, 2020 (Day 34 ) - Picton is a town in the South Island, not too far away from Wellington. In order not to damage the coral reef,….
Day 34 – Feb 24
Picton is a town in the South Island, not too far away from Wellington. In order not to damage the coral reef, the sailing speed of all ships was limited. We arrived at Picton in the morning and signed up for kayaking again. The weather was very nice. We kayaked about 5 km in 2 hours in Queen Charlotte Sound. We saw two stingrays pass by our boat. Kayaking was very satisfying. We had great time on the water.
After the tour, we went back to the town for a quick walk. We had a Hokey Pokey ice cream, a New Zealand favorite.
Logs are stacked up in the port because the import to China is stalled.
Wellington, the Capital of NZ -新西兰首都 惠灵顿
Feb 23, 2020 (Day 33) - Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. We docked in the morning and then went on a shore excursion with ……
Day 33 – Feb 23
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. We docked in the morning and then went on a shore excursion with Wellington Harbor & Sheep Station Visit. The coach bus took us along the coast line. We stopped at the oldest lighthouse in New Zealand. We visited a sheep station to see sheepdog demonstration. However, two sheepdogs there were in training so the demonstration was a bit disappointing.
After the tour, we strolled around the downtown area by ourselves. Wellington is beautiful and the weather was perfect in the afternoon after a windy morning. We visited the Parliament Buildings and the guided tour was full so we didn’t go inside the buildings. The famous Beehive building has an interesting architecture. We also saw the Government Building, one of the largest wood building in the world. Finally, we rode the cable car up to the hill to view the panoramic Wellington city.
Wellington, NZ
Art Deco Festival at Napier, NZ - 新西兰纳皮尔装饰艺术节
Feb 21-22, 2020 (Day 31-32) - Crystal Serenity arrived at Napier at 6:30 PM today. We were the first few in line to get off the ship. Napier was ……
Day 31-32– Feb 21-22
Crystal Serenity arrived at Napier at 6:30 PM today. We were the first few in line to get off the ship. Napier was destroyed by a devastating 1931 earthquake. It was rebuilt with art deco landmarks. The Art Deco Festival was held this weekend. The moment we got off the shuttle bus, we were fascinated by the hundreds vintage cars lined up along the waterfront and by the people dressed in Art Deco attires. Some of the people were also enjoying picnics on the lawn next to their cars. An airshow was also happening. People over there just know how to have fun. The city is well maintained and designed. We had a great time over there. We walked back from downtown to the ship.
Air show at Art Deco Festival at Napier
We stayed overnight at Napier. The next day, we joined a shore excursion to see a Gannet colony at Hawkes Bay over Cape Kidnappers. It was quite a long distance and a rough drive over rugged mountains. There were thousands of birds in the colony. The parent birds have golden heads while the baby birds have grey heads. Since the young ones can’t fly, they are fed by their parents. Some youths are the same size as their parents or even bigger. We took a lot of pictures.
After the tour, we went to the ship to have lunch and then went out to the town again. The town was filled with joy and festival air.
At Tauranga, NZ - 新西兰陶朗加
Feb 20, 2020 (Day 30) - Tauranga, New Zealand is a beautiful small resort town in the north island. It is also a birthplace of kiwifruit…….
Day 30 (Feb 20)
Tauranga, New Zealand is a beautiful small resort town in the north island. It is also a birthplace of kiwifruit. We also learned something about “kiwi” in New Zealand. The kiwi is the national bird. It can’t fly and it comes out at night. The Kiwi is the people of New Zealand. The fruit of the kiwi is called kiwi fruit. We had a wonderful shore excursion of “Redwoods Treewalk, Geothermal Reserve & Maori Home Visit”. California Redwoods were introduced to Tauranga 100 years ago. Redwoods are too soft to have any practical use so someone had the great idea to build a treewalk suspended high in the ancient redwoods. It is about 700 meter long and 20-40 meters high in air. It is a popular tourist place. It is our first time to do treewalk. We had a great time.
Redwoods Treewalk
Then we went to the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve to watch the soaring Pohutu Geysers. The geysers were wonderful but can’t compare to our own Yellowstone geysers. We also saw a kiwi living in a dark room within the conservation center.
The tour also took us to a Maori village to have a lunch in a Maori home. The village is located within the geothermal area. The steaming was everywhere. At some locations, they fenced out the boiling waters inside the holes on the ground. It was just fascinating. They prepared lunch on the steamers from the geothermal. After lunch, they had a traditional dance in the church for us. The Maori home visit definitely is one of the best experiences we have had so far.
AT A MAORI VILLAGE
We went out again after a quick late lunch. We did a walk around Maungatapu mountain. Tauranga also has impressive beach front houses. We also saw two stingrays.
Another day in Auckland - 在奥克兰的第二天
Feb 19, 2020 (Day 29) - The ship stayed overnight at Auckland. On the second day, we took a ferry to Waiheke Island, a beautiful wine ……
Day 29 - Feb 19
The ship stayed overnight at Auckland. On the second day, we took a ferry to Waiheke Island, a beautiful wine country. We bought the tickets for Explorer Hop on/off bus. We started the trip earlier. When we got off the ferry, the first Explorer Bus was still 30 mins away. We were told that the first stop, Oneroa Village, was 13 mins walking distance away. Instead of waiting for the bus to come, we decided to walk to the village. After about 13 mins walking, there was no sight of the village. We asked a local woman again and were told the village was just on the top of the road, another 15 mins away. Once we got to the village, the Explorer Bus stop was not clearly marked. After checking with several people, we finally found the bus stop. Fortunately, the bus was late and we were just in time to get on the bus. We rode the bus to Onetangi Beach.
The morning at the beach was beautiful. We walked on the beach little and took a few pictures. Then we ordered a latte from a restaurant on the beach. There was a lot of people there for breakfast and the service was slow. When the latte showed up, the next bus was already there. We hopped on the bus and got off at a seafood market to have a dozen oysters and a cup of raw fish salad. The oysters were very good. After a quick taste of seafood, we got on the bus again to visit an winery. The winery had a nice wine tasting room and a restaurant with a beautiful panoramic view of the bay. Instead of riding the bus back to the terminal this time, we walked back to the terminal following a hiking trail. The Waiheke Island was very beautiful and we wish we could spend more time there.
After back to the city, we went out again to see if we could buy a pair of Allbirds shoes in New Zealand since Allbirds shoes use New Zealand’s wool. Unfortunately, we didn’t buy one since the price is more expensive than in the States. We did have a coffee and pastry in the city.
At Onetangi Beach
Waiteke Island
Crystal Serenity at Auckland’s “the land of long cloud” terminal
Winery
Auckland, New Zealand - 新西兰奥克兰
Feb 18, 2020 (Day 28) - We docked at Auckland at 8:00 am today (Feb 18). After breakfast, we joined a free walking tour at 10:00 AM……
Day 28 - Feb 18
We docked at Auckland at 8:00 am today (Feb 18). After breakfast, we joined a free walking tour at 10:00 AM. Typically, the walking tour is free but they accepted tips or donations. Liz was our tour guide. She communicated well with a large group in a very noisy environment. She took us around the downtown area and talked about the culture and history of New Zealand. The walking tour lasted about three hours. We had done free walking tours in Chile before and found them informative and inexpensive. We really liked them. After the walking tour, we went back to the ship to have lunch.
After lunch, we hopped took an Uber to visit Auckland War Memorial Museum. Then we went to Mt Eden, the highest hill in the downtown area to have a panoramic view of Auckland. Again, we took an Uber to see the Yacht Club. There are hundreds of Yachts there. Many of them are on sale. It is the best season to buy boats in Auckland. We had dinner at Prego.
Mt Eden
After dinner, we went out again to experience night life near Princess Wharf. There are a lot of restaurants and bars. Then we went back to the ship to see the show. After all the activities today, we were exhausted and slept soundly.
Bay of Islands - 新西兰岛屿湾
Feb 17, 2020 (Day 27) - After two days at sea, we arrived at Waitangi, Bay of Islands. We did Waitangi Estuary by Kayak excursion. …..
Day 27(Feb 17)
After two days at sea, we arrived at Waitangi, Bay of Islands. We did Waitangi Estuary by Kayak excursion. One way kayaking adventure was fun. We saw flying penguins from a distance. We were not very good at kayaking and we were always behind the group.
Waiting Estuary by Kayak
After kayaking, we took the ferry to Russel Island, the first permanent European Settlement in New Zealand. We had Fish and Chips. Both fish and fries were fabulous. We visited Russel Museum and Pompallier Mission Print house. We also did a hike up to Flagstaff Hill. It has a stunning view of the bay. Russel is worth of visiting. The town is well organized and maintained. New Zealand is beautiful and the people is very nice. Speaking English there makes things little easier.
Yesterday, we had gone up to Deck 13 (the top deck) to see stars. The sky was clean but with the lights on the ship, it is hard to see anything. At 10:30 pm, the captain had turned off the lights on the top deck to let us see stars. Once the lights off, the sky was seen with filled stars. The Southern Cross was hanged in the southern sky. It is the first time for us to see it. The Orion was easily identified. Our own Milky Way galaxy was seen as a pale strip cross the sky. Today, we went up to Deck 13 little earlier to see the international space station again. At 10 to 9 o’clock, the space station just was seen flying cross the sky. We also observed the Venus.
From Russell Island
Lautoka, Fiji, Valentine's day -在斐济劳托卡度过的情人节
Feb13-14, 2020 (Day 23-24 ) - After Tonga refused our ship, the captain decided to go to Fiji one day earlier. We added an extra tour on Feb 13……
Day 23-24 (Feb13-14)
After Tonga refused our ship, the captain decided to go to Fiji one day earlier. We added an extra tour on Feb 13 to see traditional a Fiji village in the inner island. When the ship arrived at Fiji on the morning of Feb 13, the ship stopped 20 miles outside Fiji port. We knew something was not right. The captain announced that anyone embarking at Tahiti would need to fill out the healthy form before anyone disembarked. After an additional health inspection by Fiji government, we got off the ship around 11:30 AM, two hours later than scheduled. Our original tour was cancelled but we were very happy to be on the land again.
Once on the shore, we booked snorkeling with a local company. With $30 each person, they took us to a beach next to Intercontinental Resort. We paid $10 each for the equipment. Since we were not used to snorkeling and scared of water, we paid another $20 each for a local guy to take us into the water. We felt we were rip off for that service but we were glad to have someone else with us in water. Finally, we did see FISHES in south pacific!
Next day (Feb 14), we were on the Garden of the Sleeping Giants tour. The garden is very nice, started by an American actor. We also did a quick walk up to two lookout views to have a panorama view of the island. The air temperature was 90 F with 95% humidity. It was hot and uncomfortable. Then we went to visit a Fiji village. We participated in a kava ceremony. Kava is a traditional drink made from a kava roots. After the ceremony, they offered us the drink. One of us tried it. This is not much taste and your mouth feels a little numb. The whole thing is very commercialized. After the tour, we went back to the ship to have a quick lunch and then took a shuttle provided Crystal to downtown.
Lautoka is the second largest city in Fiji. We visited a central marketplace selling vegetable, seafoods, fruits, etc. There is a large population of Indians in Fiji. They came there to help sugar plantation many years ago then they stayed.
The ship was decorated with Valentine’s Day theme today. There were several dance parties throughout the night. The ship left Lautoka at 5:30 pm. Once the ship was in open water, it met high waves and >40 kts wind. Both us felt seasick again. After dinner, we went to bed and skipped all the night activities.
Date and Time plus CoronaVirus -日期和时间与冠状病毒
Feb 11-12, 2020 (Day 22- 23) - It is hard to settle on a regular schedule on this world cruise. This is our first time sailing long distance on the ……
Feb 11
It is hard to settle on a regular schedule on this world cruise. This is our first time sailing long distance on the ocean. Today, we crossed the international dateline and skipped a day, Feb 10. For the most part, the international dateline is the line at the longitude of 0 degree. But the line was redrawn in Polynesia islands where we are headed towards. Tonga is at the longitude of 175 W but it is the west side of the date line. During the journey, we adjusted the ship time periodically. Sometimes, we rolled the clock back one hour; other times, we just adjusted by 30 mins. Adjusting the time on our iPhones to match with the ship time created another confusion to us. On iPhones, there are Chicago time, Mountain time, etc but no Tonga time zone. The only way to adjust the time on an iPhone is to adjust the time at Chicago time manually. Since we also track the time at Shanghai and the West coast, changing the time at Chicago time zone manually messed up the other time zones on our phones.
Feb 12
Today, we were scheduled to dock at Tonga in the morning. We have had 15 sea days out of 20 cruise days. Everyone was eager to set foot on the land today. Then, the captain’s morning announcement came. Tonga authority had refused cruise ships entry to the country this morning. There were four cruise ships turned away today. We were not happy about it but we also understand it would be hard for Tonga . We can imagine the financial impact on the people depending on tourist industry. We are ahead to towards Fiji. We were told that we would have extra day on Fiji. Again, we have our fingers crossed. We saw another cruise, CMV Columbus, sailing from a distance.
