Whitsunday Island

 February 10, 2025

Mom packing light!

Happy Birthday to my dear mother!

She is 88 years young today and still going strong. She's in the rotation to play piano preludes for our church's services. I wish I could convince her to sing with the choir too because her voice is still a pure, clear soprano. And don't mess with her in a game of Hand & Foot. She comes to play!

When I was a kid, she was a model and was regularly photographed for a syndicated exercize column in the Des Moines Register. She and Dad were avid square dancers and had dozens of matching outfits. As a grandmother, Mom also played on a competitive volleyball team. I've always been so proud of her beauty inside and out, her accomplishments and positive attitude. 

She still lives in her own home, but while we're on the Sky, she's visiting one of my sisters and I know she's having a wonderful time! Best wishes, my dear little momma!

Today, we're in the Whitsunday Island chain just off the northern coast of Australia. In fact, the islands are so close, their electricity and potable water comes from the mainland. The island group was first mapped by Captain Cook who used the date of the chain's "discovery," for it's name--Whitsunday (celebrating the 7th Sunday after Pentecoste) 

Anybody else see the giant kangaroo in the sky?

We're on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef but the overcast sky has muted the usually vibrant blue and emerald water. It's also making it impossible to view the reef from above the surface. 

The tall flat-topped mountain is called Passage Peak and is visible from many other parts of the island chain. Cook used it as a point of reference for his early charts.

But we still took an island cruise to see what we could see. The Whitsunday's have been developed into a world class resort destination including a PGA level golf course on one of the islands. Scuba diving and snorkeling is big business but they are careful to protect the reef. It's illegal for a dive boat to drop an anchor. Instead there are strategically placed bouys in desirable diving areas that boats can tie up to for two hours at a time. After their alotted time, they must move on and give another group a chance.

Back on the Sky, the Viking crew was celebrating the Superbowl with a special culinary event while the game was broadcast on the big pooldeck screen and in our staterooms. Sadly, there's no joy in Mudville. Our mighty Chiefs were thoroughly trounced. It wasn't even a good game. 

However, congrats to the Eagles. Better luck next year, Chiefs.  

Crocodiles are Easy!

 February 8, 2025

"Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first." ~ Steve Irwin

We'd still rather hang out with people than crocs, but Steve has created a great venue for us to see some potentially dangerous wildlife in a safe-for-us-and-them environment.

 

I loved the zoo. It reminded me of when we took our daughters to the NC zoo in Asheboro. Good times! 

Crikey! Not Another Cricket!

 February 7, 2025 

Mooloolaba ~ based on the Aboriginal word for "Red Bellied Black Snake"
Sounds like a regular Garden of Eden, huh?

Actually, Mooloolaba, our next port of call, is a very beachy, resort style area. Quite charming. And it was destined to be the location of our first encounter with wildlife in Australia. Unfortunately, it wasn't a cuddly koala or gentle kangaroo. 

It was an Australian cricket. 

I have an absolute horror of crickets at the best of times, let alone one that's big enough to fill a man's palm. 

If that sounds a bit unhinged, let me give you some background. When I was in 6th grade, some weaseley boys in my class decided it would be fun to wad up a ball of black yarn, throw it at the top of my head and shout, "Cricket!"

I sincerely dislike any creature possessed of more than four legs. They give me the willies. Always have. The worst school assignment I ever got was to create a bug collection. I begged my teacher to let me draw detailed pictures of the little nasties based on images in the encyclopedia instead. I'd even label the parts, I promised, but she insisted that I catch the bugs, drive pins through their carapaces and affix them to note cards. I felt sick the whole time I worked on the assignment and though I was used to getting A's, I didn't care when my efforts were only worth a C. I'd have taken an F if it would've gotten me out of doing it.

So when I had reason to believe one of those disgusting creatures who wear their skeletons on the outside was burrowing into my head, I screamed blue murder and started tearing out my hair.

The boys were wildly entertained. I came away from it feeling my deep antipathy toward insects was well founded. As was my disdain and healthy suspicion of sixth grade boys. 

Thank God, I have a husband who understands my phobia of things with 6 or 8 legs. When he told me not to go out onto the veranda this morning as we were just coming into the bay of Mooloolaba, I didn't argue with him. He's my primary bug killer (the man once stepped on a tarantulla for me!), but he just wasn't sure what to do with this one. He couldn't grab it and throw it overboard. There are strict rules against throwing anything over the rail. Smashing it would leave a mess for our room steward to clean up. If he tried to catch it and flush it, it might get away from him and I couldn't bear the idea of the thing being loose in our cabin. 

So I did the only sensible thing I could, while the DH and Wayan, our room steward, captured and removed it.  

"Where are you, Miss Diana?" Wayan called out as he came in to help.

"I'm in the bathroom hiding from the cricket!" I told him through the door. Silly man. 

Anyway, my encounters with Australian wildlife ticked up seriously after that. We went to Steve Irwin's Zoo and had a lovely time exploring this lush area with large enclosures for the well cared for animals. The DH has put together a montage of some of the critters we enjoyed visiting. I'll post that as soon as the Sky's wifi cooperates.  

In the meantime, please enjoy the terminal cuteness of this sleepy koala.

One of our guest lecturers on board has told us that half of a koala's skull is filled with water instead of brains, so they're not terribly bright. But they are terribly sweet looking and beat any cricket by my reckoning by several orders of magnitude!

But I want to leave you with a final thought. We weren't anywhere near land when the DH discovered the cricket on our balcony. 

How did it get there?

Sydney Video Montage

 The DH has finished the video with our pictures from Sydney.  We are still feeling euphoric after our afternoon at the Sydney Opera House.  

We hope you enjoy all these pictures!   

A Dream Realized

"Opera is a planet where the muses work together, join hands and celebrate all the arts.”
Franco Zeffirelli

 

You may or may not know that once upon a time, I used to sing opera. In fact on my birthday 40 years ago, I was winning the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions. (It was a very happy birthday!) I sang with a number of regional companies and orchestras, and was offered an artist-in-residence position with a company in Europe. However, singing professionally turned out not to be compatible with having a normal home life, so I didn't go to Europe and traded one dream for a better one--my family.

But I still love opera. It speaks to my soul. 

So once we knew when we'd be in Sydney on this cruise, my DH started watching the opera company's website so he could snag a couple of tickets for whatever was being presented on the day we'd be "Down Under."

It turned out to be "La Traviata," an operatic tour de force, and incidentally the first opera the DH and I ever attended together back when we were first dating! I've studied the role of Violetta and sang her Sempre Libera in many competitions, but never performed the entire role. However, after hearing Samatha Clarke sing Violetta, I hung my head in shame. She is a remarkable coloratura soprano. Read: very high voice that is strong enough to fill a hall the size of Sydney's Joan Sutherland auditorium without amplification, and yet facile enough to effortlessly shape the runs and trills. Having the "money notes" is important, but having a "trick piano," the ability to sing very high and very softly at the same time really pulls an audience in.

Samantha Clarke is a singer in full possession of her glorious instrument (her voice) and as an added bonus is a beautiful actress as well. She made me weep. I managed to speak to her after the show and compliment her phrasing and the way she shaped all her runs and embellishments in ways that really communicated the pathos of Violetta. I'm sure I was babbling, but she was totally gracious.

Samantha Clarke on my right, Catherine Bouchier who sang Annina (Violetta's maid) on my left and there I am, the short little dunker in the middle surrounded by gorgeous, very tall divas!

  

I was flying high after this amazing experience, but our day was not over.  We met back up with new friends, Susan and Cecile, we'd come to the opera with and grabbed a cab. We'd all skipped lunch (La Traviata started at 12:30pm so we were all peckish) and Susan had scouted out Raggazzi's, a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place next to the Sydney City Recital Hall.

Susan and Cecile, fellow opera lovers because their daughter-in-law is a soprano. It's always more fun to explore a big city with friends. 

Viking had arranged a special concert of the Brandenburg Baroque Chamber Orchestra at Sydney City Recital Hall for all Sky guests who wanted to attend. The program was heavy on Vivaldi, so it was glorious. But they diverged from Vivaldi to include Pachelbel's Cannon in D. This piece is so mathematically perfect, so achingly sweet, that it's an affirmation that there is still truth and beauty in the world. (Of course, I also used to use it in the car to get the kids to sleep when we traveled! It always worked like a charm.)

In the morning, we'd taken the city water shuttle that dropped us off at the steps of the Opera House. After the Brandenburg concert, we hitched a ride back to the ship on one of the buses Viking had arranged for the outing.  

The Sydney Opera House in the shadow of the Sydney Harbor Bridge (affectionately known by locals as "the Coat Hanger." 

For our second day in Sydney, we took the included Harbor cruise tour excursion. It is a huge harbor and heavily developed all around. According to our tour guide, it's a very expensive city to live in. Studio apartments can be well over a million AUDollars. 

Walking the Coathanger is an available excursion, but not one I'm up to. They are understandibly strict about the fitness level of those who line up to take the walk. You'll need to demonstrate an ability to climb stairs and ladders with ease. In fact, if you're over 75 you'll need a letter from your physician stating you're healthy enough to make the trip.

This little amusement park at the water's edge has been there for over a hundred years. But that didn't stop the people who built homes and buildings on the land behind it from complaining about the noise people make when they're having fun! 

We decided to have a lazy day after our morning harbour cruise and even ordered room service on our balcony. It was the perfect place to enjoy our 6 PM sail out. 

My hero and the one who makes all my dreams come true!

Thank you, Sydney. Like Hawaii, I've decided not to say goodbye to you. I'll always hope to visit just one more time... 

Tauranga, Napier & Wellington Photo Montage!

 "God bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia!" ~ Russell Crowe, my favorite Kiwi actor

The DH has put together a running photo tour of our last three World Cruise stops--all of which are new-to-us ports!

Enjoy!

Weta? Wait, what?

Feb 1, 2025 

"Weta" ~ Maori for "small ugly thing"

In many ways, New Zealand is like a whole different world. The trees and plants aren't the ones we're surrounded by in the Ozarks. In fact, there are a few almost fossle-like throwbacks, cyclades, that were present when the dinosaurs roamed. They have no large predators like our coyotes, small black bears and the occasional mountain lion. Their birds are often flightless. The rugged landscape has been shaped by earthquake, tsunami and fire. 

It was perfect for Peter Jackson's vision of Middle Earth. Not only did he have natural settings to film his Ring Trilogy of Tolkein's epic stories in NZ, he found a partner in a small prop and fabrication company in the fledgling Weta group. 

"What's a Weta?" I hear you ask. It's a disgusting six-legged beastie that seems to be an unholy combination of cricket and cockroach. They grow to a length of 3 or 4 inches and make my skin crawl at the thought of them. But the designers and imagineers who worked with Jackson were diehard sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans, so why not name their company after this nightmare of an indigenous  insect?

Our excursion today was a visit to the Weta Workshop. It provided 48,000 individual props, costumes and effects for the three Ring movies. Needless to say, the company that started with only 2 employees experienced explosive growth in short order. 

Some wanted to make this sign say "Wellywood" like the Hollywood sign since Lord of the Rings made them a film-making powerhouse. But Wellington is the country's capital, not just a Lord of the Rings mecca. It's also known as Windy Wellington, one of the windiest capitals in the world.

Peter Jackson wanted to shoot the three Ring movies at once, so that meant moving the cast to NZ for a year and a half. He rented out houses for them and their families to relocate to and the result was a very family-like atmosphere in the cast. 

Golem, the pitiful creature who was utterly consumed by the One Ring.

Inside the Weta workshop, we were only able to photograph in the anteroom. Inside the shop, the company has posession of a lot of items they had produced, but the rights to them, so we weren't allowed to take pictures.

The DH and a model of one of the dwarves

Sometimes, the workshop made full body copies of actors so they could be filmed in situations that would be too dangerous for humans. In the case of the dwarves it was a 1 to a certain percentage to give the appearance of a smaller size. For another film, they made a full body double of the NZ actor Sam Neil and we saw him sitting there, realistic down to the last eyelash. 

The techno-wizards at Weta are able to take anything and make it appear as if its something else, with an appearance of great age and weight. Inside the workshop, we saw chainmail made from plastic that looked alike ancient rusted metal. Those were used for extras and long distant shots. Up close, they fabricated things to exacting standards. Vigo Morensen, who played Aragorn, insisted on wearing actual metal chain mail and nearly paid for his method-acting sensibilities with his life when he fell into a river. 

From a high point just outside Wellington

Weta created special effects for dozens of movies as well as the LOTR trilogy. They worked on Avatar and we saw a replica of the 10 ft. tall blue chick. Their horror film credits stretched as long as my arm, but since I'm not a horror fan, I didn't recognize many. They also did small model work on movies like Master & Commander at the Far Side of the World. (You didn't really think they filmed full-sized sailing ships nearly sinking in the Drake Channel, did you?)

New Zealand is incredibly beautiful, but I'm told for sheer awesomeness, the northern island can't touch the southern one. Sadly, we will not see the site of Mt Doom or any of the other rugged locations used in LOTR. 

That just means we'll have to come back someday, doesn't it? 

Napier~ Art Deco from the Ashes

January 31, 2025

"Oh gosh, we thought it was the end of the world." – Hana Lyola Cotter

Feb 3rd~This day in history, in 1931, Napier, New Zealand was rocked by a 7.8 earthquake that killed 256 people, raised 42 square kilometers from seabed to dry land filling in the bay in a moment, and pretty much demolished the main area of town. 

But the doughty Kiwis didn't give up. They decided to rebuild. And not just in a slapdash, ulititarian manner. The town decided to adopt the newest style of architecture and ornamentation--Art Deco. This sleek and elegant aesthetic catapulted Napier into the Great Depression era with a bit of a flair. 

This member of the local car club drove his 1930's Austin cabriolet down to the wharf to share his automotive passion with the Sky's passengers. He was quite pleased when I commented on his very "snappy chariot!" Behind us, you can see a giant charging station. The Sky was attached to several landbased electrical stations so the big engines that run our ship's systems could be turned off.

A bit of a confession--most of what I know about Art Deco comes from watching PBS Masterpiece's Poirot with David Duchet. From the music, to the clean lines of his oh-so-stylish apartment building, to the curvaceous automobiles of the time--the series is a feast for the senses even before you are mesmerized by Agatha Christie's mind-bending stories. 

Mural art dots the business district, almost all calling attention to climate/environmental issues

Parts of Napier made me feel we'd wandered into a Poirot set.

But parts of the town survived the devastation. 

This is the unobtrusive door to the "Stranger's Room" in Hawke's Bay Gentlemen's Club. Ladies might be sneaked into the establishment by slipping them through this chamber so they didn't wander through the more public areas of the Victorian structure.

The Club was threatened by fire that followed the quake, but it was saved at the last possible moment by a shift in the wind and the sea blew the flames away from the gentlemen's exclusive enclave. 

I had no trouble  getting in because this was the main destination of our excursion. 10 local wineries joined forces to set up a tasting for the Viking guests. Since we're not big on wine, we didn't try more than a couple each and only a sip or two at that, but it was a fun venue with quite a colorful past. 

The Grand Staircase

After the dramatic change in their oceanfront, it seems Napier became more interested in building up. I worry a bit about subsidence in these cases, but it doesn't seem to deter them. All over NZ, we've seen neighborhoods that are so vertical, individual homes sometimes have small funniculars to transport the residents from the street level up to their front doors. 

In real estate, as in life, "seek the higher ground!"

Upon returning to the ship about 6 more motorists were lined up to show off their shiny obsessions. Watching lots of American Pickers with my mom has taught me to appreciate everything that goes into reviving these period vehicles.

On to Wellington tomorrow!

When is a Bird also a Fruit?

 January 30, 2025

"Someone once threw me a small, brown, hairy kiwi fruit, and I threw a wastebasket over it until it was dead." ~ Erma Bombeck

While we waited for our excursion to begin, we walked along the wharf. I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this tugboat. Robert was my dad's name.  

Rotorua, also known as Tauranga, is in the aptly named Bay of Plenty region. Captain Cook gave it that moniker because the natives were friendly and willing to trade essential goods with the explorer. It's also near the most volcanically active part of New Zealand. Remember that tragic eruption on nearby White Island in 2019? 22 of the 47 tourists and guides on the island at that time died or were never recovered and the others all suffered terrible burns.

If we'd wanted, we could've signed up for a tour to visit the geyser area (not White Island, of course!), but we used to live five hours away from Yellowstone Park. We'd camp in this thermically active park every year to be amazed by the regularity of some thermal features and to see how the techtonic plate had shifted to shut down some areas and open up others over time. But as we're not serious fans of the smell of sulphur, we elected to visit a kiwi farm instead.  

Actually, the two things are related. The reason kiwis grow so readily here is because of the rich volanic soil. The typical kiwi farm is only a couple of hectares (a hectare is about 2.5 acres) but the land produces in abundance. Growing kiwis is heavily regulated and requires a license. The vines take 7 years to reach maturity and are able to produce export quality fruit. 

Kiwis plants are either male or female and aren't able to self pollinate because they don't produce nectar. Plants are arranged in six rows of female plants with one row of male ones running down the middles. Farmers rent bees in the millions for a week at 1 cent a bee to pollinate their vines. After a week, the beekeepers move the hives out so the frustrated bees  can go back to nectar producing plants and making honey.  

 The farms are protected with wind breaks and are divided into separate types of kiwis--the familiar green fleshed fruit and a more esoteric golden variety. There's also a red one in the works but it's not widely available. 

The golden kiwi vines are trained to grow up into teepee shapes and the fruit is more prone to damage. Farmers have difficulty hiring local workers to harvest kiwis. It is hot, back-breaking labor, so guest workers are brought in from Asia. They are housed and well-supported for the three month season. Green kiwi harvesters are paid by the number of bins they fill. Gold kiwi workers are paid by the hour because they must go slower to avoid bruising the fruit.

After our trip to the fields, we were treated to a Maori dance group while we snacked on kiwi slices, biscuits and tea.

 
Is this more than you ever hoped to know about kiwi fruit? 

I confess I was weirdly fascinated by what it takes to produce these odd-looking little nutrient-dense powerhouses. And we haven't even reckoned on how they ship them around the world! 

But I expect to buy them more often when I get back home. It'll be a sweet, healthy reminder of our time here in NZ. 

 

Auckland Adventures

 "It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." ~ Edmund Hillary, Kiwi mountaineer who was the first to reach the summit of Mt. Everest

Last time we were in Auckland back in 2018, it was a very drippy day. Today, the sky is brilliant blue, and the temps are in the low 70's. Really kinda perfect! But we still venture out with my O2 concentrator on my back and the rest of our gear in DH's backpack, which holds an extra battery for me, my yellow umbrella for rain or shine, water, and, in an abundance of caution, a rain poncho. One thing we can't bring is anything to eat. NZ has strict bio-protective laws designed to keep unwanted pests from this beautiful country.

We're off on the included excursions from Viking. It's pretty much a bus tour with a couple of photo stops and a visit to the War Memorial Museum. Our friends Kristy and Dave saw this museum back in 2018 and raved about it, so we're looking forward to the exhibits.

The human eye really responds to symmetry, doesn't it? This lovely garden commemorated the first Labour Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage. From what I can gather, he led the country in establishing a social security system and our driver told us he thanked Savage for the 40 hour work week. 

The museum is very well curated, all the artefacts displayed to tell the story of the seafaring Maori people. This outrigger canoe speaks to me of a clever engineering solution to the bounding waves. I wonder how long it took for someone to figure out that short of a double hull, this extra running keel off to the side would provide stability. The Maori's were resourceful and creative. This sort of thing proves to me that people are people. We don't really change. Only our technology does.

This beautifully ornamented war canoe was carved from a single tree trunk. It's 82 feet long. That's longer than my house. I cannot imagine how long it took for them to fell the tree, cut it in two lengthwise and hollow out the trunk without the benefit of metal tools. Be sure to check the DH's photo montage for more detailed pics of this vessel.

One of the places we were not allowed to photograph was the marae that had been re-assembled inside the museum. A marae is a sacred space and is specifically designed to honor the ancestors of the village. The intricate carving is reminiscent of totem poles with one figure atop another. The eyes, like those on the canoe above, are made from abalone shells and certainly give those in the marae a sense of being watched. I couldn't help but think of the beginning of Hebrews chapter 12--"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..."

The SkyTower behind this handsome fellow is the tallest building in southern hemisphere. There is an option of being able to bungee jump from the tower, but "tis an honor I dream not of."  

We really love New Zealand and consensus from so many on board the Sky is if we didn't live in the US, this is a place where we could feel at home. There certainly seems to be plenty of space. 90% of the world's population lives north of the equator. 

So this is how the other 10% lives...

Auckland in pictures

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Welcome to Auckland, New Zealand's second capital city. The first one was Russell, a smallish town across from where we disembarked at the Bay of Islands. 

More soon...