2025 New Zealand Cruise- Fiordland

Last night the ship was anchored so there was no engine noise during the night.  I slept in but Tibor got up to see the sunrise.  It’s another warm and sunny day.  60-70 degrees.

About sunrise, the ship started moving to our stop(Anchor Island near Many Islands) for the morning excursions- zodiac cruising and helicopter rides.  After I woke up, I went out on the deck to enjoy the scenery but the sandflies were out too so I went back inside and enjoyed breakfast in the bistro while watching the scenery go by.  My breakfast today was a croissant with raspberry jam and muesli with yoghurt.  Tibor joined me for breakfast- he’d been on the outside deck most of the morning.

Jennifer and I started on an hour and a half zodiac cruise about 9am.  Tibor went on a zodiac cruise a little later.  It’s beautiful scenery and we saw a number of New Zealand Fur seals- but few were very skinny.  I particularly enjoyed the terns flying and swooping about fishing.

For the afternoon, Tibor went on a hike while I went on a zodiac cruise.  Jennifer went on a zodiac cruise after her massage.  Another warm day and when there was little wind, lots of sandflies.  I saw baby seals, playful seals and a ray plus some distant birds- including the Kaka.

When we got back Tibor and I were able to go on a ‘swim’ in Fiordlands.  We took advantage of the opportunity and jumped out of the zodiac into the water.  It was salt water since it was in the ocean but I was somehow expecting fresh water.  It was cold but not super cold.  I jumped in and then swam back to the zodiac and got out.  Tibor splashed about a bit before getting out.  He had actually just come out when he saw me getting ready to go so he went a second time.

We had a nice appetizer and drink for the Captain’s farewell and then an amazing New Year’s Eve dinner.

This is the last full day of this cruise and almost all passengers will be getting off tomorrow-only 5 of us will stay for the next cruise (Galapagos of the Southern Oceans). The official start of the “Southern Galápagos” tour is today in Queenstown but we will be staying on the ship instead.

Up early this morning because we were promised beautiful views.  Our ship entered Milford sound about 6am and the sunrise was at 6:05am.  We were on the deck to watch- it wasn’t really a sunrise but we did see a tiny wisp of pink cloud.  It’s another wonderful day- warm & sunny.

The views were wonderful and the wind was strong and warm.  After standing at the front of the ship for 30 minutes or so, I was tired of the wind and went to watch the views from inside.  It took us about an hour to reach the end of Milford Sound where we turned around.  At that point I discovered the other end of the ship had minimal wind and just as fine views.  That’s where we had breakfast while watching the views go by.  At one point the captain maneuvered the ship so we were right next to a waterfall.

There were two presentations in the morning- “Afraid of the Light” discussing the many nocturnal animals of New Zealand and “Sandflies, Penguins and Rocks” covering the topics in the talk title.

The cruise director asked the captain to slow down so we could be on a scenic section while we had our BBQ lunch on the back deck.  The BBQ was pretty tasty and there was a little food art too.

By the time lunch was over, and we arrived and anchored at Grono Bay we were ready for the afternoon activities.  Because of the wind, weather and tides, we were able to go thru a very narrow gap in the sound- pretty fun to see how close we could get to land(maybe 30 feet on each side?).  For our afternoon activities Tibor went on the hike and Jennifer and I went on the zodiac cruise.  Since our group was the second group to go out on the zodiac, I took a short nap before the zodiac cruise.  It’s a good thing the announcements are loud and easily heard so I didn’t miss my zodiac cruise.

Slept pretty good- some ship engine noise, not much rocking and rolling since we had relatively calm seas.  We saw Bottlenose dolphins in the water before breakfast.  It’s another beautiful sunny day with a temperature of around 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Today we are in Tamatea (Dusky Sound).

We waited for the loudspeaker call for our group(passengers selected their group last night) and went to the mudroom to put on life vest and, Heritage Expedition provided, rubber water boots. Then we loaded onto our zodiac for this morning’s excursion.  There are about ten(10) groups of ten people.  The ship has 12 zodiacs available but they don’t put them all out every excursion.

We went on a short zodiac cruise (about 30-45 minutes) and then we landed on Indian Island.  This is where Captain Cook made botanical and scientific observations during his exploration of New Zealand in the late 18th century.  We walked to the location where the first recorded meeting of a European and Maori occurred.  The meeting was recorded in a painting by William Hodges, an artist aboard the ship Resolution captained by Captain Cook.  It was Captain Cook’s second voyage to Tamatha Dusky Sound.   On the zodiac cruise we saw the Kaka parrot flying overhead- it has bright red under its wings so it’s easy to identify when it flys overhead.

We got back onto the Zodiac and went on another short cruise before landing at Astronomer’s Point in Pickersgill Harbour where we walked on a boardwalk up to the site of a temporary observatory setup during Cook’s second voyage (1773). It was used to accurately fix New Zealand’s position using chronometers, making it the most precisely located place globally at the time, The maps made by Captain Cooks crew were the most accurate in the world and even using today’s satellite technology they are accurate.

There were quite a few sand flies at both stops and I got bit a number of times even after putting on mosquito repellent.  One interesting item of note- on the first stop(predator-free island) we heard many bird calls while on the second stop(NOT predator free) we only heard one bird call. 

We learned that there is so much rain (they get 7 meters of rain a year) that there is a layer of fresh water on top of the ocean water. This fresh water acts as a lens and reduces the amount of sunlight entering the water. They have found some deep dwelling animals e.g. Black Coral living in much shallower water than usual. Black coral is typically in waters over 100 meters deep but are found in 20 meter water in these fjords.

After the landing we headed back to the ship and had lunch at the Bistro.  It wasn’t my favorite meal.  It was supposed to be pizza but it had all sorts of fancy stuff on it.  Dessert was tasty.

After a short rest, we were ready for our afternoon excursion.  This was a zodiac cruise in Facile Harbour followed by a landing.  The landing was at Pigeon Island, the island where Richard Henry lived. He was a self-taught naturalist, and the first caretaker of Resolution Island, a crucial role in establishing NZ’s first island wildlife sanctuary.  He famously relocated hundreds of endangered birds to offshore havens using innovative, hands-on methods laying groundwork for modern relocation conservation. He was unknown while alive yet is now widely known as the 19th century New Zealand conservationist because of his amazing, detailed reports and maps that were used by future conservationists.

The two pictures below were taken about 9pm at night!

Today was a day of travel, logistics and briefings with a beautiful short hike at the end.

We were up early to make our 6am meeting time.  We picked up our packed breakfast to take on our 3 hour bus ride from Queenstown to Buff.  There were beautiful views of the Remarkables (a mountain range near Queenstown) but we couldn’t really see out the foggy bus windows.  There we were in a bus with huge windows going from the seat up to the ceiling and we couldn’t see out!  That was ok since I napped/rested/slept most of the drive anyway.

We have a very good group- we had 10 minutes to take a bathroom break and everyone was back on the bus just before the 10 minutes expired- can’t remember when that last happened on a trip.  They also help get everyone’s luggage where it needs to go- this is actually not quite as nice as you’d expect since someone may take your luggage without you noticing and then you get to spend time trying to find your luggage.

We left the hotel a bit late but made up the time to catch our 9:45am ferry from Buff to the town of Oban on Steward Island.  It’s an hour long ferry ride.  It was a beautiful and smooth trip.  We did hear from multiple people that it’s usually a very bad crossing and lots of folks get sick and throw up.  That’s why it is also known as Vomit Alley.  I’m so happy we had a smooth trip.  It’s important to catch the ferry since it can only leave at high or low tide because when the tide changes the currents into/out of the Harbour make it impossible for ships to enter/leave.

We walked from one side of the town to the other to catch a zodiac to our ship- the Heritage Adventurer.  Of course before we could get onto the zodiac we had a briefing on how to put on life vests and how to enter the zodiac.  On the zodiac to the ship we had a glimpse of a little blue penguin in the water.

We checked in but our rooms were not ready yet and we went straight to lunch.  After lunch we were shown to our room- it’s quite large and has lots of storage space.

Quite a few people were already on the ship as they were on a prior cruise that they combined with this one.

After lunch we had our safety briefing, emergency response training, another more detailed zodiac briefing and a short presentation about the ship.

Then we were put into groups and taken to Ulva island by zodiac.  Ulva island is a predator free island and we took a short walk (about an hour) thru the native forest looking for native animals.  We saw the tiny round Rifleman bird going in and out of its nest at the base of a tree.  

I did see a few native New Zealand birds today on the walk on Ulva Island

After the walk we took the zodiac back to the ship, had dinner, a shower and off to sleep- even though it was still light outside. 

We slept good and woke up to a sunny day with clear skies, Drove on the road towards the Royal Albatross Center(again) but this time we went to The Opera (Ortago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance) to go on their penguin tour. We are hoping to see the Yellow-eyed Penguin. We did see a couple but they were in the Opera rehabilitation center. This is where sick, injured, or malnourished penguins are feed and taken care of before being released back into the wild. We did see New Zealand fur seals and New Zealand Sea Lions along the beach where we hoped to see Yellow-eyed Penguins.

Today we took a different route back to Queenstown and ended up going thru lots of farmland. We saw lots of sheep and more shiny, clean cows. Tibor passed the random alcohol test on the way home- seemed kinda odd to check at 2:30pm in a Saturday.

New Zealanders drive on the left side of the road. There is a saying for right sided drivers: “If you’re confused on which side of the road to drive on, put your passenger in the ditch”. This sounds good until you realize you’re the passenger that’s going into the ditch! Tibor did fine driving on the left side but it’s not my favorite to be the passenger and be right at the edge of the road- even when there isn’t a cliff alongside.

On the way back to Queenstown, we stopped at a Woolworths store(Woolies) to pick up some licorice. When Tibor went to pay with cash, it wasn’t accepted. Turns out it was Brazilian currency! I had put our Brazilian currency in an envelope marked New Zealand currency. Yikes. It’s even worse because I purchased the cherries at the road side self-service stand using the currency in the envelope marked New Zealand currency. I knew it was foreign currency since it looked odd but it just wasn’t the correct foreign currency.

Here’s my birding experience so far in New Zealand: Case 1: Find a cool multi-colored bird with a red face, black & white head, yellow wing patches, find it in the Merlin Bird Guide and discover it’s an European Goldfinch- an introduced species. Case 2: Find a cool black bird with a bright red beak, find it in the Merlin Bird Guide and discover it’s an European/Common Starling- an introduced species that takes over native species habitat. Case 3: Find a cool big black and white bird, find it in the Merlin Bird Guide and discover it’s an Australian Magpie or White-backed Magpie- an introduced species that preys on native species. Case 4: Find a cool greenish/gray bird with a yellow face that’s feeding on nectar, find it in the Merlin Bird Guide and discover that it doesn’t really have a yellow head but the yellow is pollen stuck to it’s face. But at least this time it’s a New Zealand endemic bird- it’s a female New Zealand Bellbird.

Odds and Ends:

• Tibor found his noise-cancelling earbuds in his bag- he spent an hour or more looking for them at home before we left but they had already been packed
• It’s been raining in the afternoon- when the clouds come in and it starts raining the temperature drops quickly
• One time on the drive today, we had full bars of service but no internet connection
• Interesting words used in New Zealand- slippies (slippers), plunger coffee(French press coffee), hidden queue(stopped traffic near blind curve), Woolies(Woolworths store), pullie(Pullover/sweater)
• We drove about 460 miles these last few days, used 10.4 gallons of gas and averaged 44 mpg with our hybrid rental car

After a good night’s sleep we got up to have a nice breakfast and went back to the Royal Albatross Center for our Albatross tour.  Our tour was booked for 1pm since I expected we’d sleep in and take lots of photos on the way to the center.  We got up regular time and didn’t stop for photos and got there about 10:15am just when the center opened. We were able to change our tour to 11:30am.  That still gave us plenty time to browse the shop and photograph the Red-billed gulls which are prevalent in Dunedin but are declining elsewhere. They are called Silver Gulls in other areas.

We saw some (5 or so) Northern Royal Albatross on the nest but none flying until our guide took us to her secret spot- the fort observation room.  There we saw one soaring back and forth- so very amazing- they look incredible as they fly.  They have an 11-12 foot wing span and are very efficient flyers.  They land on land once every two years to mate and raise a chick.  Otherwise they fly the southern oceans and once in a while, when they are tired, they land in the water to rest.   They can fly over 80,000 miles a year, which is over 3 times around the earth.

After getting back to Larnach Castle and resting a bit, we went to High Tea at the castle.  It was delicious.

After tea we toured the Larnach Castle.  A wealthy merchant/banker/politician started building it in 1871 as a grand home for his first wife.  Extravagant materials from around the world were used- including Italian marble, Belgium tiles, Venetian glass, Douglas fir from America, Australian and New Zealand native woods.  It took 200 workers three years for the shell, with European artisans spending another 12 years on the intricate interiors(furniture, wall paneling, ceiling plaster work, tile laying, wood carving)

Sadly his wife died relatively young.   After other family tragedies and deaths, financial ruin, and suicides the castle fell into ruin. It was purchased by the Baker family in 1967.  They lived in it while renovating it into a major tourist attraction.  It is the only castle in New Zealand.

The castle had no furniture when the Bakers purchased it and as part of the restoration, they have purchased items that were originally in the castle or were owned by members of the Larnach family. 

We had more rain this afternoon but by evening it was clear.  Tibor wandered around the grounds looking for the bird with the clear bell-like song.  We suspect it’s the bell bird but don’t know for sure. He was able to photograph the bird making the call and he was very excited.

We had a 4 course candlelight dinner in the original dining room of Larnach Castle. Tibor had lamb, of course, while I had tuna. Since the tuna ended up being very peppery, Tibor got to have tuna as well as New Zealand lamb. He was happy.

We celebrated Christmas with the whole family on December 21st and on the 23rd we got on a plane to Queenstown New Zealand for our New Zealand cruise.

Eric took us to the San Jose airport and then turned around and took Monica and Jake to the San Francisco airport for their flight to Minneapolis.  Now Eric can enjoy a quiet and peaceful home.

There were surprisingly few people in the airports and the airports were very calm but our planes had no empty seats.  We were worried we may be stranded at Los Angeles airport(LAX) because they were expecting flooding conditions in Los Angeles.  We didn’t need to worry- we just had a bit of turbulence going into and out of LAX.

We had smooth flying from San Jose, California to Los Angeles, California to Sydney, Australia to Queenstown, New Zealand.  Funny thing when we landed at Los Angeles airport, the flight crew said “keep your seatbelts on or we can’t taxi to the gate” but when we landed in Sydney the flight crew said “the seatbelt signs have been turned off” and then we taxied about 5 minutes to the gate!

We landed at Queenstown about 10 minutes early on December 25th and collected our luggage and rental car and set off on our 4ish hour drive to Dunedin, New Zealand.   It’s Christmas Day and all the stores were closed and the streets are empty in the towns we drove through.  Tibor did see 2 cafes open and we stopped to purchase fresh cherries at a self-service fruit stand.  There were goats and white dots (sheep) on the hillsides and raptors flying in the sky.  The cows were so clean and the white parts so shiny a couple of times I thought one was a statue until they moved.

We found Larnach castle easily and checked in.  It’s wonderful, our room is in the stables and we have shared bathrooms. To get to our room, we go thru a large red stable door which opens into the breakfast room. Just inside the door is a horse. It’s plastic but every time I see it, it seems real for a moment. Our room is up the stairs above the breakfast room.

We knew we couldn’t have their special Christmas dinner because it started before we arrived and would finish after we had to leave for our penguin tour.  We did get a wonderful charcuterie board and we were very happy to have ‘real’ food after so much airport/airplane food. We enjoyed the special box of Christmas cookies too.

We had enough time to change into warmer clothes and rain gear before driving to our penguin tour.  It has been raining off and on since we landed.

The penguin tour left from the Royal Albatross Center which was about a 45 minute drive from the castle.  We checked in and they gave us some information, we watched a short video and then we walked down to their observation platform and waited for Little Penguins to arrive.  We were so excited when we saw a group of 6 arrive and were even more excited when two groups of 30-50 arrived. We also saw a couple of New Zealand fur seals.

The platform had red lights and some low white lights so we could see the penguins easily but photographing them was another story.  We loved the tour and watching the penguins.

After a 45 minute drive back to the castle we went straight to bed- so far very little jet lag- fingers crossed for the next few days.