flat as glass

We are on the Tasman Sea and contrary to what I anticipated, it is so calm you can see your face in the ocean (editorial license you know).
Picton tomorrow
We both woke up early but didn’t get out of bed until the wake up call came at 8am. The ocean was gorgeous, bright and boy are we sailing at a fast clip.
Port Talk: PIcton
This was held earlier than usual because of the peculiar schedule we have today. I’m looking forward to seeing this cute little town across the waterway from the New Zealand capital of Wellington. Ed and I can’t recall what tour we signed up for, but we know it isn’t wine tasting. There is a big wine area called Marlborough near Picton. We’ll show up on time and join our fellow adventurers.
Too many choices
There were so many competing things going on this morning. Our guest lecturer was discussing what it’s like to win an Oscar among others. It was all more than I wanted to bear, so I went to the Pacific Lounge to finish my book. The dancing couple I’ve often mentioned are now teaching dance classes and very nicely I must add. They want to become dance teachers on ships but this is just on their own with the ship’s blessing. She really is quite nice and often joins us for Trivia. But the unwelcomed attention getting is so off putting to many folks. So I had to read while ignoring the dance instructions and not-very-good Brazilian music they were using. They had a good following and it’s nice to see these old folks learning new steps.
Trivia
This morning was an Australian quiz developed by a fellow passenger. I’ve told you how much we hate these and today was no exception, not because of the questions per se, but because of the person who created the quiz. OMG! Two immigrants to Australia joined us and they were a god send. We wound up winning! But only because of them I assure you though each of us got our points in along the way and as usual there are some answers which we’d argue were wrong. I’ll never understand why they encourage fellow passengers to call the trivia quizzes.
This afternoon was on the Oscars. As we usually do when we don’t win, we came in second. The group who came in first argued a point with the staff, politely and quietly I might add, and with our support, and so based on that point, they won. We were glad for them.
My “giving back”
A lady wants to send an email with a photo attachment so I agreed to help them with it. As Murphy’s law would predict, the satellite connection was down but I tried to simplify it for them and they took notes. When they wanted to go beyond the basics, I said no, just do this successfully and I”ll help you beyond that. Because we have changed position, the satellite connection is very fickle and one cannot expect a reliable connection. It can be very frustrating.
Lunch
There were two other attorneys at the table and an Asian man who was their match. I don’t have to tell you who dominated the conversation, not all of which was terminally boring but much of which totally ignored the interests of others at the table.
American Presidents, Arabs and Israelis
Well, some of this I knew because I read Michael Bechloss’ book Presidential Power and several chapters include such vignettes. But it was interesting to get his perspective and his stories of his work with the Presidents. He is a prof at UCLA and has a book in our boutique here.
Academy Awards
These were on a satellite feed from 2pm to 5 pm our time this afternoon. It meant that many folks stayed to watch that despite the precarious satellite feed. Some just got discouraged (disgusted?) and went on to do other things. It was also shown on a channel in our rooms but the same satellite connections meant it was often blank but at least you were lying down while this was going on.
Wine Tasting
Since this is free to us as Elite members, we both went. Initially Ed was going to the Academy Awards but I’m glad he joined me for this. I’m not much of a wino – ok wine afficianado – but I guess I keep hoping there will be something beyond Beringer White Zin that I like. This is the best way for me to discover such a wine if so. Mostly I go for the cheeses which were pretty ordinary today but were certainly fresh. We were joined by Ellie from our previous table and another nice lady. The last selection was real Asti Spumonti. Now I could get used to that and it’s only 7.5% alcohol content.
So now in the time between trivia and dinner, Ed is reading something and I’m catching up on the blog. Now I’ll read until it’s time to go. The library has a very small, but wide variety of large print books and I brought some along as well. I saw that Bill Bryson has a book in this collection about Shakespeare and so I’m anxious to read that as I so enjoyed his Sunburned Country about Australia.
My reading
I just finished reading Every Patient Tells a Story: medical mysteries and the art of diagnosis by Lisa Sanders. I think I spoke about it before as an homage to the art (and science) of the physical exam and how they are being ignored. This results in many missed and inaccurate diagnoses. I suppose it’s not a book for everyone but it explains a lot about the thinking patterns of MDs and how they are educated. I’d certainly recommend it to anyone interested in anything close to those topics.
Dinner
We had our usual fun laughing and closing the dining room. At one point, we talking about the tall guys, Ed and Bob, with their feet hanging off the ends of the bed and how we had to be careful when we got up in the night to go to the bathroom. Barbara and John are very tiny people: I doubt either one is 5’1” tall. So John popped up and said that they didn’t have to worry about that because neither of them ever got to that part of the bed.
Tonite’s show
It was a fellow who said he is Jackie Wilson’s son, the R&B singer in the genre of the Platters, Temptations and such. He was OK but nothing special. I was surprised Ed wasn’t wilder about him.
Rumors on the ship
Many folks have commented that there are no secrets on the ship. News flashes around the ship in a heart beat. It is like a small community where everyone knows everyone else (well this is almost true after a while). But I think it’s funny when folks say this.
Tuesday March 9, 2010
The knock on the door came before the wake up call on the phone. So I went to take my shower while Ed leisurely had his breakfast and coffee. He’s going to do that anyway so I just as well clear out the shower for him. We got down to the tour meeting place on time (I think) but we were in the last group anyway. We first took a small shuttle bus to a boat. There were less than 20 of us. We had to go by NZ authorities who asked about fruit or food in our bags. I told him I was disappointed the little beagles weren’t there to greet us. We were met on the pier by Kiwiettes who gave each of us a small boutineer of a local, marigold looking flower with baby’s breath, or a cream colored rose with pink petals. I now have them in one of the lemoncello glasses from the wine tasting on our desk in the room.
It seems that one group got the bus ride first; we got the boat ride first which was a great idea. The water was placid and everything was morning gorgeous. Our tour was “Marlborough by land and Sea”. Since this is the wine region I somehow thought a winery was on the trek but it wasn’t and that was just fine.
Boat trip around Queen Charlotte’s Sound
Well saying this is gorgeous just falls waayyyy too short in describing this gorgeous place. Since there were only less than 20 of us, we had gobs of room on this boat which could probably hold 100 folks with room to spare. The hostess had laid out savories (not like we’re used to at the tea shops) and a tomato chutney to go with it. There were scones which were probably four inches square. Wonderful strawberry jam, something like whipped cream, and good tea (at least I thought so—the Brits carry their own favorite tea bags). There was instant coffee available which Ed says was pretty good for instant.
Well how do you describe this gorgeous water between high islands with nooks and crannies everywhere. The boat went into many coves to show us local sights including close ups of birds of various kinds. We also saw jumping fish. I had encouraged to take the long lens for the camera since we’ve carried it all this while and never used it. So he did and there are some spectacular photos I’ll post later. Btw:did I tell you that the GPS has never worked? Ed says he’ll send an email to Amazon to complain but he hasn’t done it and I’m getting worried about the time. That wasn’t a cheap toy.
At one point. The boat was brought right up to the beach; honest. You could have jumped right onto the sand and never touched the water. That boat must have a very flat bottom. But we got up close and personal with some birds here called shags. And we were shown a peculiar local plant.
We saw LOTS of jelly fish and were told they aren’t poisonous here. At one point, sting rays were seen on the beach shallow water.
Everywhere you see what appears to be clear cutting. It turns out there’s a movement to get rid of non native trees such as “willows” and replace them with native trees over time.
There are many holiday homes around these coves and bays with piers. Some are permanent residents; many are second homes. Some can be rented. One gorgeous site had houses for rent equivalent to $800 a night for 12 people. Not too shabby. The expense would be getting folks here of course.
So at the end of this idyllic experience, we landed at a pier in an isolated place. There were a few campers around and we spoke with some and took their pictures so we could show how Kiwis relax. The bus that was to pick us up was not there, Ed and I made up stories about being abandoned in some isolated cove in New Zealand and never being found again. There was a playground on the beach and we started playing on the swings. One lady even went down the slide (she’s on the smaller side).
Eventually the bus arrived and the other group unloaded to go for the boat ride. We still feel our sequence was the preferred way to take the tour. So we piled onto a small bus and began our ride through this countryside which changed over time from high mountain peaks and lots of bays and coves, to a flat plain which is the bottom of a previous glacial plane. The weather is hotter here as well. And this is where all the vineyards are found. And olive trees that are a new crop and not yet ready for olive oil production. We went into a little town of many thousand people that is highly industrial. We stopped at some places along the way to take photos and for restrooms. A garden was included and the ducks were hilarious as they were sure we were going to feed them. In fact, everywhere we went, the ducks and birds came after us as if we were going to feed them.
PIcton
When we got back, we got off in this delightful little town of 4-5000 people. We walked around a little and then settled into a corner bistro type place and finally got the attention of a server. It took us a while to figure out if we had to order at the counter or if we’d be served. Clearly these folks are not used to a ship load of folks like us. Eventually we ordered black cod with French fries and a salad –“fish and chips” to the locals—and a glass of Gwertzdraminer (ok I know that’s not spelled properly but you get the idea) to share since we both like it usually. Well this time Ed liked it and I didn’t. Ed also ordered a local dark lager which he said was good. The fish and chips was very good. Ed was surprised when I asked for vinegar (usually malt vinegar—there was no ketchup in these parts and I don’t do garlicky mayonnaise with fresh fries though I’d love it!). He expected me to put it on the fish and I guess had never seen it put on french-fries. We also checked out the used newspapers in the place and so now we know who won the major Academy Awards.
We walked around and poked in some stores. They make gorgeous unique-wood products here and I’m enchanted by a circular pattern they use for coasters and trivets; it is carved in such a way that it is two encircled spirals and they can be left together for the design, or separated and used for two. They also have lots of puau shell products; this is the abalone shell polished. There’s more of course. Gorgeous wool items as New Zealand is known for it’s wool products. But I resisted and so did Ed (as far as I know). Along the way we found a terrific red hat that Ed tried to get me to buy. There was also one of the same design in lavender. But it was rigid and I already have a cowboy hat anyway. And I would NOT take it on tours because you would have to be careful to keep it’s shape. I also am not persuaded that we can get shaped hats back to LA in decent shape though clearly Ed does as he’s bought some for himself. Still the hat he takes on tours is crushable and fits in his backpack.
We also saw some gorgeous caps for cold weather. If we lived in cold areas, I’d be tempted but not where we live. I’d prefer to use what we have and layer if it’s cold. There were some craft folks in a park area that was gorgeous and we had fun going from tent to tent to see the local wares which were actually reasonably priced.
We saw several beauty salons that looked like they’d be a good choice for a hair cut but I’m determined to wait until Sydney in 5 more days . I may have a problem though since we have an all day tour on Saturday and Sunday morning is the only free time I have in port. I may just go shaggy until Singapore.
There was a shuttle back to the ship but you can see the ship from all over town and it was a nice walk so we made the trek and you can now tell we were out in the sun as our skin is pink. The sun is brutal here and there isn’t anything between you and the sun.
The only way to get into Picton is by ferry across Cook Strait about 3+ hours and it costs about $7-80 NZ (exchange rate today is 1.45 NZ to 1 USD). Cook did some incredible mapping and charting and many can be laid over current charts and fit perfectly. You can fly on a puddle jumper of about 12 passengers for 25 min flight but it’s even more expensive. And you can drive to other towns nearby and take hops and jumps to bigger cities.
Good bye New Zealand
We’ve all fallen in love with NZ. It is so gorgeous. The people are very fitness and outdoors oriented; you see no obese people; chunky perhaps but that’s all. The air is so clean. The water gorgeous and everyone sails it seems. Folks know each other. Life is simpler in these small towns especially. Well I haven’t heard anyone who isn’t enchanted with NZ.
Back home
My routine is to download the photos (almost 600 between the two cameras today) and recharge the batteries before I start the blog. Ed turns on Fox News (there’s really no other way to get ANY news of any kind: the Brits complain that there’s no British news and we’d vote with them for the BBC. I think Al Jezeera is the only one that would be voted down. Ha) and lays on the bed to snooze though he did go out and take some more photos as the ship left port.
Ed has become a real photo jockey and I’m glad as there are many photos I can’t get because of my visual problems. One lady on the boat helped me identify where things were and I’d point the camera in the general direction and hope I’m lucky.
Dinner
Just Nancy and Bob and us. We talked about childhoods on farms and other places. Nancy has funny dreams and we had good laughs at those. Since Barbara, John, Peg and Bob were on the wine tasting tour today, we have a plan to accuse them of not coming to dinner because they were sleeping off the booze.
Then we went by to see what wares the ship is tempting us to buy and it was the usual array of T-shirts and discounted items from the San Blas Islands in Panama. The three legged pigs were there too; I guess not everyone has an aesthetic appreciation of their uniqueness.
Terrorist maneuvers
We kept hearing helicopters as we were leave port but could never see them. At dinner, the Captain came on the PA and announced that there were terrorist exercises going and not to be alarmed. Some of the passengers who did see some of it, said that the helicopters chased dolphins to the ship and they were having a great time watching them. We missed it all.
Davidia
This was a mezzo-soprano operatic voice that had a tremendous range and sang a variety of tunes of all genre. She talked about her teens and how old music is new to them. They think because one of their contemporary singing idols records a tune that it is a new song and are shocked when their parents know the tune. I remember when the kids were small, we were driving along and the Monster Mash came on the radio and I started singing it. Lisa said: “how do you know that song?” Well of course I knew it because it was, and still is, an old song. She took one of the old songs and made it into a rap tune to appeal to the teenagers of today. It was hilarious.
Across the Tasman Sea
So now we’ll have three days of bucking and dipping across the Tasman Sea to Sydney. But you’d never know this travelling out of the Queen Charlotte’s Sound.

I'll post photos later. Ed has put himself down for several hours of laptop time this afternoon since there's not much going on that interests him this afternoon. Whew.