and now the continuation.....

Saturday, Feb 15: As we sailed through the night the ship passed through some heavy 
rain, "slightly gale force winds" and seas to match.  The ship was dancing!  Talk 
about being rocked to sleep in your bed.  IT WAS GREAT!  As we came into Wellington 
the rough seas disappeared (Wellington is a protected harbor) and the clouds were 
promising to disapate.  The temperature was a bit on the cool side.  50 degrees.  
After breakfast in the dinning room we joined our shore excursion.

We did the House and Gardens tour.  Here's an interesting fact about New Zealand: 
Because of the climate, the sun, the volcanic terrain plants here grow faster and 
bigger than anywhere else in the world.  On the dock next to the Regal P. was stacks 
of harvested trees.  They were 22 years old.  The same trees in North America 
would require 60 years to get to the same size.  In Russia it would take 300 years.  
Everything in NZ grows bigger and faster.

First we went to the Lower Hutt Horticulture Center and walked their garden.  
AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL PLANTS.  There was a local flower show being set up and 
Pops took many pictures.  (In fact Pops shot over 175 pictures today!)

We then went to a private home built in 1887 by the current owners grandfather.  
They served us scones and juice.  Again it was very beautiful.  I had a long talk 
with the owner.

Back on the road and out of Wellington into the rural area.  It is beautiful.  We 
stopped at a private farm and garden called Pepped Warbeck.  Again amazing flowers.  
We had a nice lunch before boarding the bus again.

Driving back into Wellington we stopped at the Botanical Gardens and the Lady 
Norwood Rose Garden.  Because the weather here never gets cold the roses bloom 
year around.  They have to spray then with agent orange or some lesser chemical 
so that they drop their leaves for pruning.  Can I use the word "Beautiful" again?

We got dropped off in downtown Wellington, population 400, 000, and stopped at a 
Starbucks!  We bought a Starbucks' New Zealand mug for our collection.  Our FIRST 
souvenir.

We're back on the ship and she's getting ready to sail.  Christ Church is the 
next stop.  We should be able to email you tomorrow night.

Rebecca: Thanks for the AT&T info.  I did have the correct access numbers.  We'll 
try again later.

Sarah, glad you and Nana had dinner together at you know where.

We've sent the first batch of postcards.  Expect them in May!  LOL!

Mom & Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 22:45:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Christchurch, New Zealand
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Where to begin...
Where to begin...
Where to begin...

To quote Meg Ryan from the movie "French Kiss"
    "Beautiful, magnificent, wonderful!"

Mom and Pops 

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 23:34:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: New Zealand - Christchurch for real
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Okay, we had a little fun with you in our last email!  Now we'll give you the 
full story.

But first, I figured out how to use the silly AT&T international phone card 
and called Rebecca this afternoon (Sunday evening for you guys in the PAST!) 
Sarah had just arrived minutes after we connected.  Steve & Chip, you'll have 
to get in touch with the girls for an update on the conversation.

Now back to what we were doing WAY BACK in the past.  Christchurch!  We took the 
Canterbury Farm, Akaroa and Christchurch excursion.  We rode the bus for about 
an hour through rural NZ to Canterbury Farms.  As Mom kept saying, "I feel like 
I'm on a movie set!" The scenery was simply outstanding.  Go see "Lord of the 
Rings, " ignore the story and watch the scenery.  That's where we were.

At the farm, Ross, the owner, gave us a demonstration of herding sheep with his 
dogs.  In front of us was a large mountain with sheep in the far distance.  He 
called his first dog and had him sit.  The dog was ready to go.  His haunches 
were tensed and he was desperate to get to the sheep.  But he didn't move until 
Ross gave the command.  Then up the hill at full speed.  Ross would blow his 
whistle to guide the dog and then tell us what command he had just given.  
It's truly remarkable that when he would blow "left" the dog would bear to 
the left!  Nicky can't tell left from right!  LOL.  Within a few short minutes 
the dog had all the sheep gathered together and then directed them down the 
mountain to a pen.  At one point he had some trouble with one of the sheep and 
he let that sheep know who the real boss was!  Bark, bark bark!  The dog then 
jumped in a little stream for a drink and a cool down.

Then Ross sent the sheep back up the mountain.  They use one dog for bringing 
them in and another for driving them out.  Well this dog got a little carried 
away.  He kept driving the sheep further and further away.  Ross would blow the 
return command, the dog would stop, look at Ross and then chase the sheep 
further up the mountainside.  Ross was getting angrier by the second and finally 
RAN to get his bull whip.  One solid crack of the whip and that dog sat down, 
looked at Ross and then returned down the hill.  Mom and I figured it was like 
pennies in the can, the noise was just to get his attention.  When the dog got 
back to Ross he received nothing but praise!  Ross knows how to handle his dogs.

The dog demonstration was the highlight of the day!

Ross runs the farm by himself.  He's got over 1700 sheep and sheared two of 
them for us.  It took him about two or three minutes to shear each sheep.

After Tea, scones and shortbread we were back on the road again heading to the 
city of Akaroa.  We stopped at a 100 year old hotel on the way for lunch.

The Akaroa area is the caldera of an extinct volcano.  One end is open to the 
ocean and the caldera is filled with water.  Akaroa is a "resort" city on the 
shore.  It's filled with delightful craft shops and galleries.  It's old fashioned 
and old world.  Charming charming charming.  We really liked Akaroa.

We took the same route back to Christchurch.  I have to note that we stopped 
at a few places during the day for photo opportunities.  And the only way to 
capture the grandeur was panoramas.  I've taken dozens.  Thank God for digital 
cameras.  On a side note, so far I've shot over 700 picture.  Mom's taken 40 with 
her Elph!  I've even got a few movies!  I just had to capture the 15 piece Pipe 
Band that sent us off from Dunedin.  But that's another story for another email.

Back to Christchurch.  Our tour is supposed to only drive through the city.  But 
our driver knows the routine and the timing and gave us 45 minutes in the city 
center.  So we got to walk to the Avon River which, as Hilary says, is much nicer 
than the one in Stratford, England.  We did some quick shopping and shot many pictures.

Back at the ship a Brass Band was playing to send us on our merry way.

We are having an absolutely great time.  Words fail us trying to describe everything.

Mom & Pops

On another note, I just can't tell you how nice it is to sit in the atrium 
lobby, listening to a steel band and writing this email.  The ship is lovely 
and we get ANOTHER champagne breakfast while cruising Fjordland.

Thinking of all of you, we are trying to see everything twice, once for 
ourselves and once for you.

love you lots and lots

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 02:33:59 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Dunedin, New Zealand

First, the spell checker on Yahoo really sucks!

Trying to catch up on some previous ports of call.  Yea, I know it was something 
like a week ago.

The day in Dunedin was cloud covered and we got a little bit of rain.  "Spit Rain" 
as Nana would call it.  

Port Chalmers, where we docked, is 30 minutes from Dunedin and we took our tour bus 
into the town.  We stopped at the Otago Settlers Museum.  Otago is the region name and 
was settled by Scots about 1848.  We met our guide for the day, Matt.  He was wearing 
a beautiful blue kilt and matching sweater.

The museum was very interesting especially the room that had the photographs of the 
original settlers.  The pictures were taken 20 or more years after the area was 
settled.  It's pretty amazing to see the faces of the founding fathers.  Mary was our 
museum guide and she related a story of a couple who boarded the ship in England and 
delivered a baby boy at sea.  The baby lived only 30 days and was buried at sea.  She 
was trying to stress the courage and strength of these people traveling to a new 
land.  The couple arrived in Dunedin and nine months later they had a baby girl.  She 
was Mary's Great Great Grandmother!  Wow!

The next stop was "First Church" a Gothic Presbyterian church built about 1880.  It's 
a pretty impressive structure for a community to build only 30 years or so after 
arriving.

The last stop of the tour and the highlight of the day was Glenfaloch Woodland 
Gardens.  We drove out of Dunedin to Glenfaloch.  We were met at the gate by a piper.  
I love the pipes so this put me in a great mood!  We went inside (spit rain) for a 
formal morning tea with scones and something that resembles pancakes.  

Matt changed into a full formal kilt and after we finished our tea he began the 
ceremony of "Addressing The Haggis" This ceremony was created by the poet Robert 
Burns in Edinbrough with the Haggis Society.  Matt explained the ritual and the 
meanings and then quoted the poem Burns had written for addressing the Haggis, 
always called "The Chieftain" Did I mention that Matt is Scottish and has a wonderful 
accent? There was a real Haggis on the platter before him as he did this.  
It was wonderful.

Then two young ladies, Debbie and Rene, did some Scottish dancing for us.  They 
were, of course accompanied by the pipes.

The Haggis was set up for anyone to try.  Yes, I tried it.  Yes.  Mom tried it.  
Yes, we both liked it!  It tastes like a pate.  So go look up Haggis on the internet 
and see what we ate (But NEVER EVER tell us!  LOL).

We went back to Dunedin where we got off the bus.  We walked up and down George 
Street, checked out a cross stitch store and had a "Flat White" at Starbucks.  
You'll have to read Bill Bryson's "Sunburned Country" to understand what a Flat 
White is.  We stopped at a few more stores, bought a t-shirt or two.  Then we spotted 
a phone booth and made a call home.  It was great to talk to Rebecca and Sarah.  
Sarah just happened to be there!

Back on the ship we had the usual excellent dinner then put on our swim suits and 
headed for the hot tub.  The air was cold and getting colder, the sky was cloudy 
and getting cloudier but the water was hot!  We did finally get chased inside by 
yet another spit rain.

Dundein was a great place to visit.

Steve, we loved the story of your trip to the hockey game.  "Let's go Red Wings!"

Chip, we're glad you're getting some interest in your resume.  Mom's glad you got 
some snow.  Pops is sorry you got a lot of snow.

Rebecca, we always enjoy reading your emails.  It makes us LOL!

Sarah, Glad to hear from you and know that you're taking care of Nana and cooking 
up good stuff.

Mom & Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 20:29:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: A Word about the weather
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Lest this email sound a bit on the negative side let me assure everyone that we 
are having a GREAT time!  We wouldn't change a thing...  well, that's not true.  We 
would change the weather.

Dunedin was cool, cloudy and we did get a sprinkle or two.

Fjordland National Park started very cold and mostly cloudy.  It got worse.  We 
sailed through Dusty Sound and Seabreak Sound as the weather got worse and worse.  
When we finally made it to Milford Sound the weather was terrible.  There was very 
low visibility in the sound, it was raining and the winds were gusting to 60 mph.  
The captain conferred with the local pilot and decided that it was not safe to 
enter Milford Sound.  So he turned the ship to the west and we headed across the 
Tasman Sea.  Now I should point out that Fjordland National Park gets 193 days of 
rain a year and over 250 inches of rain.  We're sorry we missed it but we got 
great pictures in Dusty & Seabreak sound.

Day one on the Tasman Sea was graced with cloudy skies, gale force winds, and 
rough seas.  The white caps would be immediately swept away by the wind.  And 
there were always birds flying across the surface near the ship.  The ship was 
rocking and rolling all day and night.  Now, we all know how nice it is to have 
the ship rock us to sleep.  Mom's comment was that sometime in the night the ship 
changed to rocking us awake!  

Mom has asked and I've heard from several members of the crew that the Tasman 
Sea is never "calm" but this is absolutely the worst they've seen it.  One 
commented that the weather would be bad for three hours but never three days.

Today is the first time that we've gotten a decent link to the satellite so 
that we can check and send email.  Mom is off at yoga right now.  So I thought 
I give you a quick weather update.

We are having a great time.

In Dunedin we were honored with an "Addressing of the Haggis" as created by 
Robert Burns.  Fjordland was breathtaking (Cold and beautiful) More on these later.

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 02:42:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Fjordland National Park
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Not really much to tell you here.  You've got our previous email about the weather.  
It went from bad to worse.  It was so cold that the crew was handing out Hudson 
bay blankets (Red and black check, eh) for everyone to keep warm.  We didn't get 
one.  At one point Mom though it was sleeting.  It probably was!  There was one brave 
soul who got into the hot tub to watch the scenery.  He didn't dare get out!  He was 
waiting for the beverage waiter to bring him some antifreeze.  (I think he may 
still be there (4 or 5 days later!)

We did spend a couple of hours cruising Dusty Sound and Seabreak Sound.  The scenery 
was spectacular.  I can't do it any more justice than that.  The scenery was simply 
spectacular.

I did catch a rainbow in a few pictures.  A few out of about 150 is pretty good!

We were a bit disappointed when we reached Point St. Anne and turned away from
New Zealand.

Mom & Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!