A muse on the Muse to NZ.

[drron]

Another Inter Island ferry steamed up the sound,did a quick U turn and backed into the dock.

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A last look up the sound.

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At the dock is a museum containing the Edwin Fox one of the last surviving merchant sailing ships.Built in India she carried troops to the Crimean War,convicts to Australia and emigrants to the USA and New Zealand.No longer competitive she became first a moored freezer ship then a coal ship in 1905 after having all rigging removed.She was abandoned in 1950 before being taken over by a group who wanted her preserved.

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Back at our dock the Inter Island ferry is actually as long as the Muse.

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[drron]

That night yet another ferry arrived and we watched the unloading.

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An engine shunting caused a delay.

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An old train presumably used for tourist excursions.Though it hadn't moved all day.

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After dinner we went to the Panorama lounge for an amarula.Thought we must have been on the wrong ship.

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We didn't leave until midnight.We were asleep by then but this was the scene as we reired.

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The next day was a sea day and was going to be a formal night.Here is the view on waking.

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It was only when we left the cabin we realised it was Valentine's day.

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[drron]

That day we stopped mid ocean for testing of the thrusters.We were in sight of land.

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[Milboo]

Your tugboat being called Blackadder is about the proud Cantabrian spirit and fierce passion for the Crusaders!

Todd (aka Toddy) Blackadder is one of Canterbury’s ‘sons’ - a legend in rugby circles, playing for both the All Blacks and the Crusaders, before moving to coach of the latter.

 

[drron]

Time for some more food.First a lunch in Atlantide.We tried to have a light lunch.

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Mrsdrron had a prawn coughtail and the pasta with prawns.

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I had the jerk pork and it was very good.

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Then our second dinner in Kaiseki.Always the same menu but it was so well done we thought it was worth a second time.We sat at the other end of the cooking area with the sous chef.

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And the sous chef.

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When we sat down he said he knew us from the Explorer.I then recognised him as the egg cook at breakfast on the Explorer.This is why we enjoy sailing with Silversea.Seeing people being given opportunity to progress and learn new skills.This was Lucro's first contract in Kaiseki.He performed very well as a teppanyaki chef.

 

[drron]

Another dinner in Atlantide.Slightly different menu.

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Mrsdrron had the foie gras to start.I had the crab and beer bisque.The foie gras was good the bisque missed the mark and was very salty.

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Mrsdrron had the lamb chops and I the Chilean seabass.Both were very good.

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Desserts and I had what the called stracciatella but 2 flavors-fig and almond.really nice.

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Mrsdrron had the pavlova.

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[drron]

The next morning we anchored off Gisborne.Once again we just got the tender to town.

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A shuttle to the CBD.Two of the attractions in the tourist pamphlet are this statue and the town clock.

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We just walked around and I admired a few buildings.

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The last was an old hotel badly damaged in the 1931 earthquake.It lost it's tower and the upper floors appear empty.

 

[bPeteb]

We awoke the next morning when docking at Picton.

My choice for retirement. The Sounds, ships, fishing, wine. Perfect

 

[tgh]

The Sounds, ships, fishing, wine. Perfect
I agree... 'cept it's in New Zealand

 

[drron]

And it's mussels have green lips.I like black mussels

 

[drron]

The last of Gisborne.

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This was opposite the pick up point for the shuttle back to the port.

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The muse from the port with a tender and a dredge working the channel in the foreground.

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Overlooking the port is Titirangi Hill the site of an old Maori Pa.

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The dredge.

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[drron]

That night our dapper Cruise director Jimmy introduced the pre dinner show by the voices of Silversea.

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[drron]

They really put their heart and soul into it.

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Jimmy reappeared as he had an important job to do.

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Introduce Captain Alessandro zanello with a definite aussie twang in his voice as his mother is australian and he lived for some time in Sydney.

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[drron]

The next port was listed as Tauranga.In fact it was Mt.Maunganui the port for Tauranga.There was no shuttle provided into Tauranga.So we disembarked and walked around Mt.Maunganui.Although there were blue skies it was blowing a gale.

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We walked along the foreshore to the mount.

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[drron]

There wasn't much to see.Most of the buildings are new holiday apartments and the CBD is typical of a cheap seaside resort.The only decent looking seafood restaurant wasn't open for lunch so it was back to the ship.There was a local market close to the ship with basically very little though mrsdrron did like one woman's work and bought 2 tea towels to turn into other craft pieces.Some views from the ship.

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A timber ship heads for the harbour entrance-it seems quite narrow.It is predomintly a timber port.

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A harbour cruise vessel came to give us the once over.

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We decided to have our last lunch in Kaiseki.We were the only guests.It was a really good lunch though.

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[drron]

Not much of a view over the dock.

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We sailed early as speed to Auckland had to be reduced because of many whales in the area.sadly none made themselves visible.Sail away.

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Our final dinner was once again in Atlantide.We thought the standard of food there was excellent.So we started with caviar-why?Because we could.

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Two other excellent starters-Beef tartare and pumpkin soup.

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finally a different version of apple crumble.

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[tgh]

Looking forward to the "muse report card"…….

 

[Milboo]

It’s a shame you did not eat in the Mount! There is some excellent food there.

You should have jumped in a taxi and gone a very short distance to the airport. There is an excellent aviation museum there called Classic Flyers, with quite a few old planes, and a very solid cafe too.

You would have sailed out past a large flat island - it’s called Motiti and has the second largest avocado plantation in the Southern Hemisphere on it (was largest for a while). All come off by barge (you were probably berthed right by it).

 

[zig]

Looking forward to the "muse report card"…….

Also awaiting the final summation. The Muse is so different to Silver Explorer.

 

[drron]

The problem with NZ fruit is the cost.A 125gm pack of NZ blueberries in the Woolworths Caloundra was cheaper than in the Countdowns of Havelock and Hamilton.
Besides we were getting very good meals onboard at no extra cost.