From Queenstown, we flew back to Auckland for one night. We met our friends from Dallas Tom, Jay, Scott, Jacque, Rick, Keith, Dick, and the other Scott for a 12-day cruise from Auckland to Sydney.
One more might at the Rendezvous Grand Hotel near the wharf.
Tim and I atop the Sky Tower observation deck in Auckland. Our ship, the Oosterdam can be seen over my right shoulder.
We found a funky little seafood bistro at the base of Sky Tower, 86 Federal Street, for a fun lunch with the guys before heading down to board the ship.
Lots of fresh seafood, including the famous NZ green-lipped mussels.
February 24: Sail away
The ms Oosterdam, our home for the next twelve days.
Ready to board the ship!
First order of business: muster for safety debriefing and lifeboat drill. Very important!
Next stop: the closest cocktail bar for a sail-away drink!
This is Tom trying out some of the ship's ornate furniture.
Next we are off to the theater for the first live show of the cruise. The theater itself was quite flashy and ornate.
The ceiling of the 3-level high theater.
And of course what would you expect for the first night's performance on a gay cruise if not a drag queen? And quite a large one at that!
Sunset sailing out of Auckland was amazing!
February 25: Sailing around White Island
Our first stretch along the coast of New Zealand was described as "at sea," but we did sail around White Island. The island is an open, steaming volcanic crater off the coast of New Zealand. First discovered in 1762 by Capt. James Cook who named it White Island because of all the white steam and white calcific deposits on the sides of the cone. Who knows how long before Capt. Cook came along did the island blew its stack?
The sun rose with almost no clouds on our first day at sea.
White Island appears lazily steaming in the distance between a blue sky and an even bluer ocean.
You can see some of the yellow sulphur deposits in the inner surface of the cone.
Soaking up sun as we sail along.
This cruise, like all gay cruises, encompasses some general silliness and good humor. This one was no exception. Our first "Tea Dance" was held in the afternoon after we left White Island. Tea Dances usually have a theme. This was the "Military Dance."
Guys (and some gals onboard) wearing their own interpretations of military garb crowded the aft pool deck to dance and mingle while music thumped all around us, and the bars were mixing drinks like crazy!
Some general costume "silliness." What kind of mind thinks up this stuff?
Tim and I adopted a more sedate look. But still fun!
Afternoon party in full swing!
February 26: "On Yer Bikes, Mates!"
The third day of the cruise found us in Napier New Zealand in the Hawke's Bay region of the country, and home of some of NZs finest wines. The cruise ship offered a bus tour of a couple of wineries with about a hundred passengers and costing even more than that in USD! How do you have a wine tasting with 100 people?
So we went online and found On Yer Bike winery tours. They picked us up at the pier and drove us to Ash Ridge Cellars, where the owners also operated On Yer Bike wine tours to their neighboring wineries, finishing up back at Ash Ridge for their tasting.
Soon we were outfitted with bikes, helmets, and bottles of water. It was a warm but overcast day, so biking was easy along flat crushed limestone roads between grape vines heavy with ripened grapes.
First stop: Silent Estate Cellars. A lovely and friendly winery with a great selection of red and white wines. Quote of the day:
"Have you tasted New Zealand wines before?"
"Yes."
"Which ones?"
"Cloudy Bay pinot gris."
"From Marlborough?" (Smirk.)
"Yes."
"Well, you are in Hawke's Bay, and you haven't had New Zealand's best! Try this!"
Sileni bottles their wine in any size bottle you want!
Next we are off to Abbey Cellars.
This was a beautiful winery with a lovely flowered lane leading to the tasting room.
The tasting room actually looked like--an abbey! Unfortunately, one of the bus tours arrived right after we did, and about 100 of our shipmates streamed into the tasting room, so we hopped our bikes and peddled on, happy to be on our own time schedule.
Along the road, we ran into this fellow. we was wary of us, but tied to the fence where he was busily grooming his owners roadside grass.
This is Ngatarawa Winery and Vineyard. Pronounced "en-ga-ta-rah-wah," it's an old Maori name.
The tasting room was an old converted stable facing a lovely reflecting pool and lane of trees.
Here we are enjoying lunch and some wine outside the tasting room.
The tasting room at Ngatarawa was rustic as you would expect from a former stable. And it was popular, too!
Salvare Winery was our last stop on our bicycle wine tour.
Salvare's marketing slogan is "Slow Down and Enjoy the Journey." Their logo includes this 1964 Morris station wagon, which looked like it couldn't motor you rapidly through life if it wanted to!
In addition to some fine wines, Salvare offered a lovely cheese plate with assorted pestos.
Back at Ash Ridge, we dropped the bikes and enjoyed yet one more wine tasting before heading back to the ship. Great day biking with friends through the wine country of Hawke's Bay!
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