Classic Car

Wonderful deserted beach

A longish drive south to Upper Hutt, near Wellington. On the way we stopped off for a coffee where the main news story in the local paper was about a policeman who had his lip bitten off by a drunk driver whom he had stopped! It was at that cafe I saw a wonderful old American car, on its way to a rally at New Plymouth. Not a lot of other news in this part of the world. Later, tired of being in a car we had a picnic and swim on a wonderful deserted beach, it was so empty Sue said it reminded her of Daytona as a few people had driven their cars onto the sands from which to enjoy the waves. Totally uncommercialised, no shops, no ice cream vans, nothing there except sea and sand.

Driftwood on black beach

Mount Taranaki, extinct volcano

Goat in its kennel

So it’s ended, our sector of the Saga Ruby world cruise and in all honesty I can’t say it has been one of our best trips. We’ve seen some very special places but the weather has not been wonderful, being surrounded by elderly people all day every day is something of a strain, as Sue put it “rather like living in the world’s largest floating old peoples home!” No matter how good the food it will be nice to have something different on land.

From a professional point of view all four of the lecturers felt we were treated as something less than special being placed at early and mid afternoons in the ship’s cinema when most of the passengers we either sleeping off their lunch or going to other attractions like playing Bridge or water colour painting or attending computer lessons. The Cruise Director didn’t seem very enthusiastic about any of us and was keen to stage his own presentations on Maritime History at a peak time, mid morning in the premium venue, the Ballroom where he could get a larger captive audience. So it was somewhat unsatisfactory for us to perform for only 40 or 50 people a day, though in fairness all the presentations were video taped and played back on the internal tv system next day so that way were seen by more people.

Having landed we were soon in holiday mood and collected our hire car and set off to explore the country. We drove south, stopping at a black sand beach covered with driftwood, to New Plymouth for our first two nights and had a very good stay in a B&B by the sea. Excellent sea food, Sue had her share of local oysters and we drove out to Egmont National Park to see Mount Taranaki, an extinct volcano which is pretty impressive as you can see. On our way we passed a most unusual sight, a goat in a kennel !

“If you are wondering why there’s nothing posted after February 14 it’s all the fault of Google. They are in the process of changing the blog access and I am unable to post any more about our trip for the time being, sorry.
I am still writing it and collecting suitable photos of our fabulous trip around New Zealand and when the blogger is working again I will post it all
Johnny”

We finally arrived in Western Samoa at around 5 pm yesterday evening so had a quick look around but everything was closing up.
Sunday was Valentine’s day and the ship put on a very good champagne breakfast for everyone, see photo. then we caught the shuttle bus into town for a look around the flea market which was the only place open. This is a very religious place and everyone appeared to be at church and all closed up except for the famous Aggie Grey’s hotel, so it’s there I am loading this blog.
Tonight on board the captain is giving a drinks party and after there will be a formal dance, well the ladies love it!
Tomorrw we face the continuing cyclone and head off for Figi, in another week we will be at Auckland New Zealand where we disembark. More news as and when…

Wednesday February 10 Bora Bora
Up early today as I had a duty escorting a group of passengers on a shore excursion around the island of Bora Bora. This really is a tropical paradise, upmarket home to many “A” list celebrities with lots of beach side hotels owned by many of the major hotel chains. Again it was very, very, hot and humid so while I was trucking the passengers about Sue went for a swim on another idyllic beach, you can see her enjoying a snack! The scenery on this very pretty island was somewhat spoiled as they had a cyclone/hurricane here a week or so ago so there was much damage to the foliage and some of the houses and hotels in the area.
This was only a morning stop so we sailed after lunch and now have two more days at sea. The effect of another nearby cyclone is also being felt on the ship, we have force 6 winds and a 4 meter swell so it’s somewhat rocky as well as incredibly hot, 37 degrees C, 98F on the last two days so maybe they’ll come to my next lecture on Censorship.
The weather worsened during Friday evening as the cyclone changed course and we were in it! The waves were huge, many passengers seasick and the boat rocked so much that it echoed to the sound of broken glass and crockery as plates, bottles, flower arrangements and anything which was not strapped down was hurled to the floor. Poor Sue took to her bed for the evening with some soup and a dry roll, I was not affected and went to the one restaurant that remained open for those passengers able to dine. All the evening entertainment was cancelled so we watched a DVD in bed before tossing around for most of the night. There is considerable doubt as to whether we shall get to Samoa at all and I am doing an extra lecture, the Quiz one tomorrow morning. More news on Saturday but it’s certainly not all plain sailing down here in the South Pacific.

Tuesday February 9 Tahiti
It was very hot and sticky when we moored at Tahiti over, 90 degrees in old money, so we decided to take the advice of some friends who had been there before and catch the ferry for an hours ride to another island, Moorea. This was much less commercialised and looked like a real tropical island as you can see. We took a taxi ride, 50 US$ for five minutes, (they certainly know how to charge) to a local Sofitel Hotel where they had all the facilities we would need for the day. A perfect beach, white sands, warm seas and fish that fed out of your hand, luckily we had pinched a couple of rolls to feed them with. It was just the most perfect day but we were surprised that although we were in French Polynesia and it was a French hotel we could not pay in Euros. A modest lunch for four of club sandwiches and a couple of beers was nearly $100 US ! though I enjoyed a fine fresh coconut with chilled milk inside for only a few local cents. Anyway we came back very happy to rejoin the Saga Ruby where a team of local musicians and dancers put on a very good show in the ballroom. Later that evening the intention of the crew had been to hold an open air BBQ party on the back deck but the weather intervened and there was a tropical downpour for about three hours until we sailed away for Bora Bora, our next scheduled stop, tomorrow.

Well it was as I feared most of them were asleep after Sunday lunch when I went on at 2pm, rotten scheduling and I’d noticed yesterday that Jock Reid, a former Concorde pilot only managed to attract 29 to his lecture and I only had 47 so it’s not the content it’s the passengers themselves. To explain, I would guess the average age is in the late 70’s early 80’s much older than we last travelled on this ship and I suspect this is a result of the credit crunch which means this is the only age group who can now afford to take a Saga world cruise.
There are very few people under 60 on board and most of the passengers look as if they come to escape the British winter for three months so their principle interests are eating as much as possible three or even four times a day, lying out on the sundecks reading and sleeping and doing the various quizzes on the ship! Sue has noted a similar lack of numbers at the Bridge classes and the Golf lessons. I’ve been going to the gymn and most of the time there are never more than two or three people there.
The only lectures which are well attended are those in the ballroom telling more about the ports we are to visit and giving details of the shore excursions available, though the Captain gave an entertaining one on his experiences at sea as did the Cruise Director who talked on the Mutiny on the Bounty.
It’s certainly different from our time on P&O where I was talking to over two hundred people at a time. Those who did come to hear me seemed to enjoy it and I ran a “Bits & Pieces” competition on Radio 1 with a bottle of champagne for the winner and was somewhat embarrassed when two passengers scored the maximum and after I tried two tie break questions they got those right too so it cost the ship two bottles of bubbly. Proves there are some Radio 1 fans on board.
Today is very wet and tropical, over 90 degrees in old money and we steam along in a heavy swell as there was a cyclone not too far away. Tomorrow Tahiti where the forecast is for more rain….

At 8.00 we were in a heavy swell off Pitcairn Island, the sun was shining and the island looked small, green and hilly with big waves breaking on the rocky shores. We could not imagine how Fletcher Christian had ever found anywhere to go ashore let alone set up a home for him and his band of mutineers. Once the ship was anchored we saw a longboat filled with Islanders on their way to board us, it being too difficult to get our passengers ashore. I was expecting a traditional canoe but they were in an aluminium boat, about 40 people in all, most of the island’s population out to earn a little income from the tourists. As there are only a few ships calling per year they don’t have that many chances to sell their home made products. They seem to live a very basic life, only 2 supply ships a year so they have to be pretty self-sufficient, and electricity for only 10 hours a day.
They were an amiable bunch of European and native people who were obviously delighted to be on board and set up their stalls in the ship’s ballroom where we bought an assortment of stamps, cards, carvings, local honey and so on. Anything with a Pitcairn Island stamp has added value as they have so few mailing opportunities. Sue and I posted a few cards so look out for those, though we might be home before they are delivered.
The whole population numbers only just over 50 and they are suffering from a lack of young families, there being only seven children of school age. They need young families to grow. Most of the males of the community have served time in the Island prison following the recent trial where they were found guilty of child abuse, a practice which had been pretty widespread for many years until it was discovered by a visiting policewoman and which resulted in a lot of bad publicity for the community. Now with sentences having been served they are trying to put this behind them and with the aid of EEC money are trying to establish a viable community with wind power and telephone via a satellite system.
By lunchtime they took to their boat and went back to their island existence and we sailed away for Papeete on Tahiti where we are due on Tuesday. Tomorrow, Sunday, at 2 pm I am to give my third lecture, this one on Radio 1. The captain has said we might be on the edge of a cyclone tomorrow so I’m hoping for rough weather and rain that way I’ll be guaranteed a large audience otherwise they’ll all be having a siesta after Sunday lunch.

Luck was with us and we woke to find ourselves anchored off Easter Island and as we had no tour escorting duties we were free to explore the island. We went ashore on the ship’s tender and met another couple in a similar position so we negotiated a joint deal for a whole day tour by taxi for $ US 125 which was pretty cheap as the ship’s official tour was over £100 for 2 people. Our taxi driver, Patricia, was a lovely lady and between her broken English and Sue’s rather better Spanish we had a good understanding of what we were taken to see.
The island is pretty poor and only the main roads were paved, the rest were dirt tracks and very bumpy. We didn’t get off to a good start either as we drove to the top of an extinct volcano where it was blowing a gale and there was driving rain too so we felt as if we were back in Yorkshire. However as we drove on the weather became calmer, the sun came out as we drove past many wild horses grazing in the fields and peoples gardens!
It was a delightful trip and of course we saw hundreds of the famous “Moai” statues carved by the original inhabitants as a tribute to their former chiefs. The locals believe that the soul lives on through these carved figures and somehow they dragged these huge carvings into prominent positions all over the island. It was an amazing feat by these primitive people who eventually died out through a lack of recourses to sustain their ever expanding population. Might there be a message here for the world at large? The legacy is there for us to wonder at all these years later. You will get an idea of them all from the photographs.
Sue ingratiated herself with the locals as you can see both on the island and on stage back on the Saga Ruby where a local group came to entertain us with their music and dance.
A super day which we enjoyed very much, now it’s full speed for Pitcairn Island, home to the mutineers of the Bounty back in 1789. The names Christian, as in Fletcher, Adams and Smith are still the main surnames on the island today.