After 25 days at sea we sighted New Zealand yesterday afternoon and rounded Taiaroa Head, enjoying a warm evening topside on the Mawson’s Deck 8.
Alison and Steve and Leslie Silk Champagne will recall Taiaroa Head as the location of an albatross spotting facility at the very end of the Otago Peninsula.
As the ship eased in to a fuel dock for the night we had our last dinner aboard and said adios to the many friends we made over the last three plus weeks.
As instructed we had our bags packed and outside our cabin doors by 6 am. Then it was breakfast, customs, immigration, disembarcation, a bus ride to the car rental at the airport, jamming the luggage into our car (quite full especially since Leonard and his original luggage were reunited at last) a quick coffee break with Howard Scott (our dinner host during our pre- cruise Dunedin layover) and hence to the road to Te Anau.
You can’t beat the scenery on this stretch .
And it wasn’t too long before we pulled in at the Lost Gypsy, an amazing art installation that we visited two years ago on our last trip. Lester came close to smiling twice!
Still photos don’t do the place justice so I recorded a bunch of short videos of the various gadgets. The blog format doesn’t like videos so you’ll have to wait until I get home to see those. Here’s a few more of those extraordinary place.
From there we went through the rest of the Catlins admiring the scenery.
And dodging the sheep.
Arriving at Te Anau, Leonard and I tucked into the blue cod at dinner while Lester went for the steak. We were seated next to a lovely couple and the husband was part Maori. A minute into the conversation Leonard was showing them his video of his little league grandson hitting a grand slam. I had only seen it 4 times by then. They had been to Boston and volunteered that their visit to Fenway Park to see rhe Sox play the Angels was the highlight. Naturally, I had to show them these.
After drying their eyes – they we wept freely, of course after seeing Fenway again – the husband explained the meaning of the tattoo his brother had done for him.
We are now settled into a nice vrbo in Te Anau with the clothes washer humming away. Looking to do some hiking tomorrow and then Doubtful Sound on Wednesday. Each of us has his own room for the rest of the way, which I guess means that Lester can forego rhe noise canceling headphones he deployed to handle my snoring on our little cabin on the Mawson.
Kenway Goes South 
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