On to Wednesday and Anakora, New Zealand where we were greeted in port by fabulous sun shine, calm winds, and adventure. Anakora is situated on a bay, one of many in this peninsula which was shaped by volcanic eruptions and hosts several major bays. The port here is the alternate port to Christ Church, which, as you probably know, was hit by multiple earth quakes beginning in 2010. Since then there have been 15000 recorded earth tremors. The port at Christ Church is no longer available for cruise ships so we dock at Anakora about a 90 minute drive over the mountain. On the advice of fellow passengers we opted not to take a cruise tour and do it on our own, our preference as well.
We hit the dock at 8 AM and found, just as we did in the first port at Dunedin, a very well organized tourist information area. That everyone speaks English is of course helpful. Oh yes, that is the native tongue here. Christ Church is the jumping off, or flying off, or shipping off, point to Antartica. In fact, our airline flight seat mate was on his way to Christ Church to begin a three month tour as an airplane mechanic in Antartica. To celebrate its importance, Christ Church built a “theme park” with an introductory Antartica experience we can enjoy without committing to a longer than one day visit.
We board the red bus from Ankora to Christ Church, then a taxi to the Antartic experience where we spent the day. Again, the bus drivers were articulate, full of information about the country side, its characters (including a farm where they hosted visiting tourists only the wife made--according to our driver Bruce--rocks that she served as scones), some history and legends. I couldn’t help but compare to some of our at home bus drivers--probably an unfair comparison--but who are less than literate and less than courteous. No one expects a tip, we were actually discouraged from tipping. But we did clap at the end of our journey.
Bob Keaster, you were with us during our Arctic adventure experience. We donned warmer clothing and experienced a minus 10 degree wind storm. I slid down an ice slide where the cold really did penetrate my jeans. We watched a 3 D film and had an albatross drop a large white load directly on our eye glasses. And we saw the tiny blue penguins. This enclosure was special in that each of these little critters had special needs, like a missing flipper, or some other handicap. You’d love them even if they were whole, but you love them move getting on with their lives in spite of their handicaps.
We are so blessed to be able to experience our world, to be feted by tour guides who love and care about their environment. Today I am definitely counting my blessings, a spouse who enjoys traveling as I do, good friends, Harriet and Norman, with whom to share the adventure, enough money in the bank to make it possible. Thank you Aunt Roz for reminding us that we would have our go-go years, our slow go years, and eventually our no go years. I have to bring back this sense of wonder, this gratitude for my wonderful life.
Some miscellaneous observations: Unless we get it together in our education sector, it will be increasingly difficult, albeit impossible, for our children to take a meaningful place in the world. We need to leave American’s Choice expensive education system, largely ineffective, and even Common Core, meaning well but not based in hard work, behind. We need to tell our students the truth. They are competing with the whole world and what wins is less playing and more hard work, more concerted energy, more planning for the future and not just living in the present. I love the no tipping expected attitude of the places where we have been, the guides we have met, the meals we have eaten. The quality has been high, minimum wage is high, there’s an apparent pride (I can’t project that this is always the case, only in those we’ve met.) in the work itself. Today a worker doing some repair at an earthquake damaged unit, stopped to chat with us. In spite of his work, paint on his hands, a missing tooth visible to us, he was articulate, letting us know we could talk to the realtor, not being at all apologetic. There was an attitude that came across as reality based. We need to tell our kids the truth, effort counts, but results count more. Hard work wins and that begins young. You have to earn your play time. Enough.
New Zealand has its own history of mistreatment of the native Maori people, which it is trying to correct. The US has not been alone in exploiting the native populating, buying or confiscating land from a native population that doesn’t even understand the concept of owning the earth. We are fortunate to have a group of Maori performers on board this voyage. Every day there are culture lectures, craft workshops, just some exchanges of how the Maori are trying to maintain their native culture in spite of intermarriage and a reduction of their home lands. We learn together.
And I am so blessed to drop in, to experience some of these worldly offerings, to be in awe at all the blessings bestowed upon me. And I am looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures, Picton New Zealand where we will search for wineries.
Life is good. Thank you all for being in our lives.
Photos to follow. Adrienne and Stu
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, wonder what will happen here.
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