New Zealand 2016

DU-16 - Down Under (Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand) Date of travel: Oct 14 - Dec 5, 2016 (total 53 days) ITINERARY: Late in the afternoon on October 14, 2016 I drive in a rented car from Vista to Los Angeles airport. Qantas plane Boeing 747-400 takes off before midnight. After 13 hours early in the morning it lands in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on October 16, thanks to the 180th meridian. Later that morning another flight to Alice Springs in Northern Territory of Australia. Here I spent 3 days getting familiar with the town in the center of Australia, where I spent some time in 1988. Then on October 18 short flight to Sydney, NSW for 2.5 days on my own. At noon on October 20 in Sydney I boarded the Holland America ship Maasdam (almost 56k gross tons, over 1100 passengers and some 600 crews) for a 43 day cruise circumnavigating Australia and visiting the islands of New Zealand from the Milford Sound in the southwest, the major places of the east coast, to Auckland in the north. Sailing counterclockwise the Australian continent with some days just cruising, we visited Brisbane, Hamilton Island and Cairns in Queensland, Darwin in Northern Territory, Komodo and Bali islands in Indonesia, Geraldton, Fremantle, Perth and Albany in Western Australia and Adelaide in South Australia. Due to high waves we could not visit the Kangaroo Island. Then Burnie in Tasmania. Tasmania is the only island state of Australia. Melbourne in State of Victoria followed and on November 18, after 29 days of sailing we were back to Sydney, NSW. The second part of our cruise started with evening departure from Sydney on November 18, stopping south of Sydney in Eden, NSW and after spending a day on the sea we visited Hobart in the southern tip of Tasmania. Then 2 days across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand and the Milford Sound. A day later we were sightseeing Dunedin on the southern coast of the South Island. So far so good. After that we accounted a storm raising waves to 10 and 13 ft (3 to 4 m) and the ship could not land in harbors of Akaroa (for Christchurch) and Picton both on the South Island of New Zealand. We took an aim to Napier on the North Island. But we were not allowed to land there. So after 2 days on the rough sea (South Pacific Ocean), when the storm subsided, we landed in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. We saw this beautiful city under the sunny skies. From there we sailed to Napier and day later to Tauranga, from there I made a bus trip to Rotorua in the heart of the North Island. After another day on sea and 14 days of sailing from Sydney we ended our cruise in Auckland early in the morning on December 2. I spent another 3 days in Auckland sightseeing this very appealing city. On December 5 I shared a taxi with friends I made on the ship to get to the airport. A Boeing 787-9 took off in the mid afternoon and after 12 hours of flight brought the full plane to Los Angeles before 7 AM the same day (again due to the Date Line). I picked up the prearranged car at Hertz and drove home to Vista where after 11 AM. Travel office: Though I found the cruise on Internet, I let Spiekermann Travel Service to do the arranging. Who took part: I joined the cruise as an individual with other more than 1000 passengers.