Day 7 – Stewart Island, New Zealand
We anchored off Stewart Island early this morning. It is south of New Zealand’s South
Island. It has one town on the island,
Oban, with a population less than 400.
In town there is a very small supermarket, a souvenir store, post
office, ATM, theater, bar, and a visitor center. Very few cruise ships visit here (about 12
small ships per year), but the island does attract tourists for birding and
forest walks.
We chose to take the Wildlife Cruise. There were about 25 of us from the ship on a
double hulled boat out to see the wildlife.
We saw fur seals, blue penguins, dolphins, a cormorant rookery and most
interesting of all – albatross. They
land feet first and then look like they are running on water. Quite the sight. One flew right over Bob’s head and Julie
thought he was going to grab his hat.
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Home |
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The oldest house on the island. |
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Albatross (what is the plural form?) |
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Chumming to attract the albatross |
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Up close and personal |
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Fur seal |
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Can't remember the name of the brown birds. |
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Cormorant rookery |
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Location of original whaling camp. |
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World's most southernmost golf course. |
BTW - when the albatross were fighting over the fish, they made some pretty funny noises. Here is a short video.
After the Wildlife Cruise we walked around the town of Oban
– which, with less than 400 people, didn’t take that long. Julie went into the supermarket and wasn’t
sure she could survive with the very limited selection of meats and
produce. There were a number of canned
goods and breads. It looked to be about
the size of a 7-11.
We returned to the ship to grab some lunch at the Trident
Grill and relax on the upper decks, before returning to the cabin to do some
work.
This afternoon we attended the Magic Castle at Sea
show. Magicians from the Magic Castle in
Los Angeles come onboard and provide magic shows to a very small group of about
15 people. It’s a fun show and the
tricks are amazing. Chris Capehart, Master Magician, is onboard this
voyage. We have seen him on other
cruises. He is absolutely amazing. We sat up front and both Julie and Bob got to
assist with various tricks and still are absolutely befuddled about how he does
them. For example, Julie helped with a floating table trick by holding 2
corners of the tablecloth on the table as it was floating. The magician let go, and just Julie was holding
the 2 corners of the drape on the table and the table continued to float. She has no idea how he did that as she was
not supporting any weight at all. He
also did a variety of card tricks, sleight of hand, and rings. We were sitting less than 2 feet away and
still could not see how he does it.
Drinks in the Cove while enjoying Scott Mitchell play the
piano, and dinner back at the Waterside Dining Room tonight.
Julie decided to try to eat a little lighter
this dinner. She ordered the Reisling
Cream Soup with Porcini Mushroom Custard and the Barramundi Salad Entrée with
orange segments and butternut squash in it.
Bob foiled her plans by offering her a taste of his pasta appetizer,
Spinach and Cheese Tortellacci with Saffron-Herb Sauce, Poached Salmon and Peas.
She loved it, and our waiter Dragan, raced off to the kitchen to get her a
serving, too. The Barramundi fish was
amazing – it is found in Northern Australian waters and very light and tasty. Julie will definitely watch for that on the
menu.
Bob had Garden Greens, the Tortellacci Appetizer and Steak
Mermaid which was Filet and served with the largest Tiger Prawn either of us
have ever seen. It include Bernaise
Sauce, Bob’s favorite sauce.
Dragan, from Serbia, has been our waiter on several Crystal
cruises and is always excellent. He has
worked on Crystal ships for 25 years. When
he started he said that he had plans to stay 3-4 years, but here he still
is. He was away from his family for all
those years, but, interestingly, his son is now working in the Dining Room,
too. He told us that his son graduated University but was unable to find a job
in Serbia. So, he has joined his father at sea.
The crew on Crystal is amazing and getting to know them and see them
year after year is very special.
Last night marks a first for us – we attended BOTH the early
and late performances of the Neil Lockwood in Concert show. Obviously we loved the show. Julie felt it was the best show that she'd seen on Crystal and that is saying a lot. Neil Lockwood was the lead singer of ELO
(Electric Light Orchestra) and is a very talented musician, singer and
entertainer. He sang all ELO songs with
the exception of one song as a tribute to Ringo (Beatles) and Jack Bruce
(Cream) when they performed together in Munich.
His voice is still amazing and the show included all the familiar ELO
songs “Evil Woman,” “Mr. Blue Sky,” “Telephone Line” and more. Very enjoyable evening. Oh, by the way, he is the same artist that
performed the Elton John tribute earlier in the cruise.
Between the first and second shows, there was a latin dance show. Their skill was unsurpassed.
And of course, we went back to the Lockwood show again.
Today we walked 4.2 miles, 10,067 steps, and 32 floors of
stairs.
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