An extremely interesting 24 hours we have had! At 4:30 p.m. yesterday we returned to our
cabin to find a letter in our mailbox.
It was to inform us that they had decided to cancel our overnight
excursion the following day that would take us from Dunedin to Queenstown,
through the historical gold mining country and various other inland locations. This cancellation was based on very early
expectations that weather conditions would prohibit them from going into
Milford Sound, where we were scheduled to be returned to the ship.
We had scheduled this excursion several months ago because
we felt this would give us a much better picture of New Zealand, than just
visiting the port cities on the agenda.
Needless to say, we were shocked and devastated, especially after having missed
Akaroa yesterday. We quickly decided
that we needed to take our vacation into our own hands and went to ask if it
would be possible for us to disembark the ship the following day. We were notified that we would have to let
them know for sure if we were going to depart no later than 7 p.m. This was because the young man we spoke to
got off work at 7 p.m.!
So, for the next 2-1/2 hours, we researched our options on
the ever so slow ship internet. We first
found that there were inexpensive fights from Queenstown to Sydney, Australia. We then found an inner-city bus that makes
the journey once a day. It was booked
for the following day, but we reserved two seats for Thursday. We then found a quaint B&B in Dunedin for
one night, and a waterfront hotel in Queenstown for the next 3 nights. At 7 p.m., we returned to the Purser’s desk
and notified them that we would indeed be departing the ship the next
morning.
At 7 a.m. this morning, we were required to come downstairs
with our luggage to meet with the Customs agent. Afterwards, we returned to our room and finished
our packing, showered, and of course had breakfast! We were
fortunate to get to catch up with several new friends we’d met on the ship and
say goodbye before we left (Steve and Bailey, Dean and Rosie, the sisters from
Australia, and Scottie (Lauren, the singer on the ship’s boyfriend from
Australia).
We eventually left the ship around 11:30 a.m. and traveled
into Dunedin. Once there, we found
ourselves walking towards our B&B when we met two nice young ladies that
stopped and asked where we were from and where we were headed. When we told them that we were from Alabama,
they turned to a car coming down the street and stopped the man driving and
yelled to him that we were from Alabama.
He got out of his car and came over to us and told us that he was from
Anniston and had gone to Jacksonville State University. What a small world! After
chatting for a few minutes, they picked up our luggage and told us that would
take us to the B&B; that it was too far to walk. We were amazed at their hospitality and
jumped into their car. After arriving at
the B&B, the young ladies insisted on helping us to our room with our
luggage. The man had moved to New Zealand after 9/11,
wanting to take his then young children away from the madness in the USA. Apparently not a bad choice for them, as she has
grown up to be a great young lady!
Our B&B host was there to meet us and showed us to our
room. He and his family lived next door
and had purchased this 15 room establishment several years ago (Brother
Boutique Hotel). It was near Dunedin’s center city, and although its only a 6 minute
walk “down” to the town, its at least a “12” minute hike back up!
After settling in we walked back into town and watched as the last bus headed back to the ship left Dunedin. We breathed a sigh of relief and did a high five that we were now in charge of our schedule and our destiny for the next week!
At 5 p.m. our host invited his guests into the common area for a
drink. We met two nice New Zealand
business men that were traveling separately.
They are as passionate about their rugby as we are SEC football! As I
mentioned before, everyone we’ve met so far have been extremely friendly and so
welcoming to their country.
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