Life's a Stitch

Excuse this post, out of order travel-wise. I mentioned in the Akaroa post that the next stop was Tasmania, when in fact there was one more port of call in New Zealand. It was a rainy day so we stuck close to the ship, not making it into Dunedin, the Edinburgh of New Zealand. Dunedin was settled by the Scottish in 1848 but archeological findings show the Maori were there long before.

We were docked in the little town of Port Chalmers, which was interesting, full of thrift stores and friendly people. It was our last chance to spend our NZ money, a total of $65. An interesting challenge not so much being the matter of money, but of luggage weight. So what do you supposed we ended up with? Our first stop was the local pharmacy where I bought out their supply of Anthisan, the anti-itch bug bite cream not available in North America. 

We stopped at a second hand shop that specialized in an unusual combination: antique medical supplies and local yarn, go figure. Having bought no NZ souvenirs, I opted to spend my last $18 on yarn, 100% merino, 100gms of squishable compact memories.

We were introduced to Puka, the shop dog, who looked capable of producing quite a few skeins from his coat.

While in NZ we met two other memorable pooches. Molly was a Curly coated Retriever, the first I had ever seen.

Then there was the one called Alabama, on our water taxi to Ship's Cove at the start of the Queen Charlotte Track:

Back to Chuck's purchase, the most unlikely of all. What do you buy with your last $15 when you are halfway around the world with luggage weight limitations? A cast iron antique scale of course. With a half hour to sailing, he ran back to buy an extra set of weights at the yarn/antique medical equipment shop. Alas, they were closed. Phew. The scale travelled home in our wheeled carry on bag.

Back on the ship, we set off to Australia, this time without our onboard New Zealand Maori ambassadors. Holland America provided interesting Maori cultural experiences adding richness to the time spent there. After two weeks, it was time to say Haere Ra (goodbye). 

(11-11-17)