We’ve got an idea..!

Day 47/138 2022/2023 Viking Neptune World Cruise. A sea day.

We woke up this morning to very rough seas. Wow! The swells were over 10 feet and after not having swells for quite a few days, it was a bit of a shock to the system! I was feeling quite queasy, so I headed into the bathroom to look for the sea sick bands for my wrists, and went to lie back down in bed to watch the horizon. I also ate a few Anzac biscuits (great New Zealand cookies) which we had in our cabin, to make sure I had something in my stomach. I also slowly sipped on a lemon, lime, bitters fizzy drink I had picked up in New Zealand, to try and make sure I was hydrated. I did not want to stand in the shower until I knew I could handle the swaying of the ship. Finally, after getting over the queasiness, I was able to get my shower and then head to see Pedro the Osteopath at 11am. Richard had picked up my cold, so he had a rough night last night, and he headed up to the Explorer’s Lounge on Deck 7 to read his book. At least in the Explorer’s Lounge, when the ship sways, because it is at the front of the ship, you can still look out and see the horizon, which definitely helps calm the sea sickness.

I had a great treatment with Pedro the osteopath who always manages to quickly isolate the issue and has a way to fix it through acupuncture, electric muscle stimulation and osteopathic manoeuvres. I even fell asleep today to the electric pulses, combined with the swaying of the ship. I hope I wasn’t snoring!

I had to quickly run up to Team Trivia after my session with Pedro. The team did ok today, but we are still quite a ways off winning. There is always tomorrow!

I was really happy to be back at art class today! Deb and her husband Jim were asked by Viking to stay on! WOOHOO! Apparently they were almost at the airport in Auckland when Deb got the call to see if she could stay and continue with our art classes until Sydney, Australia. The new art teacher was supposed to board in Auckland, but for some reason could not make it, so instead we have Deb back! Deb was able to replenish some art supplies in Auckland and Wellington to be able to continue on with art classes. We were advised in the Viking Daily to show up at 1:45pm to sign up for class today, but I knew better than that to show up that late, so I was at class by 1:30pm and of course, so were 15 other people who were already ahead of me. Luckily, there was room for everyone who wanted to take part in today’s class which was ‘Spanish tile‘ creation. We could either paint or use markers to complete our tile. Deb had some samples of tiles we could trace onto watercolour paper, or we could create our own pattern for our tile. I chose to copy the inside of one of the samples, and then went on to create my own tile after having the large centre portion of the tile traced.

The purple I traced from Deb‘s sample and the rest I ‘winged’ it to create this Spanish tile. Actually its more of a Portuguese tile design as I’ve bought Portuguese pottery before from a town in the Portuguese Algarve called ‘Porches’ and the design I’ve drawn reminded me of the pottery style from Porches. Its not finished yet, but I’m happy with the way my ‘tile’ has turned out so far. We may have another art show before Sydney if Deb can arrange it, so we can display our work again to demonstrate what we have been working on during sea days.

After art class we had a meeting for our team on the ship building competition to regroup on the design of our ship, based on all of the materials that we had been able to pick up in Auckland. We met in Mike & Sharon’s cabin, to lay out all of our materials and to talk about the design, and I think we‘ve finally got an idea now of what the design for our ship will be! The key for our group was getting the design down pat, so that we know our ship will float. After the design has been nailed, then we can pretty it up. We don’t know when the actual competition will take place, or when we will have time to work on the ship, because we’ve got a very busy itinerary coming up after we cross the Tasman sea and we reach Australia. We’ll have to get more direction on the timing of when the competition will take place so we are ready for it, instead of ‘slap dashing’ something together at the last minute.

We heard someone today say that we had left New Zealand. Well that’s not entirely accurate because we are still going to be in New Zealand tomorrow, we just won’t be setting foot on New Zealand soil again, which is very unfortunate because it is such an amazing country.

Now you can see where we are! We are in for a really special day tomorrow, and I am very excited for the upcoming sea day!!! We are going to two very special places tomorrow…..Milford Sound in the morning and Doubtful Sound in the afternoon. Wow! I’ve seen photos of both of these places and I can’t wait to be able to photograph both of these beautiful spots. And thank goodness, the swells have abated somewhat.

Dinner tonight was with Mike and Sharon at The Chef’s Table. What a very special Chef’s Table it was too, with Guest Chef Wayne Dermawan being featured doing a 5-course menu on Indonesia! We love Indonesian food, so we knew we were in for a very special meal this evening.

The Amuse Bouche was ’Rujak’. Rujack in Indonesian means an ‘eclectic mix’

A traditional salad of mixed raw fruits and vegetables served with a spicy palm sugar sauce. This dish originates from Java. We didn’t eat the banana leaf. It was just for show.

The appetizer was Soto Ayam which is traditional Indonesian chicken soup.

As presented to us.

And after the warm chicken broth was poured over the soup.

The Granita tonight was a Watermelon and Ginger with lime zest.

Watermelon and ginger are agricultural commodities widely cultivated and grown in Indonesia. The flavour of the ginger was so pungent and spicy, it definitely cleared our palates for what was to come!

The Main Course was Beef Rendang.

This dish is traditionally served at ceremonial occasions to honour guests during festive events. A rich dish of meat, that is slow cooked and braised in coconut milk, and seasoned with a mixture of herbs and spices, including ginger.

Our dessert tonight was Bubur Injin.

Black glutinous rice porridge with coconut milk, palm sugar and a gelato made out of Jack fruit.

Wow! I think tonight’s meal at the Chef’s Table along with the lovely wine pairings, was one of the best one’s yet! What a fabulous meal and we sent our compliments to the Chef. We were lucky to get in tonight to the Chef’s Table, as this was the last evening for the Guest Chef’s menu. We are back there tomorrow night with a gang of people, and the menu will be completely different!

And tomorrow its finally time to get back to the gym for me! It definitely has been awhile, but with no energy from being sick and the time in New Zealand so busy with tours, there are no more excuses. It is now time to get back at it, but obviously slowly at first. I’ll have to squeeze the workout in between art class and sailing Doubtful Sound tomorrow. It will be a jam packed day with the two Sounds to traverse, Trivia, Art Class and of course meals and the gym!

And as a bonus tonight I’ve got some photos from a tour in Wellington that Mike and Sharon took called ‘Zealandia Eco Reserve’. Of course we couldn’t take a tour yesterday because we flew from Napier/Hawkes’ Bay to Wellington to meet the ship. Mike said that the Zealandia which is a protected natural area in Wellington that was created in 1999 to be a natural ecosystem, was one of the most beautiful places that he has ever been. A pest exclusion fence has created an ecological island which allows the natural ecosystems to recover by minimizing the impact of introduced flora and fauna. The sanctuary is a significant tourist attraction for Wellington. I’m sorry we missed it after seeing these beautiful photos from Mike.

New Zealand KAKA bird.

Takahe. The South Island takahe is a flightless swamp hen indigenous to New Zealand.

A lizard. Not sure what the name of this guy is, but New Zealand has over 126 species of lizards. He actually looks kind of pre-historic doesn’t he?

I hope you enjoyed the bonus photos from Mike. And that was our first ‘relaxing’ sea day after our last 6 days of being in New Zealand. It is time for bed, so we can get enough sleep for the upcoming days ahead which will be a lot more port heavy, than sea day heavy. We feel like we are now really in the ‘swing’ of our cruise itinerary with seeing new things everywhere we go. Its so exciting to look forward to what we are going to see and learn each day. Amazing sights, and things to come! Stay tuned!