Tracking the Higher Ground

A Nice "Track"

In New Zealand they speak English, but you have to be careful, because it is not always the “English” that you are used to. I think that once they got so far away from the home of “English” they decided to tweak the language to their tastes.

There are many examples of words that have taken on slightly different meanings down under. The one that I noticed was the word “track”. Down here it means trail, as in hiking or walking trail. Regis and I have been making good use of the New Zealand tracks during our explorations.

We have always enjoyed walking and hiking, and when on the cruise ships, I have often looked out from the ship and seeing a high point on the land, think, “That would be a good spot to get some pictures.” As a result, we often find ourselves searching out trails leading up to these high points of land. Here in New Zealand these trails are often called “tracks”. We have found a few of them.

Instead of purchasing the high priced Ship Approved Excursions, we often just walk off and explore on our own, and often on these self-guided tours we find these New Zealand “tracks” calling for our attention. They have proven to be very worthwhile side trips.

Our first “track” was in Hawaii, where we hiked up to the top of Diamond Head, but I already

A Great View!

told you about that, and on Hilo, (Still Hawaii) we hiked to the Akaka Falls. On Pago Pago we tried to find the trail to a National Park, but never found it. On Dravuni Island in Fiji, we hiked to the highest point on the mountain for terrific views over the whole island. In Easo Lifou, New Caledonia we found a track up to a lovely little church on a cliff overlooking the island. In Noumea, New Caledonia, while walking around the town I discovered stairs leading to a track again up to a high point giving another excellent view of the town.

Once we reached New Zealand we discovered that what we were doing was following

Climbing in "Stile"

“Tracks”, and I already told you about the great tracking we did in Port Chalmers, where we found two tracks that kept us from visiting Dunedin. Then in Akoroa after a morning exploring the town we found a track leading up a hillside occupied by “Haggis on the hoof” where we found another Noordam couple enjoying the beautiful view over the town’s harbour.

Switchback to get to the top

By this time we were really getting into this “tracking” around, and in Picton, New Zealand we headed directly to a marked track that led up a mountain to look-offs and down to Bob’s Bay, named after a man who created this track by hand many years ago. This was probably the longest track we took and led to fantastic views out over the area. Wellington had wonderful views but we took a tour and the bus took us up the ‘Tracks”, and although we had a track all mapped out in Napier, we ended up in Jail (Just a tour; don’t fret!).

It was worth the climb

By the time we reached Auckland, we were ready for some easier tracking and I was only too happy to allow my cousin and her husband to drive us up the tracks to get the views over Auckland.

However, after all our tracking over the South Pacific Islands, I think we managed to counteract the wonderful meals on the cruise ship . . . . our clothes still fit.

Sailing Into a Volcano

Yea, I know I did sort of use that title, but this time it is much more true.

The Islands of Hawaii, were formed and are still being formed by the action of volcanoes, and they are actually the peeks of the tallest mountain range on the earth (Or so our “Location Manage KK says). Of course most of the serious mountain building took place thousands of years ago, but Hilo, the largest island still has one active volcano, Kilauea which continues to build the island by flowing lava into Pacific Ocean.

Although you can take a tour to Volcanoes National Park, they do not take visitors near enough to the active volcano to actually see much. The only way to see the molten lava is to take a helicopter tour, which flies over the lava flow.

Once those passengers who had paid to fly over the volcano were back on the ship and we were preparing to leave Hawaii, the captain announced that he was going to make a slight detour and take us ALL to see the lava flow as it entered the ocean. Wisely, he did not tell anyone which side of the ship would provide the best viewing spot, because the ship would have probably tipped with the stampede to secure prime spots. As it was, once we figured which side would be facing the shore, the railings and decks were packed with people waiting over an hour for the spectacle.

Fortunately, one advantage of frequent use of the gym facility on the ship, I knew that there was a nice little-used deck out there right over the bridge, and accessible only through the gym. Others knew of this as well, but we managed to get a good spot to wait for the ship to reach the volcano. I was not the only one up there who noted the similarity to the Italian Costa Cruise disaster; “Oh, no one will mind if I just go a little bit off course so I can wave to my girlfriend on shore . . .”

It was nighttime by now, and was pitch black out and everyone stared into the distance for a glimpse of the volcano. Although the ship is moving at about 15 kts, it seemed painfully slow when you are waiting for something. Finally, in the distance a faint pick glow appeared, and gradually got bigger and brighter. As we got close enough to actually see the steam, smoke and molten lava, the captain announced that he would get as close as possible, stop the ship and turn it so the bow faced the flow. He allowed the crew to open the normally inaccessible bow area to let passengers to go out there to view the volcano.

Sailing Into a Volcano

I do not know exactly how close he was able to get, but many people standing around us were actually worried he was too close. We had a clear view of the brilliant red molten lava flowing into the Pacific, sending up clouds of steam and smoke. It really was a spectacular view. Then to make it even better, he turned the ship completely, giving everyone a clear view from every balcony or deck space.

This was not on our itinerary, was never advertised, but was definitely a highlight of the trip so far. It certainly showed the skill of the navigation crew to safely bring a vessel of this size that close to a volcanic lava flow to provide a memorable experience for everyone.  I’m just glad I did not pay $439.00 for that helicopter ride . . . .

Climbing Into a Volcano

At Diamond Head

Now I admit that the title is a bit dramatic . . . We actually visited Diamond Head State Monument but 300,000 years ago this crater WAS formed by a volcanic eruption. This site is the most recognized landmark in Hawaii, and was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1968. During the war the strategic location and panoramic views of the surrounding area from of the crater walls made this an ideal location for island defense, so observation posts, gun emplacement, and fire control stations were installed.

The infrastructure built by the military provided the basis for the current facility. There is a 1.3 km hike up the crater walls to the top. Although not a long hike, it involves a climb of 560 ft, 173 steps up, a 52 step circular staircase climb, two tunnels (one 225 ft long), and then 82 stairs back down to the original trail. All this is connected by a steep switch-back trail up

Through the Tunnel

the crater wall. All of this is part of the original military installation.

The trail is popular. There was a steady stream of people making the climb to the 761 ft observation tower area. There were at least three school groups and hundreds of tourists in a steady line all the way up and down the hike. We were properly outfitted for the adventure, with good shoes, hats and water, but there were many people struggling up the slippery trails in flip-flops or dress shoes, and I saw one woman in heels. It was a sunny hot day, with 28° temperatures and many people did not have water with them. I was surprised at how easy I found the climb. I listened to people huffing and puffing and breathing hard where I was fine; I guess I am in better shape than I thought. My knees were feeling it on the way down, but I found it a very pleasant morning adventure.

Wear Appropriate Footware?

I do think we will take it easy the rest of the day however.

Riding With The Locals

On The Bus

Honolulu, Hawaii is a lovely city, and we were docked there for two days, so we had lots of time to see a bit of the city. The ship docks right downtown, so we were close to everything. Our original plan was to book a “Hop-on-Hop-off” bus through the ship. It seemed like a reasonable deal and was active for both days, but when we tried to book this shore excursion it was sold out. We decided it would not be any big deal, we’ve found our way around cities all over the world, simply finding a map and exploring on our own.

Not so easy here in Honolulu . . . Most cities that host cruise lines, make the most of thousands of tourists suddenly arriving to spend their money, but when we left the ship this time, other than a line of taxies, there was nothing, no tourist info site, no free maps, not

A 'Local"

even anyone to give us advice. After exploring the area, and receiving negative responses to locating tourist information, we were not sure what to do. The two activities we wanted to do were at opposite ends of the city, Pearl Harbour at one end and Diamond Head in the other direction.

Another passenger we shared a table with at dinner suggested that the public bus system was quite easy to use and could actually get you anywhere on the island you wanted to go. I found a Department of Transportation office that had a rack of bus route maps and we found a couple that seemed to head in the correct directions.

Trying to Blend In

This worked great, and for $2.50 (it would have only been $1.00 if I could have proved “senior-ness”) we got a return ticket. The bus stop was easy to find, and the stops were clearly announced as we went. We managed to go visit Pearl Harbor and get back to the ship with no problem the first day and then used the same procedure the next day to visit Diamond Head.

There was lots of Hawaiian patterns (Yup, the locals really do wear those Hawaiian prints), flip flops and grocery bags, so our beige cargo tourist pants and Tilly hats did not really fit in perfectly but the locals seemed to accept us on their buses, and we got around the city perfectly well.