All at Sea with the Conversationalist, in New Zealand

There is always something about coming “home”, even as a long-term, planted elsewhere Kiwi.

This time it was not so much flying into Wellington, one of the few remaining major airports to retain something of the excitement of flying into Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak. Rather, it was flying out on a small Cessna single engine plane and across Cook Strait into Blenheim. With the strait cloud cover it was impossible to see one of the world’s most treacherous water bodies and its under pressure interisland ferry service.

Some peaks in the famous Marlborough Sounds poked up through that cloud, then all cleared as we flew into our destination over typically impressive New Zealand farmlands and, of course, the vineyard sources of all that sauvignon blanc.

All this to join Seabourn Quest in Picton as a Conversationalist providing cover for unexpected cancellations.

The actual boarding was novel. The ship was moored at a log loading site away from the main harbour, which meant having an escort to the gangway where my transfer driver was to pick up exiting Conversationalist Sir James McLay, a former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister. You never know who you will meet on these ships.

The ship’s guests had all been on excursions around the sounds or into said vineyards to sample the once-exquisite Cloudy Bay and many others, but among them at return were many known from previous voyages. And there were even more crew and staff in that category, the Cruise Director suggesting it was something like a homecoming.

Kaikoura

Then it was off to Kaikoura, a town once famous for its crayfish and my aunt once ran a pub there. But it is now a whale and seal watching haven as it recovers from a severe bashing by the earthquakes that decimated Christchurch. Many excursion groups returned with great stories of marine animals met, while others took to coastal walks and basked in great weather before the imposing Southern Alps.

Akaroa

Next came Akaroa with its persistent French influence dating from 1840 when its settlers arrived mere days after the British had declared sovereignty over New Zealand. Cruise ships have come in numbers into this lovely harbour on the Banks Peninsula (named after the famous Sir Joseph, Captain Cook’s botanist), because Lyttleton was inaccessible after the earthquake until quite recently. But the information centre has closed and there are no hire cars or taxis so while most guests scattered around the township, a famous fish n chip place doing well, I took a pre-booked car into Christchurch for a meeting.

Because hopefully my new book might be published, the biography of a Frenchman hanged in Wellington in 1897 for a double murder he might not have committed. And a significant part of his life involved Akaroa where, among other things, he married a French woman, then ran away to France and North Africa before returning to New Zealand, forgetting said wife in order to marry another. He then joined the Salvation Army. You can’t make this stuff up.

Next day came Timaru where my brother drove down from our hometown of Ashburton – known nationally these days AshVegas, mainly, I think, because it is not. Over brunch we remarked how the town, once a thriving holiday centre, like so many had emptied in the post-Covid drive to e-commerce. My driver to Christchurch mentioned this, too – he was driving now because his importing business was suffering in the face of Temu. Small town shops everywhere are closing because of that provider, Amazon and all the rest.

Given all that, politically now New Zealand seems at a tipping point with the National Party (equivalent to the Australian Liberal Party) coalition government seemingly bent on cost cutting rather than wealth creation, while distracted internally by the drive of a smaller party ally to revisit and reorder Treaty of Waitangi tribunal processes and goals. Once again, as a result, Waitangi Day just gone saw Māori group protest against the proposals and their proponents.

Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island

From there it was onto Stewart Island or Rakiura in Māori. The use of the Māori language has stepped up significantly as education programs and public policy requirements set in and settle. Public media use Te Reo Māori extensively.

The island itself, long an outpost in New Zealand, has also gone onto the cruise ship list, guests loving the national park atmosphere of both the island itself and the nearby Ulva which is predator-free so that native birds and wildlife are returning, and where a beach walk might involve a meeting with a sea lion.

For me the highlight was a visit to a quirky jade/greenstone/pounamu workshop. For Māori, the southern part of the South Island was hugely important as a source of the greenstone used to make implements and clubs as well as jewellery and adornments. And there is much cultural significance about it – it is sometimes said a greenstone piece has to find you rather than vice versa. This workshop had clients carving their own pieces once the raw stones (and other pieces like bone) had found them.

But the real attraction was the leg and feet bone remains of the long extinct moa, this lot found on a farm across the water in Southland. There were various sizes of this prehistoric flightless bird, but the largest could grow to around four metres. For a country that now has no real predators at all, these monsters remain fascinating.

Dusky Bay

And now we have just been into Dusky Bay and Milford Sound, again with all the thoughts of following Captain Cook. Whatever his status these days, there is no gainsaying his navigational and surveying skills. Back at the two hundredth anniversary of his first voyage into New Zealand, the navy resurveyed some of his charts for areas like Milford. Using all their modern equipment, they found Cook was out by a hairsbreadth, if at all.

Milford

Sailing into Milford under cloud cover with clearance at key moments, it was inevitable we should “see” a tiny ship (less than four hundred tons to our thirty thousand plus) under sail ahead of us, having come from Britain and traversed half the world. History is a marvellous thing.

And now we are in the Tasman Sea with the swell building from the Antarctic.

What must it have been like on the Endeavour?

* By Brian Stoddart. Brian is an Emeritus Professor, Screenwriter – winner of TMFF (UK), KIIFFA (India), Feel the Reel (UK), Bridge Fest (Canada) and Siren International (Australia) competitions, Crime novelist – the four Superintendent Chris Le Fanu novels set in British India and Conversationalist extraordinaire. He is also a regular contributor to Fremantle Shipping News whose previous articles as The Conversationalist All At Sea and a range of feature articles can be found right here!

* Here’s a map from Marine Traffic showing you both New Zealand and the position of Seabourn Quest quite recently.

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