We spent the last of our New Zealand cash in McDonalds and walked down to the dock at 9pm. The shuttle bus took us to the Bahia and we proceeded to the ship's office where the Third Officer looked after our boarding formalities. The Immigration Agent was the same one who checked our papers when we arrived in Auckland and recognised us. We took our luggage up in the lift and checked out the Owner's Cabin. It had a lounge area with TV and DVD player,
a desk area,
two threequarter size beds in a separate room (one with privacy curtains)
and the usual ensuite bathroom.
The most spacious yet. The ship is about five years old and in excellent condition. It is 250 metres long so much bigger than the others we have been on. It is run by Hamburg Sud.
While waiting for lunch at noon we watched the crew practise launching the lifeboat. Here it is being raised back on board after a short trip around the dock area. It seemed to take a very long time for them to do all that.
We could see North Head on one side of the ship.
And the city on the other side.
The projected departure time was 10.30pm but we actually left at 6.30pm, which was surprising given that we had been told in April that Auckland wharf was shut down by a strike over loading speeds and that slowed our passage to the other New Zealand ports.
We looked back at the cranes that had handled our containers.
We proceeded slowly and a group of racing yachts caught us and turned back around a buoy.
Some canoeists were going the opposite direction.
Auckland Harbour is popular for after work recreation in small craft. We played the Maori CD we bought at Auckland Museum as we left New Zealand and it finished with Now Is The Hour as we came out of the harbour.
All the senior officers were Polish and spoke to each other in Polish, but used very good English when talking to us. The Captain's name was Marek and we lent him our copy of the Tin Drum as he came from Gdansk. The crew were Filipinos.
Hamish had told us that 9 days in New Zealand would not be a problem and he was right as we had a great time.
a desk area,
two threequarter size beds in a separate room (one with privacy curtains)
and the usual ensuite bathroom.
The most spacious yet. The ship is about five years old and in excellent condition. It is 250 metres long so much bigger than the others we have been on. It is run by Hamburg Sud.
While waiting for lunch at noon we watched the crew practise launching the lifeboat. Here it is being raised back on board after a short trip around the dock area. It seemed to take a very long time for them to do all that.
All the senior officers were Polish and spoke to each other in Polish, but used very good English when talking to us. The Captain's name was Marek and we lent him our copy of the Tin Drum as he came from Gdansk. The crew were Filipinos.
Hamish had told us that 9 days in New Zealand would not be a problem and he was right as we had a great time.
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