Anna Selby samples the best of New Zealand on a cruise around the two islands
If you’re going to fly to the other side of the world, you probably want to make the most of it. So, travelling to New Zealand, it seemed a good idea to see as much of it as we possibly could. Why not, in fact, sail all the way round it? This was precisely what was on offer with Azamara’s Intensive New Zealand cruise, starting and finishing in Auckland and going from end to end of both the North and South Islands.
Rather like the UK, New Zealand gets plenty of weather. So, having boarded Azamara Pursuit in Auckland, perhaps it should have been no surprise when the captain announced a change of plan. Instead of heading the next day for the Bay of Islands, the northernmost tip of the country, we were going south. This was so we could avoid the 70mph winds up there, not to mention a risk that some of the ports there might close (they did). Going south first would be much more comfortable and we therefore just reversed the order of the cruise in its entirety – a rather easier idea on a circumnavigation of one country than it would be on many other voyages.
So, following our new itinerary, we headed first to Napier – this turned out to be a town rivalled only by Miami in its Art Deco architecture. Even the street signs use a 1930s font! And then it was full steam ahead to South Island and Kaikoura, where we were rewarded by glorious sunshine and the chance for a hike that started high on the clifftops and zigzagged down to the coast where our walk ended on a limestone platform over the sea where seals basked in the sunshine, oblivious to the excitement of watching humans.
Wildlife is something of a theme on this cruise, especially around South Island. Dunedin is the gateway to the Otaga Peninsula and on the drive there we see birds everywhere: gulls and terns; ducks of all kinds and hundreds of black swans, feeding in a shallow bay; cormorants spreading their wings out to dry; and, soaring high above us, the unforgettable sight of albatross. By the time you get to Nature’s Wonders, a 650-acre farm, you know you’ve reached the wild end of the world. Whales frequent the bay to enjoy the cold waters that come up from the Antarctic; seals and sealions bask on a beach that is reserved for them alone and no one (not even the farmer who owns it) ever disturbs them. Built into the steep hillsides above the beach are nesting boxes from which newly fledged yellow-eyed and little blue penguins blink up as you pass by.
In Akaroa, I decide to get even closer to the marine wildlife on board the Black Cat catamaran on a nature cruise around the town’s vast harbour. I spot two kinds of dolphin – dusky and the rare Hector dolphin – as well as plenty of birds and even a lone penguin, who swims past us. If you’re feeling really brave you can don a super-thick wetsuit against the 14-degree water temperature here and go swimming with the dolphin but that was a tad too chilly for me! New Zealanders, of course, are famed for spending time in and on the water: swimming and diving; paddleboarding and surfing; and, in Picton, dragon boat racing on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning.
Back on board Azamara Pursuit, there’s plenty to keep its 702 passengers occupied. There is a choice of restaurants including two speciality ones and nightly entertainment. Often in the theatre or in one of the bars dotted around the ship, sometimes it was on the pool deck where every Azamara sailing includes a White Night Party. There’s a huge BBQ and buffet, music to the early hours and, as you might have guessed, everyone wears white from top to toe. In Nelson the following evening, we were back on the pool deck for a wonderful show by a very young group of Māori singers and dancers.
We leave New Zealand’s waters just once to visit the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. Named by Captain Cook for his patron, the Duchess of Norfolk, Cook’s botanist described it as an “unexpected and agreeable island”. It still is. Briefly a Polynesian outpost, it was later a notorious prison island and there are remarkable remains from that period in Kingston, known in the local dialect as “Daun’taun”. This is a language that knits together old English and Tahitian Māori as a result of the resettlement of the descendants of Bounty mutineers here from Pitcairn Island in 1856 – these days, of Norfolk’s 2,000 inhabitants, around a third are still Bounty descendants (eighth generation or so). One of them, Les Quintal (forefather Cornishman Matthew Quintal, one of the mutiny’s ringleaders), was host to a cliff-top fish picnic for a group of us hikers who had been walking with local Dinty Wilson through the island’s beautiful subtropical coastal forest.
Back in the Bay of Islands for our final stop before returning to Auckland, we visit the place where the Waitangi Treaty was signed in 1840, establishing a partnership of equals between the Māori and the British crown and their subjects. Waitangi Day is celebrated every year on 6 February, and we were there during the rehearsals for it – complete with naval salute, Māori ceremonial welcome and demonstrations of the traditional waka – Polynesian canoe – in the bay. Taking the tender back to the ship that day, we knew the waka was coming – the Māori warrior-sailors sing as they paddle. What a glorious way to end this spectacular voyage.
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