CLS International Newsletter

12 Days on Board Regal Princess Cruise to Australia and New Zealand

by

Mrs. Cheng Ya Lan (Mrs. Zhong)

11 December 2002 – four old ladies – Lois, Deri, Jolene and Ya Lan. We are in the same ward of the church; the “Gang of Four”. Caught the flight to Sydney (we skipped over December 12). On 13 morning we arrived at Sydney Airport then to the Radisson Hotel – we had reservations. As soon as I called Mrs. Chen she and her friends came to pick me up and driving along Bondi Beach we stopped there. I took some pictures, but was careful where 1 pointed the camera as there were some nude sunbathers (women). Then we had dim sum in a Cantonese Restaurant. Mrs. Chen’s friends were very kind and insisted on taking me to see more places of Sydney. Mr. Chen and their two daughters were waiting for me at home. When we were in Hong Kong the elder one had just completed university – now both are Mums. When we were in CLS Mrs. Chen and 1 were close friends. Since then we hadn’t seen each other for more than 20 years. When we arrived at Mrs. Chen’s house, after I said “Hi” to Mr. Chen and the two girls, we went into the kitchen, shut the door, and were chatting, chatting, non-stop until dinner time. We went to a Beijing Restaurant and had Beijing food with Mrs. Chen’s family. When we said goodbye it was quite late; although we hated to part, there is no party without ending.

December 14 in Sydney – early in the morning we got ready, walked all around the Opera House, it is so unbelievable. We got tickets for Christmas Pops Show at Opera House. The performance was superb with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney children’s choir. I just could not believe that I was sitting in the Sydney Opera House watching a performance. It was over all too soon. I took the tram to China Town and shopped for a lot of things.

December 15 – The ship was docked at Darling Harbour. Those first days on the ship you always eat too much. About 6 o’clock the ship started to make its way out of Darling Harbour. I went up on the deck and watched as the ship went slowly under the bridge, past the Opera House. It was really amazing.

December 16 – at sea – we went to the cruise lecture by Dr. David Rogne on ‘Abel Tasman Explores the Southern Sea’. The next few days his lectures were ‘Captain James Cook Explores the Pacific’ and ‘The Voyages of Captain Bligh’, then on ‘Robert Menzies tells the story of Australia’. Dr. Rogne said that after World War 2 New Zealand and Australia helped all the destroyed islands of the Pacific get back on their feet by supplying them with food. I am glad that I went to the lecture room every time to gain more knowledge.

December 17 – we were into Melbourne Harbour, then a long ride on a bus to an open range reservation for kangaroos and koalas. When we got back to the ship I took the tram to downtown. Walked around, bought some souvenirs.

December 18 – at sea-December 19 – we were at Hobart, Tasmania.  Jolene and I decided to go sightseeing in town. There are two big parks. Everything was green on the shore, the city is very clean with fresh air and most buildings are European style – remind one of Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.

December 20 – this was another day at sea – we were crossing the Tasman Sea.

December 21 – Another day at sea – we are still crossing the Tasman Sea over to New Zealand. Lois and I went to the vegetable carving demonstration; very interesting how they make those vegetables come to life.

December 22 – this morning we started to cruise through Fjordland National Park. The park is along the lower west end of the south end of New Zealand. We cruised through Milford Sound and then entered Thompson Sound. The ship rounded the southern tip of New Zealand in the late evening.

December 23 – we had been at sea for three days. So it was good to get our feet on the ground once again. We were into the port of Dunedin. Our tour was to Lanark Castle. It is nothing special to me. (I have visited many beautiful castles in England.) This was only a half-day tour so we took the tram into the city of Dunedin. This city is proud of its Scottish heritage and has a statue of Robert Burns (the statue is very much like the one I saw in Edinburgh). Dunedin is known as the Edinburgh of the south. It is a beautiful city. We had a very enjoyable day – our first day in New Zealand.

December 24 – the day before Christmas. We were going into Christchurch Harbour in the morning. Jolene and I decided to take the Princess shuttle bus into the city. I spent some time looking at the shops then we walked in to the Church. It was a Catholic Church but the priest said welcome everybody no matter one is Catholic or not. So I donated 1 dollar, lit a candle and made a wish. There is an open market near the Church – many stalls sell handicrafts. We spent a long time over there. This has been a different Christmas Eve.

December 25 – Christmas Day on the ship. We were at sea headed for Tauranga. It seemed different to wake up and not have gifts to open. Lois and I went to the nondenominational Christmas church service – only a few people went – you could have probably found more people in the bars than at the Church service. It was a formal night and the Captain’s party honoured all those who had cruised with Princess more than one time. Christmas dinner was really delicious, but I always chose sea food.

December 26 – our last day. At breakfast time we docked at Tauranga Harbour. We had scheduled a great tour for this day, although it cost $100 each person. It was called the Rotorua Maori Experience and Thermal Reserve. First we went to a place called the Agrodome where we saw a programme involving many different of kinds of sheep. The fellow on the platform giving the demonstration was a true New Zealand sheepshearer, we then saw a demonstration with the sheepdogs. They are trained very well and do a good job of rounding up the sheep. From there we went to an hotel where we had lunch and watched a Maori programme with singing and dancing, then we went to the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. We saw them weaving and carving. We went on a train ride through the Rotorua Thermal Reserve where we saw boiling mud pots and spouting geysers. It was interesting but did not seem very spectacular to us since we had all been to Yellowstone Park. I was happy to take this tour, it is a scenic wonderland, rich in a heritage of culture from the Maori people. Most of Maori culture has been retained as these people were accepted by the New Zealand people and they lived together in harmony.

December 27 – I think everyone was excited about going home. It is always nice to go on vacation, but also nice to go home. The ship was docked at Auckland Harbour. We had signed up for a city tour of Auckland. It is beautiful progressive city with many attractive homes and buildings. This is where the Americas Cup yacht races were to be held on New Year’s Day. We went to the Museum. We stayed an hour but a person needed a whole day to go through the museum; we hurried along as the Chinese saying goes “admiring the flowers while galloping past on a horse”. Auckland has two harbours – one on the west side from the Tasman Sea and the other on the east side from the Pacific Ocean.

We got to the airport about 1 o’clock and our ‘plane did not leave until 4.00 p.m. It was just a 10 hour flight to L.A. We waited nearly 4 hours before we got the plane to Salt Lake City. We arrived about 3.30 p.m. Nina (my daughter), Tom her husband and their son Dered were there to greet me.

I stayed with them until after New Year (2003) then went back to Rexburg. Home sweet Home, but during Chinese New Year I went to Salt Lake City and stayed with them for two weeks.

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