Ports of plenty in New Zealand

Even all the crew came out on deck to experience the wonder of the magnificence of Milford Sound.

Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, on New Zealand’s south island.

A long white cloud is hovering over Milford Sound. Water­falls are gushing down verdant hillsides, snow caps a distant mountain, the sea is clear and the air is clean and crisp. In so many wondrous ways, New Zealand is living up to a succession of cliches.

It is a bracing Sunday morning in late spring. For ­almost three days we have been at sea, 3400 passengers and the 1100-odd crew who run the mega-liner Explorer of the Seas, a virtual township of souls inhabiting the lar­gest cruise ship to have visited these waters.

It is the start of its inaugural season Down Under, on a cruise from Perth to Sydney, via Adelaide, Melbourne and New Zealand, and since leaving Melbourne’s Station Pier one Thursday afternoon, where our enormous ship dwarfed the Spirit of Tasmania ferry, there has been plenty to do. There have been walks and talks, movies ­inside and out, and shuffleboard tournaments and mini- golf on the rear deck, 14 storeys above the sea. We have watched a succession of middle-aged men attempt to surf on the ship’s FlowRider simulator (usually failing miserably but happily) and laughed as an onstage hypnotist lured several dozen passengers into an entertaining state of semi-consciousness.

While the Tasman Sea crossing has been uncharacteristically calm, most life has taken place inside.

Theatres and bars have been invariably full, as have the shops that line the indoor promenade, with its faux English tavern and French-style cafe offering complimentary cakes and sandwiches around the clock. There have been trivia tournaments and napkin-folding demonstrations, dan­cing for exercise and dancing for fun. Professional figure skaters have put on an extraordinary show, expertly spinning and flipping on the ship’s rink as though the sea were not continually rolling beneath . And we have eaten endlessly — better in the main dining room than the Windjammer buffet, and best of all at Chops Grille, one of three new specialty restaurants.

But right now that all seems like a pleasant prelude as we finally spot land. Arriving at any new destination tends to carry an air of expectancy, but today there is an extra sense of excitement as hundreds of passengers emerge in the early morning chill, in hastily assembled outfits of summer clothes topped with beanies and winter jackets, to spy New Zealand.

Two hours earlier, not long after dawn, an ominous grey mist had hung over the coastline. But as we had edged closer to the entrance to Milford Sound, the grey dissipated, and now the sun is peeking through as a growing band of crew joins hundreds of passengers on the helipad at the front of the ship. Kitchen hands and officers alike emerge into the sharp daylight, eyes wide and smiling, for a quick selfie amid New Zealand’s majestic wilderness. This morning it is not just the scenery that is overwhelming. For many passengers and crew, this is one end of the world they had only imagined visiting.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” says an awe-struck security guard from the subcontinent, when asked why so many well-travelled colleagues have come outside to mark the ship’s arrival in New Zealand. Staring out into the picture perfect scene, where a passing fleet of kayakers provides an unprompted perspective to this mass of natural ­beauty, he cannot fathom that perhaps a couple of hundred people, at most, live here.

On this marvellous morning, the ship has turned outwards. Decks are suddenly full of people and seats everywhere are looking to the sea. At Dizzy’s Bar on level 14, with its enormous panoramic view, every chair and stool is ­occupied and facing the floor-to-ceiling window. When the weather soon changes, first bringing wind, then rain, and even hail, it is standing room only.

By the time we enter Doubtful Sound in the early afternoon, the sun emerges again, and a pod of frolicking dolphins jumps in the air as an added welcome. Only the appearance of a ship’s photographer, asking passengers if they would like to be snapped on deck with a staff member dressed as a moose, mars an otherwise spectacular day. But even with that misplaced lapse into commercialism, our passage through some of New Zealand’s most spectacular natural wonders has highlighted one of cruising’s greatest assets. To access Milford Sound ­usually involves a long and remote drive. Reaching Doubtful Sound is even more complex, and includes a lake crossing. But on board Explorer of the Seas, we went to bed last night, lulled into sleep by the steady rocking of the ship, and when we woke this morning we were here.

It is a level of luxurious convenience evident in other ports, including Wellington, where we dock very close to the centre of the city, a stiff breeze on arrival ensuring the national capital lives up to its windy reputation. Things are less convenient for our debut arrival in Picton, where the sheer size of the ship sees us moored slightly out of the small town, with just one gangway for thousands of people, shortening our already brief day ashore.

But perhaps the greatest surprise comes when we ­arrive for the day in Dunedin, one of the southernmost towns on the South Island, and known for its Cadbury factory and questionable weather. We dock at Port Chal­mers, several kilometres out of town, and what might have been an inconvenience becomes an asset. Port Chalmers is quaint and especially pretty against a bright blue sky on a 25C day. Just beyond the ship, the local tourist authority has set up a marquee, soon filled with passengers availing themselves of free Wi-Fi, and the local bus stop is a very short walk away.

The 20-minute ride into Dunedin is picturesque, along a winding sea road, past rolling green hills and ­pretty cottages. The city itself is compact enough to be ­explored easily in a day, and the local tourist office sells inexpensive self-guided walking tour maps, which enable you to stroll at leisure past many of the well-preserved buildings from the gold rush days. Life on board a cruise liner involves lots of eating, and doesn’t leave much room for New Zealand’s abundance of freshly baked goods, which are in ample supply in Dunedin’s many good cafes. To work off some of that excess, a walk up Baldwin Street, a suburban street that is the world’s steepest, surely helps.

Marching upwards to the beat of “cake, cake, chocolate, chocolate, hot chips, junk food” proves to be a surprisingly motivating mantra, and reaching the top of the street reveals an unexpected backdrop of greenery and blue sky. From Baldwin Street, it is a shortish walk to the magnificent Botanic Gardens, which are bursting with colour on the cusp of summer.

Then a bus ride back to pretty Port Chalmers, where there is still time to stroll among the handful of boutiques but not quite enough for one more coffee before boarding the ship. The last cafe open in town is closing its doors as I head there just before 4pm, in need of a caffeine fix. As I wander into a nearby gift shop, lamenting my missed coffee opportunity, the shop owner, unprompted, leaves me alone among her impressive display of ­designer homewares for several minutes. She returns carrying a small tray bearing a cafe latte in a glass, which she has made for me in her kitchen coffee machine. She tells me to stay a while in her shop, no need to buy anything, and we spend the next short while discovering that coffee-drinking travellers have much in common.

It is an enchanting way to end a lovely day. Dunedin has proved to be an ideal cruise stop.

Fiona Harari was a guest of Royal Caribbean Line.