Genealogy notes 23 Nov 2011 Day 3 Tauranga Adventures

Today was mostly spent in Tauranga New Zealand with many people taking shore excursions to Rotorua. Having been to New Zealand many times, especially to Rotorua, we decided to simply walk around Tauranga and do some shopping. Ran into Geoff and Marg from Brisbane and hadn’t even realised they were on the cruise so good catching up with them briefly in the main street.

Did some shopping, new walking shoes as I had somehow left mine at home, some souvenirs and a few toiletries before we sat down for a nice latte. It was interesting watching all the tourists and crew from the two, yes two, cruise ships visiting Tauranga today. As well as the Volendam, the Dawn Princess was berthed in the harbour. Very impressive seeing the two ships together and the local economy must be pleased if not very busy today.

Back to the ship for a late lunch and I read the newspaper while Max tried out the pool and spa which wasn’t too crowded with most still on shore. Then he went off to his digital camera and photography lessons while I caught up with my email and writing this blog.

While we did the touristy thing in Tauranga, Rosemary, Richard and Perry gave talks to the Tauranga branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. I had almost forgotten about the onshore seminars, so I hope that some of the New Zealand attendees write a blog or two about the various seminars being held in each port we visit.

Tonight we had dinner in the Rotterdam dining room with the rest of the UTP cruisers before heading to the Hudson Room for the evening seminars. Originally I was a bit sceptical that people would turn up for night sessions as usually the ship has a competitive evening program or people are simply tired after a big day ashore. I spoke to an almost packed Hudson Room which proved me quite wrong but that was ok as I much prefer to talk to an eager audience.

I gave Asylum Records: A Place to Look for Missing Ancestors (there is a version of this talk on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations). Rosemary followed with a talk on Directories and Almanacs which I didn’t stay for as we wanted to catch one of the ship’s evening events. I also had thought this was a talk I had heard before but it was a brand new one so I will get a copy from Rosemary over the next few days and view her slides. That’s not quite the same as hearing a speaker’s commentary but it is still a useful way to gain an understanding of a topic and to learn new URLs and so on. That’s the primary reason I put copies of my talks on my website, the commentary is missing but people still learn something which is the main purpose.

It was going to be an early night as we have a big day planned tomorrow in Napier, friends from the first Unlock the Past cruise in March 2011 are picking us up to show us around Napier and surrounding vineyards which should be good. However, long time friend Perry and I took the opportunity to have a couple of drinks and catch up for a good talk as usually we only get to say hello, how are you and a few other things when we meet at expos, conferences or wherever. It’s hard to think that nearly thirty years have gone by since she first wandered into the Queensland State Archives reading room and found me on research duty!

Before we disembark in Napier, Chris Paton is doing Discover Scottish Records (which I heard and reported on at the Auckland seminar) and Richard Reid is talking about Key Irish Documents.

Genealogy notes 22 Nov 2011 - Day 2 on board Volemdam

As usual I woke up early before the alarm so had plenty of time to shower, dress and do final run through of my talk for the early 8am start to our genealogy sessions on board. We also decided to simply have breakfast in the cabin rather than have it up in the restaurant in case there were any delays. The ham and cheese omelette was certainly substantial and the cup of tea welcome. I usually like one first thing but no tea making facilities in cabins although you can get them to bring you one but that seems a bit strange to me (perhaps I’ll change my mind before the end of the trip).

My talk At Sea Then and Now was on at 8.00am followed by Chris Paton then no more sessions till after lunch as we were travelling around the scenic Coromandel Peninsula and people wanted to be out on deck looking around. I have put my report on the various sessions I attended on my website to avoid making this too lengthy. See Day 1 sessions at sea report here.

I decided to skip Chris Paton’s talk on Discover Scottish Genealogy as I had heard it before and went instead to the Meet the Captain session (I always like to know who is driving the ship)! The other ship offering I attended before the talks after lunch was the Tour of the Kitchens which was amazing in every sense of the word. They give you a four page handout with various facts including how much food is eaten each week (40,000 eggs is just one example). There are dedicated areas to all the various kinds of meals eg soups in the soup kitchen, huge dishwashers one for china and one for glassware, lots of staff and the head chef gave us a brief chat and of course, there is the ship cookbook which I must have a look at.

We had lunch on the Lido Deck at the Terrace Grill (overlooks the pool area at the top of the ship) and I had my first cheeseburger (may even be my last, the pickle seems odd) and it is easy to see the Volendam is an American ship which usually caters for that market. I like my burgers with beetroot but then I also realise that not all Aussies like beetroot.

Then it was off to the Hudson Room for an afternoon of talks. To avoid having too lengthy blogs I am splitting the genealogy component out and putting that on my website. My report of the sessions is here. Just before the 4.00pm talk, the ship was due to circle around White Island which is an active volcano and I simply had to go out on deck and see that. We went up into the bow area with lots of others to get a really close look and the ship actually circled around the island several times and at one point stopped off shore at the area where the volcano is most visible. But this meant I missed the last two talks of the day and I had wanted to hear them – like any genealogy conference you make choices but it is hard.

It was a formal night tonight with everyone dressing up for dinner but we had already decided not to attend the dinner in the Rotterdam dining room with the other UTP cruisers. We were sneaking off for a private, romantic, celebratory dinner at the Pinnacle Grill (each UTP person was given a gift voucher to try out this pay restaurant on board). Now before all the romantics leap to conclusions, it was not that kind of event. It is three years since Max’s major surgery for cancer and we like to take time out to reflect on the last few years and to plan ahead. We should have known you can’t hide on a ship and as we had been seated in one of the restaurant’s windows (internal), we were spotted by none other than Alan Phillips!

The Pinnacle Grill was a fantastic choice as the staff were friendly, the food amazing and perhaps too much (four different kinds of bread, three kinds of salt to try (and I don’t even eat salt but loved those three), natural iced water was automatically put on the table, there were lots of choices but we couldn’t go past the seafood and the desserts were so good. After a delicious scallop in pumpkin puree, we had an entree of smoked salmon, with fresh salmon and prawn with an amazing wasabi cream followed by a small lobster with butter sauce, mango coulis (feel like I’m describing a Masterchef show) with fresh asparagus & hollandaise plus an Idaho potato with the works (garlic butter, sour cream, bacon and chives). Desserts (shared) were a cherry bombe Alaska and a divine chocolate lava cake. We went for a bit of a walk on deck afterwards!!

I was a little put out at first that the Pinnacle Grill didn’t have any Australian and New Zealand wines to choose from on their wine list – mostly American and French. However, when we travel we always try to have the cuisine and drinks of the country we are visiting so as we were on an American ship, we decided to go American. I ended up selecting a very nice chardonnay from Washington (the State not the city) and was pleased with the choice as it complemented the seafood perfectly.

We had such a great time we will probably go back to the Pinnacle Grill again before the end of the cruise – even though it is a paying restaurant on board, you could have everything we ate for just $25 per person. Amazing value for a delicious meal with excellent service in a quiet venue!

After our walk it was back to our cabin to read up on visiting Tauranga, our port of call tomorrow. There are only two talks tomorrow night, I’m doing one on asylums and Rosemary is doing one on directories and almanacs. 

Genealogy notes 21 Nov 2011 Monday in Auckland, then the Volendam

NB This diary is being written daily, but depending on internet access may not be published daily.

After checking out of our hotel, we made our way to the Auckland Central Library where there was another on shore seminar with Dr Perry McIntyre and Dr Richard Reid.  The Library was having a massive book sale with everything just $2.00NZ and to completely avoid temptation, I didn’t even look!

I didn’t attend Perry or Richard’s talks as I will get to hear them during the trip. I wanted to do some research in the AucklandResearch Centre looking up some names in their card indexes. I put in my usual plea that these indexes should be data entered and put on line but of course the Library has the usual resource restraints and things take time.

After the seminar ended, we then trundled our suitcases down to the wharf where we had our first sighting of the Volendam. Amazingly there were no queues and we filled in all the paperwork, handed over our suitcases and passed the various check points and went straight to our cabin. We then spent a bit of time exploring the ship, before we joined the other Unlock thePast ‘cruisers’ for dinner.

What a choice for dinner – appetisers, soups, salads, entrees, mains and desserts so choosing was a bit difficult. I ended up with a shrimp cocktail and a rib eye steak and as it was first night, I had dessert – red velvet cake all washed down with a glass (or two) of Rosemount chardonnay.

After the dinner was the Welcome session for all Unlock the Past ‘cruisers’ where registration kits and name tags were handed out along with a complimentary copy of Inside History for those who had not seen the magazine before. As I am the first speaker of the cruise at 8.00am tomorrow, I checked out the main theatre with Rosemary and also the other smaller room. Then I went back to the cabin to have a quick run through my talk.

The Volendam left Auckland at midnight but I didn’t hear it although Max said he heard tugs hooting etc. There are lots of talks tomorrow as it is a day at sea, although we do sail around the scenic CoromandelPeninsula.