We unfortunately need to change our itinerary because of Typhoon Gabrielle down here in the Southern Hemisphere, so you all will be getting another refund because we are missing the next three ports in New Zealand. They are Wellington, Picton, and New Plymouth. We will be booking it through the Cook Strait which separates the North Island of New Zealand from the South Island. We then make a bee line to an added port in Australia, that of Melbourne.
The Captain summoned everyone to the theatre and explained our situation. He then asked for a vote to change course and avoid the Storm.
His voice rang out loud and clear, “All in favor?”
A thunderous reply was heard from the passengers as they all raised their hands in agreement,
“Yea!”
He then asked in a much lower, quizzical-type voice, “Anyone opposed?”
“Nay,” was my rather lonely reply as I meekly raised my hand.
Glaring at me while delivering the Verdict, “The Yea’s have it! We are changing course; we will throw all the coal into the burners, and it’ll be Full Steam Ahead for the next 36 hours!
Still glaring down at me he said, “Mr. Hall, you may report to the Chief Engineer for your new duty as a Coal Stoker in the engine room.” I came this close to having some adventure on the High Seas, but nooo, we have to go and change course! We may get a little bit of excitement when we exit the Cook Strait into the Tasman Sea.
I will keep you informed in between my shifts down in the Engine Room.
I’m going to warn you in advance that this is going to be one of those lessons learned that you never even knew that you needed to know.
But, for those that really only want to know about the city of Auckland, I shall start there.
Come visit.
There…. That’s done.
No, really, it’s that simple!
The Auckland that we briefly visited today was entirely engaging. We took the Hop On / Hop Off double-decker bus around. Initially, we stayed on for the entire circuit, and then went back around and stopped where we wanted to. First, I should point out that Auckland is indeed, a city. But it is a small city, so our circuitous route only lasted about 45 minutes and that included the stops to let numerous people on and off. There was no Red, Blue, or Yellow Routes (like NYC) to worry about…. just one route. The entire city seemed to be neat and tidy, the streets a lot cleaner than most other cities we (or you) have been to. If the quality (?) of stores that are available to the general public shows anything about the economics of the area, you will be pleased to know that I saw both Van Cleef & Arpels, and Tiffanys retail stores. So, I guess they’re doing ok!
One thing to note about Auckland is that they have done a wonderful job of folding their more modern skyscrapers in with their historic buildings. These modern structures seem to have a certain “effort of design” about them, they are not just concrete and glass monolithic structures, there is a style and grace about them, some with artistic arcs and curves incorporated.
So now that you know all that, there should be nothing stopping you to hop on down here for a visit! You know that you’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand!
The one real stop that we went to was the Auckland War Memorial War Museum. This is not primarily a war museum, although they did have a wonderful floor dedicated to New Zealand’s efforts in both WWI and WWII. The building was constructed and named as a war memorial, hence the name. It houses an incredible collection of Māori artifacts complete with historical narrations that explain everything from the diaspora of the Māori, to the practical uses of said artifacts.
Their story starts back in Southeast Asia along with the rest of their Polynesian “relatives”. It is a fairly recent story, starting about 5000 years ago, these peoples ventured out and traveled from island to island growing their cultures and language. As they advanced and became separated, the language that they used started to morph slightly, but it retained the “gist” of the original. Remember back in Hawaii I told you that our tour guide (who was Hawaiian) told us that even though all the islanders could not speak the other’s languages, they could understand the basics of what they were saying?
Everything has a story to tell. Everything has a past and this past is one of the things that make this culture so vivid and enriching at the same time. I will attempt to explain, and give you just a short example.
This is the story of mussels, cockles, sharks, whales, and seaweed and how, and why, they ended up where they are located on the shore.
Long ago the shellfish children of Hinemoana (the Ocean Maid, note the name Moana in that word….. How about that animated movie we all watch with our grandchildren, Moana?
Anyway, these shellfish children were taken to the rocks who sheltered them beneath their relatives, the seaweeds. One day a fierce quarrel started between the mussels and the cockle’s tribes. The cockles fled to the beach where they dug themselves into the sand. When the mussels tried to attack and thrust out their tongues, they were filled with sand, and they were forced to go back to the rocks. This fighting was being watched by the whales and sharks who said to each other, “Let’s attack the cockle tribe and scoop them up when they poke out their heads”. But when the cockles saw them coming, they burrowed deep down into the sand and so the whales were stranded on the beach.
And that is why the mussels still cling to the rocks, and the cockles are found buried in the sand, and the greatest creatures of the sea still strand themselves chasing the children of Hinemoana.
How’s that for explaining why and how things have come to pass!
Now it’s time to learn something.
Something that should not be as revolutionary as it is, but none the less, it is something that I’ve not witnessed before.
New Zealand has completely accepted the fact that they did not get here first. That honor belongs to the Māori people. They arrived here around 900 years ago and were firmly in control by the time that the Europeans got here.
The remarkable thing is that there seems to be an attitude directly opposite of what has occurred the world over when non-indigenous folks move in. In the American West and in Australia (to name probably the top two) the native inhabitants were not treated as they should have been. By now this is a well-known fact, but now still, at times, there seems to be just lip service given to these people who were here way before any of the rest of us showed up. The move was to be to have them be assimilated into our society, abandoning their own religions, beliefs, and ways of life.
Here in New Zealand, the direct opposite comes shining through and as far as we could see, is well accepted. The push here is to bring the Māori way to the forefront.
The street signs are labeled in both English and Māori.
The writings around town are printed in both languages, (with Māori first!)
The customs are celebrated by both races and the westerners embrace the Māori’s culture and celebrate right along with their neighbors.
Everyone knows what the original Māori names of the places here and uses them interchangeably with the newer English names.
It’s a good thing that Peter Jackson is from NewZealand and had his homeland in mind before presenting his idea for filming The Lord of the Rings to prospective studios. It’s also a good thing that New Line Cinema could see his vision and say, “This is not one movie, it’s at least three!” If you’ve seen this epic movie, you have an idea of just some of the things that we will be able to see here in New Zealand.
Most of the grander scenes were filmed on the South Island which we will just visit the northern tip of. But throughout this incredible place you can envision what Peter had in mind before he started filming. We will attempt to show you what we can from our limited excursion experiences.
We arrive first at the Bay of Islands, the site of New Zealand’s beginnings in the modern era. By that I mean the early 1800’s, The Māori people arrived about 900 years before that and were quite settled before Captain James Cook came and said “Hi!” The colonists soon followed, along with the customs and needs that they brought from the homelands. The British signed the Treaty of Waitangi in a field directly at the place where we disembarked later in the morning., back in1840. This treaty with the Māori granted them ownership of their lands and other properties and also gave them rights as British subjects while Britain gained all of New Zealand. You will be pleased to know that the present-day descendants of those first settlers treat the Māori with a ton of respect, know a lot of (and use) their language, and admit to the fact they were, in fact, here first.
This is another “Tender” port, meaning that we need to be shuttled back and forth between the ship and the mainland pier, which in this case is about a mile and a half away! This means a one-way trip of about a half-hour or so.
We can use only four of our Lifeboats as tenders as these four are the only ones with two engines which not only is a safety feature, but two engines are quite critical when it comes to facilitating docking and rendezvousing with the ship. Two engines allow the coxswain to put one in forward, while reversing the other, hence helping to turn the tender without having to use the rudder (which is ineffectual at a slow speed with no water passing over it).
It is going to be a long day.
But…. the sail into the Bay of Islands was spectacular! We had several dolphins come over to the ship to greet us, but they were difficult to understand because of their heavy New Zealand accents.
We snuck onto one of the earlier Tenders, just because.
Well….. it was going to be probably another hour until our tender was going to be called, so I just kind of “hung around” the gangway area until they needed a few extra folks to fill in spots that were left after the boat was filled with the Official Excursions leaving at that time. We had some time on the front end of our excursion as it did not depart the pier in town until around 1:00 pm (it was presently about 10:30 am) and we wanted to have enough time to get into the small town of Paihia (pronounced Pie-HE-ah) before our tour left.
We were booked on “A Leisurely Cruise of the Bay of Islands, Lunch, and a Hour in Russel.” That is a perfect description of what we experienced yesterday afternoon. The Captain/Owner had built this barge style craft himself. It is a purpose-built vessel, perfectly designed for what it’s used for. There are even “tables” that slide down from the ceiling on stainless steel poles so that we did not need to hold the plates of food on our laps.
Perhaps the best part of this trip was getting to know some other passengers. The captain made us all introduce ourselves, which at first felt like we were back in kindergarten but after a few wines and beers that is exactly what we were acting like (except me!). We became friendly enough, and had nice conversations with at least two other couples, enough to invite them to our table for a future dinner with us. One of the couples, Sally and Paul, actually out-do us in the motorhome and living department! They live on their sailboat in California and keep two Sprinter Campers…. one here in the Staes and the other one is in Europe!
The rest of our little ride was quite nice. It is obvious from the number of sailboats the New Zealand is enamored with sailing as a nation. As a matter of fact, they are the current holders of the America’s Cup, and have been for some years now after finally breaking the USA’s grip on it. The America’s Cup is the oldest continuously contested sporting event in the world, having begun in 1851. We held onto it until the 1980’s when New Zealand finally beat us. We won it back a few yarrs later, but they came storming back and have kept it ever since.
Our tour of the Bay of Islands covered a miniscule part of it…….. this place is huge!
Our eventual destination for the remainder of the afternoon was the delightful little town of Russel. Russel was the first capital of New Zealand, but you would never know it by its now bucolic, lazy seaside lifestyle. It is now a comfortable destination for folks on vacation, which is NOW, as it is summer down here! It is also one of the Marlin Catching Capitals of the World and has nestled into its main drag, one of the oldest Marlin fishing clubs in the world. The author Zane Grey, after publishing The Angler’s El Dorado in 1926, is credited with highlighting the fishing of this part of New Zealand and the rest of his “fishing buddies” (readers!) in the world followed him here.
Anyway, we discovered a little ice cream place right near the Fishing club. Good stuff! We need just a tad of desert after our lunch on board. They prepare and cook everything on the stern of the boat. There is a galley of sorts back there to cook the likes of fresh caught fish of the day, local venison, and of course, New Zealand Lamb!
After re-boarding the SS Food Barge, we started back to the pier in Waitangi to catch our shuttle back to the ship.
We were the last shuttle to leave the pier, but no worries, mate! We were on a Princess Excursion, so the BIG Boat waits for us!
We did arrive at our table late, but our friends Darla and Sandra (the Girls) were waiting patiently as was our award winning servers, Richard and Kevin.
Yes, it was in fact, a long, (but really nice!) day.
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow – Shirelles / Carole King – 1960
These are statements and questions that will never be known on this ship as the International Date Line will be crossed tomorrow!
But…. is there really a Tomorrow?
I will not go into the mechanics of the IDL again, you would all revolt and throw your phones, iPads, and laptops against the wall! (desktops would just be smashed)
I wonder if there are customs that come with losing a day… like a girl being able to propose to a guy on Batchelor’s Day, traditionally observed on February 29th or Leap Year, obviously once only every four years. Sadie Hawkins Day (November 13th) is sometimes confused with that Batchelor’s Day, (which started with St. Patrick and St. Bridget back in the 5th century) because they have that same goal.
What if your birthday is on the day that you cross the IDL …… do you not age, or do you age quicker? I guess it depends on which way you are traveling…. do we get a “Do-Over” ?
What if you go back and forth across the line within a 24-hour period? That could really mess up your life!
The answers to these and all things ‘Time Travel’ related will be revealed after we cross the IDL…… but the most important item is still the last one asked by the great Carole King…….
Apparently in the Samoan dialect, every time there is a “G” it is preceded by an “N” phonetically. So now we know how to pronounce it.
Samoa vs American Samoa.
Way back in the day (1800’s) the Islands were ruled by Chieftains like most of the islands in the South Pacific. Along come the Europeans and Americans with desires unknown to the local population. Soon the Chieftains were making deals with the various foreign countries for locally obvious reasons, which caused the other Chieftains get pissed off, jealous, and downright warlike. Some civil strife ensued until the various Tribes fell in line with the uninvited foreign “Friends”. The three largest countries vying for influence in this group of Islands were Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By the late 1800’s the two big contenders were the US and Germany. The US Navy made a deal with the eastern Samoan islands for a Naval Base at Pago Pago, which has a wonderful harbor. Eventually the western Samoan islands became independent but the eastern ones were reluctant to cut their ties with the United States who provided protection and was a valuable trade partner.
Now the craziness ensues.
These two island groups are very close to each other and obviously share a past history. They are only about 135 miles away from each other but……
The International Date Line passes directly between them! This line is not set by international treaty, but by where a particular country wants to be located with respect to it. And this has everything to do with economics! Back in the beginning of all of this western influence, the eastern islands (which had that harbor at Pago Pago) were convinced by their industrial partners in the western US to be aligned on this side of the IDL. Well that was all well and good until the early 2000’s when the western islands (named just Samoa) who dealt primarily with New Zealand, Japan , and China, decided to “jump the line”. Their Head Guy proposed that they switch to the other side of the IDL which would put them on the same day as their trade partners. So, on December 30, 2011, they jumped one day ahead, blew away December 31st, and made the transition to the beginning of the IDL, a full 24 hours in front of their neighbors American Samoa.
Phew! You guys still with me?
To make things even more confusing, but in reality, makes sense, is that the IDL is not a Time Zone boundary. It passes almost evenly down through the Apia Standard Time Zone. The IDL roughly follows the 180-degree line of longitude which is the direct opposite of the Prime Meridian that runs through Greenwich, England at 0 degrees longitude. So, this whole thing is about 12 hours difference from England, located directly opposite on the earth.
Sort of.
As I have demonstrated, these lines can be moved (somewhat) for the practical convenience of a particular nation or area.
By now, all of your eyes are glazing over and you’re all saying, C’mon Don! Just show us the pretty pictures!
No worries, they’re on their way! But I’ll bet anything that you’ve all secretly wondered how the International Date Line works! We pass through it tomorrow on our way to New Zealand but since we are traveling south (not east or west) to get there, we stay within this particular Time Zone, so no need to change the clocks for a couple of weeks.
The nice folks here in American Samoa are quite content with their status as a US Territory. This designation affords them certain benefits such as protection and a quasi-relationship with us. They are “Nationals” which is not the same as citizens. You and I are citizens and by that nature, we are also “Nationals”. The opposite is not true, a “National” is not a citizen, although the route to citizenship, if they choose, is much simpler. American Samoa has a non-voting elected member in the House of Representatives. They also have a local government similar in structure to ours, with a Senate and House, and President. But the real Big Kahuna is the President of the United States.
Guess what company and/or industry employs about one third of the local population?
Remember good ol’ Charlie the Tuna?
Yup! Starkist has two production factories here and exports approximately 200,000 tons of tuna annually.
That’s a lot of Charlie’s!
The rest of the population is roughly divided in half with one sector working for the government and the rest in private enterprise. About 44,000 people inhabit the five islands that this Territory is composed of.
And….. there is a U.S. National Park here!
Get that Stamp in your Park System Passport!
The Park has within its boundaries, (on several Islands) rainforests, coral reefs, archeological sites, and the many cultural resources of this area.
Our tour was a family affair, Mom, Dad, and one of five siblings being involved. To say that they were ecstatic to see us would be an understatement! We were just the second ship to visit since the Covid Era and for an island that depends on this tourism as much as they do, (and it’s really only cruise ships) that hiatus was significant and was felt Island wide.
These Samoans could not have been nicer. You would expect that from the tour operators but to have the random walkers-by wave at our bus as it passed made quite the statement.
The Samoan people are quite proud of their heritage and customs, and rightfully so. But as many indigenous peoples are finding, their traditional ways are slowly eroding. The younger citizens are finding what they think is a better life off-island. Opportunities for the younger set are not as plentiful on the Island as on the Mainland, and who’s to blame them? So, the customs and traditions are being held onto as tightly as possible by the folks that are left behind. Samoan is the first language and English is a very close second. The US dollar is the currency of trade, so the bonds with the US are strong.
Interestingly, we could not have purchased property on the island, even if we wanted to. Only native Samoans may own land and that is mostly passed on from generation to generation. The entire county is divided up into Villages, each with its own Chief. There is no need for any crime prevention as there really isn’t any. They just won’t stand for it, everyone knows everybody else, and the family humiliation is enough of a deterrent to keep people from having a life of crime. There is a curfew every night and at about 6:30 pm until 6:45 or so, the entire island stops and gives thanks to God for all of their Blessings. It is asked that if you are on-island at that time that you respect this custom of theirs. The only caveat to this wonderful tradition is that you need not stop driving at that time.
Maybe the world could take a few lessons from these delightful people!
Once again, I heard little screams coming from the photos that did not make the initial “cut” for inclusion in one of the Posts. In order not to have them all rebel and threaten to send my computer into the “Blue Screen of Death” mode, here they are for your viewing pleasure. Do not be surprised if when you opened this post you heard little cheers erupting from your speakers. They are very proud of themselves now. They would appreciate a small round of applause when their show is over.
We studied the laminated placards that were available at the Island for identifying the various species of critters that inhabit these waters. Some nice photos with identifying descriptions are found below.
Because yesterday in Moorea made up for the previous day in Tahiti by about 4.6 million times!
After crawling back to our stateroom after the 4×4 Waterfalland Bone Crunching Excursion, we wisely rethought the next day’s outing on Moorea. It was scheduled to be another “4-Wheeled Expedition into the Wilds of Moorea.” It may have been ok, but who wants to take that chance!
Down to the nice folks at the Excursion Desk where I began, “Bless me Father for I have made a mistake….. and I’d like to cancel an Excursion after your Cancel Deadline has passed and sign up for something different….. anything but the 4×4 Torture Ride!”
The kind Excursion Person took pity on me as I was smart enough to first go down to Sick Bay and borrow a ton of Ace Bandages.
Looking something akin to the Mummy, I poured my heart out to them explaining the Dilemma. After they granted our wishes, I appeared to have a Miraculous Recovery and I thanked them for their life-saving work.
We were now booked on a Boat Ride (!) to an island for snorkeling, lunch, and some other South Sea Island Sun-Related traditional activities…. Yay!
Now this is what we wanted! It had been sold out before, hence the possible 4×4 debacle. Passengers change their minds all the time, so availability changes constantly…..luckily for us!
This was a Tender Port. It has nothing to do with the quality of the steaks that we had for dinner. In this case, the ‘Tender’ was one of our Lifeboats (four of them actually) that transferred us from our anchorage out in the bay, to the pier on land which was not large enough for a Cruise Ship. This is a rather lengthy process as only 150 peeps can fit in one of these boats, and even though there were four of them, they can only be loaded one at a time. But the Staff is well versed in this process, and it went smoothly. This also illustrates why some Tender Ports get cancelled because of rough seas upon arriving in said Port. Yesterday was relatively calm, but there was still enough movement in the water to make getting on and off the Tender somewhat tricky. There are obviously several crewmates stationed to help you out….. and this is not the time to be macho and try it yourself. If you fall between the two vessels (one that weighs 97,000 tons and the other about 20 tons) guess what happens to a 200+ pound idiot.
Yup! You are now something that can fit into a tuna can!
Our ride out to the Island lasted about twenty minutes. We were kept entertained by the incredible staff of this organization. We learned Tahitian lore, words, and songs, some jokes, and other tid-bits that kept us laughing all the way.
The waters were just like the Travel Brochure! And we could see the Palm Trees swaying in the South Seas Breezes!
Mission Accomplished!
When we disembarked on this island, we found an entire complex devoted to exactly what the excursion described only about 1000 times better! There were picnic tables conveniently situated under those swaying palm trees, an entire outdoor kitchen facility, incredibly clean (especially for a random island) bathrooms and of course, the Coral Garden just waiting for Jacques Cousteau to arrive.
Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, as I’m sure that Jacques has seen some good stuff, but our enthusiasm could not be dampened!
We immediately claimed one of the smaller picnic tables, (waterside of course) for our own, and proceeded to get our masks ready for discovery. They did not have any fins available and since we could stand up in most places, they were not necessary. Which in hindsight, may have been a blessing because the current coming through this strait (another island was directly across from ours) was quite swift. Walking hunched over was very effective and far less worrisome as being swept out to sea (even in these wonderful South Seas) was not desirable.
I’m sure that the Excursions Desk would have rightfully frowned upon a refund to our heirs!
I would be remiss if your South Seas Knowledge Master Class was not added to, at least a little bit!
Moorea, pronounced MOE-oh-ray-uh, (because in Tahitian dialects, every letter of their alphabet is pronounced) is about twice as old as her neighbor Tahiti, which is only about twelve miles away. Remember those “Hot Spots” in the earth’s crust? Well, Moorea traveled over it way before Tahiti did and I guess Tahiti spent more time over it as Tahiti is more than three times the size of Moorea.
Moorea is also thought to be the inspiration for the idyllic Bali Hai, the fictional island in South Pacific which was visible directly across from the Navy base in the story.
It’s no wonder that Lieutenant Cable was so mesmerized by the sight of it!
You were booked on the Discover Tahiti’s Papenoo Valley, Countless Waterfalls, and Lush Interior by Four-Wheel Drive Excursion.
In fairness, the description of this Excursion was rated Strenuous, but hey, how ‘strenuous’ can it be, to be a passenger in a vehicle?
We will let you know as soon as we get out of Traction for our backs and other assorted bodily maladies.
Who knew that they described this Excursion accurately? Usually, they over rate them so that no one can say that they weren’t warned. And besides….. there wasn’t any sun! I have yet to see a Travel Brochure of Tahiti that didn’t have Bright Blue Sunny Skies and palm trees swaying in the balmy South Pacific breezes.
“But Don, how do you think that these Islands get so lush and green? Osmosis? Photoshop? or just plain good ol’ Chamber of Commerce marketing?”
Yea…. but still!
We wanted the ‘Brochure Look’!
So, I have no photos of the aforementioned attributes of Tahiti for you to peruse through. What I do have is some pretty cool sights, albeit without the bright blue Tropical Skies, etc. prominently featured.
The day started promising. Some strategically placed clouds shrouding the peaks of the mountains with just enough mystery to make them noteworthy. The morning was rather sunny, until we started our journey up the coast to the Papenoo Valley that works its way into the interior of the major volcano that forms Tahiti.
Yes, these Islands follow a similar path that the Hawaiian Islands do. They travel over a “Hot Spot” in the Earth’s crust and in a few million years, and Poof! Out pops an Island!
(Remember your ‘Plate Tectonics’ lesson from a few posts ago?)
Our driver, Hutu, was a full-blooded Tahitian with English as his third language after Tahitian, (a Polynesian dialect) French, (this is French Polynesia) and then English. He was very friendly and did his best to teach us about everything that we were seeing, especially all of the tropical plants, along with their myriads of uses that the Islanders have discovered over the centuries of living here. We made numerous stops along the road (?) that we were on. He would screech to a halt, jump out, and run into the bush, reappearing with some green thing that we were first quizzed on, and then told exactly what it was.
There will be no quiz on the flora of this Island as I did not pay that much attention…. they were vegetables.
Oh……did I mention that it was the Rainy Season? All I can say is that it was a good thing that our Tahitian “Road-Warrior Beach Buggy” had a roof over the eight of us crammed into the back of it. It rained (poured?) several times as we whizzed over the potholes that cratered the access road. Interestingly, we did pass a few crews doing some weed-whacking work.
Way out there.
They were doing a wonderful job and it looked great!
Back home we can’t get the major roads looking this good!
The waterfalls were impressive, it just would have been more impressive if they had been sparkling in some South Seas Sunlight!
But, they weren’t. That’s not Hutu’s fault, nor is it the Tour Operator’s, so we all made the best of it by cracking appropriate jokes along the way as only four couples suffering in similar circumstances can. Here’s one of our issues….
Long, four+ hour trip.
Bumpy roads.
Average age of 65+
No bathrooms.
Did I mention Bumpy Roads and Old Bladders?
It’s a good thing I’m a guy with an expensive camera that went looking for “Photo Ops” down the road! I’m the only one that did not make a beeline for the bathroom upon our return!
After we arrived back at the ship, had lunch, and put our spines back together, we took a walk around town a bit. There are the usual markets and other places of business that you will find in a regular city. I say ‘regular’ because that’s just what it is. To many, many people this is just home. It’s where they work and play. Yes, these cities are tourist destinations, but to really get a feel for anywhere you need to get into the countryside. But it felt good to just walk upright and not be bouncing around!
So, that was our day yesterday. Today we travel the twelve or so miles across the sea to Moorea, the sister Island to Tahiti. The weather looks a tad more promising, and we exchanged our excursion from another Four-Wheel Escapade for a nice, relaxing, lunch outing on a boat destined for a hopefully bright and sunny beach with little colorful fishies nibbling at our toes.
As usual, you will be the first to know.
And you can contact the fine folks at the Chatterbox Travel Agency for your refunds.