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| Meeting Report September 2005 | ||||||||
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| At our September meeting on Monday 5th we were pleased to welcome back Peter and Christine Ives. Peter and Christine visit us in September and share the visits they have made during the year. This year they visited New Zealand and Australia over the Christmas/ New Year period. This is the summer �down under� but they were a little disappointed with the weather. The shipping they thought was not up to expectations but certainly gave us a good insight into the shipping scene down the east coast of both islands during their two week stay, such that the slides taken in Australia will make up another show! They started their tour in Auckland where we viewed the cruise ship Sapphire Princess paying a visit. Also shown were the naval ships in the Devonport Navy Dockyard including the old Leander class frigate Canterbury and the replenishment ship Endevour. Peter then took us to Marsden Point oil refinery, the only refinery in New Zealand, near Whangarei where just one tanker was berthed. We were then taken down the east coast visiting Whangarei which imports clinker for the |
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| local cement works , Tauranga where there is a container port and bulk carriers visiting the timber wharfs as well as visitors to the chemical works. Napier has a refer container and timber and wood chip berths. Also shown was an ex UK life boat identified as the Waveney class lifeboat John Fison from our own Essex port of Harwich. We then visited Wellington prior to the journey across the strait to Picton on the south island. Here we saw the memorial to the loss of the Wahine. At Picton we were shown a lifeboat from the Mikhail Lermentov another victim of this dangerous coast. From Picton we moved to Port Nelson, Timaru and Lyttelton , (port of Christchurch) which has a container berth RoRo facilities, and bulk terminals for fertilizer, oil and coal exports. Our last port of call was Port Chalmers (Dunedin), which handles containers and bulk wood chips. Our journey was all the more appealing for the magnificent scenery viewed throughout. It was also interesting to note the high level of fishing being carried out from the majority of ports compared to the ever declining British fishing fleet. We thank Peter and Christine for interrupting their busy life schedules to share their holiday with us. We look forward to the fruits of next years trip and to seeing this years visit to Australia in due course. | ||||||||