It’s hard to believe that a week on the 10th Unlock the Past cruise has passed by already. But what’s harder to believe is how many more days are still left.

So the adventures continue with the ship stopping at Dunedin and Fiordland where we saw Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound (ok, technically it didn’t stop, but we gently sailed through them) and then it was time to leave New Zealand and head for Australia.

Day 7 – Dunedin (Saturday 20 February 2016)
While I have visited New Zealand previously, I hadn’t been to the South Island at all, so everything there was new to me, including Dunedin. This was also the next stop for shore seminars for the Unlock the Past team, but for me it was a day to explore again. We docked at the freight yard and were bused into Dunedin city. The city map I was given showed that there was a Cadbury Chocolate Factory in the city centre, so being the chocoholic that I am, that’s where I headed first. Not only do they have a shop with “Cadbury” everything, but I was able to do tour of the factory, getting samples along the way … of course. After exploring a few more streets and shops I headed back to the port, after which I then decided to walk up a big hill that overlooked the harbour the dockyards. Why I still don’t know – but  I did. And the view was spectacular, which was just as well, after all that effort. The ship left Dunedin at 5pm and headed for The Sounds, but at around 7pm we were turning around and the Captain advised that there had been a medical emergency with a passenger onboard and we needed to return to Dunedin. We actually didn’t make all the way back to Dunedin as a medivac helicopter came (yes, the ship even has a helipad) and took the passenger off to hospital. So we lost a little time, but we continued on toward The Sounds. Judy Russell was up again for the evening talk. This one was titled “Feme sole, feme covert: Women under the common law” which was about women, and finding their records. Feme sole is the term used for a 21 year old women who was unmarried (which includes those who were divorced or widowed), while Feme covert is the term use if they were married. Judy said that term “covert” essentially means hidden and once a women was married records for her become harder to find, as they are in her husbands name (ie. Mrs William Smith) – we all know about that don’t we, and the frustration it causes!! But Judy gave many fabulous examples of way to be able to find these women – including looking for records through the men and listed oodles of record types  where you may well find them. Now I just need to find some time to search for all the women ancestors.

Celebrity Solstice docked at Dunedin

the Cadbury factory in Dunedin, New Zealand

the original Cadbury milk truck from the early 1900s

free samples from the Cadbury tour

the Scottish Pipe Band competition was on, on the day we were in Dunedin

the view of (half of) the ship from the top of the big hill

view of Dunedin harbour from the top of the big hill

the Anglican Holy Trinity Church,
Port Chalmers, Dunedin

Rosemary and Eric Kopittke

Judy G. Russell talking about Feme Sole, Feme Covert

Day 8 – Fiordland (Sunday 21 February 2016)
After leaving Dunedin and heading to The Sounds (also known as Fiordland) we were hit with rough seas … which wasn’t fun for anyone. I didn’t hear of anyone actually getting seasick, but I’m sure there were a few. It was very much a case of if you weren’t holding on to something when moving around, you were likely to go flying. After leaving the sea, and heading into Fiordland, the rough seas subsided and in fact it went dead calm. Our day in Fiordland was a tourist sea day so no talks were scheduled. It was a day to sit on the ship and watch all the scenery of  The Sounds.

Jan Gow had the evening talk which was titled “Gadget Janet: 12 Devices or Programs that Will Turn your Computer Into a Friend Instead of a Foe”. Covering: cameras, smartphones, tablets, Flip-Pal scanner, scanner mouse, voice records, pen Livescribe and more … there are lots of tech tools that you can use to help you with your genealogy and research.

the seas were rough coming around the bottom of New Zealand

but was dead calm when we got to Dusky Sound.
This is the view from my cabin

a selfie at Milford Sound

Milford Sound is stunning!

Day 9 – At Sea (Monday 22 February 2016)
After our easy day of visiting The Sounds, we had two full days of talks. Of the 8 talks scheduled during the day, I sat in on 7 of them:
– Internet searching from go to woah! Or is it woe? (Jan Gow)
– Government, police and education gazettes (Rosemary Kopittke)
– Discovering your Irish roots part 2 (Paul Blake)
– It’s no tall online: where else can I look (Shauna Hicks)
– Australian women in the First World War (Marg Doherty)
– Of public wrongs: our common scoundrels (Judy Russell)
– Using life events and ages to solve genealogy problems (Louis Kessler)

The last session of the day wasn’t a talk as such, but rather a panel discussion on “Future Proofing Your Genealogy” which covered topics such as genealogy software, paper vs digitising, and what happens to your research when you die. These topics where discussed by Jan Gow, Judy Russell, Shauna Hicks, Paul Blake, Helen Smith, and Louis Kessler each giving their views … and to say that it was a lively discussion would be an understatement. The one hour time slot for the panel discussion came and went, and it would have kept going all night if we couldn’t. It was a topic that everyone was interested in.

And I couldn’t write about today without making mention that it was also one of three formal nights on our cruise. Actually on this ship it is it is now no longer called “formal night” but rather “evening chic” – a night to dress up and eat in the snazzy dining room. It really isn’t my style, but I did say I’d do it once … so I did. And while the food was fine, the company was lovely.

the formal dining room on the Celebrity Solstice

one end of our formal dinner table:
Judy G. Russell, Helen Smith, Jennie Fairs, Maureen Trotter

Jan Gow, Louis Kessler and Alona Tester at the formal dinner

the “Future Proofing Your Genealogy” panel
Jan Gow, Judy G. Russell, Shauna Hicks, Helen Smith, Paul Blake and Louis Kessler

Day 10 – At Sea (Tuesday 23 February 2016)
Our second day in row of talks and I made it to 7 of the 9 talks.
– Mining ancestors: knowing where to look (Shauna Hicks)
– Using timelines in genealogical research (Helen Smith)
– Organizing your genealogy computer files … the better way to do it (Louis Kessler)
– Preservation or perish (Diane Foster)
– Protestant nonconformity in England and Wales part 2 (Paul Blake)
– ABCs of DNA (Judy Russell)
– Beyond just indexes (Rosemary Kopittke)
It was an amazing day day of learning covering so many different aspects of genealogy, which you can tell simply from the titles. But I can guarantee you that there no new step records for me today – it just doesn’t happen when you sit on your butt and listen to talks all day!!

Shauna Hicks speaking on Mining Ancestors

Louis Kessler speaking on Organizing our genealogy computer files

Judy G. Russell speaking about the ABCs of DNA

sunset

the Celebrity Solstice grand staircase at night

Related Posts:
10th Unlock the Past Cruise: Days 1-3 Embarking, Roses and Glow-worms
10th Unlock the Past Cruise: Days 4-6 Genealogy, Crazy Wind and Step Record

The 10th Unlock the Past cruise continues. And the days continue to fly by faster than I can write posts with slow internet. Anyway here is a summary of days 4-6 happenings for you.

Day 4 – At Sea (Wednesday 17 February 2016)
Wednesday was our first proper conference day, with seven talks scheduled throughout the day, and as is the case with all Unlock the Past cruises, you simply pick and choose what you want to go to. I sat in on four of them.
–    How to improve research with source-based genealogy (Louis Kessler)
–    In their own words: using government enquiries (Helen Smith)
–    The common poor: transported, indentured, enslaved (Judy Russell)
–    Love, sex and damn lies (Shauna Hicks)
Louis discussed the way of using sources to create a tree, rather than having a name and then finding the sources afterwards. Helen spoke about finding records that are written in your ancestors “own words”. Apart from diaries and letters, there are a number of records like newspapers, criminal records (eg. Old Bailey contains transcripts of the court proceedings) – these are people’s “own words”. Judy’s talk the common poor opened everyone’s eye to the many records that are available for the poor. Shauna’s talk was one that suggested that if you have a person “disappear” there’s a good chance of a family skeleton.  It was a great day of learning, and we had our first Research Help Zone session, in which Judy gave me great tips for researching my Trewartha line in New Jersey. I’m looking forward to getting home and following up possible new leads.

Judy Russell

Louis Kessler

the Research Help Zone sessions

Day 5 – Wellington (Thursday 18 February 2016)
Thursday was a day at Wellington, and while the rest of the Unlock the Past team went ashore for a shore seminar, for me it was a day to explore to town. Docked at the freight port which is right next door to the Wellington Stadium, I simply hopped off the ship, was given a map, and wandered into Wellington. During my wandering I think I visited every souvenir shop around, and I did my part in supporting New Zealand’s local economy buying a few little things. While I could have taken a bus into the city rather than walk it, and probably in retrospect I would’ve, however my big long walk gave me a new “high step count”, and gave me an excuse to have some dessert at dinner. And I can’t write an entry about Wellington, without mentioning the wind. And I don’t just mean a “bit” windy. I mean the “you-have-to-hold-on-to-the-lightpole” kind of windy. It was phenomenal. However I have since been advised that Wellington is known as “Windy Wellington” and is said to be the windiest place in New Zealand. I believe it, but still it was a lovely place to visit. Back onboard during the afternoon, which gave me a little free time. Helen Smith gave a talk on the “Health of the ANZACs in the Great War” in the evening which gave a different aspect of military history to what you normally hear.

good morning Wellington

on top deck of the Celebrity Solstice, with Wellington in the background

view of the Wellington docks and stadium from the ship

view of Wellington from the ship

art sculpture in Wellington

an old building on the shorefront at Wellington

21,612 – a new step record for me

Day 6 – Akaroa (Friday 19 February 2016)
Another day, another place to explore. Akaroa is a small town on New Zealand’s East coast, and is about 1 1/2 hours away from Christchurch. As there was no port at Akaroa, we were tendered ashore in boats, which gave us a beautiful view of the ship. With a street of eating places, souvenir shops, and tour operators – it’s a cute town. After another tender boat ride back to the ship, I spent the afternoon onboard social mediaing. The talk for the evening was Paul Blake speaking on “Discovering Your Irish Roots Part 1”. I must day that one of the really great things about a cruise (as oppsed to other genie events) is that your have time to meet with others. You might sit with them at breakfast, lunch or tea, or go for a coffee or something stronger later and simply chat. Sometimes about genealogy, other times about anything else. It really is wonderful having the time to get to know people better.

Celebrity Solstice

A tender boat from Celebrity Solstice.
It looks tiny, but it can hold up to 150 people

Akaroa

a quiet moment onboard

evening on the ship

There’s plenty more cruise to come, so keep watching for more adventures …

Related posts:
10th Unlock the Past Cruise: Days 1-3 Embarking, Roses and Glow-worms

The 10th Unlock the Past cruise is well underway, but due to a combination of meetings, slow internet and touristing, this is my first chance to report on the goings-on so far.

So bear with me while I review the past few days.

Day 1 – Auckland, Embarkation (Sunday 14 February 2016)
The day went smooth enough after (eventually) getting breakfast at a cafe near our hotel. Don’t you just love it when your table gets forgotten? Anyway we got a couple of taxis from the hotel to the port squeezing seven of us and all of our luggage in (and I mean squeezing). Once there Paul Blake, Judy Russell and Helen Smith decided to explore Auckland some more prior to boarding, while the rest of the Unlock the Past team boarded, sussed out the Conference Room, and were having lunch by around 1pm. We set up the Registration desk so those who booked for the genealogy cruise could come and get their name tags and goodies throughout the arvo prior to the Lifeboat Drill. Dinner was in the formal dining room (which by the way, is way too fancy for me), but a very nice touch was that every female was given a red rose for Valentines Day, an after that we had a Meet and Greet session, introducing all of the guest speakers and welcoming the geneacruisers to the 10th Unlock the Past cruise. The evening was then spent getting settled into our room.

most of the Unlock the Past organising team, with some of the speakers, and all their luggage
[used with permission of Helen Smith]

boarding the Celebrity Solstice
[used with permission from Alan Phillips]

roses for Valentine’s Day

Day 2 – Bay of Islands (Monday 15 February 2016)
The trip from Auckland up to the Bay of Islands overnight a little rocky at times due to a cyclone that was near Fiji. Anyway all was good, and we docked early morning which gave us the day to go ashore and explore. I went on a tour with Helen Smith and Judy Russell to the Glow-worm caves. And while I have seen glowworms before, any chance you get to see do so, and they will blow your mind. They are beautiful, and the best way I can describe it is that it’s like the cave is lined with fairy lights. As I can’t show you a picture of the glow-worms, as you’re not allowed to photograph them, here’s a link to the website of the place we went. As well as the glow-worms our tour took us to the Te Waimate Mission which has a house, church and cemetery on the one property, all of which is just gorgeous. One very striking thing I noted in the cemetery was there were some seemingly recent burials of children, each of which was a large mound of dirt with lots of kids toys (matchbox cars, plastic dinosaurs, a toy spade, plastic flowers and more) all sitting in the mound of dirt – that was the grave and somehow that struck a cord with me. Anyway the tender ride back to the ship was rather rocky too, so I was glad that it wasn’t very long. Normally I’m not prone to seasickness, however I did feel rather off by the time I was back at the ship. After dinner Judy Russell kicked of the seminars with her talk on Copyright Law for Genealogists, which certainly made everyone think about sharing everything in a new light. And while that was it official for the evening, then it was time for evening chat and drinks with friends.

please don’t photograph the glow-worms

Church and cemetery at Te Waimate Mission, New Zealand

after dinner chit-chat with Helen Smith, Paul Blake, Louis Kessler, Judy Russell and Cheryl Kessler

Day 3 – Tauranga (Tuesday 16 February 2016)
For most people this was THE day. The day of the cruise they’d been waiting for. They day to go to Hobbiton. For me as a person who has never read any of the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit books, or seen any of the movies, I was happy to let everyone else do that and just as well as those tours would have been all booked out before the cruise even started. So my Day 3 was spent wandering around Tauranga instead. It was another cool, cloudy, 22ish degrees day, and I went for a walk along the shore front, and then headed back along their shopping street. After returning, my afternoon was spent wandering the ship, and working (aka playing on social media), and recharging everything (cameras, laptops, ipad, phones etc). With limited plugs there’s always something to be charged. Dinner for me was at buffet (the Oceanview Cafe), and I expect it will be for most of the trip. I much prefer being able to choose a bit of this and a bit of that – rather than simply one dish off the restaurant’s menu. Afterwards Paul Blake made his debut with the evening talk, which was titled “Using British Probate Records to Discover the Origins of Your Emigrant Ancestors”. As with all of Paul’s talks that I’ve been to previously, it was very thought-provoking. And that was it for Day 3 on the cruise.

the shore front at Tauranga, New Zealand

this little car in Tauranga had me intruiged

there’s never enough plugs!

This cruise is an 18 day one, so stay tuned for further adventures ..

I last wrote about the 10th Unlock the Past Cruise 4 months ago, and time (as expected), has simply flown since then. But with holidays, Christmas and New Year in between, it’s not surprising that we’re now about one month away, as confirmed by my countdown app.

counting down …

In my last post I wrote about the where this awesome ship was going (Auckland > various stops on New Zealand North Island > various stops on New Zealand South Island > Sydney > Melbourne> Adelaide > Fremantle). I wrote about the awesome speakers on it (including Judy Russell, Louis Kessler, Paul Blake, and a heap of others I’m looking forward to hearing).

What I didn’t write about was the 72 talks that are going to held during the 18 day cruise. Yes you read right … SEVENTY TWO of them! Just how much of that I’ll soak up, I dunno. But I’ll certainly do my best.

I’m not going to list all of the topics of the talks here, but rather I’ll give you just a taster. As per usual with all Unlock the Past cruises, there is an incredible range of topics, so there really is something for everyone. Genealogists, historians, beginners and advanced.
– Fair use and fair dealing: copyright law for genealogists
– Using British probate records to discover the origins of your emigrant ancestors
– How to improve research with source-based genealogy
– The common poor: transported, indentured, enslaved
– Love, sex and damn lies
– Health of the ANZACs in the Great War
– Gadget Janet: 12 devices or programs that will turn your computer into a friend instead of a foe!
– Of public wrongs: our common scoundrels
– Using life events and ages to solve genealogy problems
– Panel: Future proofing your genealogy
– Mining ancestors: knowing where to look
– ABCs of DNA
– Beyond just indexes
– TheGenealogist.co.uk: what’s the difference?
– Sporting ancestors
– Why genealogy is everyone’s solemn duty
– London genealogy: or the metropolitan nightmare
– Reading and interpreting records from Germany
– Genealogical learning from home
– Photo preservation
– School days: education records for family history

This is just 21 of the 72 talks, so as you can see there really is a whole range of topics. For the full program which lists all the topics on this cruise click here. I’ll be sure to take two or three notebooks for all of my notes.

Anyway with just a month to go, it’s also time to start thinking about my own research, and getting my queries organised to make use of the Research Help Zones (one-on-one with experts). And also updating my tree, just in case anyone might have a connection to me … (it DOES happen, so you just never know) … and then you can compare data.

Now is also the time to recheck my list of suggestions for First Time Geneacruisers (also very useful for non-firstimers as a reminder). Comfy shoes, a small bag, appropriate plugs, getting used to using a sea pass cards as cash onboard, and various other things.

I’m looking forward to the ship, I’m looking forward to the sightseeing, I’m looking forward to catching up with geneafriends and making new ones, and of course I’m looking forward to the talks.

So what more can I say, other than roll on the 14th of February … I can’t wait!!!

The basic details:
Ship: Celebrity Solstice
Dates: 14 February – 3 March 2016 (18 nights)
Itinerary: from Auckland to Perth

For more details on this, and other genealogy cruises, please head to
www.unlockthepastcruises.com
I hope to see you on one in the future.