Good Food And Fun Aboard The Aurelia

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29725, 19 January 1962, Page 8

Good Food And Fun Aboard The Aurelia

Most passengers on the cruise ship Aurelia which berthed at Lyttelton yesterday were ashore by 9 rm but in the Aurelia’s galley things were popping. A fat pink salami waa being sliced long tubes of spaghetti were being broken deftly tqto small lengths, cold cuts were being glazed, and a dozen cauldrons of soups, stewx, and vegetables bubbled and simmered on the galley stove Tn the Aurelia’s long, cool din-ing room 68 tables waited neatly, gleaming with glassware, cutlery, and white linen, for the hungry passengers to return to the ship _ , A steward sniffed appreciatively at the savour smells which filled the galley ’We serve only Italian food, he said But in the lounges ‘here was German beer and English gin. a concession to the previous owners of the cruise ship The Aurelia was built in Hamburg in 1939 by the wellknown German shipbuilders. Blohm and Voss. She was named the Hua’csran. but in 1947 her new British owners changed the name to Beaverbrae The Italian Cogidar Line bought her in 1954. named her the Aurelia, and registered her in Genoa. The 10.480-ton ship has been fitted specially for cruises, and on this cruise houses 670 Australian tourists in wellappointed cabins. Souvenirs Popular

A few passengers were still aboard yesterday morning. some still buying at the ‘wo souvenir shops set up on the wharf and aboard the ship itself Both had done a roaring trade. An unusual thing about the Aurelia is a device which does the work of the helmwheel. Instead of a wheel to be spun to Captain Raffaele Corradi’s orders there is a

short horizontal bar with a handle at each end. When he gets the order "starboard, 16" the helmsman depresses the starboard handle on the bar until the ship comes around 10 degrees. He depresses the otter handle to veer to port. The quartermaster said the device was very effective and

very sensitive. Much of the Aurelia's space has been devoted to the enjoyment of the passengerCabins are not spacious, but

there is ample space in the dining room for the enjoyment of such difficult dishes as spaghetti, a huge deck area is given over for deck chairs, games courts, and a deep, square swimming pool under a steep slide.

Much of this is under green awnings, and the deck is dotted with colourful sun umbrellas. More open deck space has been allotted to the children, with a shallow pool, a merry-go-round, swing, ping-pong table, blocks, and toys. Part of the kindergarten is covered in. and the deck-head there is thickly insulated against the tropical sun.

Below decks there is a Portofino lounge, a Riviera lounge opening on to a dance floor, the Lido bar. a smoking room and a cardroom.

Fourth Cruise Ship The Aurelia is the fourth cruise ship to call at Lyttelton this summer. The cruise began in Melbourne on Januai.v 10 and the Aurelia arrived here from Picton. She left for Akaroa yesterday afternoon and then steamed on to Bluff and Milford Sound. She will be at Hobart on January 22, ending the cruise at Sydney on January 27. Hundreds of her passenger, went on excursion tours of Christchurch and Canterbury, and four of them nearly missed the ship when she left at 3 p.m The Aurelia was just pulling away from the whaif when two women and a man rushed along and the ship nosed in again to take them aboard.

When the Aurelia was out in the stream another passenger, an elderly Australian woman, arrived at the wharf. She was taken aboard the Harbour Board launch Orari and transferred in the harbour to the tug, Lyttelton 11. The tug's gangplank was raised at a very steep angle up to the Aurelia's deck, and the woman clambered aboard to the cheers of the more punctual passengers.