Back in Blenheim

Blair took us to the airport to begin the last leg of our journey. Sad to say goodbye to him, he has been very good to us while camped in the 27th storey apartment, but he will be home again in January. After flying out of Vancouver at 8.00pm on Wednesday 24th September we headed into the west and 14 hours later safely landed in Auckland, at 5.00am on Friday 26th September. Those times are 33 hours apart so somewhere we were short changed....such is the pleasure of jet airline travel.

A short trek and wait in Auckland and then we were on our way to Blenheim, one hour twenty south. There at the airport was Hayden holding a sign saying "Lawrence", perfect, great to see him again. Sadly our trip has finished.

But in our last blog we need to say some thank you's.

Firstly to those that generously opened their doors to us. Grant, Bea and Jada in Sydney where we were introduced to geocaching! When we returned for my Dad's funeral, Simon and Anna in Hamilton were wonderfully hospitable, to us and our two boys for the best part of two weeks before we got flying again.

My sister Sally in Chiang Mai where she moved out of her bed for us which was beyond the call of duty. Michelle in Prague provided us with a wonderful base to explore this old city and spend some time with her and Ondra, what a neat couple. Claudia and Thom in Austria, and your girls, what great times. I am so pleased that Netherlands won their first game of the World Cup....what a treat we were put on. Carla in Lisbon - you were so good to us, as you have been to both our boys over recent years. You left us your flat when you went away, you wouldn't let us not sleep in your bed and the fiasco around getting to the airport is something we won't forget for many a year. Thank you.

In the United Kingdom we were especially spoilt. In Scotland, Helen and Moira put us on a great fuss. It was so comfortable staying with you, we were very much at home in Dundee and over the course of six weeks we kept coming and going and you always made us so welcome. We really do hope that we can catch up with you again very soon. Further north in Scotland it was great to stay in the old "Smithie" with George and Shona for a couple of nights and heart warming to have your family around for a meal together.

In London Mike and Merima were brilliant. We enjoyed your company so much and one day hope to see you in New Zealand again, maybe your girls will come visiting with a backpack in a few years. Thank you also for the GPS...saved us a fortune in petrol and disagreement in direction.

In North America we flew into Iowa City, not top of the tourists itinerary but near the top of ours. Brian and Lesley were wonderful hosts and we had a good look around their patch of the World, great fun. On to Canada and Vancouver where Blair and his flat mate were especially generous to us. Somehow Blair had convinced Jan that his parents would be bearable for a few weeks......and she bought it! Thanks Jan, we really appreciated sharing your home on the 27th floor above Vancouver. Thanks to Blair for giving us his bed while he camped on the sofa.

While in Vancouver we were able to catch up on some of Diana's relatives. Unfortunately the Lawrence family tree is a bit of a fizzer however if you marry the right girl.......well, Diana has whanau on both sides of her family tree. We had a fantastic time meeting a family of Fisher's whom Blair was fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with last year. It was most appreciated that someone had sent out an all points bulletin and got the family under one roof for us to get acquainted. Thank you very much Jim and Lisa - the superb local salmon was a treat. And to Bryn's family...what a night. Delectable smoked steak from the BBQ, mini lemon tarts and I counted 5 bottles on the table - without corks.....we were a bit slower the next morning but thoroughly enjoyed an evening with you.

Further, on the family front we were very fortunate to be invited out to Pam Pearse's house at Abbotsford. We spent the weekend with Pam, her two boys Mitchell and Lucas and her man, Terry. What a wonderful experience, true blue Canadian hospitality, such a special family to know and we can see why Blair so enjoys your relaxed company and home cooking.

So many people were so very very generous to us and have etched themselves into our memories forever. We would love to return that generosity to you all one day and while NZ is a fair distance away for many it is a first class destination for any traveller....we can show you that.

All is good back in Blenheim for us. Hayden has managed the hostel well and there were no problems to be sorted. Diana is back into work there, just like old times. I am seriously considering finding a paying job....not rushing yet but will have to soon.

Lastly a thank you to all those people that read our blog and sent us encouraging comments....blog writers enjoy that, I think. We certainly enjoyed the adventures that created material to write, hopefully we can do some more travelling soon....we'll keep you informed.

Till next time.......

 

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Vancouver...home........20-24 September

 

Back from Seattle for the weekend and Blair had decided a trip to Whistler was next on our itinerary. After a wet day at Mt. Baker yesterday we were well pleased to be heading to debatably the number one ski destination in North America, home to the Winter Olympics in 2010. Interestingly, Canadians have "Olympics" and "Summer Olympics",..they also have "hockey" and "Field Hockey". We spent the day at Whistler, taking a ski chair lift to the top of a 1850m mountain and then taking a cable car from one peak to another across a deep valley. That was a 15 minute ride, 4.5 kms in length. There was not a cloud in the sky, over 30 degrees and no jerseys required even high on the slopes. Magnificent day out in some spectacular countryside.

 

 

Racing back to town we managed to make the start of the Vancouver Giants against Victoria ice hockey opening match of the season. "We" had a 3-1 win and I think won both punch ups (on points) so a successful day and night had by all. Surprised to find that the stadium wasn't full but then this was an NPC type grade as opposed to the Canucks who are the super team for the province. Tickets to their matches are all sold out and 5 times more expensive than the Giants.

 

Sunday morning was again fine so we packed a lunch and after abandoning the idea of going to Bowen Island due to number of hours left in the day after breakfast and the fact that we had a dinner date with Jan and Ruby we opted for a walk in Lighthouse Park. And that was a great afternoon of walking on the north west side of Vancouver. Considering the length of the tracks, the magnificent sea coast and the fact that again the day was beautiful, it was pleasing that there were more squirrels to be seen than people!

 

 

Dinner at a posh Japanese restaurant looking out over the harbour with Jan and Ruby on Sunday evening was very pleasant. Not sure why but Blair insists on wearing shorts and jandals to all eating places and pubs in the city..says that Vancouverites are very non-judgemental, and he seems right, they don't bat an eye. More than happy for him to make a statement in this fashion rather than have "Love you Mum" tattooed on his forearm. Jan is Blair's flat mate in the apartment and Ruby a local lawyer is a good friend....lawyers always make good friends I think..?

 

There was still a big tree in Stanley Park that we hadn't got to see so we set off on Monday with that in mind. Stanley Park is a great place to go wandering and we did find the big tree....well past it's prime. The tree is a western red cedar reportedly 800 years old (but then again it is dead! ...do we keep counting?) and is now hollow due most likely to lightening strike. Considered by some as as liability, and potential health and safety risk, it was doomed to felling about 8 years ago.. Such was the outcry from the locals, the friends of... (One group set up as "Stanley Park Hollow Tree Conservation Society"), the greenys..the whole shooting box, the tree remains, trussed up like Forest Gump in the opening scenes of his movie. While in the park we spotted some unexpectedly wildlife. A family of raccoons were going about their evening business and it was possible to get quite close.

Raccoon

Tuesday we made a dash to Granville Island in probably the heaviest rain we have had to walk in on our entire journey. Granville Island seemed to be home to a lot of artisan type people working in their factories and studios while selling goods at the front door. Also big fruit and vege market.....produce always looks so fresh in these markets. Unfortunately we are on our final day out so no purchases were made.

 

 

 

 

Dinner out on our last evening with one of Diana's paternal relatives, Peter Pearse and his wife Penny. We were fortunate to catch up with these two as they lead a fairly busy life even though Peter is into his "Octo" numbers in age. We were interested to hear that Richard Pearce of NZ aviation fame is a relative.....Josie will have to get onto that! Peter is also known in New Zealand as the man that developed the idea of fishing regulation quotas. He sold the idea to our Minister of Fisheries, Doug Kidd, back in the late 80's. Peter visited us in Blenheim back then and has strong affection for NZ and for our government. Blair gained little traction when expounding his views on voting, somewhat contrary to Peter's. I think a further meeting was arranged so that Blair could begin studying "Democracy 101". It was fun evening and we were again spoiled by Penny insisting that the hosts pay the bill.....hopefully we can return the favour in the not too distant future.

Wednesday 24 September today, our last day of journey barring the flight home which will take 14 hours, leave Vancouver on a Wednesday at 8.00pm and arrive in Auckland at 5.00am on Friday...14 hours? I fear a thief in the night! Some hours are going to get away on us.

This has been a wonderful journey, beginning with touring in our Motorhome in January this year and about to finish after 8 months travelling. If someone said "...the Pacific is closed, sorry, you'll have to go back the same way you came......", I'd be thrilled. Do it all again in a heartbeat (or perhaps again...... if the bank balance would stand it!). I will write one more blog once home with a brief roundup....see ya next week.

 

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Seattle and Washington State. 15-19 September

We headed south in Blair's car on Monday morning, aiming to hit the Canada/USA border at Blaine a little after lunch. That was the plan to avoid delays caused by the guards taking time off for lunch...didn't work, we spent best part of an hour waiting but flew through once we met the guard.

We sped south on the freeway, it was 4 lanes wide 50 miles from Seattle and the road was full. A bit disconcerting doing 70 miles an hour in the middle lanes with 18 wheeler trucks each side, gotta keep your nerve and concentration in the right proportion. Diana enjoys driving on the freeways but tends to find other things to do when we hit the cities. Generally the drivers are most courteous and we haven't felt too far out of our depth apart from not knowing some of the local rules. Turning on a red light if there is no traffic coming takes a bit of a battle with the brain saying ".....don't do this, it is not allowed...", but it is here.

Seattle landscape

Once settled in to our B&B in Seattle we headed off to have a look at the attractions. We spent a few hours walking in Discovery Park and hunting out a few geocaches (as you do!). This is a big park, still pretty rustic and easy to wander about in and very close to the city centre. Following this we visited the Public Market near the waterfront where there is any number of different stalls selling things from all round the World but very little attracted our attention. That evening we dined with a very generous friend of Blair's who works in Seattle for Amazon. 20,000 people in Seattle work for Amazon....that is almost the number of people that live in Blenheim! Goddamn that is a lot of pay packets to sort out......doubt they use NovaPay! Aside from Amazon, there is also Microsoft, Google, and Boeing. Ryan was an extremely generous young man and saw to it that the evening didn't cost us a dime.....didnt take us long to figure out that Blair has wonderful friends here in North America.

Our itinerary the next day included a visit to the HQ of the Geocache game. Seattle is the founding place, Centre of the Universe they say, for caching which began with the first hide being made on 3 May, 2000. There are now 11 million of us hunting for over 3 million hidden treasures with numbers growing rapidly. While in that part of town we spotted a few new caches including one in the middle of the public area in their office.

Back into town and we planned to visit a glass and garden attraction and I must admit I had no idea what this was going to be about. Turns out that it is all about an artist extraordinaire called Dale Chihuly. Seattle has a whole display just of his work, took about two hours to get through and was really intriguing. Basically he blows glass and puts them into colossal displays or "plants" them among flower gardens. I've seen a few glass blowers (and the bottom of a few glasses!) but this guy is out on his own. The size of his works and the huge spectrum of colour were very impressive, we loved it.

Our last day in Seattle gave us enough time to visit the music museum, buy a few more clothes (please note a different shirt from one of the 3 that I have worn during the past 6 months) and race north to try and catch the Boeing Factory before it closed. The music museum was an excellent visit. We spent quite a bit of time checking out the tragic story of Kurt Cobain and the short life of Nirvana including young member that Blair had introduced us too a few years back, Dave Grohl. He now fronts his own band called Foo Fighters, of which Blair has a couple of tee shirts (proof that he attended the concert I believe). Also on show was a history of Jimi Hendrix which took us a while to get through. A neat place to visit, they also had an area set up with instruments that you could play and instructions on how to make your own tune presentable. I made an attempt on one of the machines, putting out a reasonable sound I thought, in the same vein as "P Money" and "50 cent". I think I will be calling myself "Two Bob Rob" in line with other no-hopers!

Once a short frenzy of power shopping was complete we sped north to the Boeing facility. There are 737's parked like a car park for Toyota's. Spotted an all black one with a silver fern among those parked up. Didn't get a chance to check out a new Dreamliner but it was a good place to look around and see the advances that the aviation industry have made in efforts to become more efficient and more environmentally acceptable. I still think that our upcoming flight will be 14 hours go to whoa and it will feel like all of that and some.

On our last day in Washington State we took a drive East towards Mt Baker, the second highest active volcano in N.America. It was a rainy sort of day and we held out hope that the cloud and rain would lift a little earlier than predicted but unfortunately, for only the second time on this whole trip that we can remember, the weather let us down. The views were great but only for 100 metres. We had to keep moving to get to the border and then get back into another little bit of USA that the draughtsman have stuffed up to pick up a package for Blair. Have a look at Point Roberts on Wikipedia. This little bit of US is only attached by Canada and if they get crook they are flown to Seattle by helicopter for attention. Blair gets purchases made from Amazon sent there then drives down the one hour freeway to pick up as this saves paying import duty......strange!!?

We got back to the 27th level apartment later in the evening and were pleased to see Blair again after the week away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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British Columbia 8-14 September

Butchart Gardens

We quickly settled back into the 27th floor apartment with the very generous Jan and Blair. Some washing needed to be done and a general sort out of odds and sods and Blair had to show up for work or chance being listed as lost in action......or taken by a bear! We had planned dinner dates with friends and family for Monday and Tuesday which both went well. First to Joel and Elaine and Bryn and her brother Keelan. Bryn had visited us in Blenheim over a year ago when she toured NZ with Brandon. We were very comfortable there grazing on smoked steak and supping red wine. The wine cellar was a few spaces short when we left so I'm sure it was a good night. Thanks to Blair who remained the sober driver. The next night we dined on fresh caught salmon with the appropriately named Fisher family (but I think they purchased the salmon off a First Nation fisherman...presumably had customary rights). The Fishers are relatives from Diana's maternal side of the family and they had made a big effort to gather and meet us.....much appreciated. Unfortunately I had undertaken the driving duties for a bit of practice but while waiting in a line to turn off the freeway we were rear-ended by a nitwit! Not too much damage done to the car....nothing money won't fix and no harm done to any of the people involved but still a nuisance to get fixed. We took car details, name and phone number but later found out that the name was fictitious, the phone number didn't work, the car plates didn't belong to the vehicle that hit us and the driver probably has no insurance. The whole incident all got messier but as we all know......shit happens.

Not to be deterred we headed off to Vancouver Island on Wednesday driving Blair's car with the damaged rear corner. That went well; we visited Butchart Gardens on the way down and while I am not any great admirer of gardens, or flowers, or places where somewhere has smuggled trees from all over the World and transpalnted them...this garden was fantastic. We enjoyed a couple of hours wandering in the evening then headed for Victoria looking for accommodation which we had as yet not booked. It isn't that easy finding a spot to lay your head in a foreign town at 9.00pm. But we got the last room at a reasonable hotel and were most happy.

Victoria is an interesting, clean and tidy, picturesque little city (size of Christchurch) near the water on south end of the Island. It is also the capital of British Columbia. We checked out the museum and spent quite a bit of time in the First Nation section...that means the Indian section but they don't like to be called that as it confuses people that they think that they have come from India. Must be a lapse in the education system somewhere here as I learned very young that they were Red Indians, quite different to Hindu's, and used to live in tepees and get shot up by cowboys on regular occasion. First Nation peoples doesn't seem to have quite the right ring to it but then I don't expect anyone to take any notice of me!

Back from the Island we made a quick stop to pick up Blair as he had finished work for the week, and we headed east to Abbotsford. This is where lovely cousin Pam lives with her two boys, Mitchell and Lucas, and partner Terry. Pam is a relative on the paternal side of Diana's family tree and she visited us 25 years ago in New Zealand. We were put on a wonderful fuss and surely added a kilo or two to our playing weights. We all drove to Hope and walked along an old railroad track through some tunnels and wandered around a local lake looking for geocaches. Sure is a big country and some very impressive mountains, forests and rivers. We spent an hour watching Mitchell, who is 16, doing his grading for the upcoming winters ice hockey team. The enthusiasm and set-up and management of the game here is much like rugby back home. The ice skating ability of all the young guys involved is impressive...they seem to do it as easy as they can walk. We had a go at skating 30 years ago when we were here in BC and I still have the bruises! No way was I going on the ice again.....only good for putting in drinks I think.

Back to Vancouver in mid afternoon we took a quick trip up Cypress Mountain, just to the northwest of Vancouver. This is where Blair can go skiing after work in the evening. The slopes are lit up and chairs running for those who can't wait until the weekend. The day was stunning and we could see all the way to Mount Baker in the United States. That's where we plan to head for tomorrow...Seattle.

 

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Whittier, Kenai Peninsula 4-7 Sept

 

 

 

 

The drive from our austere lodgings at Birdridge Motel to Whittier is about 40kms but it would take us longer than an hour. We were in no hurry so spent quite a bit of time in the Portage Valley, walking on a myriad of bush trails (no tracks in N.America), looking at floundering salmon and hunting out the odd geocache. There is a one way 2 1/2 mile tunnel on the way so we had to wait our turn to get through. It rained most of the day but never got very cold.

 

 

Our accommodation in Whittier was on the 15th floor of a building dating from 1964 and built by the American armed forces as a strategic location during the Cold War. All seemed a bit far fetched for us but was very comfortable. The oddest thing was that there was a sauna room in the lounge. Rather than a steam room it was electric and sauna by radiation and claimed to cure most ills. We gave it a good go but can't say that it cured anything that I know of...maybe we're just too healthy!

Otters at sea

 

 

 

We drove to Whittier as we had booked a full day out with a small operator (6 people boat) to look for aquatic wildlife and glaciers. The boat left the dock at 9.00 am and we had 8 hours on the water. Unfortunately whales were playing away so no sightings made but we did see sea lions and crazy little otter fellows who spend 90% of their lives floating on their backs in the ocean. They were way out from the coast and appeared to be a long way from their larder!

Surprise Glacier

 

 

The main attraction, for me, was to see a glacier "calving", a large chunk of the face falling into the sea. We got up quite close and our excellent operator just waited around for as long as we wanted. There was a huge chunk that we had decided would look magnificent if it fell but realised that this is a couple of million years old so unlikely that our half hour would prove overly memorable.......but not to be, rumblings started, noises rang out like gunshots, she slowly toppled,.....magnificent! The biggest piece our operator had ever seen go over - it really was a great sight. A pretty spectacular day out everything considered. We got back in to Whittier to find a cruise ship in dock, totally dwarfing the small town of 280 people.

 

Portage Glacier

 

 

 

On our way out of Whittier we made a trek to Portage Glacier. This required a 3 hour hike up over a low pass and on into the Last Frontier, as the Alaskans call it. Their trails are fairly well managed and we enjoyed walking into the woods. Spotted a large beaver dam which surely would earn an honorary engineering degree at any prestigious university around the globe. They are clever critters when it comes to building in the water. Out of the Portage Valley area and we race toward Anchorage with a quick stop to watch Beluga whales in Turnagain Bay. We hadn't ever heard of these type of whales and they are visible from the main road but a fair way off shore. Camped at Creekwood Motel for the evening and ate at the Broken Tooth Brewery and Moose's Tooth, the attached restaurant. The brewery has over 20 of their own concoctions on tap (Half Gallon Growler, Wild Country Raspberry Wheat, Polar Pale Ale and Northern Lights Amber Ale to name a few) - they serve no other alcoholic beverages......and the place is packed and we waited 30 minutes to get seated while the diner next door was half full. They must be doing something right and if our experience was anything to go by then they surely are.

 

 

We can reflect most favourably on our week in Alaska, it was well worth the visit. Nice to be able to spend the time exploring with Blair and to know that Hayden is keeping our ship on an even keel - good times at the Last Frontier. Trouble free flight back to Vancouver and seamless transition through immigration and customs once again.......I think they like us here.

 

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North to Alaska 30 August - 3 September

Breakfast in Wasilla.

No hassles through Vancouver International onto our Air Canada flight to Anchorage, 3hrs 27mins. Once in Anchorage, and it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, we hired a Chevrolet Malibu LT and headed north to Wasilla to get ourselves on the road to Denali National Park. Diana had booked a B&B an hour north and this one was a bit different. Our host, hostess I guess, was a registered game hunting guide, as was her husband who we didn't meet. In their log house they had trophies all round the living area. Huge antlered beasts on the walls, skins of catches, birds fully mounted and two fully preserved (taxidermied) grizzly bears. Made for something to discuss while eating our scrambled egg and hash browns.....US style.

Our drive from Wasilla to Denali took about four hours but we added to that as we had several stops for photos and caches. Blair was a patient and safe driver and it was good to chauffeured where the people drive on the wrong side of the road, even if it is the right side! The scenery was magnificent and although the day was clear we unfortunately didn't get a look at Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America at 6,168metres. Mount Cook is 3,724metres so McKinley is a considerable challenge to those crazy guys that like climbing up things. Not for us, we were very happy driving on well built roads through scenery that isn't seen everywhere. We felt very fortunate to be in Alaska. We called past the Denali National Park headquarters to see what our options could be for visiting the Park tomorrow. There were numerous recommendations and we left excited about what we might be doing the next morning.

Caribou

We were dressed and breakfasted before the sparrows had passed wind and driving to meet our shuttlebus (there are no private vehicles past the 15 mile mark) as the sun indicated a clear sky was on its way. In the bus with 20 other excited people from around the globe we started up the 80 mile journey to the end of the road in Denali. A few miles out from the headquarters and the bus is all anchors on as we see two bull moose a couple of hundred yards away. Some of the cameras made our reasonably impressive Olympus look rather ordinary. We took as many photos as anyone but not sure we could zoom in to the same extent as some others. Around every corner we were hoping to get a view of Mount McKinley, a mountain that is visible only 40 days of the year. Each turn it seemed that there was just a wisp of cloud but the next view point looked promising. Unfortunately, as we got further in the cloud became more persistent and our hopes of seeing the "the Big One" diminished.

We did see more of the critters though. We saw grizzly bears not too far from the bus, Bighorn sheep, white as snow a long way away and caribou, - reindeer to Santa! The animals are never hunted and they take little notice of the incessant shutters clicking away as everyone tries to get the best shot. Generally the aim is to see the 'big five' in the park.....we saw 4 of the 5 but never quite got a National Geographic shot....maybe next time? We pushed on past mile 50 and on to Wonder Lake at mile 80, our turning point. That journey took us 6 hours. As we reached mile 80 the increasing cloud had turned to 100% cover and the skiff of snow had turned to serious white out conditions. Seemingly this was earlier than anticipated and park staff were not prepared for the onset of snow conditions. We were holed up in our draughty old bus for 3 hours in the interior of the park while they rustled up their grader drivers and fuelled said machines so that they could clear the road enough to get 8 buses out. Fortunately I was giving my possum/merino (thanks Simon and Anna) it's first outing and it was well up to the task. All good fun and a bit more of an adventure than we had anticipated. Back at the headquarters we made the decision to head back toward Anchorage as the weather had set in and snow was forecast again the following day.

2000feet up at the "Roundhouse"

Late in the morning Blair headed our Chev south and off we went, picking up the occasional geocache whenever we felt like stretching our legs. It was a very scenic drive back down the Glenn Highway to Anchorage and as we had a bit of sunlight left we pushed on to Girdwood and made camp at a very austere motel. Blair hadn't heard the word austere before but once in the motel he had a good feeling for the word. There was a microwave and a fridge but no knives and forks, no plates, no toaster, no electric jug......at least our beer is cold!

A clear day today and we went walking on one of the many tracks in Girdwood. We climbed from their luxurious hotel up to the top of the ski field, 2,000feet......sounds better than 680metres. It was a fair hike for us although Blair, weighed down with our lunch, water, extra clothing and a few bits and pieces skipped up the slope like it was just off the flat....that hurt! We could see for miles from the top and while it was a little bit cool it was way warmer than Denali. The best part about the hike (North Americans don't tramp) was that we could ride back down on a cable tram. For free! That about did us for the day and we are now looking forward to a boat trip out in Prince William Sound with the hope of seeing more wildlife of the aquatic type and getting up close and personal with a glacier.

 

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Out and About in Vancouver 23-29 Aug

Diez Vista (Spanish for 10 vistas)

Back in the familiar surroundings of Blair's apartment we staggered as we got rid of the sealegs, got washing on and enjoyed not having to line up for a meal. Blair had a mission set for us on Saturday and we went walking in the woods around Lake Buntzen. This was a bit on the tough side for us and by Sunday our leg muscles, well, the meaty parts of our lower limbs were protesting somewhat. A quiet walk in the streets was all that we could cope with. Lake Buntzen was good though and we got up quite high on a ridge and were able to look down onto Indian Arm, a sort of fiord type geographical arrangement that runs up into the mountains. We did spot a black bear moseying through the undergrowth, just 30 metres away and Blair's first bear in Canada. Up until this point he considered the whole bear story was something of a myth, a bit like Tutaeporoporo. (You might need to Google that!)

With Blair back at work for the week we shared his apartment with the most wonderful and accommodating Jan (she has so kindly let us invade her space, fill her fridge and generally be here when she would otherwise have time to herself). Blair has gone to Trail, a small town an hours flight away where he has a new power plant in the process of being built.

Cycling in Stanley Park

We hired bikes and spent a day in Stanley Park, a bit like the Wither Hills south of Blenheim, where people go for walks, or jogs or bike rides. We saw totem poles, big cedar trees, beaver ponds, horse drawn tram car type things, hot dog sellers, a few geocaches and hundreds of people.......nothing like the Wither Hills when I write about it. It was good though and a wonderful asset for the city.

On another day we took a bus to Grouse Mountain which is toward the north of Vancouver and is 1,231 metres the top. There is a walk up the mountain called the "Grind" and you can register your time at the top. This is something of a local ritual, to do the "Grind", in a certain time or so much faster than your previous effort. Locals do the climb numerous times and they log on and their effort is recorded in terms of how high they have climbed, Everest or Kilamanjaro.....spare me. Diana and I spotted a cable car that went up the exact same mountain and it took 4 minutes and most importantly we didn't raise a sweat. Once on top we had heaps of energy and saw some grizzly bears, a bird of prey exhibition where the locals put their impressive raptors through their paces and chuck in an angry looking owl for amusement. We also watched a lumberjack show which was corny but kept us entertained. Grouse Mountain is a big local attraction and well worth the effort, as most of the locals will tell you.

View from Grouse Mountain

Capilano Park

 

 

 

For another day we bussed off to Capilano Park, swing bridge, logging history, big rainforest trees and lake. That wasn't as good as Grouse Mountain but we enjoyed walking in the forest and along the river canyon just on the edge of town. Most of the trees are either Douglas fir or western red cedar and about 75 years old following the cessation of logging around 1934. There are a few trees that missed the lumberjacks axe back in the old days so they are now massive mamas and very impressive indeed. Impossible to get back far enough to get a photo that will do them justice. One tree has reportedly over 50 cubic metres of timber. I understand western red cedar brings about $6000 per cubic metre. Must be a bit better than radiata KI. Just thinking out loud.

Museum of Anthologhy, Big House

 

Today has been a visit to the Museum of Anthropology. Signs everywhere to say MOA.....could have thought we were back in Enzed. The museum is mostly about the native people here who I thought were Indians however they are now most certainly First Nation people. Cowboys and First Nations doesn't have the same ring to it as my childhood shoot'em ups! There were numerous totem poles on show, not nearly as intricate as some of the Maori work we have seen but it was interesting to see different styles of the various tribes. The MOA is an excellent interactive type education centre but a couple of hours about had us exhausted.

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we will fly to Alaska with Blair for a poke round Denali National Park, Moose spotting, and then south to Whittier where we will be looking for otters and glaciers "calving"......yep, that's right.

 

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More cruising 19th - 22nd Aug

After Tracy Arm we set sail for Ketchikan to the south and arrived at 9.00am the following morning to a glorious sunny day. This is another small (8,000 people) isolated town with only air or sea access. They have a chequered history and a quick walking tour introduced us to the bars, banks and brothels. We didn't make a business call at any. A hundred years ago the town survived on fishing and forestry however the forestry has diminished and been taken over by tourism...cruise ships.

Our afternoon was filled with a tour into the rainforest where we were assured we would get our money back if we didn't see a bear, sounded like a fair deal to us. Not too far into the woods, we are walking on skyway walking bridges, we see a black bear and two cubs. We could watch as the bears feasted on the spawning salmon which are in full run at the moment, the rivers are full of them. The bears are gutsing as much as they can in preparation for hibernation. Because we were in the canopy of the forest we seemed unobtrusive to the bears and very safe. Seeing them was a real treat although the locals here tend to get a bit sick of them as they venture into the edges of town when they are very hungry and can't get to sleep......for the winter.

Back on the boat in the evening and we are set on our run home to Vancouver, 36 hours away. Not looking forward to the 'on ship' part of the excursion as it is organised and predictable and becoming a tad boring. However as I write I have just spotted a whale off the balcony so will close off for now.

This blog is very long due to the fact that internet costs are prohibitive on board so we have only got to send it once in the past ten days.......don't worry if you skip most or just look at the pictures....we would never be offended.

 

 

 

 

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Vancouver and Cruising 11- 19th..... August

27th level apartment

We were excited to be flying into Vancouver City and having a familiar face to meet us as we got off the plane. It was 6.00pm Monday evening so Blair had finished work and was waiting in his auto (no one drives a "stick-shift" in North America) Mazda 6 to take us across the city and into his downtown apartment that he shares with Jan. They generously offered us a part of their space and we were soon comfy and fed. While Blair and Jan worked Diana and I wandered the streets of downtown, Diana mostly looking at clothes to wear with the man with the 10 quid suit. While our sandals and shorts had equipped us well throughout our trip so far we had the impression that they would not quite cut the mustard on the Holland America Line. This shopping required more than one day so while one shopped the other geocached about the place.....I enjoyed my day. After I navigated my way home it was pretty high tech to be able to open up the iPad and track the sales Diana was making as they debited from our account and instantly showed up in the Inbox!

We had a few days of dining out downtown with a few of Blair's friends and tidying up our wardrobes. At 2.30pm on the 15th we boarded the Holland America Line's Zaandam to cruise the inside passage of Alaska. We have a nice balcony "stateroom" which in plain language means 'cabin' but stateroom sounds better. The first day and a half was spent motoring northwards along the coast which gave us plenty of time to explore our ship. There are 1500 passengers and 603 crew (mostly Indonesian and Phillipino), all very friendly and well organised. The ship is 220 metres long and 34 m wide, uses 65,000 litres of diesel per day and has a top speed of 38 kms per hour. I don't think we are at top speed as we are dodging among islands most of the time. It is fairly palacious with plush carpets, gleaming metal work and several lounges and bars. We won't go hungry as there are numerous options from burgers by the pool to full formal dining in the Rotterdam Restaurant (time to unfold the ten quid suit). Fortunately it also has a gym with an expansive sea view to take your mind off the hard work.

It didn't take too long for the motoring and the exploring to become tiresome so we were pleased to see Juneau, the capital of Alaska and our first shore excursion. The weather was not great with all flight-seeing cancelled. There are numerous options for shore excursions and fortunately we chose whale watching by boat and a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier. The whale watching was exciting and we saw over 20 humpback whales, mostly as they dived. We had seen whales while motoring on the inside passage, they were rearing out of the water and crashing back with a great splash evidently to try and remove critters off their hides. Quite spectacular but very difficult to photograph. While on our whale watch we were also taken to a colony of sea lions. Following the water excursion we boarded a bus that took us a short way out of town where we could view the receding Mendenhall Glacier. We didn't choose to walk on the glacier but it was an impressive site from the viewing platforms. We also dropped by a small creek to see red coloured salmon heading up stream to lay their eggs. Some of the track was closed as the bears also enjoy this activity and not just for viewing!

Back on the Zaandam we bedded down as the ship slung it's hook and motored away from the wharf. When we woke up we were in Skagway, a little further north. Skagway is a town of 800 in the summertime that totally relies on th the tourist trade and four cruise liners a day. There are no balls left on the brass monkeys in winter so the service people head south to warmer climes. The four cruise ships a day provide about 6000 walking wallets so I guess they do OK in a fairly isolated location. Unlike Juneau and Ketchikan, our other two shore excursion destinations, Skagway has access by road via the Yukon Highway. Sea and air are the only way to reach the other two little towns.

Dewey Lake Trail

We went for a bush walk first thing in the morning for the good of our health but also to check out the native bush here. I couldn't help thinking that we were in an exotic forest, my brain seems entrenched with the idea that conifers are exotic...40 years in NZ forestry might be difficult to erase. The bush that we saw was mostly hemlock and Sitka spruce with a few cedars thrown in. Pleasant walking on well marked trails.

In the afternoon we took a train ride on the historic White Pass railroad that covered quite a bit of the history of the Klondike gold rush. As usual, a few people got very rich and many left with empty pockets and a broken heart. The journey took us back into Canada so we had to do the border crossing bit and 30 minutes later were waved back into Alaska. The train ride was excellent, rising from Skagway on the edge of the Sound and up through forest, about 35 kms, into stunted mountain vegetation (where they get 5 metres of snow lying in winter) to an altitude of 875 metres.

North Sawyer Glacier

Back on our cruise liner we ate excellent food as usual, tidied up a bottle of Nobilo and sank into our very comfortable bed...and got rocked to sleep. On waking on Tuesday morning we were in Tracey Arm Sound and the cliff walls were closing in on us. We continued a long way into this Sound until we got up very close to the glacier and pretty much ran out of water. It was brilliant and a real treat to have such a big ship so close. The seals were lazing around in the freezing waters just to add to the majesty. The crew did a great job manoeuvring us amongst the icebergs and it is not very often that trips can do it due to inclement conditions. Our lucky day. We must have taken a hundred photos so a bit of culling will be required when we get home.

North Sawyer Glacier

'We' (actually the eagle-eye hunter of us) spotted some wild sheep living on a cliff face on the way out so another burst with the camera.......thank goodness for digital photography

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