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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