26th, 27th & 28th May

Thursday 28th May

Even though it is still morning as I blog this, there will not be much to write about today. We have to catch the 2.30pm Amtrak for Redding, Ca. so this morning will be re-packing (again) and a short stroll around before heading off to the train station to be there by 1.30pm. The journey to Redding is about 12 hours and we arrive there at 2.20am tomorrow morning. Not nice! Dorothy (my friend who lives there) will meet us and take us to one of her friends houses where we are staying whilst in Redding.

Wednesday 27th May

What the Rough Guide to the USA says about Portland is quite true: “With few major attractions and an unpretentious bohemian flavour, Portland makes for an excellent spot to slow down and relax ….”

We decided to see Portland by foot as it is quite a small city, so we walked along the waterfront (the Willamette River). Not too sure of the distance, but I would say about a mile took us to the far end of downtown where we went to Chinatown and visited lovely peaceful Chinese Garden.

We then strolled back though the centre of the city. I love the ‘grid/block’ system as you always know exactly where you are. On the way we popped into the Wells Fargo Centre where there is a museum showing the history of that famous organisation. Lunch was a sandwich sitting in a lovely square with gardens and trees (it reminded me of such squares in London). Our by then aching legs and feet took us back to the motel where we crashed out with our books - and I fell asleep for over an hour! Dinner was at a local Chinese place - can’t call it a restaurant, just a café really but the food was very nice - and cheap, and next door was a hair cutting salon where I managed to get a much needed haircut. Our motel is situated very near the Portland University, so prices around here are set to accommodate student budgets - and that suits us just fine.
So - Portland is a lovely place to be to ‘chill’ with no ‘must see’ places to visit. We both enjoyed it. The weather was lovely - hot but not uncomfortably so.

Tuesday 26th May

We took the 1120 Amtrak from Seattle and arrived in Portland (Oregon) at 3.15pm. We did not have such good train seats this time - no ‘upstairs’ like we had before and we were not by a full window, but a pillar. We were still able to see out quite well though.

We were booked into the EconoLodge Downtown so took a cab directly there. Both tired out - why should sitting on a train for 4 hours be so exhausting? We rested for a while then went to the local McDonald’s for dinner, too fagged to do anything else.

Monday 25th May

We had just one day in Seattle so we thought the best thing to do was to take a City Tour. A small coach collected us at 10am and we set off for a 3 hour tour. Seattle is a lovely city - the home of several well known institutions such as Microsoft (although the HQ has now moved to I’ve forgotten where), Amazon and Boing aircraft. Not forgetting, of course, Starbucks and in the Pike Market area we saw the very first Starbucks that opened and apparently it is much the same inside as it was in the 60’s. It was unfortunate that we could not stop in more places to look around - a day is not enough time to spend in a city of this size.

We ended the tour at Seattle Centre where the Space Needle is situated, so we each duly paid our extortionate $14 fee and took the elevator to the top. It was build for the 1962 Worlds Fair and is 605 feet high and the viewing deck is att 520 feet. We have a good view of it from our bedroom window although the view is somewhat marred by the cranes and building works of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The views all over the city and lakes were lovely. Again we were blessed with a lovely day - not experiencing the rain that Seattle is famous for!

Sunday 24th May - Farewell Canada

We docked in Vancouver just before 8am this morning and sadly left The Norwegian Sun at around 9am. We had most of the day in Vancouver as our train was not due to leave until 5.45pm. Luckily there was a baggage drop at the cruise ship terminal so we did not have to carry our heavy luggage around with us.

We wandered around the Gastown area which was interesting. It is called Gastown after a character called ‘Gassy’ Jack Deighton (he talked a lot!). He was an Englishman and in 1867 he was one of the first settlers in what was to become Vancouver. The story goes that had a barrel of whisky and said to the local timber workers - build me a hotel and you can have some whisky. He had his hotel in 24 hours!!

We also intended to visit Chinatown and see a walled Chinese Garden but that meant crossing a very dodgy part of town. We set off, but on seeing several unsavoury characters hanging around in groups we somewhat hastily back-peddled and gave up on that idea.

We collected our luggage around 3.30pm and took a cab to the Central Pacific station. Before boarding the train we had to (yet again) go through US immigration. The train left about 15 minutes late and crawled along for the first hour and we began to believe all we had heard about the tardiness of Amtrak. But after we crossed the border into the US, and the customs officials went though the train, it speeded up. The line ran along the shore of Puget Sound and we were so close to the sea that it was almost like being on the ship again. A very scenic route that took about 4 hours.

We actually arrived in Seattle 5 minutes early, at 10pm, and after reclaiming our luggage we took a cab to our hotel - Comfort Suites Downtown Seattle and fell into bed, exhausted, around 11.30.

Saturday 23rd May

Sadly this is our last day of the Alaska Cruise, we dock back in Vancouver at 0800 tomorrow (Sunday) morning. It has, as usual, been a glorious day - we have been so lucky with the weather considering the vast amount of rain that falls annually in Alaska. We only had a sprinkling once during the whole week, and that hardly wet the decks.

It has been another full day at sea today. The first half of the day was like yesterday - land only visible in the far distance but around lunchtime we entered the Inside Passage so once again there was lots to look at.

Here are a couple of photos taken of The Norwegian Sun:

In summary, this cruise has been fantastic. It is my first ever cruise and I have always fought shy of them before - all the packing of smart ‘cruise clothes’, dressing for dinner, ‘Dinner at the Captain’s Table’ etc etc. Not my cup of tea at all. But this ‘Freestyle’ form of cruising definitely is - I have been ‘casually’ dressed all week (ie jeans!) to all meals (buffet style), as have most other people on board.

What will I miss most? Definitely being waited on hand and foot by good-looking young men!

The next phase of this tour starts tomorrow evening as we board the 1745 Amtrak train for Seattle, so more when we arrive there (hopefully with free internet!)

Fri 22nd and Thurs 21st May

Friday 22nd May
Nothing much to write about today as we have been at sea all day and out of sight of land for most of the time from mid morning onwards. We were sailing down Chatham Strait this morning and here is a photo I took while having breakfast:

Not a bad view to have over one’s cornflakes and morning tea!

We cruised south down the Pacific Ocean and not the Inside Passage as we did when sailing north. Again the weather has been fantastic and the sea mainly calm. The only exciting thing to report is three sightings of hump backed whales. The ‘spout’ is easily seen from a distance but each time they were too far away to photograph.

Today has been a day of welcome relaxation after the last three days when we have been on shore excursions - so we have made the most of it by lolling around either reading, eating, looking for whales and watching a film. During the morning we attended another talk by January Jones on glaciers.

Thursday 21st May
Our final port of call on this cruise was Skagway (resident population 850), 90 miles north of Juneau. We docked around 0630 and disembarked for our excursion at 0755. Today we took a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway and then panned for gold.

The train ride was amazing. This 110 mile railway was born in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 and was considered, at the time, an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months. It rises to a maximum height of 2924ft and was built under the most difficult conditions with temperatures sometimes falling to as much as minus 70 degrees. The same narrow gauge track still exists as do most of the passenger coaches - now restored to their former glory.

Yet again we travelled through mind-blowing scenery - high snowy mountains and deep river valleys with the train track clinging on to the side of the mountains and crossing deep ravines on bridges that look like they have been built with matchsticks. We rode 20 miles as far as White Pass Summit, at the US/Canada border, a journey taking 2 hours to get there and 1 hour (downhill) return. The snow at the top of White Pass was still 6-8ft deep in places.
When the train ride finished we went to a replica gold rush area to pan for gold - and guess what - every visitor gets to find some! We were all given a pan with gravel already in it, and went to a trough of water to ‘pan’. Even though it was pretty obvious that tiny flakes of gold had been planted in every pan it was still nonetheless exciting to find it. I found 10 or 12 tiny flakes (worth just over $US12) and had them set in a little transparent pendant.

Me finding gold

We did not leave Skagway until 8.30pm so we had loads of time to wander about the small town. Terry and I both agree that this is the nicest of the three towns we have visited during this cruise. The fully restored and colourful original buildings still stand and form the main shopping area.

Some of the guides are dressed in costumes of the gold rush era. Again there were 4 cruise ships in port but the town did not feel so crowded as either Ketchikan or Juneau. The small resident population increases by quite a large number in summer months with the arrival of many students from all over the USA who come here (and to the other towns we visited) for summer work as guides, coach drivers etc.
We now have two days of relaxation ahead as we cruise back to Vancouver without any more ports of call.

Wednesday 20th May

Today we spent time in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. We docked around 6am. We did not book any excursions for today, preferring to do our own thing. There were 3 other cruise ships in port and a fourth one arrived as we left.
We went ashore around 8.15, took the shuttle bus (5 minutes to ’downtown’) and headed straight for the cable car to take us to the 1,800 ft level of Mount Roberts. This mountain has 600 miles of underground tunnels. It was a large goldmine for many years but was closed down during the Second World War. The views from the top were staggering. There was deep snow up there - this region had a huge dumping of snow this winter and it was still lying very deep in some places.

The town, although the state Capital, like Ketchikan is a ‘cruise ship town’ - full of gift/souvenir/jewellery shops and they all seem to be selling the same things. And as there were four ships (= approx 12,000 people) in town everywhere was very crowded - not my ideal shopping scenario.

It was a beautiful day today with unbroken blue sky and sunshine until late afternoon.

During the afternoon we headed south again to make a detour into Tracy Arm Fjord at the end of which is the mighty Sawyer Glacier. Luckily weather conditions were excellent and the amount of floating ice was fairly minimal which enabled the ship to be navigated right up to the foot of the glacier. It took 2 hours to travel up the fjord and I spent most of the time on the forward lookout deck so had wonderful views. It is difficult to explain the magnificence of this fjord - very narrow and with mighty snow capped mountains dropping into the calm sea and quite a number of large ice floes, some of which were an amazing blue colour. How a ship this size can be navigated up such a narrow and winding channel with many ice floes is a mystery - I can only liken it to driving an overcrowded bus on a bendy tree lined narrow cycle path! It was quite an experience.
My only problem with the afternoon is that I got colder than I ever have before in my life. For most of the time I was fine, but as we approached the huge icy glacier the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. But I was very reluctant to leave my good viewing position, and when I did I had to resort to standing in a hot shower for ages to begin to get warm again.
Another unforgettable day.

Tuesday 19th May

We arrived at Ketchikan at around 0500 this morning. I was awake good and early and was up on the top deck (Deck 12) in time to see us tie up alongside. It was a beautiful morning with wall to wall blue sky.

We were booked on an excursion to go to the Tongass Rainforest Sanctuary, a private reserve located in the forested mountains of Herring Cove. We did a half mile rainforest walk with a very informative guide who pointed out many interesting thing to us like different plants, mosses and lichens; bear trails; scratch markings on trees where mother bears teach their cubs to climb and the very small creek where salmon actually return to spawn and die. It is hardly believable that salmon swim into such shallow water. The bears have not yet awoken from hibernation this far north so unfortunately we did not see any.

The rainforest felt almost primitive and we felt we had stepped back in time thousands of years. Although the trees were not that old, they were covered in lichen, moss etc that made them look as though they had existed in the time of the dinosaurs. When we exited the forest - (we only walked a tiny sample of it - the actual rainforest is the second largest in the world after the Amazon rainforest, and extends for 16.8 million acres) - we walked along a boardwalk over a marshy estuary where (allegedly) numerous bald headed eagles fly overhead. Needless to say, many were spotted yesterday!! I did get to see one fly over and it was huge. In an enclosure there was one eagle and one large owl, both recovering from wing injuries and unable to be let into the wild again. In another enclosure we were able to get close up to, and feed, reindeer.
We were then guided through the historic Herring Bay Lumber Company sawmill and the tour finished with a visit to a master totem pole carver carving a huge new totem pole. A very interesting morning.

The tour ended a couple of hours before we had to be back on board the ship so we browsed the numerous gift/souvenir ships and umpteen jewellers and strolled up Creek Street - - the well-known street where buildings are built on wooden stilts over water - before we returned to the ship by 1.30pm in time for departure for Juneau at 2pm.

The weather today has been glorious - mirror calm sea the same blue as the sky. We have been so lucky. Ketchikan averages 13ft of rain per year so being there today in the glorious warm sunshine was a bonus.

During the afternoon we spent time wandering around the ship, and around the pools on Deck 11 you would think we were on a Caribbean cruise, not far north in Alaska with snow covered mountains all around us. People are swimming and lying around on sunbeds. My thermals have remained in my suitcase!!

Monday 18th May

Today was an ‘at sea’ day so not much going on. After a ‘healthy’ breakfast we went to the Stardust Lounge to hear a talk on Alaskan history.

Got connected to the internet today - bloody expensive! Have signed up for 250 minutes for $CAD100 - so that amount of time is going to have to last for the week. No wifi in our stateroom though so we have to take this netbook to the Internet Café to use it there.

Being ‘at sea’ meant just that - mostly sea to the horizon in all directions during the morning and in the afternoon we passed between fir tree covered islands on both sides with waterfalls gushing down into the sea and high snow covered mountains in the distance.

View from stateroom window

While having afternoon tea we saw a pod of orca whales quite close to the ship. We were lucky enough to bag a window table for dinner and again sat there for ages as we sailed slowly past the many pretty islands. At that time we noticed a small red boat coming up close to the ship - getting so close that we thought those on board were on a suicide mission. But when it got alongside we noticed it was the Canadian ‘Coast Guard’ and we realised that it was something to do with us getting close to the US Border. It has been cloudy for most of the day, but the sun broke through during the evening and the day ended with the most amazing sunset.

Clocks, for us, go back one hour tonight which is a good thing as we have a very early start tomorrow morning for our Ketchikan excursion.

Sunday 17th May

Today is Cruise Day. We checked out of the HoJo at around 1030 and took a cab to The Norwegian Sun which was berthed at Canada Place East. The check-in passed very smoothly even though there were many hundreds of people there. We went through the usual fingerprinting, photo and green-form routine and eventually boarded the ship at around 12 noon carrying only hand baggage as we left our suitcases at check-in for delivery to our ‘stateroom’ later.

Our stateroom was not ready for occupation until 2pm so we went to ‘The Garden Café’ for lunch. This is a huge buffet and the food choices were endless. On the way there we passed the Fitness Centre - a large fully equipped gym with a big poster outside telling us that most people gain 7-10lbs during a weeks cruise. NO WAY! That prompted me to select from the salad buffet for lunch. (I won’t mention the rocky road ice cream for dessert!)

Our cabin is very nice - compact but more than enough storage space. Twin beds are against each wall with a window in between. Small but adequate shower-room again with plenty of space for toiletries.

We spent the afternoon wandering around this huge ship and we, like the other 2000+ passengers, are still trying to find our way around. There are 12 decks, and our cabin is on Deck 6A. There is a large casino and already there are lots of people there playing blackjack etc, and the machines - it seems to me such a waste of time when there is so much scenery to see and this lovely ship to explore. There is also a shopping mall with all sorts of temptations to encourage us to spend money.
The ship sailed at 5.30pm and that was exciting!

There was a ‘Sailaway’ party with a live band around the ‘Aft’ Pool and that was fun. There are 2 pools and several Jacuzzi’s. It was hot this afternoon and several brave persons were swimming, but not for much longer, I shouldn’t think, as we sail north and the temperature drops. There are a couple of interesting channels on our TV (as well as several satellite channels) - one showing a live webcam, and the other a bit like the ‘where are we flying over’ screen on an aeroplane - showing exactly where the ship is and other information such as current temperature, sea condition etc.

We sail until 6.00am on Tuesday when we dock at Ketchikan so Monday will be a full day at sea. We have booked a shore excursion in Ketchikan to include a Nature Sanctuary, Eagle Centre and see a master totem pole carver at work.

16th, 15th and 14th May

Saturday 16th May - our last day in Vancouver. We both agree that we will be sorry to leave this lovely city - it is such a vibrant place and has lots of atmosphere.
During the morning we were once again ‘culture vultures’ as we visited the Vancouver Art Gallery to see an exhibition of ‘Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’ highlighting the extraordinary works of art made by Dutch masters of the 17th century. This is a one-off exhibition for this summer only and we both enjoyed it.
During the afternoon we paid a second visit to Vancouver’s Pacific Central train station both to pick up our tickets for our first Amtrak journey next Sunday, and also to suss out the departure routine especially as we will be crossing the border into the USA. It all seems very straightforward. Let’s hope it turns out that way…

Friday 15h May was a quiet day catching up with washing and mooching around Vancouver. After lunch we took the bus to the Waterfront area and went in to Key West Tour Operators to say ‘Hi’ to Winnie - the lady there who I was in touch with when making all the Vancouver bookings from home.
From there we took a ride on the Sky Train to find the Pacific Central train station from where we are booked on the Amtrak for Seattle the day we arrive back from the cruise. The Sky Train is a bit like the DLR in London - no driver or human operator - all computer controlled and it whizzed along both over and under ground. This rail system is being extended out to the airport in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
We needed that easy day today after the long and tiring journey the day before.

Thursday 14th May we had the long journey back to Vancouver from Lake Louise. We left the hotel at 0800 and shortly afterwards had to turn our watches back one hour to Pacific Time which meant we left at 0700!
The journey began well - we again watched the stunning scenery pass by and we had a couple of ‘comfort/coffee stops’ and a stop for lunch. Then around 2.15pm the driver suddenly pulled into a lay-by alongside a lake and went to the back of the coach to have a look at the engine. He was gone for some time without telling us what was going on - then we saw him take a large plastic container down to the lake to get water. He did this 5 times, then we set off. Apparently one of the hoses in the cooling system had split and we were ‘losing water like a faucet’.
The lake water took us to a ‘gas station’ at the next town where we pulled in and the driver phoned for assistance. The mechanic was about 2 hours coming, and after the split hose was successfully replaced we were on our way again at 6pm - three and a half hours later. It made a long day seem much longer and instead of getting back to the HoJo at around 8pm we didn’t arrive until 11pm. 16 hours on the road! Everyone on the tour (there was 17 of us) remained in good spirits as there was, after all, nothing we could have done about the situation. Luckily we had stopped in civilisation (and not at the top of a remote mountain pass) near to a pub, coffee shop, loo and other amenities (several of the party boosted the pub landlord’s profit for that day!)
Terry and I had a walk by the lake and marina and, on a rock offshore we thought we saw a couple of large-ish turtles sunning themselves. We were not sure, but on our way back to the coach we saw a ‘Turtle Bay’ notice, so we were right, what we saw must have been turtles.

Wednesday 13th May

(Canadian photos now on Picasaweb. Click on 'My Picasa Photo Albums')

Today dawned sunny and with high clouds although it had snowed during the night as new snow was lying on the ground. After a wonderful buffet breakfast (I didn’t even look what was on offer as I just stuck to cereal, fruit and yoghurt) we set of in our coach. Today turned out to be what “The Rockies” are all about - snow covered high peaks soaring up into the blue sky with deep valleys below.
Our day started at Chateau Lake Louise - the photo of which seems to epitomise the Canadian Rockies. The 1000 room hotel was first conceived by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the end of the 19th century, as a vacation destination to lure moneyed travellers into taking trains and heading West, and was gradually built up at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century to the world famous resort it is today. Lake Louse looked magnificent - still frozen over - nestled between the mountains. The next stop was Johnson Canyon. We walked the 0.7km to the Lower Falls - the high path following the river far below, and quite a lot of the walk was along a narrow boardwalk fixed into the cliff face with nothing underneath but the rushing river. The walk continued for a further 3km, but time restrictions did not allow us to go any further.

... and we also spotted a little chipmunk ...

We then paid a brief visit to the famous Banff Springs Hotel, another former Canadian Pacific Railway hotel constructed between spring of 1887 and 1888. The hotel was publicly opened on June 1, 1888 and rebuilt in the 1920s after a fire. A world famous golf course is at this hotel resort, and again the views are stunning. After a couple of hours free-time in Banff, where we had lunch, we took the gondola up to the top of Sulphur Mountain. This was opened around 1960 and is Canada‘s first gondola. The ride to the nearly 2300m summit took 8 minutes. The view from the top over Banff were wonderful, but the cloud came down after a while and it started to snow blocking some of the views. It was bloomin’ cold at that altitude too! Altogether a fab day with stunning scenery.

Tuesday 12th May

Today was our first day in the Rockies proper, having spent yesterday getting here. We checked out of our hotel in Valemount at 0730 and the first stop was Mount Robson - the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. And guess what ….. the weather was so crappy and the clouds so low we could hardly see any of it. The weather was very disappointing all day - we were at a high altitude for most of the day so therefore up in the clouds. I wasn’t too worried for myself as I was here about 10 years ago, but was disappointed for Terry as this is her first visit.
Our next stop was Maligne Canyon, an impressive 50 metres deep. A lot of it was still frozen. We had lunch in Jasper - set within the Jasper National Park. A $CAD5 burger and chips included a token for free entry into a ‘wildlife museum’ in the cellar of the pub. This ‘museum’ consisted of a stuffed version of every moving creature known in the area (apart from humans!) and was, in fact, very good and very interesting.
The afternoon took us to Athabasca Falls:

The Athabasca River originates at the Columbia Glacier about 70 kilometers south. Among the most powerful and breathtaking falls in the Rocky Mountains, the Athabasca River thunders through a narrow gorge where the walls have been smoothed and potholes are created by the sheer force of the rushing water carrying sand and rock.
We then drove along the world famous Icefield Parkway to the Columbia Icefields. Again the weather was awful, the clouds were low (or we were high!) and it was snowing so heavily that we again could not see any mountains. We transferred to a special snowcoach which had bloomin’ great wheels and trundled slowly up to the glacier wondering what the heck we had let ourselves in for. Our allotted time on the glacier was 20 minutes, but it was so cold and snowing so heavily that we spent less than 5 minutes outside the heated coach, taking the obligatory photographs, and the other 15 waiting inside the coach to return to base. Again, I had done this before so I knew how special it would have been if we could have seen the wonderful scenery there and not felt so cold!
We had a fantastic sighting of a bear on the way to our hotel - I got a really great zoomed-in pic, then deleted the ruddy thing my mistake! Lesson learned - delete photos with care!
We were booked into the Lake Louise Inn for 2 nights, and got there around 7pm. We had a quick pizza for dinner and early night as we were both pretty tired.

Monday 11th May - A Bear Behind

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE - 8 TODAY

Today we started our Circle West Rockies Tour. We picked up the coach at Canada Place at 0830. We shared a cab from the hotel with an Australian couple who are on the same trip - and guess what - they disembarked from The Norwegian Sun yesterday and said they had a fab week, and even more of a coincidence is that we are booked into the same cabin as they had. How's that for a small world.

We have spent most of the day in the coach. Even tho' on the map the Rockies look 'just inland from Vancouver', according to Google Maps we have driven around 675km and we are only at the beginning of the Rocky Mountain range. The day started off disappointingly with rain with low cloud, which did not bode well for the scenery we were hoping for, but it cleared up after we dropped down the other side of the Coquihalla Pass, and it remained fine-ish for the rest off the day with one or two short sharp showers. We had 4 breaks in the journey - two short stops in the morning, a lunch stop in Kamloops and one tea-break. We arrived here in Valemount (Pop. 1195!) at around 6pm and had a burger etc at the local burger joint for supper. This village, although on the main highway, is very small and is surrounded by beautiful tree-covered snowcapped mountains. The words 'hick' - 'cowpokes' - 'rednecks' and (according to Terry) 'duelling banjos' come to mind.

Oh yes, almost forgot - wildlife sightings. We saw several beaver lodges and real live wild bears on the way - here is a pic of one of them disappearing into the trees 'The Bear Behind' :

[Terry and I saw 2 others before this sighting but the driver and tour manager ignored our calls "Bears to the Left" so we were unable to take any photos as the coach didn't stop. (We are sure they ignored us because they were not the first to see them!)]. We think they were 2 cubs, and were sideways on to the the road so it was a shame they were not caught on camera.

We are hoping to have more sightings tomorrow.

Sunday 10th May

I can't believe I have been away from home for 4 weeks already. Time is certainly passing too quickly.

Today we had a quiet-ish day. We caught up with washing/ironing then went out for a walk to Canada Place, the downtown waterfront area. And to our utter delight - what should we see there but The Norwegian Sun, our Alaskan cruise ship. It does weekly cruises Sunday-Sunday and was in preparation for this week's cruise. It looks a lovely ship...... and we are both looking forward to boarding next Sunday 17th.

We spent the evening yet again sorting out suitcases. We are off on our Rockies Tour tomorrow and only taking 'hand luggage', leaving our suitcases here at the HoJo ready for our return on Thursday evening.

Saturday 9th May

Today we awoke to a beautiful day - hardly a cloud in sight. After breakfast (me to the local deli for an egg, ham and cheese muffin together with large mug of coffee while Terry nibbled on a granola bar and banana in bed!) we went out for a stroll. We wandered up Government Street, which seems to be the main tourist street, to find Chinatown (disappointingly small). On the way we could hear bagpipes and discovered a nice Square where many kilted men and women were gathering. We were told that next weekend is the start of the Highland Games here on Vancouver Island and that today, as publicity for them, the pipe band would march through town to the Parliament Building. So that was a nice thing to see so far from home.

After our obligatory stop-off at Starbucks we strolled down to the Harbour and took a Harbour Tour on one of the little ferry/tour boats. They looked a bit like a marine version of Dodgem Cars:

The harbour was lovely - big but now lined with waterfront condo blocks and hotels - and the ‘Captain’ gave us a commentary along the way. There is a lot of First Nation (Indian) history here and it must have been beautiful before all the development. We passed umpteen million $’s worth of big yachts and also some amazing house shaped houseboats similar to those seen the other day on Granville Island (pic on Thursday 7th May).

We were collected on time from our hotel and began the journey back to the Howard Johnson (aka HoJo) Hotel in Vancouver. We took the ’scenic route’ out of Victoria and drove through a very nice residential area with some fabulous houses and amazing sea views. We could see, in the distance over the sea, the high mountains in Washington State (USA) - they looked enormous and were covered in snow. On the way to the ferry we stopped for the long-awaited visit to Butchart Gardens -

http://www.butchartgardens.com/

- a look at the website is well worth the time, these gardens have got to be the most beautiful ones I have ever visited. I was here 10 years ago, and a second visit was just as awe inspiring as the first. We caught the 7pm ferry back to Vancouver and had our evening meal on board. We had to queue and it was a bit of a scramble to find a table but we found one ok. The crossing was beautiful - calm blue sea, blue sky and the pretty pine tree covered islands. The setting sun gave everything, including the snowy mountains in the backgroud, a pinkish hue.
Altogether a fabulous day, made even better by the lovely weather. Lucky us!

Friday 8th May

We had a very early start this morning as we were due to be picked up just after 7am for a trip to Vancouver Island. The coach duly arrived on time and we caught the 0900 ferry across to Victoria - the capital of British Columbia. The ferry crossing took one and a half hours and we were lucky enough to see a pod of killer whales on the way over. The others on the coach were only on a one day trip - we are here overnight - so after a quick tour of Victoria the rest of the party were dropped off for their '3 hours free-time' and we were taken to our hotel to check in and drop off our bags.

This afternoon we visited the Royal BC Museum and then popped into the Parliament Building, the home of the BC Legislative Council, and saw the main council chamber. The building sits at one end of the inner harbour and is in a lovely situation

We again both feel pretty tired after a long day so we returned to the hotel early, and I am sitting blogging this in our very nice 9th floor room looking down a short street to the inner harbour where I can see sea-planes taking off and landing

Tomorrow we are off to the world famous Butchard Gardens, so fingers crossed for a nice day.

Thursday 7th May

We both had a good night's sleep last night - me 12 hours and Terry 14! So we woke up feeling good and ready for the day.

We had breakfast in the bar/restaurant adjoining the hotel (we are booked in 'room only') and then went for a walk along the waterfront of the Yaletown district of Vancouver. The body of water there is called 'False Creek', named so by George Vancouver who was the navigator for Captain Cook (ok - so we are back to him!) who thought he had discovered the North West Passage - but the creek is a dead-end hence the name! We walked past a huge stadium, the home of the Vancouver hockey team (Canucks?) - the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held there. On the other side of the creek from the stadium there is a huge building site - the Olympic Village.

After the walk and a snack lunch (breakfast was late) we went off on a 6+ hour coach tour of the city. This included 2 hours at the Vancouver Aquarium. We both had the pre-conceived idea that 2 hours was maybe too long to spend at an aquaruium, but not so - this one was really interesting and had some great displays of fish, marine life and amphibians. Other highlights of the tour included Chinatown and Gastown in the downtown area, Stanley park - where we saw a wild racoon

and lots of totem poles

We also visited Granville Island, not really an island but a sort of peninsula in False Creek. It used to be a very run down area but is now a centre for arts nd crafts and includes a huge 'public market' selling all sorts of crafts, flowers, fruit and veg and other culinary delights. There were some great houseboats moored on the island - made to look like real houses:

The tour finished at Queen Elizabeth Park - a park outside downtown in the residential area and on top of quite a high hill. From there we had great views over the city to the mountains beyond. There is not much snow left on them now.

We bought our 'dinner' at the market on Granville Island- a tray of lovely mixed salads and took it back to our hotel to eat, both of us being too tired to go out again. We have both decided that Vancouver is a great city.

Wednesday 6th May - from 'Confused of Vancouver'

I am now blogging from Vancouver. We have been on the go for over 28 hours, most of which time was spent travelling, Air New Zealand to Sydney then Air Canada to Vancouver. We have settled in to The Howard Johnson Hotel in downtown Vancouver. It is OK - not plush nor a skyscraper type building that most other hotels seem to be - but clean, and fortunately we have a room at the back of the building because road/sidewalk works are going on in the front. Our guess is that the city is being tarted up for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

We do not, at the moment, feel too tired so we will have a quiet afternoon, eat early this evening and fall into bed early. The flight passed fairly quickly. Terry had a few hours sleep but I only managed to catnap occasionally for a few minutes at a time. We have ‘gained a day’ as we crossed the international dateline so I feel totally confused time wise - we actually landed in Vancouver before we left Auckland. I had just got used too being 11 hours ahead of the UK in NZ, now I am 8 hours behind!

Tuesday 5th May

It has been a pleasure to have been back in Auckland again. We have not done very much apart from visiting various friends and relations, and I have really enjoyed staying with Heather and Michael who have made us very welcome. Today is our last day so we spent most of today at the house doing washing and sorting out packing etc. etc.

We left Titirangi during the afternoon and met one of Terry's sons for a meal. After we had eaten he took us to the Kiwi International airport motel where we were booked in for the night. We have a very early start looming tomorrow. Our flight departs at 0700 (2000 Tuesday 5th UK time) so we will be checking in around 0500 - yuk! We have about a 3 hour flight to Sydney where we change to an Air Canada flight for Vancouver. That second leg will take over 14 hours. Bring on the red wine and sleeping pill!!

One thing which has caused much hilarity during our travels though the North Island is either of us trying to find things in our various bags or suitcases. As most items of luggage these days have numerous zips and pockets you can guarantee that whatever we are looking for is not in the first, second or even the third place of searching. So the whole trip has echoed with the sounds of zips being opened and closed, noises of shuffling amongst the contents, the rustling of plastic bags and mutterings like ‘Bugger, I’m sure I put it in there’ or 'I know I put it somewhere really safe' etc. This, I know, will continue for the next three months!

So... that is it from Aotearoa (The Land of the Long White Cloud), and I'll see you all again in Canada.

Saturday 2nd May

As expected the band last night was somewhat loud - the bar being directly below our bedroom at The Admiral's Arms, but a sleeping pill made sure I wasn’t disturbed too much!
We left Coromandel Town at around 0900 under heavy cloud and pouring rain. I wasn’t too bothered by the weather - had it been blue sky, sun and blue sea that lovely peninsula would have been harder to leave. The first 50km of the drive was along a lovely coastline - at least it would have been had it not been for low cloud and rain. We were heading for Auckland but had a planned stop in a small town called Pokeno just south of Auckland. Terry to meet up with her ex brother-in-law and me to call in to see the daughter of an ex neighbour of mine in Woking. It was good to catch up with Carolyn again.
We arrived at our destination around 2.30pm and are staying with friends of Terry, Heather and Michael, at a place called Titirango on the outskirts of Auckland. We have been made very welcome and we are staying her for 3 nights.
So nothing else to report today….

Friday 1st May

OK - the other people staying here were wrong about last night - I lay in bed and was forced to listen to what was probably the worst karaoke ever! Luckily I was quite tired so fell asleep after a while, but was woken at 1.15am with shouting and goings-on in the car park below our window. I discovered this morning that there was a ‘fracas’ outside last night. The shouting, both male and female voices, seemed to go on for a long time. So, not the best night’s sleep ever.
And tonight a band is playing - a NZ group called One One One. Talking to one of the band, who were upstairs in the hotel accommodation relaxing before their gig, he said they play 70’s and 80’s music and it will go on until 1am and gets louder as time goes on. Hey Ho!
We have spent today around Coromandel Town area. This morning we rode on the Driving Creek Railway - a little train that runs up to the top of a mountain to a specially built look-out point (called the Eyefull Tower!) with tremendous views of the Peninsula and Hauraki Gulf across to Waiheke Island and the Auckland area.

http://www.drivingcreekrailway.co.nz/

The 60 acre wooded area the train runs up through is owned by a Barry Bricknell and it took him 27 years to build the nearly 3km track and has tunnels, spirals and viaducts. Barry has planted thousands of trees, including kauri, and the whole area will be left to the nation after his death with the proviso that no trees are ever cut down. Quite a man. Barry started out as a potter and the train first evolved as transport to carry clay down from the mountain, but it has grown and grown and is now one of the major tourist attractions in the area. He is now in his 70’s and spends his time ‘potting’ and writing his life story.
We spent this afternoon in the town. I have to confess to being a bit disappointed with the town. Having the same name as this fantastic peninsula I was expecting something a bit special, but it is a it seedy and run-down and not so nice as the other towns we drove through yesterday.