Legoland - California.

Apprximately 50 miles south of Los Angeles on the way to San Diego is the small settlement of Carlsbad. It is here that Legoland, California is located and our destination for yet another theme park. However, this one is quite different in many respects. As you roam around the 120 acre park you encounter life size models of animals, people, spacecraft, cartoon characters, vehicles, machinery, boats to name just a few, ALL made from Lego and many of them animated.
The park is divided into theme areas; Fun Town, Explore Village, Dino Island, Knights' Kingdom, Pirate Shores, Imagination Zone and the amazing Miniland. Each of these areas has rides and other attractions, all incorporating Lego in one form or another. Miniland consists of a huge parkland setting
with models of well known American and International landmarks, contructed entirely from Lego. All scenes are made even more realistic by the inclusion of Lego people, vehicles, landscapes and rivers etc. Some of the landmarks featured are; San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate bridge, New York city, Washington DC, Florida, New Orleans (as it was), A New England Harbour, The Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower AND the Sydney Opera house. The realism is incredible. One interesting digital photo that I was able to snap was a real bird about the size of a small pidgeon, as it landed on the roof of a miniature building.
We did a tour of the robotic manufacturing plant where Lego blocks are manufactured - amazing.
Lego Club House is a retail store where every imaginable piece of Lego can be purchased. The regular blocks come in 42 colours and about 140 different sizes and shapes. All are purchased by weight, simply fill a bag with your choices and pay by the pound. Wherever there is a queue for an attraction, there is an adjoining kids play area for littlies to play with thousands of peices while Mum and Dad wait in line for their admittance into or on to the attraction.
Without even trying we managed to fill in 6 hours, having the time of our life. Not sure how many photos we took at Legoland, but at a rough guess I would say around 80 to 100.
Moving on, we drove another 35 miles south to San Diego, then east to our overnight motel at El Cajon, CA.
Friday was a day of driving, 490 miles in all, from El Cajon to Flagstaff Arizona, via Yuma, Phoenix and a number of smaller towns. It is worthy of mention that although most of this journey was through remote, very desolate country at least 90% of this was on freeways - 3 or 4 lanes in each direction.
We have booked into a motel in Flagstaff Arizona for three nights, plan to have an easier day tomorrow (Sat) looking around town, then on Sunday a round trip of about 400 miles to Monument Valley and back. Monday morning we will visit Grand Canyon on the way to Las Vegas.
Kevin & Gail.
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Theme Park Marathon.

After departing Ventura on Monday we took the 80 mile LA by-pass route to Anaheim as suggested by Tom. After settling in to Holiday Inn Anaheim At The Park, we took the shuttle bus to California Adventure Park where we saw "It's Tough To Be A Bug" and "Turtle Talk". Both of these attractions are 3D reality films, that involve the audience to the extent that you are sprayed with water, jolted in your seat, flicked by something under your seat and touched on the head by something in the seat headrest. They were all very entertaining despite the surprises. Another attraction which we regarded as the best at California was a virtual flight over California, called Condor Flats. We soared and swooped over famous California landmarks after strapping ourselves into our virtual hang glider. The screen literally engulfs you as you swoop and soar.
After dark we watched the Electric Grand Parade which was fantastic.
Tuesday morning up bright and early to go to Universal Studios which is right over the other side of LA. We did the updated Tram Tour, the highlight being the "War Of The Worlds" set where a compete jet aircraft has crashed into a township. The extent of the devestation was incredible. Other attractions that we saw were; Shrek in 4D, Waterworld, Special Effects Stages, Backdraft, Animal Actors and The Blues Brothers. Arrived back at Anaheim around 8pm, then after dinner watched the massive Disneyland fireworks display from the balcony of our motel.
Wednesday, a leisurely breakfast, then a trip to the local shopping mall where we easily filled in two hours in Wal-Mart. Back to the motel, then off to Disneyland. The weather has been incredibly hot since our depature from Ventura, 30 degrees C plus. Disneyland is currently celebrating it's 50th birthday and is open until midnight each day. Still more attractions to be visited so off to the revamped Pirates Of The Caribean, The Parade Of Dreams (Grand Parade), then a film "The 50 Years Of Disney".
Tmorrow Land - The Inoventions, another reality film - Hey Mom Ive Shrunk The Audience, a very clever use of filming techniques where the audience feels as though they are in minature. As we walked back to Holiday Inn we again witnessed the fantastic Disneyland fireworks dispay from the freeway overpass.
Kevin & Gail.
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Sunday at the MEW-seum.

No, this is not a spelling mistake, it is a tribute to our US friends Tom & June MEW, who not only welcomed us into their beautiful Ventura condiminium for three wonderful days, but also showed us some of their very special places in their part of the United States.
Sunday started with a drive to Ojai and a very pleasant "brunch" at the Ojai Cafe Emporium. Then another beautiful drive through the surrounding canyons as we made our way to Simi Valley and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum (see I can spell). Both Tom and June are volunteer docents (guides) at the Museum, so Gail and I were given a personal guided tour with not one, but two very knowledgable tour guides. Presidential Libraries are established by all US Presidents (with one or two exceptions) at the conclusion of their term of office and include all the documents and artifacts that have accumulated during this period. The documents are mostly contained within the library for the benefit of students and researchers. Everything else is contained within the purpose built museum, and in the case of Ronald Reagan, the site, building design (including his eventual resting place) and construction were chosen and closely monitored by Reagan himself. The highlight for!
us was without question the special glass wall "room" which houses Air Force One and Marine One, the Presidential Boeing 707 and Helicopter used by Ronald Reagan. These are not replicas, but the actual aircraft, transported to this site, re-assembled and repainted by Boeing and best of all - available to walk through. The size of the 707 alone, which dominates the pavillion, gives some idea of the immense task of constructing this facility for future generations to enjoy.
Gail and I consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have been able to visit this fantastic museum and would like to record here our appreciation and gratitude to Tom and June for sharing this "love of their life" with us. Thanks Tom & June, your hospitality and friendship are greatly appreciated.
I might add that the rest of the museum was enthralling, but honestly, the images of Air Force One
will be foremost in our minds for years to come, second only to date on this trip with our Dog Sled adventure in Alaska.
Sunday concluded with dinner at a lovely waterfront restaurant.
Kevin & Gail.
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Monterey to Ventura.

The drive on Highway 1 south of Monterey known as Big Sur is one of the most spectacular coastal drives one can imagine. The towering cliffs literally drop straight to the sea along the very rugged and somewhat barren coast. In many respects the views are similar to our own Great Ocean Road in Victoria, however Big Sur stretches for approximately 90 miles which is far longer the GOR. The other notable difference is the presence of ocean mist that engulfs the coastline on most mornings. We were fortunate to traverse the first 30 or so miles with no sea mist, however a very heavy mist rolled in for the remaining 60 miles, limiting our view of the ocean. A short stop at an elephant seal rookery where there were dozens of these huge mamals lazing on the sandy beach in the sun. A short distance from this rookery we came to our planned lunch stop - Hearst Castle.
From the roadside we caught a glimpse of the turrets of a castle way off in the distance on a very high hilltop. We parked in the huge visitor carpark then walked to the visitor centre where we collected our pre-booked tickets for the basic tour. Together with a coach load of fellow visitors we were then conveyed along a steep winding road of about 5 miles to the hilltop castle of William Randolph Hearst. It was here that we met our guide for the 1 hour guided tour of portions of Hearst Castle. Hearst was born into a wealthy mining family in the late 1880's, however he ventured into the publication world at an early age from where he made his fortune. At the hight of his career he owned 29 newspaper and publishing companies. His dream castle was commenced in 1919 and was an ongoing building project literally until he died. However the main buildings were completed within nine years. Hearst was apparently a man who just kept adding artifacts and building styles from around th!
e world, never being satisfied with any particular style. Suffice to say that the whole estate which covered 770 square kilometres in it's heyday is simply mind blowing. To even attempt to describe it here would be impossible. It is awesome. A special thank you to Steve for insisting that a visit to Hearst Castle was an absolute "must see".
You were not wrong Steve.
Our overnight stay was further south at the quaint Danish replica town of Solvang - a very interesting and enjoyable stopover. Friday morning and we were on our way to Ventura to look up and stay with Tom & June Mew, very dear American friends.
Their condominium, atop the hills of Ventura with 180 degree views over the boat harbour and township is simply stunning. The rest of Friday was spent talking and reliving past events and times when they have visited Australia. Late afternoon they took us on a drive downtown where we visited a huge book store (Noble & ............) and an every bigger craft store. A beautiful barbequed salmon meal followed happy hour and rounded off a most magnificent day.
After breakfast the next morning we were taken on the most wonderful day out, visiting the wine production areas of southern California. Then lunch in the small township of Los Olivos. This is the area where the movie "Sideways" was filmed, in fact we discovered that the motel we had stayed at in Solvang two days ago was the very motel where the two guys who were on a "boys weekend" had stayed in the movie. Then a visit to a miniature horse stud, the small township of Lompoc where there are acres and acres of flowers. Gail went to bed early as her sinus was playing up and making her feel quite off colour.

Kevin & Gail.
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SFO to Monterey.

After an early ligh breakfast at the Stratford hotel, a quick walk of a few blocks to collect our pre booked hire car. No hassles, in and out within 10 minutes with a great little 4 door, auto, A/C, top of the line Ford Focus ZX4 sedan with only 9,000 miles on the clock.
Back to the hotel to pick up Gail and our luggage, then negotiate our way through downtown SFO and onto I-280 southbound, then route 92 to Half Moon Bay where we picked up coastal highway 1. A very picturesque and interesting drive along the coast hugging road. Stopped at Santa Cruz for a break then onto Monterey, arriving around 12 after covering 120 miles from SFO. First stop was the info centre to obtain local info on motels. The staff in the info centre were very helpful, recommending a number of places. After booking into one we did a load of laundry, then went on a walking tour of the waterfront. Before dinner we jumped into the car and went for a drive around Monterey Bay to see a bit more of the area. It was quite warm today, so shorts and t-shirts were in order, the first time since leaving home.

Kevin & Gail.
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San Francisco on our feet.

On the eve of our depature from SFO, it's time to record our activity of the last two days.
Monday morning we decided to visit the Fisherman's Wharf area. Now normal people hop on the cable car in Powell St. and "hang out" all the way up and down the steep hills to the waterfront. Not the Hunters - we felt like seeing a little more of the route by walking. Well for those of you have ever been to SFO (or saw the movie "Bullet") you will now know beyond all reasonable doubt that WE ARE MAD. However it was actually quite pleasant even considering the 90 fahrenheight (30C) temperature. The main thing was that we took our time and had several rests along the way. Spent a very pleasant 2-3 hours including lunch at Pier 39 and The Cannery etc. before returning to the Cable Car turnaround for a more relaxing return trip to downtown Powell St.
After standing in line for 3/4 hour waiting for our turn to board the cable car - we realised they were no longer running. So we decided to walk again figuring that the return would only be the same degree of difficulty as the earlier walk. WRONG - the chosen route was very much steeper in sections, at one point we walked backwards up the hill to ease the pain. We eventually reached the summit of SFO from where it appeared to be downhill all the way - even walked the zig zag Lombard Street (downhill). Our route took us past the Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse where you can watch the sheaves that power the cable cars and learn all about its history. Upon entering we quickly saw the reason for the stoppage of one of the cable car lines - a team of maintenance men were frantically working on splicing a section of new steel cable into a 30 odd feet of badly frayed cable. Can you believe it, they actually splice the large diameter twisted steel cable.
Todays trivia... Gail's pedometer recorded 12.5 kilometres for the day.
Tuesday dawned even warmer so we are definately not planning another day of walking. Visited the Westfield Centre in downtown SFO where they have a 5 level circular elevator. Then caught the MUNI train to the CALTRAIN station where we changed and went to Palo Alto - 53 kilometres from SFO, and home of not only Stanford University, but also Steve Fargie when he is in residence. We had a most interesting walk around the Stanford area then through the downtown Palo Alto shopping precinct and the private homes and mansions along University Avenue. As has become the norm we took a heap of digital photos during our tripping around - most of which will trigger memorable moments throughout the coming years.
We only registered 9 km today on the pedometer.(The non-walking day...)
Tomorrow (Wed) we hit the road in our Avis rental Chevrolet Cobalt south-bound for Ventura via the coastal Highway 1.
Kevin & Gail.
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Farewell ms Ryndam - Part 2.

Seems like I screwed up the last blog, so continuing on.....
Our call for disembarkation came sooner than we anticipated, consequently we had to drop everything and move along. Transferred from the ship by taxi to Vancouver airport courtesy of a voucher provided by APT. Although we were cleared into the USA at Vancouver, the rest of the check in procedure was an absolute shambles. Just on 3 hours in a variety of lines until eventually we made it to the departure lounge as boarding began. A pleasant 2 hour flight to San Francisco,then a taxi to our hotel in Union Square where we will be for the next 3 nights. After settling in, a strole around Powell St. and an early dinner in one of the many budget priced eateries. Boy what a drop from the service and food we had become accustomed to over the last 3 weeks. We are due to collect our hire car Wednesday morning from Avis at Palo Alto which is quite a way out of town, so I will attempt to alter the pickup point to the Avis depot nearby. We plan to spend tomorrow (Mon) and Tuesday visitin!
g some of the interesting places we last visited back in 1995, then when we have the car head south down the coast road towards Ventura and Los Angeles.

Kevin & Gail.
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A Hard Act To Follow.

After the euphoria of the Mendenhall Glacier trip on Thursday it took something special for our feet to hit the ground. Actually as I pen this, I realise that things just continue to exceed our wildest expectations, so let's continue.
At 5pm we again took in an onboard movie - this time Harrison Ford in "Firewall" - a great movie. Upon returning to our Stateroom suite - with verandah big enough for a pony, we were surprised to see that we were actually under weigh. This process had taken place while we were in the movies and was so smooth we did not even realise it. Dress casual for another great dinner, then attend the Indonesian Crew Show in the showroom at 11:15pm. The show is put on by the Indonesian cabin boys, dining room servers, supervisors and waiters with whom we associate on a daily basis.
Sleep in till around 8am Friday as we are not due to dock in Ketchikan till 11:30am. Once docked we head ashore for more sightseeing - there must be 1 jewellery shop in Alaska for every 20 residents - at least that how it seems. Lucky that Gail has all the diamonds she's getting. ....ha-ha.
Ketchikan is a great town, especially the cute shops and cafe's built on stilts along Creek Street, one of our favourites to date. Remember my earlier comment about not sighting other cruise ships, well forget that, as here in Ketchikan there are 3 larger cruise ships tied up at the wharf, plus another anchored in the harbour. Our ship, although the last to berth has the prime berth right on the doorstep of the town; didn't I also say that everything about the Holland America line was first class. Tonight at 7:45pm is a formal dinner followed by the "Dessert Extravaganza" at 10:30pm and the second last night of our tour. We continue south down the Inside Passage this evening with stunning scenery before disembarkation in Vancouver on Sunday morning.
So unless something even more exciting happens which requires a blog update, (and this is highly likely) this will possibly be the last blog composed from the ms Ryndam and posted when we reach dry land Sunday.
Until next time,
Love and Regards,
Kevin & Gail.
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Farewell ms Ryndam.

Sunday morning 8am and we are currently waiting to be called for disembarkation in Vancouver.

Kevin & Gail.
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Haines, Alaska.

For the first time since we boarded our cruise ship we had little reason to set an alarm. The ms Ryndam had arrived in Haines around 6am and as we had no onshore excursions booked we had the added luxury of being able to sleep in until 7:30am. Honestly, there is so much to see that it is very hard to stay in bed in case we miss something - combined with the fact that daylight is almost always outside our stateroom. Anyway we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before dis-embarking for a self guided tour of Port Chilkoot and the adjoining community of Haines. A very quaint small town set right on the water with towering snow covered mountains as a backdrop. Three hours was sufficient time for our ramble around town in the quite hot conditions - 24.7 degrees C. Spent about an hour in a sports store where everything from guns to winter clothing and everything in between was on display. Back on board for a late lunch, then changed into shorts for a rest on deck in deckchairs with a go!
od book each.
Watched another movie in the onboard theatre "Eight Below" - a great movie about sled dogs in the Antarctic. Then get changed for our late seating dinner at 7:45pm, followed by Showtime in the Showroom. Have seen some excellent shows each night starting at 10:15pm. As you may have gathered, every day is full on from around 6am until well after midnight as a rule. It's a tough life, but we think we can handle it.....
Tomorrow is the day we are really loking forward to - our helicopter trip from Juneau to Mendenhall Glacier with a touch down at a dog camp and our treck through the snow on a dog sled, with the opportunity to actually take control and be the "musher".
Kevin & Gail.
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The Day We Met Gilmore.

Thursday 15th June 2006, was not only Lachlan Hunters' 5th birthday, but a day that Gail & I will long remember. It all started around 6:30am, as we slowly approached Juneau, the capital of Alaska aboard the beautiful & elegant ms Ryndam. Now Junea is by no means the largest town or city in Alaska with a population of a mere 32,000 residents compared to Anchorage's 130,000 which is almost half the population of the state of Alaska. However Juneau holds a special place in our mind for it is the town from where we met Gilmore. After docking around 7:45am, Gail & I spent a leisurely few hours visiting some of the quaint shops of the downtown area. Then at 11:15 it was off to the helicopter base just out of town for our flight to the Mendenhall Glacier and Ice Field. After a safety briefing we were fitted out with waterproof tractor tread boots, then another 4 passengers joined us for the most amazing 20 minute flight over the adjoining snow covered peaks to Mendenhall. Our chop!
per landed at the remote dog camp where the camp manager gave us a rundown on the camp and it's summer occupants. About 300 dogs, 20 full time mushers, cooks and assorted staff. The camp is a temporary location setup for 4 months only of the year on the glacier field. The snow is 25 - 30 feeet deep, sitting on top of approx. 600 feet of ice.
Gail & I then met our "musher" - no not Gilmore, but a great young guy named Drew, who took us across and introduced us to each and every member of his 12 dog team led by - you guessed it, Gilmore. All of the sled dogs are working dogs and apart from being the most cuddly and gorgeous animals are also the most friendly. After playing with all of them for a while it wa time for the real adventure. The 12 dogs were hitched to a sled driven by Drew with a second sled towed behind on a loose tow rope. Initially Gail rode with Drew while I drove the second sled. Don't laugh, it's not that simple - much like being towed in a car. Drew's simple instruction to me was - hang on, don't let go and for god sake don't run up my behind when we slow or run downhill. OK got it. Away we went with the dogs literaly straining at the leash and only too eager to run as hard and fast as possible. After a mile or so Gail transferred into my sled and off we thundered again. The ride is quite bumpy !
as the snow was quite soft in places and narrow gullies have formed across the trail. At our next stop Gail and I swapped places, she became the musher and I was her passenger. We made several stops to admire the awesome scenery around us and to simply listen to the sounds of the snow and ice breaking up and moving. At one point we saw a small avalanche which I was able to capture on video. My turn again to be musher as we approached the camp after the most auxilerating one hour on the sleds - certainly full on enjoyment by both Gail and I. We said goodbye to all our dogs, took more photos, then were shown around the camp by Drew. He also showed us some Husky puppies - all sired by Gilmore who incidentally is a five time entrant as a lead dog in the gruelling 1,000 mile annual winter endurance dog sled race known as the Iditarod.
Our return helicopter trip took us over another two glaciers - more photos, then back to Juneau and our cruise ship for a late lunch on board.
Well Lauchie, do you realise that you had two birthdays this year - because where Grandma & Grandpa are is 17 hours behind the time at Cambewarra, so we hope you enjoyed your birthdays on June 15th, - we did.

Kevin & Gail.
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Anchorage to Seward

Wow - what a trip. The scenery along the 130 miles coastal road was some of the most scenic we have traversed. On route we were taken to a privately owned Nature Reserve where injured native animals and birds are taken until they can be released into the wild. This facilty is entirely funded by public donation and profits from a coffee shop and gift store. We were able to see several north american animals that we had not seen previosly.
Upon arrival in Seward, our embarkation procedures to board the ms Ryndam were extremly swift and straight forward. Lunch was available once we were onboard, which left the afternoon free to go ashore if we wished. However as it was raining again we elected to stay on board and spend the afternoon unpacking and settling in. The ms Ryndam is slightly smaller than the ms Volendam, with passenger capacity of 1200 compared to 1400. Our verandah suite is exactly the same as our previous one - luxurious.
Mandatory life boat drill was carried out prior to dinner and due to a number of delays with passenger arrivals etc. we did not sail until 11pm.
Sunday night and Monday was pretty much at sea with plenty of opportunity to participate in onboard activities. We chose to attend a 1 hour presentation given by the resident Marine Naturalist. During the afternoon we were invited to have drinks and 'hors dourves'in the deluxe verandah suite of a couple from Hervey Bay, Carl & Dianne who we have pal'd up with. Boy - their suite was even bigger than ours. Very early Tuesday morning had us entering College fjiord with its towering peaks and glaciers, followed later in the morning by our entry into Glacier Bay. We appear to be the only Cruise Ship on the water as we have not seen another at any time. Glacier Bay is renowned for it's beauty and spectacular "calving" glaciers. Our ship stopped for over an hour within two hundred metres of the Majorie Glacier which put on the most spectacular calving display while we were there. We saw lots of sea otters, humpback whales, harbour seals and a few sea lions within Glacier Bay. Fort!
unately for us the early morning mist cleared away completely and we had glorious blue skies for this memorable day. We then sailed into John Hopkins Bay and saw more whales in the distance. Took in a movie at 5pm - The Shaggy Dog, with Tim Allen. We are due to berth in Haines at 6:30am tomorrow, with all day free time, so we plan to go ashore, have a look around and hopefully send of these blog posts and a few emails from a land based payphone.
A bit of trivia.... to date we have taken over 600 digital photos plus 60 minutes of video - plenty of editing to be done..
Kevin & Gail.
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Denali to Anchorage.

Around mid-day we reboarded the McKinley Explorer train, bound for Anchorage - estimated time of arrival 8:45pm. Lunch and dinner were both served en route in two sittings in the very luxurious dining car. This train is a double decker, with all services plus dining car on the lower level, passenger seating in the domed carriages on the upper level. Not all carriages have the full dome, however Holland America with whom we are travelling have the entire compliment of domed carriages - about six in all of the total of twenty carriages making up this train.
Upon arival in Anchorage we were transpoted from the rail depot to our hotel - The Hilton in the heart of the downtown area. A brief narrated tour of the city on the way to the Hilton enabled us to get our bearings of this large modern city of 320,000 - the largest in Alaska. Saturday morning we went on an optional tour - "City Highlights". Unfortunately this tour was a disaster - suffice to say bad enough for quite a number including the Hunters' to submit a written complaint to Holland America, claiming a refund. Such a shame as everything else to date has been absolutely first class in all respects. We put this down to the incompetance of the driver and the dumb-arse attitude of the local Holland America staff. Enough said on that, no time for such trivia.
During the afternoon we went to the weekly Summer markets in a huge open-air carpark across from the Hilton. This market has about 350 stalls, selling everything from food to household items.
Saturday was a free day in Anchorage, so we made the most of this time in general sightseeing, plus went to dinner downtown with a couple from Adelaide.

Kevin & Gail.

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Denali Wilderness Park.

Upon reaching Denali around 1pm, we were transferred to our lodge, then went on a 7 hour trip into the depths of Denali,(Remember the 21+ hours of sunshine).This excursion was simply awesome, we saw bull moose, caribou and two lots of brown (grizzly) bear - one with two cubs and another with three cubs which is quite unusual. As it is still early Spring, the snow is still very prolific throughout this area. Apparently they had 24 feet of snow around here this last winter.
Dinner was combined with a musical show or Cabin Nite as it is caled, held in a large log cabin near to our lodge. We are still battling with the "midnight sun". Walking back from the show to our lodge at 11:30pm in absolute broad daylight is a strange sensation - fortunately there are good blackout drapes in our rooms.
Friday morning, free time till noon, so time for a walk around before re-boarding the McKinley Explorer for another exciting day.
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Fairbanks & McKinley Explorer

More magnificent scenery encountered between Tok & Fairbanks. First stop was for morning tea at Rika's Roadhouse, a delightful privately owned property which included a huge barn, blacksmiths shed, lake and the mandatory gift shop. Items for sale here were very inexpensive, for example caps $us5 each or 5 for $us20. Our en route lunch stop today was at an historic gold mining dredge #8. The sheer size of these dredges is immense, roughly the size of a very large 2 storey house. Lunch was miner's stew, served in a huge shed similar to a woolshed, with long tables and bench seats, reminiscent of Olivers' mess hall. The stew was self serve from huge cast iron "camp ovens" strategically placed along the tables with one for every four people.
A guided tour of the dredge followed lunch, then some panning for gold. Any gold recovered was then assayed (weighed), Gail panned the largest amount of the 47 people in our tour group - $9.01 value. All of the above was included in our tour cost which is a nice part of this tour.
Overnight accom. is at another Westmark Inn - They have all been first class. After dinner we went for a walk along the river, more photos then back to the Inn. Although there is only approx. 3 hours between sunset and sunrise, it does not actually get dark at all, something that confuses us all. We were told not to walk down the streets after dark - August 23rd to be exact.
Thursday morning and we were transferred to the Fairbanks rail depot and boarded our domed roof two storey train. Holland America, ou tour operator have their own dedicated carriages and also appear to either own or a major shareholder in the Westmark Hotels.
We cannot begin to describe the awsome magnificence of the first 4 hours of our trip on the McKinley Explorer from Fairbanks to Denali National Park and Wilderness.
JUST INCREDIBLE. We have an overnight stay in the most recently built lodge at Denali Wilderness Centre, then reboard the McKinley Explorer tomorrow for another full day of "blow your mind" scenery.
Kevin & Gail.
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Yukon Territory

Departed Whitehorse Sunday morning, bound for Dawson which was a 500 odd mile coach trip. This was a long day, broken up by frequent stops to take photos, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. We arrived in Dawson about 7:30pm, ckecked into our accomodation for the next 2 nights - The Westmark Inn, did a load of laundry and wrecked their machine in the process. After dinner walked around town, more photos, then a visit to a downtown pub to watch the most bizarre local ceremony - "the sourtoe cocktail". Ask to see the photo and explanation when we get home. We then went to the 12 midnight vaudeville show in another pub. The show finished at 1am and we walked back to our hotel - in broad daylight, really weird.
Dawson is an unusual town, looks somewhat like a movie set - except it's real. We had a free day Monday in Dawson, so did a guided "ghosts & city" tour which was fantastic. Dawson is the place where the 1896 goldrush started and there are still miners here looking for gold.
During the afternoon Gail & I did our own walking tour, firstly along the banks of the Yukon River, then around the local houses. Met and talked to quite a few locals who were just as interested in where we came from as we were interested in them and their lifestyle. Summer, ie no snow, only lasts 4 months max a year, April thru Sept. minus 40-50 degrees C during winter. As the Yukon Territory is actually in Canada, they work on the metric system the same as us.
After 2 nights in Dawson, which we enjoyed immensely we departed this morning (Tue) down the Yukon River in a high speed cat (built in Fremantle) for 102 nautical miles to a very very remote settlement just across the border into the USA called "Eagle". The boat trip was unbelievable, we saw a moose & her calf and a black grizzly bear swimming and frolicking at the waters edge. I got some great video of both of these events.
At Eagle our passports were checked by a US border patrol guy, then we boarded a new coach and continued on for about another 100 miles to another very small settlement called "Chicken". Then on to Tok, where we stay overnight before we move on to Fairbanks tomorrow.
Kevin & Gail

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Farewell to the ms Volendam

Wow, what an incredible three days. As I write this it is 6:30am, Saturday 3rd June and we have just docked in Skagway, Alaska.
Time to reflect and record some of the fabulous memories of this time.
Thursday was a day at sea, time to really acquaint ourselves with all that the Volendam has to offer. The day started with a buffet breakfast, then a stroll around the ship endeavouring to get to know our way around. Although the ship is only 746 feet long it is quite amazing how you can easilly get lost finding your way around. During the
day we attended a few talks, jogged a km or so on the treadmills in the gym (which has one of the best forward views), did a tour of the kitchens, took heaps of photos, saw the latest "Pink Panther" movie, ckecked out the library and ATE.......
The weather has taken a downturn, it was raining for the 4 hours we spent in Skagway, a charming small "western" town with boardwalks for footpaths. The shopping is frantic for most people as there are dozens of shops selling everything from top shelf diamonds etc to cheap T-shirts. With careful selection, there are some good bargains though.
At 12:30 we boarded the White Pass Railroad which took us from Skagway up through the snow covered pass used by the gold-seekers during the 1898 "Klondike Stampede". We are in a luxurious vintage train carriage, they were on foot battling the elements and having to move 12 months supply of provisions and clothes etc.
Transferred to our coach at Fraser - the border control point between USA and Canada. We are now in the Yukon Territory, where the history of the Gold Rush days is the big tourist attraction. Checked into our hotel in Whitehorse around 6pm, then after dinner saw a vaudiville show - The Frantic Follies, terrific. The show finished at 11pm and it is still broad daylight. Sunrise tomorrow is around 3:30am - about 20 hours of daylight each day.

Kevin & Gail

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All Aboard - ms Volendam

Wednesday morning, and we met our tour director - Serge, a very nice Swiss ex-patriot. Our transfer from the hotel to onboard the ms Volendam went smoothly with minimal delays during the Customs and Immigration process at the Port. The ms Volendam will be our home for the next 3 nights, then we disembark at Skagway to commence the 10 day "land content" portion of our tour. After that it's another ship - the ms Ryndam for 7 continous nights back to Vancouver.
Our "Stateroom Suite" is magnificent, complete with personal loungeroom & verandah plus every conceivable luxury from stocked bar & fridge to large flat screen LCD TV and DV player etc. If we have time, DVD's are available at no cost to "suite" occupants from a huge library. We reckon it will take us most of the 16 hours of daylight time to fully investigate and make use of all the fantastic on-board facilities. So far we have attended a mandatory life boat drill (hillarious), a Las Vegas type show, a Welcome Aboard party, a magnificent dinner, checked out the bars, 3 restaurants, live entertainment options, shops, casino, pools, spas, the theatre as well as attending a run down on the multitude of the activities; lectures, wildlife talks, naturalilst lectures etc. etc. Maybe we might have to forego some of these activities in order to get more than two or three hours sleep.....
We have just put in our first night sleep - very smooth, only a slight rolling effect at present, until we reach the sheltered waters of the Inside Passage.
Well folks, must be off now - it's time for breakfast, Thursday.
Kevin & Gail

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Vancouver Highlights.

With two beautiful sunny days in Vancouver we were able to do plenty of walking and sightseeing. On Tuesday we took a bus ride from downtown to Richmond which is about a 40 minute trip south, past the airport. After we had sorted out the public transport system and discovered that the bus stop was actually right outside our hotel and not 3 blocks away (as we had been told by the waitress in Denny's the night before), all went smoothly.
We certainly feel that the best way to really get the feel for a foreign place and its people, customs etc. is to get out on your own on the public transport system. The Sutton Place hotel is 5 star rated, with an "old-world" decor. It certainly lived up to its rating, everything about the facilities and service was first class.
The days are quite long as sunrise at present is 5:15am, with sunset at 9:50pm. Not sure if this is to our advantage as we tend to cram as much as possible in the daylight hours, then find it is well after midnight before we get to bed. We were actually watching TV at 3am the other morning, then awake again at around 7am, ready for another exciting day. Our body clocks will settle down within a day or two.

"Did You Know".
A "tinnie" is a Canadian two dollar coin - not a cold Fosters.
A "loonie" is a one dollar coin - not a crazy person.

Don't know when this blog will be posted as we are now on board our cruise ship. More on that in the next post.
Kevin & Gail

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