22 July - Friday - Rocky Mountaineer Day 3 - Whistler to Vancouver

G'day All,

Since we had the upgrade and adjoining rooms we utilised both bathrooms and made the most of the space, if only for the night. We decided overnight to do the chair lift to the top of Whistler and also do the Peak 2 Peak gondola ride as well. For someone not keen on heights Penny was getting amongst it with yet another elevated activity :-)

Looking back towards Whistler as we ascend to the top.

At the top of Whistler mountain.

Gold gold gold.

The Peak 2 Peak Gondola is a tri-cable gondola lift located in Whistler, British Columbia that links Whistler Mountain's Roundhouse Lodge with Blackcomb Mountain's Rendezvous Restaurant. It is the first lift to join the two side-by-side mountains. It holds world records for the longest free span between ropeway towers at 3.03 kilometres and highest point above the ground t 436 metres. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola was built by the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group in 2007 and 2008 at a cost of CDN$51 million.

Peak 2 peak looking from Whistler towards Blackcomb mountain.

View from Gondola

Passing another Gondola

It's a long way across and down.

View from the top of Blackcomb Mountain.

Once we got off the gondola we had a look around and noticed a marmot just below the lookout viewing area. This is the animal that Whistler was renamed after, the marmots are abundant on the mountain and surrounding area and make a whistling sound.

 Marmot.

From here we had to head down hill on the ski chair lift, another challenge for Penny with her little legs swinging in the breeze.

Penny wasn't so sure about descending on the ski lift.

After we had our feet firmly back on the ground we did a bit of a walk around Whistler village and then headed back to the hotel ready to catch the bus to drop us back to the train for the last leg to Vancouver.

River on way to Vancouver

Beside the fjord as we head to Vancouver.

The train pulled up in Vancouver and the rocky Mountaineer crew kindly organised a voucher for a taxi from the station to the Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel, for a while it was looking like we would have to carry our luggage a few blocks as this wasn't a regular drop off point. We decided to rest up for the night with the view to do the Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Vancouver in the morning as we didn't need to be at Canada Place at the Port of Vancouver until 12pm to book into the Holland America cruise. So rest up we did.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

21 July - Thursday - Rocky Mountaineer Day 2 - Quesnel to Whistler

G'day All,

Up bright and early and heading for Whistler. The scenery changed quite a bit from Quesnel (with a silent "S") to Whistler, transiting from pastures and forest to arid bare hillsides and chasms and back to forest on approach to Whistler.

Onwards we go . . .

Across the bridges.

Passing the lakes.

To changing landscapes

Through the arid chasms.

And back towards water.

The mountains beginning to change.

Higher the mountains rise, dusted in snow.

Contemplation.

Back into the forest as we enter Whistler.

We arrived in Whistler at checked into the Fairmont Chateau overlooking the Upper Village. When we opened the room we noticed we had no luggage so I went down to the front counter to see what was going on. The concierge said the bags had been delivered to room 507 but we were in room 505, a quick check revealed that we had been booked in to both rooms (?). He organised for our bags to be delivered to 505 and all was well in the world. About 30 mins after we got settled there was a knock at the door where another staff member informed us that we had been given an upgrade and had both 505 and 507 adjoining rooms with 507 more or less being the formal lounge and second bathroom. Sweet gig but only for overnight so we really didn't get to utilise both rooms fully. We did a quick lap around Whistler and decided it was time to seek out a place to eat and what better idea than an Aussie icon, a pie. Owned and operated by Aussies, Peaked Pies will open its second store in Vancouver in a couple of months. The pies were absolutely what we needed to fill (over fill) our bellies, if you find your self in Whistler or Vancouver look them up for a taste of home :-)

Aussie pies in Canada.

Hunger pangs satisfied it was off to bed, tomorrow was a free day until mid afternoon, we had nothing planned so had a look at some things to do but left the decision up to the weather on what we would do as it looked like it may be a sunny day after quite a cloudy trip to date.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

28 July - Thursday - Cruise Day 6 - Ketchikan

G'day All,

We arrived at Ketchikan at around 10 am, we had breakfast before docking and headed into town for some more trinkets and a browse around town. We were told that this was the town for Alaskan carved soap stone, which was something Penny wanted as a memento from Alaska, so soap stone hunting was on the agenda for most of the morning before we had to meet to go on the Cultural Tour at 1 pm. We found a great place for Soap stone called Alaskan Fine Art and found a couple of pieces to bring home. The sculptor / carver (Eddie Lee) was on site and greeted us at the counter, he has been sculpting for over 30 years and is very proud of his work.

Ketchikan harbour and township.

A unique thing in Ketchikan is that the stairs are actually streets.

We caught the bus to the Ketchikan Cultural Centre and received a full history and description of local totem poles and their meaning. Interesting stories and nice to know what the meaning is behind each pole.

Despite what Penny thought this guy is holding a fish in his left hand :-)

From there we visited a re-creation of a typical First Nation village and told about the building construction and village lay out.

First Nation handiwork

Art work on a traditional hut

Main hub for a village

Internal decoration of the main village hut

One of the many totems.

The tour finished up at around 4:30 pm and we set sail again at around 6 pm. Time got away on us and we missed main service for tea so ended up at the pizza bar for tea and had a nice pizza with a refreshing drink (rum and coke). This was our last land stop before we head back to Vancouver on Saturday morning.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

26 July - Tuesday - Cruise Day 4 - Skagway - Shopping and Haines Eagle Raft Ride

G'day All,

We arrived at Skagway around 6:20 am and we slept in a little and had a breakfast delivered to the room so had a later start than normal. It was out for a bit of shopping prior to our 1 pm pre-booked Raft ride at Haines, a sanctuary for the Bald Eagle. It was another rainy day but not too cold so we headed out as planned. Shopping wasn't too exciting so we were really looking forward to seeing the bald eagles along the shallows of the most heavily populated area of bald eagles in the world. Another 40 min ferry ride to the township of Haines to take the raft ride down the river. The rafts held up to 8 people and is a gentle float along the river avoiding any rapids. The river is a spawning ground for salmon and feeding ground for the eagles. Unfortunately for us very few salmon were running and we only saw a handful of eagles over 300 metres away in the trees. A little disappointing for me as I was really looking forward to taking some great photos of the eagles :-( best I could do was to snap one a we passed by the tree it was roosting in.

One of the few Bald Eagles we saw.

None the less the raft ride was nice and relaxing with the guides doing all the rowing and us taking in the views and information. The river is in the form of a delta and ranges in depth from over your head to a few inches, yet because of the silt you couldn't tell the depth, the only hint was the dead trees lying in the river.

Rafting down the river in Haines, Alaska.

From the raft ride we returned back to the ship around 7 pm and had something for tea, the ship departed at around 8:45 pm. Next destination was a day on the water cruising viewing the glaciers of Glacier Bay from the ship.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

23 July - Saturday - Vancouver & Cruise Day 1

G'day All,

A good rest up at the Rosedale on Robson overnight then off to catch the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus. Challenge here was that, unbeknown to us, the route had changed this summer and what was stop number one (50 metres from the Rosedale) was now stop number 24 and the route had been split into two routes (inner city and Stanley park). The scheduled start time for the HOHO was 9 am and the circuit goes for about 2 -3 hours so we thought this would be a good time filler as we needed to be at Canada Place at the Vancouver Port to check in to Holland America's ms Nieuw Amsterdam ship for the cruise. However after a 30 min wait at the HOHO bus stop with no sign of the bus we headed back to the Rosedale to google what was going on. It soon became clear that we would run out of time to try and catch the bus, especially with it running two separate loops. Since I had pre-purchased a HOHO voucher back in Australia I feared we had done our money but after ringing the company they indicated that as long as the voucher hadn't been exchanged for tickets we could use them on our return to Vancouver after the cruise (insert sigh of relief here). By now it was fast approaching 10:30 am so we decided to chill out for the morning at the Rosedale and rest up in preparation for the cruise.

Around 12 pm we jumped into the taxi for a $10 ride to Canada Place to check in to the ship. We arrived at 12:10 pm and it was about 2 pm before we cleared through check in and US customs and opened the door to our lodgings for the next week :-) The room (8040) was spacious and the bed very comfortable, nothing like the last cruise we went on which was very cramped. 

View from Balcony

View towards balcony

Our luggage was already in the room, well most of it as one of our suitcases was missing, the cabin staff looked into it for us but couldn't find it so I went down to Admin to check through some of the suitcases I noticed being held there. While I was looking around Penny received a call in the room from Admin to say they had the suitcase and to come and claim it. Penny went down to Admin where they told her security had wanted to inspect the contents further and that was why it was not delivered directly to the room. However the suitcase still couldn't be seen anywhere, Penny headed back to the room with an assurance that it was definitely on board. It was looking like I was going to have fun dressed in the same clothes I walked on board with for the rest of the week as it was my suitcase that was missing. It was an hour or so after boarding that I returned back to the room to find the suitcase sitting on the floor and it wasn't a minute or two later that Penny returned. Turns out that the cabin staff (Dony or Wahan) had picked up the suitcase for us and dropped it up to the room. Looks like my camera tripod had warranted further investigation by security who had held the bag and opened for inspection. With that sorted we headed for lunch on board and then unpacked and flopped onto the bed to read the day's activity sheet. I didn't seen long before it was dinner time at the restaurant and then an early night after a big day. The ship departed at 4:45 pm and it was smooth sailing as we headed up the inside passage to Juneau, a day and a half away.

The Ship (obviously not my photo)

Tomorrow is a day at sea and getting to know our way around the ship.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

20 July - Wednesday - Rocky Mountaineer Day 1 - Jasper to Quesnel

G'day All,

Today we said farewell to Samantha and Oliver bright and early at 5:30 am and headed to the train station to board the Rocky Mountaineer.

Carriage with a view.

This leg was from Jasper to Quesnel (with a silent 's') and took most of the day to do the trip. Along the way we saw severl townships including "Penny".

Penny Station

View along the train

Drink time.

Here is the dining car serving restaurant quality breakfasts and lunches

We arrived at Quesnel and did a quick tour of town before hitting the sack as it was another early rise to catch the train to the next stop, Whistler.

One of the landmarks of Quesnel

Some big wheels in town.

Quesnel also has some unique painted fire hydrants.

 
Next stop, Whistler.


Cheers
Gary and Penny

19 July - Tuesday - Lake Louise to Jasper

G'day All,

Today marks the last day of the Calgary to Jasper leg of the trip with Samantha and Oliver and there are a few sights to see; the edge of the world and Edith Cavell mountain glacier. A nice walk to Edith Cavell glacier with its small lake with icebergs.

Edith Cavell Glacier with iceberg lake at the bottom

Next we headed to a hidden (or at least unmarked) trail to a place called the edge of the world. The trail leads to the edge of a massive drop off with a view to Jasper city in the valley below. The edge just drops away to over 1000 feet below.

Edge of the world - a massive drop off overlooking Jasper in the distance.

After we got back there was enough time to put some washing on and try and get this blog updated. The internet was playing up so obviously that's why we ran out of time to update the blog. We did make time to get to the washing done and readied the luggage for the Rocky Mountaineer train trip tomorrow. At the last minute Oliver suggested a place to hopefully see some bears so he and I headed out, along the way we found several interesting photographic sites.

Medicine Lake - Jasper

The setting sun lit up the trees burnt in a forest fire, started by lightning in July 2015.

We went as far as the road could go, to Meligne Lake, without seeing a bear but about a quarter of the way home we saw some action about10 - 20 meters from the side of the road. A mother bear and her cub foraging for food.

The strength these bears have is amazing as this one tears through an old log.

. . . and the baby

Coming closer for a better look...

We spent about 30 mins watching them before the light had started to fad and the animals headed for the forest out of sight.

Cheers
Gary and Penny