Goodbye Portia

On 28th August we made the heart wrenching decision to take our darling little Portia to the vet. After a particularly harrowing night where she endured more episodes which increased in duration and frequency we made our final trip to our vet. Unbeknownst to us our family vet had recently sold his practice due to serious health issues. We wish him all the very best in his retirement and thank him for his kindness, honesty and diligent care of our family pets for the last couple of decades.

Our new vet was very sympathic and treated our little old lady with the utmost kindness and compassion. He knew the difficult decision we were making was unavoidable and he reassured us we were doing the right thing by our little darling.

I was a mess, I kept my promise to stay with her until the end and we said our very sad goodbyes and took our baby home to look over her beloved river for eternity. My heart was absolutely shattered, I had spent her whole life protecting her, loving her and keeping her safe and in the end it was me that made the decision to get end her suffereing

Portia is fading

My little chihuahua Portia is 16 and a half years old. She has dementia and sometimes has trouble remembering even me. Despite her outrageously increased appetite she is fading away to a skeleton loosely draped in skin. After a series of possible strokes she seems to have trouble eating, Richo suggested I feed her with a teaspoon so three times a day I hand feed my ancient baby, since Portia and I embarked on this mealtime ritual she has put on weight. She is still thin but improving. This week she has had some pretty horrible nights, I am surprised each morning she is still with us. Her annual checkups and vaccinations with our vet indicate she has the 'heart of a puppy' I think that little heart is beating longer than her other organs would like. I spent a whole morning this week agonising over whether to take her for her final car trip to the vets. Richo questioned if I was trying so hard for her sake or mine. I keep maintaining that unless she is in pain I will keep her comfortable, trouble is, she can't tell me if she is in pain and just when I think it's time, she rallies. She can hardly walk very far but every time there something new she makes a beeline for it. I unravelled the vacuum cord, she headed into the middle of it and got stuck. She walked off the edge of the lawn and fell into the garden, instead of walking back out she just stood there, awaiting rescue. I need some sleep, her turns are scary, sometimes she has a gagging sound in her throat, other times she drinks water until she vomits, she isn't diabetic, she seems to have lost her manners regarding her toilet training, she has forgotten all of her favourite words. She has failed so fast it's hard to accept. These turns involve her tongue going ever so slightly blue, twitching, throwing her front left leg up when she walks, like a goose step, but the most frightening is the look on her face, momentarily her eyes go into a diamond shape with a high point in the centre of her upper eyelid which makes her whites of her eyes visible above the iris. She doesn't seem to see anything during these episodes which range from a few seconds to several minutes. I wish I knew  what was happening. I know if I take her to the vet, he will tell me something I don't want to hear.  How on earth will I know when she has had enough. If my love for her would keep her alive she would live forever, unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I guess little Portie and I are in for another long night. I can only hug her and reasure her, comfort her and try and help her recover from these horrible episodes.

Here she is running with the other girls when she turned 16 and now in 6 short months, she has lost all of her vim and vigour 

Woopie dinner at the Seaview Hotel woolgoolga

So there was a power outage for most of the day today. We were trying to get some work done and most of our jobs required power.  Couldn't even make a coffee so we decided to go for a drive instead. There is a little town called Woolgoolga or , Woopie as the locals call it, which has recently been bypassed by the highway. We took a turn in there because it has a nice beach and a great headland where you can whale watch. Instead of a takeaway we decided to give the pub called the Seaview Bistro, on the hill a go. It was a gorgeous day, bright sun but not too hot and the car park was full for a midweek lunchtime and the outdoor verandah was also busy so we popped in to check it out. The place was sparkling, the staff were really friendly. We opted for a chicken schnitzel, peppercorn sauce, with chips and salad. It was ample, fresh, fast and tasty. $7.50 and they have a revolving menu. I think it's different everyday, anyway we enjoyed it, could've had a rump steak instead but we saw this meal being served and it looked good so opted for it. So if you happen to be travelling through Woolgoolga on the NSW North Coast you can't go wrong with this meal for great value, freshness, cleanliness, relaxed comfortable atmosphere, friendly helpful staff, good off street parking and although there is no ocean view there are plenty of green trees about and mountain views too. There is a significant Indian population in the town and one day a week there is an Indian meal on the menu.

For a little town off the highway this is just one of the treasures to be enjoyed. 

Little Mouse is two

We celebrated Little Mouses 2nd Birthday today. Adorned with a Frozen necklace, Minnie Mouse ears and frock and a ukulele. The duck Quacker from the Seattle Duck was a real hit. We twirled and danced and oohed and aahed  and spent a jolly time asisting with the dolls house construction.

Before filling it with zoo animals, teddies, Australian and African native animals, but the inclusion of the naked barbie dolls gave it a Playboy mansion aura as they sat leisurely at the dining table with the candelabra or tangled their ample legs around the standard lamp post pole dancing style. 

A morning at the beach to play in the winter sunshine followed by A play in the park this evening with some coloured torches with friends was topped off by the populating of the dolls house and delicious meal of fried rice, eggplant tofu curry , warm potato salad, crudités and miso soup. All our favourites before we collapsed exhausted into bed to dream some dreams about our wonderful adventures today. If our third birthday is half as exciting it will be a grand day.

The Xtrail gets a nudge bar Cheekyricho mechanical

We bought a nudge bar for the Xtrail and decided to fit it ourselves, me in my moon sandal and protesting back, Richo providing the muscle power while he did another job painting the drop down table mounted on the Mercedes sliding door. That's where we'll be doing most of our cooking on our camping trips. 

The nudge bar is on and we are particularly proud of  our efforts, first time attempting such a job and no instructions. The trickiest part was cutting 4 holes in the bumper bar to receive the brackets. I was nervous because you only get one crack at it and we had no template to work with. Takes Nissan about 2 hours, it took us most of the day. It looks schmick and hopefully will protect us from the odd bump. It also has a bar on it for the new light bar we bought for country road driving.

It's getting cold of a morning and my little old chihuahua is feeling the cold so I brought out my favourite little ceramic heater to keep her warm. After hibernating all summer it worked great for about 20 minutes, then the fan went off and it went 'POOF' then 'BANG' I switched it off immediately and pulled it apart to see if it was something simple but it wasn't so I bought another one and tonight my little fur friends are warm 'n toasty again. Tilly spends much of the night worrying about the possums in the avocado tree and so she should. I don't mind sharing a few avo's with them but they are downright greedy. Needless to say  Tilly 'the keeper of the avo's' has trouble getting up in the morning, in fact, she has to be kicked out at about 9 o'clock.

Tomorrow we go to Wueensland. I see my orthopaedic surgeon re my foot. We camp overnight and I am in a 6am flight to cairns onFriday. I am meeting up with my friend from Melbourne I found on YouTube. We are going to have the best time, eating, drinking, laughing and talking. I can't wait.... 2 more sleeps til we get to the top end of Australia where the weather is twice as warm. This lady is a Thermomix wiz and an excellent cook, I I hope I will be learning heaps from her.

Home from Queensland holiday Jetstar Suck as an Airline!

The weather has been fantastic. Warm, dry and sunny. We have worn cotton shorts, summer dresses and light tops. It has hardly conditioned us for the severe cold snap that is headed our way, back home. Klara bought this pretty summer frock covered in different coloured butterflies. She looked like a little fairy in it with her new birkenstocks, which she loves incidentally.

Not that long ago I owned a house on this beach. Richo & I poured our heart and soul into renovating it. It was my dream to walk out my back door onto a sandy beach and this house did that. The views were amazing of the Witsunday islands my little chihuahua walked that beach every afternoon, without fail. She made us take her and wouldn't let us cheat and make it a short walk. She is 16 & a half now and I put her longevity down to all the excercise she has done in her little life. Her faculties are failing now and she is losing her hearing, eyesight, ability to recognise us and her manners. I love her to bits and she has been the most loyal and delightful little companion to me but I know she is in the departure lounge and one day probably not too far away now she will no longer be with us. It will be a sad day indeed but we have given her an amazing life and she has been  my constant source of joy for a very big portion of my my life.

I got to the airport early to find a massive queue to board a Jetstar flight. Only one check in machine was open. The line barely moved for almost 30 minutes and I started to become concerned the plane may leave without me. I asked a Jetstar man if I would have trouble making my flight and he told me to quickly go to a different queue, which I did, lined up and was then sent back to the only check in machine operating for check in. Luckily the couple, still in line, I had been talking to let me rejoin the line, in front of them, their flight was much later than mine. I checked in, back to baggage drop and then a huge Disney style queue to go through security. A relaxed start to the day was rapidly unravelling into a stressful mess. Nobody was in a hurry my flight departure was galloping toward me and was still nowhere near my boarding gate. I was becoming very anxious. With just moments to spare I reached the fellow passengers to join my flight phew that was close and not my fault.

So Jetstar have a menu onboard, nothing is free. I have been staying loyal to qantas for far too long. A Pie or toasted sandwich will set you back a whopping $9.00 and a soft drink is $4.00. They put me in a centre seat and left the window seat free. What the hell is that all about and check out the disgusting amount of leg room I have.

My bum is in the back of my seat and my legs are jammed into the back of the seat in front sideways. I cannot even sit properly. A child would have trouble in this seat getting comfortable. The staff try to solicit money from you for charities, gift cards and overpriced food. There is no seat pocket to stow your water bottle, electronic devices or any other things you may want handy to make your flight more comfortable. This stupid hard seat pocket us just wide enough to store the inflight magazine, safety card and rip off menu book.

Check out the position of the tray table. 

It won't even sit flat. I can't even lay my iPad on it because it would slide off let alone a $5 half cup of coffee. How on earth would a tall or large person fit in this minute over cramped space is beyond me!

 I am a Qantas passenger which is supposed to be Australia's premium airline and the level of comfort and service provided by this airline is a joke. I can't wait to burn my accumulated points so I can resume travelling on Virgin Airlines again. They are cheaper, more comfortable, fun and generous. Qantas and Jetstar are the poorest airline flying the skies I have travelled with. Tiger is down there with them but it is a budget basement carrier and prides itself with no frills, very low cost airfares. 

Ground staff get a zero rating for not processing passengers in a timely manner.

Only one check in machine working out of about 6 available.

Incorrect information provided to me causing confusion regarding baggage drop. 

Luggage allowance gets a zero for limited quantity allowed.

Seat comfort zero for cramped seating. Ridiculous tray table positioning.

Removal of seat pocket and inclusion of useless hard seat storage.

The scowling dour face of the attendant delivering the safety message would make the biggest optimist cringe.

Stupid allocation of seats leaving window seats vacant. Are you kidding me??????

No seats available at the Jetstar boarding gate lounge at cairns airport for waiting passengers. 

This airline would definitely contribute to a persons reluctance to fly.

Aww it's not a very nice day on the GoldCoast 

Richo and my fur friends are down there somewhere waiting to greet me. My Queensland holiday is over until next time.

Hey Klara where to next🤔😎✈️🚕🌞

So here we are coming in to land at an International Airport. Looks close doesn't it?

This photo was taken straight after the last one. Yes folks that's usscreaming skyward again and out to sea. We pottered around out here for quite a few minutes. Screaming up, then braking and dropping suddenly, banking so sharply close to the water I couldn't see the sky out of the window. We look for all the world like we were heading toward the bay. I tried to see if we were dumping fuel at sea but I couldn't see anything. The noises the plane made were loud, thumping and scary. I am a very seasoned airline traveller. I have never been anxious on a plane before. I have travelled on tiny planes, sea planes, jumbo jets, all sorts, hot air balloons even helicopters.  Hit turbulence, been delivered to the wrong airport (thanks for that Tiger) had unscheduled stops in unscheduled countries due to industrial action. I have even had a recent tour of the Boeing Factory to see how these things are built. I have never been scared on a plane until this flight. The worried look on my fellow passengers as they peered out the windows and exchanged worried glances at each other and toward the cockpit, mirrored my concerns.

Not one word from the cockpit or flight crew. Nothing! The passengers were eerily quiet too. We felt like we were swerving around between altering altitudes and hitting speed humps. What the hell is going on?

We eventually landed uneventfully and when almost at our gate the Captain made an announcement. A bit bloody late! Apparently there was a student pilot on the runway of an Australian International Airport, having parking problems. Air traffic control directed our flight to be diverted after it had commenced final approach to land and told us to have a 'fly around' then according to the Pilot. Air Traffic Control couldn't make up its mind at what altitude our passenger laden plane should be flying at. Seriously..... This announcement was a total afterthought followed by a feeble apology to any passengers who may have been concerned. Concerned, are you kidding me. I wasn't the only one on that flight that was checking out the emergency exits and mentally preparing for the anticipated Brace Postion Order. How dare Jetstar embark on such an unusual manoeuvre without reassuring its Human Cargo that they had some control over the situation until long after we had actually landed. I am disgusted at the lack of information supplied to passengers before or during this averted crisis. Obviously it was a crisis as there was another plane parked on our runway. I  am  definitely in no hurry to fly with such an incompetent airline again! I was really annoyed at your total lack of customer care and service from the moment I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare until that ridiculous   Landing with no explanation whatsoever ever until we safely landed at the gate. Yes you didn't crash the plane but that was about the only thing about the flight you actually did right!

Cheekyricho Queensland Holiday with Klara

We sat around chatting until about lunchtime then drove the short distance to town. I bought 5 pairs of Birkenstocks and Klara bought 2 pairs. Giggling all the time and joking with Francis the shop owner. If this keeps up we will be hit with excess baggage. 

Now for lunch the choices are amazing. Vietnamese won. A warm Chicken Salad with a huge bowl of Chicken Pho. Off to Woollies for some viddles for breakfast tomorrow, some giggle water and a lovely sleep. Forgot to have dinner, still full from lunch. Waddled around all afternoon and lying Apple Watch said I only did 3 minutes excercise all day.

Note to self"Tomorrow Waddle Faster!!!"🤔😉

This is the pool at the hotel. It looked very inviting and the water was definitely warm enough to swim. Klara could've but refrained as I was unable to due to my recent foot surgery and she didn't want to make me feel left out plus she was a afraid I might take some sneaky pics of her.... Now would I do that? Guess she knows me better than I thought.

My toe has sort of been chopped off and stuck back on, the middle one has somhow been lengthened and seems to be stuck out sideways and won't move. The whole foot is swollen and has an odd ' that's not MY foot feeling' but I can shower without a foot bag now, I just can't swim. So here I am in tropical far North Queensland in the middle of winter staying in a nice little hotel with a lovely pool full of inviting warm water and I CANT get my foot wet in the pool! Talk about bad timing!

Cheekyricho mini break to Cairns

We decided to drive up to Port Douglas and stop along the way and check out anything that took our fancy.

Flying close overhead were these para thingies. Klara & I stopped watch them. The colours were so pretty and bright. They simply danced around each other it was so serene, they made it look so easy. Three of them were in these hammock/sock things and one was in a sling chair arrangement. They ducked and weaved about over the cliff, rising higher then dropping down so low I thought they would land before gently lifting up over us again. So many cars stopped and jumped out to take photos because they were so close you could see their facial features and easily read the decals on the kites.

We ended up at Port Douglas and wandered around the Main Street before settling for a steak and chips and a barramundi and chips at the Iron something? Hotel. It was fresh fast and reasonably priced pub grub. Klara had a wine and I was driving so I waited until we got back to the hotel for happy hour.

Klara was wearing her new Butterfly Sundress, it looked so summery and pretty on her. I hope she wears it until falls to bits. Teamed with her new FlouropinkBirkenstocks she floated about like a little fairy. 

Flagstaff Hill is the name of the lookout in Port Douglas. It's pretty well in town up quite a steep street and the vista was lovely. People swimming, azure blue skies, steep mountains fringed the beach and the ocean was flat as a tack because we were protected from the waves inside the Great Barrier Reef. Plenty of tourists stopped to enjoy it. I was so pleased they talked in hushed tones and quietly enjoyed the view posing in selfies and photographing each other. I hate it when tourist destinations are crammed with loud talking people who spoil it for everyone by taking up all the vantage points and allow their kids to run rampart. Scream up in a cloud of dust and tear away to the next spot. This was perfect nobody disrespected their fellow tourists, the spectacular place or the residents living in such a gorgeous location. 

I do love it up here in winter. The weather is balmy, the nights are warm and the skies are clear. We got here a bit late to wander around the Sunday Beach markets because everyone was packing up their wares but we enjoyed a walk around town. Klara tried on some swimmers but couldn't find any she liked and I was happy just walking around the little tourist town.

The Xtrail gets a nudge bar Cheekyricho mechanical

We bought a nudge bar for the Xtrail and decided to fit it ourselves, me in my moon sandal and protesting back, Richo providing the muscle power while he did another job painting the drop down table mounted on the Mercedes sliding door. That's where we'll be doing most of our cooking on our camping trips. 

The nudge bar is on and we are particularly proud of  our efforts, first time attempting such a job and no instructions. The trickiest part was cutting 4 holes in the bumper bar to receive the brackets. I was nervous because you only get one crack at it and we had no template to work with. Takes Nissan about 2 hours, it took us most of the day. It looks schmick and hopefully will protect us from the odd bump. It also has a bar on it for the new light bar we bought for country road driving.

It's getting cold of a morning and my little old chihuahua is feeling the cold so I brought out my favourite little ceramic heater to keep her warm. After hibernating all summer it worked great for about 20 minutes, then the fan went off and it went 'POOF' then 'BANG' I switched it off immediately and pulled it apart to see if it was something simple but it wasn't so I bought another one and tonight my little fur friends are warm 'n toasty again. Tilly spends much of the night worrying about the possums in the avocado tree and so she should. I don't mind sharing a few avo's with them but they are downright greedy. Needless to say  Tilly 'the keeper of the avo's' has trouble getting up in the morning, in fact, she has to be kicked out at about 9 o'clock.

Tomorrow we go to Queensland. I see my orthopaedic surgeon re my foot. We camp overnight and I am in a 6am flight to cairns onFriday. I am meeting up with my friend from Melbourne I found on YouTube. We are going to have the best time, eating, drinking, laughing and talking. I can't wait.... 2 more sleeps til we get to the top end of Australia where the weather is twice as warm. This lady is a Thermomix wiz and an excellent cook, I I hope I will be learning heaps from her.

Off to Sydney Cheekyricho road/plane/train trip

A friend needed a van for work before the  30th of June for tax reasons. The trouble is he didn't have time to find one so he entrusted me with the task. So for the second financial year in a row I found Malcolm a van. Negotiated a price he was thrilled with now Richo & I are sitting on a plane going to bring it home for Malcolm, sort of a minbreak. It's going to be a whirlwind trip but it's s gorgeous winters day and with the voting out of the way we can stop on the way home anytime we want with a big empty van. Have a meal takes some photos and listen to Richo's plans to visit every inland dam he can see from the plane. Did you know we can earn Velocity Frequent Flyer points for Tilly the Terrier. I wonder what she would think of a plane trip? It's another fun flight with the Virgin Australia crew, they have a great sense of humour. A complimentary snack of hot coffee and 

A Cadbury crackers in chocolate was offered for morning tea. Richo gobbled his down before the coffee arrived, raving  about how yummy it was and then not soSurreptitiously eyeing mine off. Resisting the urge to hunch over it a glare at him I decided to nibble it slowly starting at the edges while my Apple Watch. Heralded the fact that I had already burnt off a 3rd of my calorie /kj for the day. Shhhh don't tell Apple I've been eating chocolate bwahaaahaaa !!!🍫🍏⌚️

The Cheekyricho camper conversion has started

The Camper conversion has started, the new awning, drop down table for outdoor cooking and the solar panel with big expensive lithium house battery have heralded the start of what is to become our cosy home on wheels for holidays with our two darling little dogs. We can't wait. The bed and UHF radio are also in and the fridge and cabinetry and sink have been waiting patiently in storage for the opportunity to join our merry little troupe.

Ahead of us lay many arguments about the right way to do things. I don't know why Richo persists in challenging my design ideas, it is so much easier and quicker to let me have my way in the first place. I always win... Why fight it?🤔😉

Back home & hit the floor running

Well it's been a fortnight since we got back. I've had another operation on my foot.

This time to straighten a couple of toes that protested at the previous tendon transfer and bone fusions. So more tendon work and metal Implants to sort that. Not painful really except for these muscle/slash nerve spasms that have given me grief every night. Mind you  pain medication is keeping the bad stuff at bay. 6 weeks in a Moon Sandal and I should be able to wear my normal boots and shoes again. Yesterday was very cold so I baked bread and made pots of soup. Richo is installing some lights etc in our new carport and we made an unscheduled trip to Bunnings Hardware for more bits for the job. 

I bought another car, it's not a new one but we should have plenty of fun in it.. We don't like the new model, they have downsized the diesel rnfine, removed a heap of storage compartments, squashed the sides in around the luggage compartment and now the new back seats don't lay flat. This is similar to the one I relocated for a company from Melbourne to Brisbane a year or so back and let me tell you, I did not want to give them back the keys. Doesn't everyone lie flat on their back after foot surgery and research & then buy a car. Or is it just me? Oh and my tricky back has sent me off for another MRI. Please please just be  muscular  and not some random hardware issue, I really don't want anymore spinal surgery.

Great news though my friend has invited me to Cairns, in a week or so,  for a few days catch up, sort of of a girls long weekend. So excited, I need a holiday and I've only been back a fortnight LOL, how did I ever find time to go to work. Retirement is just so busy.

Airfares, accomodation and restaurants all this while I'm being followed by a moon sandal, moon sandal, moon sandal my cat Stevens fan friends will understand..

We Love Virgin Airlines. Well done Sir Richard!

We boarded our Virgin Australia flight home. It left on time we had an ample luggage allowance included with our flight. There were complimentary pens, masks, blankets, pillows, ear plugs,  water, USB charges for our devices,  head phones and an extensive entertainment system with oodles of variety for us when we arrived at our economy (cattle class) seat which was larger, with more leg room than any plane we have flown in in years. The information over the speaker was easy to understand, clear, concise and audible. The safety information was also displayed in an entertaining fashion on each and every headrest as well as a live demonstration by the cabin crew ( who were amazing throughout the entire flight)

Food service was a choice of 3 hot meals, we opted for the beef casserole with parsley mash and root veges. Salted caramel gelato and a Fat yak beer. With a bread roll. It was really nice, no I'm serious I'd happily eat it at home. This airplane food had flavoursome taste, variety and texture. Good job, and we weren't that hungry but it was a decent sized portion. There was the alternative of Thai chicken or a vegetarian pasta dish too, so most tastes were covered. I was impressed with the selection of complimentary drinks, wines, beers, juices and tea or coffee offered as well.

Full belly, lights out, goodnight.

I watched The Martian on my personal entertainment device, snoozed on my head hugging head rest with my pillow and awoke to surf the movie channel again. Sometime during the night the flight attendant offered us a crisp icy cold, juicy sweet apple and a napkin to mop up the juice and store the spent core. Perfect, freshen your palette after the the cabin air dried you out a bit. 

Breakfast was an egg and sausage wrap, it was tasty, hot, not soggy with a blueberry muffin and creamy fruit yoghurt, coffee and juice. All great, tasty, healthy, not too heavy yet satisfying. Well Done Sir Richard!!!!!

We Didn't have to queue for the loo until last thing, a delivered call before landing where passengers were fixing hair and brushing teeth to greet the morning and even then it was a short wait. We were given destination arrival information, temp, time, weather etc and arrived a little early.

This is our view of the daybreak over the ocean a pink hue tinged the wings musky pink as they carried us safely home.

Our first view of land. Moreton island with its sandy beach fringe and blue waters.

Not long now and we were safe home in one of the loveliest  countries in the world. 

I have been collecting Qantas frequent Flyer points for decades and have been saving them for this trip. A one way flight for the two of us would've used around 300,000 Qantas points. That would've used up nearly all of my carefully amassed points. I have also

Been collecting Virgin Velocity points for a little while. This trip home, for the two of us, used just over 100,000 points plus a couple of dollars for taxes etc. we were shy of a few points and Richo's son was able to gift us the short fall of 10,000 points which we can repay anytime as I have them connected to the credit card we used whilst away. This was without any doubt the most welcoming, comfortable long haul flight we have ever experienced. It's the thing you dread your whole holiday. It's the thing you need days to recover from when you get back, it's the thing that wards people off travelling big distances, that dreaded long, dragged out, cramped end or beginning to any holiday or business trip. The time passed quickly and we arrived home refreshed.

Sir Richard and your friendly welcoming staff, catering crew and entertainment design team nailed it, really aced it. You deserve a big hug for the outstanding service Virgin Australia provided for us on VA8 from LAX to BRIS this week. 

Oh and I'm not collecting Qantas points anymore, why would you?!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to you and your entire team.

Goodbye USA

It's been a wonderful holiday but now it's time to go. Thanks for looking after us Anerica, we have learned a lot about you and enjoyed your hospitality.

Disneyland Adventure

The Happiest place on earth is also the busiest. We left on a cool morning that looked like it was going to rain, by mid day the sun was out and it was really warm. Richo was quite happy to ride Splash Mountain and cool off.

After dining on a feed of sticky, spicy moist and tender ribs with some baked beans with bacon and coleslaw and potato salad washed down with a glass of iced tea we ventured back out into the sunshine to stand in more lines and be thrilled by the rides. Richo passed the time quickly chatting to fellow passengers. Everyone was interested to hear more about Australia, discuss our gun laws and politics and share stories of their home town. Everyone including old people to tiny tots were so well behaved. Despite the incredible crowd, which we were assured was 'not that busy', people moved about in an orderly fashion. Richo hates crowds but he enjoyed Disneyland we were tired when we got there after the last couple of massive days. He had no intention of staying for the parade but an exmarine we met in line talked it up and told us the best vantage point so we stayed and Richo was just as enthralled as the fellow park patrons, some of whom had seen it many times. On the way out we stumbled across the Buzz Lightyear ride which only had a 30 minute wait, this had lines up to 2 hours long earlier so we decided to check it out. I had no idea what to do, I should've asked a kid, but Richo cottoned on and flogged me in the game 2:1 back out into the crush, the last of the fireworks and onto the bus home. We had some chicken and salad on ice in our room with cherries and beer, an odd but welcome combination to get us through to breakfast. There simply wasn't time to stop and eat dinner at Disneyland with so much to see and do.

The parade was stunning and everyone was dancing and singing.

Buzz Lightyear giving Richo some last minute flight instructions. To Infinity & Beyond!

Goodbye Disneyland and thank you for another magical day.

Death Valley

The Consisently Hottest temperature on earth. Death Valleytoday is a cool one.

We had a picnic lunch under the only tree we could find.

Meat & cheese roll with a zero coke and a banana. Even a crow was walking around with his mouth wide open in the heat. Richo reckons he was wearing a poor colour choice. Black Jacket, explain that one Darwin.

134 is the record here so this would've been a cool day in comparison. The little Jetta is just coping with the air con. We turned it off a couple of times to avoid overheating. Richo is enthralled with this place. The different coloured sands, rocks and mountains are impossible to describe.

Deep valleys of long forgotten glaciers. This place is a geologists dream. The highest mountain in North America is Mount Whitney and every time we round a bend we see a huge mountain, we are already   about 5-7,00 ft above sea level and these mountains loom up way over that he still continues to predict that mountain over there must be Mt Whitney.

I thought it would be a good idea to buy an egg and fry it on the bitumen and Richo thought that would be too messy. Just bake it in the sand instead. You can buy cold hard boiled eggs in their shell at service stations for 45c perfect for a protein snack or impromptu picnic. Off to Vegas.

Hubbard Glacier Alaska

We set the clock to get up early to visit Hubbard Glacier. I wanted breakfast first but Richo wanted to get some Glacier photos. The scenery was majestic. 200 foot high cliffs of ice breaking off big chunks that fall into the sea and cause mini tidal waves. This process is called calving when a baby ice berg falls off the mother glacier. The ship travels through these baby bergs to about .5 nautical miles of the face. The water is clean and blue and about 2,000 feet deep in places. The wilderness lecturer has been here dozens of times and said this is the best weather he has ever encountered. You are lucky to strike 1 day a month like this is summer and here we are with beautiful blue skies and snowy white ice bergs float all around us.

They make a thundering crack and then a chunk falls off somewhere but you never know where and with a face this wide I was lucky enough to get a shot of one make its entrance into the ocean.

Sometimes baby seals sit on these floating ice chunks and killer whales form a team to bump the ice from underneath, dislodging the seal and delivering into the mouth of another waiting whale. I am so glad I didn't witness this terrible spectacle. These whales also bubble feed by circling a school of fish emitting bubbles to form a veil from below them and effectively herding them into a circle before charging through them and eating them.

The little bergs are clear and some have rocks lodged on them where they have a braided the rock surface as they travel forward.

Skagway Alaska

We had a nice breakfast in the dining room. Walked into town and caught a bus tour to the Ukon. We had to take our passports as we were entering British Columbia which is Canadian territory. TheCanadian  Border guy boarded the bus and smiled at us all wished us a great day, inspected our passports and left with a wave. How refreshing! It was the easiest and friendliest border crossing we have ever traversed. We bought a couple of hats and things for friends back home. The scenery is breathtakingly amazing. We saw mountain goats. Look hard in the centre of the picture and you will see 4 creamy coloured goats on a patch of grass. 

The air is cold and dry and the melting snow produces pretty waterfalls.

This the Alaska we have come to see not cruise ship owned jewellery stores selling costume jewellery from places like Africa &  Australia. 

The bus has large tinted windows, comfortable seats. There are ample stops and photo ops. It's warm and comfortable. Our guide Marv was very knowledgeable and informative plus he is a photographer so he is happy to take very good photos of you with your own camera. He took us into a Musher Camp where we saw 4 day old Husky Puppies. They didn't have their eyes open yet and were shivering but the lady that breeds them is a competitor in the Iditerod dog sled race.

 The puppies were really cute.

There was an old dog there that had been hit by a car and could no longer run. He is now a pet and will live his life out being cared for such is the life of a sled dog. Once we had reboarded the bus we saw the sled dogs return towing a little car.

It was quiet, I don't know why but I expected them to be barking and making a racket but they had arrived before we realised it. Future tours will include the possibility to ride a dog sled if you wish to. There is the white Pass Railway which is a narrow gauge rail to and from the Summit. There was no guarantee for us to be back in time to rejoin our particular ship so that is why we went in the bus. Apparently it is about half the price of the train and travels a lot further into the Yukon with plenty of stops not available on the train.  BUT the best reason to take the bus is....

This guy standing on the roadside munching flat out on dandelions, he wasn't worried about us at all and those dandelions sure looked delicious. Marv turned the bus around so we could take lots of photos, he even took passengers cameras and took great shots of the bear. We were there for quite a while. It was such a thrill to see this fellow in his natural habitat, we weren't allowed off the bus because it would be difficult to explain to the border security that some passengers had become bearbait. We did learn some bear aware safety tips, hope we never need to use it. Marv reckons he was a male because there were no Cubs and he wasn't afraid of the bus.

He was quite relaxed lay down and then sat up like a dog and scratched under his chin with his back leg.

These guys can run at 35 miles per hour so you won't outrun it and even though humans aren't their normal diet, older or desperate bears may attack if they feel threatened.

Richo was pretty excited to see this guy so close for so long was pretty special. Can't do this on the train so this is another reason to consider the bus.

The lakes are beautiful and we could ask questions and Marv told us stories about the history of the area about local characters and facts about local plants and animals in an entertaining way. The tour took just over 2.5 hours and was well worth it.