Mr Hoot

Up very early to catch the Rocky Mountaineer train from Vancouver to Kamloops. The coach took us right to the carriage we were in and we found our seats. There was heaps of leg room and the clear domed roof gave great views. It was slow going until we got out of the suburbs of Vancouver and then the scenery started to change from farming land to mountains. We followed a river for a long way.
Breakfast was lovely, eggs benedict and fruit and tea and coffee. Then more spectacular views until lunchtime. Mrs Hoot had a salad and salmon and I had soup and a beef sirloin steak. We both had chocolate mudcake and lots of calories.
As the day progressed, we saw lots more mountains and rushing rivers. Nearing the end of the day we saw Bighorn Sheep and a young Black Bear down by the lake. The country near Kamloops changed to semi-arid desert. This was quite unexpected for us. Kamloops was nothing spectacular at all and the hotel was just a hotel.
Up early again on Tuesday and onto the train again. Breakfast was an omelette for me and Mrs Hoot had pancakes.
The scenery soon began to change again and more forested mountains appeared. As we travelled the mountains got bigger and bigger. There were so many great views from the train – so spectacular! The mountain ranges went on forever. For lunch we both had wild mushroom soup, then Mrs Hoot had salmon again (a different style this time) and I had a pork fillet. Sweet was an apple pie thing with chocolate stuff (very descriptive!).
About an hour out from our destination,we went through the spiral tunnels – to make a steep grade climb. And then into Banff where we detrained.
A coach took us to Lake Louise, where we were checked into the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. We have a lake view room with a wonderful view of the lake and the mountains.

Up early and off in the tour bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge. I was able to cross the bridge without too much terror. I did hang on to the cable on one side and Mrs Hoot’s hand on the other though! Across the other side was forest with Douglas Firs, Cedars and Maples. Those firs are really tall and nothing like the Australian forest. Then back across the bridge, this time taking a couple of photos- hard to hold the camera steady when you’re holding on with one hand and the bridge is swaying to and fro.
Then a bus tour of the sights of Vancouver – we had already seen most of these but it was nice to see them again at a more leisurely pace.
I’m not sure if I’ll have internet access tomorrow as we are off to Kamloops on the Rocky Mountaineer Train. Real early start – wakeup call for 5am! Then brekky on the train and free food and all the beer, wine and spirits you want!

Granville Island this morning where there is a huge market selling all kinds of stuff – produce, deli and cheese, arts & crafts, clothes, souveneirs etc. Then on to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Chinese Garden – tranquil Chinese gardens. Lastly Gastown – more good shops and a Steam Clock!

In the evening we had a Welcoming Dinner for Scenic Tours. Nice food! Early start tomorrow, wakeup call for 6am.

Finding it hard to find time to write blog posts. Will do what I can, when I can. Stanley Park. Vancouver Aquarium in the morning. Cirque du Soleil in the afternoon (Tapis Rouge – very spiffy!). Harbour Lookout in the evening. Tired feet! Getting used to thetime difference.

Wednesday 25th August 2010 saw Mrs Hoot and I catching the Bendigo Airport Shuttle down to Melbourne Airport. We checked in to the Hilton Hotel at the airport and then went to have good look around the shops there. Had a bit of a wander and then went back to the room and watched the planes taking off and landing from our bedroom window.

We didn’t seem to get much sleep as we were pretty excited. We got up at about 4am (half an hour before our wake-up call) and checked out. We caught the 6am Qantas flight to Sydney which left right on time,

At Sydney Airport we were met by a representative from Scenic Tours who checked our names off her list (good bit of service that). Then we had to wait 3 hours for our Air Canada flight. We mainly hung around in the departure lounge untill boarding time. We got into conversation with a Canadian couple and he gave us a Canadian dollar coin (nicknamed a ‘loonie’ because it has a picture of a loon (a diving bird) on it) and a ‘toonie’ (a $2 coin which the Canadians don’t like and the name just rhymed with the loonie!).

The flight to Vancouver was long. We dozed, ate meals(which were suprisingly good for airline food) and watched some movies. I was able to drink REAL Coke and the flight attendant left the can for me finish off – not one of those little cans either but a full-size can with bilingual writing on it!

We arrived feeling stiff and tired and were met at Vancouver airport by a shuttle. Arriving at the Fairmont Vancouver, our room wasn’t ready (it was about 8am) so we left our stuff there and went for a walk. We soon became tired and hopped on a hop-on-hop-off Bus Tour bus. Took a good look around Stanley Park and then back to the hotel where our room was now ready.

More later…

Mrs Hoot and I are preparing for our 2010 holiday to Canada and Alaska.  We are going on a Scenic Tours extravaganza starting on August 25th.  We have booked a couple of extra days in Vancouver before we start the actual tour so we can get used to the time difference.

 I was going to make a map like Mike’s to show you all where we are going but have decided against that (because it looked crap), and am going with a printed itinerary instead.  I will probably use maps to show where we’ve been after we’ve been there…

 So without more ado, here is the itinerary:

 25^th August

Bendigo to Melbourne Airport.  Hilton Hotel Tullamarine.

26^th August

Qantas Flight to Sydney

Air Canada Flight to Vancouver.  Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

27^th August

Vancouver.

28^th August

Vancouver.

29^th August

Vancouver.

30^th August

Rocky Mountaineer to Kamloops.  Hotel at Vendor’s Discretion.

31^st August

Rocky Mountaineer to Lake Louise.  The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

1^st September

Lake Louise.

2^nd September

Coach to Banff.  Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

3^rd September

Banff.

4^th September

Coach to Jasper.  Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.

5^th September

Jasper.

6^th September

Coach to Sun Peaks.  Delta Sun Peaks Resort.

7^th September

Coach to Whistler.  Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

8^th September

Whistler.

9^th September

Coach and Ferry to Victoria.  Fairmont Empress Hotel.

10^th September

Victoria.

11^th September

Ferry to Vancouver.  Board ms Zuiderdam for Alaskan Cruise.

12^th September

Scenic Cruising.

13^th September

Juneau, Alaska.

14^th September

Skagway, Alaska.

15^th September

Glacier Bay, Alaska.

16^th September

Ketchikan, Alaska.

17^th September

Scenic Cruising.

18^th September

Disembark in Vancouver.  Fly Air Canada from Vancouver.

19^th September

Cross International Date Line and Miss This Day Altogether. (International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  ARGH!!!).

20^th September

Arrive Sydney.  Qantas Flight to Melbourne.  Melbourne Airport to Bendigo.

Tuesday 5th May.  ‘Twas a lovely day and so I decided to go a little further afield to do some birdwatching.  I headed for the Whipstick Forest about 20kms away from home.  The GPS didn’t help at all and in fact got me misplaced (note: not lost).  Just as I was going to give up and go home I spied a sign pointing to Bridgewater – 28 kms it said.  That’s not far I said to myself, so I headed onwards.
Bridgewater on Loddon (to give its full name) was nothing special.  The riverside parkland was quite nice but they were doing some beautification work and access was a bit restricted.  So after a few quick photos, I decided to head off in the direction of Inglewood.  It wasn’t far and I found a lovely little town with old historic buildings.  The main road was a little surprising as it was quite narrow unlike most of the other towns with their wide town centre streets.  Inglewood’s local Historical Society had been busy with blue plaques on all the old buildings, describing their stories and all about the Great Fire of Inglewood on December 3rd, 1862.  It is a sleepy little town with 2 pubs and an air of better days.  There were quite a few ramshackle shops waiting to either be leased or fall down.

From Inglewood I went on towards a place I remembered I had been before a long time ago – Melville Caves.  I drove onwards towards Kooyoora State Park where the caves are supposed to be.  There weren’t a lot of signs around and I decided that I would head for home if I didn’t find any sign of it in the next 10 minutes.  5 minutes later I found a sign and in another 5 minutes I was at the caves.
Let me say from the start, they’re not really caves; just crevices between large rounded rocks. This didn’t take away from the beauty of the area though. The land around is flat and the small ‘mountain’ where the caves are stands out prominently above the forest and fields surrounding it. I spent a lovely half an hour wandering around in the sunshine photographing the boulders. I would recommend a visit here, it’s lovely.

Then homeward along country roads stopping to take photos of a Shingleback Lizard by the side of the road.  A great day just rambling around. More photos and information about Melville Caves on Flickr

By now you all know about the problems I had in England and my subsequent return to Australia.

So what now? Well I have decided to take a road trip. I haven’t planned too much except that I will be off on Tuesday next (25th March) driving towards Queensland. I ‘m not sure where I’ll end up or how long I will be. To this end I have had the car serviced and made a few purchases:

RACV Membership
Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 DC OC lens
72mm filter to suit above lens
Tom Tom GPS
New road map
New Rockport shoes

I will try and keep in touch via email and/or mobile phone.

Today my feet had a rest.  I bought a ticket on one of those open-top double-decker buses.  I jumped on right outside the hotel and sat down inside.  I sat inside because it was very cold; cold but again, clear.  I must say that the weather has been great so far.  Only some rain on the day that I arrived and then cold clear days with only the occasional cloudy period.

We went on a long roundabout route and there was a recorded commentary.  The ‘Original Tour’ company runs six routes and you can change routes where they cross each other.  I ended up at St Paul’s again because I wanted to have a look at the Museum of London which is nearby.  The museum is very interesting, tracing the history of London from way back in the stone age, through the Roman period, Saxons, etc.  There is also an interesting  display on the Great Fire of London.

After the Museum I caught another of the buses to the Tower of London.  The price of the ticket also includes river travel from the Tower of London, Greenwich or Westminster.  The cruise boat took me to Greenwich where I had a look at the meridian line where the western and eastern hemispheres meet.  I walked around the Maritime Museum as well.  This is housed in buildings that used to be the Naval Academy.

Then it was back on the river cruise up the Thames until I got to Westminster.  I sat on the top of the boat and it was still cold.  The Thames was muddy but it wasn’t smelly like it was when Michael and Justine visited last September.

Then I walked to Trafalgar Square where I caught the bus again back to the hotel.  My feet were not aching when I got back for once.

Tomorrow is my last full day on London so I think I will use it to see all the odds and ends that I have missed during this week.  It looks like I won’t be able to get to see the terracotta warriors at the British Museum but it wasn’t that high on my list of things to do.  Hopefully the weather will hold.

The day dawned clear and cold. Last night’s gloomy weather forecast hadn’t eventuated. My feet were behaving better and actually did as they were told most of the time (my left foot tried to scamper off once or twice and I had to give it a stern talking to). After I had breakfast, I jumped on a Tube from Russell Square to South Kensington. Once I had mastered the intricacies of the OysterCard, everything went smoothly.

Nothing in Britain seems to open until 10am so I went for a walk to Kensington Gardens for an hour. By this time dark clouds had gathered in the sky and the wind got a bit colder. I wasn’t too impressed with this park but was interested to have a look at the Peter Pan statue. I returned to the Albert Memorial where a bus-load of Japanese tourists were all taking photos of each other.

I visited the Natural History Museum first. This was always my favourite. The building itself is amazing let alone the collection inside. The dinosaur display was fantastic. The blue whale display is always impressive but someone should really dust the thing! I also took a photo of a Dodo as I promised John at work I would.

Next was the Victoria and Albert Museum. I had never visited it before and probably won’t again – it’s just not my bag. Weather was better again with the grey clouds passing over.

Then the Science museum. I loved the space stuff and all the steam engines. It was supposed to be a day where I didn’t do too much walking but there’s a lot of walking to do around the galleries in museums.

Back on the Tube I decided to stop off at Piccadilly to see Eros. When I got there, it dawned on me that Regent Street ran off the Circus, so I set off for Hamley’s Toys Shop. I bought a double decker bus for Matthew (don’t tell him!). Then back to the hotel.

Had a nice curry for dinner at a restaurant almost next door.

Perhaps tomorrow I will have a non-walking day!