SYDNEY views from the Manly Ferry

Into Sydney

Well we are back on dry land after an amazing journey.

The photos show our last sunset at sea along with the harbour bridge with sunrise behind and wow wasn't that something.  Also a photo of the skyline as we approached our berth.

Now we have found out where to vote as we wont be home in time and we have visits with friends and rellies to coordinate for our days down here.

Life is wonderful and the cruise has been a great finale to the go go of the previous 3 months.

Now what could be next??

As they say in the classics 'watch this space'.

AUCKLAND

Only 1 more port of call before Sydney and the end of this adventure.
Auckland is showers and 15deg today so a touch of winter after all the sunshine of our trip and certainly during our Pacific Islands leg.

Our choir performance went great and there were tears in the eyes of the audience when we sang the Maorie farewll last night for our departing guests.  Our night before Sydney we sing I still call Australia home for evveryone before the two dinner sittings so that should put the ship awash!

Thanks to all who have emailed about the blog, glad to know you have enjoyed our journey with us,  so till next time take care and get our there and see a part of this wonderful world we live in,    even if it is just another street away from where you live

FIJI getting close to home

We are ashore in Fiji today and taking advantage of a cafe with wifi.

Our time is drawing to a close and you wonder where the time has gone.  We crossed the Equator and received a certificate and yesterday we crossed the International Date Line and have officially lost the 25th Aug as we went from the 24th to today the 26th so we have another certificate to celebrate that.

As we were here in Fiji just in March we are just strolling around trying to avoid the folk on the streets trying to entice you into their stores.  With the ship in they are out in force so we are being kept busy.

Our choir performs tomorrow enroute to Auckland so rehearsals are in earnest now.  I had to round up a white t shirt in Pago Pago to complete my uniform so now I am all ready.  They took the official choir photo the day before Pago Pago so I had to wear a t shirt back to front so I had a plain white top!!!  More than one way to achieve the desired result, but it was uncomfortable and not the way to go.

I have included a photo of our latest towel fella courtesy of our steward.  They are so clever and must practice for ages to create all the different animals they can make.

Also a photo of the Police band playing at the quay when we arrived.
We have 2 days at sea to Auckland then 2 days ashore there and at Bay of Islands before 2 sea days back to Sydney and the end of the line so hopefully I will be able to keep the blog going till then.

AMERICAN SAMOA

Have arrived here today (Friday) and trying for internet here in Maccas but not sure of success as email doesn't want to work.
Travelled 5 days at sea after leaving our third port in Hawaii and the seas were fairly calm but you could feel the swell.
We have had a full moon the last couple of nights and what magic that was.
Western Samoa is a lot like Fiji and the folk are very friendly.
We went for a bus ride to the east $5 for the 2 of us return and then we went to the west which was along the coast and was so lovely for only $6 return so we gave him 10.  The water is so clear and clean and the colours like jewels.

KAUAI Last port of call in Hawaii

What a great place, friendly people with big smiles and warm welcomes.  Reminds us of our visit earlier this year to Fiji.

Our departure last night at 10pm from Honolulu was rather special with the island just a mass of lights.  The land is rather flat other than the mts to the west and north.  You could see how homes were built up along ridges of the mts as the lights went up in a curve, like looking at the curl of a wave so rather different.

This island is much less populated so not as busy as Oahu was.  There are chickens roaming everywhere as in 1992 there was a hurricane that destroyed much of the village fencing etc and especially the hen houses.  The roosters and chickens escaped into the bush and now under Hawaiian law they are protected just like all the birdlife on the islands.  However, if a chicken lands in your yard it is then a chook again and available for capture.  Lawrie has counted 10 he can see from where we are sitting in front of WalMart.  They are bright coloured and small like game chickens not as big as our chooks at home.

HAWAII - Honolulu

Well here we are in Hawaii after 4 days at sea after leaving San Pedro, the port area of LA. The seas have been calm and the weather fine so no complaints from us about conditions.

Along with lots of desserts and a craft group we are two happy sailors.  There is no reason to be bored as there are lots of activities always happening and you can be as involved as you like.  We have both borrowed books from the library and I have also joined the choir for a performance before arriving back into Sydney so plenty of time for me to learn the songs.

We have an inside cabin so no windows but you only want to sleep and shower there as the many lounges and outside seating areas are inviting.

The photos show us leaving San Pedro and then about to exit the harbour to the open ocean.  We also received a 'friend' to share our cabin with us courtesy of our steward.  On our Alaskan cruise there had been a different one each night but only one has surfaced this time.

The floral display was a bon voyage gift from my sister and a lovely surprise when it was delivered.  Thanks Julie it was a lovely thought especially after your surprise phone call the evening before!!

On our way to the pier in the shuttle bus we called and picked up two women from Auckland who had flown in the night before (from Auckland) just to take the cruise home.  Not sure how awake they were after their long flight and the big time change but guess they are all rested up now and enjoying the cruise.


Whilst we were away we were always drawn when hearing an Aussie accent however onboard the majority of passengers are 
Aussie so now it is unusial to hear another tongue.  The crew are mainly 
Asian and they speak their own tongue to each other but speak fairly good english but have trouble with some of our sayings and side comments. 

LAST DAY ON LAND

Well today sees the end of the land content of our amazing trip.  We are currently in Santa Monica just one street from the beach, and tomorrow we board the Sea Princess to sail home.

The beach here is a beige coloured sand and it is very fine.  The beach is quite long and the surf is rather flattish.  This is probably due to the reef that is not far off shore.  The California surf scene is certainly not here. 

We walked down to the Pier yesterday and hustled and bustled with all the holiday makers and enjoyed fish and chips at one of the restaurants along the pier.  There were many eating stalls along with the fun park on the pier with a roller coaster and ferris wheel and bumper cars.  Slightly different to dodgem cars as these have a large rubber tube around them hence 'bumper' cars.  The weather continues to be sunny but quite mild for summer as the temps are only in the low 70's or low 20's in celsius.  I see on the news this morning that it is warmer in Brisbane in winter than it is here in summer!

Venice beach is a couple of miles south of here and we have not ventured too far using public transport.  There are name brand stores here as well eg Versace, Tiffanys so the expectation must be that there is money down here. 

Our hotel room has a view out across the beach and is quite sumptious however despite the stacked mini bar there is no way to make a cuppa so luxury has its downfalls!

The sea fog rolls in here also just like San Diego and then clears later to be clear and sunny.  There are also grass fires to the east of LA so the smoke from that mixed with fog helps to contribute to the overcast scenario.  There have been homes lost in the fires and after seeing the dryness during our travels it is easy to understand the rapid spread of the fires.

We are due back into Sydney on 2nd Sept so the next 3 weeks will be at sea with 7 ports of call along the way and unless I can find free wifi ashore there will be no additions to this blog as the wifi aboard ship costs an arm and a leg and I need both!

As we sail west from here across the Pacific we will complete our journey around the world as it has mostly been westward travel since we flew out of Brisbane back on 7th May.  What a great time it has been and a real true adventure for us.  Thanks to Candice at Flight Centre in Kenmore who helped us put it all together and was our reassuring backstop. 

The only disapointment along the way has been seeing the folk begging in the streets of just about every city we have visited, both here in the USA,  UK and even in Canada.  This has to be an indicator of the breakdown in community services across the board.  Not a pleasant sight.  What is the answer?  I guess there is not a single one but a multitude of issues to be addressed.

SAN DIEGO

What a great place to stay.  San Diego is easy to get around, public transport both electric trolley and buses run frequently and certainly went where we wanted to go.
The main industry is Military and Tourism is number 3 (can't remember what was number 2).

We visited the world famous Zoo and also Seaworld.  As long as you are willing to queue (for tickets, free bus tour around the zoo, food, bathrooms, to see the pandas) then you can have a great day.  The zoo and Seaworld are both open from 9am to 9pm each day during the summer and they are each certainly even a 2 day visit at least.  We only had one day at each so had to pick and choose what we would see.

It was a no brainer to choose the pandas, the bus tour around 70% of the park which from the top gave us excellent views of many of the animals (especially the elephants and giraffes). We were fortunate with the pandas as we were lined up for nearly 30 mins and slowly shuffling along the path, and when we finally made it to the enclosure the panda mum and her cub were just being let out after food had been placed in their enclosure so that was great timing.  Felt worth the wait.

Our day at Seaworld again was restricted by time as we also needed to fit in our 2hr harbour cruise as we head out tomorrow.  We again cherry picked what we wanted to see and made sure we were seated for the first Orca show and then the dolphin show was also a must.  We also were able to watch the sea otters, penquins and the baluga whales (that are all white).  We also saw the polar bear but that had been much better at the zoo the day before.  At Seaworld he was asleep but at the zoo he was swimming around and playing with his toys.  We were able to watch him both above and below the water so hopefully the photos are going to be ok.  Didn't take my tablet with us just used the little digital one instead.

Our harbour cruise late this afternoon was indeed enjoyable, we could stay sitting down!
We cruised the south harbour where many of the 70 naval ships that call San Diego home are moored.  These included cruisers, destroyers and the nuclear powered US Ronald Regan an aircraft carrier along with supply ships and a hospital ship the Mercy.  Our commentator said the Ronald Regan would not need to be refuelled for 22 yrs!  We also passed under the Coronado bridge which is similar to our Brisbane Gateway but not as high.  Coronado is the wealthy part of San Diego with waterfront blocks starting around 3million for the dirt.

Our cruise in the northern part of the harbour took us near a seal colony and past the Coastguard and Navy bases as well as giving great views of the city skyline and taking us near to the mouth of the harbour and the Pacific Ocean.  To the south lay Mexico just 12 miles away.

All in all we have enjoyed our stay here and it is the first city that has not had the city bustle and hustle.

More Trivia

Buses carrying passengers have to stop at all railway crossings even if there are boom gates and flashing lights.   If they are empty they can travel across without stopping.

San Diego town was originally over 5 miles from where the city is now.   Back in the early 1800's a Mister Horton came down from San Francisco (with lots of money) and after looking around advised the town officials they needed to re site their town.   Of course this didn't go down too well with them.
He decided to bid on a parcel of land with the idea of making his own town and he bought over 800 acres for less than 300 dollars.  After all the land was just desert and cactus,  there were no trees.  He designed small blocks when laying out the streets because after all shops wanted to be on the corner didn't they (and he could sell those corner blocks for more) so the blocks in San Diego are quite small.

San Diego is home to the American Naval fleet and the USS Midway is moored here as a naval museum.  We are doing a harbour cruise today (once the fog clears).  We noticed this heavy layer in Los Angeles also and have found out that it is sea fog that is there every morning and slowly burns off.  Makes the day look overcast to start with.

Not as hot now we are back on the coast.  In Las Vegas it was 109, 107 and then 105 but back on the coast is down into the 70's so once the sun goes down the breeze becomes quite cool quickly.

Views from our hotel in San Diego

Some more photos

LAS VEGAS

Well what is there to say except glitz, glitz and then more glitz.
We have a magic corner room, no make that suite as we have a kitchen and lounge along with a bedroom and bathroom and even a washer and dryer so yeh all the washing is now done.

The view from the windows is magic especially at night and sunrise and sunset.

It is very hot here and has been over 105 each day so not very comfortable for moving around so have stayed in the air conditioning other than going for a walk this afternoon.   Wandered through the Bellagio hotel and lobby and was amazed by the gardens within.  Beautiful hydrangeas, sunflowers, petunias and then there was the birdhouse with numerous varieties of finches and small colourful birds.  Just wonderful.   I didn't have the tablet with me for photos so only have them on my digital camera.  We wandered around and entered another couple of the hotels to awe about the lobby interiors but after watching the Bellagio's dancing fountains we decided to head back to our mansion and just chill.  Is so good not to be on the way every day.

However having said that we are off back to LA tomorrow afternoon for a couple of nights and then down to San Diego for our last adventure before cruising home out of LA on 10th Aug.

GRAND CANYON

Arriving at our accommodation at Grand Canyon we even had a welcoming committee as shown in the photo below.

Was certainly an amazing sight but did not give us the wow experience some of the other parks had.  Probably having seen many documentaries featuring the canyon takes away some of the wow.  It was still pretty awesome however.  Canyon walls up to 1 mile deep and in places 10 miles wide this marvel has been carved by the Colorado river over time.

VAIL NATIONAL PARK

This area is high in the mountains and the original folk built their homes in the mountain side and raised sheep and cattle down below in the valley.  They also farmed crops and there were relics dating back to 600ad.  We walked down to one area and wow again.

The ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

More amazing sandstone formations that have been created after exposure to the weather elements

MONUMENT VALLEY

Wow what can I say.  We spent the night here and had dinner out in the desert surrounded by some wonderful formations and then watched the sunrise the next morning between some of the most photographed.

Monument Valley is on the Navajo reservation lands and our dinner had been prepared and served by local folk.  After dinner one of the tribesmen spoke and sung for us and we were able to ask questions.  It was very interesting to hear their story. 

The John Wayne western She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was filmed out here along with another 30 odd but the Duke's cabin in the film was behind our hotel so of course one of his biggest fans had to meet him. 

DRIVING THROUGH THE ROCKIES IN COLORADO

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

This NP is outside Rapid City and was very different.  The formations are mainly siltstone and sandstone and very crumbly. They are eroding and will eventually disappear