Everglades, Air Boats & Alligators

Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Saturday, May 6, 2006

Fort Lauderdale is the Venice of America because it has 165 miles (266 km) of navigable inlets and canals, and like Venice, has a public water bus service.

The first photograph is a bird of paradise flower arrangement that my bride Janet made at a class on board the Amsterdam and it graced our suite for several days. Jan also did a smaller flower arrangement of mixed flowers at another class that we also had in our suite. So our suite was bloomin lovely, if you know what I mean.

Jan and I took a tour out to Sawgrass Recreation Park and Education Centre about the everglades and wildlife of Florida. The tour started with 30 minute bus trip from the ship to Sawgrass and then we met a full size alligator in a pond and a number of other animals. The highlight of the tour was our thirty minute ride on the air boat over the everglades.

Air boats have no brakes or reverse but are very agile as they float across the water and grasses of the everglades driven forward by a large fan and steered by a rudder. There were twenty-four of us on our air boat and it wisked along nicely, floating and turning with ease. Other smaller air boats were available for rent. They were designed for a single passenger and a boat captain both of whom sat on a high chair for better viewing. These smaller boats were much faster and could go through the denser grass without concern.

Anyway, we did see several very large alligators in the everglades - at a distance, who mostly submerged. We saw a small alligator up close and personal at the education centre. Alligator skin is much smoother than you'd think from looking at it.

Rum, Turtles and Stingrays

Georgetown, Grand Cayman, BWI
Thursday, May 4, 2006

The Cayman Islands, are three small islands located about 480 miles south of Miami, Florida in the Carribean Sea. It is a tax-free British Crown Colony and tax-haven, home to over five hundred banks and streets of high-end shops that sell luxury items tax free!
Daniel, our bus driver and tour guide, a wiry young black man from Jamaica, working as a tour bus driver on a work permit, picked us up at the ship at 8:45 AM. On the bus radio a hell fire and brimstone preacher from Dallas tells us that "Eve wasn't told not to touch the tree but not to eat the fruit. Eve had freedom with boundaries. A football player cannot play football without goal lines and boundaries...

"Welcome aboard," said Daniel, "it's a pleasure to have you with us today, don't you know."
We passed a number of hotels along the world-famous Seven-mile Beach with its white sand and shallow azure sea, perfect for swimming. "The beach is actually 5 1/4 miles long," explained a local woman with a wink and a wide grin, "but the length was estimated by a man, and men are prone to exaggeration when it comes to size, don't you know."

Many of the hotels are still being rebuilt after they suffered damage from Hurricane Ivan two years ago. Six months ago the 7-star Ritz Carlton Hotel and Resort opened, with rooms starting at US$1,000 a night, and it became the largest hotel on Grand Cayman. This moved the Westin into second place.

Our first stop was Hell, a strange rock formation that looks like scorched rock, which inspired the name. Some enterprising soul saw the potential and now there is a post office and gift store at the site where you can purchase post cards and mail them from Hell.
Next, we stopped at a shop that specialized in rum and rum cakes for free samples. Janet loved the rum cake so much she bought one to bring home.

Then, we went just down the road to the Cayman Turtle Farm, which raises Green Sea Turtles for release into the Carribean Sea to restock falling population and as a food source for local residents, to whom turtle meat is a delicacy. It was amazing to see sea turtle from one-year old to seventy-five years old, although they can live to one hundred and twenty-years old. The older turtles loose their colouring as they age.

Finally, we arrived at our final stop, Safe Haven Harbour, to catch our tour boat to Stingray City. We are greeted by Dayton, a tall, muscular , tanned, Grand Cayman native who was our guide for the stingray swim.

We boarded our boat, "Free Willie", and took the four mile trip over calm, tourqoise seas to a sand bar where stingrays feed on squid, known as Stingray City. Four other boats were already there.

We climbed down the ladder into warm seas that swelled from waist to shoulder depth and stood on the soft sand of the sand bar. Almost immediately the stingrays swam right up to us and rubbed are legs. Dayton began feeding the stingrays squid and Christine, a twenty-something blonde from Nicaragua, joined us in the water in her bikini and photographed us as we interacted with the stingrays.

Jan and I held a stingray, remember this a wild stingray in the sea, on our hands and we were amazed at how soft and smooth it felt and how calm and docile the stingray seemed. Since it was a girl stingray, she kissed me goodbye before she swam away. She had incredibly soft lips. Both Jan and I loved snorkling with the stingrays and would have gladly stayed longer.

Once we reached shore and returned to the main pier in Georgetown, Jan and I did a little shopping. Jan bought a watch and a gold stingray charm. I paid. Then we returned to the ship exhausted but happy, very happy.

Emeralds, Gold and Street Vendors

Cartagena, Columbia
May 2, 2006

Cartagena was founded in 1533 by the Spanish who used it as a supply centre and storehouse for their plundered Columbian riches, which included gold and the finest emeralds in the world. For obvious reasons, Cartagena was a prime target for pirates until the fortified walled city was built.

Jan and I and a number of our cruise mates were tentative about visiting Cartagena because of Columbia's reputation for drugs and violence. We were assured by the ships tour office that Cartagena was safe and so we booked a city tour, which started at 12:45 Noon.

Street vendors constantly swarmed us like flies and were equally persistent.

Vendors sold bottled water, coke and coke light for $1 kept cold in ice filled barrels wheeled around on a dolly or in a styrofoam cooler with a shoulder strap, which I bought several regularly. Black women dressed in colourful dresses carried large bowls of fruit on their heads and posed for photos for $1. Other vendors sold cheap neckalces, tea shirts (I bought a ncie blue one), hats, and cigars, supposedly Cuban Habanas. Since we were continually walking, the street vendors hounded us continuously. It was so annoying, some from our tour group retreated to the bus. Even this wasn't a barrier, the street vendors would repeatedly tap on the window and hold up what they were selling negotiating through the window.

The colonial architecture of the walled city is beautiful and our tour bus was comfortable and air conditioned, however, much of the four-hour tour involved walking in 31 C temperatures and 95% humidity. Fortunately, most of the walking was on the flat. Still, many of the places we visited were not air conditioned and most of us were sweaty, tired and grumpy after about three hours.

For our last stop we visited a small shopping plaza with air-conditioned and elegant shops. Jan bought a gold charm and pendant and a ceramic bead necklace and bracelet all from "authentic" indian designs and I bought a hand made leather computer briefcase/backpack.
We made it back to the ship at 5:30 PM but never made it to the dining room for our 5:45 dinner seating.Instead we grabbed a quick bite in the Lido, the buffet restaurant, and passed out in our room.

Locks, Lakes and Channels

Panama Canal
Monday, May 1, 2006

We entered the Panama Canal at 8:30 AM to begin the 80 km journey from the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic ocean (Carribean Sea). The skies were clear, it was 80 C and humid, which wasn't too bad because there was a breeze on our verandah when the ship was moving and we have an overhang on our verandah that shaded us from the sun.
After we passed under The Bridge of the Americas, from which you can drive on the Pan-American Highway all the way to Alaska, we began the first stage of the Panama Canal crossing. Our ship, the Amsterdam, squeezed into the two Miraflores Locks that raised us 54 feet to Lake Miraflores. After crossing Lake Miraflores, the ship was raised the remaining 31 feet by the Pedro Miguel Locks and we entered the Gaillard Cut, a winding 8-mile channel (big ditch?), that takes us to Gatun Lake which is 85 feet above sea level. Gatun Lake is the third largest man-made lake in the world, after Lake Tahoe in Nevada and one in Egypt, although it was the largest when it was built in 1914.
The locks are like elevators for huge ships. The ship enters each lock and the multi-ton gates close, using a 40 horsepower motor, which is possible because the gates are hollow. Next, gravity is used to fill the lock with fresh water, or drain the water when you're going down, raising or lowering the ship to the next level.
The scale and magnificence of this engineering achievement is astounding, even more so because it is still an amazing feat nearly 100 years after it was built. It was achieved at the cost of 30,000 lives lost due to malaria, yellow fever and hard labor in daytime temperatures as high as 50 C. It is hard to imagine that 152.9 million cubic meters of material was removed. This is enough to fill railroad flatcars that, placed end-to-end, would circle the globe four times. The Panama Canal operates today using the same system and lock gates it opened with in 1914.
The Panama Canal eliminates the need for the 9,000 mile trip around South America and navigation of the treacherous Cape Horn to go from the Pacific to the Atlantic or vice versa. At 4:30 PM we left the last of the three Gatun Locks and entered the Carribean sea as we sipped an ice-cold drink on our veranndah.

Crocs and Crabs

Costa Rica is well known for its eco tourism and its efforts to protect and restore endangered species, plants and animals and to protect the natural habitat. This despite being a poor country.
Our tour guide, Heidi, is a kindergarten teacher who is the granddaughter of a Jewish girl who escaped Nazi Germany on a banana boat with other children in 1939. The grandmother was adopted by a local family and married a local man, called a Tiko and the rest, as they say, is history.
Costa Rica means rich coast. Legend has it that Christopher Columbus came here on his third and final voyage and found natives wearing gold and silver jewelry with emeralds - and called it Costa Rica. We are very close to the equator and days and nights are equal year round, sunrise in 5:30 AM and sunset 5:30 PM. The temperature is also constant year round, within a couple of degrees. The temperature depends on your location, primarily altitude. For example, at the coast where we are docked the temperature is 82 to 84 degrees Celsius year round. The Capital, San Jose at 4,500 feet above sea level has a temperature of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, year round.
Costa Rica, does however have two seasons; dry season and wet season. The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is one of the wettest places on earth, with over 300 inches of rain a year.
We took an hour and half bus ride over rough roads into the jungle for a river cruise on the Tarcoles River. We saw Howler monkeys, crocodiles, dozens of birds, iguana's and land crabs on the walk to the river. It was hot and humid but very exciting to see a crocodile up close in its natural habitat.
We also saw a cashew fruit tree. Yes, there is a cashew fruit that looks like a small orange bell pepper but apparently has a distinctive taste that locals use to make a drink. Each piece of cashew fruit also has a nut attached, which has to be roasted and then you must crack its very hard to get the nut. No wonder they're so expensive.

History and Youth

Antigua, Guatemala
Thursday, April 27, 2006
At 8:45 AM we began a two-hour bus ride from sea level at Puerta Quetzal to climb 5,000 feet to Antigua, the ancient capital of Guatemala. Our journey took us past five volcanos, two of which are still active, coffee plantations, sugar cane farms and past two ornate and colourful cemeteries.
As we got off the bus in Antigua at the ancient Convent of Saint Theresa, we were greeted by a group of natives, descendants of the Mayans, selling blankets, necklaces with jade carvings and carved wooden masks. One young girl, with a gap toothed smile, black hair tied in pig tails and bright dark brown eyes caught my attention. She spoke in flawless English, with an endearing accent.
"Mister, buy a necklace for your wife." She said, as she flashed a big smile and held a necklace out for me to see.
"No thank you," I responded, as I followed our tour guide past the street vendors into the convent.
"Okay, buy one for your mother-in-law."
I laughed, and kept walking.
"Buy one for a friend."
I chuckled again, but kept walking.
"Okay, then, buy one for an enemy."
I roared with a big belly laugh, turned and smiled at her and said, "Maybe later."
"Okay, Mister" she said with a smile.

The ancient Convent of Saint Theresa was fascinating and in amazing condition given the earthquakes and several hundred years since it was an active convent.
When we left the convent the street vendors were waiting and my young girl right at the front.
"You're a very pretty young lady," I said to her as our tour group walked by them back to the bus.
"Thank you, that's nice, but you don't buy anything."
"Later," I said as we continued onto the bus.
"Okay, Mister."
It was now past noon and our bus took us down narrow, often one-way, streets that sometimes required the driver to back up to make turns, to another convent that had been converted into a five star hotel, the Casa Santo Domingo for lunch . The Casa Santa Domingo is a mix of authentically restored rooms, with modern coveniences and untouched ruins.
Our lunch was served buffet style in a brick walled outdoor patio with vines, blooming trees and multi-coloured Macaws. Servers in brillaint white chef coats, hats and gloves served each dish. First was a leave of lettuce covered in sliced apples, tomatoes and candied pecans. Next, mashed potatoes, green beans, beef kabobs with onions and red peppers, roast pork, and chicken. Everything was excellent. We sat at patio tables covered in immaculate white table cloths and chairs covered with white linen seat covers.
After lunch we visited a number of museums in the Casa Santa Domingo complex before walking two blocks to the Jade museum where we had a lecture about jade and watched crafts people making jade jewellry and then, visited the jade showroom (surprise!) where Janet bought a bracelet (no surprise).
Next, we had a half hour in the city square. I purchased a latte from a cafe our tour guide said was both safe and served high quality, authentic Guatemala coffee. It was great, very close to a grande latte from Starbucks. The best coffee I had since I left home.
The girl saw me in the square and came over. I told he I'd give twenty pesos to take her picture with my wife. She liked that idea. On my way back to the bus a young boy about six asked to shine my shoes for ten pesos, which I agreed to. I purchased a hand carved and painted mask from a man on the street as my souvenir.
There were chidlren and young people everywhere, which isn't surprising when you learn that half (50%) of Guatemala's population is under fifteen and that the typicaal family has eight children.

Bays and Beaches

Huatulco, Mexico
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Beautiful Bays and Beaches
Huatulco is a Pacific coast resort area south of Acupulco. The tourist area has nine bays with resort hotels, white sand beaches and clear azure waters. The temperature is in the high 80's all year round. When we stepped out of the ship we were immediately hit by a wall of humidity and heat that immediately wrinkled my pants and started me perspiring. We walked along the pier past some shops selling silver jewellry and local arts and crafts. I particularly liked the round multi-coloured Aztec calendars made from thousdands of pieces.
Then we came to a square and a park with small cart kiosks selling tourist souvenirs. Jan and I walked past and talked with a taxi manager who spoke good English and arranged to hire a taxi for an hour to tour the countyside and village - price, US$40.
Our driver, Peppi drove a Nissan Sentra with air conditioning. Thank God! We went to the surfing beach at Tangolundo Bay and up onto the top of the mountains overlooking the bay where our ship was docked, from both sides. The roads were paved, in excellent condition and the traffic very light. We felt safe. The streets and buildings were clean and fresh -- a stark contrast to our other stops in Mexico. There were a number of resort developments with condos starting at US$140,000.
The local restaurants are famous for their seafood but our stop here was brief, arriving at 8 AM and departing at 12:30 Noon, so we never had anything to eat.

Amazing Dolfins

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Today I had an amazing encounter with nature that will remain with me for the rest of my life. Jan and I booked to Swim with the Dolfins at the Vallarta Adventures through Holland America Cruise lines.

Rarely do tours fulfill the hype used to promote booking them. This was an exception. This tour exceeded the hype!

We took a bumpy 30 minute bus ride from the port where the cruise ship docked to the dolfin adventure facility.

At our orientation lecture we were told that we had to take a shower to remove all sunscreen, cremes and hair gels to prevent damagaing the dolfin's delicate skin. We also had to remove all jewellery for the same reason. Next, we moved to some bar stools, under a covered open-air patio beside the pool where we had lockers. Here we listened to an audio program about the intelligence and emotions of dolfins and their amazing ability to communicate while we watched the dolfins playing in the large pools.

After the audio program we had our showers, put on our life vests, were assigned to groups of eight. We were warned not to touch the dolfins face, especially the eyes and to avoid their blowhole. Each group of eight had two dolfins, a trainer and a photographer and a specific corner of the very large pool.

As soon as we entered the 12 foot deep sea water pools the dolfins approached us, rolling onto their backs for us to rub their bellies. Their skin was extremely smooth, very firm and tight. They seemed to genuinely enjoy tummy rubs much like a dog, The dolfins would roll over every so often to get a breath. Then, they'd swim around gently rubbing against us as they swam by. I felt completely safe, like I was swimming with a friend, a friend that was enjoying themselves and wanted to play. I wanted to play too. I was thrilled to swim with our two young girl dolfins and pat their bellies.

Later, the trainer got us all together in the pool and had us raise our arms swinging them back and forth in the air. The dolfins dove down and then returned swimming bewteen us rolling back and forth splashing us using their fins, drenching us all. Next, the trainer had us applaud and the dolfins came up between like they were standing and clapped with their fins like they were part of the group. It was almost as if they were mocking us and we all laughed.

After the dolfins were familiar with us, the trainer got us to get into couples. Then, he blew on his whistle, which we could not hear (but the dolfins could). He made a hand gesture and the dolfins came up beside each couple, one at a time, kissing us on the cheeks. Then, the trainer had each couple put our arms around the dolfins posing for a group picture. The people were harder to coordinate than the dolfins.

At this point, this tour and this experience was already way beyond my expectations. What happened next blew me away.

The trainer advised each of us that we could ride the dolfin but we had to follow his instructions explicitly. We would position our self in the pool where he told us. Then the dolfin would be instructed to get on her back and come to where we were in the pool. We would reach over and hold the dolfins two bottom fins with our arms extended fully, belly to belly with the dolfin. The dolfin would use her tail fin for power and the dorsal fin for steering and take us across the pool a distance of about 50 feet.

I treaded water in the pool wondering if I was too heavy, waiting for my turn, watching others fly across the pool. It seemed easy for the dolfins. When my turn came I reached across and grabbed each fin, extending my arms, floating belly to belly with a beautiful creature. The surge of power startled me, a smile exploded on my face as we raced across the pool. I think the dolfin winked at me. I blushed. I'm a married man. I loved it.

For the finale, the dolfins we swam with put on an aqautic acrobatic show for us that was spectacular often landing only a few feet from as we huddled against the edge of the pool.

This was among the top two or three nature experiences of my life.

Lands End Beaches

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Cabo, as the locals call it, is at the end of a one thousand mile long peninsula created by an earthquake, long ago, separating Baja California from mainland Mexico and creating the sea of Cortez bewteen Baja California and mainland Mexico. Our cruise sailed from San Diego down the Pacific coast of Baja California to Cabo, our first port of call.

Cabo is a small centre whose economy is focused mainly on tourism. The beaches are spectacular and there is a wide array of water sport activities available. Deep sea fishing, parasailing, sea-do rentals, glass bottom boat tours bookings can be made at kioks right at the port.

Jan and I simply walked around the village and along the port boardwalk. We were regularly attacked by smiling pseudo-helpful timeshare salespeople pretending to be tourist representatives. "Can I help you? Do you need directions? Let me give you a map."

Then they would try to pursuade us to attend a timeshare presentation, offering all the regular inducements. "Just for visiting you'll get a $150 cash. Oh, you already own a timeshare... make that $200 cash." We resisted.

The setting is beautiful and the beaches terrific. But, if we were going for a beach holiday we'd go to Maui.

Melbourne & Penguins

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(Dec 27 - 29, 2005) One thing we will all remember about Melbourne is the continual annoyance of flies, circling, buzzing, landing on us or our food. We were constantly waving our hands to shoo them away. Jan says she plans to put a fly on the corner of every Melbourne page in her trip scrapbook.

The weather was more comfortable, still warm in the high twenties, but much less humid. So, getting out and about a walking was much easier. We all felt more comfortable than we did in Cairns or Brisbane.

Just at the corner of the hotel was a free “City Circle Cable Car” that allowed hop on and hop off service to many of the highlights in Central Melbourne. I spent two afternoons exploring around Federation Square which features some innovative modern architecture (only the architect and his mother could really like it) and is surrounded by some buildings featuring architecture I like (See Pics). Jan Jennifer went shopping.

For me, the highlight of visiting Melbourne, located on the southern coast of Australia, was a trip to Phillip Island to see the Little penguins, formerly called the Perry penguins They are about 13 inches tall and the smallest of the worlds 17 different penguins. They come ashore at dusk to avoid predators and so their young will stay in their nests until dark as they wait for their evening meal of regurgitated fish. The parade of penguins, as they call it, has been going on for thousands of years and it is an amazing natural spectacular to behold. The cries of the young standing outside the nests way up on the hills and the waddling gate of the penguins as they climb was a thrill to see in person. Photography is not allowed but we have photos taken by rangers that I will scan and post when I return.

Greymouth & Cave Climb

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By about 10 AM (Jan 8), after a pitstop at Starbucks (how civilized) for coffee and muffins we began our trip through to the west coast (Haast) and then up the west coast to Greymouth.

The winding, twisting, two-lane roads without shoulders continue on this stretch of our journey but the rise and fall of elevations are steeper than yesterday. Many of the roads turns require speeds of 25 km/hr. One hairpin turn required us to slow to 15 km/hr. Although the maximum speed is 100 km/hr, I think we actually average about 75 km/hr., at best, for the day.

The scenery constantly changes as a series of micro climates reveal different plant life. The highlight is Mt. Aspiring National Park, a dense rainforest so thick the forest looks like one mass of green right to the ground. Ferns fill in the bottom, then shrubs and very tall trees. There doesn’t seem to be any way to enter the forest because there are literally no openings. The mountains are covered in brilliant green vegetation right to the top and spectacular waterfalls are commonplace. The road is steep up and down and after a brief rain the mountains are shrouded in mist. The breathtaking views seem unreal, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The photographs don’t show the scale or do the brilliance of the greens justice.


The next day begins (January 9) with Jan, Jennifer and Stepehn going on Dragons Blackwater Glow-worm cave rafting in the Taniwha Caves just outside Greymouth. When they arrive at 8 AM, the owner looks Jan up and down and asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Why?”

“Well, looking at your shape I’m not sure you’re fit enough. It is a half hour walk to the caves. Can you walk?”

Restraining herself, being a little sarcastic Jan said, “I walk golf courses.”

“Oh, well, maybe you can do it.”

The hike is uphill through the jungle in a full body wetsuit (covers head) with big boots on a path cleared but with steps, logs and tocks 2 feet deep. By the time Jan reaches the entrance of the caves she is exhausted and dripping with sweat, her hair is absolutely soaked and dripping. The guide tells them it’s pee break time. “Boys in the jungle there, girls in the jungle there…” (See Pics)

All she could say for the next two days was, “I am trooper. I am a trooper.” Walking, bending, moving, even breathing was difficult.

Queenstown & The Jet Boat

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About 9:30, Saturday morning, Jan 7, 2006 we set out for the first leg of our tour of New Zealand’s south island. Our seven hour driving trip took us from Christchurch to Queenstown, further south and about halfway across the south island. We take the main highway which is two-lane paved road with no shoulders and has numerous one lane bridges. The farms have sheep, deer, antelope and cows. As we get deeper inland we encounter terrain much like the Okanagan with massive lakes, dams and later vineyards, fruit orchards and vegetable farming. Queenstown is a resort town (population 7,500), like Banff or Whistler on Lake Wakatipu and the Shotover Canyon. It is New Zealand’s self-styled outdoor adventure capital. White water rafting, parasailing, mountain biking, hiking, jetboating, skiing are all available,

At 8:30 the next morning Jan, Stephen and Jennifer took a 1 hour jet boat tour up across lake Wakatipu and down the Shotover canyon. I got the van organized, checked out and went to meet them at the main dock. (See pics)

Christchurch

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We arrived in Christchurch about 11:30 PM, Thursday, January 5, 2006 after our extended stay in Sidney over New Years. We took a taxi van to the Latimer Hotel on Latimer Square. The plan was to rent a van in Christchurch and use it to drive around the south island, take it across to the north island on the ferry and drop it off in Auckland where Jan and I catch our Air New Zealand to Los Angeles (the kids leave a day earlier to fly to Sidney and catch their Air Canada flight home).

I had reserved a van with National Car rental, who allowed the drop-off in Auckland for $160 extra. Since National Car wasn’t located at the Christchurch airport and I didn’t want to find my way to the Latimer Hotel in the dark I had arranged to pick up the van the next day.

In the morning, January 6, 2006 Jan and I took a cab to the address on our rental confirmation, while the kids slept in. As we got out of the cab we noticed that the rental company name was different and turned to stop the cab but he had already driven away. We went inside and the agent told us that National Car Rental had closed their New Zealand business a couple of months ago. “They used to be here but since they closed we’ve taken this space… I think Europcar took over their business. They’re located a couple of miles down the road.”

I stood there stunned, running through the options in my mind. (There may have been some profanity in my thoughts)

Then, the agent said, “I’ll call them and see if they’ll come and pick you up.

I managed to say, “Thank you. Yes, thank you, that you be great.”

The manager of the Europcar office picked us up and we quickly got our Silver Toyota Previa eight passenger van and we were on our way back to the Latimer Hotel. The new arrangement called for us to drop the van off in Picton at the Europcar office at the ferry terminal and pick up a second van at the ferry terminal in Wellington. When we arrived back at the hotel the kids were still sleeping (now noon) so Jan and I walked the three blocks to Cathedral Square to finalize our travel arrangements with the iSite office (tourist services) located there.

Greg, our tourist agent at iSite, was a great help in planning our itinerary, booking excursions and hotels. In about an hour we were organized for our New Zealand trip. We spent the rest of the day touring Christchurch.

Christchurch (population 331,000) is located about midway up the east coast of New Zealand and very British and Anglican and reminded us lot of Victoria. It is comparatively dry (.75m of rain per year versus 5m on the west coast) and flat. Christchurch, like Victoria, B.C., is known as the garden city and there are parks, squares and gardens everywhere. The Christchurch Botanical Gardens are beautiful with the Avon river running through it. (see pics)

New Years in Sidney

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On New Years Eve Jennifer and Stephen met with some friends from Edmonton and went to the fireworks display and street party at the Sidney Harbour. Jan and I watched the 9:00 "Family Fireworks" on TV, although we could see the light flashes in the sky behind the buildings beside us and hear them from our hotel. We were in bed by 10:30 asleep by 11 PM.

New Years Day Heat Wave

New Years Day was the second hottest day on record for New Years Day, 43.5 degrees celsius. Aside from its effect on us it had a significant effect on everyone. The train schedules were abandoned as trains were ordered to travel more slowly, because over 37 C the railway tracks can bend with the force of full speed trains and cause trains to derail!

We took a train in the morning to Circle Quay (pronounced "Key"), the main port where the Opera House is located and the Sidney Bridge, to take a seafood luncheon harbour cruise, without incident. At that point the air conditioning was keeping up. On our return, in mid afternoon, it was stifling in the train. The scenery was beautiful but the ship was hot because the air conditioning couldn't keep up, and the food was acceptable (maybe).

When we returned to the hotel we stayed in for the rest of the day in air conditioned comfort. Thank God there was no power failure! At about 6:30 PM we decided to go out for dinner. We planned to go to Darling Harbour a short monorail trip from the stop a block from our hotel. Darling Harbour has many excellent restaurants around a harbour centre with a wide paved promenade and is cooler because of the breezes off the harbour.

As we stepped out of the front of the hotel, the evening breezes were up. It was like being hit with a blast from a furnace. When we got to the monorail stop we were told the monorail was closed because it was too hot. We flagged down a cab and jumped in. The taxi driver told us it was still 42 degrees. Fortunately, his air conditioning was working. We had him take us to Harbourside the far side of Darling Harbour and then searched for the first restaurant that was cool inside. Cuisine was a secondary consideration.

After dinner we caught another taxi and had him take us on a tour includung driving across the Sidney Bridge.

River City

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Brisbane is known as "River City" and with good reason. The beautiful Brisbane River is the focus of this cities, transportation, recreation and beauty. Our hotel suite Quay West (pronounced Key West) was a corner unit with a view over the Brisbane River, on one side, overlooking South Bank, a major recreational and restaurant area. The view out the other side was the lush Brisbane Botanical Gardens.

About 9 PM on December 23, the day we arrived, a stunning firworks display was put on to celebrate our arrival, or so we chose to believe (see pic from our balcony). Locals thought the fireworks were put on by Southbank to celebrate Christmas (Talk about self-centred. Really.) There are also photographs of the Gardens from our balcony on the other side.

We had a lovely turkey dinner for Christmas eve (see pic). It was nothing like the dinner we enjoy at home (no stuffing!) but enjoyable nonetheless.

A highlight of our visit to Brisbane was an hour and a half (each way) cruise up the Brisbane River to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the largest koala sanctuary in Australia. We saw koala's, which are not bears but marsupials, throughout the park and all, except Stephen, held one (see pic of Jennifer). Jan and Jennifer hand fed some Kangaroos and we saw a joey (a baby Kangaroo) with his mother. In the wild 80% of joey's die in their first year. We also saw a fresh water crocodile, wombat and snake (see pics).

I also included some photos of houses along the river and the "City Cat" a river-based bus service used by locals to go to and from work and shopping. This reminded me of the Grand Canal in Venice.

Kuranda

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On our second day in Cairns we took the Kuranda Scenic Railway to Kuranda from Cairns and rode the Sky Train, a cable car above the ancient rainforest, back to Cairns.

The railway was originally built in 1886 and took 6 years to complete. It features 15 tunnels and twisting track with numerous trestles, including Horseshoe Bend, with a 180-degree bend. (see pic) The highlight of the train trip is Barron Falls with a drop of 265 meters. (see pic) A dam used to direct water through an underground channel to the Barron Gorge Power Station, which began producing electricity in 1935, generating 60 megawatts, now controls the water flow. The Barron Falls, according to a local Queenslander who traveled with us, is a mere shadow of its former glory due to a lack of rainfall for the last few years.

The highlight of our visit to the town of Kuranda was our visit to the Butterfly Sanctuary with hundreds of butterfly’s the most stunning of which is the Blue Ulysses that is fluorescent. The photos don’t do the brilliance of the Ulysses colour justice. It was very hot and humid in the aviary and I could only stay for about 20 minutes because I was having trouble breathing. So, I went outside to sit on the porch where there was a cool breeze and it was only 32 degrees. (Everything becomes relative.)

It was a five-minute downhill walk from the town to the Sky Train station; still, in the heat it was taxing. No one wanted to stop for the Crocodile pizza on the way. (see pic) The Sky Train has two stations on the trip down; the first stops at Barron Falls where we got to see the falls from the opposite side and a lower vantage point than from the train. The second station is to transfer to a separate cable system for the rest of the journey.

The cable cars were cool, because vents create a flow through breeze from beneath the seats and we had the windows open. The view from the cable car wonderful and the rise is peaceful. There is an amazing variety of plant life and while the rainforest is filled with wildlife the only thing we saw was a parrot.

As we approached the end of the Sky Train ride, Stephen jumped up in the car and pointed to a pond and yelled, “What is pulling those guys?” Men were water skiing around the pond in a circle being pulled by towropes obviously connected to something underwater, as there were not boats in the pond. (see pic)

Great Barrier Reef

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The trip to Australia was long as we expected (28hours total), made longer by an extended wait in Vancouver. I had two upgrade certificates and tried to get Jennifer and Stephen upgraded to business class in Edmonton and Vancouver but was unsuccessful. In Honolulu, however, I was successful and for the longest leg of the flight (10 hours) Jennifer and Stephen had the comfort of the business class seats, which they put to good use. (see pic)

"Someone" misplaced the car rental confirmation for our vehicle in Cairns, so Jennifer watched the baggage and Jan, Stephen and I lined up at different car rental firm counters to find out who had our reservation. The fourth of five car rental firms was the charm and we got the keys to "Big White", our Mitsubishu 4x4 (for luggage room not offroading, which is not allowed).

We were told that the drive to our hotel was only five minutes. Yeah, right. It is very disorienting to drive from the right side of the vehicle and takes a lot of concentration to drive on the left side of the road, especially when making turns and going around traffic circles. Driving alone takes full concentration, never mind trying to figure out directions. With 28 hours of travel just completed everyone was a little punchy. So, when each time I tried to signal and I turned on the windshield wipers instead it was cause for laughter. About the fifth time, all three of my passengers were in hysterics, tears running down their cheeks, gasping for air. Needless to say, the navigation guidance I received was inadequate. So, our trip was extended and we got a somewhat unplanned tour of parts of Cairns. The navigation guidance I received at the first traffic circle was disputed by two passengers, so I went completely around, and a then bit more, confusing the locals. Another challenge of driving from the right is that the passengers on the left continually shout, "you are too close to the line on the left." This can be somewhat frustrating, and some drivers might be moved to shout back and in rare cases even use profanity! We arrived at the Cairns Colonial Club about a half hour after leaving the airport, unharmed and the vehicle intact, but frazzled.

The next day, Jan, Jennifer and Stephen went to the Great Barrier Reef to go snorkling and I stayed back to go driving and become more comfortable because Cairns is the smallest city we will be visiting and I needed to prepare myself to drive with confidence in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia's three largest cities.

At the reef they were required to wear wet suits as a precaution against the possibility of jellyfish, who might sting them, which can be quite serious. (see pic of Jennifer) All three snorklers had put on waterproof sunscreen but had neglected the top of their feet and all three got burned during the instruction lecture on board the boat. (see pic) The snokling was terrific. The water was 27 degrees and there was a magnificient array of coral in a rainbow of muted colours except the blue coral that was quite bright. All saw numerous brilliantly coloured fish and Jennifer and Jan swam with a sea turtle for a while and stephen followed a reef shark, until he questioned his own sanity, something he'd be wise to do more often. They snokled at three different locations and had a really lovely lunch (much better than expectations). The trip to and from the reef was a bit rough and Jennifer and Janet had to take seasickness pills, Stephen had no problem.

Meanwhile, I found driving after a full nights sleep, and without the laughter, tears and shouts much easier. South of Cairns is the small village of Edmonton and further south is the larger centre of Innifail. I had the trick of driving here once I realized it was really just like driving on a one way street and turning onto another one way street as long as you remembered to stay on the left. My improved confidence allowed me to drive for the rest of our visit in Cairns without further incident except for the occassional caution that I was too close to the line on the left.

We enjoyed two meals in downtown Cairns, fresh tiger shrimp (see pic), Cairns is home to the largest shrimp fleet in Australia, and reef fish and chips one night. We all missed seafood cocktail sauce with the peel and eat shrimp and the reef fish were too fishy for all but Larry. (He'll eat anything.) The next night Stephen had Kangaroo cooked rare, Jan and I had a Queensland T-bone steak, Jennifer had a salad with grilled chicken. Jan tasted Stephen's Kangaroo and said it had a distinctive but not unpleasant sweet taste (hurray, I'll have to try some, NOT) and it definitely "didn't taste like chicken." Stephen enjoyed it and said he'd order it again. The steaks were good but not as flavorful as Alberta beef.

In the evening as the sun began to set, the birds sang boisterously, ignoring the singing of the other birds and seemed to try to sing loudly enough to drown out their competitors, not unlike a large playschool group with each child trying to get attention.

Copenhagen

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Copenhagen is beautiful as the photographs show. Denmark has a population of about five million and about one million of them live in Copenhagen.

Denmark is a socialist democracy with a monarchy (ceremonial with little power). Income taxes are about 50%, and brace yourself, they also have a 25% VAT (Value Added Tax), which is a sales tax like Canada's GST. Every time you buy anything they add 25% to it and the prices are higher than Canada to begin with.

Our city tour guide was proud of their tax system because it provided excellent free schools and universities, free health care and old age pensions. Our taxi driver told us there is a 100% tax on cars, because they are considered a luxury item. He was driving a Toyota Camry for which he paid 225,000 Kroner (about US$36,500), which is more than you'd pay in Canada. This however was the exempt price because he was using the car to earn a livlihood, not as a luxury. A Dane buying the same car for personal use would pay double!

Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park with restaurants and gardens and fountains a mini Disneyland. The major difference is that it is located right downtown.

Visby

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Visby is a small village that was once a Viking port. Many of the photographs are of buildings built in the from 1100 to 1400 and the walls and gates built to protect Visby during attacks from Sweden and others. The beautiful gardens are a legacy of a local society of men that created them and have maintained them for hundreds of years.

Today Visby is a popular tourist spot attracting 750,000 tourists a year over three months.

Stockholm

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A city tour by boat with several stops and an on and off as you wish policy was available directly from the cruise ship pier so Jan and I hopped aboard. In the photographs you will see the photographs of the places we visited and a photograph of the tiny blond tour guide aboard the tour boat.

Stockholm consists of 41 islands, so travel by boat makes sense. We stopped in a beautiful garden cafe on Tivoli (backwards it says "I love it!") a separate amusement island for lunch and we were joined by a tiny yellow bird (see photographs). Like Denmark Sweden has high taxes about 50% income taxes and 25% sales tax.