Down Under this Summer/Winter!

Visiting DD and DSIL thanks to a great fare sale on VAustralia. The prolific Virgin group has started routes from the West Coast to the 3 major Aussie cities. Fare wars!

Flew from LAX to BNE (Brisbane) in 12.5 hrs. 4 movies, 2 meals and you’re there…..Had to give up my raw almonds at Customs, but roasted almonds would have been ok to bring in the country. Will remember that next time….. Just remember to declare on the form whatever you're bringing in so the Customs people will be nice to you.

Winter in Brisbane is 70-75 degrees during the day, 50s at night. One could get used to that!

Happened to arrive during the Ekka-the Exposition or the Royal Queensland Show. Think State Fair! We took the train right to the show grounds on Thursday, and joined the crowds going from pavilion to show barn. It is much like the livestock and agriculture shows in the States, with lots of food booths (similar food-mostly bad for you) and demos of all kinds. There is also judging of animals, skills, products, displays, etc. The main differences I found were the Showbag Hall, and the sheer number of entries displayed in arts, crafts, and food skills.

Showbags are promotional souvenir gift bags. They come in many sizes from $1 to $35, with corresponding quantities of items in them. Candy showbags are very popular, as are kids’ TV shows and pop culture icons. Perfume, makeup, and other companies also sold gift packs of products, at the higher dollar values….The majority of the Ekka daily newspaper is given over to listing the items in each show bag, and the Showbag hall is the biggest pavilion there. It was fascinating!

The weekend found us heading north to explore Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. The beaches are beautiful here, about 3.5 hours north of Brisbane. This is a national park and one needs permits for camping.

Driving is permitted on the beach, and there was a lot of traffic while we were there, especially on the southern end, close to the ferry barges.

We took a 4WD tour and spent the day zooming along sandy roads and beaches seeing a shipwreck, coloured sands, inland sub-tropical rainforests, and beautiful freshwater lakes.

We stayed in the small town of Rainbow Beach and had a good meal at the Rainbow Beach Hotel Restaurant. Upscale food ordered and picked up at the counter is an interesting restaurant concept. No tipping necessary!

Our stay at the Plantation Resort was very nice: we had a 2-bedroom apt. with balcony and rooftop terrace.

On the way back to Brisbane we stopped in at the Ginger Factory to see how ginger is grown and brought to market, and the Nut Factory-all about macadamias-the only naturally-occuring food in Australia that is commercially grown. This is where Hawaii got all its macademia plants.... Stay tuned for more adventures during my winter stay in Brisbane!

Alaska, Part 2

I know this is long in being posted, but wanted to get photos up with this post.

Our second week in Alaska was even more amazing than the first week! And we thought we had done a lot already! We drove up to Fairbanks and then went east to the end of the Chena Hot Springs Road. We stayed at the Chena Hot Springs Resort and went from cold (20 degrees in the Ice Museum) to hot (100 + degrees in the hot springs pool) in a day! The resort uses its geothermal springs to power the buildings, so that is very interesting. DH got in some fishing and moose sightings.



After a nice weekend (but rather quiet as our traveling companions had to head home slightly early due to a bad tooth), we headed back to Fairbanks to do some sightseeing: The Museum of the North at UAF, art galleries, and the headquarters for the Yukon Quest dog sled race. We also took the Riverboat Discovery paddle wheel cruise..... This is very touristy, but one gets to see a bush plane take off and land on the river, a dog-sled demonstration, and tour a replica of an Indian Village.
We also found a great B&B: the All Seasons Inn.

The next stop was 2 days at Denali National Park, where we kept hoping for a peek at the big peak: Denali, or Mt. McKinley, as it is called on the maps. We took the bus ride into the park that goes to mile 53: about an 8 hr round trip. We saw lots of wildlife, notably a wolf, several grizzlies, caribou, Dall sheep; some saw a lynx, but I missed that one.









We also watched the dog sled demo-those dogs love to run!

Stayed at the Denali Lakeview Inn in Healy, just north of the park. Comfortable rooms and great views of Lake Otto! Very restful with a lazy boy chair right in front of the window.

Good restaurants: The Perch, The Overlook.
Ok, but I wouldn't have to go back there: Panorama Pizza Pub
(I got carded here. I didn't find it flattering, just annoying. Pizza was pretty good, however.)



One night in Talkeetna-our last night in the Far North. Talkeetna was the model for the town in the show "Northern Exposure"-or so the story goes.
I had fun seeing the mix of shops and people. While I shopped, DH took a jet boat upriver to fish. He had fun catching salmon with a fly rod.

We went with Talkeetna Air Taxi on a flightseeing adventure.


We hoped to see the peak and land on a glacier. They even gave us glacier boots. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate so we had to fly below the clouds-too low to see the top of the mountain. It peeked out for just a second, but not really long enough to get a good photo.... And the clouds were covering our landing area, so we couldn't set feet on the glacier, either.


We used our last day to drive to Anchorage and see the Anchorage Museum of Art. It has a wonderful floor that tells the history of Alaska in life-sized dioramas and lots of photos and artifacts. The Alaska artists gallery was great, too.

One great tip: We bought an Alaska Tour Saver book for $99. We saved over $350 in tours and entry fees with the 2-for-1 coupons. Would definitely do that again.

Thanks soooooo much to Roberta and Don for helping us realize our Alaskan ambitions and thanks to new friend Hank for kind hospitality and travel tips. Also, to Trudy and Bob for going out of your way to help us out!