Month: May 2015

150516 Denali National Park

Well another beautiful day. Sunshine as far as we can see. So many visitors do not have clear skies like we have. When people come to Denali National Park, they come to see North America’s highest peak, Mt McKinley. We have not been disappointed. For many, the mountain is covered with dense cloud.

I have to say, the breakfasts have not been near as good as they are in Asia. Americans don’t seem to consider breakfast as an important meal as they do their coffee and donuts. However, we managed to have some cereal and hot food before boarding an old school bus and making our way into the only American National Park that has been ‘created’ to protect the wildlife. And so much of it there was; one moose and a couple of sheep, is all we saw. At least when searching for leopard in Africa, we came across millions of other wild beasts roaming around; elephants, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, lion and rhino. Such a long way to come for 3 or 4 animals. When the moose was seen, the bus stopped and reversed back just before the beast ‘went bush’. Oh, it was SO exciting! Ha Ha!

But in the distance were the peaks of Mt McKinley. And that did look majestic. Although cloud was swirling around, the two peaks made a few appearances, albeit 70 miles away, we were told. I had in my mind that if we took a helicopter ride, a circuit of the great mountain would be included. Wrong! just a view from a higher elevation.

After a lunch with a fantastic view, we were collected from the motel lobby for the transfer to the helicopter departure point. There were three smartly painted helicopters ready to take us on an hours ride over the Denali National Park. After the full weigh in then a video briefing, we were strapped into a helicopter. Our pilot was young in his early 30s. Fortunately we had a person on board that asked lots of questions. We found out the pilot had been an instructor for 3 and half years and so had quite a few flying hours up. Although it was very windy, we only felt vibrations rather than the buffering we felt on the fixed wing flight to the Arctic circle the other day.

Once over the snow covered mountains, we learned that during the winter months it snows only once a month or so. There are no ski fields in the park. We are not allowed to fly too low – it may interfere with the wildlife (that one moose just may start calving early). There are some bush walks but not too many.

In the distance is Mt McKinley poking its head above a cloud mass. It does look awesome even from 60-70 miles away. We circle around a glacier that shows ‘folded’ masses of ice and after about 45 minutes in the air, head back to the departure point.

Tomorrow, we board a train and head out of Denali National Park towards Mt McKinley National Park (different to the mountain) 120 miles, and then 50 miles by coach.

Mt McKinley from a distance – zoomed in, of course.
Guess who has lumbago problems?
Yes, can even hold a mountain in her hands.
These buses used to be coloured yellow but still deemed safe enough for park visitors.
Another selfie – without a stick.

150515 Fairbanks to Denali

Today is a transit day. We are realising that the boarding of our ship is not too far away now. The Coral Princess holds 1950 passengers and collects them at Wittier to cruise down to Vancouver. Those 1950 passengers are all touring around Alaska at the moment. They are staying at Princess Cruises properties for a week before boarding. The Coral Princess is currently en route to Wittier with 1950 passengers on board. They will take our place and start touring Alaska when we board the ship. Now, all these passengers have to be carted around Alaska. Each motor coach carries about 50 people. That means at least 37 coaches are involved right now transporting people around Alaska, going to the 4 major destinations that Princess Cruise passengers visit. Almost all of the drivers, baggage handlers, day tour hosts, hotel hosts, souvenir shop assistants, waiters, cooks, hosts at various tourism providers, are employed from southern states just for the summer when there is no freezing conditions, maybe for just 4 months. What a mammoth task, just so we can see parts of Alaska; and we are only one tour group within Princess Cruises. There is also Holland America Lines, Celebrity, Carnival and others.

The young female driver we had, did a splendid job of transferring us to Denali. She has come up for the last 3 vacations and got her motor coach licence after a vacation working in the office and claims to have driven Fairbanks to Denali, “hundreds of times” already. We arrived around 45 minutes early just prior to mid day and were able to make a booking for tonight’s “The Music of Denali” show where the waiters and waitresses become the singers/performers of the show. The meal was real country style food. The show was a bit ‘twangy’ for me although Lyn enjoyed it.(I had two naps during it). We sat with a bunch of Texans that were quick to employ their southern humour. Also, we have met up with a couple from Sydney who are travelling for 90 days. They are celebrating the soon-to-be commencement of retirement. It’s was quite interesting coming out of an evening show with the sun still up, knowing that it won’t go down for another 2 hours or more.

A tour of the Denali National Park is on our plans for tomorrow morning. We have booked a helicopter flight to Mt McKinley in the afternoon. The weather promises blue skies so we will accept that as a sign that it is ‘going to be a good day’ indeed. Lyn will be firing away on the still camera while hopefully I can get the front seat to grab some great video.

Snow melt off to the ocean
Interesting cloud formations while on the motor coach
Its a long way to the ocean – and cold.
We haven’t seen a selfie stick being used yet.
Denali Princess Lodge
Denali Princess Lodge Accommodation
Spa – under the mid night sun.
Today’s TOP SHOT – Lyn

150514 Fairbanks

I need to mention that the word I was wanting to use in the last post for frozen ground is ‘permafrost’. The ground is so cold that the oil pipeline couldn’t be laid in it, and the possibility of earthquake could shatter the pipes. The whole pipeline ‘rides’ on a cushion of rubber to withstand any earthquake of over 8 on the richter scale.

Now for today and what a glorious day it is too. Blue skies, no wind and a little warmth.

After a quick continental breakfast (not as good as a normal Scenic Tours breakfast), we filed into a ‘motor coach’ for a short transfer to a wharf where a paddle steamer was waiting to carry over 500 guests on a cruise up the Chena River. There were many surprises coming our way. The Discovery III is a 4 level old style paddle steamer that takes tourists on an adventure and an education of things that happen in Alaska. Available on boarding was free coffee and blueberry donuts.

After a U-Turn, we ventured downstream for just a short while and to stop and have an interview and demonstration from a sea plane pilot. The sea plane took off from the river in a very short distance to get into the air and fly over us and land again in the river. The pilot was a well known Alaskan and the interview with him was innovative and informative. At the main Fairbanks Airport, there are two parallel runways, between which is water for sea planes to  land and take off. The sea plane is a major form of transport for many of the residents in the frontier of Alaska. The number of lakes is enormous.

While travelling further downstream, various houses of famous Alaskans are pointed out with some of the residents coming out of their homes and waving to us as we sail on by; politicians, sports people and just well known persons of the area. We were a moving audience floating past different stages. The Discovery III sails on towards a sled dog property. This is the property of a girl who won the marathon dog sled race 4 times before she was diagnosed with leukaemia. Her husband was there to be interviewed about the dogs that we could see very active in their kennels as well as about his wife’s achievements. He then gave us a demonstration of the power of 8 dogs pulling his 4 wheel bike around the property. As each dog was released from their harness, they rushed to the river to cool down as if it was their reward.

Downstream further, we come to another site. We disembark and walk around, listening to talks about the way the local Eskimos make clothing and prepare smoked salmon. Moving 500 people through the various little theatres was so well accomplished without a hitch. This is not the place for animal liberationists as animal skins form a major part of the clothing of the people. It was interesting to learn that the hair of the animals are filled with air and the animals’ temperature warms the hair and becomes insulation for the animal. This also enables the animal to be buoyant if they need to cross a river.

Coming back to our departure point, we were treated to a snack of family made salmon dip. We didn’t try it. I am a hater of fish and seafood and the smell nearly makes me &%^&*(%$. On arrival back at base, we file 500 of us at once, into a large dining room and are served a 3 course buffet meal. All done without waiting. An achievement indeed.

Of course, the common gift shop is just outside the exit doors of the restaurant where they also have a room to experience -40F. We tried it and within a few short minutes, the clothes became very cold – why would anyone live in that temperature for 6-8 months of the year?

Our afternoon is a visit out of town to the Gold Dredge 8 site for a gold panning experience. After a talk about the oil pipeline that goes through the property, a train took us to a large 64 bucket gold dredger for an informative talk about the methods used here for gleaning gold from the ground. We were then taken to a large area where we were each given a sack of dirt to experience panning for gold. Each participant was guaranteed to find gold in their sack of dirt. At the completion of the panning, our ‘find’ amounted to just $14 worth of gold, which Lyn had put into a little fridge magnet. So don’t go stealing from our fridge if you ever come to our house.

Some of the fellow tourists have been very friendly and want to know more about Australia. Some have it on their bucket-list so we may see them again one day. It’s interesting here that you normally pay for your meal as you finish rather than having it charged up to your room account. I suppose that’s to enable the ‘American tip’ to happen for the table servers.

Friday, we are off to Denali Park where wild life is supposed to abound. I hope you come along with us.

The departure point and restaurant for the River Cruise.
An adventurous sea plane pilot shows us his ‘stuff’.
The pilot is talking to us about his achievements
Cruising on down the river
Famous peoples residents line the shore of the river.
The sled dog property
In the distance is a model showing off the wonderfully warm looking clothes of the Eskimos.
Fish being smoked
The discovery III in the background.
Take a look at the logs that form the walls and frame of the house.
Notice the pipeline cradles
All aboard for the gold rush.
I did it – I found some gold
Not much but some.
Baby its cold in here.

150513 Fairbanks and Arctic Circle

The alarm went off at 6:00am Fairbanks time to get me out of bed and down to the tour desk to hopefully get on the 7:00am flight to the Arctic Circle. It wasn’t until we were being transferred to the airport that we learned that there was no flight this morning and the 1:00pm flight was the first for the day. I needn’t have gotten up so early after all.

After the normal ‘American-way’ of going through every little detail about what was going to happen, and what we would experience, we embarked a small twin engined 10 seater Piper Navajor aircraft bound for the ‘northern frontier’. From the moment of take off until touchdown, we swayed and bumped around all over the place. For a moment, I thought I could be in for a Meniere’s Attack but my mind kept saying, “No, No, No”.

The scenery was so different in a way. The vegetation was still considering to bloom from it’s winter cave. As we headed further north, the seasonal change was having less effect. Trees were showing so little attraction to the new season’s excitement. The region doesn’t have four seasons – just the two, summer and winter with a short melt down when freeze becomes melt. We could see the lakes melting at the edge of the shorelines. Some rivers were running with ice still clinging to their banks. As we crossed the unmarked line of the Arctic Circle, our pilot made the announcement but we didn’t feel any different. No extra celebratory bumps. No razzamatazz.

The flight path is generally up the Dalton Highway which goes all the way north to Prudhoe Bay on the north of Alaska. Oil companies used to own the highway while they were building the oil pipeline that generally follows the highway. More than half of the pipeline is above ground because of the intense cold of the ground which would cause the oil to freeze and not move.

We landed at Coldfoot, a very sparsely populated area where they only see the sun for 4 months of the year. Everyone lives in darkness most of the year, and lots of snow with the temperature often -60 F. Sled dogs sleep outside in the winter chill at this time and are fed frozen meat cut-offs not needing to be preserved in the refrigerator.

There is a post office beside the pub and the truckers cafe, but is only open 3 part days a week and receives mail once a week.

We took a visit to Wiseman, a village of people who only survive off the land. They rely on solar power (when the sun is shinning), and generators when needed. Hand-cut wood is the fuel for heating. The produce from the garden is stored for the long winter, or should I say frozen for the winter, under the houses. Meat has to be hunted for and if you shoot a large deer, you cannot take in a vehicle to retrieve it; you must cut up the animal and cart it on your shoulder to your vehicle. It may be 400 metres away and a 60kg shoulder of animal becomes heavy in that distance. An angry bear just may be around. Bear in the area are usually timid and shy of humans and keep away if you are in their territory but make their appearance at the carcass when you have well and truly gone.

Wildlife is just coming out into the open, this week or so after the winter, but we only saw the one moose.

After an all round trip of 5 hours, we are now proud owners of a certificate that says we have been north of the Arctic Circle.

Wiseman Village
Even a town of 30,000 has a ‘turnpike’
See the edges of the lakes melting
Lonely north frontier post office
Check the pipeline
To show the ‘frame’ that transports the Trans Alaska oil pipeline

150512 Melbourne to Fairbanks (Alaska)

Last year, after having a list of people that wanted to visit Canada and do the Rocky Mountaineer Scenic Train trip, many opted out and so we had just four bookings made. Because Lyn has done the journey twice before (once in Canada’s winter), and we had done a motor home trip in Canada in 1983, we decided to split from the small group and head straight for Alaska and maybe experience the Arctic Circle. June 4 marks our 25th anniversary in the travel agency which makes the trip rather eventful. So we are in Alaska for 8 nights before we board the “Coral Princess” for their 7 day cruise to Vancouver stopping off at destinations like Skagway, Juneau, Ketchican, Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park along the way.

Leaving Melbourne at 6:00am to connect with the 14:15 hour flight to Vancouver, followed by a short flight to Seattle before the 3:30 hour flight to Fairbanks, means you have to get out of bed and spend 37 hours in transit before your head hits another pillow. It was a long wait in Vancouver for our connection to Seattle but fortunately we are members of “Priority Pass” chain that has over 700 airport lounges around the world. This meant we were able to have a few hours sleep in comfort, well sort of, and as much food as they cared to serve us.

The flight with Air Canada was smooth most of the way. Lots of games to play and books to read helped fill in the ‘awake’ time. I think we had no more than 1 hour of sleep as there was, yes, a boisterous child across the aisle from us. Enough said!

Seattle Airport is a very busy hub for Alaska Airlines and our view from the lounge included many aircraft movements for the time we were there.

We flew over many snow covered mountains on our way from Seattle Airport to Fairbanks, arriving at 11:00pm just after the sunset. At present, they are having 19 hours of daylight so its late sun down and early sun up at the moment. As we are with Princess Cruises for 15 nights, as much as possible of the accommodation is owned by the Cruise line. Our accommodation here at Fairbanks Princess – Riverside Lodge has only been open 3 days for the season which means the staff are still learning the daily needs of the many guests who have started an early ‘summer vacation’.

Late last night we decided to do the day flight to the Arctic Circle (we love planes now). The weather looks good today but at 6:00am when we awoke (courtesy of an alarm), we were just too late to be included in the 7:00am departure. The next flight is at 1:00pm for us to experience ‘the other end’ of the world. The sun is shining, that’s a plus, and the staff said it is going to be a good day at ‘the circle’

Leave your horse outside please.
Ah . . . before we found a more comfortable chair for sleeping in.
Snow covered Alaskan mountains
Yes, we have arrived
Fairbanks Princess – Riverside Lodge
We are riding with a Princess

150512 Alaska

Our Trip to Alaska was done – on our own. So, we were able to go at our own pace and to ‘all-of-a-sudden’ locations. We had a few excursions planned, but much of each day was done with ‘how the spirit moved us’.

We left Melbourne on 12 May, 2016 and returned 12 June, 2016. After 8 nights in Alaska, we cruised down to Vancouver over 7 nights followed by our 14 night ‘out of the way’ adventure into the ‘back blocks’ of the Canadian countryside. Our cameras were hunting for fabulous spots to record for us all to enjoy. The hired camper van saw some locations it never thought it would get to but, hey, that’s what travelling is all about – expecting the unexpected.

To see the daily posts, scroll down and on the right hand side, you will see a group named ‘categories’. Click on Alaska 2015 or Canada 2015 and each of the days posts will be listed. You will have to click on ‘continue reading’ to see the full text and photos. Enjoy and give us any questions or feedback – we can use your point of view.