What a celebration!

WOW!
We've just had the most wonderful day of celebration - the most perfect 25th wedding anniversary we could have imagined!

We started the day as we cruised into Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai - breakfasting beside the huge windows at the rear of the ship. Then we travelled up the Wailea river in a large barge-boat, to a 'fern grotto' - we walked through acres of flowering gingers, hibiscus, guava trees etc etc to an area surrounded by high rock walls, draped in vines and ferns, above a mossy grotto dripping moisture - although we had a glorious sunny day, Kauai is officially the wettest place on earth. At the grotto, a Hawaiian group waited, ready to sing the 'Hawaiian Wedding Song' to us, and another couple who were celebrating their 36th anniversary, and a couple who'd been married 2 days before - as well as 100 or so others, who were just there for the enjoyment! The group accompanied us back on the barge, singing and demonstrating the hula - if only we'd had a video camera to film John doing the hula - he was a whizz!!

At dinner time we dressed up, although it wasn't actually an Elegant Night - John in blazer and tie (with long trousers AND shoes!) and I in my wedding dress! We were surrounded by love and good wishes, particularly from Katerina, who was a favourite of ours last year on the Carnival Splendor, and who comes for a hug each evening - she's now our head waiter - and from Karnita, the wonderful Balinese chap who's been our head waiter up until now - and Fernando the maitre d' and his assistant, Natalia, and so many others who've become special to us. They tell us that we are 'the best guests they've ever had' (Oh yeah?), but they were so generous that they ordered a surprise anniversary cake for us, and the Cruise Director sent wine - our room is full of baskets of fruit, chocolate-covered strawberries, more wine etc etc ... we've done a couple of small things around the ship, like reorganising the library (with permission), and we've been paid back ten-thousandfold!!

After dinner (and the obligatory 'Happy Versary to You' song sung for all anniversaries) we proceeded to have our photos taken - twice - by Marco, and by Luz, both of whom we knew last year as well. We haven't seen the results yet, but hope at least one set will come out well.

We finished the day with the show "All that Jazz" - a really splendind all-singing/all-dancing spectacular which we've seen before, and loved - couldn't help but wonder what we'd have been doing if we were home on our own!

Thank you all for your good wishes - it was great to think of home, too. Love to all of you.

At sea again

Well, we've just left Honolulu, after three terrific days, and we're enjoying having the ship moving again, after being vitual landlubbers. Yesterday we went to Waikiki - saw the beaches from the local bus as we travelled, but otherwise we were almost lost in a forest of tall accommodation towers! All anyone seems to do in Waikiki is to shop, so we joined the masses, spending several hours at the International market, and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Today we were much more serious, and went to the wonderful Bishop Museum. There we were welcomed by Neil, an American botanist who spent some time in Brisbane, and married a Brisbane girl - John knew him through his friend Philip, and they were pleased to see each other again. After a tour of the Herbarium we explored the main museum - the refurbished Hawaii Room is absolutely world class - perhaps even a world leader! - and we enjoyed the Polynesian section, too, with artifacts from across the Pacific. After lunch with Neil we returned for a session on the history of hula and chants - it was so non-touristy, and impressive - a memorable day.

Now we're into the third cruise of our back-t0-back-to-back experience ... and we're being treated like royalty! Our room is full of chocolate covered strawberries, bottles of wine, and a fantastic fruit basket - yesterday we put in an hour or so working on the ship's library, and we've been so royally rewarded! And you should see the faces of our fellow-guests (new to this cruise) as all our favourite staff members race up to hug us! This is really like a family, and we love being a part of it!

We hope that family at home think of us on our 25th wedding anniversary tomorrow - we have a special trip planned - we'll report on it in our next blog. Aloha!

Happy in Honolulu

Not many people have a better address than us tonight - we are right beside the Aloha Tower, in the centre of downtown Honolulu, for the first of three days here. We've seen so much today - first went up to the Pali Cliffs, in the middle of the island, to see the incredible views (although the wind nearly blew our eyelids off!) - then we headed for Pearl Harbour, where we visited the Arizona Memorial ... a very thought-provoking place, although we ended up walking out of the (almost) obligatory introductory movie as we felt that perhaps, just perhaps, SOME indication should have been made that other people beside the Yanks fought in WWII !!

After that we headed across to the eastern side of the island, through a tunnel under the really impressive mountains, and northwards towards the surf beaches. There was a little wave at the Pipeline and at Sunset Beach, but we've been astounded at the flat seas - we're told that the big waves come in winter. It must be hell to be here then though - even now the waves cross the 2 metres (maximum!) of sand and hit against people's front fences or the very edge of the highway - what must it be like with huge waves??

We saw a huge Green Turtle on a beach, visited a ranch for lunch (tough beef spareribs!) and went to a macadamia outlet (they do admit to macadamias being from Queensland, though most American tourists don't believe them) and the huge Dole pineapple plantation. To our horror, they were selling pineapples for US$7.96 each - smaller than the ones we buy near Coolum at 3 for AU$2.00!! Food in Hawaii is dreadfully expensive - most things seem to cost as much per pound as we'd pay for a kilo! Fortunately, we're not buying much - we're so well fed on the ship that the thought of other food seems indecent!

Almost all of our fellow passengers leave tomorrow - but we have another 12 days, which pleases us. We plan to visit Waikiki tomorrow, and to visit the world-renown Bishop Museum on Monday, courtesy of a botanist who works there, but came out to work in Brisbane some years ago.

We've just heard about the AFL grand final - thanks Belinda! - there's no news that ain't Am-errrr-ican here!!

Merry Maui

Hawaii has us in its thrall ... last night we attended the Hawaiian deck party, drinking Pina Coladas with the best of them (well, virgin Pina Coladas with no alcohol, anyway!) and having our photo taken with the captain - great fun. Today we're in Maui, for the first of 4 days - two this cruise, and another two next week.

This morning we hired a car and set off, first from Kahlui on the mid-north coast to the beautiful Iao valley, where incredibly steep green mountains dripped all around us as we drove to the revered Iao Needle, pointing towards sunny skies. Then we headed across the island, looking for waves ... how disgusted the boys at Coolum would be with the gentle seas we found! The other side of the island is much drier - but that pleases the thousands of holiday-makers who throng to that shore seeking sunshine.

We stopped for lunch at Cove Bay, ready to dine on sourdough bread, meat and pickles, with "apple bananas" (Lady-fingers, we reckon) and a huge pomelo, which we bought from a farm. All was wonderful, except that we couldn't get through the 3cm deep pith of the pomelo with our paltry knife! A nearby Hawaiian fisherman, Maurice and his partner Jenna came to our aid with a large cane-knife, and we shared the pomelo (like a sweet grapefruit, but the size of a cabbage) with them, and a black lass now living in Hawaii, and a couple from Boston, James and Emily, who were due to be married on the beach an hour later!! We had quite a party!

We love life on the ship - but it's nice to see the real world, too - tomorrow we may travel on the local bus - life's fun! Hope it's good for you, too!

Everybody's family here!

We've heard Hawaii called "the friendly isles" - and they're not wrong! We've visited two islands now - first of all the dry west coast of the Big Island (pronounced Ha-Vy-ee as the island, as part of Ha-Wy-ee, the American State!!!) and then beautiful Kauai, the most westerly island, before returning to the east and south of Big Island ... don't ask us WHY we're all over the place - we're just going along for the ride! On both islands we've been treated like family - today's bus driver called us 'cousins' - and made to feel incredibly welcome.

Yesterday we landed at Nawiliwili and travelled through former sugar cane country (now planted with coffee trees) beside beautiful sandy beaches, then on to the Waimea canyon, which is reminiscent of the Grand Canyon, but nowhere near so grand! We visited the place where Captain Cook first landed, and some wonderful blow holes. Today we landed at Hilo and travelled to the Kilawea volcano - a large caldera with lots of steam and sulphurous gases blowing out, which we viewed from an observatory on the rim of the caldera, while the earth moved gently under our feet! From there we went to a botanical garden, full of the same plants as we try to grow at home, but really luxuriant, due to the rainfall of 3000 millimetres (120 inches) a year. It was so beautiful that it inspired John to buy a beautiful arrangement of pale pink anthuriums and deep pink ginger for our cabin!

Thanks to all of you who've registered comments to our blogs - you can also write to us at windolf@ozemail.com.au as we check our mail every couple of days. Hope this gets through - we're having some trouble with satellite connections!

Pane (Frances) and Keonii (John)

Aloha!

Our Hawaiian experience began yesterday, when we lunched with a Hawaiian couple, part of a group returning home from Vancouver, who decided that this cruise was a great way to see their own country! Last night was the Talent Quest, which we would normally have avoided, but we knew that Chester and Shubby's group was performing, so we went (it was kept as a surprise from all other guests). They were a triumph!

We were really in the mood for Kahlui-Kona, on the Big Island - the island of Hawaii - today, and were up by 6am to prepare for our tour - very different to our lazy sea days! This port has no jetty, so we had to be tendered in in some of the lifeboats - now that's an experience! Once on shore, we set off for a tour around half the island - the dry half ... and wasn't it dry! Almost all our journey was on the slopes of the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes - lumps of lava all the way. We're told that a few years ago that's all we would have seen , but now African Fountain Grass has covered a lot of the lava, the seeds having escaped from hotel landscaping.

We visited a wonderful national park, with King K******'s fort (sorry, any word with 17 vowels and 3 consonants defeats me!!), then continued on to the Parker Ranch, a huge cattle ranch in the north of the island, owned by 6 generations of Europeans intermarried with Hawaiian royalty - and they lived like kings! This was interesting in itself, as was the nearby town, but above all we appreciated seeing the countryside, which looked a bit like the (Australian) New England plateau in a drought - brown grass and dying gum trees. Further on we came upon a forest of Queensland Silky Oaks - growing better here than they do at home. So many plants were familiar - we felt quite at home!

A little shopping later, to prepare for Hawaiian Elegant Night tomorrow - a clip-on frangipani for my hair, and what I described as a "cheap lei" for John to wear around his neck ... OOPS!!! Let's just say, it will be unusual to see John with a necklace of flowers ... and from here on, I'll be careful with my descriptions!!

Aloha!

Caring Carnival

Well, we're on our second of five sea days, and with grey skies and grey seas our thoughts have very much turned inwards. we celebrated the first Elegant Night of this cruise last night, and followed the wonderful dinner with a visit to the large Egyptian- themed theatre for a performance called Jazz Hot - we saw it on the last voyage, but the four singers, twelve dancers, large band, superb costumes etc etc were so wonderful that we returned. This time we couldn't help but see that just below our balcony seats were two interpreters for the deaf, who translated every song into American Sign Language - it was a performance almost as fascinating as that on stage.

It is amazing to see the care for people with disabilities on the ship. On the Alaska cruise we became friendly with a fellow who was wheel-chair-bound after breaking his back some years ago. When we went on the Saxman Village tour, Carnival had ordered a coach with a lift which came out of the side of the bus, and allowed him to sit in an area half-way along - they had also provided someone to push his chair, to allow his wife (a nurse!) to have some time to herself. June said that their stateroom was the best adaptation she had ever seen for the disabled.

Every sign on the ship is marked in braille - although we still haven't worked out how blind people know the sign is there! The young woman with Down Syndrome who sits near us at dinner is treated as an honoured guest, but with no condecension at all.

Not disabled, but special, is a large group of German travellers on the ship - they have a translator, so all important announcements are made in German as well as English. Everybody, including us, is made to feel special! The little Indonesian lass who cleans our bathroom noticed that we love reading so she brings us all the magazines she finds, before taking them to her room to improve her English - this is such a wonderfully caring environment!

Sailing westwards

We've been north - loved Alaska, its friendly people, verdant mountains, snow and glaciers - even saw a bear (it looked as big as an ant from such a distance!) we've been south again - to Vancouver for 12 sunny hours - which we spent on the VERY quiet ship - only a dozen or so people going onwards - we took the opportunity for an 'at home day' - John read and snoozed, Frances did some of her university work, which has been rather neglected due to the good times we've had. We have 3 days in Vancouver at the end of our 3 months, and will explore then.

Now we're heading west - 5 days sailing and we'll be in Hawaii! Different people, different music, different menu in the dining room - but the same wonderful staff, same stateroom - we're happy! A new adventure beckons!

Different days, different nations

Yesterday we were truly international travellers - we boarded a mini-bus in tiny Skagway (summer population 900 people) and followed one of the trails towards the Klondike goldfields ... well, the first few miles of it ... into Canada, at the top of White Pass. We passed the 3ft gauge train that took tourists up and down, but decided we preferred the road route, where we not only saw the views (yet another clear, sunny day), but could stop beside waterfalls, or to look down into the gorge where so many miners horses died, trying to climb tremendously steep rocky mountains with huge loads - each miner had to carry 1 ton of food into Canada, a feat which took many journeys up and down the 3,700 ft to the pass. Our trip to Canada was brief, but really different - rocky slopes in all directions, a couple of glaciers, white mountain goats, creamy lichens and scarlet fireweed - beautiful.

Today it was First Nation people that we thought of - or, perhaps, Native Americans, as Alaska is American. We travelled from Ketchikan to Saxman Native Village - and what a welcome the Tlingit and Heide people gave us! We were a little embarrassed to be tourists, gawking at their way of life, but they explained to us that tourists, and their money, have enabled their community to provide jobs for their people, and encouraged a whole generation of young people to reamain local and develop a pride in their heritage and their language. We were shown their native plants and a film on their history, welcomed into the Beaver clan meeting house for a dance exhibition, and shown the way that they carve their superb totem poles. It was a wonderful day, and we felt SO welcome. We can't spell it, but we were pleased to say something like "Granache-cheeses Ho Ho", which meant "Thank you from the bottom of our hearts".

Another wonderful theatre presentation tonight - last night's New Orleans Show was worth at least $100 each in Brisbane, or any other city, but was of course a free part of our cruise - such a great contrast to life outside, but so enjoyable - this is the life!

Alaska is cool!

We're stting here in heavy jackets (Frances in furry hat and gloves), not because there's anything wrong with the shikp's over-efficient heating, but because we've just spent all day on deck, where the temperature was 11C (52F) without allowing for wind chill. Why? Because we've just spent one of the most beautiful days of our lives, cruising in Glacier Bay. It's glorious!

Yesterday, in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, we travelled to a salmon hatchery and the Mendenhall Glacier, in cold, miserable rain, and were impressed despite the weather. Today dawned bright and sunny, and we just couldn't tear ourselves away from the outside deck - at least a dozen glaciers, six of which are what John describes as "proper glaciers", which go all the way to the water. The surrounding mountains were huge, ranging from the height of Kosciusko to twice the height of Kosciusko. We had morning hot chocolate there, we had lunchtime chinese food there, we had carrot cake (and jelly for John, of course) there. Our tablemate, Cisco from South Carolina, had four bowls of icecream, two lots of french fries, a thick, toasted cheese and ham deli sandwich AND lunch there, while his wife Dianne was a little more restrained. Another new friend told us she'd lost weight today, just running from one side of the ship to the other, to take photos. Thank heavens for digital cameras - Frances has taken about 70 photos today, and John a whole heap more.

Uh oh! There's just been an announcement suggesting that we should go out to look for seals, sea otters and sea lions - this morning Frances saw a distant bear!!! Bye!

In the Spirit

Having left Victoria with regret, then enjoyed a fast, but wet, journey through Puget Sound to Seattle, we spent last night in an hotel, opposite the Seattle Public Library. We toured the library this morning, all 10 modern floors of it (ask John to describe the 4th floor red "heart" of the building some time!!) then headed for Pier 91 and the Carnival Spirit.

We're pleased to say that our embarkation was MUCH easier and faster than trying to get on the Carnival Splendor last year - no bomb scare! In fact, we were on the ship so fast that we almost wondered what to do with ourselves ... and we missed Janet and Colette who shared our wait with us last time.

Now we've eaten (magnificently!) and done 4 days of washing. We're travelling north past Vancouver Island ... Alaska, here we come!

Blooming marvelous!

Victoria is wonderful! No, you can stop patting yourself on the back, there in Australia - we're talking about the city of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Our ATC hosts took us all around the beautiful city on Saturday, then on Sunday morning they drove us to the Butchart Gardens, leaving us there with detailed instructions for the bus journey home.

What a joy it was! These gardens were the most colourful we've ever seen - 55 acres of roses, dahlias, begonias, zinnias, and dozens and dozens of other flowers, a wonderful Japanese garden, a sunken garden in an old quarry - and that was just part of this 100+ year-old property. we walked for four hours, and could have spent days.

The bus journey was crowded beyond belief, until we changed buses, but an elderly First Nations lady, Freda, changed with us, and so we had an interesting wait for the next bus, hearing of her birth in a long-house and her life on the island more than 70 years ago. We love the people you meet when you travel!

For dinner, Pat and Wayne took us to the Victoria airport, where we watched planes take off as we ate, then drove us around country roads, past lakes and rolling fields, bordered by tall sequoias. we've visited a wonderful place, made new friends, whom we hope will visit us in the future ... we're sorry to leave.

The Victoria Clipper, a fast catamaran to Seattle, awaits - and, tomorrow, the Carnival Spirit. We'll write again in a few days, from Alaskan waters.

Travelling with angels

"Well", said our friend Rochelle, as she drove us to the airport, "this will give you something to write in your blog". She was right! Rochelle and her daughter Caitlin had collected us in Caitlin's station wagon, packed in piles of luggage - and a few kilometres down the road we suffered a severely split tyre. As we hopped out of the car, an angel in a cab (an unusual sight on the Sunshine Coast!) came along, so John and Rochelle disappeared to collect Rochelle's car. As Frances and Caitlin pulled out the luggage, a passing ambulance-man pulled up and insisted on helping to change the tyre ... a second angel ... actually, the fourth, counting Rochelle and Caitlin.

In the 'City of the Angels', however, we found a severe lack of angels - we collected our luggage, chatted with a delightful Customs officer who couldn't decide if John was from a Harry Potter movie or Lord of the Rings ... and then we hurriedly pushed our laden luggage trolley to the very furthest terminal, to catch a United plane to Vancouver. Here we waited in a queue of more than 50 people for one of two assistants to acknowledge our bookings - we got on, after queuing for more than 30 minutes, but some transferees eventually missed the plane. Our holdup was the security demon who, refusing to acknowledge that Frances' new titanium knee was the alarm she heard, took her away for a full check of everything!! Even travellers cheques and money were swiped with special clothes (every one individually!) to see if she was carrying drugs!! The plane, when we eventually reached it (it was held up, too) was like a poor-quality council bus with two seats either side of a narrow aisle, and we think we met every passenger on the plane, as the aisle was constantly filled with people waiting to use the single toilet - of 50 people on the plane, 40 stood beside us and talked!!

Vancouver was a quick stopover - we slept (lots!) at a Days Inn, and travelled to our new angels - Affordable travel Club hosts, Pat and Wayne, who have been hospitable beyond belief ... more of that in the next blog, as now we're off to the beautiful Butchart Gardens ... bye!