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.