DESERT ROAD TO DUBAI TO HATTA We have certainly improved our worldwide knowledge on our retirement travels and a visit to Oman has been no exception. We have visited a couple of times before, mainly to renew our Dubai visas to enable an extended stay with our family living there. We have travelled a few times overland to the border post at Hatta/Oman, a five hour round trip through the desert - a quick way to renew our 30 day visas but a tiring day. MUSANDAM PENINSULAR A much more comfortable option was when we travelled overland with family and friends to Musandam. A mountainous Omani peninsula projecting into the Strait of Hormuz - a narrow entry into the Persian Gulf. Although part of Oman it is entirely separated from the rest of the country by ... read more

QUADRA ISLAND The ferry to Quadra Island was quick but it was a raining hard and therefore not a very scenic crossing. Once we disembarked it was only a short distance to our next accommodation which was a self-catering cabin overlooking an inlet and a couple of small islands. The cabin was set off on its own and afforded privacy from the other accommodation and was certainly well equipped with everything we needed as well as a lovely view. We had free use of kayaks whilst we were there and hoped to be able to get out on the water at some point - if the weather would relent just a little! However it rained a lot in fact for most of the seven days we were on the island, we managed to get out and ... read more

PORT MCNEILL We continued to thoroughly enjoy our stay at Azure Beach House overlooking the scenic Malcolm Island in the far far north of Vancouver Island. The house was about half way between Port McNeill and Telegraph Cove with easy access to both - what we loved was the peace, quiet and complete solitude and time to do just nothing ... ... .... We walked along the beach most days, usually around to Hyde Creek - luckily our host, Rosalind had left us some wellington boots which proved extremely useful as we could easily cross the creek as well as the mud flats when the tides were right - had to be careful of the tides though as one could easily get cut off, particularly with the recent full moon and extremely high tides. The 'resident' ... read more

GREENWOOD We stopped on the way to the Okanagan Valley at Greenwood, the smallest city in Canada. The town was born out of the mining boom in the mid 1890s when it was recognised as being within easy travelling distance of the many mining camps dotted around the area. It then became one of the biggest copper producing regions of the world, until copper prices plummeted after WW1 forcing the closure of the mines and smelters. People then left in droves and by the 1940s there were only 200 people remaining. The town has grown a bit since then but the population is still not up to those ‘hey days’. We picked up some brochures from an excellent Visitor Centre (very helpful staff) in the town and set out on a self-guided tour along its Heritage ... read more

We left Lake Louise and decided to take the Bow Valley Parkway route rather than the main highway. The road was good and we stopped at a viewpoint to take a break and look at Castle Mountain which dominated the skyline. Near to the road was a memorial with a statue which was a Commemoration of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp - a poignant bronze statue with several plaques detailed the camp and the dire conditions therein - the statue was entitled, simply, Why? The Castle Mountain Internment Camp was the largest internment facility in the Canadian Rockies and housed several hundred prisoners during WW1. The internees most of whom. were Ukrainian immigrants worked in really poor conditions pushing the Banff highway through to Lake Louise. In 1917 the camp was dismantled and left to the ... read more