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Published: July 17th 2008
This is our last blog entry for this trip so we hope you have enjoyed our entries.
29th June. Today we left early to catch our train to the Rockies, on the Rocky Mountaineer train. Some of these carriages are double deckers, with the dining area on the lower level, and on the top you have great seating with windows in the roof, so you have a fantastic view all the way. These carriages also have an open platform at the back to stand on and take in the view and take photos. These carriages are for, what they call, Goldleaf travellers. We chose Gold Leaf, not Red leaf, and were well dined and wined. We had so much food in two days, it was unbelievable!
The train travels slowly, sometimes too slow, but you are certainly able to take lots of photos and generally take it easy, in between eating and drinking! There was a distinctive change of scenery as you pass through the mountains, past the different rivers, first the Cascade River, then the Thompson River, on the Canadian Pacific track, then change to the Canadian National track. The commentary from the staff along the way was
Canada- Rocky Mountaineer Train trip
One of the appetising meals we had to endure in the dining lounge below our seating area â“ itâs a hard lifegreat and often very amusing. As we approached our overnight destination we were told that the temperature was 44 Celsius - bloody hot!!
Our accommodation over night was at a city called Kamloops; dinner was included at the restaurant.
30th June. Ok, so it’s the end of the financial year, wow, how time flies.
We had to leave at 6:30am this morning for our trip from Kamloops to Banff. Our train is much shorter now as half the train went on to Jasper.
All went well; scenery was quite arid in this region and very hot again, and we found that we were now entering the actual Rockies, as up until now we were travelling through general mountains country with rivers of melted snow.
Our trip was terrific, very different to anything else we have done so far and with some lovely people on board to help us enjoy the two days. (Quite a few Aussies as well). We spent the evening at Banff a lovely town nestled in between the huge majestic mountains, our accommodation was a B & B, not brilliant but ok.
1st July. This day was going to be busy, as
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The dining area â“ scenery watching while waiting for our meal we wanted to see some of the area (Banff), but only had a few hours to do so. We caught the local bus to the Gondola so we could go up to one of the mountains, a very long way up, I might say. The view was fantastic, even though it rained, and the Gondola was very scary (for me). We also visited the hot sulphur springs after this and then spent some time in the town. The 1st of July is Canada day, so there were quite a lot of festivities happening.
We caught the Greyhound bus for Kelowna to meet up with Sandra and Reynold Stolearcius, some people we knew 29 years ago, in Echuca. Reynold taught with Rob when he and Graham and Dot Skewes (our friends) did a one year teacher exchange. Reynold and Sandra were kind enough to offer for us to stay with them at their holiday home in Peachland, near Kelowna. Our trip to meet them was not with out drama, once again, bloody bus drivers…This time the driver we had was not in a great mood at Banff, and after having to shift a lot of freight, he hurt his back,
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Scenery leaving the Vancouver region â“ not a breath of wind and his mood got worse after that. He then started to drive and was using the phone, while driving, using his elbow to hold the wheel of the bus, at fairly high speed, and as, once again we were sitting up front, we saw all this and were not happy with his attitude. He was relieved at about our third stop (thank goodness) and our new driver was much better, although the speed limit meant nothing to either of them!! Along the way, one of the passengers got quite drunk and this driver told him to get off the bus, which eventually he did, after the driver threatened calling the police. He was that drunk he was talking to people who where not there. This included the bus driver. The bus driver had got off the bus but this drunken person must have been visualising him still sitting in the driver’s seat and the drunk was having a great conversation with him. The driver was a religious man, and he sang to the drunk at first, to keep him calm, before telling him to get off. It was an interesting day for us.
We arrived very late at Kelowna
and were met by Sandra and Reynold. We just fitted our entire luggage into their car which was a Pontiac soft top, then drove over the bridge to a vantage point to see the Canada Day fire works in Kelowna.
We enjoyed some catch up time with our hosts before gratefully going to bed, after a very long day.
2nd July. Today Reynold and Sandra took us in their Pontiac to Naramata, to visit the Red Rooster winery, where we had a lovely gentleman tell us how one should enjoy a wine tasting (he was excellent in his presentation). He said we must firstly agitate the wine vigorously. Then smell deeply, then swish the wine in your mouth to get it to body temperature, then swallow and enjoy. There were other antics to go through as well but I won’t go into that now. Who has time for all that, drink the dam wine and be done with it, eh?? We also visited some great local markets and generally enjoyed the lovely scenery and hot sun. (It will be winter when we get home, so we needed to enjoy the Canadian sun as much as we could) We also
met up with Frank and Gerri, a lovely couple and friends of our hosts, from Lethbridge, where Sandra and Reynold have their home. Sandra cooked a lovely curry lunch, which we all enjoyed together.
3rd July. This morning we were to have breakfast at a local eatery on the lake, however, Rob and Reynold went for a walk at 8:30am, into the hills above Sandra and Reynolds house, and promptly forgot our 9:30am appointment. Although they did enjoy their walk, they were roasted soundly on their return after 10am.
We visited a place called Osoyoos today, and on the way we saw the Okanagan’s smallest lake, which is very deep. This is the Gallagher Lake, with a camp ground beside the lake, and is a very pretty spot. We also visited another winery; this one is called Oliver Twist, and is at an Indian Heritage area. We then went on to pick cherries from a small farm in this district. We had some beer and nachos at the casino where Wendy lost $10, then we called in at Summerland to see Tara and Joe and the kids, (Sandra and Reynolds daughter etc) and enjoyed pizza with them
before getting home quite late, as we were stopped for quite a while with road works on the way from Penticton to Peachland.
4th July. Today Rob and I went in the speed boat with Joe and the boys to see if young Jaydon could get up on the skies for the first time. He is about 9 and had not been able to do so as of yet, so when he was able to finally stand up on the skis, we were very pleased for him, a great effort. Then Rob also went into the water and after roughly 18 years of not skiing he was able to stand up the first go, but tired very quickly. However, he had a second go, and really enjoyed the opportunity to do so after so many years. I (Wendy) refused the offer, as I was not too thrilled about the cold water!!
Our hosts enjoyed some quality time with their daughter and granddaughter, Chloe, while we were in the boat with Joe, young Joey, Jayden and their two Labrador dogs. The dogs loved to swim out after a ball, and then swim back to the boat. One of
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Heading toward Kamloops â“ notice how the area is becoming more arid the dogs was caught short, and did a poo in the boat. That afternoon Rob, Reynold and I went to a little place called Summerland Sweets for divine ice cream and also to see Kettle Valley Railway steam train visit the area and go across the old trestle bridge.
We then took ourselves to a golf course where we had a bucket of balls each to do some driving practice, kids as well. It was fun, but boy was I (Wendy) sore between the shoulders, the next day!!
That evening we took the little ones back to Reynold and Sandra’s to stay for the night, and enjoyed Buffalo burgers on the BBQ.
July 5th. Today is our last day, so after taking the kids back to Tara and Joe at Summerland, and saying goodbye as they left for Vegas (they were holidaying in Summerland), we headed for another favourite winery, but on the way we stopped off at a small vineyard that sells Vinegar, which is where Sandra bought some raspberry vinegar to be used in a special cool summer drink - a teaspoon of the vinegar over ice and soda. Very nice indeed!! Thornhaven winery was where
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Heading toward Kamloops â“ absolute huge cliff face beside river we were able to enjoy a young lady singing county music at the same time as drinking some lovely local wine and looking at a very special view of the valley. We also visited a winery before this one, called the Dirty Laundry winery. This was very special as the history of the winery tells us that the winery started as a Chinese laundry, and to make more money the Chinese gentleman started a gambling room upstairs, and with that came a brothel, so hence the name!! We also visited a golf course for a jug of beer, to look at the great view of the valley below the course.
We took Reynold and Sandra out for dinner that night, to a great German restaurant in town, with a table over looking the lake, and what a great meal we ate, huge!!!
All the places we visited while staying with Reynold and Sandra are in a valley called the Okanagen Valley which has many lakes and towns beside the lakes - a very beautiful area which is predominately a fruit growing area with grapes, peaches cherries and other fruits. They have so much water for irrigation.
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One of many large birds called Osprey that builds nests on top of trees and poles. They are like an eagle except they dive for fish rather than eat red meat. July 6th. We caught the Greyhound bus for Vancouver this morning, and said goodbye to our old friends. The trip went well, and we had a little time to visit Lonsdale Quay via a very quick trip on the Sea bus. We listened to a lady singing Patsy Cline songs, while we ate cake and drank coffee, then made our way to the airport to fly to Fiji via Honolulu.
Our plane was to leave late, so we sat at Starbucks and worked on our diary, and called the Skewes computer to computer via skype, then realized we should have been at our gate. You do not get called for your flights out of Vancouver. You are expected to be at the gate waiting, so we were lucky not to be disallowed to board. On board we found we had the seats in the emergency escape area, so had lots of leg room, and as the first flight, to Hawaii was not full, we had an extra seat between us. We had a stopover of one hour at Honolulu, then on to Fiji, arriving at 5:20am, local time, and now we are two hours ahead of Australia, not seventeen
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Kamloops at night looking over the Thompson River hours behind as we were in Canada.
July 8th. We arrived at our resort, had some breaky, and we were fortunate enough that our room was ready very early, so of course headed for bed! We just hung around today, having a (cold) swim, had dinner at one of the many restaurants and then went to bed.
July 9th. Still feeling some jetlag today, we thought we would have a fairly quiet day, although Rob decided he would take a yacht out this morning, as all non motorised gear is free for you to use, if you are staying at this resort. I went to see how he was doing, only to find he was being towed back to shore, as he had damaged the sail after being flipped over. We were told we would have to pay the damage bill, and Rob had signed a form agreeing to pay to be towed in if he was in trouble, that cost was $60. This guy now said we were up for the cost of the sail, and who knows how much that was going to be, so we told him we wanted to go to where the repairs
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One of the two engines pulling our train were to be carried out, at another resort, so we could see what needed to be done, he said ok. A little while later, we were then told we were only to be charged the original $60, as I think he realized that the damage was only the seam of the sail, and therefore it could have been weak due to usage! It pays to question, yes??
We booked in to a buffet dinner and show that night, the locals put on. The meat is all cooked under ground, and the locals show you some of their culture, with fire walking (hot rock walking) to finish the night. It was a fairly good meal, with an OK production, but not something I thought was brilliant. The sound system was so poor we couldn’t understand a word that was being said.
July 10th. After a hearty buffet breakfast, well Rob did anyway as Wendy was not feeling well today with a bug in her gut. Well, you know what that ultimately produces, so we spent the day in our unit so that Wendy was close to the toilet and Rob spent time on sorting all the pamphlets we
have collected, the diary and photos.
July 11th. Wendy still not well, but we did get out and about a little more. We went over to a little Island near by, just to see what it was like, but the water was too cold, so no swimming. We also went out on a little twin pontoon cat powered by a 25HP outboard, for a quick trip, a little rough for Wendy, Rob was dying to let loose, but…..
July 12th. We decided to just relax and enjoy a break, Rob going for his jog most days, using the free bus into the Denarau port area etc. We also took the local bus into Nadi town, returning by taxi, as we missed the bus back again.
July 13th. Today, we decided we would rent a 150 cc scooter for the afternoon. We arrived at the rental place a little after 1pm, and were taking the scooter till 5pm when they closed. The chap went and put some petrol into one of the scooters, only to see the fuel gauge did not work, so he tried a second scooter. This one showed we had a little over
half a tank and he recommended we travel to the Coral coast. He said we would have plenty of fuel, so off we went. He said to avoid the pot holes in the road if we could, and on a scooter you would think you could…you couldn’t!! The machine felt as if it was going to fall apart any moment, and after riding very slowly for an hour, we realised the fuel was getting quite low, quite quickly, also the speedo was not working, so we had no idea how far we had come. We stopped at the first fuel station we found, and guess what, no electricity, so no fuel available until after 6pm. Buggar!! Oh well we will call the chap at Nadi, no phone call either, you need power for that of course. We found a very kind Fiji cop who called for us, on his mobile, and the chap in Nadi said he would come and get us, he didn’t give us a chance of getting fuel, just said I will collect you. After an hour or so, two young guys turned up on a scooter each, to help us, apparently. Didn’t have any fuel, told
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What we had to endure in the way of sweets and wine us they thought we would get back ok, we said we don’t think so, and the cop agreed. He was surprised like us that the tank was not full when we left, and also that no gauges were working properly. After this, the guys gave us some of their fuel, and they waited till after 6pm to get fuel and ride back, in the dark!! We were not happy with the chap we rented off, and we let him know it; he gave us back our $1000 bond and apologised, and we left. What a waste of an afternoon!! But oh what an experience, again…
July 14th. We went into the port area again, this time to use the free wireless for the internet, and send our last blog, as we had difficulties using the one at the resort; it cost us, but still didn’t work. Also, Wendy had a full hour massage which cost a whole $40 Australian. Wonderful!!
Being our last night, we treated ourselves to a Tepenyaki Japanese meal, and our company for the meal was an air line pilot and his wife, she being a chef on a private plane, for an undisclosed personality.
( we know it was not Donald Trump or Cliff Richard, that much we asked her)
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July 15th. Wow, our last day of our 75 days for our whole trip around the world. We had to book out of the resort by 11am but we weren’t to be picked up to be taken to the airport until 4pm (flight at 6:30). We had been talking to another couple two days ago who told us of a taxi driver called Max who took them on a tour for a day for a very reasonable cost and thoroughly recommended him. We were fortunate enough to track him down through our resort help desk and he took us on a lovely tour to a beautiful garden of orchids at the foot of the mountain called ‘The Sleeping Giant’. This garden was built by the American actor, Raymond Burr, of Perry Mason fame. He then took us to a Fijian village where we were swamped by locals selling their wares that they make. We bought some of course. This village happens to be the home village of the Fijian Prime Minister. We also visited the sight of the first landing of African
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Heading toward Banff â“ the road bridge which we returned on by bus from Banff people, many years ago.
After 3 hours of touring we returned to our resort to change and we are now on our way home. So it’s goodbye to you all.
Foot Note: After arriving at Nadi airport we saw Jeff Kennett get out of the taxi in front of us, and book business class on our flight. Also, a call came over the pa system saying that our flight was over booked, and they asked if anyone would like to stay in town at the Radisson Resort for one more night, all expenses paid, plus they would post a cheque to you for the inconvience caused!! We said no, we wanted to get home, as much as Fiji was lovely!!
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