End of the trip in Edmonton Alberta

We started in Toronto by spending the day exploring the city and visiting the AGO and ROM both of which featured Asian exhibits...the Maharajah and the TerraCotta Warriors respectively. Today in Edmonton we finish after a visit to the Alberta Art Gallery- a wonderful new building reminiscent of the Guggenheim- where we enjoyed a Canadian Landscape exhibit and an Oil exhibit with photos by Edward Burtynsky. I am sure there is a message in that somewhere...
We loved Jasper in our little stay at our fancy hotel downtown and the dinner in the one and only Swiss Bistro in town where we were the only diners. It sure was quiet there! only two rooms occupied in the hotel. We spent the morning hiking on trails which featured the railroad and local history, then headed for the transit "hub" where both train and bus converge. We picked up a wonderful wrap sandwich at Patricia's deli...which she nicely identified as his and hers...a pastry from the Bears Paw and boarded the greyhound bus. There were 3 of us on board..not counting the driver.
Great trek back through the mountains with stops at small places along the way and a handful of people getting on and off. Beautiful sun to see the Rockies and then a slow descent into a nice sunset and darkness before we reached Edmonton. We hoofed it pulling our suitcase through the downtown to the Westin Hotel...not sure that most residents of the hotel arrive that way.
So another luxury hotel..on the cheap of course...brings us to the end of our odyssey.
We have liked Edmonton...lots of modern architecture, great underground Pedway and a LRT system underground (does Rob Ford know you can do that?) We also met some of Edmonton's finest...waved aside as we walked into the library, a young man who claimed also to be from Ontario, informed us so nicely that our crossing of the totally empty road in front of the EPL was jaywalking and should result in a $250 fine...which he would waive. If he had been standing out on the cold road to really prevent jaywalking, rather than hiding in the warm library to catch us...I could have taken this seriously. However we did make sure we crossed at every light after that.
We take the"easy" way home...a flight to Toronto with little to see, nothing to eat and no one to meet. Quite a contrast to the wonderful train travel...especially the security end of it all. On the train the only security issue is that there are no longer lockers or possibily as many trash receptacles. One has to show a ticket to leave baggage at a checked facility...no scanners or sniffers or body patdowns.
I have posted pictures at picassa

Via train trip

Dec 5

I have to describe where I am as I write this...even though it won't be posted right away..and this will explain why. I am in the top bunk of a 2 person cabin on the Via #1 train somewhere between Hornepayne and Winnipeg. It is dark and cloudy outside, probably somewhere in the -teens and Jurg is lightly snoring below me in the bottom bunk. This cabin has a 2x2ft separate toilet room, a sink that is the only surface to put stuff on, one window and an aisle that is probably about 18 in wide...we both can't get by each other. Right now the train is stopped on a siding and it is 8:30 at night. There has been no cell phone service all day, no internet until Winnepeg and also no CBC radio on my mp3 player. But we are having the time of our lives doing this journey from Toronto to Jasper,

We are early to bed because 1. the time is really 9:30 according to our time in the East 2. Jurg was so excited to be doing this train journey that he hardly slept at all and 3. we both were awake last night watching the most beautiful starry sky out our window and waiting to go over that wonderful trestle bridge in Parry Sound at 3 am. It was marvellous looking down at the water and the houses of the Sound below us.

So what is it like on this train in December? The staff tell us it is real low season. We are only 27 solitary souls in this first class area of the train with showers and sleepers and about 16 people in the economy section. The staff is wonderfully friendly and open and lots of fun. We spend most of the day in the panorama car watching the black and white landscape of snow and trees and ice whiz by punctuated by eating...canapes and champagne last night at 10 when we started, 3 good meals a day with dessert twice, and a small selection of wine and beer for purchase. It is so relaxing and yet invigorating to see the landscape race by the windows as we watch hoping to catch a glimpse of a moose or wolf..so far no luck. Small isolated summer cottages appear momentarily on the side of lakes..many only accessible by train and then small settlements held together by logging or train activity pop up every 100 km or so. People can get on at innumerable stops with odd names such as Camp McKay or Ebs..put there aren't ,many this time of year. Somehow the whole thing is fascinating and is augmented by the interesting people we have met.

Some people always travel by train and do this quite often. A few like us are taking advantage of the great deal in low season. Others are tourists who wanted to see Canada...a young woman from Germany who is an engineer and has traipsed back and forth across the country several times during the year she has travelled here, a doctor from San Antonio Texis who is heading to Jasper and hope to learn some skiing but just wanted to experience this ride. There is a young doctor from Montreal who is heading to Red Lake ( she will get off at 2 am tomorrow) to do a 3 week locum and a woman and her daughter heading to Winnipeg to bury her mother and wrap up the legal issues. It almost feels like one could do an Agatha Christie novel and create the most bizarre characters in murder mystery! One poor soul in economy got taken away in an ambulance at Hornepayne...apparently this person didn't feel well so it was best to get off there as they didn't want to take any chances with the distances we travel between places.

The train was built in the 1950's and thankfully has had several refurbishments. It travels along at 65 mph through northern Ontario but will hit 85 mph through the prairies. We have to move onto sidings often to let freight trains by...they are gigantic...one had 170 double stacked container cars...probably from China via Prince Rupert. We lost about 2 hrs stuck behind a broken down one in Capreol...but most of the time we made up.

Tomorrow am we arrive in Winnipeg and Jurg and I will do a city tour during our 4 hr layover.

December 7

Almost into Edmonton...it is dark and 7:20 in the morning. A small group of us are gathered in the last car on the train, the Park car and we are trading stories of music and Canadian artists. Right now the topic is Stomping Tom! There is a young woman from Germany, millwright from Western Canada, a retired guy from Kingsville On and Jurg and I. We have had such fun with the people on this trip. Lots of conversation over quite good meals, lots of laughs in the dome car as we sat in the dark hoping to see the stars, and trading lots of stories from our lives. Luckily politics and religion have been mostly avoided.

Our tour of Winnipeg was terrific...we really enjoyed the history and architecture perspective. But it did mean we had no time to do any computer posting.

The prairies were beautiful. The blue sky and sun was most welcome after the cloudy skies across Ontario. The open landscape seemed to lift our spirits and the sunlight glinting off the grasses and the frosted trees made for a magical feeling. The sun set early though...about 5 pm. The train picked up speed at night as we made our way through the dark...apparently hitting about 130 kph at one point according to someones gps. But we also spent a lot of time stopped waiting for these long freight trains to speed past...talk about being sidetracked!

This has been a marvellous journey...a few more hours and we are into the mountains and then Jasper where we get off. We both agree that we need to do this again also at low season...to have this small group of people and all this space to enjoy the train has been so terrific. Maybe next time we start in Vancouver and come east....

Yamba to Brisbane

I am writing this after being back in Canada in BC as Australian access to internet is much more limited than here. Several nights without access makes it very difficult to write this blog in a cohesive manner. So, this is hampered by lousy memory and intervening experiences.
But, to pick up...yes we did get up and watch the sunrise in Yamba. It was a beautiful one and I took many pictures. One of the other benefits of being up early in the morning was the birds...magnificent singing and cacaphony before the sun came up and so different in sound from home. We explored some of the beaches in the area and drove out to the famous point where surfers "catch the break" but no surfers to be found. Must have been at work I guess. There were some lovely pools there in holes left behind by a quarry. Called the blue and green pools...apt names for sure!
We next dropped in to Bellina the start of a lovely drive to Byron Bay the most easterly point of Australia. Did the usual- checked out the harbour, climbed the high point, drove by the beaches and saw the tourist marker...The Big Prawn. On top of a gas station it was...and the gas station was closed. Followed the tourist drive past beaches to Byron Bay, another old hippie location being tranformed into expensive real estate. There is an old lighthouse there, well maintained in a great park with trails out to the point. We took the high road and could see a few dolphins and a lot of kayakers and gawkers. It was beautiful to see up and down the coast and the cliffs, beaches and birds.
It was getting late in the day and we still had the Gold Coast to cover before finding a place to sleep. This long stretch of sand south of Brisbane is famous and over run with people. But, it is a beautiful beach...the most magnificent we had seen. The place called Surfers Paradise is a huge high rise conglomeration, seen from the southly end of the beach 15 km away. Looks like a mini Manhatten. The traffic thru the area was spread across 6 lanes and was difficult to negotiate. After a few pictures from just north of the paradise we decided we would head for the hills, which a relatively close by.
We headed toward Mt Tambourine and it was a beautiful drive along a ridge as the sun set. And it got dark. Very hard to find a place to stay in the dark..so the first one we came across we took. Eagle Heights...had a great view across the hills to the twinkling lights on the coast of the famous paradise. But, they had substituted huge room for any sense of good functional decorating. Sparse, big chairs under the TV so you couldn't sit in them to watch, few hooks for towels in the bathroom and it was a gambling place to boot. Our only real disappointment in accommodation given the optimistic name. But, in the morning we took off for our drive to Brisbane. Mt Tambourine was a beautiful area with a few quaint towns full of shopping places, marvellous windy drives through the mountains and a great alternative to the coast.
Brisbane...we spent the time with friends- Rene and Ursula and son Michael. Wonderful hospitable hosts in a lovely home close to downtown. We enjoyed a great homecooked meal, terrific conversation (some in Swiss German) and awakening to the sound of the marvellous Australian birds. A great end to a marvellous trip.

Relaxing in Yamba

We started today from Port Macquarie with great plans to make it all the way to Byron Bay...the most easterly point of Australia and be there so that we could watch the sunrise Tuesday am. But, the laid back Australian ambiance has infected us. So, we took a little longer dallying around the Port. An extra coffee, a second breakfast ( on top of the muesli and yogurt we had in our room!) and a trip to the Koala Hospital and all of a sudden it was almost noon and we hadn't even covered one km on our journey.
A little bit about Koalas. They may be cute, but apparently they are dumb. They only eat one thing-eucalyptus leaves and are nocturnal. So in the hunt for food, they are often hit by cars at night, or caught up in trees by forest fires. At least that seemed to be a lot of the reason the Koala hospital gets calls to come pick them up. There are few of them left in Australia...confined to a small region due to habitat destruction and the stresses of human life. They are marsupial ( baby in a pouch) and when kept in a safe setting live into their 20's. This is the only indigenous live animal we have see in Australia. Kangaroos are also nocturnal and suffer the same fate on the roads that deer do at home. We have seen 3 dead ones along the roadside.
Back to the journey...we had to stop for some lunch- a traditional Aussie pie, same as in New Zealand. Meat pies with incredible variety that you eat with your hands...I think mine was apricot chicken. Then went on from there to Coff's Harbour- quite a large place on the sea. Regretted having the pie as at the Marina there was a Fisherman's Coop with recently caught fish and a wonderful fish restaurant- but we were too full to eat again!
The travel along the Pacific Hwy was mostly without sea views but we did cross the Clarence River several times. We went to Grafton to see the jacaranda trees in bloom and weren't disappointed. Beautiful purple blossoms that grace the city everywhere and litter the ground below the trees. Drove a lot more streets than expected as it was so beautiful. Then on to Maclean- a scottish heritage town where all the hydro poles are painted with Scotch plaid from different clans. Hundreds of them!
And then we drove down to Yamba, through sugar cane fields and pastoral herds of cattle grazing. A quiet beautiful seaside place, originally meant to be our afternoon stop but has become our overnight stay. In the morning we hope to get up early enough at least to catch the sunrise here and walk a little on the beach. Let's hope the weather cooperates. It was rainy most of today and cleared late this afternoon. Perhaps tomorrow we will see sun again!

Nelson Bay to Port Macquarie

Our beautiful day yesterday walking on the beaches of Nelson Bay has been followed by a rainy day which seemed to follow us up the coast. Luckily, we would get ahead of it and see a few things before we dashed back to the car to avoid the next rain drops. We travelled off the Pacific Hwy #1 to take the tourist drives along the coast.
Our first stop was at Seal Rocks...about 10 km on a mostly sealed road ...to a walk that took us up to a spectacular view from an old lighthouse whose buildings have now been converted to some accommodation for a handful of people at a time. The view was made more spectacular as we got to observe dolphins and whales feeding in the sea below us. The whales are on their southward migration back to the Antarctic and they come close to shore to feed. It was wonderful seeing their blow and watching some rotate in the water. Lots of pictures, mostly fuzzy, to come. No seals are left there...these were killed off early in the 1900's...typical of our tribe. There was a wonderful secluded empty beach that stretched below us. The sand here is so fine and lovely, but again the water is still cool.
Our next stop was at Pacific Palms to have lunch at Frothy Coffee. The names here are so catchy. Who can resist stopping at a place like that?
Next Cape Hawke at the north end of Booti Booti Park..another great name... We huffed and puffed up about 420 stairs to get a panoramic view of the countryside just south of Forster. We got to the top to find another little tour with about 40 steps that went up above the trees. And the view was worth it! 360 deg over the coast and the inner lakes of this area. We were able to get down before the rain came pelting again. What a wet day! No drought in this part of Australia.
Tonight the hotel we are at in Port Macquarrie recommended we go down the street to have dinner at The Club. Turned out that is what they call casinos here. No mention of gambling in any of the ads for it. We had to sign in with our names and addresses. What we will do for a cheaper meal! Food seems expensive here compared to home. Even the stuff grown here is costly. For example, an avocado costs about $2.25...( Can $ is at par with Aus $) and it grows here..just down the road!
No illegal migrant workers here to make food cheap is the only answer we can come up with.
Jurg loves the car..a Skoda Octavia...has lots of pick up and yet very easy on the petrol. Has a big boot that accommodates all our stuff. Don't I sound like an Aussie?

Australia Fair

We are almost a week into our Australia journey...and so much we have seen! Three days in wonderful Sydney where we enjoyed the water, the food, the arts and the ambience. We walked around much of the central city areas from our hotel in Darlinghurst and were just around the corner from the Oxford Street shops, restaurants and gay area. Not that we spent a lot of time in the latter. We saw a show at the Opera House...two swiss guys who did a most unique performance. One guy made music using turntables and the other mimed and twisted his way through a parody on the stress of modern life. All the stage design was made with cardboard and he was on a big turntable. It was quite amazing...not a word was spoken and all ages loved it. The kids laughed at the antics, while the grownups could read in the deeper meaning. Zimmermann and De Perrot..check out their website!
We travelled by bus, subway and ferry...all rather complicated to figure out as they are not exactly coordinated. On arrival, we decided to take the new train. Our hotel said it was only a 5 min walk from the Central Depot...so we managed to pay an extra $3 over the cost of the shuttle bus to the door, in order to drag our suitcases about 15 minutes mostly uphill. You bet we took the shuttle back to the airport to pick up our rental car.
But, nothing can beat the gardens, beaches and streetlife of Sydney. Bondi Beach, Manly Beach, Harbour Bridged, Darling Harbour..as wonderful as the pictures show. And I have hundreds of pics to prove it. Will take a little while to post them.
We left Sydney via car and headed for the Blue Mountains..a much more beautiful version than the ones in Ontario. Red sandstone cliffs and canyons, amazingly long waterfalls and magnificent vistas across blue hazed treed mountains. Our motel, called the Three Sisters, was a real find and just walking distance from the famous landmark after which it is named. We walked to the restaurants of Katoomba as well...quite the hippie place. And, the Swiss Cottage restaurant was just around the corner..no spatzli though only rosti. Another zillion photos later and several long challenging walks, we were off to Port Stephens via Hunter Valley.
On this next leg of our journey we passed through the changeable weather fronts of Oz...from 26 deg to 13 deg...rain, hail, thunder and then back up to 23 deg. Repeat process....and then run into a vineyard to taste and pick up some wine. It was actually an interesting beautiful drive and we ended up on the pacific coast in the Oaks Lure apartment Hotel in Nelson Bay.
We hadn't exactly timed everything well...we went thru the Hunter Valley on a Friday which meant all the accommodation was either booked or very expensive...(long, nookie weekends for the couples from Sydney it seems) . So we found a place a little further along on the coast.
Booked for 2 nights here and have spent the day enjoying the amazing sand beaches, blue sky and sparkling waters. Water is cool though, not really enticing for swimming- but a feast for the eyes. So many white sand beaches around here...incredible place for a holiday when the water warms up.
We will leave tomorrow am to continue our ambling up the coast...people give us lots of suggestions and we hope that we can stay in one of the ensuite cabins that the caravan parks have along the way. Sort of like camping with benefits. Our friends in Brisbane are awaiting us on the Wednesday night...they are such terrific flexible former backpackers...
talk to you all soon.

Our upsidedown world

in so many ways...on the other side of the world in New Zealand. But we have adapted wonderfully! so far, very little jetlag. Arrived at 6:30 am and even slept on the flight, and stayed up all day until a 9 pm bedtime. It is early spring here and the trees are in pink, white and red bloom- so different from the yellow and red leaves that are in process of falling at home.
And the grandchildren...so much more fun and activity than at home!
Katrina is 5 and a supremely confident, accomplished 5 she is. Loves games and art and dresses. Edward is 11 months and mobile in his ferrari- a wheeled contraption that negotiates everywhere in this house with no stairs. He has taken to us immediately which is a thrill for us!
Today we head to Tairua- the beach house just northwest of here on the Pacific Ocean. No internet there. Will update later
Off to more playgrounds, card games with penguin cards, long walks with strollers and fun with the family