Sunday, 29 June 2014
Friday, 27 June 2014
Niagara Falls, Toronto, New York
This is the last leg of our trip & not sad that we r finishing the crazy city lifestyle, but sad that we r at the end of our journey. Canada is huge, beautiful, friendly & would love to keep on exploring, more of the country side. Niagara Falls on the lake is like the Margaret river crossed with the fruit belt of the goulburn valley, then add Ontario lake in the mix & u have a beautiful, peaceful, fresh produce, country tourist village, as for Niagara Falls itself, the tourist strip is like a mini carnival, come Vegas without the gambling, lights everywhere. It had things like, the house of horrors, dinarsour adventure park, wax museum, Ripleys believe it or not, Guinness book of records, more like side show alley, was full of tourist as we arrived late Sunday arvo. The hotel was a scam, filthy, in disrepair, care factor zero, bathroom was growing some sort of bacteria, might catch something just being in the place, but the location was perfect & we walked to the falls,, they had fireworks, over the river, we enjoyed the sky wheel & was a fun Sunday. We took horn blower boat cruise to the bottom of the 13 storey high water falls, the mist soaks u hence the plastic ponchos, walked behind the falls in the tunnels, g8 to see the falls, as for the rest of the place not that exciting for me.
Toronto is full of road works & construction, a huge city, absolutely hate being there, but in saying that, I can say that I have seen part of it. We wondered around & enjoyed the quirky Kensington area that we were in,was full of weird, interesting characters, the old town houses were converted to nostalgic, recycled clothing shops, eateries, small produce markets & souvenir shops, lots of Muriel's on the outside walls, plus big on using all the available space possible, by growing ur veggies on the roof in plastic buckets, out of the shell of a car, on a landing, then parking ur push bikes underneath it, crazy place, but fun. The rest was made up of sightseeing, high park, city hall, bata shoe museum, Casa Loma 98 room castle, parliament legislative building, trinity square labyrinth, downtown, it is a city, what can I say, glad to say goodbye for me.
Now on a 12hr bus trip to New York for 3 days.
So miss our beautiful beaches, golden sand, care free lifestyle, open spaces, fresh air, fresh produce & healthy food culture.
Will be back in Brissy on the 1st July early morning, so keep smiling as we are, see u on the flip side soon.
Cheers
Josie
Sent from my iPad
Toronto is full of road works & construction, a huge city, absolutely hate being there, but in saying that, I can say that I have seen part of it. We wondered around & enjoyed the quirky Kensington area that we were in,was full of weird, interesting characters, the old town houses were converted to nostalgic, recycled clothing shops, eateries, small produce markets & souvenir shops, lots of Muriel's on the outside walls, plus big on using all the available space possible, by growing ur veggies on the roof in plastic buckets, out of the shell of a car, on a landing, then parking ur push bikes underneath it, crazy place, but fun. The rest was made up of sightseeing, high park, city hall, bata shoe museum, Casa Loma 98 room castle, parliament legislative building, trinity square labyrinth, downtown, it is a city, what can I say, glad to say goodbye for me.
Now on a 12hr bus trip to New York for 3 days.
So miss our beautiful beaches, golden sand, care free lifestyle, open spaces, fresh air, fresh produce & healthy food culture.
Will be back in Brissy on the 1st July early morning, so keep smiling as we are, see u on the flip side soon.
Cheers
Josie
Sent from my iPad
Monday, 23 June 2014
Our last leg of the trip leaving the beautiful Rockies from Calgary & flying across to Montreal
Here we go again, back to the rat race of city urban living, huge cities, everybody in the fast lane of lifestyle, traffic chaos, people busy with day to day life that they forget to smile, say hello & be more cheery. Montreal is a a mixture of grand old buildings, beautiful cathedrals, modernised city & lots of underground public transport, plus their shopping centres & pedestrian walk ways from building to building are all underground so that when it snows & freezes over they r still able to go about there day to day tasks. Has mainly French influence, language & signs, concrete jungle, g8 place, but I would'nt want to live there.
Ottawa is still a big city, but more spread out, much more green space, still beautiful old buildings, people more friendly, have a good attitude to life.
Once we left the city, back to beautiful country towns, lush green pastures, wild flowers & gorgeous country style homes, barns, fencing. Back to warm friendly country hospitality & quirky way of life, now heading to Niagara Falls.
The 4 of us have managed to cope with our individual habits, personalities, needs & wants. We have managed to take the Micky out of each one of us, with princess Shirley leading the way with us breaking her in on bringing her down to our level, having to lug her gear, lack of sleep, walk every where, climb endless amount of stairs, forever waiting, waiting, waiting for Shirley, lead foot in driving, always gets what she wants, changing the food menu & confusing the wait staff & chefs & last of all always have a chat with people when we have lost her lagging behind. Been the best source of laughter for us all. Then we have lost it Gail, who is forever looking for glasses, camera, phone, maps, clothes & where is north on the map, our guiding mother trying to keep us in order, keeps us forever searching & mind active, a constant source of laughter. As for our precious Darren one can only say either he is crazy to travel with 3 strong older women, where he is forever waiting for us, taking off ahead & us loosing him, the tug of war on who is right & trying to win the argument, constantly embarrassed thanks to us girls goofing around with him in public, educating him on women's needs & wants, endless women underwear hanging everywhere trying to dry, thank goodness for his tolerents in looking after us all, bless his cotton socks, I am sure he will enjoy his man cave when he gets back home. As for me it has been where is wally, being short, loosing the group, always telling me to stand up straight in photos so that they can see me, to which I reply that i am, always wanting to watch the wildlife & stay out in the wilderness, so hate the populated areas, feel so much more at home in there little villages & towns.
Cheers for now
Josie
Sent from my iPad
Ottawa is still a big city, but more spread out, much more green space, still beautiful old buildings, people more friendly, have a good attitude to life.
Once we left the city, back to beautiful country towns, lush green pastures, wild flowers & gorgeous country style homes, barns, fencing. Back to warm friendly country hospitality & quirky way of life, now heading to Niagara Falls.
The 4 of us have managed to cope with our individual habits, personalities, needs & wants. We have managed to take the Micky out of each one of us, with princess Shirley leading the way with us breaking her in on bringing her down to our level, having to lug her gear, lack of sleep, walk every where, climb endless amount of stairs, forever waiting, waiting, waiting for Shirley, lead foot in driving, always gets what she wants, changing the food menu & confusing the wait staff & chefs & last of all always have a chat with people when we have lost her lagging behind. Been the best source of laughter for us all. Then we have lost it Gail, who is forever looking for glasses, camera, phone, maps, clothes & where is north on the map, our guiding mother trying to keep us in order, keeps us forever searching & mind active, a constant source of laughter. As for our precious Darren one can only say either he is crazy to travel with 3 strong older women, where he is forever waiting for us, taking off ahead & us loosing him, the tug of war on who is right & trying to win the argument, constantly embarrassed thanks to us girls goofing around with him in public, educating him on women's needs & wants, endless women underwear hanging everywhere trying to dry, thank goodness for his tolerents in looking after us all, bless his cotton socks, I am sure he will enjoy his man cave when he gets back home. As for me it has been where is wally, being short, loosing the group, always telling me to stand up straight in photos so that they can see me, to which I reply that i am, always wanting to watch the wildlife & stay out in the wilderness, so hate the populated areas, feel so much more at home in there little villages & towns.
Cheers for now
Josie
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, 21 June 2014
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Part 2 of our journey, the amazing Rockies
Wow , wow & just truly spectacular. This place sends u into the realm of Mother Nature at its absolute best, untouched, wild, roaring rivers, enormous raging waterfalls, steep canyons, incredible snow peaked mountains, spectacular wilderness & the wildlife just keeps u mesmerised. We have been extremely fortunate that the weather has allowed us to go & see 90% of the things that we have wanted to do.
From the helicopter ride over the glaciers, dog sleding, kayaking, gondola mountian rides, mountain bike riding which toughened u up real quick, zip lining over steep canyons, raging waterfalls, fast flowing rivers, the most colourful gardens with blue, black, purple, brilliant bright rainbow flowers & trees, wild flowers everywhere, the most brilliant trails up mountains with breathtaking views over gorgeous turquoise lakes & not to mention the ever elusive wild life, from the cutes 2 black bear cubs that thought they would just have a wrestle on the road just like 2 puppies, under the careful watch of mum who was grazing close by, without a care in the world was all about having fun, not minding the tourist parked on the side of the road taking photos, was so much fun for us to watch. We were fortunate enough to see elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, deer, marmots, grizzly, brown, black bears, snakes & the bald eagles that r much bigger than our wedged tailed eagles. Of course the pestie squirrels & chipmunks that r everywhere, but ever so cute to watch their antics. We have managed to cover Vancouver Island from victoria to uceluet, tofino, then Vancouver, whistler, kamloops, salmon arms, Clearwater, valemount, jasper, Hinton, lake Louise, castle mountain, Banff, Canmore, Calgary & we r now flying across to montreal to start part 3 of our journey. We r handling the driving quiet well, the country hospitality has been g8, their lifestyle is very laid back & we r all really enjoying each other's company. The Rocky Mountains r truly everything they say they r & would have loved to experience much more of them.
Bye for now & keep smiling, cheers Josie
Sent from my iPad
From the helicopter ride over the glaciers, dog sleding, kayaking, gondola mountian rides, mountain bike riding which toughened u up real quick, zip lining over steep canyons, raging waterfalls, fast flowing rivers, the most colourful gardens with blue, black, purple, brilliant bright rainbow flowers & trees, wild flowers everywhere, the most brilliant trails up mountains with breathtaking views over gorgeous turquoise lakes & not to mention the ever elusive wild life, from the cutes 2 black bear cubs that thought they would just have a wrestle on the road just like 2 puppies, under the careful watch of mum who was grazing close by, without a care in the world was all about having fun, not minding the tourist parked on the side of the road taking photos, was so much fun for us to watch. We were fortunate enough to see elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, deer, marmots, grizzly, brown, black bears, snakes & the bald eagles that r much bigger than our wedged tailed eagles. Of course the pestie squirrels & chipmunks that r everywhere, but ever so cute to watch their antics. We have managed to cover Vancouver Island from victoria to uceluet, tofino, then Vancouver, whistler, kamloops, salmon arms, Clearwater, valemount, jasper, Hinton, lake Louise, castle mountain, Banff, Canmore, Calgary & we r now flying across to montreal to start part 3 of our journey. We r handling the driving quiet well, the country hospitality has been g8, their lifestyle is very laid back & we r all really enjoying each other's company. The Rocky Mountains r truly everything they say they r & would have loved to experience much more of them.
Bye for now & keep smiling, cheers Josie
Sent from my iPad
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Josies Canada update 2/6/2014 Monday
Hi everyone,
We have not managed to sort out a lot of this technology problems, so having lots of problems doing the blog, but also coming back each night after exploring all day is exhausting us out & surviving on very little sleep is catching up on us.
Meanwhile this trip is turning out pretty fantastic. Our first arvo in Vancouver was a real eye opener & made us grateful of how fortunate we r to experience how good our life is in Australia. The cruise ship trip up the passage to Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Hubbard glacier, Ketchikan, was just so scenic, stepping back in time, all Indian culture, very spiritual. Shirley & I took a journey by kayak, the water so icy cold, the fishing villages so basic, to which they lead such a simple life, the birds of prey (the majestic Bald Eagle) sore high into the thermal winds, the whales are enjoying their icy water playground, the white striped dolphins keep putting on a show following the waves of our ship, an occasional seal pop their heads up now & then, furry marmots which r like mini beavers r very fast & camouflaged amongst the trees.
All of us we absolutely thrilled with our helicopter flight over Norris glacier & then to land on the glacier for a dog sled ride topped it off just perfect with also the sun shining all day.
We fast grew a reputation on the ship that we were full on Aussie party group that loved to dance & managed to always rev everyone up to kick their heels up on the dance floor.
We have all managed to balance each other out, complement each other's our own individual personalities, have the best time laughing way to much, plus doing peoples heads in with pretending that we r all Darren's partner, let alone Darren doing a g8 job coping with 3 females (he may need therapy by the time he gets back).
Vancouver Island has been a trip into mother natures wilderness. Canadians r extremely big on keeping the environment as pristine as possible. Everything is recycled, buildings r simple, basic, made from the timbers that surround them, they have a very, kind, polite, nature about them, very clean, barely any rubbish around. Our feet r doing lots of exploring, the weather has been very kind to us, the food sits in ur stomach as it is either sweet or full of fattening ingredients, driving us crazy in the interpretation of what u ask for & what they serve up.
It has been g8 meeting & chatting to lots of travellers from all over the world. Vancouver has been challenging with our accommodation being down the drug & homeless side of downtown, but has also been g8 experiencing what this diverse town has going for it. The town is surrounded by the majestic mountains with stunning views, beautiful parks & waterways, experienced the good, the bad & the ugly parts of town & worth a visit to all the areas so far. We r heading off 2moz for our next leg of our journey thru the Rockies.
Cheers for now
Josie
Sent from my iPad
We have not managed to sort out a lot of this technology problems, so having lots of problems doing the blog, but also coming back each night after exploring all day is exhausting us out & surviving on very little sleep is catching up on us.
Meanwhile this trip is turning out pretty fantastic. Our first arvo in Vancouver was a real eye opener & made us grateful of how fortunate we r to experience how good our life is in Australia. The cruise ship trip up the passage to Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Hubbard glacier, Ketchikan, was just so scenic, stepping back in time, all Indian culture, very spiritual. Shirley & I took a journey by kayak, the water so icy cold, the fishing villages so basic, to which they lead such a simple life, the birds of prey (the majestic Bald Eagle) sore high into the thermal winds, the whales are enjoying their icy water playground, the white striped dolphins keep putting on a show following the waves of our ship, an occasional seal pop their heads up now & then, furry marmots which r like mini beavers r very fast & camouflaged amongst the trees.
All of us we absolutely thrilled with our helicopter flight over Norris glacier & then to land on the glacier for a dog sled ride topped it off just perfect with also the sun shining all day.
We fast grew a reputation on the ship that we were full on Aussie party group that loved to dance & managed to always rev everyone up to kick their heels up on the dance floor.
We have all managed to balance each other out, complement each other's our own individual personalities, have the best time laughing way to much, plus doing peoples heads in with pretending that we r all Darren's partner, let alone Darren doing a g8 job coping with 3 females (he may need therapy by the time he gets back).
Vancouver Island has been a trip into mother natures wilderness. Canadians r extremely big on keeping the environment as pristine as possible. Everything is recycled, buildings r simple, basic, made from the timbers that surround them, they have a very, kind, polite, nature about them, very clean, barely any rubbish around. Our feet r doing lots of exploring, the weather has been very kind to us, the food sits in ur stomach as it is either sweet or full of fattening ingredients, driving us crazy in the interpretation of what u ask for & what they serve up.
It has been g8 meeting & chatting to lots of travellers from all over the world. Vancouver has been challenging with our accommodation being down the drug & homeless side of downtown, but has also been g8 experiencing what this diverse town has going for it. The town is surrounded by the majestic mountains with stunning views, beautiful parks & waterways, experienced the good, the bad & the ugly parts of town & worth a visit to all the areas so far. We r heading off 2moz for our next leg of our journey thru the Rockies.
Cheers for now
Josie
Sent from my iPad
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Darren's insight so far on our Canadian adventure
Vancouver and the toilets have about six inches of water in them so i can't pee silently . Downtown Vancouver is looking like the Bronx with homeless druggies and beggars and their all watching us like we're their next meal .
Monday 19th. We board the retirement ship otherwise known as palliative care afloat . We'll here we are on the cruise ship and the girls have made them selves at home by hanging their big girl panties and bras all around the room . The old man me has gone to bed at 10 30 while the girls stay up until 1 30 partying and dancing and are now well known on the ship .
Tuesday. 20th. Up at 5 am to see the sunrise and it's cloudy so it's off to have brekky . Tango dance lesson and more food . Josie and Shirley are shaking it to Zumba I'm walking the decks and Gail is catching up on sleep . Icy strait point and Josie and Shirley go kayaking while Gail and I do the zip line ,flying fox . Late night again and I work up a sweat slow dancing a cold sweat that is . Music picks up and now I work up a real sweat dancing with the girls .
Wednesday 21st. Start the day with a crazy game of ping pong where you can serve anytime and the more balls in play the better and the only rule was to keep the ball in play as long as possible . Hubbard glacier and the ship goes in slow through broken ice to get us up close to the face of the glacier . Moving around the ship looking for something other than sleep therapy music and I stumble across rhythm kings bongo man . So I leave the girls and go for a dance and they soon followed and we had a great night dancing .
Thursday 22nd We go ashore at Juneau and ride the cable car to the top of mt Roberts where we go for a walk and have a snow fight it was too easy even though I was out numbered 3 to 1 .
Walk around Juneau to the red dog pub and Alaskan hotel. A short bus ride to Menendal glacier and then it's a helicopter ride over the snow covered mountains to Norris glacier for our dog sled ride . These dogs work hard to pull two sleds and five people through soft snow approximately 450 kilos . We got too pat the dogs it was great fun in the best scenery so glad we did that one . Back on board and we watch a dance show while we fight the urge to sleep .
Sent from my iPad
Monday 19th. We board the retirement ship otherwise known as palliative care afloat . We'll here we are on the cruise ship and the girls have made them selves at home by hanging their big girl panties and bras all around the room . The old man me has gone to bed at 10 30 while the girls stay up until 1 30 partying and dancing and are now well known on the ship .
Tuesday. 20th. Up at 5 am to see the sunrise and it's cloudy so it's off to have brekky . Tango dance lesson and more food . Josie and Shirley are shaking it to Zumba I'm walking the decks and Gail is catching up on sleep . Icy strait point and Josie and Shirley go kayaking while Gail and I do the zip line ,flying fox . Late night again and I work up a sweat slow dancing a cold sweat that is . Music picks up and now I work up a real sweat dancing with the girls .
Wednesday 21st. Start the day with a crazy game of ping pong where you can serve anytime and the more balls in play the better and the only rule was to keep the ball in play as long as possible . Hubbard glacier and the ship goes in slow through broken ice to get us up close to the face of the glacier . Moving around the ship looking for something other than sleep therapy music and I stumble across rhythm kings bongo man . So I leave the girls and go for a dance and they soon followed and we had a great night dancing .
Thursday 22nd We go ashore at Juneau and ride the cable car to the top of mt Roberts where we go for a walk and have a snow fight it was too easy even though I was out numbered 3 to 1 .
Walk around Juneau to the red dog pub and Alaskan hotel. A short bus ride to Menendal glacier and then it's a helicopter ride over the snow covered mountains to Norris glacier for our dog sled ride . These dogs work hard to pull two sleds and five people through soft snow approximately 450 kilos . We got too pat the dogs it was great fun in the best scenery so glad we did that one . Back on board and we watch a dance show while we fight the urge to sleep .
Sent from my iPad
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