Bills Travels

In September 2019, we went looking for moose in the wild and what better place than in Alaska? We flew into Anchorage, rode the Alaska Railroad to Denali, and rented a car to drive down to the charming fishing village of Seward before flying back home. Below is kind of how it went with some pictures.

First two days in Anchorage - Walked the downtown area, visited shops and breweries. The Alaska Railroad Station is conveniently located there, too. Their trains go all the way up to Fairbanks with stops along the way at Talkeetna and Denali a stop at both, so we were in!
Train ride up to Denali National Park in the glass dome car was awesome and we got to see 3 moose on the way up! Also on the way up the clouds parted enough to actually see the snow covered Denali. They say only 30% of visitors get to see it. After spending a day and night at the National Park we went down to the Denali State Park.

Denali State Park Princess Lodge - Riding back to the state park in the Princess dome car was non-stop entertainment. Got off in Talkeetna What a place! Princess cruises sure knows how to set things up. Cruise to Seward, train ride up to the lodge on a Princess car, stay at their lodge. We even got a clear day of the mountain! A surprise was the tree house built by the Treehouse Masters on one of their episodes.

Two more days in Anchorage - Deb had two days down with a cold so not much to tell here other than I went to get a rental car at the airport.
Trip down to Seward - On the way down we stopped at numbers of places. The best was Potter Marsh Wildlife Bird Sanctuary. We saw salmon waiting for the right time to start their swim upstream and a Moose stroll across an open field.
Seward - 5 days roaming the town, shops and bars was fun but the mountains and scenery were the real treat here. Awesome clouds and fog in the morning clearing mostly in the afternoon. The trip to Exit Glacier was mixed. Glaciers are a special sight but the walk up to this one you pass signs with dates on them letting you see where the edge was at that year. The signs started right after you leave the parking lot. The hike to the Glacier was about 1/2 hour and then you had to stay 100 to 150 yards away because it is unstable. All that melting! A woman there actually had pictures of her in 1987 standing at the edge of the glacier which was several hundred yards the other side of the viewing area.
The trip back to Anchorage - Rainy day but stopping at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center was a real treat. Got to see moose up close with antlers!
Train To Denali

Deb at Denali

Denali on a clear day

Fireplace at Princess Lodge

Downtown Anchorage

Train to Anchorage

Exit Glacier

Me and Morning Clouds in Seward

Moose at Potter Marsh

Moose at Reserve
Treehouse

Just spent 3.5 weeks in Australia and New Zealand! The first stop was Brisbane to meet Barbara and John Hay, what a stay! Within 4 hours of landing I was holding a Koala and walking with kangaroos. But to do it one better Barbara and John took us to see the Koala in their home environment, eucalyptus trees. We saw one way up hanging out and one actually walking across the road. We also took a riverboat tour down the Brisbane River, such a great way to see the city. The evenings were fabulous with happy hour wine & nibblies, excellent food, & daily Kookaburra feedings. Wonderful company, fast friends and we will miss them.
Flying down to Sydney, the Diamond Princess cruise left Sydney harbor for the 2.5 days across the "Ditch". Having a bit of a cold we had a lot of rest those two days and explored the ship.

First stop, Auckland, where we went into town, went up the Sky Tower and saw Prince Albert Park and the wedding cake house. Was thinking about jumping off the tower but for $225 decided not to, and Ryan had already done it for me when he was there last year!

Next was Tauranga and the tour of the Hobbit houses. Although we thought we knew what we were going to see from the Lord of the Rings movies, we were surprised by all the fabulous flowers that were blooming and that they maintain it as an actual garden, growing all sorts of vegetables! At the the end of the tour, they serve you delicious raspberry/chocolate muffins and cheese scones with ale in the Green Dragon! Totally charming and everyone will be getting a Hobbit house Christmas card this year! Passed by lots of fluffy sheep on the drive to and from the ship (Deb's favorite).

After that Napier, the Art Deco capital, which the people there take very seriously-they met our ship wearing 1920's clothing and driving cars from that era that fit right in with the architecture. Lovely coastal town with beautiful gardens, but it was here we realized that places in both New Zealand & Australia stop serving lunch after 2:00 and don't serve dinner until 6:00 and that we were never hungry at the right times! They have their priorities straight, though, as they ALWAYS serve coffee!

Then on to Wellington where Deb met up with new friend, Cassandra, for the day while I took a tour of Weta Workshop. Saw some great ugly things from Lord Of The Rings, District 9, Ghost in the Shell, etc. Also toured the set where they are filming the new Thunderbird movie.....cool stuff.

We missed our port of call in Akaroa due to a cyclone (!) which made for a rocky day at sea.

Then it was Dunedin and a tour of the only castle in NZ. But the surprise of the day was back in town where we accidentally discovered the Cadbury Chocolate Factory!

Then around the south end and thru the Fjords

Heading back across the ditch we saw the Superbowl on the giant cruise ship screen. I really wanted to see the southern night sky, especially the southern cross and large and small Magellanic clouds. Lucky for me the last night at sea was clear so I got to "see" them. So faint at least the camera could.

We disembarked in Sydney & stayed in Chinatown, walking miles every day, seeing the Observatory, Botanical Gardens, Opera House, etc.
Home now, wonderful trip but it is always good to be back!