FOUR MORE SLEEPS

Not long now before we leave on our next adventure. I have satrted to get clothes organised to pack. I can't believe we have to pack formal wear for the cruise section of the trip. That is not our style but I guess it is something different to experience. 

We are doing a guided trip organised by Scenic Tours, the same people we went on the river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest in 2008. It was a great trip so we're hoping this will be as good. It is called "23 Day Spectacular Rockies & Alaskan Cruise." 

 I am not taking my laptop so I will not be visiting you or posting for 3 weeks. Please don't forget me. I will bombard you with photos when we return.

However Bill has pre scheduled his blog to post everyday with information on where we are that day. So if you happen to wonder where we are you can check it out at his blog.

THE ITINERARY 

*Brisbane fly to Sydney
*Sydney fly to Vancouver (15 hours flight but we arrive before we left due to crossing the International date line)
*Vancouver fly to Victoria 

*Victoria -2 night stay Fairmont Empress Hotel
*Victoria-Butchart Gardens and scenic floatplane flight.
*Howe Sound-Shannon Falls-Whistler by coach 2 night stay Chateau Whistler. Free Choice Activity-Peak 2 Peak Gondola
*Hat Creek Ranch-Sun Peaks overnight stay Sun Peaks Resort
*SunPeaks-Mt Robson-Jasper 2 night stay The Fairmont Jasper Lodge. Free Choice Activity-Jasper Tramway
*Icefields Parkway-Glacier 'Ice Explorer'-Lake Louise overnight stay The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
*Emerald Lake-Banff-Sulphur Mt 2 night stay The Fairmont Springs  Banff Hotel. Free Choice Activity-Lake Cruise
*The Rocky Mountaineer-Kamloops by train
*The Rocky Mountaineer -Vancouver 2 night stay The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
*Vancouver-Alaskan Cruise-Holland America's ms Zuiderdam 7 nights
*Juneau-Taku Glacier Lodge Feast & Flight by floatplane
*Skagway-White Pass Rail, Klondike Highway & Gold Camp  Adventure
*Ketchikan-Misty Fiords & Wilderness Explorer
*Glacier Bay-Ketchikan-Vancouver
*Vancouver-Sydney-Brisbane by plane (15 hours flight but we arrive 2 days later due to crossing the international date line)
23 days altogether
Then we'll need a rest to recover from a holiday...silly isn't it?
The Free Choice Activities are included in the fare. There are about 6 different activities to choose from in each location. There is a choice of restaurants for dining too.

COLOURFUL COWS

On our trip around Central Queensland last June, I was surprised to see how many varieties of coloured cows there were. Here's me a city slicker, thinking cows were brown or black and white. Well at Cania Gorge I got an education on cow colours.

Hey look, one has white ears and the other has black ears.

A red cow?? and a patchwork one.

Black knee caps and red shoes and his coat needs a wash.

This one forgot to rub her moisturiser in this morning.

I love this one with the love heart on her head.

"All the better to hear you with." or  "Ready for take off."

TIME OUT FOR BILLY WHO?

It was house cleaning day yesterday. After tidying, dusting and vacuuming I needed some time out for a drink before getting stuck into the bathrooms. As it was a lovely sunny day I thought it would be a good opportunity to soak up some sun and lower my bilirubin count. "Billy who?" you ask. It so happens that I was diagnosed with Gilbert's Syndrome many years ago and now and then I get some symptoms like a pain in the liver and gaul bladder area. That usually tells me that my bilirubin count must be pretty high. Bilirubin count is the amount of bile in the blood. Gilbert's Syndrome is where the enzyme responsible for helping the liver get rid of the bile is not working. It is not an illness just a genetic malfunction. A doctor told me that sunlight helps lower the count.  So I climbed onto the new sunbed on the balcony, sipped my cranberry juice, rolled up my pants and showed my skin to the winter sun. Scared that my nose would go red, I hid it in my shirt. Looking every bit a weirdo, BB couldn't resist sneaking out and taking a photo. I thought it looked hilarious, just as silly as Betsy raking leaves on her birthday post. I dare you to post a silly photo of yourself.

THE GETZ GETS ANOTHER JOB.

At the beginning of the year I leant my little car, a Getz, to our eldest daughter and husband to go to Sydney and settle in there. They sent back the Getz on a truck. I was pleased to getz her back after she had done a good job taking care of Carol and David. The Getz is a good little workhorse.
This week our youngest daughter and family came from Sydney to visit us and other friends and relations. So Getz was on the job again. Sonya and Bernie organised a hiring company to come to our house a fit a baby capsule into the Getz so we could pick them up from the airport and so that they could borrow the Getz while here.

After their stay with us Bernie and Sonya drove north to The Sunshine Coast to stay a few nights with baby Fox's Uncle Steve and Aunty Nadine. From there they drove to the airport where we met them to pick up the Getz and say goodbye. It was a learning curve for the new parents to see if they could cope with baby on holidays.

At the airport Papa getz the baby out of the capsule in the Getz.

Baby getz put into the baby back pack which is a front pack at the moment.

Mum getz the baby, Papa getz the luggage and I getz the Getz back.


There was a mountain of luggage, pram, portacot, blankets, nappies etc. Fox had more luggage than mum and dad together.

But he was an angel. He was pulled out of the car, pushed into a back pack, pulled out again to go through the security check, put back in again  and out again to wait for the plane and he never complained once.

One last cuddle for grandma before he jets away to Melbourne to visit his paternal grandparents for a few days before flying back home to Sydney.

When we got home with the two cars the man soon arrived to getz the baby capsule out of the Getz.

It is a great service for travelling babies.

Then the Getz getz her shelf back in and she's happy to have been of service again. Now she can have a rest with the little old lady driving her to the shops.

FOX FACES

MEET Mr FOX

"Hi there everyone, I'm Fox. Pleased to meet you all."

Our grandson, Fox, had his first flight from Sydney to Brisbane to visit us.

We were thrilled to see our daughter, Sonya and Bernie and grand baby again. 

Having a chat with mum.

A serious moment with dad.

A content time in Grossvati's loving hands.

A giggle with grandma.

Proud grandparents (he is thinking...come on enough with the posing, get the pram and take me for a walk.)

No baby bath in this house, so into the big tub. Mum and dad have to share the load.

One holds him up the other washes. He loves his bath time.

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

Some months ago we booked at a restaurant in Cleveland. The restaurant is famous for its slow cooked prime beef steaks, we had invited friends and told them what great steaks they had. When we arrived, the waitress told us that they had run out of those steaks but they would substitute another type of steak. It was very tough and not enjoyable. We felt embarrassed in front of our friends for inviting them to a horrible lunch. Bill wrote to the head office and complained. They apologised and sent us a $30 voucher for a return meal at the same restaurant.


So this weekend we thought we would use our voucher and invited a bunch of other friends. It was Swiss national day so we got in the spirit and wore red and Colin decorated the table with a Swiss flag. The waitress told us the prime beef slow cooked steaks were unavailable as their oven blew up and the meat was ruined. Bill couldn't believe his ears and explained that this had  happened last time we were here with friends and added we will never come again bla bla bla and can we see the manager. The manager came and tried to pacify the rattled customer. He explained that this time it was beyond their control bla bla bla. We ordered alternative meals and got on with conversations with our friends, which was difficult as it was very noisy there too and we were squashed up too close to the nearby tables. All in all it was a bit disheartening.

However, the meals arrived and we were pleasantly surprised that they were very tasty, so things were getting better and disgruntled customer was much happier. Towards the end of the meal the manager turned up again with another apology and a handful of discount cards, one for each person. They usually cost $50 but he was giving them to us free.We all got 25% off our meals and for every time we visit any one of the chain of restaurants from now on we will get 25% off our meals.

That made us all a bit happier when we paid the bill and left for a walk through the park to a nice coffee shop.

Us seniors have to stick up for ourselves. The meal was OK the company excellent and the sun was shining on this mild winter's day so all is good.