KETCHIKAN AND VANCOUVER

We sailed south all night and arrived in wet, rainy and misty Ketchikan at 9:30 a.m. We were booked on a shore excursion to the Misty Fjord on a high speed catamaran, however it was cancelled due to the bad weather and we were given a refund. Bill was very happy to stay on board the warm dry ship and relax.

Lyn and I braced the cold wind and rain and walked through the town to the historic Creek Street.

The old houses (yesteryear's brothels) are built on stilts over the water and have board walks connecting them. Today they are tourist shops. We were soaking wet and soon returned to the ship. I was a little disappointed that our excursion was cancelled but we had seen so much over the last 23 days and we had mostly fine weather so we made the most of a rest day before our long flight home tomorrow.
We had our last dinner with our friends in the Italian Restaurant with Cianti. We took in the last show and then packed and put our bags out for the last time.

Canada Place

The next morning we woke up in Vancouver Harbour. We had been given explicit instructions on when and where we could disembark. It was very well organised and 2000 of us were off in no time at all. We followed our tour guides through the maze of halls and people to our coach for the short trip to the hotel.  We were not booking in, our flight for Sydney was at midnight. Our tour company had made arrangements for us to leave our bags on the coach and to have the use of a hospitality room in the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel, where we could have refreshments, play games, read and rest until they shuttled us to the airport.

Vancouver 

We decided to make the most of the last day and do some more sight seeing with Lyn and Barry, who were also on the midnight  flight.

We took a ferry and a bus to the cable car for Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is perched 4,100 ft above Vancouver. These cable cars are huge and take over 50 people. They were crowded because it was a weekend.

There are many attractions at the park on top of the mountain. One was a Grizzly Bear enclosure.

We had lunch in a nice restaurant with a view over the harbour.

In the afternoon we made our way back to the hotel and waited for the shuttle. It picked us up at 6:00pm. 

We had a long 5 hour wait at the airport. Once again we were allowed to wait in the Fairmont Airport Hotel lounge and bar, due to an arrangement that Scenic Tours has with Fairmont.

We had to sort out a problem that we had with Air Canada and our seat allocation, so that used up a few hours. Finally we were on our way with the correct seats, for the 15 hour flight home. The only disadvantage of  living "Down Under," is that it is so darn far away from anywhere.

We left Saturday night and got home on Monday lunchtime missing Sunday due to crossing the date line. We had another 5 hour wait in Sydney for our Brisbane flight. Most of that time was taken up going through customs and getting the shuttle to the domestic terminal.

After 25 hours travelling we were happy to be home with  memories of one of the best adventures we've ever had.

A DAY IN VANCOUVER

After the train trip from Banff we were booked into The Fairmont Vancouver Hotel for two nights before we boarded the cruise ship for Alaska. Our tour company had organised us an early morning private tour of The Capilano Suspension Bridge and Rainforest before the general public are allowed in.

      The long bouncy Capilano Bridge and looking down to the river.                  

We set off for a walk through the beautiful forest.

We climbed onto suspension  bridges that swung between the trees up high. It was like being a bird.

This giant Douglas Fir is 1300 years old and 205 feet tall.

Then the bus took us back from North Vancouver to the city centre via The Lion's Gate Bridge and Prospect Point. 

We drove around the beautiful Stanley Park but didn't venture out for a walk as it was raining. Then we were dropped at The Granville Markets, where we had lunch and the afternoon to ourselves.

We returned to the hotel, where we had arranged to meet my cousin Molly, who lives in Gibson on the Sunshine Coast just north of Vancouver. We hadn't seen each other in twenty years. She was wonderful at her age, eighty plus, in catching a ferry and a bus to come and see us for a few hours. I was so excited to see her and chat that I forgot to get a photo of us.