t was an absolute thrill cruising Glacier Bay in Alaska. Being driven up to imposing mountains, amazing valleys and stupendous glaciers was an experience of a lifetime.
And then there was the contrast of people sitting in jacuzzi's enjoy the warmth of the bath and the glory of the scenery around them.
This photo aimed to capture an awesome mountain with all its grandeur and 4 people in a hot tub and other passengers watching and strolling.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Dance language
at the studio where we have been taking lesson, this small plaque speaks to those who pay attention. Dancing is true soul food.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
King's Park concert
Kings Park is a gem that sits above the City of Perth. www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/
Last night it was at its brilliant best as we gathered to enjoy the talents of 3 wonderul singers, one Canadian and 2 Americans.
This photo gives a glimpse of the majestic setting.
However, it doesn't capture the magic of the night as the darkness came, the lights went on and the music and the singing filled the air.
Last night it was at its brilliant best as we gathered to enjoy the talents of 3 wonderul singers, one Canadian and 2 Americans.
This photo gives a glimpse of the majestic setting.
However, it doesn't capture the magic of the night as the darkness came, the lights went on and the music and the singing filled the air.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Lake Jualbup, Shenton Park
Lake Jualbup, Shenton Park
Cricket grounds. I have seen and been to quite a few of them around the suburbs of Perth and Melbourne. Matting, turf, synthetic and malthoid. All sorts of settings from windy City Beach in Perth to good old Fewster Road in Hampton Victoria. I have been able to see games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the WACA in Perth plus a one dayer between the English and the West Indies in Sydney. I even got to tour Lords in London and have a look at the Oval.
However, the heart and soul of cricket is found at venues likes Lake Jualbup in Shenton park WA. When people gather to play on grassed venues for a game we can be assured the game is in good hands. There were at least 3 games going on last Sunday while the Jazz Band played in the background. This photo captures all ages and genders playing a game under the giant trees. A couple of bikes are nearby while others just stand around and chat.
Howzat!
Cricket grounds. I have seen and been to quite a few of them around the suburbs of Perth and Melbourne. Matting, turf, synthetic and malthoid. All sorts of settings from windy City Beach in Perth to good old Fewster Road in Hampton Victoria. I have been able to see games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the WACA in Perth plus a one dayer between the English and the West Indies in Sydney. I even got to tour Lords in London and have a look at the Oval.
However, the heart and soul of cricket is found at venues likes Lake Jualbup in Shenton park WA. When people gather to play on grassed venues for a game we can be assured the game is in good hands. There were at least 3 games going on last Sunday while the Jazz Band played in the background. This photo captures all ages and genders playing a game under the giant trees. A couple of bikes are nearby while others just stand around and chat.
Howzat!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Perth lass in Jasper snow
the morning we left Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta Canada it snowed. A blow to the golf course people who wanted to play in the Canadian spring. For 2 Aussies from Hot Perth it was just a marvellous experience walking to breakfast in the snow.
Notice me!
As I sipped my coffee the flowers called out..... over here, over here.! This was meant to be a quiet reflective time at the Rose Heritage Cafe. A magic venue as you will see from other photos.
www.flickr.com/photos/dinlin47/2855241643/in/set-72157605...
... but this day the gorgeous flowers called me over, seduced me and I fell in love with the wonder of their extraverted colour and flair.
www.flickr.com/photos/dinlin47/2855241643/in/set-72157605...
... but this day the gorgeous flowers called me over, seduced me and I fell in love with the wonder of their extraverted colour and flair.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
these two please!
The peaches presented beautifully at Kalamunda Grower's Market on Sunday morning. as i lined up the photo a hand appeared to take two for a hungry consumer looking to experience the juicy joy of these peaches.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Hotel Beverley
Reflection @ Beverley
the walker stops and reflects. Before her stands the Hotel Beverley.
What secrets lie hidden within its walls?
What stories has it to tell?
Is it a place for a traveller to pause or is it a local meeting place that excludes strangers?
The walker pauses and thinks. Do I go and find out what its like? or do U get inmy car and go home?
Quietly she reflects on her options ..................
the walker stops and reflects. Before her stands the Hotel Beverley.
What secrets lie hidden within its walls?
What stories has it to tell?
Is it a place for a traveller to pause or is it a local meeting place that excludes strangers?
The walker pauses and thinks. Do I go and find out what its like? or do U get inmy car and go home?
Quietly she reflects on her options ..................
Monday, February 15, 2010
Footy Passions - a reflection
Footy Passions
John Cash & Joy Damousi
UNSW Press 2009
http://www.unswpress.com.au/isbn/086840957X.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It is Grand Final day 2005 and I am in Perth WA.
South Melbourne, I actually mean Sydney, have just defeated West Coast Eagles in a fantastic game of football.
My team the Eagles have lost! Somewhere in that magnificent stadium affectionately known as the ‘G’ is my almost 22 yo daughter and her friend Melissa. I should feeling for them and our loss.
Instead I am thinking about my deceased maternal grandparents Perc & Ida Dinwoodie and my Great Aunt Flo, Ida’s sister. I am imagining their pleasure and delight that South have finally won a flag. I imagine how proud they are and them thinking that Bobby Skilton would be pleased. As I write Skilton’s name I am transported to 9 Charles St Hampton and I am a teenager. My grandmother talks to Aunty Dulce, who lives at no. 9 just up from no. 3 where I live with my parents. Grandma in her wise way tells me what a good man Bobby Skilton is.
Football is more than a game and John and Joy (I must call them by their first names after reading such a personal and passionate book) have captured that magnificently in 204 pages.
As I read Footy Passions I thought about my football journey. At 6 years old Dad took me to see Melbourne where his brother Matt Chapman was boot studder. I was hooked on Melbourne against the flow of Chapman’s support Fitzroy and Dinwoodie’s South Melbourne. I stayed Melbourne until I played at St Kilda in their premiership year of ’66. Well actually it was about 9 games in the Under 19s but that sentence sounds good.
Playing for the Saints and then watching them win with my sister Ronis from the Southern stand moved me to St Kilda but not completely. This loosened the Melbourne bonds and set up the possibility of becoming a West Coast man in 1987.
Perhaps ‘the loosening’ was due to a transfer wrangle in my move to Sandringham in 1967. There was a threat of delaying the transfer due to a VFL/VFA dispute. Perhaps this delay threat fed a loosening of ties so that when I saw the exploitative attitude of the VFL to the WAFL in the 70s & 80s I lost my connection to the Demons.
Throughout the transformation from Demon to Saint to Eagle there was one footy constant. The mighty Zebras. Sandringham was in my father’s blood. He told me proudly about how the colours represented Black Rock, Sandringham and Hampton. He told me of watching them in the 20s & 30s and about how we won in 1946 with a come from behind victory. And of course Uncle Matt lived one street from the beach Oval and we lived 20 minutes away. At the end of our street lived the Blackman’s and Mr Blackman took me and his son Bobbie to the footy to watch Sandringham. Later we were scoreboard assistants in 1961 and later I played in the yellow, black & blue. I even captained the seconds one day at Yarraville in 1968.
My Dad took me to see Melbourne play the year I turned seven. Little did I know that in 1990 I would take my daughter Amy, 2 months away from turning 7, to Subiaco Oval to watch Melbourne take apart West Coast Eagles. It was some years before I became aware of this coincidence.
And so Amy and I started our football journey until in 2010 we celebrate 20 years ob being West Coast Eagles members. Since 1993 we have had the same seats on the boundary line on the north or railway side of the ground on the wing. During that time we have seen people come and go around us. Some have sadly passed away while others can’t get to the game anymore. A hard core of loyal Eagles have stayed with us for more years than I can remember. To meet them in the street is often a shock. One summer in a Duncraig fish and chip I warmly greeted a familiar face. Days later I worked out it was the guy who sits 2 seats away from me. He was part of our footy family but out context in a shopping centre we struggled to recognise each other. The next season we laughed about the incident.
I recommend Footy Passions. It show footy is more than a game. It is a fascinating sociological and psychological experience to read the book. It is a book that goes deep. While it focuses on people and their connections to family and football, it also illustrates the change from a parochial system to a more global one. It encouraged me to focus on my own development and growth and to explore how football is more than a game more than fortune or fame ….
FOOTY PASSIONS - TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. A Passionate Attachment
2. Loss and Redemption
3. In the Name of the Father
4. Fathers and Daughters at Play
5. Reality Bites
6. Australian Rules
7. Living through Loss
8. Football and Place: Home and Away
Final Siren
Appendix
John Cash & Joy Damousi
UNSW Press 2009
http://www.unswpress.com.au/isbn/086840957X.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It is Grand Final day 2005 and I am in Perth WA.
South Melbourne, I actually mean Sydney, have just defeated West Coast Eagles in a fantastic game of football.
My team the Eagles have lost! Somewhere in that magnificent stadium affectionately known as the ‘G’ is my almost 22 yo daughter and her friend Melissa. I should feeling for them and our loss.
Instead I am thinking about my deceased maternal grandparents Perc & Ida Dinwoodie and my Great Aunt Flo, Ida’s sister. I am imagining their pleasure and delight that South have finally won a flag. I imagine how proud they are and them thinking that Bobby Skilton would be pleased. As I write Skilton’s name I am transported to 9 Charles St Hampton and I am a teenager. My grandmother talks to Aunty Dulce, who lives at no. 9 just up from no. 3 where I live with my parents. Grandma in her wise way tells me what a good man Bobby Skilton is.
Football is more than a game and John and Joy (I must call them by their first names after reading such a personal and passionate book) have captured that magnificently in 204 pages.
As I read Footy Passions I thought about my football journey. At 6 years old Dad took me to see Melbourne where his brother Matt Chapman was boot studder. I was hooked on Melbourne against the flow of Chapman’s support Fitzroy and Dinwoodie’s South Melbourne. I stayed Melbourne until I played at St Kilda in their premiership year of ’66. Well actually it was about 9 games in the Under 19s but that sentence sounds good.
Playing for the Saints and then watching them win with my sister Ronis from the Southern stand moved me to St Kilda but not completely. This loosened the Melbourne bonds and set up the possibility of becoming a West Coast man in 1987.
Perhaps ‘the loosening’ was due to a transfer wrangle in my move to Sandringham in 1967. There was a threat of delaying the transfer due to a VFL/VFA dispute. Perhaps this delay threat fed a loosening of ties so that when I saw the exploitative attitude of the VFL to the WAFL in the 70s & 80s I lost my connection to the Demons.
Throughout the transformation from Demon to Saint to Eagle there was one footy constant. The mighty Zebras. Sandringham was in my father’s blood. He told me proudly about how the colours represented Black Rock, Sandringham and Hampton. He told me of watching them in the 20s & 30s and about how we won in 1946 with a come from behind victory. And of course Uncle Matt lived one street from the beach Oval and we lived 20 minutes away. At the end of our street lived the Blackman’s and Mr Blackman took me and his son Bobbie to the footy to watch Sandringham. Later we were scoreboard assistants in 1961 and later I played in the yellow, black & blue. I even captained the seconds one day at Yarraville in 1968.
My Dad took me to see Melbourne play the year I turned seven. Little did I know that in 1990 I would take my daughter Amy, 2 months away from turning 7, to Subiaco Oval to watch Melbourne take apart West Coast Eagles. It was some years before I became aware of this coincidence.
And so Amy and I started our football journey until in 2010 we celebrate 20 years ob being West Coast Eagles members. Since 1993 we have had the same seats on the boundary line on the north or railway side of the ground on the wing. During that time we have seen people come and go around us. Some have sadly passed away while others can’t get to the game anymore. A hard core of loyal Eagles have stayed with us for more years than I can remember. To meet them in the street is often a shock. One summer in a Duncraig fish and chip I warmly greeted a familiar face. Days later I worked out it was the guy who sits 2 seats away from me. He was part of our footy family but out context in a shopping centre we struggled to recognise each other. The next season we laughed about the incident.
I recommend Footy Passions. It show footy is more than a game. It is a fascinating sociological and psychological experience to read the book. It is a book that goes deep. While it focuses on people and their connections to family and football, it also illustrates the change from a parochial system to a more global one. It encouraged me to focus on my own development and growth and to explore how football is more than a game more than fortune or fame ….
FOOTY PASSIONS - TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. A Passionate Attachment
2. Loss and Redemption
3. In the Name of the Father
4. Fathers and Daughters at Play
5. Reality Bites
6. Australian Rules
7. Living through Loss
8. Football and Place: Home and Away
Final Siren
Appendix
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Mundaring Weir
Kalamunda to Mundaring Weir Walk March 22 2007
This walk was on the Bibbulmun Track. The idea for the walk was started in the Kalamunda Physiotherapy pool by Alden. At that time, I walked with crutches, and I did that very slowly. Gradually over a period of 9 months i rehabilitated my right knee and began to dance again and then walk the bush tracks around Kalamunda.
So March 22 2007 will always be a special day. As I walked across the Mundaring Weir walkway, my 'iriver' (an Amy gift) played through my earphones (a Miss jennifer gift) "You'll never walk alone" and the "Walk of Life". They were such a wonderful and emotional summary of the past 9 months. I might have had to do the hard rehab work myself. However, I had family, friends, colleagues and an array of Health care professionals helping me recover and walk again.
At the end of the walk I had a cold beer, and then another with my Miss Jennifer who came to pick me up and take me home.
Persistence and the capacity to Press On is so important.
Graham
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinlin47/sets/72157600023265104/
This walk was on the Bibbulmun Track. The idea for the walk was started in the Kalamunda Physiotherapy pool by Alden. At that time, I walked with crutches, and I did that very slowly. Gradually over a period of 9 months i rehabilitated my right knee and began to dance again and then walk the bush tracks around Kalamunda.
So March 22 2007 will always be a special day. As I walked across the Mundaring Weir walkway, my 'iriver' (an Amy gift) played through my earphones (a Miss jennifer gift) "You'll never walk alone" and the "Walk of Life". They were such a wonderful and emotional summary of the past 9 months. I might have had to do the hard rehab work myself. However, I had family, friends, colleagues and an array of Health care professionals helping me recover and walk again.
At the end of the walk I had a cold beer, and then another with my Miss Jennifer who came to pick me up and take me home.
Persistence and the capacity to Press On is so important.
Graham
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinlin47/sets/72157600023265104/
Thursday, November 05, 2009
tropical view
this view is from the top of the Cairns casino. I found Cairns a stunning place with images demanding to be taken. I loved the waterway with hills behind with their different shades of green.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Gwenap Pit 2
Gwenap Pit - some information.
A depression caused by mining subsidence was subsequently used as an open air preaching pit. It dates from the mid-eighteenth century. It is located in what was the greatest copper mining district of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and one of the most densely populated areas at the time.
Located just to the south of Redruth on the eastern slopes of Carn Marth, its fame is due largely to the preachings of John Wesley, who used the pit on 18 occasions from 1776-89. He greatly exaggerated its size (he put it at 200x300ft and 50ft deep) and it is possible that the same applies to his estimate that his largest audience was 32,000. In his memory the local people excavated the pit in 1806 into a regular oval 37m across and 8m deep. They added 13 rows of turf seats. A Whit-Monday service has been held there since 1807, and it has been used for other purposes, eg. Chartists met in 1839, and there was a theatre performance in 1951.
Other web pages with information
http://ramblingsfromredrose.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/monday-methodism-gwennap-pit/
http://www.methodistrecorder.co.uk/cornwall.htm
A depression caused by mining subsidence was subsequently used as an open air preaching pit. It dates from the mid-eighteenth century. It is located in what was the greatest copper mining district of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and one of the most densely populated areas at the time.
Located just to the south of Redruth on the eastern slopes of Carn Marth, its fame is due largely to the preachings of John Wesley, who used the pit on 18 occasions from 1776-89. He greatly exaggerated its size (he put it at 200x300ft and 50ft deep) and it is possible that the same applies to his estimate that his largest audience was 32,000. In his memory the local people excavated the pit in 1806 into a regular oval 37m across and 8m deep. They added 13 rows of turf seats. A Whit-Monday service has been held there since 1807, and it has been used for other purposes, eg. Chartists met in 1839, and there was a theatre performance in 1951.
Other web pages with information
http://ramblingsfromredrose.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/monday-methodism-gwennap-pit/
http://www.methodistrecorder.co.uk/cornwall.htm
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Lake Louise - a coffee break
Inside it is warm.
A man and a woman share coffee and a glass of wine.
Outside is a magical ice lake.
A path invites them out of the warmth and away from their wine and coffee.
Will they take up the option? Will they just walk the short path to the Lake's edge or will they venture all the way around the lake of ice?
This photos invites your speculation, reflection and imagination.
A man and a woman share coffee and a glass of wine.
Outside is a magical ice lake.
A path invites them out of the warmth and away from their wine and coffee.
Will they take up the option? Will they just walk the short path to the Lake's edge or will they venture all the way around the lake of ice?
This photos invites your speculation, reflection and imagination.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Subi farewell
This is Australian rules at its best. Last round of 2007 West Coast play Essendon. Two legends of AFL, Kevin Sheedy and James Hird, coach and play their last game with Essendon at Subiaco Oval. Before the game West Coast people were clapping Sheedy. We got super wooried in the last quarter as a James Hird and Scott Lucas led revival almost stole the game from us. we survived!
This photo of the supporters at the East end of the ground show the the black & red of the Bombers and the blue and gold of the Eagles standing as one to acknowledge two great football men.
This photo of the supporters at the East end of the ground show the the black & red of the Bombers and the blue and gold of the Eagles standing as one to acknowledge two great football men.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
We shall not be moved
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In Kalamunda on Friday November 6th, a different protest took place on Orange Valley Road. A group of ducks quietly took control of the left hand lane heading towards Kalamunda. Drivers going to Lesmurdie had right of way, while the ducks steadfastly blocked the way of the Kalamunda bound drivers.
As the photos showed the ducks were determined and united and organised. A group sat on the right not being moved. Others stood on the footpath, looking to respond to any organisational problems that may arise. The pictures illustrate this well.
However, what is unclear what led the ducks to block the road. Do they want a reinstatement of an ancient duck pond? Do they seek voting rights in council elections? Or were they larking around, sorry ducking around, for the day and causing delays for innocent drivers.
More pictures can be found at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinlin47/sets/72157608761366183/
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Rocky Pool Kalamunda
After a 10 days in the Rocky Mountains in Canada, walking the hills of Kalamunda is a bit different. No ice, no snow, no frozen waterfalls. Just a quiet green beautiful bush on a sunny day, the last of Autumn 2008. The hills may not be as grand and tall, however, the pathways on the Rocky Pool walk are steep and demanding. They require perserverance going up and caution going down. The reward is to come to Piesse Brook and hear it flowing and then to sit and watch the gentle waterfalls of the Rocky Pool.
Home again - we really did it, again!
It is Sunday and we are at home on the first day of winter. This morning Jenny and I took a stroll in the sunshine from Kalamunda to Gooseberry Hill along the old railway track. The tress looked refreshed after yesterday's battering storms and green and yellow were dominant colours. The wattle was glorious and perhaps a little early. The coffee at Gooseberry Hill was good. I think Western Australian coffee is streets ahead of Canadian and Alaskan coffee.
We have been home 8 days after a month away. During the month we flew on 6 planes – the flights varied from 25 minutes (Vancouver to Victoria) to 15 hours on the way home to Sydney. In addition to the 6 planes, we caught 4 trains, 4 trams (all going up mountains – a bit different from good old Melbourne’s trams), 13 buses or coaches, 6 taxis (including one to the wrong station), 3 ferries – 2 of the ferries would have fitted into the last one we caught from Vancouver Island and we slept in 8 different beds and tried to sleep in 2 planes and 1 train. Fairmont beds are the best in the world and coupled with majestic views, gob smacking settings and friendly and prompt service makes the Fairmont stay an opportunity to turn a moment into a magic memory.
We have looked through our photos and remembered parts of our trip we have put to the back of our minds. When so much is happening in from of your eyes on a daily basis it taxes the old brain cells. A number of times I have thought: “gosh, did I actually see that, visit here and go there?”
One thing photos don’t capture is the conversations that occur along the journey. Sometimes short ones, some longer.
On the ship we met lots people we chatted with at mealtime, saw in the bar as we listened to music or just bumped into around ship.
There was the young guy from Houston. Our relationship started in queue at Vancouver Port and continued a couple of times as we met moving around the ship. Then in Anchorage, as we sipped coffee in the park we had one more chance encounter where we compared notes on our journey.
Jenny discovered a relative on the ship (there are Cochranes everywhere) while ashore at Ketchikan but we didn’t quite get to Cochrane Canada to see if there were relatives there! However, we did celebrate the end of our ship voyage with Jenny’s new rellies. We discovered how French speaking families were sent to southern USA, how the Scots & Irish influenced blues music (that bit in the steam bath!), heard about grits, discussed international skiing, were told how fascinating our accents were and had discussion with our English and Kiwi cousins. The English were all bemused by the fact that USA people thought Aussie and English accents were similar.
On the Rocky Mountaineer the Canberra guy was ecstatic about seeing a bear while the Queenslanders at Jasper Park Lodge could all talk about Aussie Rules. At dinner in jasper we chatted with a retired Perth magistrate in between Stuart’s gold plate dinner service in the Moose’s Nook. Later we danced to the 3-piece band in Jasper and I got to dance with my daughter Amy for the first time in a decade or so.
Dancing we did a lot on the ship. Some nights going from one place to the other as we improvised on small dance floors. The bands appreciated having dancers and chatted to us asking about our steps. We did lots of Rock n Roll, Cha Cha, some waltzing, some nifty Balmoral Blues and the odd Rumba. Dancing on a ship was fun and sometimes challenging as the boat swayed and I was suddenly leading Jenny uphill and down dale.
Well, I could rave on forever. Whiteouts on the mountain train out of Scagway, the Sunday markets in Anchorage, Sears – a great place for shopping, and then glorious Victoria, described by Amy as Perth in Melbourne. Buildings that were like the good ones in Melbourne with an ocean breeze like we get in Perth, and the most magnificent parliament House just across the road from the grand old Fairmont Empress.
And then we had our personal travel guide, my delightful and devoted daughter Amy who patiently educated her father about life in Canada, explained tipping brilliantly, drover us around in her car Betsy, introduced us to her wonderful friends and colleagues and generally looked after her old man well.
We are not sure where we are going for our next trip. So much world, so little time and not enough cash. However, to have done this journey meant seeing places I never imagined seeing.
Travel on people, May the journey be enriching and enlightening.
We have been home 8 days after a month away. During the month we flew on 6 planes – the flights varied from 25 minutes (Vancouver to Victoria) to 15 hours on the way home to Sydney. In addition to the 6 planes, we caught 4 trains, 4 trams (all going up mountains – a bit different from good old Melbourne’s trams), 13 buses or coaches, 6 taxis (including one to the wrong station), 3 ferries – 2 of the ferries would have fitted into the last one we caught from Vancouver Island and we slept in 8 different beds and tried to sleep in 2 planes and 1 train. Fairmont beds are the best in the world and coupled with majestic views, gob smacking settings and friendly and prompt service makes the Fairmont stay an opportunity to turn a moment into a magic memory.
We have looked through our photos and remembered parts of our trip we have put to the back of our minds. When so much is happening in from of your eyes on a daily basis it taxes the old brain cells. A number of times I have thought: “gosh, did I actually see that, visit here and go there?”
One thing photos don’t capture is the conversations that occur along the journey. Sometimes short ones, some longer.
On the ship we met lots people we chatted with at mealtime, saw in the bar as we listened to music or just bumped into around ship.
There was the young guy from Houston. Our relationship started in queue at Vancouver Port and continued a couple of times as we met moving around the ship. Then in Anchorage, as we sipped coffee in the park we had one more chance encounter where we compared notes on our journey.
Jenny discovered a relative on the ship (there are Cochranes everywhere) while ashore at Ketchikan but we didn’t quite get to Cochrane Canada to see if there were relatives there! However, we did celebrate the end of our ship voyage with Jenny’s new rellies. We discovered how French speaking families were sent to southern USA, how the Scots & Irish influenced blues music (that bit in the steam bath!), heard about grits, discussed international skiing, were told how fascinating our accents were and had discussion with our English and Kiwi cousins. The English were all bemused by the fact that USA people thought Aussie and English accents were similar.
On the Rocky Mountaineer the Canberra guy was ecstatic about seeing a bear while the Queenslanders at Jasper Park Lodge could all talk about Aussie Rules. At dinner in jasper we chatted with a retired Perth magistrate in between Stuart’s gold plate dinner service in the Moose’s Nook. Later we danced to the 3-piece band in Jasper and I got to dance with my daughter Amy for the first time in a decade or so.
Dancing we did a lot on the ship. Some nights going from one place to the other as we improvised on small dance floors. The bands appreciated having dancers and chatted to us asking about our steps. We did lots of Rock n Roll, Cha Cha, some waltzing, some nifty Balmoral Blues and the odd Rumba. Dancing on a ship was fun and sometimes challenging as the boat swayed and I was suddenly leading Jenny uphill and down dale.
Well, I could rave on forever. Whiteouts on the mountain train out of Scagway, the Sunday markets in Anchorage, Sears – a great place for shopping, and then glorious Victoria, described by Amy as Perth in Melbourne. Buildings that were like the good ones in Melbourne with an ocean breeze like we get in Perth, and the most magnificent parliament House just across the road from the grand old Fairmont Empress.
And then we had our personal travel guide, my delightful and devoted daughter Amy who patiently educated her father about life in Canada, explained tipping brilliantly, drover us around in her car Betsy, introduced us to her wonderful friends and colleagues and generally looked after her old man well.
We are not sure where we are going for our next trip. So much world, so little time and not enough cash. However, to have done this journey meant seeing places I never imagined seeing.
Travel on people, May the journey be enriching and enlightening.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Scagway Alaska
This was an email written on May 14th in an internet free zone.
=================
It is 7.15 am on Wednesday and we are in Scagway, way up north in Alaska.
The morning air is crisp and clear with a tinge of diesel. There are 3 liners in port, including ours, and 2 ferries. One is leaving on my left as I write. There is a hum in the air from the ships in an environment that it
is still.
On my left a majestic mountain sits. White capped at the top and down its side about half way where dense bush sits quietly. In front and to the right of me, above the 2 Norwegian cruise ships (Norwegian Star & Pearl) sit 2
more mountains. To the right of the ships is Scagway, a town I have glimpsed for the first time, as I walked the decks in cool morning air.
Both mountains are well clad in snow at the summit. The more distant and central one is grandly covered in snow except for a small section. Its peak reaches upwards, proudly as it watches over Scagway. The sky is white making
for a misty but clear connection between sky and mountain.
In the foreground behind our Norwegian sister ships a scene of bush and trees lies beneath the 3rd mountain and a few houses dot the bush. However, it looks like most housing is down in the valley in the town. The bush is
both a dark green and a lighter green in the trees with some tinges of grey and as my eyes climb up towards foot of the mountain.
This is a town where people came with hopes and dreams in search of gold. First reading suggests a wild town where it was every man for himself. Stories of men pushing their bodies to the limit exist and they sought riches in the mountains.
Today we will go ashore explore the township and then journey up the mountain by train. Our exploration will be a gentle one not like the experience of those who often swam ashore before carrying their gear up and over the mountain.
Margerie glacier in Glacier Bay. The Margerie Glacier is an excellent example of a tide-water glacier: a glacier that extends into a body of water
Email written onboard the Diamond Princess May 15th
This is a photo of the Margerie glacier in Glacier Bay. We parked outside
this today on the ship. After spending hours on the deck we retired to the warmth of our stateroom at had our own personal view. Pretty good eh!
Here is a web link http://www.lcss.net/glacierbay/Glacier_Bay_glaciers.htm#Margerie%20Glacier
If you want a room like this ring Belinda at Flight centre Kalamunda! Well done Belinda.
The Canadian Rockies was an amazing wilderness experience and today has added again to our marvelous wilderness adventures. The Americans might be a bit tardy with their immigration procedures but they are looking after this place very well.
Around 6 am the local rangers, minus tonto, boarded our ship. They gave us information about the National park, glaciers, wildlife, etc.
I am not sure when I will log on for this but hope you enjoy it. Postcards are somewhere in our luggage!
Love and Joy
Graham & Jennifer


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