11905 photos (just ours!), 2291 miles, 55.5 hours of driving, route 66 the Mother Road, 28 the magic number, 22 magnetic bottle openers, 9 hotels/motels, 3 US states, and 1 helicopter trip.
You’re gonna need a bigger radiator!
We had a Ford Expedition. It was huge and perfect for us with so much space and visibility in the back. Though we did notice that, strangely, the volume on the music would automatically get louder each time Mark started singing in the back!
The country is more behind in terms of technology and other things against the UK than I would expect. When paying by card, firstly they take the card, they are surprised when it asks for a pin number, and then they print a ticket that asks for you to manually write a figure for a tip and revised total, which then later amends the amount coming off your card.
I only saw the usual message about reusing towels in one hotel.
Roundabouts – in SF, Chad pulled up to one and mentioned drivers just don’t know what to do with them, only to be proven by the vehicle on the roundabout wanting to give way to us!
Everyone was so friendly, with loads of chats with strangers. The driving style was much more chilled than home too.
Half a peace sign – A Chad term, meaning the opposite of peace!
Bingo ticks
The Grand Canyon (and even more amazing in a helicopter)
SF bridge
Vegas baby
Route 66
Being called ma’am
Walking through saloon doors
A Texan saying “y’all”
Someone saying “how you doiin”, “have a nice day” and “across the pond”
Howdy beer
Trump’s plane
The Hollywood sign
An in line skater on Venice Beach
A coke lorry
Key lime pie!
Bingo fails
A show in the Vegas Sphere
A bear in the wild
Tumbleweed
Time travelling an hour on the Hoover Dam (a couple of weeks too early for this)
A make America great again hat
Tortoise not in captivity – a number of places told you to check under the car before you left.
A whistle-stop tour of LA, starting at Muscle Beach Venice. Not many on the gym yet. So many surfers on the water at this end of the beach. No one was using the teqball tables.
A stroll along the boulevard to Santa Monica, past the numerous and popular volleyball nets. We saw just two skaters, plenty of bikes, and so many joggers you had to look round before you attempted moving to the other side. What an amazing beach!
A couple of bikes had large hooks to the side carrying their surf board. What a great idea!
The end of Route 66 is on the pier.
Next stop, Hollywood.
The Dolby Theatre, where they host the Academy Awards. The boards on the side showing best film for each year since the start. Interestingly, they have the empty boards set up for quite some years to come.
Original Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood footprints. Never realised that Eddie Murphy had such small feet!
The walk of fame covers 1.3 miles.
Beverly Hills had an art fair on. Very high end, though I don’t think the people browsing were local.
A little stroll down Rodeo Drive and the neighbourhood. Very impressive. A great place for people watching.
Beverly Hills City Hall, an iconic building featured in many films.
Heading back to the hotel to get the car, past the airport. Donald Trump’s plane is parked up. He is local for the Camp Pendleton event.
It turns out we just missed one of the ‘No Kings’ protests in Venice Beach. Lucky not to have been caught up in that!
A great teriyaki beef at P.F. Chang’s in the airport and then up to the gate. Wow, biometric boarding gates. No need for a boarding pass!
Mark always has special dietary meals on the plane, which normally means he is finished eating when mine arrives. This time, so that we could eat together, I put in for one, but a different choice – kosher, meaning everything came well sealed and very hard to get into!
As discovered on the way out, Mark’s was similar to the normal meals, meaning all three of them, and I expect the whole plane, but not me had………. key lime pie! Thankfully, Richard loves me enough to trade!
It was really nice! The last place we would have expected to find it! Well done BA! That just leaves a Joshua Tree magnetic bottle opener to find for Richard and a real wild bear for Jo, hopefully not on the plane!
There are still no fees for entering the park, however the visitor centre here is open as it is run by a non profit partner of the NPS. In the end, we have not missed out at all by the “closure” of the parks, just gained by not having to have bought a pass.
Two deserts overlap in Joshua Tree National Park. The Mojave in the western part and the Colorado in the eastern part.
The western end is full of joshua trees, making more amazing scenery, very different to what we have already seen.
The joshua tree is not actually a tree, it is a succulent and belongs to the yucca genus.
This photo was taken by a lovely chap we got talking to who asked by any chance do we have a paper map he could look at. He had asked the right people! We did not expect someone to ask to borrow it, any more than the bottle opener the other day!
Well done, Richard, for supplying items to help others. What odd item will be asked for next?
A western short-horned walkingstick.
Breakfast with a view.
A dike – the line going through the rocks.
We are right by the San Andreas fault, and not far from Palm Springs, which you could see from this viewpoint.
Then on to some trails, one to an old gold mine. It is very warm when out of the wind. There are signs up saying don’t die today!
Lunch with a view as well!
Split rock.
A slightly longer route to arch rock!
We then headed down to the eastern part of the park, where the joshua trees are replaced by cacti. The cholla cactus garden. With the sun not far off setting, it glows through the cactus spikes.
After much gibing through the trip, Richard finally declared this morning that he had 16 magnet bottle openers. Sad to say, however, Joshua Tree did not oblige. Fingers crossed, we find one in the airport.
Driving west to LA, with the most beautiful orange skies after sundown, just as you would imagine to look in……. LA!
On the highway, Richard loved the carpool lane, especially the queue jumping on the flyover!
A lovely dinner in G’s Il Capo Dei Bar in a lovely region of LA called El Segundo.
The LA Dodgers won their game and so are through to the World Series. The town is full of celebrations and many Dodgers shirts.
Time to see it from above! I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, and it exceeded my expectations!
The pilot was right when he said best to see the GC firstly from the rim and then by helicopter.
I had wondered why most of the peaks were flat topped. Now having seen from above, the flatness is the original flat land and then the Canyon has been shaped.
On the north rim we could see bison. Coming in to land we could see our hotel.
What an amazing experience! I would certainly repeat it.
Then a driving day of 360 miles. We are now retracing our steps to Kingman but taking the route 40 west rather than the slower route 66. There are plenty of signs warning of ice. Quite surprising considering how warm it is, though we are at 5000-6000 ft elevation.
Plenty of warnings too about deer and other wildlife. Apparently, the bar on the front of trunks is a deer guard to protect the vehicle. We finally spotted a burro. We have a rule that for something to have happened, it needs either three of us to see it or photo evidence.
We came off route 40 at Kingman back on to route 66 via Richard’s special surprise route.
Yet another toilet stop!
A little stop at Cool Springs, aka the real Radiator Springs.
Now for the sidewinder. Wish us luck!
Without much notice, another wild donkey! He wasn’t planning on moving quickly.
An Oldsmobile.
Oatman, a cute historic town with wild burros. They seemed quite tame actually, with one that regularly walks in to the shops!
We filled up the tank at 2.99 per gallon before leaving Arizona. Crossing in to California the petrol is 5.99 per gallon! Our tank takes 23 gallons.
Still on route 66, Amboy, now a ghost town as no one lives there.
Lovely dinner at Kitchen in the Desert in the town of 29 Palms where we are staying. The sprouts dish had been forgotten, but was certainly worth the wait.
Most restaurants don’t ask if you want a pudding, and just give you the bill saying “no rush” however he appeared and offered……. key lime pie as a special!
After the fail in LV (day 2), there had been many references to where I would find a really nice homemade one. Dinner had been lovely here. Richard started bigging it up how lovely it would be……….. Lesson learnt, don’t listen to him! The waiter then declared they had none left!
We are staying near the South Rim, in Tusayan, just outside of the park. An early start for sunrise at Mather Point. Absolutely stunning!
Interestingly, we overheard someone saying they missed the Tioga pass and that they also could not get into Mammoth Lakes without having snow chains. They could only have been a few days behind us!
We then followed Desert View drive with various view points.
Najavo Point was at the deepest part of the canyon. At the end of the route is Desert View Watchtower.
I was very surprised to be able to see the Colorado River from so many viewpoints.
Lipan Point was my favourite view on Desert View drive.
Yes, there was more than one jumper in the shop, but this is the one we both liked!
The car next to us had some guys that had just finished a 3 day hike. They had beers awaiting in their cool box, but they couldn’t find their bottle opener and asked if we, by any chance, had one. They had asked the right people! Suddenly, this morning’s newly purchased GC magnet bottle opener had a use rather than just heading for the radiator display. This did break protocol, though, as they are “not to be used” and not even by one of us but a total stranger!
Back to Mather point and a hike from here along the South Rim Trail to Hopi Point. All is well paved and easy underfoot. There are various trials that go down into the canyon, though you are talking of a few days to go down to the river and back up, and there is only one “hotel” which you book 18 months in advance. We had considered going down part of a trial, however the South Rim Trail took quite some time, especially with all the photo stops.
A bison burger for lunch, very nice!
Every view is different from the last. Words can not describe how amazing the scenery is, nor do the photos do it justice. You can see through the day as the shadows get longer and the colouring changes.
We’ve escaped Vegas! First stop, the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.
The border of Nevada and Arizona is halfway across the dam.
The two states are currently on the same time zone, however they will be an hour apart in a few weeks.
In to Arizona and the roads are much less well kept. In the other states, the highways had sponsorship. They need to tell Arizona!
We hit route 66 at Kingman. For those not up to speed, route 66, known as the mother road, crosses USA from Chicago to Los Angeles, and is scenic, historic and iconic.
It’s amazing what you can buy for route 66! We chose not to go for the earrings, still holding out for the gun earring!
Rickety Cricket Brewing for lunch that turned out to be dinner. Not only was it happy hour, but the pizzas were the best with so much topping on them!
We also stopped in Hackberry and Seligman. Much of the journey followed the train route, carrying many extremely long cargo trains.
They checked out a AK47, pistol, M4, MP5. Awesome they said!
A little more strip time today. Drinks in the Cosmopolitan chandelier, though I think it looked more impressive from outside.
Dinner at Virgils. A sweet potato and bean bowl with steak for me, up there with my favourite meals.
They even had key lime pie on the menu. This was one thing I wanted to try over here. After chasing it numerous times, it appeared as we were leaving. They refunded, but it really didn’t look a great one after all the pies we’ve seen. Discussion ensued as to where I would find a lovely homemade one…….
Hope Road, an interactive show based on the music of Bob Marley. Absolutely amazing!
You can’t do Vegas without a little flutter, and roulette was the one that appealed to us all, however not with equal quantities of luck! Mark and I started with $90 each. I ended up $68, and Mark’s 28 he’d been saying all week paid out, giving him a gain of $97! Not so much joy for Richard and Jo though.
From the Manadalay, where better to go for a nightcap than our favourite little sky bar? Not forgetting the view from the toilet of the planes taking off!
What do we think of Vegas? Some of the hotels are impressive. Such a sensory overload of flashing lights in the casinos, tv screens everywhere and too much weed. We enjoyed the little gambling we did. The show we saw was amazing. If they weren’t so expensive we would have seen more, especially in the Sphere.
Aka “lost wages”. The first time we heard it called that we found it really funny. The next ten times not so much! It probably works better with the american pronunciation as they pronounce las as los.
Time to start the tour of the hotels on the strip, heading north.
Next door is Excalibur, and a stop at Dicks for breakfast. Sitting down at the table we compared notes, yes she did say good luck, and the server said he’d be back, we are his lowest priority. Unbeknownst to us, it is a themed restaurant working on insults! Actually quite funny!
Next stop New York. Yes, that is a statue of chocolate.
The Cosmopolitan. A great chandelier!
The Belaggio chocolate fountain.
Whilst the gardens were very impressive they were heaving with tourists which made them not relaxing at all. The ceiling in the reception that cost $40m was impressive, but maybe not $40m impressive.
The fountain show lived up to my high expectations with the music to accompany subtly coming from speakers hidden in the walls. The Grand Prix is here in a month or so, therefore there is a great big temporary building along most of the length of the fountains, so you can’t see them properly from the road. You can still see them fine from the hotel.
We loved Ceasers Palace and their shopping area. Yes, that is a spiral escalator!
Likewise The Venetian, my favourite.
The Sphere. We would have loved to see a show here however the Eagles were on for about $1,000 for a decent ticket or The Wizard of Oz, aimed more for kids.
There is a LV Raiders game on today in town so we are gradually learning the team names from all the tshirts. 98 Crosby is very popular!
A few more hotels. Very interesting how much they vary from how well themed they are and how posh or the opposite!
A cab ride to Freemont Street through the dodgey area, which turned out to have so many chapels. I’d wrongly assumed there were only a few cute ones and near to the strip.
Freemont Street, a very impressive screen on the roof, lots of loud music, and a great vibe. We saw a few doing the zip line.
Weed is legal here, and whilst Nevada’s law says it is not for use in public spaces, the smell was too much here, so we headed back into town for dinner. Well, Venice actually.
Heading south through a hot flat vast barron expanse. Very surprised to drive past two ladies running!
Unfortunately, last month, they had flash floods, so the road we would have followed through the valley is closed, and therefore no access to badwater basin, artistes palette and devil’s golf course. The road won’t be fixed at least until the parks reopen.
First stop Zabriskie Point. Wow! Such dramatic and very different scenery.
Dante’s View, which overlooks Badwater Basin and the whole valley. The basin is the lowest point in North America at 282ft/86m below sea level
Absolutely amazing! Gutted to not be able to be down there, but on the upside, there are no cars spoiling the view! You can see where the road goes, and it is very close to the salt flats.
A museum and lunch stop in Shoshone. Having seen a number of bikers on the road we were suddenly overrun with them in this small restaurant who similarly seemed surprised to be so busy. We rather liked one chap’s gun earing! Will see if we can find one in the shops!
And yet more absolutely amazing scenery.
First view of LV.
Having spent less time in Death Valley than expected, we had time for Red Rock Canyon, just west of LV. Impressive, but not against the days of amazing scenery we’ve just had. Oh well, make the most of this natural view.
With none of us being gamblers or fans of flashy lights, we are not sure how much we’ll enjoy LV, but all want to see it. The town is much bigger than we had thought with many suburbs. Finally, we reach the strip, driving south from the Strat down to the sign. It’s a great way to see the strip.
And we have arrived at our home for three nights, the Luxor.
Checking out the hotels south of us for the evening, so dinner in a cute place in the Mandalay Bay with live music. Prawns and cheesy grits for me, very nice!
The W Las Vegas is behind it, with a sky bar. A great view of the strip lit up and nice to see the helicopter tours all flying past lower than us. No gambling, flashy lights or screens, just our kind of place, surprisingly not very busy. Oh, and maybe they do good cocktails, too!
I can’t tell you what happened next, of course, what happens in Vegas…….
The first day ever where I have needed both a great big coat and shorts!
The Mammoth Lakes area, a ski resort in winter and a water sports area in the summer, have about 30 bears, however at the base of the ski lifts they did feel the need to have signage mentioning an active bear in the area.
Even still, we didn’t see one.
The day started with a tour of the lakes, a low temperature and an even colder wind, but so pretty. Again, the photos don’t do it justice.
There was indeed snow on the top of the mountains at 11,000 ft, however the gondola was closed for maintenance, so unable to get a close look.
An earthquake fault in the middle of the forest. That gap went a very long way down!
A winding road back down.
A little down the road to Hot Creek Geologic Site, with bubling springs. Apparently, they spurt geysers occasionally.
Had a little feel of the water in the river, which was very hot. The baby trout didn’t seem to mind.
A quick stop at Covict Lake. Into the shorts already.
Back down to sea level and a lunch stop in Bishop then continuing south, through an amazing flat valley with mountain ranges either side. Just as we are thinking that it looks like a film set……
The Mobius Arch Loop Trail in the Alabama Hills. Feels more like we have landed on another planet!
A few more miles south and another notable stop, somewhat further from the road than we expected. In true Alice style, we followed the running hare across a field, and whatever Bono said, we did find it!
The actual Joshua tree.
A mirage we think. There was no lake on the map.
They don’t call it Death Valley for no reason, 101°f/38°c and it’s nearly sundown!
We are staying in Beatty, where wild burros roam free, a kind of donkey. We didn’t see any, just evidence they had been there. Apparently, they had been rounded up for a periodical number decrease.
Dinner in Happy Burro Chili & Beer. Great chili and the cheapest meal ever at $65 plus tip. Nevada doesn’t have laws restricting smoking indoors, which will feel like we’ve stepped back 20 years. Also, many places seem to encourage cash rather than card by offering a discount.
An early morning start as we have various stops and want to make it to Bodie State park, a ghost town from the gold rush for 2.30pm.
Firstly, the road back in to Yosemite.
Pull out with another angle of Half Dome.
Our first stop. A trail down to dead giant tunnel tree.
Olstead Point, our final view of Half Dome. If you look hard enough, you can see people climbing the ladder that goes up the side.
Tuolome Meadows and Soda Springs. These are the boxes you leave any food or drinks in rather than leaving them in the car. A bear will pull the car window out to get the food.
Finally, the highest point of the pass. It will close for the winter, some times as early as mid October. They give a few days warning. *edit* – we did this pass on 9th, it closed 13th 2pm, and the Glacier Point Road!
Our first snow, and suddenly very windy having changed sides of the valley.
Bodie, so much of it left considering it has been abandoned for so long. Jim said they use to be allowed in the houses when he was a kid. So glad we visited this one rather than of of the several hundred others. So windy and dusty, more a wonder that the structures are still standing and that people even lived there! Now I understand why they call it wild west!
The school house.
Mono Lake, with its strange tufa towers, a lake that rivers flow into however water does not then flow out of it so the calcium builds up and forms tufa.
Home for tonight, Edelweiss. No, please stop singing it!
Another quick view of El Capitan before a long winding road heading up out of the valley, through the pine forests. Sad to see there have been a number of fires through here perhaps a few years ago leaving dead trunks.
We are on the south side of the valley, with a walk out to Taft Point, a viewpoint of the whole valley, a little east of El Capitain.
Absolutely breathtaking!
Then on to the top of Sentinel Dome. Yes, we are heading up there!
At 2475m/8120ft another absolutely amazing view.
Half Dome from Sentinel Dome. Such an iconic peak.
Then a path down to Glacier Point, giving more amazing views of El Capitan and Half Dome
One more of El Capitan.
Finally seen a bear!
Mariposa, a cute town near our lodgings, for a little browse and dinner.
Jim, the chatty guy at the bar, who only popped out to get dinner but entertained Mark and Richard until dinner was ready. Great life story. We expect his wife Mary is used to him arriving with her dinner cold!
An early morning stroll along Monterey seafront, a beautiful mix of yatchs and nature with seals, cormorants, and pelicans a plenty. We even spotted stingrays in the water, and a great blue heron.
A little further, and we hit cannery row, with a history of canning sardines in its heyday.
At the far end, the renowned aquarium. It seems everyone, even Brian the SF taxi driver, thinking we had not heard if it, has told us to visit, and having discovered Kerry’s close family connection, somewhat tempted, however, there are so many calls on our time.
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, a lovely, well kept and well signed nature reserve. Plenty of pelicans, herons, guillemots, egrets, and of course seals and sea lions. They even have a free loan of binoculars, you just leave your car keys as an exchange. Great idea!
A drive through Carmel, a cute town with pretty houses, each one different to the next.
Then on to 17 mile drive, a scenic driving tour of Pebble Beach. $12.50 per car for the privilege, with various pull outs. Popular with coach tours. Pretty, but didn’t live up to the expectations. A little hazy from sea fog, made it a little chilly, for which Mark cracking out the shorts got the blame. It did look more impressive when the sun broke through. The great big houses and various golf courses with the sea as a backdrop was more impressive than the view points.
Time to head east, tonight we are staying at Midpines, our base for Yosemite.
The view of the rolling Californian hills heading out is amazing, just as you would expect them to look, like the wine bottles say they should look like. Possibly looking a little fake?
A little stop at the San Luis reservoir, an amazing blue, and with the hills now a lovely shade of yellow, we have hit it with a little added magic from sundown’s special lighting. It’s absolutely beautiful, though again so perfect it suggests fake.
Having passed the reservoir, we suddenly fall off the hills to totally flat land.
Another hour or so, and we are here, green cabin, mid pines. A huge cabin with two doubles, a twin and sofa beds. The sign, however, showed a maximum of 4. It’s very quiet though, no light, no people, just odd animal sounds…….. we are working out our characters in a scream movie!
Good morning! Quite some greeting on leaving the lift at reception!
After picking up the car we headed south past Santa Cruz and Monterey and headed for the Big Sur. Wow! Such a scenic drive, let the photos do the talking……
The furthest South being McWay Falls, a spectacular view that lived up to the high expectations.
A little park with some impressive redwoods.
On the way back up, we hit the magic hour. Amazing colours and it made another golden bridge!
Time to check out the trams. The Powell Street turnaround is not far from the hotel. They still use man power to push the tram round.
We caught the Hyde Street line taking us over Nob Hill and Russian Hill past the top of the hairpin section of Lombard Street. The hills are exactly as we expected of SF. The photos really don’t do them justice.
A little stop at the renowned chocolate village of Ghirardelli, definitely ready for Halloween.
Followed by the also renowned Buena Vista, the home of Irish coffee.
Oh go on then!
Possibly the best I’ve had, and yes, the sun was past the yard arm….. in the UK! The chap making them was fast, messy, and over dramatic. We didn’t work out why he would throw out a spoonful of coffee before mixing.
A little stroll down the sea front, through pier 39 and a little tourist shopping. Richard is in his element, magnet shops galore!
These were more comfy than they look!
Back up Telegraph Hill via the Greenwich and Filbert steps, this time up to the top of Coit Tower. Excellent views all around.
Back down the other side on the Filbert steps and then down a very steep Kearney to North Beach aka Little Italy.
An early dinner in Cafe Zoetrope, located in the historic Sentinel Building. Built in 1906/7, it survived the 1906 earthquake and fires. Francis Ford Coppola bought the building in 1972 to be the headquarters for his production company, American Zoetrope, and the cafe opened in 1999. FFC’s own beef pork and veal meatballs with spaghetti were amazing!
Also known for its short story vending machine.
Thankfully, after a rocky day Thursday, we heard yesterday that our evening trip to Alcatraz was going ahead, one of the many things closed being part of the national parks.
One of the actual cells they dug out of and left fake heads in the beds.
Oh go on then, one last one!
The best and highest sky bar in town to finish the evening.
A quick pop to check out Union Square. Unfortunately, Tiffany’s was not open yet.
Most people leave their heart here, looks like they’ve kept some and painted them…….. an interesting heart display across the town.
This morning, we have a tour with Harvey, a 1971 VW campervan, and a knowledgeable and very upbeat tourguide Chad. He had a music track for every area we went through, which just made the tour even more enjoyable. Up through Chinatown and Little Italy, not forgetting Chitaly, the bit in between.
There are 44 hills of SF, one being Telegraph Hill, with great views from the hairpin section of Lombard Street in the west to Bay Bridge in the east. Harvey in blue, and we met up with Lily in red
An Ana hummingbird.
A little while in, and we were at the top of Russian Hill walking down the Lombard Street stairs, the only road our tourbus was not allowed down.
Finally! Did I mention I like bridges?
So thankful Karl the fog has stayed away. And from a little further west……
Unfortunately, due to the government not reaching an agreement on the federal appropriations earlier this week, a fair amount of the national parks are closed. For SF, this means a number of car parks will have closed barriers as staff are on furlough, and therfore not so many options on bridge views. Quite how this will affect the rest of our trip we will learn more in the coming days.
All the way out to Land’s End and the sutro baths.
The music events in Golden Gate Park meant a little swerve needed, though we were able to see much of the park. Through the trendy Height Ashbury area with much chat of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Greatful Dead.
The view from Tank Hill.
Of course the painted ladies, with a Harvey parked in front.
A not very light refreshment in the form of the classic clam chowder down in Fisherman’s Wharf.
Time for a cab to go and get a closer look at that golden gate.
Hang on a tick, where is the driver?
Waymo, apparently now 800 of them in SF. They have been running for 3 years. It took less time than expected to get used to the concept, and after an interesting cab ride later in the day, we appreciated the driving style of our new Waymo friend.
Here we go, Marshall’s Beach, a great spot for a hot view………
At 1.7 miles, it had to be walked.
Yes, I have plenty of photos, and then some more as the sun went down!
A really lovely Nepalise meal at Yarsa, followed by drinks at the Top of the Mark then finished off the day.
Meet Richard and Jo. They have been friends for some years and hopefully still friends after this trip!
I think this is the first time we have done upstairs seats on a plane. No, it didn’t feel any different from a normal one level plane!
After half a day in the air, an evening in town to find our feet. First, a stroll in the Salesforce garden having taken a ride in the tiniest gondola ride ever.
The bus fountain, as a bus passes underneath the fountain water jets shoot water.
Onwards to the ferry building at the end of Market Street and wow! Hang on, I thought someone said it was golden?
The most graceful pelicans, flying and landing in formation, and of course, the very impressive ferry building.
If you would rather the short version, you are welcome to skip straight to the end. If you find yourself in South America, you’ve gone too far, though feel free to read on, as it is very interesting!
Booked some months ago as a taster, and to pop the cherry of our very good friends’ cruise virginity. A much larger ship than we have been on before.
I have to say before you get any further, all opinions are my own and a fair few from the group, and all with the background of having done a few cruises, all of which having been bowled over by the amazing level of service and attentiveness by the staff and absolutely amazing food, which you know for us includes the question of somewhat odd dietary requirements. They, therefore, may be biased for having been treated so well on previous cruises, and others may have a different opinion. It has been impossible not to draw comparison.
You are probably aware of the first flaw. Not long after booking they declared we were no longer doing Guernsey but Cherbourg. A big disappointment however should not need to distract from sharing the trip with our friends.
Let’s share some positives.
Check in. So smooth. Hardly any time taken. Could not fault it.
The ceilings in the main walkway had different art every time you saw it. Very impressive.
And we found the pub right there doing Belgian beer (well, luckily, there was one of them they had not run out of)
The water flumes and high wire were a big highlight. Absolutely brilliant! We may have got hailed on while on the high wire, and for some reason our private photographer didn’t catch that time frame (I think he may have run in and left us out there!) There was also much shaking in the ropes for some reason!?
Cherbourg was a pretty port, though the town very sleepy and closed on a Sunday.
The cruise was much less family and kids than expected and full of hen and stag parties, and quite a challenge at some bars. Apparently, this is not a normal and was due to it being a weekend.
The second flaw has to be the emergency musters. As with previous, you watch a video and then attend your muster station to scan in so they know you have been there. However, rather than give a several hour window to do this, there was a 20-minute madness for all to do it, and your charge card would not work until you had. Having just showered, we were late to our muster point and were told that’s fine, as long as we have been, it doesn’t need scanning. Hmm. Thankfully, we stumbled on another and scanned in there. We weren’t the only ones saying this. I believe a fail in their safety regulations.
And we’re off!…..
So lovely to sail off and see Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
The MSC app. Great concept showing all the activities for the day and much more……. if you can stay on their WiFi long enough, however the constant logging you off makes it useless.
Interestingly, on day 2, you could see the full listings for day 3……. the sail away party we are not going to, etc!
The silent disco. Great concept, and enjoyed them before. Shame they didn’t plan for enough sets of headphones so had run out. We managed to catch someone going to give them back. We took back the spare to discover they all need checking back in otherwise there is a deposit charged to the people that checked them out. Not only will many people get a charge, but that will make for a big queue giving them back!
White night. The second evening had a great theme. Most people dressed to impress. Shame no-one thought to ensure we knew about the theme with enough notice.
Theatre shows. These needed booking and a smaller theatre just on one floor, though there were many stand by seats. A great show of music and dancing. There were a couple of the dancers doing amazing flips etc. Shame it was only 35 minutes. You could also pay to go to a different show. We did not try this.
Apparently there was a light show on the arcade ceiling after each theatre show……. if you got out fast enough to see it.
The rooms. Normally, the room service is impeccable, and the person doing it is so lovely and cannot do enough for you. We met him once. The room was generally clean apart from a lack of hoovering. No turndown or chocolates.
Our friends’ room had not been cleaned when we were allowed to go in to drop our bags. However, even after cleaning, there was no toilet roll, not enough cups, and not enough pool towels. We were already aware the pool towels can be swapped at the pool, however if missing on check out, we will be charged. They also had random things of previous occupiers under the bed. On asking for toilet roll, you would think an apology and for them to quickly appear with some. No, they were disbelieved and told it was there.
Dining. Wow, where do I start?
I think we had previously asked to group our set time dining to a table of 5. On board, we found it not the case so amended. This meant our dining room, time, and table number were handwritten on our cards, which, of course, soon smudged. We rocked up on time. One waiter disagreed with the number we thought it was. Either way, the five of us, with just as many waiters, ended up strolling around the whole restaurant looking for the table number. They were certainly not logical in location! Finally, the waiter put two tables together based on the number we had said it was.
Wow, have you ever wandered around a restaurant trying to find the table you should be on?!
We were allowed one menu to share as the intention was to use the QR to view the food and drinks menu. Apart from not liking the concept of using phones at the dinner table, which whilst may work for a pub it does not say luxury dining, may have worked if the app did! The children’s menu took several asks.
No sommelier, of course, and playing the guessing game of what wines they may have. Certainly no opportunity to have an opinion on the best wine for a dish. You were lucky to have more than one choice of white wine. The food did not wow us.
Breakfast. The menu looked very promising. After needing to ask a couple of times for water, and of course the one menu had been round enough times for us to choose, we finally gave up and asked to place the food order. It was not, however, our turn. There was another 15 minutes before we were in turn to place our food order. Asking someone else a little later seemed to have queue jumped a little.
The waiting staff did not seem busy or attentive. The dining service could not be more different to our last cruise. A huge disappointment, especially as we considered this a big part we wanted to show our virgin cruiser friends.
Back to the buffet. The food good but it doesn’t make it our kind of evening.
Allergies? Not one person asked.
The small things we now see as normal on a cruise that makes it amazing that just weren’t there……..
The staff being so polite and chatty to make your day fab.
Rocking up at a bar and they know your name and order. Certainly no queuing or having to fight to get noticed.
Rocking up in the jacuzzi and a bar person appearing from nowhere to take an order.
The restaurant staff all knowing you and having a laugh with them and impeccable service and food.
The attentiveness of the room chap that is always around doing things and cannot do enough for you.
The constantly clean toilets with towels and paper towels to hit the door buttons.
This cruise director, we noticed when saying about disembarkation, rather than wishing us well, mentions instead needing the boat clear for the next guests.
Makes you realise how brilliant they are…… a little itchy feet for another now, maybe?! Ut oh!
To summarise? Overall, we had a great time and, with the addition of Paultons and Salisbury, a brilliant weekend. One we will always look back on together. A disappointment, however, to not be able to introduce our friends to the amazing cruise experience of astounding service and food we have loved previously.
Wow! We now understand the terminology “rain” forest! The rain is sooo heavy! An impressive storm, too.
10 minutes from the hotel, and we are crossing to Brazil. We had to leave our comfy minibus for passport control and felt the heavy rain and huge puddles with a soaking run back to the van.
Crossing the bridge over the Iguazu river, the Argentinian side with bollards coloured blue and white, then halfway across, with the change of countries came the change of the bollards now green and red!
The guide pointing this out…… and the move from Spanish to Portuguese, tango to samba, Messi to Pele.
Argentina and Brazil are good neighbours, with much crossing of the border.
On the left was the fuzz that is Paraguay. So glad we saw it yesterday! Everyone goes there for cheap electronics.
The bridge from Brazil to Paraguay in the photos yesterday is the new route in, hopefully due to open soon.
And so to the falls. OMG, amazing! Whilst still raining, though not so heavy, it certainly did not distract from how amazing the falls were.
The first photos are the same falls we could see from the Argentinian side.
The final far U shape is the main part of the river of which the left half is Brazilian and the right half Argentinian. With perfect timing, the clouds lifted, and by time we were down at the base view, the spray we had been warned of that would get us wet was much less than the rain had been!
Amazing to see how the swifts hanging on to the rocks. They have a large wingspan, so large they struggle to stand like most birds.
A wet bus ride back…
And we were soon at the airport, this time the Brazilian side of Iguazu. A matching small airport to yesterday.
To follow, the smallest airport lounge we had ever been in. Not sure we’ve ever had self serve on the drinks before! Mark measures it is then!
Thankfully, it also means only minutes to the gate!
Not sure we’ve ever taxi’d that fast. An hour or so, and welcome to Sao Paolo…..
A few hours more, and we came in with a full tour over London. O2, Shard, Buckingham Palace, Wimbledon, and even spotted our car as had parked right by the landing lights!
Again pronounced without the G, meaning “water big”.
A very early wake up and internal flight, landing on the Argentinian side. A cute little airport like Manston with the bags ready before us.
The town is across the three countries of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, each with their own version and spelling. This is the only place in the world with a town in three countries. Paraguay having two spellings of the name as they speak both Guarani and Spanish. Our hotel is in the Argentinian part of town and borders on to a community of indigenous Guarani people.
The Iguazu river is half in Argentina and half in Brazil and follows the border for some distance.
The tour took us to see all angles of the falls from the Argentinian side.
Wow. Let the photos do the talking.
Everyone we spoke to said we need to do the boat ride. There were three options on it. We definitely did the best and wettest. After a fab rapids ride and a chilled watch from below, we went under!
Our first shower was under this! And again and again!
The boat ride from Brazil does not let you in as close on this Argentinian side.
And this was the other one we went under. So glad they had someone filming it all for us!
The flora and fauna has been amazing too, with the highlight being a few toucans.
Here is the commemoration of the chap that found the falls and a cute lizard chilling on top!
The capuchin monkeys are so naughty, it’s the people eating lunch that need to be in the cage!
There were also many vultures swooping around. They also have cougars, pumas, and ocelots. Thankfully, not too many mosquitoes as there are enough predators among fish birds and insects.
Our naturalist guide was very impressed with the seek app and had to install herself!
Finally back to the room to discover toucans are clearly a thing here.
The evening was free, so we had to visit the three frontiers point, from where you can see both Brazil and Paraguay.
And another fab steak of course!
Back to the hotel and ended up 2 hours chatting with Anthony and Rachelle from the cruise. A fab pair of people (not couple) who booked the trip not knowing each other and have spent an amazing few weeks together!
On creation of 9th July avenue, only three buildings were left. A large mansion that is now the French embassy, the obelisk and this building where Eva Peron gave her resignation speech when she knew she was unwell. On the opposite side is a similar murial of her looking out smiling.
The Casa Rosada (Pink House) is the presidential palace, better know by some of us as the balcony the Perons waved from and the mention in “Oh what a circus”. You can see the size of Plaza de Mayo in front.
A little stroll round the area we dined in last night.
Cafe Tortoni. The oldest cafe in Buenos Aires, always with a queue outside.
Surprisingly for such a tourist place the menu was not in english!
The world just got smaller…… we had spotted a Del Amitri t-shirt on the cruise, and he turned out to be the chap selling their merch. Just ran into the couple again and, no he doesn’t know who the bonus signature we had a year ago is either (the one with the x beside)
Another tour, this time the city centre. There was a football game going on between the top two teams of the country, so every so often, you would hear a cheer. Thankfully the guide mentioned it at the start, otherwise others may have wondered what the noise was. We had a heads up as yesterday’s guide had mentioned he was likely to be ill and not take this tour!
Starting at the Congress building, of course the largest congress building in the world, designed based on Washington DC.
Buenos Aires, meaning good air, sits on the widest river in the world Río de la Plata. Argentina was named from the Latin for silver. Not that they found any, but that was the expectation.
We then headed down Avenue de Mayo, being the first avenue in the city, again by removal of blocks of buildings.
The avenue used to have the richest houses and hotels. With the Congress building, the presidential palace, the plazas and the avenue designed to all be in line, it also became the place for protests and therefore arostocrats moved away.
Barolo Palace was designed by Mario Palanti, who was obsessed with wanting to take care of Dante Alighieri’s ashes to take care of. Whilst he did not get them, he designed this building to pay homage to the Devine Comedy, recognising all of the various elements and numeric references and symbolism. The top part is of Indian design, and the very top has a lighthouse, only was so bright that it can only be used occasionally.
A matching building was constructed in Montevideo, however the owner wanted it to be taller, so it was by a meter.
There were only three sculptures of “the thinker” actually done by Rodin himself, one of which is here in the avenue.
Cafe Tortoni is also on Avenue de Mayo. It predates the avenue, however when they made the avenue, it just so happened to back on to it, so they moved the main entrance!
At one road crossing the avenue we had earlier seen and heard chaps calling “cambio”. The guide explained more about the position with currency. In the 90s, the exchange used to be 1 peso to 1 USD. People had bank accounts in both Peso and USD. The country, however, could not meet its debts and stepped up currency production at the same time converting all USD to peso, and in a couple of days, it was 3 peso to 1 USD. Also, a restriction of being only able to withdraw 200 peso in a day.
People then mistrusted the banks and thus the start of an official rate and an unofficial rate called the “blue dollar”. Cash is now kept under the sofa and credit does not exist. The largest note is 2000 peso, £2. You see people handing over wadges of notes to pay for things.
Our hotel has a famed rooftop bar. Not a bad view!
What a lovely city. We felt like we got to know it quite well in the time we had, though probably only scratched the surface.
Time for the next musical…..What’s new, Buenos Aires 🎶
With a 7.30 disembarkation, we left at 7.45 and were out at 8, in the hotel room by 9! Our hotel is on the main Avenue de 9 Julio, being the date of the country’s independence in 1816.
It is the widest avenue in the world. On opening it was 110m wide with 16 lanes. It now has a 140m span, with 18 lanes of traffic, and 4 bus lanes. Finished in 1960, they removed whole blocks of buildings to create it. At the time, there were not many cars around, so everyone thought it a silly idea. Now very useful!
And of all the people to run in to heading for the tour we were about to do….. Kirsty and Jonathon. The guys we chatted with most on the cruise. You may remember the very late night?
A great walking tour around the Retiro and Recoleta areas. Learnt much of the city and country. Some time ago they had a huge immigration of Italians and when you look at most famous Argentinians they all have Italian names. That certainly makes sense of the driving style and constant hooting!
They also have the 3rd largest Jewish community in the world.
The city is known as Paris of South America. As a young city with an influx of inhabitants, much was built late 19th and early 20th century primarily copied from France.
Many of the buildings are a mixture of styles.
On 100 years of independence, many countries gifted something. This was our gift, called the English Tower and nicknamed Big Ben of South America. Formally renamed to the Monumental Tower in the 80s to reduce the sudden increase in vandalism, when the British became less popular.
He did speak of the Islas Malvinas (Falklands) war, a huge failing of the final dictatorship, and whilst a terrible loss of young lives did at least pave the way for dictatorship to end.
Interestingly, the Malvinas monument is right by the English Tower.
The peso has been through a challenging time with inflation hitting 200% last year. Over the past 10 or so years, people keep their money as USD in order to not lose value on their funds. The new government have promised to tackle it and recent figures suggest it is starting to turn around.
Atlas supporting the oldest tree in Argentina, with a 60m diameter!
The tour ended up at the Recoleta cemetery, being the third most visited cemetery in the world.
And of course, home to Eva Peron.
An Argentinian steak had to be done for dinner in the beautiful Puerto Madero area. Certainly the place for your evening stroll with many stylish people strolling past (again, very italian). The steak arrived in style, too!
Not far from the cruise ship port, we even heard our ship leave on its next journey north!
An evening of classical music in Teatro Colon, with one of the best acoustics on the world, certainly declared by Pavorotti.
Back home passing the main monument on the avenue, designed/copied from America. This is the place of celebrations. There were 5 million people here and around when they won the World Cup.
This morning, a nice stroll along one of the long ramblas.
And of course a little break from the heat.
Strolled back through the main park and then the town.
The city is full of amazing buildings. Note the beautiful but bizarre building here, a copy of the original in Buenos Aires, only they wanted it taller, so an extra metre in height!
The sail away party was with NYC3 doing various Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars etc. What’s better than great live music out in the sun on a cruise……. all of that and front row in the jacuzzi with cocktails!
An amazing boullabaise.
Suitcases packed and ready to go 😪
And this is another suitcase in another hall 🎶
….oops maybe a day too early for that one!
This evening’s show is our favourite 6 singers from the main cast doing a broadway set, well that’s bound to be a winner with us!
They also did a very good version of can’t help falling in love, however they said it was from a musical about Elvis?!
Of course, they hit Les Mis, and the arrangement and vocals were absolutely amazing!
Well, what else can they finish with other than……….. you can’t stop the beat! (Aka you can’t stop to breathe)
…..did we mention they do the show at 7 and 9…….erm might have watched it twice…oops!
So, second time…. where else would I expect to find Mark.. . . …oh, front row central! Obvs!
Thing is……apparently, I missed the warmup – Mark took a photo though! 🤷♀️
Lol 😍
It turns out 5 of the group are British, one of which from Kent. A little chat with them after and one of the chaps from NYC3.
Land ahoy….. finally!….. and front row tickets on docking.
We are now stopping here for a full day, night, and leaving tomorrow afternoon due to the strong winds. Punta del Este would require a tender.
Yes, that is Mark up on our balcony!
First stop, the Santiago Vazquez wetland for some bird time. Uruguay has a huge quantity of bird species.
A black-and-rufous warbling-finch
The full list:
Black-and-rufous warbling-finch
Chimango caracara
Common gallinule (moorhen)
Giant wood-rail
Great kiskadee
Great pampa-finch
Guira cuckoo
House sparrow
Monk parakeet – yes the ones we have!
Picazuro pigeon
Plumbeous rail
Rock pigeon
Rufous hornero – and it’s nest – aka ovenbird
Rufous-collared sparrow
Southern lapwing
White faced ibis – two long flying formations
White-winged coot
On the way there, the guide explained how some native birds are now finding they have all they need for food and not migrating. Much a reflection on something Milos had said.
Flowers are more adaptable than animals in that with a change from the expected temperature, they quickly react. The insects that then pollinate them are slower to react to a change in timing. However, over a period of time, they do so. The next to need to change their seasonal timing is the birds that feed on the insects.
We then headed in to town. Of course, we found and went up a tall building for a 360 view.
You can just see the ship in the distance.
And a cute little bar just behind the main tourist area.
The main square
The museum of art was impressive, to include a sarcophagus.
This seems to be a much less developed country. On the tour, we passed many slums, a noticeable number of people smoking, there was rubbish dumped even in the nature reserve, and a very interesting boat graveyard on the way in to docking!
One of the fastest growing cities in Patagonia with its elegant boulevard, stately buildings and sandy stretches of beachfront, a magnet for sun worshippers and eco-tourists. Sounds lovely………. or maybe not!
The previous day, we had our Commerson’s dolphin trip cancelled due to expected high winds.
Today, we were due to dock at 8 am. At 6.30, the port declared they were closed to all marine traffic as the winds were in the region of 50-60 mph.
Back to that spa then!
It is very rare to miss a docking like this. So glad it was today rather than cape horn or Ushuaia and that we had booked the penguin trip that day and not today’s trip!
The good news is that the wish to see Salvatore Hasard again came to fruition already. A bonus matinee in a rewrite of today’s schedules. Again, brilliant! A more than full theatre.
We also had a bonus talk with Milos. Short version – we are probably not alone!
In the words of Manuel, the cruise director….. we are somewhere!
By mid afternoon the clouds had lifted and another lovely sunset.
The evening’s entertainment was NYC3 with Shades of Buble. Three chaps putting their own spin on Buble tracks, well, as he is a bit of a karaoke artist, more like a few Buble tracks and a pile of other old classics. Very good! They finished with the best ever version I have heard of UB40’s (apparently that declares me still young!) “can’t help falling in love”, being a personal favourite as I had written an arrangement as part of my music GSCE final exam.
A very interesting talk on weather from Milos to start the day off. Quite in the rhythm of his daily talks after breakfast.
A little chill in the Persian Garden…….. heated tiled seats with a view, and steam room and sauna, then the outdoor jacuzzi has to be done. A little chilly on the run to and from, but worth it, and it means you have it to yourself!
A cape is a peninsular sticking out in to the sea, ie on mainland. This is on an island.
It is also not where the Atlantic meets the Pacific as many write ups suggest. They both join the Southern Ocean, aka the Antarctic Ocean. Also, being a collection of islands, there is free movement of water all around, so there is no such meeting of oceans.
This is the furthest south we have ever been, at 56°south, a whole 10° further south than the bottom of New Zealand. Interestingly, it is a similar distance from the equator to Edinburgh, and of course, we have been much further north.
The weather and waters around Cape Horn are notoriously hazardous, with strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs, and many ships have been wrecked here.
In 1992, a sculpture was created to remember those lost attempting to “round the horn.” The gap in the middle is a shape of an albatross, which are plentiful here. These huge, graceful, soaring birds have joined us all of the way so far.
In vast contrast to its notoriety, we had absolutely lovely weather and hardly any wind or waves.
Apparently, they often don’t get to go to the cape on this cruise. I believe we are only the second time in the season, and we are the end of the season! They also decided to open up the helipad at the front for us to go on to for the view.
Firstly, we fully circumnavigated clockwise, then we came in for a closer view of the lighthouse, giving all areas of the ship a good view.
The rest of the day at sea. Finally a chance to sit down with this one, in a very chilled lounge with a view.
Now we are heading north we are on sunsets from our balcony. Not a bad one to start!
This evening’s show is Salvatore Hasard, a guy from Chile who’s mum was Italian and his Dad French. He plays guitar, piano, sax, harmonica, and drums and sings in english in every range from Tom Jones to Cindi Lauper. His signature piece was doing all 21 voices of “we are the world”. Brilliant! Would love to watch him again.
To finish the evening, a 60s celebration opened by the entertainers with “welcome to the 60s” from Hairspray dancing down the main staircase. Brilliant!
Titled the world’s southernmost city, on the north bank of the Beagle channel, nicknamed “the end of the world”. In 1998 however the title was apparently transferred to Puerto Williams, Chile, on the south side of the Beagle channel, by a joint committee from Argentina and Chile, but this was denied by Argentine authorities.
They even stamp your passport!
A chilled morning with a docking at 10 am, so a little time spare after breakfast to take in the amazing scenery and watch playful seals from the balcony.
On booking the cruise, the penguin trips had all been sold out, however Mark had been on watch and managed to grab two tickets when they became available a month later. Nice work!
So straight from the cruise ship to catamaran to head down the Beagle channel. Heading east, with Argentina on the left and Chile on the right. If we went all of the way, we would come out at the Pacific.
First stop seal island.
Next stop cormorant-not-a-penguin island.
Cormorants are not graceful on take off or landing. Their wings are better designed for diving in water rather than flying.
And then on to the end of the world lighthouse, home to Billy the cormorant.
Always need to check out the local drinks! They were very enjoyable!
We were then on a mission for hammer island aka penguin island……. until a whale spout was spotted and the brakes were on!
They dived, and we followed them for a little while. Meanwhile, a group of dusky dolphins came to play with us while we were watching for the next spout.
The spouts belonged to a humpback (right) and an orca (left).
On arriving at penguin island, the captain pretty much beached the boat to give us the best view.
Penguins!
The big guy top right is a king, and the others are gentoo. Penguins live most of their time in the water. They only come to land to breed, moult, or if unwell.
It’s okay, the new captain should be able to unbeach!
This area is soooooo pretty! I spent most of the trip on the outside of the boat, taking in the scenery nature, and did I mention the amazing albatrosses? Excitingly, I did also spot whales, probably the same ones, on the return journey.
Finally on land, a short stroll through town and in to the Maritime Museum. Set in an old prison, they still had one wing set up as it was as a prison.
Again, much about the indigenous Yamanas people and their way of life.
A late return to the ship for dinner and an early night, however with a little bad influence from somewhere we were back in the room way past 1am to find we were heading the same way down the Beagle channel. A few minutes later waving the penguins a final goodbye.
An early morning anchor wake up, and suddenly we have civilisation. Surprisingly warmer than the past few days.
Welcome to….
This recognised the story of Ernest Shackleton and the failed Antarctic expedition of Endurance.
And of course Mr Magellan is likewise celebrated.
The obelisk in commemoration of the first circumnavigation of the world in 1520.
An impressive amount of street art.
And, of course, a fab viewpoint at the top of a hill.
The museum in town was very interesting, most of which had English translation.
There was also much about the indigenous people of the area, which then moved on to the arrival of missionaries and their impact on the locals. I couldn’t help finding myself this time in the middle of a different musical, especially on finding a photo of the first children who were baptised!
Ok, one more place we need to visit! Ding dong!
Mañana es un último día!
This evening’s entertainment was from the main singers and dancers together with a few more acrobatic entertainers.
An absolutely amazing show with a fusion of music genres more out there than you would ever think would work. We had Eine kleine Nachtmusik with drums, and the one that topped it for me was Wonderwall meshed with Hans Zimmer’s Time (from Inception).
Another fab silent disco finished off the night with a bang.
No points for working out who discovered this one! It links all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific and used to be a major route for transportation until they made the Panama Canal.
More amazing scenery!
A little more chill…
And more amazing food…..
The evening entertainment was a pair of dancers from Buenos Aires. They did Malambo dancing, a style that we had seen at the royal variety last year and wanted to go and see, however the touring group were coming to the end of their tour. It turns out it is an Argentine folk dance.
A fjord is formed when an old glacier floods. Apparently, it often happens. One way in one way out, unlike a channel.
Milos had compared this to Milford and Doubtful, which from memory are called sounds but are fjords (I think the answer may be about a year down the blog!)
Well, what an amazing day! Spent the morning on the balcony. At lunch took a stroll, and ended up with our special seat at the back of the ship. Yes, freezing cold has arrived. Let the pictures do the talking……
When the day starts with a whale spouting as he passes while you are at breakfast, you know it will be a nature kinda day.
Milos Radakovich, the naturalist on the cruise, is hosting a seminar every morning. The first was on wildlife of the open ocean. Very interesting and a naturally funny man. Learnt so much and laughed more than normal in a lecture.
Up to the solarium for a little chill time with a good sea view, hoping for a little more nature, to which a group of playful dolphins quickly obliged. Milos says however, that they were likely seals rather than dolphins.
Then, to add to our spot list for the day, many of each:
seal, royal albatross, the one with 3.5m wingspan, slightly smaller black browed albatross, petrel.
The second day’s talk was fire and ice – gases and liquids forget, rocks remember…….. the history of our planet is written in the rocks. Wow! Even more interesting than the previous day!
And this is where we are heading…
Welcome to our morning sunrise view.
This is our main restaurant for those with our stateroom class. The food is amazing even though it is called “clean” eating. It also includes the spa and gym….. yes, we have gym kit!
This is the spa relaxing room
Then there is, of course, a steam room, sauna, dry sauna, and chill room with heated loungers.
Ready for posh night!
A great gig, followed by the best silent disco…… thankfully a good range on the earphones that extends the party to many floors! Interesting to see a good bloke count on the dance floor too!
After a drive to Valparaíso, passing a number of vineyards as you would expect, a swift embarkation, and we were ready to set sail. For a port that was more container ship than cruise, it was the most efficient we have had, partly thanks to checking in online beforehand.
Looks like we have a new captain?!
In contrast to check in, the loading, however, was less so, still going as we headed back to change for dinner, and we left quite some time after the sail away bands had finished.
Ready for dinner and finally leaving town. Mark has, of course, booked somewhere different for dinner…… and different it certainly is!
What a great concept! A primarily set meal, with the importance of all in the dining room eating at the same time, amazing food quality, and of course the main concept, made for a very enjoyable and memorable dinner.
…. and of course, an extra animation and some singing from the waiting staff.
Welcome to the capital city of Chile! A pit stop in Sao Paulo and a close look at the Andes, and we are landing.
A little stroll to the main square, and of course, the beer needs testing, and the trip needs christening.
The main cathedral in Santiago is absolutely amazing!
San Cristobal Hill with a cute but very high funicular. What a great view of the city! A walk up a little further to the top and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.
Then, back down in a gondola.
It wouldn’t be our trip without checking out a high building. Turns out it is the tallest in South America…….
…….. and the best cocktail. It arrived in a closed chest, which, on opening, smoked with dry ice. It tasted fab, too!
Really no idea quite what it was!
The following day commenced with a little uphill exercise up Santa Lucia Hill.
Then, a stroll through town via a busy market stall area. All the locals seem to use sholleys, some for their purchases and some for the wares they were selling. Then, of course, there was a market stall selling them. We were half tempted to buy one just to blend in!
The general cemetery in town is very worthy of a visit. The size of the mausoleums were amazing. I was not surprised to find myself singing “wishing you were somehow here again” from phantom.
A short walk through the arty Bellavista area and dinner in a local restaurant with a taster menu of all things Chilean.
The first course was breads from different areas of the country. Not bread as we know it much more moist and doughy.
The reason plans had to change! We were booked for a dolphin swim on Thursday, however no-one else was, so it was not happening.
You go out on a small boat, and hopefully find some dolphins in their natural habitat to then go and swim with. They also run a similar tour in Kaikoura, however on a little research this one seemed more dolphin friendly.
Swiming with them is natural as they are social and inquisitive as long as you stay still and let them come to you.
Rocking the look!
You are told to use the nearby public toilets before climbing into a wetsuit. Well, that was the most interesting toilet experience!
As you go in, you have a voiceover re the locking and are told you have a maximum of 10 minutes. There will be an alarm at 9. Then you have piano music playing. The flush is automatic. Each time you use the tap, the toilet flushes!
There are three types of dolphin in the sounds that you can swim with. Bottlenose, dusky and common (which are actually few and far between!). There are also hector’s dolphins which are protected, so you are not allowed.
We were all given binoculars. Paul, the driver, owned the company and seemed to have a very nature based ethics.
On the way out, we passed a salmon farm being moved. There were 400,000 salmon in 12 pods. For a salmon farm, the water needs to be deeper than 100m for the waste to efficiently disperse. These guys were doing it in less and causing a problem. If they had devised a way to collect and make a use of the product, this could have been of use in the future, but instead, they moved it.
The first spot were some hector’s dolphins who were so friendly. They came and checked us out and then swam around the boat for a good 20 minutes with many of them playing and doing jumps and flips a little further from the boat. They are very small at about 1.5m and they have a rounded fin.
He said they were a subspecies of which there are only 35 in the world. We saw 21 so over half the world’s population!
They are often seen in this bay. They are currently designing bouys to detect the dolphins and will enable tonnes more research and knowledge in order to increase their numbers.
We then saw a couple of blue penguins swimming. How cute! They stay in pairs for their lives. They stayed with us swimming in front of the boat for about 5 minutes and then dived together.
A little lost on us, but a type of cormorant of which there are only 700 in the world.
I then spotted something. He whammed the breaks on to see a seal thrashing and eating an octopus. A very rare sight and very interesting to watch. Real nature!
Unfortunately, there were no big dolphins so no swimming with them. Now added to that list when we come back. Someone had said they were in Kaikoura! We did though stop for a brief snorkel as we had wetsuits on.
On returning to the docks, they spotted a white heron, apparently extremely rare.
Time to head south!
On passing Kaikoura later that day, we did see the dusky dolphins jumping near a boat. Probably the whale tour we did a while back.
We are back at the same hotel that we shared 3 weeks ago with Del Amitri.
Mr MacIntyre himself is at the Arena on Tuesday, but that is some way out and a few days off, so not expecting to find him in the bar tonight. We do however have some people from SailGP.
It’s mega windy here too. Do they bring the wind with them like you get fake snow for skiing?
Looks like they have stepped up security…… in a fools and horses kinda way!
Just enough time for one last meal out. Mark has booked a nice steak restaurant.
Named after the first European to discover New Zealand in 1642. He was looking for the rumoured great southern continent, sailed right past Australia, hit Tasmania (in case you hadn’t guessed!) and then the top part of South Island thinking it was the mainland.
After a drive across the national park, we hit the coast and walked a very small part of the coastal path, with a view in both directions from the headland.
It certainly gave us a taste of the park. It’s a very pretty area, so unspoilt it really needs some time hiking to appreciate.
Suprisingly hot weather, considering the forecast and amount of rain last night.
Today, we were due to head down the Buller Gorge, however plans change, and back south to Picton we head, over Takaka Hill with stunning views, through Nelson and a coffee stop that turned into lunch with a view of Able Tasman.
We took the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive back to Picton. Beautiful scenery, though the water has totally browned thanks to last night’s rain.
Little had we realised when we stayed in Picton that just beyond the ferry terminal that there was a huge logging port!
Finally, to Picton with fish and chips on the front.
Back to Oxleys for a little Paddy’s music!
Yes, Mark, it is too early to put the home hues to green. It is 8 in the morning!
Back down through Blenheim to pick up the fast road northwest rather than the slower scenic drive, though this route is mighty scenic!
You can see the harvesting season is imminent, though no machinery spotted on the vines yet.
North through Havelock. A much smaller town than expected. Pretty much just a marina full of mussels and a pier…..
The road then heads east to Pelorus Bridge with a worthwhile coffee stop. A fab coffee and so was the pie!
A very scenic pine forest drive with many lorries full of logs, through Nelson, and stumbled on a cute little public rose garden.
Further north a few more vineyards, and now we also have apple orchards and hops, then up and over Tākaka Hill with amazing views over Nelson and then West.
Tākaka, a small town west of Abel Tasman National Park in the huge sweeping bay of Golden Bay.
Te Waikoropupū Springs a little out of town are the largest freshwater springs in New Zealand, the largest cold water springs in the Southern Hemisphere and contain some of the clearest water ever measured.
Of course, a silver fern.
A lovely room for a motel, with a bath under the stars!
Well, the clouds and the rain too, but still really lovely.
A lovely meal first in Dada’s in town. No, we didn’t choose it because of the name! The walking route in to town was along the old tramway.
The motel even had their own little gloworm cave and supply of avocado!
The Queen Charlotte Track is a popular tramping and cycle track setup in the early 80s following the route Captain Cook would take from Ships Cove.
You can walk the whole track over four days. On our time budget, we went for a one day stretch, which involved a boat to the start point of Furneaux Lodge, and back from the end point of Punga Cove (yes Mark, it sounds like Byker Grove!)
James Cook named the Queen Charlotte Sound for the wife of British ruler George III, in 1770.
A sound is a valley that is then flooded for some reason. In this case, it was the sea level rising at the end of the ice age. Interestingly, Milford and Doubtful are actually fjords, not sounds.
First, a stop at Motuara island to pick up some people. The island was the first island to be rewilded.
When the Europeans moved into the area, they used it for farming, removing much of the natural plants and trees. They are now going through a period of rewilding by removal of the poisonous pines and animals that had been imported that were killing the native birds, namely stoats, rats, ferrets and possums. Firstly, on islands that can be easily isolated. Once the bird populations have increased, they can then be reintroduced to other areas of the country.
We then stopped at Ships Cove. This was the first place Captain Cook stopped in New Zealand, and he liked it so much that he ended up staying 270 days over 5 visits. This area had not been farmed, so you could see what the natural planting was.
A quick stop at Resolution Bay to drop some other walkers and feed the blue cod. Apparently, they, and indeed many other fish, change from female to male to get the right mix.
Finally our stop and we are off tramping!
Made it!
A very nice meal at Escape to Picton for our reward, with a very nice Marlborough to help it down. The baked avocado with soft blue cheese and caramelised onion was the winner though.
Kaikoura is the home of the sperm whale, so we had to go and see them. Up to the Whaleway Station, Whaleway Road.
Sperm whales are named after the waxy substance, spermaceti, in their heads. When they reduce the temperature of the wax/oil, which then solidifies it is then heavier than water to enable them to dive. They then stay at the bottom up to 3km deep eating for, on average, 45 minutes. They then warm up the oil, meaning it is lighter than water, thus returning to the top to breathe and rest, floating. The part you can see at the surface is the front 2/3. They stay at the top for 10 to 15 minutes. The dive at the end of the rest is when you see the tail.
They eat a tonne of food each day, mainly giant squid up to 16m long. One washed up on a beach and measured in at 11m.
There were plenty of dusky dolphins coming to check us out and a few common dolphin. Dolphins are very sociable animals and one of the few animals that mate for fun. Apparently in filming, one female was found to mate with 7 different males in one minute!
The northern royal albatross weighing in at 10kg, of which we saw a number, were stunning. With a wingspan of up to 3.6m, they glide huge distances without using much energy. They can travel up to 30,000km without a break. It is thought they can sleep on the wing.
They have no predator but are reducing in numbers through human fishing incidents.
A northern giant petrel and another smaller petrel also visited.
From a chilly boat with a scarf and gloves to shorts in 20 minutes, and we are on our way north.
A quick stop for some crayfish.
Wow! That was amazing!
Aloe!
Next stop at Ohau Point Lookout, a very busy seal colony. Lots of pups playing.
Followed by another amazing scenic coastal drive north. A little inland and we found vines on the rolling hills. The rolling then became much steeper and without vines. On the final bend, the huge flat valley appeared with wineries everywhere. Much more commercial and very flat.
When in Marlborough…..
The Legado 2021 was certainly the winner!
Much less of the vines are covered here. They have much less trouble with birds, whereas other areas that grow fruit have many more birds attracted for this reason. Some vines just had the bottom part where the grapes are netted.
The grapes for bubbles have been picked already. The rest is due to commence in the next week or so, a little delayed due to humidity. A little more dry sun required before they are ready. It will then be 12 hour days for all, the majority being picked by machine.
We, of course, then took a little drive around the vineyards of Blenheim. A few names you would know. It really is a very large area!
We are staying in Picton for a couple of nights. A “classy and modern” establishment
Oh dear!
Great view though
A short walk to Bob’s Bay and back to warm the legs up for tomorrow.
Wow! What a scenic drive! Certainly on the repeat list, and would do the train too.
From the Canterbury plains we head north through Waipara…..
Ok, for any of you ladies reading recognising that name, yes, we didn’t make it through! If you are going to do a tasting menu with paired wines, then this is the place to do it!
The food was amazing. The reisling, contrary to the German, was dry and lovely. The chardonnay was not too sweet and had been oak aged, very controversial. I loved it, and we both loved it with the fish. The deep full body red was fab with the chocolate, too.
On up north and not long before we were following up the coast.
Some really easy nature watching right from the road.
And arrived in our home for tonight. A little more nature spotting and time to chill. Well if your hotel has a champagne bar what is a girl supposed to do?
Followed by a little star watching in a cloudless sky. Mars was very clear. Kaikoura is in the process of applying for data sky status. You can definitely see plenty of stars here!
Not much improvement on the blowholes. High tide is still a while off. Will have to come back next time!
The cavern, however, was amazing. You were able to climb a long way in with torch light.
A few shots to give you an idea of how impressive the coastline is
Apparently there are penguins here!
A few stops on the road east. Some historic baths, now in the middle of nowhere, and Londonderry Rock, and huge rock that had been carried for miles on glacier.
We then caught up with the trans penine railway, following the route for a while to the Morrisons bridge.
It was such an amazing bridge that at the other end of the bridge, it had another little rope bridge, one person at a time, from the bridge to the land!
We then followed along the beautiful Otira river, at which point I am sorry to say those on the train disappeared into a tunnel and missed the amazingly steep Otira gorge.
They then reappear just level with our motel at Arthur’s Pass. A strange little place with nowhere really to eat and nowhere near as mountainous as I had expected.
After checking in, we had the opportunity for a little hike up to the Devils Punchbowl waterfall, of course, with a few more bridges to keep me happy. The view at the top, though, was worth the climb even without the bridge trade-off.
Dinner was in the next town of Bealey. The venison was very good and would certainly stay there for the view. Looking forward to seeing it in full daylight tomorrow.
The town of Franz Josef is a cute little town where most people there are tourists, and the only people living there work in the tourism industry. At dinner last night, we joked that it is probably the same guys working in all the shops and restaurants. This morning, it was proven….our motel chap said he saw us in Blue Ice and told us what we ate! He was serving there helping out his aunt! No wonder he had recommended it, though he also recommended all of the other three restaurants in town!
As expected with a glacier right there, the town is right next to a river, however across the years the silt in river has built up so much that it is higher than the town, with the need to keep building up the sides. Sounds a little dangerous, but I’m sure they are monitoring it.
A quick goodbye to our favourite glacier and North we head.
Okarito, a cute little seaside village, off the beaten track, with a wetland and other walks, and of course a gold rush history of which the wharf remains.
Their evening kiwi tours have a 95% success rate. That’s going on my list for when we move to Queenstown!
A brief stop at Ross, another goldmining town, though they think there is still $700 million of the gold still there, so you can pay to try panning.
Heather is checking whether this is more comfortable than those on the St Peters Village Tour!
Next stop, Hokitika Gorge with a beautiful blue-green river thanks to melt water from the glacier above.
Did I ever mention………?
Weirdly, the other end of the bridge said 2020!
A quick stop in the town at the end of the river.
The pancake rocks did not disappoint. Made from limestone a lot of years ago, however, like the shell groto, they have absolutely no idea how they came about!
There are also blowholes where the waves have created caves and then broken through the roof. The tide was out, so will hopefully be more impressive on a pop back tomorrow.
Franz Josef Glacier. The steepest and fastest moving glacier in NZ. It is the west side of the mountain range with Mount Cook, the hooker and tasman glaciers, etc
The reason that our heli hike was cancelled was that, being early, they would not have had the opportunity to check out the route after the bad weather. Having arrived late yesterday, we could see they would not have been able to go up that day, and indeed, we had not heard any helicopters. The weather today, however, was promising, and the choppers were certainly flying.
With the heli hike cancelled, we took the much needed opportunity for a little lie in. A nice facon sandwich in the room as we had a little hob, and sat down to work out which walks we would do, ideally not too far away incase they called, and working out whether to wear our heli hike clothes or have them on standby.
Mark put his phone on loud as we had given them the NZ sim number, and 5 minutes later, it rang. YES we said!
And yes, I will totally bore you with photos! Don’t worry, there are more if you want them, just give us a shout. What an experience!
The guide, Cale, was brilliant. Very patient and no rush for any of it. From ensuring we had the right amount of layers to putting on harnesses and crampons, and double carabiner clip-on to safety lines.
First, the heli ride. We needed to weigh in once we were loaded up with our over coats, over trousers and harnesses, to work out who would sit where. Being one of the smallest I got a front row ticket!
After watching a rather scary rock fall on the far valley, which our chap had to fully report, a crampon and pole stop, and we were off!
This was the highlight. A very tight squeeze and a hole at the bottom! Yes, we needed to get through where the rope goes!
We met one of the guys up there who checks/makes the routes each morning. It moves so quickly that we were the first to do some of the route. At the other extreme, it is due to rain on Sunday, and the crevices we walked through would likely no longer be there after the rain. Nature at its most amazing!
Before returning to the chopper, we also saw a small avalanche a distance off.
To put it in perspective the A and B and the B are where we went, and on the second picture, the two glaciers are hooker on the left and tasman on the right that we visited a few days before.
We later took a walking route to the nearest you can get to the bottom. 3km from the end!
For dinner, we visited the Blue Ice restaurant. Definitely recommended. I had the best stuffed chicken……,filled with spinach leaves, camembert cheese, chorizo, and sundried tomatoes wrapped with bacon and served with potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and mushroom bacon sauce. 👌
Followed by a very dark walk down terrace walk. So lovely to see glow worms in a natural habitat, jf not a little spookey. Some country people kindly helped us find our way without our lights on, and it was a spectacular show from the glowworms.
A few things to see just outside Queenstown before heading north. Firstly, Edith Cavell Bridge over the shotover river. Built to assist in the goldrush. A miner decided its name, though the council disagreed as they thought her too controversial. He painted on the side of the bridge, and it stuck!
Did I ever mention I like bridges?
Arrowtown Chinese settlement from the 1880s. Very interesting to see some of the buildings that the Chinese men lived in when they immigrated at the time of the gold rush. Some are tiny.
And then on to the Kawarau Bridge, the birthplace of bungy. The world’s first commercial bungy operation opened at the Kawarau Bridge, surprisingly as recent as November 1988. It now attracts more than 500,000 people each year.
No, we didn’t, but we did do the zip! Who knew there were so many options?
After watching a chap going upside down……
Up and over the crown range with fab views over Queenstown and the river we jetted up yesterday.
Established in 1863, the Cardrona Hotel is one of New Zealand’s oldest hotels, and is one of only two remaining buildings from the Cardrona Valley gold rush era.
They obliged with a light lunch. Bao buns and frickles – fried pickles (gherkins etc) – recommended!
The Cardrona Bra Fence of course needed a stop
I’m sure there is so much more to this beautiful town, however it had to be done #ThatWanakaTree
We then headed north via the amazing Haast Pass with numerous waterfalls and other vistas.
Most bridges here, unless they are in a big town, are single lane. I guess they just dont have the amount of traffic to warrant a full-size bridge. We certainly haven’t seen a rush hour or a traffic jam, not even in the big towns. So we were not surprised to find the Haast bridge at 737m long was still just one lane, but with a couple of passing places. Apparently, it is the 7th longest bridge in NZ and the longest one lane bridge.
Through Fox Glacier and a fairly late arrival to Franz Josef to hear the weather has been awful this past day or so.
Apparently, there were 1444 lightning strikes in the westland in the 24 hours to 7.30 this morning! We had a brief thunderstorm last night in Queenstown, but the rain had finished by the time we had left the pub.
Our glacier helicopter hike tomorrow morning has now been cancelled due to the bad weather. 😭 Hoping for a cancellation tomorrow afternoon or the following morning, but unlikely.
The best view of the town has to be from above, and thankfully, they obliged with a gondola.
The route up was rather steep, and so was the bmx track. This place is full of thrill seeking activities!
Such a beautiful view and perfect weather.
The tandem paragliding called me. I had wanted to do a sky dive in North Island however, the weather had not timed right for it. I went for it, booked for a little later, thankful I had changed out of that dress this morning!
First the luge…..
What fun! The first one, of course a little cautious, enjoying the view. By the third speed rather than view. By the fifth, speed and view!
We returned ready for my take off to discover the wind had lifted and they were no longer taking off from the peak. They were putting on minibuses to another location, however, our 4pm jet boat did not leave us time 😭 💔
The jet boat was exhilarating, though!
The TSS Earnslaw steamer built in 1912, so 110 years old. A beautiful old boat inside and out.
The woodwork in the lounge is made from kauri
From here you could watch them load and stoke the coals.
A lovely chilled sail across to the other side. We had found a piano in the bar and thought, how lovely and sat nearby.
A brief hop off to check out the gardens while those dining on the other side finished.
We then noticed the bottom fact on the leaflet
And returned to find these!
Entertaining!
On landing back in Queenstown, we found our own kind of live music who, after his set, then took requests. A very good creep, though, didn’t beat Roders!
The cocktails were fab, but such a wait that you sat back down and they brought them to you. Amazed that they remembered who’s they were!
Right at the end of the evening, the lady of the couple right next to us……. come on, then, are you coming up for a dance so we did? No idea of her name, and they didn’t say goodbye. How random!
We have fallen in love with Queenstown. Mark is going to be a jet boat pilot, and I’ll be a tandem paragliding pilot!
A third drive past my fave lake Pukaki and a third chance to take photos. Shame I missed the shout out for massages there!
The Hooker Valley track is a very popular and well pathed route. A little up and down but generally an easy hike with stunning views.
Have I ever mentioned I like bridges?
You can see the end of the Hooker Glacier at the far end of the lake under Mount Cook and plenty of icebergs floating into the lake, having calved from the glacier.
We then did a hike up to view the Tasman glacier. Very steep, but worthwhile!
A long drive to our Queenstown home for a couple of nights. Could do with a little less walking for a few days!
Rather nice that, even as visitors, we are included in the NZ census today.
The day is all about steep. Another early start. Just us at sand fly beach.
Oh ………..and these guys….
What an amazing start to the day! On to tunnel beach
And the steepest Street in the world.
The route north…
A short drive today
A quick cheese factory stop. Evansdale Cheese. The factory was very rustic. They commenced making cheese in 1977. We bought a few cheeses. The brie is their main product, and amazing! It is much thicker than ours.
At one point of the story it mentions that he started another branch in Oamaru called Whitestone.
Moeraki Boulders and Elephant Rocks
Not surprised to read it was used for Narnia in the first film.
A fab watering hole stumble……now this is the kind of business we could run! Welcome to River-T in the Waitaki Valley. The vines were planted in 2007, and they only started producing their own wine in 2016.
1 and 6 my faves….. a barrel ferment Pinos Gros 2019 and the Pinot Noir 2021. Well, a bottle of each for our lake view this evening would be a great plan!
It was also nice to check out the Whitestone brie and blue.
Finally, to Lake Tekapo for the evening
We watched sundown at dinner, and then the moon appeared from behind the mountains
Heather and Mark's travel blog 