Juneau - excursion to Taku Lodge

Friday, May 22

I wake up early, establish that we're still at sea and go off to the spa, have my hair washed and braided and get a foot massage.

I'm excited to see snowy mountain tops. Heading into Juneau - the capital of Alaska that can only be reached by sea - we see another cruise ship already in port.

Along with two others from our group, I have booked to go on the seaplane to the Taku Lodge. We fly over some stunning scenery.

Having been told about this particular excursion by Beth and Croydon, I make sure I tell my mates which table we should choose - the one by the big window overlooking the BBQ. 
No sooner have we arrived indoors, they tell us there is a bear in the backyard. 

There is indeed a black bear up in a tree, having been attracted by the smell of salmon on the BBQ. We are told this is Louise in the tree and she is the mother of Hobart who soon joins her on the ground. But Louise is not happy and chases her daughter off.

Just in case the bears should get to the salmon on the BBQ before us, I make sure to take at least a photo of it - so we can think about what could have been as we're munching away at the salads.

As we are sitting indoors enjoying a sumptuous meal, the bears turn up to clean up the BBQ. First there is Louise, and when she reckons she's done, she takes herself off and Hobart moves in.

However, the bears are not the only attraction in this place. Hummingbirds, all the way from Mexico for just three months of the year, come to these feeders. Very hard to catch in motion. It is amazing to think of these tiny little things flying such an incredible distance, but apparently they do.

After our meal, we are taken for a little walk through a beautiful enchanted forest, past lots of blueberry bushes and looking out onto the glacier.

All too soon, we have to clamber aboard the little seaplane again. As before, we fly over some very stunning landscapes.

Tired but elated, we return to the ship. What a day it has been! It is quite late before we sail out of Juneau.

Tonight, I'm greeted by a cute little elephant in my cabin. He too, gets carefully transferred to the sofa.

Life at sea

Thursday, May 21

Today is one of those hard days on board ship. There are all sorts of activities we can take part in. One is a talk about purchasing diamonds which gets only about two minutes of my time.

Another one is an art auction with a glass of bubbly thrown in. A few of us attend that for a while and then move on to the wine tasting which is more fun.

I have to keep going upstairs to see where we are and to take the odd photo.

Tonight is formal night. Before getting spruced up, Nannette and I head for the Spa for an hour. Sheer bliss!

For the formal night, I wear the little high heeled sandals I bought specially for this trip. Not only am I comfortably wearing them throughout dinner and through the show 'Motown' - opened by the captain by introducing his crew..... with more bubbly which some of us have to refuse because there is only so much grog a body can take in a day - but later on I find myself dancing in the very same high heels! Amazing.

We're sailing into the sunset at ten PM.

When I get back to the cabin I'm greeted by this lovely swan.

We have to put the clocks back one hour tonight and I find myself traipsing all over the place around midnight in search of a clock because my mobile phone - being my only time piece - has picked up some strange time, probably something from outer space as it is neither Australian nor Canadian.

The towel work of art gets carefully lifted over to the sofa for the night - and the next day. It would not occur to me to deconstruct somebody else's artwork.

Boarding the Volendam and sailing out of Vancouver

Wednesday, May 20

We have a bit of time before we are picked up to be taken to the Volendam. I'm desperately trying to catch up on this blog, but the Butchard Gardens' photos take too long to download. 
I know I won't be able to do the blog on board ship as it is too expensive.

It is around lunchtime when we finally board our ship. We start spending the afternoon exploring our home for the next 7 days. The Greenhouse Spa looks very entiicing and Nannette and I can't resist taking out a membership which gives us access to the hot tub, steam rooms and the ceramic warm lounges as often as we like.

Later on, we are exploring the library, when the alarms sound for the emergency drill. It takes a while before we are allowed to go downstairs to our designated assembly spot. They almost struck us off the list when we didn't show for so long.

Part of our explorations included booking some shore excursions for Juneau, Skagway and Ketchican.

Eventually, our luggage is delivered to the cabins - well, the big suitcase, anyway. I start unpacking and suddenly, I notice movement outside the portholes. Crikey, we're leaving.
I quickly abandon the unpacking project and race up to the top deck to take some photos.

See you later, Vancouver.
I rush downstairs, find the little case has now also been delivered to the cabin, but can't worry about it right now as I have to throw on some other clothes and go to dinner.

Phew, what a hard life.

Butchart Gardens on way back to Vancouver

Tuesday, May 19

We have a couple of hours before we get picked up from the Hotel in Victoria, enough time to catch up on my diary and pack the bags.

I think we are all excited about the visit to the Butchard Gardens for we are all ready and waiting for the coach quite early. Very obligingly, the coach arrives early too and we're off to a good start.

There are really no words to describe these gardens - created in a disused quarry -, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Cutest rubbish bin I've ever seen

Two hours were only just long enough to get an idea of this wonderful place. Twice that time would have been much better.

But at least we have seen it at all.

We return to the Georgian Court Hotel in Vancouver for another night. Most of us traipse somewhere down the road to a big burger joint. When I ask for a burger without the bun, I receive the burger with the works between two halves of a lettuce heart. That's the best burger I've ever had.