The Smirkonian Sightseer

Travelling to Europe

During September and October 2018, Tony and I travel around the Mediterranean with our friends Michael and Abei. Over the next few weeks I’ll upload a few photos and some details about where we were.

Let’s start with the journey getting there.

LST>MEL>DXB>NCE

From Launceston, Tony and I travelled to Melbourne for the international flight to Dubai and then on to Nice. The last sector into Nice was interesting as there were about 100 people or less on the A380 flight. We saw more crew than passengers.

It’s time to go.

 

Qantas Dash-8 Launceston to Melbourne.

 

Flying over Melbourne

 

Arriving in Dubai at 5.15am. It’s 33 degrees.

 

Empty plane to Nice.

 

Flying over the Black Sea, Northern Turkey.

 

 

Next up… We spend a week exploring Nice, France.

Europe Tour coming soon

During September and October 2018 Tony and I travel around the Mediterranean with our friends Michael and Abei. Im still processing a million photos but I plan to have some of them posted soon. Stay tuned!

Oh dear...

I really look forward to voting in Greeka’s annual photo contest. Such creative photography in a land I like to visit occasionally. This year it seems I’m ineligible to vote. A rule change means I have to upload and be part of the party. Oh well, maybe next year.

Great Western Tiers

Panorama view of the Great Western Tiers near Mole Creek, Tasmania.

Viewed from Engadine, a quiet rural property with a cosy B&B and spectacular views. Located above Mole Creek in the Mersey Hill area.

The panorama features the Great Western Tiers, the mountain range seen in the distance, with snow falling on some peaks.

iPhone sweep-pano with a small amount of Lightroom processing.

East Coast Tasmania

In late August Tony and I visited Tasmania’s stunning east coast.

The feature of this road trip was Freycinet National Park.

The view of Freycinet National Park from Apslawn.

 

On the walking track down to Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park.

 

A walking party on Wineglass Bay, 

 

Hazards Lagoon, Freycinet National Park

 

Entering Hazards Beach, Freycinet National Park

 

On Hazards Beach, Freycinet National Park

 

Sunset on The Hazards, a feature of Freycinet National Park in Tasmania.

 

Boardwalk at Cape Tourville, Tasmania.

 

West Coast Tasmania

Around late July, Tony and I visited Tasmania’s rugged west coast.

An overnight stay in Strahan and a wonderful ride on the West Coast Wilderness Railway following the King River.

Lake Rosebery from Mackintosh Bridge, Murchinson Highway, Tasmania

 

Clearing rain shower at sunrise. Strahan Harbour on Tasmania's West Coast.

 

Capturing the early light spilling on tranquil Strahan Harbour.

 

What remains of the old Regatta Point wharf at Strahan

 

Train tracks at Lower Landing station. West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania

 

Rainforest walk at Dubbil Barril. West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania

 

King River viewed from Dubbil Barril Station. West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania

 

 

Greek Light

He is not of course the first visitor to be electrified by Greek light, to be intoxicated

by the white dancing candescence of the sun on a sea with blue sky pouring into it.

- Lawrence Durrell, The Greek Islands (1978)

~~~~~~~

It’s one of my favourite quotes. I’ve been to the Greek Islands a few times and read many books in my philhellenic research.  

This week the first episode of The Durrell’s premieres on Australian TV. The series follows younger brother Gerald Durrell’s account of his time growing up on the island of Corfu, as outlined in the tele-movie My Family & Other Animals.

Surfers Paradise holiday

A few weeks back Tony and I stay with our good mate Michael in his Gold Coast apartment. Six days of winter sun. Here are a some photos...

 Sky point Tower viewing deck

Dusk view of the beach taken from Michael’s balcony.

Pine Lake

Pine Lake - Central Plateau Conservation Area, Tasmania

Pine Lake is easily accessible via a 400m boardwalk, located on the Highland Lakes Road (A5) about 33km south of Deloraine.

The Pine Lake walk offers a rare opportunity to get close to one of Tasmania’s rarest trees without having to go on an extended bushwalk. The pencil pine is an ancient species that evolved before flowering plants and only found in the Tasmanian highlands.

Many of the Tasmanian conifers are unique to Tasmania. The pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides), is generally restricted to sub-alpine areas above 800m. Like its relative, the King Billy pine, it can reach ages greater than 1200 years. Pencil pines are often seen around the shores of highland lakes and tarns, creating the unique ambience of these beautiful areas of Tasmania.

The Central Plateau of Tasmania is the largest area of high ground in Tasmania. It is bound to the north east by the Great Western Tiers, a large number of hydro electric schemes emanating from rivers that flow to the south - and to the west by Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.

Art Shack

Last week I joined a few other new volunteers from the Tamar Visitor Centre on a famil tour of accomodations in the lower West Tamar region. We also had time for a quick visit to the Tamar Valley Art Shack at Clarence Point to view the gallery and studio of Dan Villiers.

Tassie Specialist

Good news everyone! I’m now a certified Tassie Specialist!

The last three months have been a tough mix of emotions. My father passed away two days after my 55th birthday back in August. At the same time I initiated a new direction for myself by volunteering in Tasmania’s exciting tourism industry.

I'm volunteering my time as an Information Officer at the Great Western Tiers Visitor Centre in Deloraine and at the Tamar Visitor Centre in Exeter.

A few weeks ago I completed an online training course through Tourism Tasmania.

 

Judging time again

This morning I received the much anticipated email from Greeka for members to judge 100 images submitted to the annual photo competition.

I love doing this each year. Here are my top 20 picks for the 2014 contest.

West Tamar Photo Shoot

Last week we had some beautiful, still winter days here in Tasmania. I took the opportunity to take some photos around my favourite scenic drive along the western banks of the Tamar River.

These are just a few of the images taken. View more on my Flickr or 500px pages.

 

The Shambles

With the Tour de France starting in Yorkshire tomorrow, I thought I’d dig out this photo of the York Shambles I took in 2010.

Samaria Gorge

Seven years ago this week I experienced one of the most exhilarating walks of my life, trekking through Samaria Gorge in Greece. From the White Mountains, it's a 16km trek that descends 1250m to the Libyan Sea on the southern coast of Crete.

Not only a national park but also a World Biosphere Reserve, the beauty of this gorge is its ever changing scenery, evident in the image sets I've recently reprocessed.

The most famous part of the gorge is the stretch known as the Gates where the sides of the gorge close in to a width of only four metres and soar to a height of 300 metres. Samaria Gorge is a refuge for the rare kri-kri (Cretan goat) as well as many species of flowers, birds and some amazing geology.

136 images now on Flickr
https://t.co/FQdriqP2Qu

An afternoon photo drive through Flowery Gully

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost 

Over the new year period I spent a few days at my brothers house in Beauty Point. Although the views there are outstanding and the atmosphere very relaxing, I started to get restless. Having all my camera gear handy I decided to go for a drive through Flowery Gully. Having driven past the turn off for decades, I have always wondered where the road leads to. 

In recent years Flowery Gully became known as the home of Tasmania cycling royalty - it’s where Matt Goss and brothers Wes & Bernie Sulzberger hail from. So I was intrigued to know what this special place looked like. 

I drove along the Flowery Gully Road, seeing fields of freshly cut hay, grazing cows, growing crops and lovely rolling hills with scattered light from passing clouds. I went as far as Winkleigh and turned back, stopping every few hundred metres to snap a series of photos.

The image below would be one of my favourites from the afternoons shoot. You can see more on my Flickr Photostream

Picking a winner

A few weeks back I posted my top twenty picks for Greeka.com’s annual photo competition where members can vote from the top 100 entries picked my Greeka staff.

The results are in and here are the top twenty most popular pictures based on votes received from Greeka members.

From the winners list, there are 7 photos that I chose (highlighted below). It’s fun to know just how good a photographic eye I have when it comes to judging. 

For a closer look, view the Greeka winners page 

Tasmania's West Coast Wilderness Railway

Colours of Greece

Each year, as a member of Greeka, I get invited to vote in the Greeka photo contest.

It’s a real thrill to be a photographic judge. My father has been a judge for a local camera club for over 60 years, so its great I’m given an opportunity to do something similar.

So, from a final selection of 100, I’m free to choose my favourite 20. This year the selection was of a very high standard and most of the entries were outstanding, both in composition and colour. Ultimately, the winner out of all the members 20 choices, has to represent Greece and it’s wonderful attractions.

Here are the top 20 photos I’ve chosen. It will be interesting to see what other members have voted for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the thumb-nail pictures being rather small.

Vancouver Panorama

I've been watching episodes of the tv series Continuum and enjoy identifying some of the filming locations around Vancouver. Here's one I spotted the other day - it's at Vanier Park looking across False Creek to Vancouver's West End and Stanley Park.. 

Photo taken on my trip to Canada May 2012. Click on the photo and see the large version on my Flickr Photostream.

Below: screen grab from www.showcase.ca

Day out at Georgetown and Low Head

Tamar River at Gorgetown, Tasmania

 

Tamar River at Georgetown, Tasmania

 

Remains of boat wreckage at Low Head Pilot Station, Tasmania

Panorama taken at Low Head Pilot Station, Tasmania.

 

Panorama of Tamar River at Low Head, Tasmania

 

Low Head Lighthouse, Tasmania

New Smirkonian Flipboard Magazine

I've started creating my own personal Flipboard magazine "Smirkonian". It's similar in a way to the old Tweetsheet posts I published on this blog last year. Primarily the Flipboard mag is a collection of articles, rss posts and tweets that I've read and had an interest in.

It requires the Flipboard app for iOS or Android. Download the app and search for Smirkonian.

Available on the App Store

Android app on Google Play

Mt Wellington Cable Car

I've just completed an on-line survey for the Mount Wellington Cable Car proposal in Hobart, Tasmania.

While my political persuasion says I should oppose the development, I'm very much in favour of it.

So many times I've been to the summit of Mt Wellington, spent a short amount of time admiring the view then returning to Hobart. There's nothing to do up there but admire the view.

Last year I visited Vancouver in Canada and one of the most popular attractions there is Grouse Mountain, right on the city's doorstep. Cable car access to Grouse Mountain takes about 8 minutes, and once on the mountain there's a choice of activities to choose from, with winter and summer schedules.

Hobart and Tasmania in general, would benefit greatly from a development similar to that at Grouse Mountain.

Natural attractions have a limited appeal. Man-made attractions are proving more popular to the modern tourist.

You can participate in the Mt Wellington Cable Car & Visitor Centre survey here.

Emerald Lake panorama

Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, Canada

Nikon D5000
Calico panorama (3 image stitch)
Lightroom 4 with 32bit HDR plugin

Sydney in Tilt-Shift

Toy Boats - A Sydney Tilt-shift Time-lapse from Nathan Kaso on Vimeo.

Stanley Park Documentary in need of finance

Today I made a small contribution to beautiful documentary about Stanley Park. I had the opportunity to visit this amazingly scenic park in May this year and walked the surrounding seawall.

Stanley Park: An Urban Wilderness is a full length documentary telling the remarkable story of Vancouver's iconic park.

As of this posting they had only raise $235 of their $100,000 target with 42 days to go. I'm surprised the local Vacouverites haven't shown much support for a film about their deeply loved 404.9 hectare park in the heart of the city.

Film-makers Adrian Green and Grant Finlayson started the project last year and need finance to finish the documentary off. Please visit their website Beautiful Earth for more information about the film, or drop by the campaign page to make a contribution.

Take a moment to view the work they've completed so far...

Stanley Park: An Urban Wilderness Teaser Trailer from Beautiful Earth Films on Vimeo.

Finding a bit of Tassie... Overseas

Back in May & June this year I traveled to British Columbia, Canada. A feature of this trip was a day cruise on the Inside Passage aboard BC Ferries Northern Expedition from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. There are snow capped mountains, waterfalls, whales and other wildlife, all stunning vistas to keep a photographer happily occupied for hours along this sheltered waterway. I'm currently reviewing several hundred video clips shot on my little Nikon AW100 and also capturing a few still frames of scenes I'd missed taking with my DLSR.

On a few occasions while travelling, I come across items that are made in my home state of Tasmania. Below is a video frame capture taken on the cruise and shows a liferaft capsule made by Liferaft Systems Australia who operate out of Derwent Park in Hobart, Tasmania.

I only discovered this today. How did i miss it?

Art Of Motion 2012

Stayed up to watch the world's best Parkour athletes compete at Art Of Motion in Santorini, Greece.

 

This is Ryan Doyle (UK) performing. Ryan was knocked out in the final round, coming 8th.

For a full event replay, follow the link in the tweet below...

Μείνετε συντονισμένοι - για event clips & φωτό!redbull.gr/artofmotion #RedBull #ArtofMotion

— Red Bull Greece (@redbullGRE) September 29, 2012

Vancouver centric film

Back around May this year I spent a few weeks in Vancouver to explore the pleasures the city has to offer. Vancouver is renown for its film and television industry, just check out the listing on IMDB. Here's a trailer for an small independent file, Do Something With Your Life. In it you'll see a few of the iconic landmarks of the city.

From Vancouver Is Awesome:

Directed by Darren Borrowman… the unofficial working title for the film was actually “Vancouver Is Awesome”! They made the film for about $15,000 over the course of the last 3 years and while I don’t imagine that independent filmmaking is an easy road to travel down producer Bob Woolsey told me that “At the end of the day our greatest asset was the city itself. No matter where you point the camera you’ve got a beautiful shot and no matter who you talk to they know someone who is involved in film in someway and they’re always willing to lend a hand.”

SYNOPSIS:

Mike Browne is in the middle of a quarter life crisis when Lindsay (the girlfriend that never was from high school) and Kara (the exciting new girl he falls in love with) both (re)appear in his life. Mike must navigate his feelings for both women while also trying to figure out who he is and what he wants out of life.

His best friend is an amateur wrestling manager, his brother just got in to university but doesn’t want to go and his dad smokes more pot than he does. With no one to look to for guidance, Mike is left haphazardly wandering from one problem to the next with a feeling that life is passing him by.

Depth of Field

The Lion City from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Sex sells

Hot on the trail of all the 50 Shades hype, I can't help but think the Afterglow campaign is relying on the premise that sex sells.

Tourism Tasmania is conducting a special two-month tactical advertising campaign to encourage Australians to visit Tasmania during spring. The campaign will also create further consideration for travel to Tasmania over the following summer and autumn period. 

Oh, the places you'll go...

Based on Dr. Seuss's final book before his death, this is a story about life's ups and downs, told by the people of Burning Man.

One bike vs. San Fransisco

It's like Parkour only on a bike.

Swimming Koala

Although it is not unknown for the marsupials to take to water, experts believe the animal might have felt trapped on a tidal bank in Tallebudgera Creek and decided the canoe was its best way to escape. (via towleroad)

When in Rome...

Aussie Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham and his ukulele take Rome by Segway

Tweetsheet Tuesday

So here are a few Tweets that have grabbed my attention today.

I know what I'm watching tonight...

Billy Connolly + British Columbia - what's not to like? Tonight 7.30pm on 72: last ep of his Journey to the Edge of the World series.

— BeCuriousinBC (@AussiesLoveBC) August 27, 2012

I've been looking for a solution to synchronise Lightroom catalogues on my MacBook Air and iMac. This comes close but not quite...

Synchronize your Lightroom catalog with the cloud using Mosaic View: j.mp/MWfAZg

— PetaPixel (@petapixel) August 27, 2012

This is a beautiful waterfall shot...

Norway by Apo Japo bit.ly/Tkrydk on 500px.com

— 500px: Choice (@500px_choice) August 27, 2012

… and this stunner of the Milky Way pouring into a waterfall. Well thought out composition.

Milky Way + Waterfall: ow.ly/dfiKm

— Amazing Photography (@AmazingPics) August 27, 2012

Although I'm not the conference type, I hear the best part is the free buffet...

When I go to a conference at the @westinbayshore tmblr.co/Zt2_5vSFyuWy

— Definitely Raining (@VancouverWTF) August 27, 2012

British match racing sailor, Ian Williams started following me on Twitter today. No chance of reciprocating as I'm following the Kiwi FMJ team. (Yes I know I should be backing the Aussie teams.)

Just moved into the Badrutt's Palace hotel ready for St Moritz Match Race. Pretty nice view from the balcony! twitter.com/Williams_Racin…

— Ian Williams (@Williams_Racing) August 27, 2012

Last I checked, bids were at $7,000 for the tin lid...

If a Cylon + Boba Fett had a baby...ebay.com/itm/Reimagined…#eBay

— Video Game Museum (@vgmuseum) August 26, 2012

Tassie pro cyclist Wes Sulzberger retweeted this unfortunate gem...

Doh! Not the way to win a race... youtube.com/watch?v=PGBQ4G… via @cycle_nation

— dan craven (@DanFromNam) August 27, 2012

Last year I stayed up all night to watch this event via internet streaming. It's one way to use up my monthly 30G quota, but worth it. Santorini is a natural environment for Parkour.

Early promo for this one. It's gonna be huge! :D instagr.am/p/O1fZ_BDUPj/

— Airborn Academy™ (@AirbornAcademy) August 27, 2012

 

And the tributes continue...

Throw-away photographs shot during Neil Armstrong's visit to the moon: j.mp/SKwHxN

— PetaPixel (@petapixel) August 27, 2012

 

RT @in_focus: Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012 - a farewell to a true pioneer in 38 photos - theatln.tc/NRQZWJ

— Amazing Photography (@AmazingPics) August 27, 2012

Rearguard Falls pano

A three image panorama of Rearguard Falls in British Columbia, Canada.

Rearguard Falls is one of two waterfalls on the Fraser River, situated near the BC/Alberta provincial border.

Acquisition: Nikon D5000
Panorama: Calico
Processing: Lightroom 4 

Pushed the processing to give it a slight faux hdr/tonemapped look.

There's a larger view on my Flickr page.

Here's the before image... 

Lions Gate

Lions Gate Bridge at Prospect Point (Stanley Park). The bridge spans Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver.

Taken on an evening harbour cruise just after sunset.

Nikon AW100
Lightroom 4

Processed jpeg file from AW100 . The faux HDR look created by ramping up the Clarity slider in Lightroom's Develop module.

Prince Rupert

Early morning departure from Prince Rupert aboard BC Ferries Northern Expedition. (June 4 2012)

Nikon D500
Lightroom 4

The image has been cropped (not pano)

click image to see larger size

Little Red Caboose

Canadian Pacific Railway caboose at Last Spike, Craigellachie, B.C.

Processing:
Nikon AW100
Lightroom 4

Red isolation fx done with Lightroom. The Nikon AW100 could have achieved a similar result in camera.

[click photo for larger version]

Canada Day

Today is Canada Day, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to look back on the three week tour of Western Canada I just taken. As I'm the world's worst writer, what better way to reminisce than with pictures.

The journey started in Sydney, Australia. The Air Canada flight took about 13.5 hours.

Inflight photo taken with an iPad. Sunset somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

The Vancouver Lookout is the recommended first stop for everyone's visit to this vibrant city. It's a great way to learn the layout and orientation of Vancouver.

The 360 degree views from the lookout are spectacular. You can see the downtown area, the harbour, the mountains, Stanley Park and the urban sprawl of Greater Vancouver.

 

Walking the Stanley Park seawall - I do it everytime I'm in town.

My first time on Grouse Mountain

The view from the Eye Of The Wind, a viewing platform attached to a wind turbine.

This trip was also a first time visit to Capilano Canyon.

Bow Falls flowing through Banff, Alberta.

A still frozen Lake Louise from inside the chateau.

Bluejay. 

On the Athabasca Glacier.

The Ksan Village at Hazelton.

Cruising the Inside Passage from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy with BC Ferries.

Afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel.

Back in Vancouver, inside the Marine Building.

The Nine OClock Gun firing.

An encounter with a racoon in Stanley Park

Sunset on English Bay.

Goodnight Vancouver...

Happy Canada Day.

Second last day

Today I walked across town got to see the foyer (or Lobby as they say here) of the Marine Building in Vancouver. The structure has impressive art deco architecture both inside and out.

The lower exterior is currently shrouded in scaffolding but I captured a good shot of the revolving entry doors.

Inside, the lobby has decorative brass elevator doors, depictions of sea flora and fauna and transport of the era. The floor has depictions of zodiac signs and a there's a stained glass window at one end.

The Marine Building has been used on several occasions for film and tv shows like Smallville and Fantastic Four.

I also had a second wonder around the Canada Place and neighbouring Convention Centre for a few extra photos.

2010 Winter Olympic cauldron

Pixelated whale sculpture

Canada Place cruise ship terminal sails reflected in windows of the Vancouver Convention Centre

Panorama of Coal Harbour

Tomorrow is our last day in Vancouver, we fly home late in the evening.

Lazy Sunday Vancouver

We it seems my travel companions are not that well. I'm the only one still hopping about wanting to see and do everything.

So today I trotted off on my own and ventured across False Creek on the Aquabus (a tiny water taxi) and walked to Vanier Park where the Planetarium is located. I pay a visit to the H.R.Macmillan Space Centre every time I come to Vancouver, and just because my friends weren't up to it, I still wanted to cross it off my "things to see" list. 

The Planetarium building is quite impressive. Basically round with an odd shaped roof. The internal layout of the planetarium theatre is the best I've seen. The shows go about 40 minutes. The 3pm show I saw, Harold's Solar System, was designed for kids aged 5+ complete with talking planetary projector. Absurd. It's not the best production I've seen there.

On my way back to the apartment I went looking for the old rail roundhouse in Yaletown, which has been restored with shops and restaurants. There's a train turntable in the centre of the  roundhouse structure.

In the evening to took off again on my own to photograph the Inukshuk on the shore of English Bay.

Next on the buck list was the 9 o'clock gun on the Stanley Park Seawall. On the way I met a racoon.

The 9 O'clock Gun is a long standing tradition in Vancouver. The 2100 gun was originally fired to warn fishermen of the close of fishing. Today it's fully automatic and scares the crap out of unwary tourists walking by.

That's about it for today. Not sure what's happening tomorrow.

Joyriding on the Skytrain

The day started out cool and cloudy but slowly progressed to a fine sunny day. Tony and I decided to go joy-riding on the Skytrain. From Yaletown-Roundhouse we bought a Day Pass and caught the train into Waterfront station, changed to the Millennium Line and rode out to Metrotown, the largest shopping mall in the province. 

After an hour or so and only one purchase (i'm a bit tight at spending hard earned cash) we continued on the Skytrain, choosing to take the loop around New Westminster and Burnaby back to downtown.

Spent some more cash downtown and then we decided to see another movie. This time we saw The Avengers.

Not much else to report today.

Sunset on Davie

Here's tonights sunset from my hotel room window at The Landis.

Sunset on Davie Street, Vancouver at 9.50pm this evening.

Caught on Camera

Two nights ago, our sunset dinner cruise was caught on the KitKam, a webcam situated near Vancouver's Burrard St Bridge looking over the Kitslano and English Bay area.

We're onboard the paddle-boat Constitution, seen here lower centre of the image approaching the Burrard St bridge at 7.55pm.

On the KitKam again at 8.30pm after a cruise around False Creek.

Here a photo I took onboard at the same time (8.31pm). The flag of British Columbia flying on the bow.

The Constitution docked at Coal Harbour marina.

Taking it easy in Vancouver

After two weeks of solid touring, early starts & Dutch gibberish, today we took it easy. 

We had our final breakfast with the tour group and checked out of the hotel, deciding to put our luggage in the lockup until this afternoon (we couldn't check in with Landis Suites until 3pm).

Our plan was to walk to the Aquarium in Stanley Park. However, we only got half way there when it started raining (it was also quite cool today). Spent 25 minutes sheltering in an apartment block carport waiting for the rain to ease. By then Tony and Margaret had made a decision to head back to the West End (the area of Vancouver where the overnight hotel was). 

Over a Starbucks coffee, we decided to go back to the hotel early and do our transfer (by taxi) to the Landis. Luckily, by the time we arrived at 1140am, the suite was ready and we were able to go straight to the room.

Late in the afternoon the skies had cleared. We walked over to the Cineplex near Chinatown and watched the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". I was told some weeks ago it was crap, but I quite enjoyed it.

That was about it for today. I don't even have any outstanding photos to post.

On Tour - Back to Vancouver

The bus left Victoria on Vancouver Island at 8.30am. The tour bus drove us by Mile 0, the point the Trans Canada Highway starts, and through the ritzy suburb of Oak Bay.

The Butchart Gardens was our only stop today. Unfortunately it was raining, so the gardens were not seen at their best.

Then to the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay. The BC Ferries ride took about 1 hour and 35 mins to cross to Tsawwassen on the mainland. Had lunch on the ferry.

From there the bus drove us to downtown Vancouver, arriving at our hotel around 4pm. The Coastal Plaza Hotel and Suites is the same hotel I stayed at in 1986, back then known as Denman Place Inn.

Tonight we had a sunset dinner cruise around the harbour, which brings the guided tour to an end.

We now have a few extra days in Vancouver to recover from the stresses of touring.

 This is the view from our hotel room for tonight. Just gorgeous! 

On Tour - free day in Victoria, BC

The hectic pace of daily touring is starting to slow down now. Today, as we had not chosen any tour options like whale watching or seaplane flights, we had the day to ourselves. 

Walked to Thunderbird Park next to the Museum of British Columbia to view the impressive collection of totem poles.

Next we visited Miniature World. On paper it doesn't seem that interesting, but surprisingly it has turned out to be a highlight of our trip. Known as The Greatest Little Show on Earth, this intriguing world of smallness has exquisit detailed model displays of Battle of Caen (WWII), the Canadian Railway, various folk and fairy tales, dolls houses, circus and castles. We spent over an hour here.

We did a spot of shopping to fill in the time to our 12.15 appointment at the Empress Hotel, this included a visit to the Rogers Chocolates store. I've been buying their chocolates thru mail order and online for over 20 years. This store is the original shop where the founder lived upstairs and made chocolates during the night and sold them in the shop by day. Rogers Chocolate stores are now all over British Columbia.

Afternoon Tea (sometimes mistakenly referred to as High Tea) at the Empress Hotel is quite the piss-elegance experience when it comes to sipping a cuppa.

It started with a small serve of strawberries and cream, followed by a glass of champaign (Sumac Ridge Steller's Jay Brut) and I chose the Empress Blend tea from an impressive selection of high-brow teas. Next came the three-tiered platter of goodies. The idea is to eat with the bottom plate of sandwiches, pinwheels and croissants working upwards to the scones, jam and cream and finishing with the pastries and cakes on the top tier.

 

Well after six cups of tea, I definitely felt like pissing elegance.

What could possibly top this off? … Hmmm, how about doing a load of laundry to bring things back to earth.

Later we went souvenir hunting.

Tomorrow we go to Butchart Gardens then board the ferry to back to Vancouver.

 

On Tour - Victoria via the Inside Passage

An early departure yesterday at 6am had us onboard BC Ferries Northern Expedition heading south through one of the beautiful waterways on earth.

The Inside passage is 272 nautical miles through mostly calm sheltered waters. The ship has a capacity for 600 people but there are less than 100 on this voyage. We decided to treat ourselves to Lounge reserved seating for $29.50 each. This area has wonderful picture windows at the front of the vessel. There were only a few others who did this, taking up the front row, the remainder of the lounge was empty. They also has cabins onboard but we thought this a bit excessive price wise.

We occasionally spotted wildlife such as bald eagles and whales. Passing disused canneries, scenic lighthouses, coastal villages and communities including Bella Bella.

Departing Prince Rupert

A section of calm water on The Inside Passage

Waterfall on The Inside Passage

Very small coastal community

Sunset nearing Vancouver Island

We arrived at Port Hardy around 10.30pm

 

This morning we were on the road at 8am bound for the capital on British Columbia, Victoria. We travel the length of Vancouver Island, a distances of just over 500km.

A few short stops along the way, but the main feature was the mural town of Chermainus. The small town boasts a remarkable collection of murals depicting the area's history and cultural life. 

We arrived in Victoria about 5.30pm. We are here for two days, tomorrow being a free day to do as we please. We've booked ourselves into the ritzy Empress Hotel for 'high-tea', we might have to dress up a bit.