Maria's Sami experience

I have received another informative email from Maria about her travels - my own travels ended on Sunday with nothing new to tell you about - it was horribly cold and raining in the morning and it was a pleasure to climb into the car and turn the heater on for our long five hour drive back home. Warm at last! I really loved what I saw on Fraser Island and would jump at the chance to go back again. It would be lovely to see those "beauty spots" in sunshine! But I have Maria's story to share with you so here it is. . .


Yesterday (Saturday 22) we did not have a guide on our bus tour going to North Cape (Norway) and what a difference that made to our enjoyment of the trip ... no where near as interesting as we were left to our own devices and I got lost several times while looking for the highlights... and time was awasting!!  Sadly I missed out on seeing the Observatory but got to see most of the other things.

I decided to play with the ISO on the camera as the sky and landscape was darker than 'normal' and even though the pictures looked good on the camera's LCD screen it was a different story when I got home and looked at them on the iPad.  YUK!!!  Typical touristy mistake, not practicing before leaving home.  I met a guy the other day while waiting to get back on board after a day's outing and he told me that he only brought one SD card, the reason being is that he was depending to download his photos onto his tablet but something went haywire and now he was in trouble.  Not a happy chappy!

What can I tell you about North Cape?  Firstly let me take back a comment I said in my other email about North Cape being the world's most northern land point as I am not so sure anymore because the Captain of the Ship during his daily greeting to the Guests said it was the most northern point of Norway.

North Cape.  What does this world famous and dangerous place look like?
The Dream.  I thought I was going to be doing it tough like some Arctic explorer struggling through snow, hail, gale force winds, fog, hunger, ice and sub zero temperatures and come home a hero telling John of all my super human endeavours.

North Cape. The Reality.  Jammed packed with campervans/mobile homes & tourists to start off with.  And on this itty bitty dusty and unpaved road, we almost collided with four toll booths.  I was astounded.  The next picture to unfold was the grey landscape, no footpaths or 'roads', uneven ground covered in gravel and really, really, really dusty.  What else was there to see?  Miles and miles of grey skies and ocean.  In amongst of all of that there were a couple of sculptures that are photographed by the thousands each summer day.  See below.  Never-the-less still loved the experience.

Today (Sunday 23) I went along on a tour called the "Sami Experience" which John once again thought there was a better photo opportunity by walking through town.  Once again, John was right and he managed to take some stunning photographs.

Anyway the Sami Experience was unforgettable as we sat in a Sami hut, all 62 of us, some on benches and some on the Reindeer skins on the ground. The huge fire was warm and cosy, the Sami Leader told us about their culture in a slow and easy style, "sang" the unique Sami song, the cadence is more like a person in a trance while were served smoked samon and smoked reindeer meat with tea or coffee.

 The hut (completely covered by soil with grass growing out of the soil, excellent insulation) soon filled up with smoke even though it had a "chimney" and the embers from the fire filtered down onto all of us.  I had to laugh when I noticed where I was sitting on the Reindeer skins that the hair had come off and was all over my jeans.  As I said, it was an unforgettable and delightful experience. 

I forgot to tell you that the weather changed within seconds.  When getting dressed this morning it was 18 C at 8.00 so I thought it was going to be a scorcher and got dressed accordingly.  Well it was something that had to be seen to be believed.  During the outing the fog rolled in and the temperature dropped drammatically.  Amazing and  quite frightening that it could happen without warning.  A regular occurence I was told.

I got back on board by 2.00 pm and the harbour within an hour was fogged in.  We set sail about 6.00 pm and we have been fogged in ever since. 

A Quiet Day on Fraser Island

We didn’t set the alarm this morning but I was still in the shower before six thirty! Rather than take a tour or pay for the use of resort equipment I decided to wander the grounds of where we are staying with the camera, today. Of course my off-sider was with me as I adopted eye-catching positions to take my shots. He is used to people staring at his wife as she ignores every passer by in the search for a good shot!

He also is very patient when I need a person in the shot! I could hardly take a photograph of an empty beach, now could I?

After an hour of plodding through the almost quicksand beach, taking shots of water patterns, tiny flowers and dingo prints on the sand (identical to dog prints!) I realized that Colin was not enjoying this walk so we turned back to more solid ground.

Around the resort are many small water-holes and tiny lakes. The water contains tannin from the leaves that makes the water quite reflective. Since the sun was shining today (a big change from yesterday) I was able to take several different shots of the grasses and shrubs and the water and all of them would make fantastic pictures to hang on a wall! The colours of the plants, the sky and the water were so lovely.

Our walk brought us back to the resort, to the enormous swimming pool. Of course, I couldn’t resist taking a shot of part of the pool area. Everything about the design of Kingfisher Bay Resort seems to be designed especially to look good in a photograph.

Even the stairs, when viewed from pool level, are stunning!

We joined an “eco tour” of the property which was actually a promotional talk of how eco-friendly the resort is. The tour started inside the main building and moved on to the walk ways between the hotel units and out into the bushland surrounding the buildings.

We stopped several times to take photographs – as I said; the entire place is very photogenic.

It was pointed out how the main building is designed to represent sand dunes, one curve behind another- and it was also pointed out that we actually were unable to see all the other buildings and hotel rooms because of the way they were built among the trees and hills.

This might have been a promotional tour but it was very interesting and I learned a lot from it.

I have fallen in love with this island!

AJ

An update from Maria who is in Norway.

 Maria is once again in internet contact so is able to share more of her travels with us.

It just keeps on getting better!  I thought I was in Heaven yesterday, well today was even more spectacular as we travelled through the countryside of Norway by train, on our way to Voss where we were thoroughly spoiled by a magnificent buffet of all the local, traditional foods such as meatball, fish and fresh strawberries accompanied by a cream that you could stand a spoon up in. And yes I made a little piggy of myself.  Thankfully we did not have the smoked sheep's head where it is the custom to start off with the eyes as they are the most flavoursome as they are full of fat.

Norway is mainly an agricultural country, there are approximately 900 registered farms in Voss with an average size of 23 acres with an additional 7 acres of summer pasture lands in the mountains.  The farmers have a strong union and receive government subsidies which in turn makes the cost of food very expensive.  Everything is very expensive here and apparently gets more expensive the further north we go.  Education and medical care is free.  Today sunrise happened at 3.28 am and the sunset  at 11.40 pm.  On Saturday we will be in the land of the Midnight Sun where the sun never sets for 2 months.  Most people's religion is Anglican Lutheran and the local church has to have enough seats to accommodate all it's parishioners. Also, Mass will not start until everybody has arrived.  Each region knows how many reindeers, moose etc. it has in preparation for the hunting season. If you want to fish it will cost you 50 kr ($10.00) for the day and to hunt will cost about about $100.00 for the season.

The first photograph is of typical farmhouses situation in the mountains which I snapped from a moving train.

The second is of the outside dining area where we had lunch at Fleiches Hotel, the third is of a Troll which is the country's 'emblem' which apparently belongs in a fairy tale.

This photo was of a poster in the town we visited the day before "Stavanger".

Due to sailing in the Fjords for the last couple of days, the satellite signal apparently is not strong enough to get onto the internet.  Good to be back again, just hoping I don't go through my account before finishing this holiday.

A Wet Day in Fraer

Breakfast was very early this morning because we were expected to be waiting for our tour bus at 7.45am. Toast without marmalade! This s the very first place I have ever stayed in where there was no marmalade – everything spreadable was there EXCEPT marmalade! Shame! 

 The big four wheel drive coach on the beach

The disappointment of brekky was soon forgotten as Colin and I waited under dripping awnings for the tour bus. The other passengers arrived and we all stood separate from each other with no interaction at all. It wasn’t until 8,30 that our transport arrived, by which time we were ready to sit in comfort! It was cold outside! The coach was a big German constructed four wheel drive vehicle that proved to us why it had been chosen as the vehicle for this island by the end of the day. The roads on Fraser Island are narrow, loose sand tracks or else the road is the beach and the vehicle has to cope with the different conditions there.

 The fresh water creek and board walk at Eli Creek

A beautiful spot was Eli Creek and all of us enjoyed the chance to take a few photographs. Of course I took dozens! Oh how I love digital photography! You can shoot to your hearts content! I can honestly say that my heart is content!

It was so exciting bouncing along the rough, sandy tracks, scratching our way around bends with the trees whipping their branches against the windows and the passengers trying hard not to bang their heads on the windows – we were all grateful for the seat belts that kept us anchored to our seats!

 Erosion on the East coast beaches

Driving along the beach the damage caused by the high seas was pointed out to us, the cliffs have been eroded such a long way back by the exceptionally vicious seas that we have had in storms this year. Of course the beaches will change – they may increase in size or they may shrink further but a sand island is always at the mercy of the sea and the weather. As the sand has been taken away more and more of the coffee rocks have been exposed which makes some of the stretches of beach driving quite an adventure!

 Wonderful patina on the rusting hulk of the Maheno

Our tour stopped at the famous wreck of the Maheno – this once first class only passenger ship was on her way to the wrecking yards in Japan when it broke loose from the boat towing it and drifted on the currants until it finished up on the sandy shore of Fraser Island. Many attempts were made to re-float her but all failed so the sea is gradually reclaiming her by encouraging rust to erode the iron. The wreck is now totally unsafe for anyone to climb on and anyone attempting to stands to be whacked with a very heavy fine for their trouble.

 Our vehicle at the coloured sands

Not far from the wreck of the Maheno stand the amazing coloured sands. Once upon a time people would clamber over the cliffs and fill containers with the different colours to later fill glass shapes with different coloured stripes of the grains. I bought one sand filled bottle myself, years and years ago! Today I found that there is a very strong fence that prevents anyone from going more than twenty paces into the valley between the cliffs of sand – but that is obviously very necessary so that the cliffs will be there a few years longer. Again I took more than one photograph! However you can breathe a sigh of relief since I am only sharing one!

 The rain was falling as we were given a talk on the trees at Central Station

One of the stops that we had was at a place called “Central Station” in the centre of the island and there we walked along a fresh water creek and saw the most  beautiful rainforest – The walk through was at almost breakneck speed so I found it very difficult to take as many photographs as I would have liked – it was so dark that each shutter click was two second in length or longer. I did not take my tripod with me but was able to rest the camera on the wooden hand rail of the walkway. No way would I have been able to hold the camera still free hand – even by resting on the railing, I still have had to delete more than half of what I took. When you take plenty of picture, deleting means you still have a good collection of “keepers”!

We were fortunate on our drive around the beauty spots of Fraser Island to have two tour guides and we learned so much about the plants the animals, the island and its history from them both. I have so much to remember! It rained almost all day - but that did not stop anyone from enjoying the day.

AJ

Off on another short break

Although the sun wasn’t shining, it was bright and not raining when Colin and I left home for our three days on Fraser Island. It is quite a long drive (six hours, thanks to major road works in several places) but we broke up the distance with a couple of stops. The first was at a service station where we enjoyed a coffee and shared a most delicious apple crumble muffin from “wild bean” café and the second was to eat our packed lunch in the rose gardens at Maryborough. I can share a picture of Colin eating his lunch but the roses behind him will be at their best in quite a few months time!

Colin enjoying his lunch in the Rose Gardens of Maryborough

Very near to the rose park was a striking old building, I couldn’t resist pulling the car over as we were leaving to take a photograph of it, the huge embossed arch that was once the entrance revealed that this was once a flour mill belonging to the Dominion Milling Company. The place is vacant and for sale – but I would have loved to wander around it and take a few more photos!

 The old mill near the rose gardens

We set the GPS so that we could find the booking office for Kingfisher bay and the poor “girl” giving the directions nearly had a coronary when the twisty road changed direction and became a beautiful motorway! She told me to turn left, follow the highlighted route and eventually demanded I do a U-turn! Silence eventually reigned when the motorway rejoined the original road! So much for the Garmin update! (Garmin is the make of the GPS).

 Almost at the ferry to Fraser Island

We arrived at Riverheads in good time and after checking in our suitcase we went off exploring (and taking photos) for a while. The homes built here all look neat and expensive and the gardens are all tidy – not overflowing with colour but neat with lawns and shrubs. The ferry trip across from the mainland to Fraser Island took around forty minutes, I was pleased that I had my new “toy” with me, I managed to read two chapters of my latest novel on it! 

Not too many passengers on the ferry to Kingfisher Bay

The sand hills of the island looked drab and colourless under the grey clouds so the camera stayed in the case throughout the journey!

A little coach was waiting for us on the jetty and it dropped us off at the front door of the resort. What an impressive entry!

The entrance to the Kingfisher Bay hotel.

A young man guided us into a room where he advised us of the different restaurants and activities that were available. With the top temperatures for the next two days to be below 20 degrees none of us was too excited by the offer of outdoor swimming pools heated or otherwise nor about the canoes, stand-up paddleboards or any of the activities that involved getting wet! Perhaps a ride on a “Segway” might be a challenge! I have never tried one of those. Tennis is not my scene, nor is sitting on a bar stool! There are plenty of places to get tipsy!

Tomorrow we are going on a tour of the beauty spots – but the weather forecast is not very encouraging. Fingers crossed!

AJ

Maria is in Norway

Maria is enjoying her chilly cruise across the North Sea and has visited a port in Norway, Here is an update of her story.

We arrived at Stavanger, Norway this morning and what an amazingly beautiful place it is. The industrial part of town looks like a National Park with everything in its place and spotlessly clean.  We saw only one bit of graffiti in the not so good part of town.  It is as cold as I thought it would be.  The Long Johns saved the day as the wind it bitterly cold. As soon as the sun is hidden behind a cloud - it's murder!

We did a trip to the Lysefjord (sounds like Lucyfjord) and the quirky attractions made my day.  The boat had the responsibility of delivering the newspapers, this was done by just tossing them overboard onto the jetty.  The next attraction was calling in on a huge colony of seals, three goats which were called Clinton, Gorbachev and Brezhnev, after that we parked right under a fabulous waterfall where one of the crew filled a spotlessly clean bucket of water and offered each of us a drink.  This water had to be the best I have ever tasted in my life.  No animals live on the island which meant the water was really, really clean.

For morning tea we had the local waffles with fresh cream and home made jam.  Once again, I have never tasted such delicious jam and cream.  The other thing John and I noticed was the clarity of the air as it is incredibly clear making it a photographer's dream.
Maria

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Maria has limited internet connection (which costs an arm and a leg) and will be unable to send updates daily as a result. However I shall add more of her story as I receive them. Today there were no pictures to show the places that were visited so I have used a couple of pictures that are not mine - the first one I have been able to give credit to the photographer but the second came from a travel site with no reference to the photographer. I have changed the sky in the photo (the one of Lysefjord) but I would have liked to have known the name of the person who took it in the first place to give him or her, credit for it. AJ
AJ

On the high seas

Maria is aboard ship and off on a cruise across the North Sea. This is her story.

Well if I thought that London was cold, Dover proved to be a totally different meaning of brute cold winds!! Even the ship had troubles with the wind as it required two tugboats to get it away from the birth!!  The winds were over 54 km an hour.  Believe me it was a memorable experience. What a pity we had to leave London when the skies were blue and all dressed up for the trooping of the colour.

Last night I signed up to the package deal for the wifi on board ship and now have to see how it works because it is expensive no matter how you look at it and I hope it will not prove to be as inefficient as has been told to me in the past.

The ship is beautiful but cost cutting measures are obvious, the most annoying one is the toilet paper.  I am astounded that it even stays on the roll because it's sooooooo thin!!!   Some bathroom mirrors are kind and not give you the heebie jeebies when you see your reflection but the one in our cabin shows every crook, cranny and crevice that has been etched over the years, but what is even more depressing are the lines!!!  Where on earth did they come from?!  There are hundreds of them.  

Yesterday was once again, a difficult day spent mostly travelling not long distances, but tied up with getting from one point to another and listening to other travellers over-talking others in their group. We finally got on board the ship hungry and tired.  It sailed on time at 5.00 pm and our luggage arrived shortly after.  Two people unpacking in a small room naturally takes extra time and I have found I am still sorting things out this morning.  

We have a formal night on this evening so the long black dress is hanging up and ready to go.  At 11.00 am there is going to be a "dancing with the stars" event in the showroom which I am looking forward to.  

Maria

More from Maria - leaving Britain

Today was our last day of being happy and carefree tourists around London Town as tomorrow we make our way to Dover to then sail onto the Fjords of Norway but you will never guess what happened today?  Yep!  The sun came out and the skies turned blue!  Miracle of Miracles.  John and I had to come back to the hotel to change into something cooler because we had planned to walk to Harrods through Hyde Park and knew that the hike was going to take about 45 minutes.  This morning when we got up was only 9 Celsius.  That is something that I have noticed when watching the weather forecast ... it comes in two parts .. temperatures for the morning and then separate temperatures for the afternoon.

We covered a lot of territory today and one of the loveliest highlights was being able to walk along the side of the river Thames for miles and miles.  We took stacks of photos of the Tower Bridge and also walked under and over London Bridge.  We saw Westminster Abbey, Albert Hall, Cleopatra's Needle, walked down Bond, Oxford and Fleet Streets.  Harrods has to be seen to be believed, it is stunningly beautiful and I have never, ever seen so many luxurious items at the same time and under the one roof.  My better half sort of asked/said you are not intending to be there for two hours are you, and my response was "well I certainly want to do more than sniff the air and turn around to go out again" but basically that's what happened which suited me just fine in the end because my champagne tastes would have ruined anything left of my beer budget.  And with six weeks still to go on this amazing holiday I was glad to get away from such terrible temptations!

Tomorrow London will be doing what London always does so well and that is put on it's pomp, pageantry and ceremony to celebrate the Queen's Birthday.  All week we have been watching the city changing not only with road closures and frustrated drivers, but immense colour being introduced through flags and flowers.  I saw a tree being covered with real and large purple flowers, it was so amazing I took a photograph which I will show you when I get back home.

Just before leaving I want to mention to you that the photograph of me was taken by a perfect stranger, a gorgeous looking guy dressed in an equally gorgeous red jumper who just came up to me and offered to take my picture with the tower bridge in the background (it didn't work out).  Just goes to show you how friendly the locals are and naturally it did wonders for my ego!!
Maria

Maria's travels

One of our "Visions" members left for a very special holiday on Monday and since communication with all her friends is so difficult when travelling abroad I promised to put her travel stories here in my blog. When there is no access to the Internet, Maria will write post cards and letters.
Here is Maria's story so far . . .

Driving  to the airport in the wee small hours.

MONDAY: As you can see we made it to the airport and the next best surprise is that my iPad is working and I was even smart enough to transfer photos from my camera while sitting here in amazement..  Just love all of this technology.
So far I can't remember anything that I've forgotten, John has had his morning coffee and I am wondering what to do with myself for the next 3 hours.  Last night I downloaded a couple of books onto the iPad but I'm feeling too excited to just read... 👯
I also found out how to access emoticons from the iPad keyboard which I must share with you when I get back home.
Well looks like when I'm at airports and hopefully hotels, I will be able to let you know what we have been up to.

The foyer of the Airport Hotel in Singapore

 TUESDAY: It is just wonderful to be off the plane and walking around the airport trying to get in some exercise before going to bed.  It is 31 degrees with a delightful warm breeze.  We are staying at the Airport Crown Plaza and it is gorgeous.  Tomorrow morning we are up at 5.00 am and will be flying to London in a new 380 Airbus. I will try and get a photo of it on the inside.  We are currently having our "happy hour" drinky poos.  Thank you for alerting me to the free wifi at airports, hotels etc. I am learning heaps more about my iPad which is exciting.  We had champagne with our breakfast.  A guy sitting next to John typed on his laptop for the whole duration of the flight .. what was impressive was how his fingers just flew over the keyboard so it became obvious he was keeping up with the flow of his thoughts.  One baby on board that cried on take off and landing .. what an angel as I thought we were in for the long haul. Not sure when I can write again but hopefully soon.  Must go as John has finished his drink.

Maria and John in the 'plane

 WEDNESDAY: John and I tried to leave the airport yesterday without our luggage or going through immigration.  Now that gave us both a BIG BIG fright as it brought to our attention that we are not the sharpest knives in the drawer anymore.  Boo hoo!! We hardly slept last night as we were on tender-hooks worrying about the alarm clocks not going off.  I know, hard to believe.  It's pouring over here but still so lovely and warm. 

Unmistakably "LONDON"

THURSDAY: What can I say about the weather in London?  Grey, wet and very cold and everybody has complained that the sun has only shown itself for about 4 days in the past year, and that happened last week!  The wind is really blustery which has stirred the pollen and yesterday was difficult as everybody was sneezing and holding handkerchiefs to their noses and at the same time trying to protect their eyes from grit that was flying all around.  Apparently there is a lot more pollen in the air than usual due to the abnormal amount of rain that fell during winter.

London is getting ready for the Queen's Birthday which is going to be celebrated this Saturday and of course the Trooping of the Colours is going to be the main event which John and I will miss as we will be driving down to Dover to board the Ryndam for our cruise to see the Fjords of Norway.

 

With this picture of a grey squirrel among the daisies we leave Maria's story for today.
With the technology that we have today, keeping in contact across the miles has become so much easier. Personally I did not expect photographs with Maria's emails - but of course the iPad is a camera as well as an email device and can be used in the same way as a smart phone! I am learning!
AJ