Saturday, 31 May 2014
0024 Sat 31st May - Fairbanks
It was not the most exciting weather in Fairbanks today, so
it was about 11 am before we started with a bit of fun with the tow truck man trying
to load Arie’s camper onto his tray without ripping the exhaust off, while Arie
scratching his head in disbelief at the whole saga, and then Arie and Raya
having to climb up into the truck before they all disappeared down the road !!!
0023 30th May - Denali to Fairbanks
We had used the “blue loo” tent for the first time last night –
Having carried it around for not only here for a month, but also half way round
Australia for 2 months ! It is one of
those things that are so cleverly designed that they put themselves up, but you
try folding them down again so they will fit in their bag ! After some 30 minutes, I had succeeded in
folding it up once in the quiet of our living room in Queensland, but that was
8 months ago ! So this morning, we had a
bit of fun ! Suddenly, after about half
an hour of increasing steam rising above over our camp site, it went together
and we quickly out it back in its bag before it could unfold itself again !!!
We had finally found internet that worked down in the Camp Mercantile
(ie shop !!), so for an hour or two this morning I had been getting as much
blog done as I could. But by about 9 am,
everyone else was starting to log on, and the connection started dropping out
every 5 minutes, so I gave up. That was
when I went to fight the “blue loo” tent !!
Friday, 30 May 2014
0022 28th / 29th May - Denali
Up by 7 am to a partly cloudy and cold day, and Janet
even got breakfast and a cup of tea in bed !!
Then it was a 5 minute was up to the park road to catch our shuttle bus
up to Mile 56.
The bus was about 2/3rds full – They are basically US
school buses – Green ones for the cheaper shuttle buses where you take your own
food and drink and can get on or off whenever you want, or more luxurious cream
coloured ones (but still school buses !) for twice the price, and a packed
lunch and a tour guide there and back. We went green, and took our own
sandwiches, and the bus driver is as good as any tour guide, and still stops
for all the animal sightings along the way, just like the cream buses !
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
0021 May 27th - Anchorage to Denali
Wet wet wet. And
cloudy. That about describes most of
the trip to Denali, which was a real shame because the views of the Denali
mountains as you drive north can be stunning on a clear day.
We had checked the weather forecast in Anchorage and in
addition to the fires in the Kenai, the forecast for the next several days was
rain, but better weather forecast for the north. So we decided to head for Denali and
Fairbanks and see how we got on. So when
we encountered steady rain soon after leaving Anchorage, we were a bit
disappointed, to say the least. But hey, this is Alaska, and you really can
have 4 Seasons in One Day here, even more so than in Melbourne !
Monday, 26 May 2014
0020 26th May - Valdez to Anchorage
Yesterday we had a quiet day in Valdez, doing laundry,
going to the grocery store, showering in lovely hot showers after having been
out in remote / no service campsites for the past couple of days ! We went to the museum, which was fascinating,
particularly the details about the 1964 earthquake and tsunami which had wiped
out the original town of Valdez, and also about the Exxon Valdez oilspill,
which is still a central point of the modern history of Valdez. We also went to a funny store that advertised
free movies about both disasters, but which turned out to be a small TV stuck
in the corner of a thrift store ! We
watched for about 5 minutes before leaving !!
Then in the evening we treated ourselves to a delicious halibut meal at
a local restaurant – Although Janet’s initially came out a lot undercooked, but
after a return visit to the kitchen, turned out to be almost as delicious as
mine ! So a quiet day in Valdez after over 3 weeks of non stop travel.
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Friday, 23 May 2014
0018 23rd May - Wrangell St E to McCarthy
Very cold when we woke up, so it took a while to have our
breakfast and get going !! We then went
for a walk around the area, and the pretty lake with lots of ducks on that was
right beside the camp site. This
Wrangell St Elias National Park is enormous
and very undeveloped from a tourist point of view –
In fact, it makes Denali look a bit like a Butlin’s holiday camp !! With only two access rough dirt roads (this
one to Nebesna and another further west to McCarthy), motorhomes and caravans
just can’t easily get in, and even 4 WD’s are not that common, mainly because there are very few facilities
in the park, so people who want hot showers and flushing toilets really are not
going there ! But I had heard so much
about it, and was not able to get in 2 years ago in the Lotus, so when we had
met Chris and Katheryn on the ferry coming up a few days ago and they were
going to work there, and now the weather
was fine, we had decided to go for it.
And were very happy that we did – this Nebesna road was great. Nebesna was originally a gold mine site, and
had been abandoned in about the 1940’s, although the mine is still privately
owned and worked on a small scale. Other
people come in here for the hunting and the fishing, which is apparently some
of the best in the world.
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