An Overview of our Canada and USA travels February & March 2014

Almost at the end of our 6 week journey and I have given up hope of trying to keep our travel itinerary up to date with posts from each of our destinations.  My best hope is to load some photo's and a brief idea of where we have been.

After our short break in Honolulu and a brief catchup with son Nicolas (on his way back to Australia from Whistler, Canada) we landed in Vancouver for  a short stay before boarding our VIA Rail Canada train for the start of our trip across Canada by train.

The old quarter of Vancouver called Gastown, with a gas driven clock, and also a visit to the colourful brewery and market area of Vancouer called Granville Island. A trip through the inner  harbour to Victoria on Vancouver Island. BC Ferries boat to Vancouver Island.

After exploring a small area of Vancouver it was off to take the ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island for a few days.

Once back in Vancouver it was time to make our way to the station for the 8:30pm departure from the station.  After getting settled in and our gear stored in our little cabin, it was time to make our way to the club car for champagne and refreshments, a great start to any journey I believe.

Snow snow everywhere, which was a very unique opportunity to experience for us.

Winding this way and that through the Rockie Mountains.  The frozen waterfalls along the way and enjoying the scenery from the dome viewing car.

At Winnipeg we left the train for a few days and stayed with a friend who lives there.  We hadn't made the realisation that Winnipeg is one of the coldest places in Canada before we planned our break there, however, it was great to be able to see our friend and live the Winnipeg lifestyle for a short time.

Cleaning the snow from the driveways and seeing the local Curling League games was all part of the fun.

Back on the train in Winnipeg to make the final 2 night journey into Toronto.  After crossing Canada in the winter, even the the space between the train carriages is showing signs of being just too cold.

There was a short visit to Toronto, only stayed a few days, enough to have a few wanders in the main part of the city. Checked out the completely frozen Lake Ontario.

After a few days in the intense cold of Toronto, we boarded a plane and headed south to Tennessee in the hope of striking some warmer weather.  We had a great week dividing our time between Memphis and Nashville.  Both cities were a treat with the home of Elvis to explore and Beale Street just off main street for the Blues music, and then onto Nashville, the home of country music.

Our hotel in Memphis was just across the street from Graceland and even the hotel is a shrine to Elvis with his music playing at all times throughout the hotel.

On to the greyhound bus for the trip over to Nashville, with great excitement for the show we would go to at the Grand ole' Opry. The night at the Opry was so fantastic seeing legends of country music as well as new, up and coming talent. Took the backstage tour the next day which was also great.

In between visiting the Country Music Hall of fame and Museum and other attractions, we enjoyed roaming the main music street of Nashville, called Broadway, listening to country music in every bar and venue.

Our week in the home of country music drew to an end and it was back onto a plane for the trip to New York, there certainly was excitement at getting the first glimpse of the famous Brooklyn Bridge from the air.

We saw as much of the sights of New York as it is possible to see in one week and with a few spare days we took a 2 day trip on the train out of New York's Penn station bound for Montaug on Long Island, part of the Hampton's. Stayed in a very cute BnB across from the beach.  It was a refreshing change of pace after Manhattan and even though it is out of season, it was beautiful and very peaceful, not having the crowds of summer there.

It was back to New York for one last evening, then onto our next train journey, an all day train trip north to Niagara Falls.  We spent 2 nights staying on the US side of Niagara Falls and our last night we crossed over the Rainbow Bridge as pedestrians to spend our last night on the Canada side.  It gave us an opportunity to see both falls (American and Horseshoe Falls) from their best angles.

Canada's Horseshoe Falls

USA's American Falls

And that brings us to the end of our travels here for now, shortly we leave Niagara to travel back to Toronto for our flight home tomorrow.  We have a short day stopover in Honolulu to break our journey, then it is onto Coffs by week's end.  For our last night here in Niagara we were treated to one last snow fall on this journey, a good covering of overnight snow as a farewell to this winter wonderland trip.

This is what we saw when we awoke on our last morning in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, early spring weather ?? March 2014.

Cheers for now, see y'all back in Coffs soon.

Coffs Two are on the move again

A SHORT 4 DAY BREAK IN HONOLULU ON ROUTE TO CANADA AND THE USA

An opportunity for some family catch up time as we met up with Nick on his way back to Australia after working for the winter snow season in Whistler near Vancouver, Canada.  How blessed we were to score some beautiful Hawaiian "winter" weather.

We took a full day coach tour around the island of O'ahu to see more than Honolulu and Waikiki.  We enjoyed freshly made pineapple ice cream at the Dole Plantation centre and checked out rolling valley's and pastures of pineapples growing.

Finally after a lifetime of dreaming about Sunset Beach and the famous pipeline surfing spot, it was a classic surfing situation "You should have been here last week".  Oh well, enjoyed checking out the famous surf spot all the same.

Soaking up the last of the sun's warmth on Waikiki beach before heading to the airport for our flight to Canada that evening.  Will definitely have to put more exploring of the other Hawaiian islands on the bucket list for a future visit.

Aloha

 

Back to Britain and the final leg of the journey

After almost five weeks on the road, we have finally encountered another Wicked Van.  We returned to the car park after visiting the centre at Gretna Green and what do you know, an Aussie couple from Newcastle couldn't resist the temptation of pulling up along side us.  We were surprised when we met up with them that they also were a couple in our same age range and not as we had imagined, a young backpacker couple.

After sharing some travel stories and helpful information with each other we set off in our respective directions, us on our way to visit Hadrian's Wall and they to make their way into Wales to take the ferry to Ireland.  Our trip in reverse.

Hadrian's Wall was built in AD 122 to mark the edge of the Roman Empire.  The wall was a 73 mile barrier built coast-to-coast across England.  Some parts of the wall have disappeared but other sections are still well preserved and make a spectacular sight across the landscape.

There are several towns to choose from to visit the wall.  We chose an area just past a dot on the map called Once Brewed, just next to another dot on the map called Twice Brewed.  There are a few well preserved forts with Museums.  We chose the Housesteads to view the wall and the Roman Fort.

The remains of the latrine complete with drainage

An artists impression of the real building when it was in use as a latrine almost  2000 years ago

After our visit to the wall, we had an early start the next day for a long drive south to York.  Arriving just after lunch we settled into a pitch at the campground 7 kms out of York.  After some rest, we headed into York for a look around.

The city centre of York is "medieval" in the extreme and the city centre is still surrounded by 13th century walls.  The York Minster is the largest medieval cathedral in Northern Europe, so darn big, you can't get it all into a photo.

A section of the city wall at one of the gateway openings

                 

Off for a drink in a medieval pub

While we were in York we came across one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants, so we decided to treat ourselves and had dinner there.  The food was delicious with lots of small portions of very tasty dishes and not overly expensive.

A highlight of the trip for us both was to go to see some of the snooker matches being played as part of the World Snooker circuit.  We organised our time to be in Doncaster for some of that time and booked tickets to attend a few days of the tournament.  What a treat.  The venue was the Doncaster Dome which is a huge venue for staging all sorts of sporting events and concerts as well as the swimming leisure centre and ice skating rink which are also housed there.  We were able to catch a few players before their games and should have been more organised with the camera for a few more celebrity moments.

Peter Ebden (England) and Alister Carter (England)

Shaun Murphy (England)

Neil Robertson (Australia)

We extended our time in Doncaster taking advantage of seeing the top world snooker players in one place and ended up watching 4 days of snooker matches.  Even David was a bit snookered out by that stage.

After our time in Doncaster, we were down to our last week of travel before having to be in London to hand the camper van back.  So it was off to the Peak District to have a look around.  We headed off towards Manchester, turning off to head into the Peak District and to one of the main towns of Buxton.

On the way we stopped to have a look at one of the great houses of the area called Lyme Park.  I had a special interest in this house as it was used in part of the filming of the BBC series of Pride and Prejudice.  Being one of my favourite programs, it was such a highlight to have a tour through the house and the grounds.  To stand where Mr Darcy waved good bye to Miss Elizabeth Bennett was very exciting.

The pretty little Peak District towns of Buxton and Matlock and Ashford In The Water on the River Wye

                                     

 For our last stop before London we spent a few days in Cambridge, described in the books as drowning in exquisite architecture.  Not an exaggeration.  The ancient colleges are packed along the picturesque riverside.  A punt ride on the river is an essential part of any trip to Cambridge.

The last day of our travels with the camper van rolled around and it was time to leave Cambridge for the drive south to London.  Both of us on high concentration alert for the drive in from the north and into the centre of London to return the van back to the Wicked Depot.

It was time to give The Big Lebowski a wash and a clean through, remove the coloured stickers from the crazy message on the back, pack our suitcases for the first time in six weeks and leave our home on wheels parked at the Wicked Depot.  Off again to Waterloo station for the train ride to where we had booked our accommodation for our last 2 nights in London.

That is the final installment of the long awaited adventure which was our 4 month trip around the continent and the UK.  To say that we have had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed every minute would be an understatement.  This trip has been described as the trip of a lifetime, but hopefully it will be only the first of such "trips of a lifetime".

It is off now for a short stopover in Phuket, Thailand for 2 weeks to help ease the adjustment of the time difference and of course to indulge in lots of yummy Thai food and maybe a Thai massage or two along the way. 

 Thanks for stopping in now and then to catch up on our progress throughout our journey.  It has been fun (and sometimes slightly frustrating when wi fi's have failed half way through my efforts) to be able to make this blog as a way of capturing some of the memories of our travels while we have been on the road.

So until we see you all again back in Aus, continue to take care as we do here.

Cheers Linda and David.