Iceberg Kayaking

Today I went on one of my 2 big adventures in Alaska - kayaking amongst the icebergs being discharged from LeConte Glacier near Petersburg. We spent the day bunting little icebergs off the front of the kayaks and paddling through this weird, cold floating world. Seals and seal pups were lying on the icebergs and others would pop their heads out of the water as we paddled quietly past. Awesome.

Moose Chilli

This moose was shot by a nice woman named Maryann's husband Leo last winter. She ground the moose steaks into mince herself by hand. It made good chilli.

Petersburg, Alaska

Greetings from Petersburg, Alaska - a town of 4,000 where 94 million pounds of fish are landed every year and where you can buy halibut tacos for lunch. There are bald eagles in the trees:

and snow on the hiking trails. I was so excited to have reached the top of the hill on my hike without being attacked by any bears that 2 seconds after I took this photo I fell through the snow cover up to my thighs and had to wriggle myself out:

Alaska Marine Highway

The MV Malaspina - my home for 2 days and nights' sail from Seattle north to Petersburg in the Alaskan Inside Passage. There was no shuffleboard on this boat - but the views were spectacular:


There were some nice cabins on the boat. Here is the view from my sleeping quarters:

And yes, that is a tent on the deck you can see (I got myself a lounger with a sleeping bag).

PS - thank you to all of you who responded so positively about the wolf pillowcases. I will go forth and seek out more freaky pillowcases for this blog. M

Seattle Mariners 5 - Texas Rangers 4

My first baseball game. I had beer, chips and stood up when everyone else sang 'take me out to the ballgame' at the top of the 7th innings. Overall pretty cool.


Sammy Sosa (not hitting a home run) for the Rangers. Off to Alaska on the boat on Tuesday, might be a few days before the next post. M

Yellowstone - land of fire and snow

Well after 1200 miles of solo driving I arrived at Yellowstone National Park. The Park is so big that it straddles 3 states - which is probably something that should have set off some warning bells before I set off on a drive that is the equivalent of flying into Auckland and driving all the way to Invercargill. Each way. Yes I am not known for my directional ability. Anyway, it was worth it because Yellowstone is amazing.


The whole park is basically one big geothermal area. It makes Rotorua look tiny. The park rangers were apparently (thanks Dad) looking for the crater from the original volcano and couldn't find it - until astronauts looked down from space and worked out that the caldera is basically as big as the whole park. Like a giant meat pie that blew out at the edges and then collapsed into itself. And apparently it is 'due' to go off again. Awesome.

In the photo of the lake above that's boiling geothermal steam piping up from the edges of the lake which is only about 5 degrees. Then just as I was taking this a geyser went off at the edge of the lake while I was standing there which was just bizarre:


But the reason I really went was the wildlife:


Bison (very large but very cool). Below is as close as I was allowed to get to a grizzly bear and her cub (digital zoom + telephoto so a bit shaky):


and above are some pelicans. Finally the other notable feature of the park was the SNOW - not so cool for a Kiwi girl used to using her tent on the beach.

but the campfires you are allowed to build are cool ...

Lodgings in rural Washington state

These wolf pillowcases at 'Larry's Lodge' deserved a post all of their own ..