Alaska: Juneau
One of the shore stops on the Alaskan cruise was Juneau, Alaska’s state capital. Even though it’s the capital, there’s no direct road access to the rest of Alaska or the US, and primary access is by air and sea.
travel
Alaska: the Inside Passage
In late August, Alastair and I went on holiday. Huzzah.
Along with the parentals, plus Bro and gf, we flew to Vancouver and hopped on a cruise ship to Alaska. Yes, family holiday ahoy.
It was a 7 day cruise to the inside passage. If you’ve ever looked at a map of that part of the world, you’ll see that there is a thin segment of land on Canada’s far west that belongs to Alaska. That’s the part that we visited.
Malaysia / Borneo: Kuching – Orangutans
Warning warning: not a food post. There’s only orangutans within. Really, really cute orangutans though. 🙂
We had to see orangutans when we went to Borneo, since they’re native to Borneo and Sumatra.
There’s actually two species: the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan. We saw the Bornean orangutan on two occasions – once at a wildlife centre called Matang Ai (which, I wouldn’t recommend, it’s a bit of a sad place – cages and concrete enclosures) and the second time at Semenggoh Nature Reserve.
Malaysia / Borneo: Kuching – Bumbu Cooking Class
One thing I really wanted to do on our holiday was a cooking class.
Before we left Melbourne, I did a search online and found Bumbu Cooking School. After a couple of emails back and forth, I had booked Alastair and myself into a morning class. Alastair and I wandered down to Carpenter Street early one morning and met Joseph, and our teachers for the day, Bernadene and her mother Elise. We also met the other couple participating that day (who were from South Australia).
As posted previously, part 1 of the class involved a market tour, during which we picked up a couple of items for the class: midin, freshly grated coconut and curry paste.
Malaysia / Borneo: Kuching – Bumbu Cooking Class – Market Tour
Hey, remember when we went to Borneo? Yeah, I hardly remember it either because it was in July/August 2013. Tsk tsk! This is what happens when you don’t immediately edit holiday photos, they sit on your hard drive for months and months and months, with a little gentle nagging reminder popping up in your head every now and again.
Slack.
Anyway. While in Kuching we did a cooking class, and it was one thing I really wanted to write up because it was FUN. During the class we cooked two dishes for lunch – a chicken curry and a vegetable dish. We also made a very easy dessert.
As well as the cooking class, there was also an option (at a small additional charge) for a market tour. We all know how I feel about markets, so it should be no surprise that we headed to the market.
Malaysia / Borneo: Kuching – Top Spot Food Court
Editing holiday photos is so. freaking. boring.
Normally I force myself to edit them within the first couple of weeks of arriving home. But this time, I haven’t done it and a month has gone past, and they keep niggling at me.
GO AWAY PHOTOS.
Hobart: Garagistes
The Queen’s Birthday public holiday saw Haz and me hitting up Hobart for a bit of long weekend fun times.
We flew into Hobart on a Saturday morning (with the husbands of course) and after leaving luggage at our hotel, proceeded to walk the entire length of the town in search of a particular cafe. All that walking, and the cafe turned out to be not so good. Thankfully Hobart is small and it doesn’t take long to walk from one end to another.
After breakfast we wandered Salamanca Market, resisting the urge to buy overpriced “vintage” cutlery and expensive wood blocks (well, I resisted anyway…).
Ecuador: The Galapagos Islands Part 2
Part 2 from the Galapagos Islands – see part 1 for lots of animal photos. We spent four days (not long enough – definitely, definitely need more time in the Galapagos!) on board a smallish boat – the Yate Darwin. There’s room for 16 guests and I think about 5-6 crew, so it was pretty small. However, each cabin (though tiny) had its own itty bitty toilet and shower, so that was fine.
Ecuador: The Galapagos Islands Part 1
So ahhhh I’m finally up to the Galapagos (yes friends, we are almost at the end of the trip posts).
HOMIGAWD we went to the Galapagos. Yes, it was fricken amazing.
Anyway, blah blah blah, you know all about the Galapagos Islands – they’re a cluster of volcanic islands famed for the vast number of species unique to the islands.
After Quito, we took a morning flight to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands. After arrival, we were ferried to Santa Cruz Island, and met up with our home for the next four days – the boat Yate Darwin.
PS: no food in this post… just photos and my squazzing out about wildlife.
Ecuador: Quito РI̱aquito Market
After leaving Peru, we briefly went to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, before heading to the Galapagos Islands.
Our hotel was located in the historic center. which is the best preserved and least altered in Latin America, and was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1978.