26-08-2013 Monday - Anchorage to Seattle to Victoria

We swapped bedrooms with Steven so that John could set the camera up to take pictures - Steven's bedroom faced North. Up against the glass didn't work - again. So John set it up against the flyscreen - that is why the check pattern on the clouds in the star trail on the left. Dawn decided to stay up & see if the Aurora came out, initially it was cloudy but then it became clear so there was more incentive - she gave up at 3:00am when it clouded over again (John had given up way before this) we also needed to have the bags out at 4:00am - John let her sleep in until 4:30am.

Today was the last day with Claudia & Chris :(

They dropped us off at the airport for us to catch a flight to Seattle.









Anchorage Airport.









Nice clouds.























Glaciers with a number of medial moraines.













Some sights coming into the Seattle airport.
























The plane that we flew on.  












The waiting area in Seattle.











An unusual "sculpture".












The plane from Seattle to Victoria on Vancouver Island, much smaller and squishier and much more laid back hostess/host.  Also a bit bumpier but thankfully very short about 1/2 hour.









Taking off from Seattle airport.











Victoria from the air.












An interesting sculpture at Victoria airport.


































We have loved the beautiful flowers around most of Alaska and were not disappointed in Victoria either.  After an hour or two of settling in we then all went for a walk to dinner and saw some 'different' sculptures.









The Parliament Building.













and at night on the way home from dinner.










The Empress during the day....












And at night.












Some examples of units that look like a cruise liner.
























Captain James Cook R. N. definitely got around!





















Ros (our tour director) took us on a walk to Fisherman's Wharf - moored boat houses with businesses in them - most of us had the fish & chips or seafood - Steven didn't come for some reason :P (for those that don't know Steven does not like seafood!).

Most people caught a water taxi back to the main harbour (we did walk quite a way to get to the shop and some were not happy they couldn't get an alcoholic beverage there either).





Along with another couple, we bought an icecream to eat on the way back to our hotel.

25-08-2013 Sunday - Church, Anchorage & dinner

John set up the camera to take 30 second exposures out the window in Steven's room, as his room faced North. The Aurora Borealis can just be seen in these two shots - the green colour.








The camera picked up reflections of the curtain & the glass wasn't very clean so the shots are quite distorted. The other nights we could have seen the Aurora were cloudy. From the times of the pictures .. the aurora occurred approximately 1:30am for about 6 minutes (12 x 30 second frames).






This morning  went to the Baptist church in Anchorage - the service started at 11am & finished about 12:05.  Lots of singing and we knew most of the songs. 







An example of the type of trolley car that we went on to have a tour around Anchorage for just under an hour with full amusing commentary.











Float planes are plentiful in Anchorage, like having a boat at a mooring.











 A fixed wheel plane car (whoops plane) park as well.











 A mural on one of the walls.









An open air market.  A bit overwhelming, which way should I go?











Architecture again.









Captain Cook is well respected in Alaska.

Most people on the tour were surprised by their lack of knowledge about where else Cook went - we Aussies tend to think of his major achievement being discovering our land.

























 The view from Resolution Park.










Totems & 4th Avenue theatre.

















A sculpture at the visitor's centre.



















A fountain with the mural in the background.















We went to Benihana Teppanyaki Japanese Steakhouse for dinner with most of the people from the tour and were set up at two tables. One of the chef's tricks, was to make a "pyramid" out of onion rings and pour a liquid inside the tower to simulate a volcano. A very enjoyable evening.

Tonight Dawn has decided to try and stay awake and see if we can see the Aurora Borealis.