~ South Pacific Voyage ~

~ Grand Voyage ~
from Seattle to South Sea Islands  ~ Fall '09

Our port stops on the cruise are pix below....

Bay of Nuka Hiva, Marquesas Islands

Bora Bora !

Raiatea

Moorea

Roratonga

Pago Pago, American Samoa 

Our welcome to... Suva, Fiji 

Port Vila, Vanuatu

Goulong Mask we saw there.

Our ship stopped at Cairns, we departed the ship + rented a car for a couple days.
We spent time in Cairns, Port Douglas, and drove all around the northern area.

....along the northern coast we enjoyed empty beaches. So many of them !!

Next we flew from Cairns south to Brisbane, where we joined our ship again.
Spent a couple days seeing that lovely city.

Brisbane....old + new, side X side...friendly city folks!

Next... on to Sydney ! Grand City!
Our ship is docked in their harbor... for 3 great sunny days  !

Next port stop was Melbourne and....

...on to Hobart, we rented a car + drove south to see Port Arthur area.

We sailed across to NZ, and spent the day sailing thru Milford Sound.  
Fabulous sights, beautiful sunny day!  We were most fortunate.

Day in Dunedin....this is their historical RR station.

Wellington has a great museum....a Maori meeting house of long ago.

Wellington....  interesting Government bldg.

The friendly folks of Napier came to greet our ship!

Napier !!  This Art Deco city rebuilt in 1930's, was a favorite port ! 
Ahhhhhhh, it seems we "can" go back in time. So many bldgs remain from that period.

Sailing north of Napier, our port stops were impressive... 

 including Rotorua (above) and Tauranga aka "Hobbit Land"

 Again we left our ship so we could see the country on a drive...
 north to Auckland.

      the Bay of Islands ...here we rented a car to drive to see
     N.Z. oldest stone and wood bldg.@ the Kerikeri Mission built 1822 to 1835.

We then continued driving north to Mangonui for a lunch stop and on 
to see the giant Kauri trees in the Waipoua Forest.  Impressive !

    We departed N.Z and the next port was Nuku 'alofa, Tonga         

            ...with their interesting food and craft market.
  

    Then on to charming...Apia

School age students came on board for a delightful afternoon performance.     

We continued sailing north to stop at the Hawaiian Islands.

Kona...for Thanksgiving !

Kona's oldest church

Rented a car in Hilo to drive ...

....to Kiaueu Caldera and see the current volcanic activity.

and to walk thru the Thurston Lava Tube.
....then on to see Akaka Falls, west of Hilo.

...this is our final port stop. 
Again, we rented a car to see some of this island's sites. 

see Jim above? and also below?  up on the rock

Farewell to the Hawaiian Islands as we crossed the Pacific to 
Long Beach, CA ... sadly this cruise had come to an end.

We flew home to WA and were greeted by this site  ...

 What a wonderful Grand Voyage ! 

Spring Trip to Europe

 March '08. We cruised from Florida "crossing" the Atlantic. 
Enjoyed port stops @ Lisbon, Gibraltar, Malaga, Palma  ...
then on to spend a few days in Barcelona. 

We flew to Frankfurt, Germany ...and picked up this little apt. on wheels !

Drove south thru France to Pont du Guard

Arrived at this 13th century fortress...just as it was way back then!

Impressive !!

On to visit wonderful, charming towns 'n villages in Provence

 French Riviera.. in early spring!

the Nice Spice Market

.....on to Monaco

along the Med. Sea to the Cinque Terre, Italy !!

on to stay in Florence ...and Pisa, too

 Visited many places in Tuscany area....Orvieto is above

Drove from Tuscany to Southern Italy.....saw the Pompeii + Paesteum ruins.
This was our "turn around" point.

Back up north to.... Rome ~ for a week ! 
After that, on to see the smallest country of San Marino

then spent several days in Venice, before continuing north... over the Alps to Austria

Of course, a visit to the Neuschwanstein Castle and then east to Salzburg.
 The "Sound of Music" place!  We camped upon a hillside with views of the city below. 

   Leaving Saltzburg we followed along the Danube River ... 
above is a favorite memory / tour of fabulous Melk Abbey.

 Continued east along the Danube. Then we left our camper,

 to train in + spend several days in lovely Vienna.

 

Vienna was our turn around point. Headed west along the Danube again, 

 to Hallstatt + camped on that picturesque lake.

 Driving north on the Romantic Road ..lovely areas, scenic villages !!
Leaving our camper again, we went into Munich + enjoy their interesting sites !

We continued driving north to Rothenburg, the walled city above.  
Then a ramble south thru the Black Forest of Germany.

.....continuing on into Switzerland for "a'bit of a stay".

Camping + watching Para sailing off the mountains into the valley.

                        Sadly we left Switzerland to drive north into France.
                      Our "route" was thru/by many colorful villages +  
                       castles in the Alsace region. Views above 'n below...

                                ~  Route du Vin ~ our route north
                             
                               Then turning west, we drove across France and...

                             
                    Ahhhhhhhhhhhh,  it's Paris !!  Fabulous of course!

We quickly became "residents' of this grand city + 
saw everything we could for several days.

                                Oh yes, we had to leave the enchanting city
                                         Drove east/ back across France and...

                          Again just rambling along...stopping here'n there.

                        So...it was up the Mosel, but then down the Rhine.

           Our last stop was @ Frankfurt where we turned in our camper car, 

             flew to London + back to the states.  What a grand trip it was !