California part 2, in which Fogg has some scarey driving moments!

Well folks we are safely back in LA after 10 days , well 7, in a small van that took us over 1400 miles along some of the most scarey roads either of us have ever driven on. They were also some of the most beautiful and they took us into two of America's most iconic National Parks, Yosemite and Kings Canyon/Sequoia. Photo one shows El Capitan an enormous hunk of granite that rises several thousand feet above the valley. Yosemite was in the true sense of the word, awesome. Despite the crowds and the traffic and the soaring temperatures (100F) we explored shady meadows, the 5th highest waterfall in the world and deep valleys towered over by huge granite cliffs.
The remaining photos are taken in Sequioa/ Kings Canyon where we marvelled at the giant trees, some of the largest living things on earth. This is the base of the General Grant, the Sherman tree was too big to get in a picture. The GG is also known as the American Christmas tree and is the 3rd largest tree in the world, allegedly!!

Kings Canyon was approached as the afternoon wore on, should we go as it was getting late and we had a long drive back to the campsite? We are so glad that we did as this place was like no other we had seen before. We entered at 7000 feet and the road fell to 4000 feet on some of the steepest
and narrowest inclines that himself has driven on. But it was all worth it and I am sure that the pictures give an indication of the beauty and majesty of this place.
Best wishes from Phileas

Hi from Fogg . I have little to add to this. Phileas' powers of persuasion are formidable as are her map reading skills. The journey we took was fantastic despite the fact we drove through a fire fighting exercise in the middle of Kings Canyon and for a short while visibility was down to a short distance. In this photo the smoke can be seen rising into the mountains.
On our return journey the setting sun was in our eyes and Phileas was on the drop side of the mountain!!!!!!!!!! At one moment Fogg lost all sense of where he was and had to rely on Phileas' screams to help with the navigation! We made it though and it was worth every sweat, scream and gasp. So we are now back in LA having spent the last night of our adventure in the RV camp at Pomona. Here we met some more kind, generous Americans, Dick and Cay. They were both very interesting people with a great love of English literature and travel amongst other things. As the water system on our RV broke down it was comforting to have camp neighbours who offered
help and advice.

This last photgraph was high up in Kings Canyon and shows the kind of road we travelled on but in this case the road had a small stone barrier to avoid the drop, which was the exception rather than the rule.

So, this is Fogg, tired but happy having conquered not only this road but the Los Angeles six lane freeways!!!, wishing you well.

Hi Folks
Phileas and Fogg outside their R.V having driven from Los Angeles to Santa Margarita Lake . The R.V ( camper Van ) is 25 foot long, 10 feet wide and 12.5 feet high and it took 3 .5 hours to get out of L.A and another 3 to get to S.M.L. But we made it and at this camp site met the most wonderful and generous and kind people. Americans Brad and Suzanne and German Michael and his Finnish wife Linnear. It was just such a pleasure to be in the company of these folks after what had been quite a stressful day. Shortly after our arrival the wine flowed and we talked well into the hours of the early morning. The next day Brad lent us his Ute to go to the local town thereby preventing the need of us unplugging our RV. A beautiful camp site for a day and we were sad to leave these folks but time pressed and we set off on the ocean road to Santa Cruz travelling to the Big Sur. Over to Phileas. I might be back!!

This is cosy travelling and we have to be very organised as we have limited space for storage. But it is fun and it is so good to be able to talk to other travellers to find out how to do the technical stuff like 'dumping'. No more on that!! We were so pleased to meet up with wonderful people at our first campsite as we were both very tired and it was very late and dark. So thank you all, you know who you are! Again I must pay tribute to my fellow traveller and in this case driver, Fogg is the man. This is not easy driving and he has been awesome. So the ocean road, what a beautiful drive along a windy, narrow road that was carved out of the cliffs above the ocean. These guys are elephant seal adolescents practising for being grown ups! They were so huge that they could hardly haul themselves up the beach and after a few minutes of posturing and growling at each other had to lie down for a rest!!!
This is a good view of the road taken from one of the many view points along the way. Again it was a long drive to the campsite but we arrived in daylight and by now we were experts!! I was particularly taken by the wild flowers growing along the side of the raod and of course the wonderful natural scenery of cliffs and mountains. Now as you can see we are in San Francisco and what an amazing city it is, I love it. We are doing all the tourist things, a coach tour of the sights, a boat trip round the bay and a cable car ride. Such fun and in glorious weather too. Over to Fogg now to round this off. Best wishes from Phileas (who unfortunately has no flowers in her hair!!!!!!!!!!!!)
We had booked a hotel in S.F. thinking we could bring our RV into the city. How foolish this idea was so we have left it at an out of town RV park and we are very happily exploring this wonderful city. We are staying in Fisherman's Wharf, an exciting and vibrant area with cafes and shops to explore and enjoy. The Golden Gate Bridge is awesome. We have driven over it and been on a boat under it. Having 'done' one of the many icons of S.F. we went on another in the form of a cable car when Fogg travelled standing up on the running board. Of course Phileas was there as ever to look after me and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to her map reading skills which are as equally awesome if not more than my driving!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We loved the cable car and as I write this we are at the top of Powell- Mason Line. Looking forward to going down the hill which is past the 'Crookedest' Street in the world, allegedly. We are about half way through our Californian adventure so we will be sending another blog when we have visited Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, where we will be back in our RV and enjoying the open road again.
So this is Fogg wishing you all well.

Ia ora na, nana

The title of this blog is hello, good morning in in Tahitian! I could say bonjour as we are also practising our French here in French Polynesia. Phileas here and a very hot person she is, this place is very warm even at night and she is finding it quite hard. However, air conditioning and a breeze has helped. Different layout today, hope it all makes sense. First photo is the village opposite our hotel on Bora Bora. Classic south Pacific island, white sand, palm fringed beaches and beautiful islanders who really do wear flowers in their hair and have the most wonderful smiles.
We were able to snorkel over the local coral reef where we spotted a range of tropical fish. Fogg much better than me at this. I was delighted to spot Frigate birds and a range of terns as well as the local dove that wandered around the dining room clearing up the crumbs. Bora Bora was a real treat; I won't go into too much detail about how special it was just to say it was very special. We had three nights there and we are now back in Tahiti staying just outside the capital Papeete. Here the sand is volcanic black and we are facing out into the Pacific not onto a reef fringed lagoon. The weather is less breezy and so far no repeat of the torrential downpours experienced on Bora Bora. People are just as wonderful and I am enjoying the pool and the latest Alexander McCall Smith. Over to Fogg now for his take. From me Phileas Parahi, nana
The people here are beautiful. They radiate calm and tranquility. No wonder Gaugin came here to paint. I have been reminded of a novel about Gaugin and his life here called 'The Gold of their bodies' which I read years ago. I am not going to fall into the trap of trying to paint Gaugin lookalikes! The photo above is of our twin engined propellor plane and the man in front is our pilot casually walking towards it minutes before take off! A small 30 seater which bumped and wobbled its way to and from Bora Bora. A wonderful 45 minutes trip. I loved the fact that we walked through a garden to reach the plane.
On our back to Tahiti we flew over some more islands. This is Huahine. All of them had similar shapes and the lagoon edging them with the most stunning blues and the waves breaking on the coral reef. As you can see we were only a couple of thousand feet above sea level so the view was awesome. We are now back in Tahiti for a couple of days before heading off to Los Angeles when we are back on the road again. This is when we pick up the camper van and more challenges await us. I used to ridicule Phileas when she said we would need a break between Oz and North America but she was right!! We are having a wonderful rest and the image below reflects that.This is Fogg wishing you all well.

Farewell from Australia

Hi folks. We are currently in Sydney sorting ourselves out for our flight to Tahiti. So this our farewell blog from Australia. We have had the most wondeful time here. Different to New Zealand but no less exciting and interesting.We have seen so much. The diversity of the landscape is amazing. We have driven in the very remote and hot outback where we did feel seriously challenged and have nearly been blown off mountains when it was extremely cold. A country of extremes and yet nearly all the people we have met have always greeted us with 'Hello and how are you today' and we really do believe that they mean it. We have learnt alot about the European Settlers and have tried to understand a little about the Aboriginal peoples.
A truly fascinating country, very young and yet so very old.

So our next blog will be from the Northern Hemisphere. Best wishes to you all

Fogg and Phileas

Cradle Mountain, a real wilderness

BeforeI start telling you about our visit to Cradle Mountain I must take this opportunity to acknowledge Fogg's wonderful photographs. I have not taken many preferring to use my camcorder, but he has always snapped at anything that took my eye and the results I think you will agree are brilliant.

Cradle Mountain is in a large National Park that extends through the middle of Tasmania. It is a World Heritage site because it is so pristine and special. It really is a true wilderness and has many plants and animals not found elsewhere. I will describe the area as Alpine. When we were
there it was very cold but sunny and the air was so clean it was almost intoxicating. On the morning that we left there was a hard frost.
We stayed in a wonderful resort called Cradle Mountain Lodge which has won many awards for tourism. We had a cabin set up high in the hills and with a wood burning stove we were snug and cosy. It felt a little bit like Christmas as we sat in front of a roaring fire with a glass of port!
Cradle Mountain is very distinctive and can be seen for miles around. In front of it in the photo lies Dove Lake a beautiful place for walking. We know that living in the lake are duck-billed platypus but unfortunately we did not see any on
our visit. We did however see some other wonderful animals who were completely unphased by our presence and just carried on doing their thing. On our balcony sat a Bennett's wallaby. Up above him on the hill were pademelons (an Aboriginal name, they are tiny wallabies) and a wombat wandered across my path as I walked to the Lodge for a bit of pampering! We went on a night spotlight tour and saw two pairs of brushtail possums, mums with their babies.
As always it was the trees and plants that took my breath away. Because the air is so clean and there is plenty of water the trees are covered with mosses, ferns and lichens. There is a primeval feel as if we had stepped back several million years in time. The air was cold and clear and it was absolutely silent. It was a very special place and we are very privileged to have seen it.

With best wishes
Phileas

Fogg's take on Tasmania

Hi Folks

Fogg here. I hope you enjoy Phileas' Blog. I have a slightly diiferent take on Tasmania although I have to say I agree with all of Phileas' comments. We have had a wonderful time here. It is a well kept secret of the Aussies. Very beautiful and some stunningly majestic scenery. It also has a very significant history surrounding the European settlers and Aboriginee peoples.
We landed in Hobart and were very taken with this town. On the left is a building that took my eye. It is converted grain store in to residential flats. A wonderful 1930s use of old buildings.
We were also very surprised and delighted to see how wonderfully clear the water in the

harbour was. In fact we saw many starfishes in the harbour which itself was surrounded by old warehouses . This area is named Salamanca Place. This is as you may know is also a large University town in the middle of Spain and we were intrigued to know why it is named that.
Surrounding Hobart are two towering mountains. Mount Nelson and Mount Wellington. We drove to the top of Mount Wellington, 4000 feet. It was very windy indeed and cold. About 5 degrees although with the wind chill factor it felt like minus 10. This photo was taken from the top but it was difficult to do due to the very high winds and cold. Phileas stayed in an enclosed lookout point and filmed Fogg battling with the elements.


After a couple of days in Hobart we drove to Freycinet. A wonderful lodge resort where we explored some more. The photo left is of Wine Glass bay. A beautiful spot and it seems to be self evident why it is called that due to its shape. However it gets darker when one realises the wine was red . The red was from the blood of the dead whales that used to be hauled in here to be butchered on the beach. Happily now this industry no longer takes place in Australia.

We are now in Launceston in the north of Tasmania. A delightfull place with some wonderful Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco buildings and the last photo is of one of the latter.

As you may have detected , this Blog and the arrangement of the photographs is all over the shop but I am sure you will be able to sort them out. Phileas has just reminded me that I have not mentioned Cradle Mountain. A great place and Phileas will be doing a blog on it soon.

So, this is Fogg wishing you all well. We will be sending a farewell Australia blog soon too.

Fogg

Tasmania part 1, devils and wombats

Greetings from Tasmania, Phileas here and I should straight away say that this blog carries a warning that some of the photos may offend those of a sensitive nature. Fogg will not be inputing into this posting and he was not at all sure that photos of wombat and devil poo would interest many of our readers but I would disagree and so I would like to spend a little while telling you about these fascinating creatures.

We did not see Tasmanian Devils in the wild. They are very shy creatures, tend to be nocturnal and their numbers have been devastated in the last few years by a cancer which is apparently spread by contact and for which there is no known cure. These animals are now on the endangered list and if no cure is found could be extinct in the wild in the next 15 years. This would be a tragedy as they are the most fascinating animals and have an important role to play in clearing up all the roadkill left on the side of the road every night!! There are animals on the west of the island who appear to have resistance to the disease and so much research is being done into identifying genes and cross breeding to try to incorporate this resistance into the rest of the population. The papers here have been running the story of Cedric, a west coast devil who appears to have this immunity and who could hold the key to eradicating the disease or at least halting its progress. We visited an excellent conservation park near Hobart where there is a successful breeding programme in place and where it is possible to watch the extraordinary behaviour of these iconic animals. They were called devils because the early settlers thought that they were possessed by the devil. This idea was caused by the bloodcurdling sound they make when they are competing for food with other devils. I have captured this on my camcorder and it is a sound I have never heard before. I suppose it could be called a cross between a scream and a growl and it is accompanied by apparently aggressive biting and chasing at high speed in circles!! These animals have a mouth full of very sharp teeth capable of cutting through fur, skin and bone all of which is swallowed. We were told that their jaws are as strong as those of a crocodile. Having said all this they were very endearing and we thoroughly enjoyed our meeting with them!
This is a photograph of a wombat called Rebecca and as her face shows she is a close relative of the koala. Like the devil the wombat is a marsupial but because it digs burrows its pouch faces backwards. We saw a large number of these wonderful animals in the wild when we were staying at Cradle Mountain. They are suprisingly large, Rebecca, the resident old lady at the Lodge was a metre long, and apparently they are the fastest marsupial apart from the red kangaroo. They can reach speeds of up to 40km/hr over 150 metres which is faster than an olympic sprinter apparently!! They were quite oblivious to us and just carried on munching only turning their rear end towards us as if to say if I can't see you you can't see me!
They have very few predators but if any try to get into their burrow they block its entrance with their bottom. It contains a flat bony plate which they use to crush the predator's head against the roof of the burrow. Not so cute now eh?!! They have three sphincters below the plate which they sort of pump up to get the necessary pressure to push the plate upwards. So here is a wombat burrow entrance which will lead into a series of chambers. Unlike the badger which is a name given to them here they are solitary and do not live in family groups. The devil may take over the burrow and the wombat will just move away and dig another one, a very pragmatic animal.
Now to the last two pictures which I make no apology for including. An animal's droppings can tell a lot about the life of that animal, think about owl pellets and the contents of the Iceman's gut. The first is devil poo and the wombat fur that it consumed is clearly visible. We also saw partially digested dish clothes and apparently they will eat their way through tents and trainers as well as proper food!!
The second is wombat and its shape is so distinctive, it even looks like a wombat!! The reason, that arrangement of rectal sphincters used to produce pressure to squash prey will also produce 'square' poo!

So now you know all about devils and wombats.

I hope that you have found this interesting and have not been offended.

Best wishes from Phileas.