Squirrel!!

Monday today we arrived at our first port of call, Juneau . Okay so it's 13 degrees but 13 in Juneau is definitely not the same as 13 in Adelaide. The chill factor in the air makes it feel like it’s about 5 to me. On go all the layers, 5 in total & I’m feeling snuggy warm. They not thick layers so while I’m snug I don’t look like the Michelin man, topped off with scarf & beanie & we ready to go.

Our tour today is hiking out to see the Mendenhall Glacier & then hop on a boat to see the whales, 5 hours in total. It was a photo safari with a small group, just 9 of us in which was perfect & I think I took more photos today than I have in the last 10 years. The forest trail was amazing, you couldn’t take a bad photo if you tried. Green & lush with moss covering most it & it looked like fairyland to me with different sorts of mushrooms everywhere. There was evidence of bear activity but no sightings today. Saw possibly the very last salmon trying to find the best place to lay her eggs as it’s the end of the season & a couple of squirrels that were very cute . Eric our gorgeous & fabulous informative guide told us they spend most of the day in the trees throwing the pine cone nuts & other treats from the trees to the ground & then they collect them all to take home. Sandie was admiring the second little squirrel who was quite close to us in the tree when suddenly he went ballistic & started running up & down across the limb & then starting yelling at Sandie only about two foot from her head. He really sounded like he was screaming obscenities at her & I looked on the ground & saw all the little pine nuts & said well we probably standing right in the middle of his dinner! I was waiting for him to jump on her head & I laughed!

A couple of hours on the water watching the whales rounded out a fantastic day. Laws a bit different here so we got quite close but all the boats & rangers are very respectful of the area & conservation so not close enough to disrupt the wildlife too much. A few sea lions as well with one whale whacking his tail to try & disburse them. Eric said they were probably all in a school of fish having a feed. More photos, I’m getting quite good at this.


So relaxing & all that fresh air made me very hungry for dinner that night. A different menu every night, you really do get looked after very well. And no, we didn’t have to sit on the same table again thank goodness so got to meet some very nice new people .



Life is good. 

Love & big hugs to you all,
Sammy xox



Squirrels can be vicious little bastards!

I know I am saying Oh my God a lot but OH MY GOD – Alaska is beautiful – not the Mount Buller/Falls Creek , kinda Beautiful but the stop in your tracks with your gob hanging open type – the pinch yourself type where people look & sound different & Amanda, babe you are right, I DO look Inuit!

So today we got to leave the ship for the first of our 2 selected 'shore excursions' – we chose these at 3:00am, all alcoholically lubricated after the last MFC fundraiser when Sammy had flown up from Adelaide to Melbourne & we are a bit pleasantly surprised by our choices! Haaa!

After a lovely sleep-in (our first of many) we become part of a small group of 9 that meet "Eric the Hotty" for the 5 hour Mendenhall 'Whales & Glacial Safari’ – a fantastic few hours of hiking through what would be called a ‘hinterland’ in Oz, all ferns & bear chewed sticky things on the side of the beautiful path that winds gently up through the forest stopping to photograph clusters of wild mushrooms, & capture the light peeking through trees & chat about bear activity evidence . Just as we are about to leave the forest, Sam spots a tiny squirrel (about the size of a 6 week old kitten) & alerts me..I move in closer & can see it sitting in a branch holding onto some pine cone nuts & sees me watching so it moves away….I get in a little closer & it jumps back into view onto the same branch then moves a bit higher up & we now have direct eye contact so of course I start talking to it!

I THINK I am speaking in a soothing, friendly voice but the little guy isn’t buying it..Sam says "he doesn’t like you being in his house" & I tell him I am very impressed by his lovely home!..the others on the tour are now starting to cotton on & move behind me to have a look too..he gets a really agitated now & drops his nuts & begins running back & forth on the branches & he’s now started to chatter..I move my foot & he clearly thinks I am moving in & he gets really pissed off now, starts screeching & moves to a branch above my head..it’s about now I think ‘shit, this thing could land on my face’! so I move off & he continues to scream at me whilst Sam & the rest of the tour are having a right laugh that I was almost attacked by a tiny angry squirrel! Wow .

In the afternoon we join Captain ‘hot-stuff’ Joel & head out to sea to whale watch…it’s incredible really as they seem to know we are there & rise up to perform for us, moving from boat to boat & the boats do a little sea dance in order to get the best viewing position. It’s surreal & peaceful & I love it. We both feel very privileged. On the bus back to the ship I casually ask hot throbbin’ Eric ‘what’s the male to female ratio around here?’ & he informs me that it’s 9 men to every one woman…so this may be a good time to tell you that Sammy & I are in the process of getting Alaskan visas - see you all later in a couple of years when we decide to visit you all! – it has been very nice seeing you all regularly but Alaska neeeeds us! – I am sure you understand!