Maggie

Ocean Wayfinder, Outer Shores Expedition’s new (to them) ketch.

Cathy and I boarded Ocean Wayfinder on October 3rd for a nine day sailing adventure exploring the Great Bear Rainforest.

Ready to board. I am never taking a big suitcase anywhere ever again, too much stuff, too heavy. And mine is a medium according to luggage websites.

From the BC government website: The Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) is a global treasure that covers 6.4 million hectares on British Columbia’s north and central coast. All British Columbians have a stake in protecting it.

The Great Bear Rainforest Agreement, between the Coastal First Nations, Nanwakolas Council and the Province of BC, secures the future of the Great Bear Rainforest. Ancient forests and critical wildlife habitat will be protected and conserved. Economic development opportunities and jobs for local communities and First Nations will be maintained. Forest carbon projects will contribute to ensuring First Nations have the resources they need to implement the Agreement.

Massive. We explored the lower right beginning west of Bella Coola and going north. The Great Bear Sea extends past Haida Gwaii

The agreement still allows lumber companies to operate, we did see some clearcuts, but the integrity of the forest will be maintained under the above agreement. It used to be called the North Coast Timber Supply Area which demonstrates the only thing that was thought valuable in the past. It is a hard won achievement of conservation.

How to proceed with this blog? Day by day, amazing event by amazing event, or just with pictures. A dilemma. Probably a bit of all three, but I never know where it will take me until I write.

The big excitement the first day was picking up a stray guest, more on that after exploring the boat, first we boarded, settled in, and enjoyed our first delicious meal.

Our cabin. One person only can be in the standing area. But very comfortable.

Note the napkins, two on each row, assigned by cabin. Mine was lower right. But at dinner we had crisp white napkins, every night.

Through the door, forward, was the crew area. The focaccia bread was amazing. I wanted to take both pieces of artwork in the picture home.

Think of the boat as being like the tardis from Doctor Who. Looks small from the outside, but goes on for ever on the inside.

Finally, the front, of the boat, or correctly, forward. And more seating, on the lifeboats.

Now to the stray guest, Nancy. She had to join us after we departed, and arrived while we were under full sail. It was quite something for her to transfer from the “taxi” to the skiff, but more so, from the skiff to us. A bit of fine manoeuvring in a sailing sailing boat.

A break from reading and admire Ocean Wayfinder in full sail.

Cathy in her happy place. She is an avid lifetime sailor.

Let me introduce the crew, not least because they were all exceptional at their jobs, but also interesting to get to know. We, both crew and guests, meshed well, and joked and laughed with each other very quickly. And we did not talk about Trump. From now on many of the pictures will have been taken by Gary, Garrit, Mark, Ashely, Maurice (big lenses), and the rest of the guests. My iphone did not cut it for the extra special shots.

Our Captain, Ashley. Cool under pressure. Calm, confident, competent, experienced.

Giving us the low down on where out trip would take us on the coffee stained map.

Ashley steered us through a couple of interesting situations, more of that later.

Piloting the skiff in the pouring rain, smiling. Somehow, being all together in the same boat (pun intentded) while it is pouring with rain made it an adventure rather than a misery

Maurice and Ashley have worked together many times on Outer Shores expeditions, and as with Gary they work like a well oiled machine

Maurice is contemplating a PhD. It felt strange to have our comfort so ably provided by people with advanced degrees.

Using one of the big lenses photographing bears.

Maurice indicating to the helm 4 x 50ft of anchor chain had been unreeled, and we were in a cove. Sometimes there was up to a 1,000 ft of water under us. A bit daunting.

Gary has worked with orca’s and more currently with humpbacks. His other job is with Ocean Wise. Well worth a look: https://ocean.org/ I thought they just certified sustainable fish, but they do so much more than that, such as studying humpback whales, restoring kelp forests. It rebooted my interest in sustainable seafood, and I found a couple of other organizations on line that seem legitimate. ASC-aqua.org and msc.org. Both have very strict standards for all types of fishing and fish farming. msc.org is the one I have seen the most on cans of tuna. All are international organizations for those of you living outside Canada. Monterey Bay Aquarium is another source of information.

Gary identified these humpbacks using a now unified system of identification. Different parts of the world used to have different identification systems but now they can see where in the world’s oceans these humpbacks travel too. Among other things this identification system can be used to let sea going vessels know where the humpbacks are and avoid them. I am very sad to report that Notcha, a humpback, was hit by a BC Ferry and died just days after the end of our expedition. Cold comfort that it was not one we had seen.

Nick was our chef par excellence. Meal times were eagerly anticipated.

Nick completed his qualifications after he learned how to be chef, and had just completed his final final practical exam before the trip.

Stretching his legs at Butedale, an abandoned salmon cannery. The once bustling settlement used to have a bowling alley and an ice cream shop. You can just see the words Ice Cream behind Cathy’s head.

Nick in his domain. As soon as his day’s responsibilities were done he was up on the deck or in the wheelhouse exercising. After the trip he was going climbing.

His mouth watering food.

Dairy and egg free carrot cake with I think marscapone sauce. If not it was ricotta.

I was amazed to learn that Nick re-supplied his larder from the supermarket in Shearwater, which was about the size of a very large convenience store. The pickings were slim when I shopped there for our meals when we were staying in Shearwater, so big kudos for Nick and his culinary imagination. They like to shop locally. Our first dinner was pear salad with blue cheese and a balsamic dressing, the main course black cod with miso dressing accompanied by roasted fingerling potatoes and peppers. Dessert was lemon cream with berries and roasted pistachios.

On the first full day we began to see humpback whales blowing in the distance. and one fluke, but on day two there were many, and they put on a full show for us.

Humpback whales, a huge part of what I wanted to see.

Awe inspiring, that they can lift their massive bodies so for out of the water, amazing strength.

This is when I realized that my Iphone was useless for these action shots in dull conditions. These photographs are probably taken by Gary and his big big lense. If he was able to photograph the fluke as above he would use the identification system.

Often the angle was not quite right for a good shot, but it was quite something to see their names once identified. Or I should say our names for them, who knows how they know each other. On the bottom row is Sparky, and next to her, Sparky calf.

It was as if they were putting on the display just for us, blowing, surfacing, fluking, breaching, head lobs, chin slapping, cartwheeling and pec slapping. It went on and on. That evening during our days recap we learned about the resurgence of humpbacks in this region and what a new phenomenon our experience was. I think we all felt so lucky.

Others also saw Dall’s porpoises, and we all saw harbour seals.

One by one they all slid into the sea as we went by, at a distance.

The very next day was another incredible experience. We spent quite a few hours on a bear watching platform, and there were bears present from very shortly after we arrived. And the very very first bear we saw was a Spirit Bear, or a Kermode bear, and they are rare. Gribbell Island, where we were, is one of the places they are found. Not albino, both black bear parents have to have the recessive gene to produce a white bear.

Fishing. He or she had the river to themselves for a while .

Marvin said that he thought this Spirit Bear would dominate this part of the river next year. He also said that bears can be picky eaters. Some like live salmon, some freshly dead salmon, some only the egg sack, or rotting, or specific parts of the salmon. Who knew. But he also said that once they start eating salmon they can not stop, something called hyerphagia, a strong desire to keep eating, which causes them to put on a lot of weight in a short period of time. This gets then ready to hibernate. And their lips are so dexterous that they can completely remove the flesh from the bones.As we learned more about the invaluable role of salmon in the Great Bear Rain Forest, not just for the bears, I have begun to wonder if it should be called the Great Salmon Rain Forest.

From https://greatbearrainforesttrust.org/biodiversity/

Salmon are a vital key to the Great Bear Rainforest ecosystem, where more than 2500 salmon runs happen each year. A wide range of plants and animals, as well as humans, benefit from consuming salmon, including killer whales, sharks, sea lions, seals, otters, bears, loons, mergansers, heron and kingfishers. Insects, algae, mosses, terrestrial herbs, shrubs and ancient trees also benefit from marine based nutrients, including nitrogen from salmon.

And enough salmon get through the obstacle course of so many species trying to eat them that they fulfil their mission, to lay eggs or fertilize them. Even then the eggs are not safe. We saw these amazing birds flying around us one day when we were ashore.

I am really sorry but I do not remember what kind of birds they are, I tried to use Merlin. It said Bonapartes Gull but I don’t think that is correct.

They swirled and swirled around over the river, and occasionally one would swoop down to the water and grab something. I was told it was salmon eggs.

Back to the bears.

The Spirit Bear eventually continued up stream and by then a black bear had appeared down stream.

I wish I could take credit for these photographs, but no, they are from one of the photographers with big lenses, Garrit, Mark, Gary, Maurice or Ashley.

Right in the middle of all the bear watching this little fella appeared from nowhere, well, actually, the forest, and the only person I could tell quickly was Garrit and he got this shot.

A Pine Martin. There for a few seconds, maybe 30, and then gone. What a delight.

There is just so much more to show, not least the grizzly bears and the amazing landscape, that I have to divide this post in two. So off this goes to the ether.

Intermission, travelling from Haida Gwaii to Shearwater

By Maggie

On October 25, 2026

In Posts

Ferry from Haida Gwaii to Prince George. Still a full moon.

Taking the BC Ferry from Haida Gwaii to Prince Rupert, and then from Prince Rupert to Shearwater where we met our sailing ship for the Great Bear Rainforest trip was something I really looked forward to. We took the overnight ferry from Haida Gwaii. It crosses Hecate Straight and we were told it might be heavy seas but I slept well, and so did Cathy who can be seasick.

They kicked us off in Prince Rupert pretty early and we made our way to our hotel, The Moby Dick. A quaint old place. I thought I had a picture, but I don’t. We set off to explore the town nearby and found many small local stores and restaurants.

Happy Place – right here. The local pride was hard to miss.

But so was the rain.

Before the rain came we found a walking trail and walked it. It started to rain as we approached the hotel at the end of the day, and it rained all the way to the ferry the next day.

It was an early start, not my favourite, to catch the ferry from Prince Rupert to Bella Bella and on to Shearwater.

This shows both ferry trips. The tip of Vancouver Island is on the bottom right to give some perspective.

You can see the Inside Passage route between my fingers. It was very smooth sailing as this route is mainly protected by islands except Milbanker Sound. And note Alaska at the top of the map.

Sadly, it rained all day. It chucked it down. We had booked reclining chairs in a locked lounge which were very comfortable and helped pass the time as we really did not want to be outside admiring the view. And of course I knitted. We did see many many many waterfalls, always a thrill, and we did explore some of the same waters on Ocean Wayfinder but even an hour of sunshine would have been welcome.

When we did venture outside there was not a waterfall in sight.

On to Shearwater. We arrived in Bella Bell and it continued to rain. Needed a taxi ride to the waterbus, and the waterbus to take us to from Bella Bella to Shearwater. We were tired and soaked, but had to have dinner first as the restaurant closed at 8 pm. It was the end of the season. The rain was a bit of a downer that day, but didn’t daunt our spirit too long, most days on our trip so far had been fair to lovely.

Cathy took me on several forced marches over the days we were in Shearwater, it appears I am quite daunted by muddy paths and dicey stream crossings, but the weather was lovely most of the time. So much so that when we reached our destination on one hike, Eddie Lake, we had a swim. Lovely. And we came home to our own little cabin overlooking Shearwater Lodge, which had laundry facilities for our muddy clothes.

We walked the Gullchuk Lake Trail and the Eddie Lake Trail, both starting on foot from Shearwater. The airport is not used but the runway is maintained.

The view from our balcony. Often this lovely.

We called out frequently to make bears aware of our presence but we did not encounter them until…. we arrived back in Shearwater. We stood still and they wandered away, as did we, carefully and slowly. They did look us over pretty thoroughly.

Our spot on the hill, they built the balcony around the tree.

Interesting name, and it was a hodge podge. And good coffee.

Because it is a rainforest, it rains a lot. So frequent rainbows. Hard to get bored of rainbows.

Ocean Wayfinder coming in to dock. And so on to the next part of our adventure. Imagine the excitement when we saw it arriving.

Haida Gwaii

By Maggie

On October 1, 2026

In Posts

My cousin Cathy and I arrived a day late because a poor bird flew into the plane that Air Canada uses on this route and grounded it the day before, but we arrived safe and sound the next day.

During our time in Richmond, where Air Canada put us up, we were told about a fisherman’s village called Steveston and decided to spend some time there. Time well spent. It is a working fishing village and also full of quirky stores and of course, seafood restaurants.. We had a look around and had dinner. I recommend it before it is “discovered”.

The fisherman’s boats in the background. Cathy taking a call.

We arrived the next day in Sandspit, got a car sorted out, and drove by the ferry to Graham Island. This is posted where all the cars arriving by ferry have to pass.

It is well worth taking the time to read them. An ardent anti-trump person took the time to do this. Hope it vented his/her spleen.

On to Jags, our lodging.

Jags. Right on the ocean, the Hecate Straight.

Breakfast the next day, downstairs. Yum.

To be honest, I can’t remember what we did each day, but we did a lot of hikes, starting with the Spirit Lake Trail.

The island is full of carvings of course.

More trails followed. Agate Beach, up at the north end of the island, past Masset,

And on to Tow Hill and the Blow Hole. The walk up was pretty much straight up. Slight exaggeration. But steep. But the views were spectacular.

I hope this plays. It is not the blow hole, which I did not capture well, but this is also pretty impressive.

Not very successful blow hole video. Which one is the official blow hole?

We visited the Haida Gwaii Museum and Heritage. Everyone I spoke to about visiting Haida Gwaii said it was a must. In part it recounted the protests mounted by the Haida and others against logging on South Moresby Island of old growth cedar trees. I remember hearing about it in the news during the 80’s, and I know The David Suzuki Foundation, an environmental organization was one of those supporting the Haida. The result was the creation of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site. And the formation of Haida Nation.

The Heritage Centre and Museum was built to resemble a traditional long house.

As we hiked on trails we saw many stumps of very very large trees, and on Jungle Beach we saw these:

And this:

Clearly loved by locals and visitors. The desire to add to it was irresistible.

We had amazing weather. This day was forecast as a rainy day, but clearly was not. We watched a video of a totem pole being carved, in the 80’s at the Haida Museum, and then raised in Skidegate. The first in many years. You could see the happiness on the faces of the elders, and the eagerness of the people helping to raise it in the video. Sadly, I did not write down the carver’s name, although he is now a famous carver, but we did see the actual pole while exploring Skidegate

It was very moving to see it in place. It felt like a beginning of reclaiming heritage.

We saw many interesting things on our hikes, but no bears or other animals. But lots of plant life.

I didn’t look this one up, but it was soft to the touch.

Light through the trees on the Spirit Trail

Moss covered everything that did not move

From the Parmeliaceae family, a lichen forming fungi

And a little sea life, lots of shells of all sorts.

This reminds me of the jellyfish on Talisker Bay when we stayed there in the early 60’s.

Cathy had discovered Persephone cider and I had a almost IPA, along with delicious food.

It was so busy the first time we ate at Gather that we shared a table with a couple from Nova Scotia. They had been there a few days, and Kate was born in Haida Gwaii when her father was the doctor. They gave us great ideas, including eating at Haida House in Tllaal. I had the most delicious seared tuna. We walked along the river afterwards and saw:

We had intended to eat here on our last night, at Blacktail, which opened at 5 pm. We arrived at less than 5.05 and it was packed to the gills, go we went back to Gather.

Some last pictures:

As we planned this trip around going on the Ocean Wayfinder, a 72ft, 2 masted ketch to the Great Bear Rain Forest we were in Haida Gwaii late in the season. If I came again I would make sure I could do a tour of Moresby Island where you can visit ancient Haida villages and learn from the Guardian Watchmen. Only accessible by water, the tours had ended for the season.

Last but not least, Sydney, the cruise and New Zealand

By Maggie

On June 16, 2026

In Posts

Kiaora. I have been pondering how to do one last blog about Anne and my travels in Sydney, on the cruise and in New Zealand. Particularly New Zealand, Aotearoa. It made a deep impression on me but it is hard to pinpoint exactly why that is so. We saw and experienced so much while we were there, from cities, Wellington, Auckland, to natural springs flowing from deep in the earth, and natural hot pools, used only by locals and lucky travellers. So I have decided to predominately use pictures.

First the cruise.

Lincoln in our bathroom. About a 6” x 6” tile, high up on the wall. Why?

It was a very strange mixture of styles.

We had just seen this original in London, by Seurat, and this,

both in his Pointillism style. Note the strange pink spots beside it, which were everywhere. These pictures were in the stairwells

The stylized women were in the corridors. Not sure which decade they represent, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s.

Just the length of corridor from our door.

And to top it all off, as if there were not enough styles, I think that some of the ship was refurbished while Pirates of the Caribbean was popular.

Notice the pink pearls, just like the stair wells. I have no explanation for the completely mixed up styles.

Sydney was amazing.

Dangerously Modern, Australian and NZ women painting in Europe between 1890 and 1930

Iconic. Way ahead of it’s time and still awesome.

And on to New Zealand

Hot springs in the middle of Rotorua, fenced off of course. And no entry fee.

More water bubbling up from a spring in the Hamurana Golf Club, Rotorua, and such a lovely walk through more trees, redwoods included

Redwood tree walk in Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua, Bay of Plenty. They are young yet, an introduced species. The walkway is hung in such a way as to prevent or minimize harm to the bark. Timber is a major export.

The ferns were amazing, this one is at least 10’ across, but I don’t seem to have a good picture of the silver leaf fern, their national plant and the symbol of the All Black Rugby Team, and on the NZ team shirts during the current World Cup.

The mineral springs, steam and boiling mud of Puia Maori Village

And the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute in the same place, funded by the entrance fees. The picture is straight, the roof is slanted. 2 – 4 year apprenticeships in wood carving, stone carving and basket weaving, free for participants.

Napier and the Art Deco Festival, around which all of the trip was planned, and was as great as hoped for.

Such a great shot of Anne

And another

Illusive, scurrying, solitary Kiwi at the National Aquarium in Napier

A lovely day at the Mission Estate Winery

Ohau Channel, near Rotorua, more skyscapes…..

The Maori name for the New Zealand is Long White Cloud

The Ladies Rest, Memorial Square, Napier

Sky scapes never get boring

The Moko artist, Te Wehi Preston and a piece of Maori art I brought home with me.

I had the large paw done first, it was supposed to be subtle, but they persuaded me it would not be seen in brown. I should have insisted. So later I added the small paws but it still did not feel finished. Te Wehi spoke to me for a while and we chatted about life and my dogs, etc and he picked up a marker and drew the design. Towards my elbow it is about strength, and life’s ups and down, with fine lines to protect from negativity. They represent the stockades around their villages. The other half is about love, for my dogs, they for me and all the others who I love and love me.

Maori are very present in every day life, and I think that is a large part of what impressed me. Maori is one of the official languages, and signs are often in Maori and English. Their presence is very much present in conservation work and many acres of land have been preserved or are now used in a way that serves many people rather than being exploited. To them the land, water and soil are treasures and sacred, and they are the guardians. And it is evident. They have been able to exert their beliefs in an effective way.

These are small examples, but I got the feeling that not much happens regarding the environment that they are not included in. There is a right wing government in power at the moment, and there has been push back against some progress achieved, but I think it has too much momentum not to continue in the future.

Hobbiton, had to be done

By Maggie

On April 1, 2026

In Posts

I thought I had written this blog, and was very surprised when I could not find it with the others! I had just curated the pictures. Visiting Hobbiton was an almost last minute decision, and because of that the only booking that would work for us was 8.30 am. Very early for me, but Anne booked us into a lovely Bed and Breakfast 500 yds from Hobbiton itself. A short commute.

The Bed and Breakfast, not surprisingly, had DVD’s of the Lord of the Rings, and to refresh our memories of what happened in The Shire we watched the first 40 minutes, from when Gandalf arrives to their escape from the Black Riders who are seeking the One Ring.

It is a very well organized operation, what tourist site isn’t these days, and our guide was from……… Calgary, Wyatt, and no, he, nor anyone else was dressed as a Hobbit. But he was very good.

They have done a great job of maintaining and expanding the original set of The Shire. It was used for The Hobbit as well, and will be used for the upcoming Gollum, if it is made, I heard murmurs that it may not be.

They have paid lots of attention to small details, and I am sure they have a whole villages worth of gardeners on staff, both for the home gardens and the vegetable gardens. There must be a lot of maintenance as well as the props are left out outside the houses, including the clothes on the clothes lines.

Honey

Bread

Cheese

Ale?

Veggies. Who needs a supermarket, take a walk around the village, chat to neighbours and buy your sustenance.

All of the houses you have seen so far are just facades, including Bilbo’s, the picture above, however, there is a couple that can be explored. A relatively new addition I believe. We went into Samwise Gamgee’s, from when he returned to The Shire, married Rosie Cotton.

And had children

And a dog

The bathroom,

But the kitchen is the most important place in a Hobbit house must be the kitchen, breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, lunch……

The attention to detail is amazing, and the hand pump works

All in all it was great fun. Can you tell from our smiles?

We walked down to the village centre

To the Green Dragon pub for a beverage. The first three he told us about were an Amber Ale, Sackville Apple Cider and Frogmorton Ginger Beer. I thought I would have the Ginger Beer, non-alcoholic, it was only about 10.30 am, until he mentioned the Oat Barton Stout. It was delicious.

Of course the exit was through the gift shop, which we made good use of, and further dented our credit cards, and lunch on the patio was delicious. A great prelude to our next adventure, which I have already written a bit about, The Art Deco Festival in Napier.

Some final shots

A Day on a Tall Ship in the Bay of Islands

By Maggie

On March 8, 2026

In Posts

Our first view of the ship, ready for us to board.

A highlight of the cruise was our day on a Tall Ship, the R Tucker Thompson. It was a small Tall Ship, 80 ft long.

I do not know its history, but it was refitted with found objects, one of the masts used to be a telegraph pole, and lots of energy and determination. The goal was to be able to be part of a flotilla of boats in the South Pacific trying to prevent the French from detonating nuclear bombs on an atoll, which they did from the 60’s to 1996. Greenpeace was involved and I remember hearing about it on the news. They did not succeed and were only a few kilometers from an explosion when it happened.

Now, the income generated from the cruise ship shore excursions helps to pay for groups of young people to live on board and learn life skills. The life skills are disguised as learning how to sail and live on a tall ship which requires discipline and following orders and eventually giving orders and working as a team. To prove their skills, they run the ship on the last day of their sail.

Getting to the R Tucker Thompson was interesting. First a tender to shore from the cruise boat, then around the bay in a coach to another dock and the ship. We went in a huge semicircle to be able to sail out, past our cruise ship.

It would have been so much easier if we had been able to go from the tender to the tall ship, but goodness knows how many port rules that would have ignored, and health and safety measures broken.

The day was all I hoped it to be, we first sailed to the island that both the Tahitians and Cook arrived on, several hundred years apart.

As someone not familiar with the history of New Zealand I did not realize that the country was only populated by south pacific islanders from about the 1200’s.

On the shore there are story boards, on one side Cook’s actions, and on the other, how the Māori experienced it. The story boards speak for themselves. Sadly, shoot first and ask questions later was Cook’s response.

And

I could not resist a picture of this tree which is growing out of a rock hillside, thriving. I wonder if it predates the first people here.

I remember hearing about cedars that grow on the Niagara escarpment down in the Hamilton area. They were tiny, but many hundreds of years old. They have to grow where their seed fell and make the best of it.

More about Captain Cook

And of course:

And so it continues:

Back to the ship for a lovely lunch, which had followed coffee and scones, jam and cream for breakfast. I was in heaven. We had had to be ready to leave the cruise ship by 7 am so no breakfast for us on board the cruise ship.

I couldn’t get the grin off my face as we prepared to sail, and I helped hoist one sail.

We had an all-woman crew, who worked really well together. The skipper Aihri, would give the order and someone would answer that it was heard and being done. So simple but needs discipline, and I think, respect for the person giving orders. My nephew would appreciate this as someone who sailed on the Stad Amsterdam tall ship for several years (I think it was years, time stretches and compresses in my mind)

View from the wheel

We swam from the ship, me approaching the water in my usual way by the steps, slowly, and others jumping from the rigging and from a rope swing. The ocean was glorious and much fun was had.

The wind picked up a little after noon and we were able to use wind power for a while. Up went the sails, my cousins Cathy, Jim and wife Karen would know their names.

I had helped raise one in the morning, I think we raised them to set the tone for the day because there was no wind to speak of, and it worked, the tone was set.

I even got to take the wheel for a short time, and loved it

We reversed the rigamarole of the morning and queued to get back on board the cruise ship, but the day was worth it.

Anne, yet again, did not see dolphins or whales, which is a dear wish. It was hard for her to hear at breakfast the next day that another shore excursion has seen two kinds of dolphins during their outing.

I enjoyed all the shore excursions, but this was the best.

Deco Dogs

By Maggie

On March 1, 2026

In Posts

Deco dogs on Parade. Free to enter, free to watch and a great favourite of the Art Deco Festival

Anne and I made sure we got ring side seats for the 9 am start. Early so that the dogs are not parading in the heat of the day, and oh what fun.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC, were there filming the event for a Dogs with Jobs show. This dog was very interested in participating in the TV show. They were one of the winners, but I reckon anyone who entered was a winner.

A lot of effort was put in by the humans, here is a bathing beauty together with their change room.

And

Some even had their own motor car. This is Sherlock Holmes on The Case of the Missing Sausages

The judges had a difficult job to do, and some people really played up to them.

And to the camera

This was a pair entered in the dressed alike category. I was impressed by the sewing undertaken for this event and for Fashion on the Foreshore.

Some dogs did tricks

Others got loved up by the crowd

And others were obedient because they were fed treats

One really didn’t want to walk, but competed anyway.

The husband had two dogs, and the wife two more.

There were paper boys and their dogs and

Flying dogs.

The whole family gets in on the act.

Of course there was a lion

Who jumped through a loop.

So many dogs, here is a parade of them:

One of the look alike pairs, but this time she looks like her dog. Only one dog peed during the show, and surprisingly the other dogs did not stop and sniff. Such good behaviour

Another human looking like her dog. Everyone made such an effort and put their heart and creativity into it.

And last but not least, there was a poodle. Gandalf the Grey.

Some of the human costumes for this show were obviously a labour of love or a great vintage find. Sadly most of my pictures from the Fashion on the Foreshore competition did not enlarge very well, I was too far away, but here are some:

Above is one of the winner, wearing an original by xxxx from Paris. Should have written it down. I think she may have bought it in her youth and she was one of the winners

Original Shiaparelli cape

And Anne in her finery for an evening of fine dining.

The Opera House, Sydney of Course

By Maggie

On February 23, 2026

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The Opera House has featured in many of the our Sydney days. On our first day Anne and I walked up to Circular Quay from our hotel, via the park where the Anzac Memorial is, past the Mint Headquarters and the State Library of New South Wales which we later visited and saw three great exhibits. The Australian Dream, about an architect who designed the dream house on a quarter acre lot. We met a couple on the cruise that owned one. The Curious World of Pamela Allen, a children’s writer and illustrator much beloved by Australian children, and the third about a magazine equivalent to Life Magazine called PIX. All of them were excellent.

The Opera House dominates the whole quay. It draws your eye, and photographing it is irresistible. We saw it again as we sailed away on our cruise, as well as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, another eye-catching sight.

Sail Away

The incoming boat is under the top of the glass balcony, very close to our ship. It creates a very strange visual.

Smaller and smaller. Sadly we did not sail under the Sydney Harbour Bridge as I had hoped, going under it is going inland.

Yes, those are people at the very top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Apparently they have to be attached as climbers are, but that still wouldn’t make me do it.

Anne arranged a tour of the Opera House for our return to Sydney. It was part of my birthday present. Some history. The Chief Conductor, Eugene Goossens, of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra pressed for a dedicated building for the performing arts. I am not sure why it became the Sydney Opera House instead of the Sydney Symphony House. Eugene Goossens eventually gained the support of the New South Wales premier Joseph Cahill to create a dedicated performance space for orchestra, ballet and opera. An international competition was held in 1955 which received 233 designs. Number 218 was picked. The architect was a young Danish man called Jorn Utzen. I am amazed that although his design was picked they really didn’t know how it was going to be actualized until 1961. Finally it was resolved.

All shapes were taken from the same sphere so that angles were consistent.

And from Joseph Cahill

The names are not completely forgotten, but the Opera House is now A World Heritage Site for Arts. A great effort was made to use Australian materials, and much of the inside is Australian wood. However Jorn Utzen used French glass for the windows, it was shipped in huge pieces and cut on site. All of the tiles, 1,056,006 of them, were made in Sweden, and they are so well made that less than 3% have been replaced all these years later. Utzen thought that just white would have too much glare so there is a pattern of white and cream. To be honest until I was close to the building I had not realized it was tiles instead of a solid roof

He used concepts that were way ahead of his time, one particularly interesting one is that he did not want eavestroughs, or gutters as they say in the U.K, and Anne pointed out, Australia, to spoil the line of the roof. The water flows off and is funnelled through the walkways into a collection system. Centennial College, where I taught, used this concept for their sidewalks, they are porous and allow the water to be collected for flushing toilets, known as grey water. It was one of the reasons that they were awarded a Gold (I think it was gold) LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental design) standard for its new campus this century.

However, as is usually the case, there was trouble. The government fell and the new premier did not like how much time the building was taking and the cost overruns. Are any public buildings built to budget? The premier put the squeeze on Utzen by cutting off his funding to pay the suppliers and labourers, which caused him to resign, which is what the premier wanted. Interestingly enough the building was funded by public lottery, in New South Wales only. The guides’ comment was that Australians cannot resist a bet. It was finished by Peter Hall and others. Only this century has Utzen received recognition for the amazing building he designed.

One area of the building was supposed to be a large square elevator to move sets up to q performance floor but the plan changed, and it is the only square performance space in the building and it can be used in various configurations. When we were there this musical was on:

Deco is everywhere. This is the square theatre:

Even the chairs in the Opera House are unusual:

Apparently because of the high ceilings the music rises and falls slowly which is difficult for the musicians to hear themselves, but the wood acts as sound baffles, so it is not a dead loss.

The rest of my birthday present (for that day) was a comedy performance by lesbian Mel Buttle, in the Playhouse theatre. Several times during her performance she said “and here I am, doing stand up comedy in the Opera House”. I think she was impressed. She riffed on her marriage, she wanted a simple one, her friends did not, Her kids, who are of course a lot of work, and she was glad she was away for a day and night, it was hilarious.

Coming back into Sydney at the end of the cruise and early in the morning I did not think I would be awake, but I was, and it was glorious.

Above is coming around Bennelong Point to dock. What an inspired location for the opera house, jutting out into the harbour. Of course the land was originally occupied by Indigenous Australians, and that is now acknowledged at the beginning of performances. They did it much better than we usually do in Canada.

It also has a seal, Benny, who has made the opera house his afternoon sunning spot.

They have fenced off the area around him so he is just photographed, not fed.

There are more pictures, which I cannot resist putting in. It is hard to see the whole building and it looks different depending on where you are standing.

Anne, and then me. We never did get very good at selfies

So that is it for the Opera House. Til next time.

Art Deco Festival, Napier, NZ. February 18 – 21 2026. Part 1

By Maggie

On February 20, 2026

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It has been a busy two days in this Art Deco town, beginning with a walking tour, The Inside Story Walking Tour. Two down, two to go. Most of the inside photographs come from that tour

This and the next two pictures are from the inside of a Gentleman’s club. The first thing they built was a billiards room. It was one of the buildings that survived the earthquake and subsequent fire.

And among other things they added two card rooms. Women were finally admitted in 2022, probably because they needed new members, and now in 2026 there is a woman president. Funny how exclusively male clubs can still exist. I can’t help feeling they are a patriarchal dinosaur, but also know that it is a male hideout where decisions are made that affect all of us.

The inside pictures here and following are from businesses that have restored their properties for modern use but maintained the Art Deco interior. They have done a great job.

The above shots are from a bank, and it was my birthday. I enjoyed the Internet Banking sign against the Art Deco backdrop.

The guide told us about different variations of Art Deco style, Prairie (in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright), Spanish Mission, and I know there was more but I can’t remember at the moment. I will have to read up on them, how they developed and intersected. I also really enjoy Arts and Crafts, which is associated with Frank Lloyd Wright among others.

The entrance to the bank above

Our guide directing us to look up when we went into the store. This what we saw.

It has survived through many uses of this retail space.

The old Art Deco Centre

The new Art Deco Trust Centre, the restored Women’s Rest.

We need a break between images!

Louis Hay was one of the very active architects responsible for the rebuilding of Napier after the 1931 earthquake that destroyed most of the town. He liked flat frontages, not balconies being supported from below, so the balconies in this hotel are behind the facade.

This is another of his buildings. It has changed from tobacco to alcohol. It is a gin distillery and we went to an art opening The Bees Knees by Jane Gibbons. Art and gin were both good.

Just a random, unoccupied shop door, waiting for a new future.

And the entrance close up

And decor

It is getting late and tomorrow is a Workman’s breakfast at 8.15 am. We are being taken to breakfast on a vintage steam traction engine around the seafront and on to Ahuriri.

Last picture. A perfectly framed alleyway. Any mistakes, such as the interior snot being connected to the exterior in this post are mine.

Dangerously Modern

By Maggie

On February 14, 2026

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Way back at the end of January, on my second day in Sydney, Anne and I walked to the Art Gallery of New South Wales to see the exhibit Dangerously Modern. We knew it was about Australian and New Zealand women artists living in Europe from 1890 to 1940. After a hot walk, we were delighted to be inside a cool building, but not prepared for the scope and depth of the exhibition, 220 pieces of art, all by women from that era. Many words can describe our reaction, inspired, intrigued, educated, delighted, and overwhelmed. But can’t quite capture the feeling.

This post has been on my mind since seeing the exhibit. I was not very far into it when I realized that I wanted to create a post. I had no idea these women existed, lived in Paris, London, the French countryside, the English countryside, Ireland, following their own creative dreams, learning from each other, experimenting with new art forms, cubism for example, and of course co-existing with all the other creative artists that are so famous from that time, writing for instance. Virginia Woolf, Earnest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the bookshop, Shakespeare & Co. So I started taking pictures, and that is what this post is, the exhibit through my eyes. And no, it is not all 220 of them, but a lot. (Still can’t believe that we can take pictures of the art.). Maybe it is for me, so that I can see it whenever I want to.

This piece was very small and intriguing, painted on ivory.

Some artists stayed in Europe for the rest of their lives, others returned to Australia or New Zealand and continued their careers, changing the art culture at home.

Is this how artists of the era do their sketches, paint them in the back of the box? Seems a sensible idea.

I love the way that two of the women are looking directly at you, one happy, one glum, while grabbing fabric. I can put myself in that picture, in a French market, or a sale where speed is of the essence in getting the choicest item. I didn’t photograph the next picture, but wanted the information about Iso Rae’s connection to other artists and her community in Etaples

I can feel the damp and cold bleakness in this picture in my bones.

Sadly this copy does not do the original justice. Standing in front of it I could feel the difficulty of working on a boat in a wind that made the Thames choppy, and how cold and miserable that would have been.

We took a break after about an hour and a half to give our brains a rest, they were full of art. We had a lovely lunch in the restaurant, but don’t ask me what, I have had so many lovely lunches since.

We have become quite familiar with the modern Circular Quay. The cruise ship began from there, and there is a fleet of commuter ferries that always seems to have at least three boats coming and going at once, and completely un-phased by the cruise ship sailing away, dodging this way and that around it.

I didn’t take a photo of Van Gogh’s room.

I really enjoyed the background information throughout the exhibit. It really added depth and understanding of the women and their art and lives.

She is painting the next picture.

The above refers to picture above. Oh, what English, but as you can imagine, keeping everything in order while I was there, then when I uploaded them to laptop, editing them and putting them into the WordPress app ready to put them here was quite a challenge, and time consuming. But I think worth it. It must have taken at least a couple of years to research the artists, assemble their work and then present them in an understandable way. And as far as I know an original, dare I say, unique exhibit.

Refugees. A horrendous human effect of man-made conflict. How can we not support their efforts to find settled lives? They did not ask for their misery

This room was much more interesting than Van Gogh’s.

Loved this one, stood for ages looking at the very humanness of it, but don’t seem to have recorded the artist. It was getting late in the show.

The star of the show. Anne and I have spent time trying to pin down the affect. Unapologetic. Saucy. Attitude. Self-confident. Defying convention. Would love to hear what she says to you.