OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK AND THE TWILIGHT SAGA

We’re still posting in flashback and it seems we will be for a while! This post is from Olympic National Park and Our journey through the sights of The Twilight Saga, don’t let that put you off though! We are now just leaving Las Vegas having traveled down through California stopping at San Francisco, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia and Death Valley National Parks along the way. Stay turned for more!

We drive from Seattle to Port Angeles and first stop is a hotel, we are shattered and need to sleep. The next day sees some sunshine but quickly it turns very grey and grim. A very helpful stop at the Olympic National Park Visitor Centre sees us setting off with a plan of attack. This is a highly anticipated stop on our journey.

The park is the highest in the Pacific North West and it is home to such a diverse range of nature, from glacial carved mountain peeks to the temperate Rain Forests, the coastal beaches, 11 major rivers, waterfalls, lakes and a variety of flora and fauna found no where else in the world. It is also home to the Quileute Tribe who have lived here for thousands of years. As with every national park it is unique but few are this diverse. Sadly we have been warned that bad weather is coming tonight so we want to try to see as much as possible before it sets in.

Our first stop is up to Hurricane Ridge. We know we can’t get right to the top but we climb to as high elevation as possible to take in a view that is obscured by low clouds but still awesome. Our trip back down sees us take a back road through the rain forest taking in the amazing variety of trees covered in their rich green mosses. This has taken a good part of the day but we push on to the next trail promising grand waterfalls. It is becoming clear that if we are to reach our camping destination we are going to have to miss some things and also the weather is setting in, decision time, and we head back to the previous nights accommodation in Port Angeles.

The next day we awake to a wild wind but push on to see more of the park. It is no time at all before we are in a full on storm. We are taking it easy on the road, as there is a lot of debris scattered about when a very tall tree falls in front of us blocking the road. Some locals traveling in the opposite direction jump out of their car to start clearing the road and we join them, throwing and dragging branches to the side of the road and getting pretty dirty in the process. We’re almost done clearing when, CRACK, another tree falls behind us, what an adventure and a little scary. We wind our way a few more kilometres and stop to ask for some local advice, carry on or head back. We are told this is normal for this time of year, this being the first of many storms to come and the man is angry he has forgotten his chain saw. That said he felt we were better to push on through and head to the coast, probably being best to avoid the forest.

Well that kind of changed the day’s plans but all things happen for a reason. We are not getting the experience we expected in Olympic but we are certainly experiencing something different. We head to the coast to La Push, the northernmost point of Washington’s Pacific Coast beaches. First beach lies to the south of the Quileute River outlet and is normally a sandy crescent beach with sea stacks enhancing your view to nothing. Well, today is so wild that even the locals are down on the shore to watch nature at it’s best. They say the power is out in town and there is nothing else to do. The ocean is a churning, charging grey that has totally covered the beach to crash into the tree logs that form a break in the channel to smash against the sea walls. Spectacular. The sea birds are even taking refuge in sheltered spots.

We continue our adventures moving around to the north side of the river outlet to Rialto beach and brave a stroll along this amazing wild coast. We are to discover that whole tree logs are constantly moved by the sea and washed into the shore, adding to the beauty of this wild coast. Swimming on a hot day is not advised though; imagine a thirty-metre tree in the surf, more dangerous than a shark I think.

We have come to this part of the world not just for the nature, but also for the Twilight Saga experience. Now I know some of you will not be fans of the trials and tribulations of Bella, Edward, Jacob and their fellow Vampires and Werewolves but we are, so bare with us. La Push is a famous scene in the first movie and we are experiencing it in a similar state, wild and crazy. Though most of the movie was filmed in Canada, this is the area that they all live in the books, because it rains a lot of the time, perfect. We now head into Forks, you guessed it, Twilight guide in hand. The area has totally embraced the movie, must drive the locals mad but also brings in the tourists. Not many around today though. The power is also out here so everything is closed. We make our way around the highlights and finally find Bella’s house and guess what, there is an apple tree fallen in the storm right outside delivering beautiful red apples to the road, this is a sign don’t you think Twilight fans, haha. Look for the famous photo.

Having ‘done’ our Twilight thing, we turn back into travellers and head on down a spectacular coastal drive with views over the wild ocean and the many sea stacks dotted along this shore. Our daylight time is coming to an end so we push on to Kalaloch campground. This is an experience in itself being situated right on the coast with only tree logs by the tonne between us and the Pacific. There is enough daylight left to explore the beach and we marvel at the size of these trees that have travelled by sea to their final resting places. I wonder if they do harm to the shoreline or if they are a natural buffer from the sea. We find a most extraordinary coastal tree that is hanging on to the cliff by it’s roots each side of a small ravine, complete with a small waterfall making its way to the ocean. How can this tree be alive with the majority of it’s root system just hanging in mid air. Nature always delivers something amazing. It is a spectacular sunset over a grey ocean that brings our day to an end and delivers a wonderful night sky full of stars. Love this camping life.

The morning weather is a lot more gentle and we are visited by some lovely birds, 3 very inquisitive Stellar’s Jays and a very large gull. The Jays pop around the car and give us lots of photo opportunities as they are very human friendly and then a large gull decides to come and perch on a fence post not to be outdone for photo poses by the Jays’. We take another stroll on the beach finding interesting flotsam from the nights high tide. Something we had not seen before was the seaweed pulled from the ocean floor root attached. The root is a hard rubber like bulb and tentacle that is about 10 ft long, very interesting. Time to move along. We head to our last destination in Olympic, another rain forest part of the park and traverse a loop road around large Quinault lake and explore some gorgeous old forest growth and some of the parks lovely waterfalls feeding into the river. Time to make some ground till we end our day in Vancouver, WA.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album WASHINGTON.

A link to all our photos, here.

A STOP IN BAVARIAN LEAVENWORTH BEFORE SEATTLE

When we arise the next day we discover it really has been raining and our car is sitting in a new lake. Lucky we were all high and dry. We are in for a driving day through more gorgeous scenery as we move West out of Montana and in to Idaho. This is just a gorgeous area of forest with the Alpine conifers scaling the steep slopes showing off their gorgeous autumn colours. The Alpine Lurch has its glorious golden shedding coat on in all its glory.

Nature just turns on one spectacular vista after another. We pass some lovely little towns along the way. We stop to rummage a little through an antique shop and meet a most delightful man to swap stories with. He and his family are the proud owners of this ever-changing wonderful collection of furniture, memorabilia and bits and bobs. I am particularly drawn to an old restored child’s highchair/ rocking chair and also a very old gramophone. It is the type with the metal records with punched out holes. We hear it play and are so surprised by the quality of the sound, just lovely. We have to be practical and realize this is impossible to achieve, shipping to Australia is just so expensive it is not viable. It has still been a pleasure to chat with such an interesting man and we come out of the shop realizing it was a very long chat as darkness is descending. We drive on to the town of Couer d’Alene and find a place to stay.

Our next day begins with a slightly boring part of the country, very flat and uninteresting, through Lincoln County and Douglas County. We say boring but that is because we have been treated to so much amazing scenery lately that we are almost dismissive of anything that is not out of this world. We have moved into Washington State, and this is really an area of farming with small communities doted along the way.  We are soon heading into Chelan County from Wenatchee on the banks of the Columbus River.  We start to wind our way through some amazing hills.  This time they are not covered with the Alpine Pines, just grasses, but we are treated to some wonderful gorges as the road snakes its way around, up and down the hills.  We come through some small towns until we hit Leavenworth.

We had read a little about this town recently. Before we left Australia I had thought of Leavenworth only as a detention centre, but this is something a bit different.  The entire town is Bavarian styled, and I mean the entire town.  Every building is designed or modified to look like your typical chalet with all the bells and whistles, down to fairy lights and murals and so much more.  It is like America can even do Europe better than Europe.  Even Starbucks is in a chalet.  We stopped for a quick look at this picturesque town and ended up staying over.  It really is pretty and all the Christmas lights are in the trees, very enticing. Those who know us know how much we just love Christmas and all the decorations. Needless to say we have managed to add a couple of little treasures to the suitcase. We have also gained another hour with a time change, so that is 2 hours in a couple of days with the day light saving end, meaning it is getting dark really early too so did not want to be driving in the dark and missing anything.  It was lovely to stop early and enjoy a little rest time with a couple of rented movies and some popcorn.

Our next day we start late as the clouds are so low that we don’t want to miss the views, that’s our excuse anyway, didn’t help much that there was the opportunity to have a late breakfast and in a really nice hotel.  We did the right thing as literally from our front door we started to wind our way through some spectacular mountains, the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forrest along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range. It is just gorgeous steep sided mountains with many waterfalls carving their way through the rocks heading into the rivers below to add to the cascades tumbling their way to the Pacific.  The white low cloud adds to the mystical appearance of the byway and once again the road winds its way up, down, around and over, every turn a wonderful view over an edge or up from the floor to the towering walls above.  We are lucky again to have made it to the Stevens pass and just about out of the natural area before the rain settles in for a while.

We are lucky again to see it stop for us to make a stop in Seattle.  This is a lovely city built on the steep sloping banks of the water.  We are imagining that the steep roads down toward the bay are a little like San Francisco, we shall see. It reminds us a little of Perth except that we only have two levels instead of about 8.

We decide that the Pike Place Market will be our best spot to stop and soak up a little of what Seattle is like. These markets were established in 1907 and are a busy hub of activity. We enjoy strolling through the markets taking in some original works of art from wood to pottery to leather to jewellery to wool to just about anything and then come to the veggie shops, fish stands and all sorts of culinary treats.  And don’t forget the gorgeous flower stands and the restaurants and eateries all there for the taking. It is not that busy and we chat to some of the vendors as we meander along. We also take in the harbour views from this area too.

One thing we are surprised to see is a lot of homeless disadvantaged people.  They are not actually begging but are obviously struggling and they are more than we have encountered anywhere in our travels.  We do a drive through of the city and love the buildings, especially the Space Needle, a structure built for the 1962 Worlds Fair that towers 605 feet into the air. The outside lift takes you up 520 feet to an observation deck that also has a revolving restaurant.  If you are a Grey’s Anatomy fan you will be very familiar with the UFO design.  Tick another thing off the list.  We push on to get to our destination, Port Angeles, to start our Twilight time and Olympic NP.

Photos are on our Facebook page in the album WASHINGTON.

AROUND KRAKOW AND THE WIELICZKA SALT MINE

After a night camping in Slovakia we drove on into Poland ready to put some more history under our belt. First stop, Wieliczka Salt Mine, on the outskirts of Krakow.

It seems the Polish like to hold fetes on Sundays so after a quick wonder through the market stalls, listening to the live band, it was straight to the tourist entrance of the mine.

Arriving late we were lucky to get tickets to one of the last two and a half hour tours for the day and after a short wait for the English guide we began our descent, about 350 steps, to 135 meters under ground. I continue to try to conquer my apprehension about enclosed, underground spaces and I believe I’m getting much better.

Walking through the pressurized doors and corridors to different chambers inside the mine we were told of the history and even shown a reenactment of the explosive elimination of harmful gases that filled the mine in the old days. As well as the dangerous feats, whilst underground the salt miners carved many sculptures out of the walls; gnomes, snow white, princesses, famous and influential people among the few on display.

A highlight was the underground cathedral all carved from salt, even the altar, and complete with a salt carving of the last supper. An amazing cavernous space that helps you forget that you are underground and yet another beautiful cathedral to add to the list seen during our trip.

They’re constantly adding new multimedia features inside the mine so a stop was made at another large area to watch an abstract projected film about the life of the miners. A little pointless to us, though the school group that watched with us seemed to love it!

The air down here is beneficial for asthma suffers, bonus, and it does have a salty smell to it. Although we didn’t take advantage, like some other people in our tour group, you can also taste the salt on the walls. We were shuddering at the thought of how many millions of other peoples DNA you get to sample too, yuck!

Heading back up into the warmth and open air, it was time to find a camping spot next to Krakowskie Blonia park in Krakow, only a short walk to the old town center, ready for an early start in the morning.

Walking is always how we spend the day in the cities. First stop the old town square, dodging the pigeons, and into the church of Saint Mary, another very cool interior similar to that of Sienna cathedral. Though our favourite church here was one we affectionately call “the cupcake church”, as we have no idea what it is actually called and it looks like a beautiful decorated cake. We do know that it’s next to the church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Stunning inside, all pastel pinks, blues and greens with silver detail, Mum says, “if she ever did decide to go to church she would go there”, a big statement coming from her.

Exploring makes us hungry and it was time for lunch so we deviated from the tourist track to find somewhere to eat, settling on a traditional Ukrainian restaurant. Down in a quaint basement with knitted scarves and dried flowers hanging everywhere we ate soup followed by pierogi, yummy dumplings filled with ingredients like mashed potato, mushroom and cabbage. Sounds dull but they’re actually delicious.

After lunch it was up Wawel Hill to see the outside of the castle (pretty boring) and join the throngs of tourists inside the cathedral where we decided it wasn’t worth us paying to see what wasn’t free.

Our last stop in Krakow was the New Jewish Cemetery in Kazimierz the Jewish Quarter, wrought with history, where the headstones and graves are piled one on top of the other because of a lack of space. Very interesting a moving though not as moving as what we would experience the following day.

Driving towards Auschwitz we found a lovely camping spot off the main road nestled in the trees. The perfect setting for our third police encounter of the trip. At about 11:30pm whilst we were watching some Grey’s Anatomy we had a knock on the door from the police. Greeting them in our pajamas yet again we handed over our registration, insurance and passports as usual and went through an excruciating 10-minute wait to be told all was ok. Everything was in order but they asked us to move to a nearby petrol station for the night, for our own safety. Much better that than asked to move on because we had chosen an illegal camping spot!

Ready to start on another chapter in our trip, knowing we would soon be visiting one of the most moving places on the planet, we made our way towards Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration camp.

Photos can be found on our Facebook Page in the album POLAND

YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

Learning curves are a fact of life and thankfully so because life would be pretty boring if we all stopped discovering new things and absorbing the enormous amount of information available to us. I love the saying, “you learn something new everyday”, because it’s so true, and I think while you’re travelling the only thing wrong with this saying is that there is much more to learn than only one thing a day!

We have mentioned it before, but one of the biggest things we’ve had to grapple with as travellers is the fact that we won’t be able to see everything that each country has to offer in the time that we have. I think we’ve come to accept this reality pretty well but there are still times when we struggle to decide what to see and what we can miss. Our answer always being if we don’t see it now, it’s the perfect excuse to come back again!

Although we never miss out on what we can do because as we always say, “we’re here now, we may as well do it.” This is especially true when Mum suggests we visit another church and Mikayla groans from the back seat. But seriously, this leads me to another of my favourite sayings, “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

We are wild camping in our van and move on to a new place every day. If we do stay in one spot it’s only when we’re staying with friends, or in a place (such as Paris) with lots to see in one area. So there is no time like the present to see that building, explore that park, walk along that beach or do whatever we can to immerse ourselves in the culture of a new place.

Deciding where to move onto next is also tough as we want to see all the best places but we also love discovering areas that are as yet mostly untouched by the commercial side of tourism. When we say commercial tourism we mean souvenir shops rather than local artisans, signs in English rather than the local language and large restaurants sponsored by ice-cream companies rather than traditional little cafes and bars.

After only a short time it’s very easy to spot the resort style, summer holiday destinations from the quaint little towns that hold real substance when you stop and look around. A few times we’ve been driving through a small town and decided to stop because we like the feel of the place, only to discover a historical castle or an ornate church.

We love meeting new people and sharing stories, learning and making new friends, but we also love heading into the national parks and escaping into nature. Although we have learned that not all national or natural parks are desired destinations, or potential camping spots.

Yesterday it was time to leave Portugal so we set off from Praia Grande de Pera on the south coast towards Spain. We have had a couple of encounters with the police at the Spanish border and while we were absolutely fine both times we thought it would be best to camp a long way from the border, so pouring over the map we picked out a final destination, Parque Nacional de Donana.

Big mistake! Our logic was that we would stop at the national park, find the perfect camping spot (as we have before) with only a slight detour on the way to Seville. Didn’t happen! We ended up driving alongside the national park as there are no roads through it, and it wasn’t even a pretty drive and in hindsight a waste of time because we ended up sleeping in a car park on the outskirts of Pilas. Moral of the story being, not all national parks are wonderful, beautiful places.

Since our last post we have also been to Lisbon, and aside from the atrocious treatment we received on the public transport here (one guard on a power trip) we had a lovely day. First stop was the Torre de Belem (Tower of Belem) which we admired from the outside. We strolled along the waterside pasts the monuments and came across the monastery.

We were so comfortable in Joao and Maria’s apartment that we decided to stay another two nights and spent the whole next day doing nothing but watching TV, writing and getting organized for more adventures in Vincent. Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is just what we need to recharge because as self-indulgent as it sounds, travel, site seeing and driving are really tiring.

When we did finally leave the apartment we had to say goodbye to Maria and Joao who were the best hosts ever and such wonderful people. We know count them as lovely friends and hope to see them again one day, maybe in Australia. We had lunch with them before setting off south.

In Santiago do Cacem we stopped at the post office to send a few gifts then continued on through the gorgeous area between here and Lagos, sleeping in a quite pull off from the main road near Alfambra.

On arrival in Lagos the next morning we went straight for the Ponta de Piedade, a point below Lagos where we walked along the rugged cliff that reminded us so much of a mix between Ganthuem point in Broome, Western Australia and The Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria.

We drove east from Lagos to our beautiful and private camping spot behind the dunes at Praia Grande de Pera where we walked along the beach before heading home again to Vincent.

Since then we have arrived back in Spain after a day of driving and we’re now spending a bit of time at MacDonald’s trying to book a side trip to Morocco. More on that soon!

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album PORTUGAL

HOME TIME

Mikayla here, Obidos was next. We had been told by the couple that we met at the caves that there was a chocolate festival in Obidos so of course we had to go! What else do you do when you find out there is free samples of chocolate? We got to the walled town and before beginning our search for chocolate we saw the church just outside the wall. We have seen a lot of churches so far and I was not completely enthusiastic but the ceiling of this one was quite nice. Each one has had a something a little different.

So now for the chocolate search. We went through a little section of the market looking at little things, finding that cork seems to be everywhere. After about ten minutes we found the upsetting news that the chocolate festival was only on from Friday to Sunday, we were there on a Thursday.

We ended up deciding that we may as well go through the rest of the market. We went through a few odd stores but it was the last two stores where we had the most success. One was a museum in which we found a beautiful china doll. We had thought of it first as a gift but after a closer look we decided that she was too beautiful to part with. That was the only place where we made a purchase but the last shop had beautiful china that we wish that we could find room in Vincent for, but sadly we couldn’t.

We ended the day in Peniche. We were able to find a camping stop that was perfect for us, private but still with a beautiful ocean view, although it took about half an hour to choose the spot.

Back to Georgia now. Our next morning was spent walking over the cliffs in Peniche and organizing to stay in an apartment for the next few days. Exciting!

We decided on an apartment in Mem Martins, very close to Sintra and a 40 minute train ride to Lisbon, perfect for a few days of space and rest. A few days that turned into 6 nights total.

We have had access to a shower, cable TV, a toilet, an oven, a microwave, Wi-Fi and separate beds for 6 nights; total luxury in a gorgeous apartment. When we arrived we were greeted by our hosts Joao and Maria who are just wonderful. Such wonderful people who have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and at home, they’re just lovely.

First thing on TV, to my delight, was Grey’s Anatomy, but we’ve also watched as much Keeping up with the Kardashians as I can get Mum to allow, lots of Ghost Whisperer and a few episodes of Offspring (why haven’t I got into this sooner?)

While here we have done a little site seeing around Sintra and one trip into Lisbon to visit Belem.

We had a late start on our Sintra day so had limited time to see what we wanted to. The Palace of Pena and the Moorish Castle were at the top of our list.

The best part of seeing the Palace of Pena is walking through the extensive gardens. You could get lost in all day in the huge sloping hills walking through the vibrant green forest, lakes, streams and bits of history along the way.

The palace is pretty inside with some more differences in furniture and décor, namely patterned and shaded walls, the papier mache furniture (that looked like it was inlayed with mother of pearl detail; Mikayla’s favourite), and Indian looking furniture intricately carved in dark wood with red cushions (Mum’s favourite). Another unique feature inside the palace are the 3D patterned walls.

You can also get a great view of the natural park from the outside walls of the palace as it’s built right at the top of the hill. This also makes it visible from the window of the apartment where we’re staying.

We walked to the Moorish Castle next, up and down those sloping hills, well worth the effort though because this one is a good one. Worth seeing and probably the largest we’ve come across on our trip so far. We also met a fellow Perth gal up here, very nice to meet an Australian and her new friends.

We decided to have dinner out to try bacalhua (Portuguese word for cod) at a restaurant Joao and Maria had recommended to us. The owner here has lived in Australia and again it was really nice to speak in English.

The restaurant was called Bacano Churrasqueira Restaurante in Mem Martins and Mr Rui was lovely treating us to a feast of garlis bread and bacalau for entre and main cooked two different traditional ways. Delicious, and again some very yummy potatoes to try and recreate in Vincent!

The highlight of our time here has been being able to skype our friends! Mikayla got to skype all her best friends and so did I, talking to Ellen and Shauna made me feel so much better, love those girls!

After our skype time we really felt like going to the movies, something we do quite a lot back at home. We’ve been hanging out to see The Monuments Men so off we went to the cinema. English movies are shown as is with Portuguese subtitles so we had no trouble understanding (except when German and French were spoken), it felt like we were back in Perth.

The Monuments Men was fantastic and we loved it so much Mum suggested we see another movie straight away so back to the ticket office we went and decided to see Non Stop. Another great movie and Mikayla’s first thriller, we were very proud!

Photos on our FB page here!