What's new in Alaska?

What's new, you ask? Well...since we wrote some pretty extensive coverage of our time here in Hope, Alaska last year, we didn't feel the need to cover familiar territory. However, we have been doing some new stuff since we got here in snowy and wintery May.

We've had a very late summer and Michiel's efforts to get an early start on the vegetable garden were thwarted by snow and icy soil. As we approach summer solstice on June 21, things are FINALLY starting to feel like summer and the lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, and sunflowers are starting to do some real growing.

It was great, however, to experience a taste of winter in those first couple of weeks with temperatures in the 30's and 40's during the day with occasional snow flurries and a snow shower and below freezing at night. During the last week of May, I guided my first trip of the season and the state experienced a heat wave, including record-breaking high temps in Hope. When we returned from that great trip (Michiel joined me), all of the trees had leafed-out and winter was certainly over.

Gone Fishin': One of the fun things we did recently was to go out for our very first salmon fishing attempt. Our friend, John, took us out on the Kenai and Russian Rivers for red (sockeye) salmon fishing. He taught us how to tie the fly onto the line and how to cast, etc., but we were all unlucky and/or unskilled and spent the day with our boots in the frigid waters trying to stay warm in the downpour.

Fishing on the Kenai River is never a solitary pursuit



While hiking along the Kenai River to the confluence with the Russian River, we saw a small brown bear doing some fishing of his own.



We DID enjoy it, though, and vowed to try again now that we have our annual fishing licenses. There's something very satisfying about the idea of bringing home your own food. Unfortunately, that night, we had to eat leftovers.

Michiel was the only one of the three of us to get a fish on the line (twice!), but, alas.....no dinner.



Gone Runnin': Today, we both ran the Anchorage Mayor's Half-Marathon (13.1 miles/21 kilometers) - formerly known as the Midnight Sun Marathon. Michiel was extremely supportive and stuck by me the whole time - even going so far as to carry extra GU (energy gel) and Gatorade. It was incredibly helpful and motivating to have him there with me to help me through the tough moments (like from mile 11 to mile 12). It was surprisingly fun to do and very inspirational to see all of the different body shapes, sizes and ages of people who were out there running. I also managed to beat my time goal of 2.5 hours by finishing in 2 hours and 23 minutes or so (results are still unofficial). UPDATE: Official time was: 2:23:26, which put me at 309th in the women's race and Michiel at 281st in the men's race.

For more info on the marathon and official times, see www.mayorsmarathon.com

I'm not too sore, yet...but it has only been 7 or 8 hours..... UPDATE: Ouch.....

Fishin' for World Cup Soccer: Our (especially Michiel's) biggest sadness at the moment is that we can't find reliable internet coverage of the World Cup soccer games. In case you haven't been following, the US even has a small chance to advance to the second round. Of course, we are most interested in seeing how Holland does and after watching the European Cup two years ago while living in Amsterdam, I developed an appreciation of the game that everyone else in the world seems to care about.... GO HOLLAND!

Back to Holland / Terug naar Nederland

After a short visit with family in Los Angeles and San Diego, we got on another set of airplanes for a long trip to the Netherlands. The purpose of this trip was to visit family and friends and to sort out our affairs there, which is to say - to move out of our apartment and officially emigrate from Holland to the US.

We had surprisingly sunny weather during the month of April and it was a real treat to get back on the bicycles and enjoy the canals of Amsterdam. We spent lots of time in various parts of the country visiting with family members and particularly enjoyed being out in the countryside at a time of year when all the trees and flowers were blossoming.

Bedankt lieve familie en vrienden voor jullie gastvrijheid! Wij missen jullie!

The following photos were taken in Rijnsaterwoude, the small town where Michiel grew up and where his father still resides.







At the end of our stay, I finally did what is required to be called a REAL Amsterdammer - I participated in moving our furniture from our 3rd storey apartment to the sidewalk using a block and tackle. Almost all traditional Amsterdam apartments are narrow-fronted with steep, narrow staircases. In most situations, it is nearly impossible to move things like couches down the stairs...so most of these buildings have a big hook on the gable (just below the roof) on which to hang a pulley.

Here is Michiel's brother, Wilbert, and I managing the ropes from the sidewalk on our first practice run with a light load in the net. Michiel is in the apartment loading the furniture into the net and pushing it out the window of the living room. Well, actually, he's the one who took this photo. Heel erg bedankt voor je hulp, Wilbert!

The West Coast

Our next journey leg took us from the northwestern coast through lovely, quiet farmland areas that were far along into the colors of autumn. We enjoyed a couple of cool, crisp days driving to Nelson Lakes, where we had been advised to go for incredible hiking. The trip to the National Park was well worth it and we had a nice evening in a little cabin on the property of some deer farmers. The evening was permeated with the bugling of horny deer in the rut, quacking ducks and chickens.

The afternoon in Nelson Lakes was not amenable to hiking at high elevations as the wind speeds were too high and the weather forecast too iffy for safe hiking in the high country, so we took a disappointing half-a hike around the lake and retreating back to car to move west.

The last couple of days of our 5 week trip around the South Island were spent on the rugged (north) west coast. There is something magical about the trees, the rock, the lighting and the spray of the ocean that makes one think that a dinosaur will be trundling through the landscape.


We stopped at the famous Pancake Rocks to experience the blowholes and interesting rock formations and then went for a short hike down the beautiful river valley with limestone cliffs in Paparoa National Park.





Our last stop in Hokitika allowed us to experience the joy (HA!) of biting sandflies and mosquitos galore mixed with the Lysol blue waters of the gorge and the rugged beauty of driftwood strewn beaches and one of the best backpacker accommodations we stayed in.



From here, we reluctantly drove the last stretch across the island and back to Christchurch to pack up and make the long flight to Los Angeles via Auckland. Fortunately, our flight day was clear and we had great sightseeing as we flew over the landscape we had just experienced by can and on foot. It also gave us a taste of what we hope to see and experience next year on the North Island!

Farewell Spit and Golden Bay

Our time in New Zealand was growing short but we still had the whole northwest and west coast to see. We had been given lots of good ideas for places to stop and linger, but the weather was a bit unpleasant (at least not ideal for camping on the beach or swimming in the sea) and I (more than Michiel) was feeling the pressure of our rapidly approaching departure. We made a quick trip from the wine region past the famous Abel Tasman National Park (without really stopping, dare I say) and over the mountain to the Golden Bay area and beyond on the only road leading out to Farewell Spit, a 30 km/18 mile long sand spit. See satellite photo, below.



The spit is home to thousands of nesting birds, beautiful sand dunes, and an historic lighthouse. It is quite a danger to migrating whales as the shallow sand seems to screw up their sonar and they easily become stranded. The visitor centre even has a Whale Rescue Kit to handle the unfortunately common occurences.



Most of Farewell Spit is closed to regular traffic, but a couple of outfits have permits to bring groups in specially equipped buses out on the sand. On the day we went on our tour, we experienced 70 kph/42 mph winds and our trips out onto the sand dunes turned into exhilirating exfoliating treatments.





Returning the way we came, we passed areas with thousands of black swans and headed toward Golden Bay.

Golden Bay is a lovely region of funky towns and great beaches on the northern coast - but it has been discovered by tourists and didn't much feel like a place where we wanted to spend our few remaining days (apologies to Janet - a friend from the ice who lives there with her Kiwi husband). We made a quick visit to one of the more famous beaches in the area - Wharariki Beach to enjoy the rock formations and caverns.