helloworld Travel The Lakes, Tauranga - Recent staff trips

We arrived in Vancouver mid afternoon and stayed the night at an airport hotel for our flight to Anchorage the next morning – this gave us the opportunity to stretch the legs after a 12 hour flight from Auckland. Staying at an airport hotel was a great option for an early morning flight out and we arrived in Anchorage by lunchtime and this also gave us the chance to walk around and get our bearings before meeting up with the rest of the group that evening.

Found a great little pub to have some snacks and a quiet beer (or two)

We left Anchorage the next morning and spent the day getting to Denali via the Holland America Line McKinley Explorer train & you know it’s going to be a good day when the bar service starts as soon as you sit down in your seat

The dome glass top 2 story carriage was awesome & being 18 feet off the ground gave us all an incredible vantage point for sightseeing & everyone was watching intently for wildlife. Tick one for a moose & a bonus point as she had a calf with her - very cool !! We then spent 2 nights in Denali.

Day 3 was a day for the history books as we ventured deep into Denali National Park in search of some Alaskan wildlife. What an incredible day.

We managed to tick Dahl sheep, Moose, Caribou and Grizzly bears off the list – very cool.

After this excursion went for a hike along the river - walked about 7km & was so nice to be stretching the legs after sitting in a bus for 5 hours.

The next few days from Denali to Fairbanks to Dawson City were very busy and packed full including  a stop along the way in a tiny town of Nenana & checked out a pub with a leaning floor. Trying to walk a straight line was almost impossible & very funny !!

Onto Fairbanks where we had lunch before boarding the Discovery Riverboat on the Chena River stopping at a Athabascan village to hear all about the history of the local inhabitants of this region. Another stop to learn about Susan Butcher & her amazing Alaskan sled dog kennels. A 4 time Iditarod Trail race winner (famous sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome, 1770km race)

Stayed at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge & dined on the patio overlooking the Chena River - an awesome way to finish the day.

We then took a charter flight from Fairbanks (Alaska, USA) to Dawson City (Yukon Territory, Canada) & had a lovely afternoon wandering around this historic town. Dawson City was the Centre of the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890’s & much of the buildings survive today.

Dawson City is probably one of the coolest little towns we have been to and a small group of us hiked up to Midnight Dome – took us a few hours but the views were worth the effort (yes it was cloudy/drizzle but very cool) We even got to see the Northern Lights in Dawson as well – yet another highlight.

After Dawson City we took another charter flight to Whitehorse and then coached onto Skagway for a few nights before boarding our Holland America Line ship for the last 4 nights of this wonderful trip.

Skagway is a great little town & hosts many cruise ship visits each day & when the ships leave we almost had the place to ourselves - it was quite an experience.

We have a very active group so we took every opportunity to get out into nature & check out the local hikes - Skagway was no different & we hiked up (& around) Lower Dewey Lake. An awesome morning & in the afternoon we did one of the most popular excursions in Skagway - the White Pass Rail. No wonder it’s so popular it was amazing !!!!

 Finished the day by having dinner at the local Skagway Brewing Company.

Once we boarded the ship we explored every corner of it - found the gym, restaurants & a number of bars - so much entertainment on board & even joined the trivia quizzes. Very competitive !!

A full day was spent cruising in Glacier Bay & was spectacular. Coming in it was very “moody” with low fog a limited visibility but cleared away to sunshine & a beautiful day.

Perfect conditions for taking photos.

Ended the day with a group dinner in one of the ships Signature restaurants, The Pinnacle Grill Steakhouse & wow, what an evening of great food, great company & catching up with how everyone filled their day. Also comparing stories about what wildlife was spotted.

A day in the port town of Ketchikan allowed us to do a sea kayaking excursion to see some more wildlife and was great fun. In the afternoon we joined a few of the group and jumped in a taxi to go out to a salmon hatchery on a small creek and was so excited to see a black bear wander down the creek and have a good look at us and then just wander off back into the forest – so amazing !!!!!!