August 2026 (Alaska, Canada and Melbourne)


The Intrepid tour was lots of fun. And the scenery and wildlife were amazing. The mountains, rivers, streams and lakes were every but as beautiful as we expected. Truly stunning.

We also saw deer, elk, bighorn sheep, chipmunks. And black bears. We saw bears twice, two days in a row. Both were beside the highway eating buffalo berries. It was such a treat to see these incredible creatures.

Our favourite spot on the Intrepid Travel tour was Banff. We loved this little town (as did many thousands of others!!) It was big enough to be interesting and small enough to be charming. And it was beautiful. 

One evening, we had a fun experience canoeing down the Bow River and we had a beaver swim beside us and slap his tail.

After Intrepid, we had two days on the iconic Rocky Mountaineer, travelling from Banff to Vancouver. I had long dreamed of riding on this train so I was very excited to have the opportunity. Once again, the scenery was spectacular and it was also a very special experience to be waited on all day.

Rocky Mountaineer gave me my first viral reel – a reel I posted on Facebook has had almost 70K views (and still climbing!) Clearly a few other people dream about the Rocky Mountaineer! Actually, in a testament to how much people enjoy this trip, most of the comments are from people who have travelled on the Rocky Mountaineer or are booked to travel on it.

From the Rocky Mountaineer, we took a baby plane to Campbell River and had a couple of days there. Andrew went fishing – salmon this time – and we saw people fishing for salmon waist-deep in the rivers. Never seen that before!

We had two days planned as a stopover in Beijing but a typhoon curtailed our sightseeing plans. Not to worry, it was actually nice to stop after more than five weeks on the go.

Home for three whole weeks, we caught up with family and friends and organised our outfits for our son’s wedding in October. We also spent precious time with our precious grandbaby who is getting more and more fun as she gets older. She is 10 months’ old next week!

We also got a dose of theatre – “Pretty Woman” – and the footy. Our team, Collingwood, lost in the first week of finals by a nail-biting 3 points and we were able to be there.

Our YouTube channel goes from strength to strength – incredibly, we are closing in on 100,000 subscribers! Not bad for a channel less than two years’ old! We have an episode up already about the Kenai Peninsula and the HX Expeditions cruise. More Alaska and Canada content coming soon!

In Writing Wins, I had a few stories backed up with Citro published plus my first byline in Seniors in Melbourne and a blog post for Panache about the Rocky Mountaineer:

• Penang – over 40 years since Leonie last visited https://web.joincitro.com.au/articles/penang-malaysia

• Where dreams come true at Song Saa Private Island in Cambodia https://www.joincitro.com.au/news/song-saa-private-island-in-cambodia

• A Tassie Road Trip https://web.joincitro.com.au/articles/tassie-road-trip

• Fiji Time – how to make a week’s holiday feel like two weeks https://web.joincitro.com.au/articles/best-fiji-holiday

• Bellarine Peninsula: A Two-Day Escape from Melbourne https://seniorsinmelbourne.com.au/bellarine-two-day-itinerary/

• Why add a trip on the iconic Rocky Mountaineer to your Alaska cruise? https://blog.panachecruises.com/post/why-add-trip-iconic-rocky-mountaineer-your-alaska-cruise

I have an exciting few weeks coming up with a few stories being published in newspapers and glossy magazines.

And now for our next adventure, Egypt and Jordan with Uniworld plus a few days in Dubai!

PS I haven’t forgotten about those Panache projects.. still in the planning stages. Watch this space!























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