#01-21 “Girls On Tour” Beginnings

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My first trip outside of North America was in 1992.  I sailed on what felt like a pirate ship, to a small island in Fiji for 3 days.  This was followed by a bus tour of the North & South islands of New Zealand. I decided to go on a horseback ride in Queenstown instead of bungee jumping, being the scaredy cat that I am. Unfortunately, "Sam" and I were not a match! I ended up falling off which led to a back injury, a broken finger and an overnight stay at a hospital. 

The tour went on without me for a day but I joined them to climb a glacier, a catamaran boat trip and a genuine Maoro show.  The final leg of this trip was to Australia that included an overnight on a Barrier Reef island, Warner Bros. Movie World, riding a camel, climbing Ayers Rock, watching a sugar cane fire and Taronga Zoo in Sydney among many other fun adventures.

NOTE: Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them (click back arrow to return to blog).

    Movie World, Gold Coast                Franz Joseph Glacier, NZ

     Great Keppel Island                          Camel ride near Ayers Rock

Ayers Rock

“Girls On Tour” came into being on a 2016 trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.  Coralie arrived as my guest for my nephew’s wedding, with her usual gift of plentiful & varied Maltesers  - yum!  Along with these luscious & tasty treats was the card below and “Girls On Tour” became the theme of every trip thereafter (to be henceforth known as GOT).


Now to give a little background on how & when our friendship began.  In November 1996, I attended a function in Vancouver and heard a lovely accent from the woman sitting next to me.  Since I had recently completed my second trip to Australia, I inquired whether she was Australian. We chatted during the event, and afterward I asked if she’d like to go for a walk or to a movie sometime.

Several months later, after we had done many walks & movies, Coralie returned home. As was the only method of keeping in touch at the time, we communicated for years via handwritten letter (I have YET to read her handwriting easily!). 😉 We eventually moved onto email and in the past few years, we've been in touch almost daily on What's App which I fortunately have NO problem reading. ;o)


My June 1996 Australian trip included seeing kd lang in concert at the Sydney Opera House (3 times!) & in Perth, a stop in Melbourne and Queensland to visit my friend Kevin who I met on my 1992 New Zealand bus trip.

 
 Sydney Opera House                   Great Ocean Road, Victoria
Perth
            
In 1998, I returned to Australia for the 3rd time, for a cycling trip through the wine & dairy country North of Sydney and then Coralie & I set off on some adventures together.  Prior to the cycling trip I had sprained my ankle badly at Bondi Beach and by the time we started off on our adventure, I was on crutches.  Coralie became my pack horse, lugging the bags everywhere, carrying my crutches and even pushing me in a wheelchair at one point. We visited the capital city of Canberra and went to the Snowy Mountains (there was even snow!) where we stayed in a ski chalet.

     
                                                                                           
                                                             Pics: Cowjam, Bondi Beach, my pack horse!                      

Coralie made her next return trip to Vancouver in 1999 which included a visit to Whistler, the year we both turned 42 - GASP!@  We looked like babies! 

                                                        

In 2002, Coralie ventured to Vancouver again and our visit included a trip to Whistler, Victoria, Tofino, Butchart Gardens, Sunshine Coast, Denman & Hornby Islands.

                                   Tofino                                                     Whistler

Her next visit to Vancouver was in the summer of 2005 when we kayaked at Deep Cove, hiked in North Vancouver and went to the Maritimes. We spent the first part of our trip in Nova Scotia with friends Paula & Anne who toured us around to sites we wouldn't have seen on our own.  From there, we set off in a rental car to Prince Edward Island where we stayed in lovely B&B's, visited the Anne of Green Gables house and I even got her on a bike!  The Trans Canada Trail was close to our first B&B so we did a short ride and her butt survived it. ;o)  We ventured to the infamous Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick and ended in Halifax before Coralie flew off to visit relatives & friends in the UK.

  
Sugar Moon Farm                                      PEI

Following trips (including links to our photo books):  

2007 - London, England (London Eye, musical Mamma Mia, Brighton beach, Cambridge, Oxford)
2010 - Vancouver (Miracle Beach, bike ride around Stanley Park) / Boston (walked Freedom Trail, JFK Memorial, Provincetown, museums)
2013 - Vancouver / Portland road trip (home exchange, bike ride around the city, winery; Cannon Beach, OR and Mount St Helen's, WA)
2015 - Hawaii (Maui)
2016 - Hawaii Big Island (my oldest nephew's wedding) 
2017 - National Parks road trip (Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Parks); Victoria, Kelowna, Salt Spring Island
2018 - Scotland (my nephew's wedding in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Highland tour) / Spain (Madrid, Seville, Granada, Cordoba) and an overnight in London.
2019 - Hawaii (Oahu/Kauai)

NOTE: To see other trips where I can't share the photo books, click HERE.


With COVID, our next big trip in 2020 was sadly postponed but we were excited to be in the planning stages of the resurrection of that trip for 2022 once Coralie could leave "prison island"!


GOT 2022 finally happened!  Prior to Coralie's arrival in April, I attended Anne Lister Birthday Week in Halifax, England. 

Coralie arrived in Vancouver the day before I returned from my UK trip, helped celebrate my 65th  birthday and visited for 2.5 months (April to June). Unfortunately, before our driving trip through BC, my finger was crushed in the steel hinge of my new folding bike. This meant that Coralie did the driving for the entire trip!
Portugal & Spain Photos

Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome) Sep 2024 (3 weeks): 


Malta & Italy (Amalfi Coast) October 2025 (3 weeks):  Coming soon

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