Not the Falls...

We spent three nights in and around the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL), not to visit the falls which we have seen before in both summer and winter, but to have a look at the Welland Canal which is a shipping canal joining Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, dropping 100m and bypassing the rather unnavigable Niagara Falls. We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with an old friend and his wife, and they hosted us handsomely during our visit.

The Whirlpool, downstream of Niagara Falls.

The drive to NOTL in our rented Hyundai Tucson was mostly along the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way), and then it's about 15km to the historic town. Along these roads, we observed many, many wineries, often with classy looking tasting centres and restaurants attached. We learned that there are over 50 wineries in the district. One which seemed to be very popular was named after Wayne Gretzky, partly owned by this famous ice hockey star.

NOTL is one of the oldest settlements in (what is now called) Canada. The British settled here in 1781, but Native American tribes had lived here for hundreds of years previously. In 1792, NOTL (under a different name) was capital of Upper Canada, now Ontario. Here was fought the Battle of Fort George in the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain.

Niagara-on-the-Lake's cenotaph and floral display.

NOTL is now a delightful village off the side of the QEW freeway to Niagara Falls, but it is not off the tourist trail. We found it to be crowded, but our hosts said "you should see it in summer!" Parking was at a premium, and there was also a steady stream of shuttle buses coming in from nearby hotels and maybe a coach parking lot nearby. We walked around the coast, which is the outlet of the Niagara River (downstream from the falls) into Lake Ontario. Across the river is Fort Niagara in New York state, and (a plaque indicates that) NOTL is a major departure point for long-distance swimmmers to brave the 50km or so across to Toronto.

The Prince of Wales Hotel is the standout building in a town of beautiful homes and shops.

Outside the village central, the town is surrounded by splendid houses on manicured lawns and gardens, or working our way upstream, we climbed onto the Niagara escapement to a wonderful park at Queenston Heights where there is a huge column commemorating British General Isaac Brock who died in the otherwise successful defence of NOTL from the Americans in 1813.

Fort Niagara in NY, USA as viewed across the river from Niagara-on-the-Lake.

For this guided tour, NOTL was enduring record high temperatures for October (about 30C) and the high humidity made it quite oppressive, but by about 4:30pm a torrential rainstorm had us scurrying into an Irish Pub with great Titanic memorabilia. The next day was much cooler, and it rained lightly throughout.

View of the winding Niagara River at it gently approaches Lake Ontario.

Garden, fountain and restaurant at Queenston Heights.

Detail of a huge columnar memorial to General Isaac Brock who died in the 1812 battle fought here, against an American invasion.

The reason we came to this part of Ontario was to have a look at the Welland Canal which enables ocean going merchant ships to navigate up to Lake Erie having come into Lake Ontario from the Atlantic Ocean via the St Lawrence Seaway. The canals joining these lakes and others is called the Great Lakes Seaway, and the whole Great Lakes system is unimaginable to Australians whose fresh water lakes are lucky to have any water at all! Collectively, the Great Lakes contain 21% of the world's surface fresh water.

The Welland Canal dates back to 1824, the present configuration being the fourth and was opened in 1932. It features 8 locks in its 43km length, and a drop of 99.5m between the two lakes. A fifth canal with a single superlock was planned and mapped but never constructed.

Map of Welland Canal. Flow is nothwards. Map credit: By Agyle - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2513802

Ship passes under this 1928 vertical lift bridge on Glendale Ave.

We were lucky to see the Welland Canal and its locks and bridges in action. We had a front row seat to see an upbound (southbound) cargo ship automatically open the vertical lift bridge on Glendale Avenue. There's a big safety margin in this process, and it delayed the road traffic for 15 minutes plus. And we saw a downbound ship pass through the No.3 Lock where there is a major visitors' centre and viewing platform. And another ship open the alligator jaw bridge on Queenston St, so we were pretty happy to have seen so much action on this pretty well unheard of (to Australians, anyway) shipping corridor.

Large ship steams carefully into Lock 3 on its outbound journey from the Great Lakes.

The Welland Canal has a visitors' centre and viewing station at Lock 3.

Upbound vessel causes the bascule bridge on Queenston St to open. The Queen Elizabeth Way avoids the interruption.

All in all, a pretty nice visit to the Niagara-on-the-Lake district, made really enjoyable by the hospitality of our friends. And, we're hoping to have finally fought off our jet lag. Our next stop will be the Canadian Clogging Convention in Waterloo.

Lost in the City...

Almost 30 hours after we left our home in Sydney, we checked into a hotel in Toronto. It was 1:00am local time, so it was truly wonderful to fall into a large, comfortable bed and set about mending the inevitable jet lag from a 10 hour time change! Our two flights were good, but the 6 hour layover in Dallas-Fort Wirth in Texas was particularly painful. We spent 4 nights in Toronto (following that first, very late one) and deliberately didn't schedule too much. Being old-timers, we know how to relax and try to align the body clock with the sun. The formula is early to bed, slow to rise, don't nap during the day and supplement with drugs!

Our downtown hotel with indoor-outdoor pool.

Osgoode Hall, a maze of historically significant downtown Toronto building now mostly law offices and courthouses.

Climate change protest by the youth of Toronto was very well attended.

Maybe Toronto's most iconic building, the old courthouse.

Heritage building preserved within the giant (new) atrium of Brookfield Place.

City Hall overlooks Nathan Phillips Park but it appears that the city can't afford to illuminate the Toronto sign properly.

Toronto is Canada's biggest city and the capital of the province of Ontario. We stayed in the CBD, and found it to be an ultra-modern metropolis. With its mix of sleek glass towers and classical stone buildings over a hundred years old, we can understand why movie-makers choose here as a contemporary large city location. We got around on the an excellent public transportation system integrating two subway lines, a fabulous network of trams (street-cars) and buses going everywehere - economical and very easy to navigate.

Toronto has a great light-rail network.

Harbourfront aparments facing south over Lake Ontario.

Toronto's icon, the CN Tower.

Setting off on a Lake Ontario sunset cruise.

We particularly enjoyed walking around the Harbourfront District and through urban bushland, and Toronto seems to have undertaken some substantial industrial rebirthing projects in the Old Distillary District and, a bit further out of town, the Evergreen Brickworks. Both were very popular, despite light rain, especially the latter which seems to be way off the tourist trail.

Large waterfront mansion overlooking Balmy Beach.

Balmy Beach on freshwater Lake Ontario, with the Toronto CBD in the dim distance.

Inside the York Distillery in the Old Distillery District.

Indian cultural demonstration on the cobblestones of the renovated Distillery District.

Ravine near the old Toronrto suburb of Rosedale.

The Evergreen Brickworks is a great restoration of an old industrial site.

Bluegrass band Onion Honey entertained us at the Evergreen Brickworks market day.

North of the Border...

Cloggers in Canada are having their first ever National Convention, and we, among a whole bunch of Aussies, have decided to attend. It's in the Toronto, Ontario suburb of Waterloo, and, travelling so far, it makes sense for us to wrap a longer holiday around the Convention weekend.

Promotional image for the first Canadian National Clogging Convention

We'll hang around Ontario to overcome our jet-lag, and visit a few friends. After the Convention, we plan to cross the country on The Canadian, changing to the touristy Rocky Mountaineer at Jasper for the scenic crossing of the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver.

Promotional image of The Canadian cross-continental train

Map showing our intended train journeys, Toronto to Vancouver

Promotional image of the Rocky Mountaineer train

From Winnipeg, Manitoba, we'll fly to Churchill on Baffin Bay to look for polar bears. We'll be staying in a National Geographic Lodge out of Churchill. Let's hope global warming hasn't driven the bears to search for better ice floes!

When all this is done, we'll come home via San Francisco.

Mudslides and Easy Waves...

Just under a week in California was for the purpose of a warm recovery from the chills of Yellowstone, but it didn't quite work out that way. When it wasn't raining, it looked like it was about to rain, and they say 'it never rains in California'. Well, they do have to fill the dams sometime, we suppose, and it was nice to relax, and do some soggy people watching.

We drove 280km north of Los Angeles to stay with Maggie, a dear friend, in Arroyo Grande, a town near San Luis Obispo for a couple of days. Our departure was late, so the drive was at night, and our trusty Garmin navigator thought it was a good idea to take a shortcut, off the obvious US101 freeway, over the CA154, a mountain pass. This narrow, windy road took an eternity for about 50km, but at least there was little traffic.

Arroyo Grande itself is a charming little town representing a proud local community, and thanks to Maggie's guidance, we found excellent coffee in a friendly Branch Street cafe. One day the weather held off log enough to sit outside and enjoy it, but the other day, persistent drizzle (after a severe overnight storm) forced us inside. In reasonable weather, Maggie showed us round, and we saw a Monarch butterfly habitat where we were instructed by enthusiastic volunteer guides, and enjoyed visiting seaside towns, having a great lunch at Moro Bay. This town was busy mid-winter, so it must really buzz in summer.

Delightful cafe with great coffee in Arroyo Grande's main street.

Elvis and fan out the front of a store on Arroyo Grande.

The drive back to LA down the US101 was even more fraught, because when we arrived in Santa Barbara, a city jammed between mountain and sea, the through road was totally closed by flooding and mudslides. The few backroads through the town were also closed, mud was everywhere, and a (not very) helpful policeman told us we would have to back up to Santa Maria then take the I5, a detour which would add 350km to the journey! No other alternate was apparent. We found a nearby Starbucks, rather crowded with other stranded travellers, where a grapevine was running with also (not very) helpful gossip and information. After an hour or so there, a man in a Sherrif's uniform told us that one of the town's local roads, CA192, was now open and we could use it to bypass the US101 closure. He was right, we navigated through wet, muddy, hilly and wealthy suburbs of Santa Barbara to get back to an almost empty US101 right on the coast, where we found that most of the traffic appeared to be locals rubber-necking at the storm damage. In the end, this particular 3 hour drive took about 7 hours.

We had been redirected off the US101 before we arrived at this mess. [Santa Barbara Independent]

We had to ignore these signs and drive through several of these zones to bypass the US101. [Santa Barbara Independent]

The other half of our California interlude was spent in Santa Monica, a chill-out zone we have enjoyed in the past. The rain persisted, but it was nice to walk the town and the fascinating pier between showers, but we still managed to get pretty wet.

A rainy day in California, but still the crowds enjoy Santa Monica Pier.

So much rain has fallen on Santa Monica that lakes in the beach have to be drained.

Somehow we knew in advance that it would be nice to stay somewhere warm and touristy to unwind before coming home. We had a week to kill, could not find anything in Mexico which appealed, couldn't find any logical connections to Tahiti, so in the end we chose Hawaii, Honolulu and Waikiki. It was a good decision, and we enjoyed warm beach weather, the odd tropical downpour, and some great sunrises and sunsets, not to mention cocktails and other good stuff!

The dawning sun peeks up between tall buildings on Waikiki.

Laziness kept us in Waikiki where we knew everything would be available without effort. Other islands like Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Hawaii did sound good, but we had to get there, so didn't bother. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, right in the centre of the beach, and that was a good choice too. Not too big, not too touristy, but within easy walking distance of everything, and our room was a very spacious suite on the top floor where we had no less than three balconies. Cross ventilation was a breeze! Someone asked us if we had the Donald Trump Suite - we exaggerated and said there was gold plumbing.

Waikiki is an ambiguously interesting place. On one hand, it is hideously overdeveloped and way too crowded. Maybe because they were established long long ago, hotels have been allowed too close to the beach along west Waikiki, and public access is ireegular and rough. Ugly narrow concrete paths cling to the edge, when something beautiful could have been there. Some stretches are devoid of sand - we suspect it has been lost to storms and bad engineering.

No room for personal space in front of Waikiki's iconic Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Tourists enjoying an off-beach cruise, one of many operating all day in Waikiki.

Benign conditions are the great appeal at Waikiki.

Waterproof cell-phone bags are a sales hit in Honolulu.

Enjoyable ball game at the beach.

Boys attempting to impress the girls on Waikiki.

On the other hand, Waikiki (and the rest of Hawaii) must feel like paradise to winter-weary Americans who are here en-masse to escape sub-zero temperatures and polar vortex driven winter storms. It is warm, sunny and delicious here (latitude much the same as Townsville, Queensland), and there can be no beach, none at all, in mainland USA, that looks as good and enticing as Waikiki and any others here. The water has that beguiling turquoise hue, and the iconic Waikiki surf, those small but long rolling waves keep coming in day after day, safe and appealing to both beginners and locals. A never ending stream of catamarans and outriggers take visitors out for langourous cruises, riding such gentle wavesback to shore.

Waikiki is people watching paradise. The city is flooded with tourists, and by our observation, Japanese outnumber even mainland Americans. Japanese must be just as keen to escape their winter, and it's less distance from them to travel than even the closest USA mainlanders, according to a taxi driver.

We Sydneysiders live in a beach culture, so it's amazing for us to observe the behaviour of tourists on Waikiki Beach. It's clear that many of them have never seen the ocean before, never felt sand on their feet or dipped into (the mildest) of surfs. We saw people wearing expensive shoes onto the beach, turn their back to the water (always for a selfie) only to have those shoes swamped. Whole families, it's clear none of them can swim, venture out into deeper water with floaties, blow-up rings or even rented surfboards being all that is keeping them afloat. The lifeguards here must be vigilent, but lucky the surf is so benign. Beach umbrellas and chairs can be rented, and there's no concept of personal space on the sand - any square metre is fit to be occupied.

Surfers stay out in the water until it is dark.

Sunset cruise off Waikiki.

As dark sets in at Waikiki, elated surfers make their way back to shore.

A popular cultural show in the atrium of the International Centre.

Magnificent tree in the garden of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

We tried and succeeded at doing not much at all in Waikiki. A slow start every day, then a beautiful swim at the beach, followed by really excellent espresso at Kona Coffee in the International Centre, breakfast wherever (but Basalt proved to be good quality at the right price), and a fresh squeezed orange and ginger at Jamba Juice by which time it was midday. Then a stroll around town or through the shops until happy-hour at Firepit at the Sheraton where, on almost every day, we managed to score the best location, within splashing distance of the incoming waves. Dinner was whatever grabbed our fancy - there's plenty of good restaurants available, although crowded.