Every now and then you come across a gem when you travel and Braga has been that place. We managed to reserve a very central and quality hotel which was a refurbished hospital from the 17th century and now owned by a large wine producer in Portugal. Traffic is limited in the centre and it’s a great place to walk around. The place has a great vibe and the locals appear a little more friendlier then others we have come across.
A great place to unwind
The reason for our recent trip to Bannisters Port Stephens was ignited by our first experience of Bannisters at Mollymook. There we stayed at Bannisters Pavillion, a first class property with excellent dining options on site and at Rick Steins by the sea with free transfers.
Bannisters Port Stephens started life as Salamander Shores Hotel in 1968. The property has been rejuvenated by the Bannister team and opened in September 2018. They have brought their high standard of Quality to this property.
The staff are attentive and friendly and the food is of a high standard. Every visit should include at least one night at the wonderful Rick Stein’s Restaurant.
The large rooms are well appointed with large balconies or in the case of the ground floor a patio with your own deck chairs and easy access to the pool area with a hydration bay with cool water on tap.
Denali National Park is a pristine parkland which is home to 37 species of mammals, including lynx, marmots, arctic ground squirrels, moose, caribou, wolf, Dall sheep & grizzly bear to name a few. The golden eagle is one of 130 bird species found in the park.It is also home to North America’s highest peak, Denali ascending to a majestic 20,310 feet.
The first permanent settlement of the park was established in 1905
A view up the valley from one of many stops along the way
Alpine Air Alaska offer a wonderful summertime glacier dog sledding trip, in conjunction with a scenic flight to and from Punch Bowl Glacier. The tour starts from the their hanger at the Girdwood airport, where you suit up with warm gear for the snowy glacier. After a brief safety talk and checking to see if you have your sunglasses and cameras, you hop onto a helicopter for the 15 minute scenic flight. Once on the glacier, you will be meet your guide and the enthusiastic Alaskan Huskies. The Dog Camp is managed by the Seavey Family, renown for raising teams of Iditarod champions. You learn all about the dogs, a musher’s lifestyle, and the famous Iditarod trail. You also get to drive the sled or just settle back and enjoy the ride. It’s an amazing adventure with plenty of photo opportunities. You will need to dress warm and they supply jackets, pants and outer boots.
A horror story how an elderly Aussie tourist was ripped off with his car hire experience at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage July 2017, by Thrifty Car Rental.
Armed with my Rentalcars.com Pre Paid voucher for a Hertz Chevrolet Malibu for 16 days, I alight from the hotel courtesy coach in full view of the rental car hall and for some unknown reason I unfortunately ended up in front of the Thrifty Car Rental desk confronted by the rudest, most arrogant person I have ever encountered. To my defence, Hertz were not located in this section and being still a little jet lagged from the long flight from Australia and a little disorientated I made a very bad mistake. It’s not that I was not aware of the car company I had reserved, as I had visited the Hertz office in town the day before to arrange an earlier pickup.
Instead of redirecting me around the corner to the Hertz office, he proceeded to interrogate me on the validity of my document, first stating I should have been there the day before, then changing it to “it’s for next month”. By this time I started to panic, as this was the start of our 6 week holiday around Alaska all I could think about was, ‘how much more has been stuffed up’. When I mentioned I’d reserved a Malibu or similar, he barked back to me I could only have a Corolla or Camry. Thinking this was as good as it gets I said a Camry thinking this must be there “or similar”. He then said you’re getting a Corolla and projected the keys across the desk where they came to a halt in front of me. His attitude was the height of arrogance. The voucher clearly stated it included CDW,TPL,TP,SLI, airport charges, local taxes,vehicle registration fees and unlimited kilometres. This apparently meant nothing to him and he proceeded to charge me for the above and much more. By this time I was in full panic and I became quite disorientated and just wanted to get out of there and on the road. He demanded I initial and sign things I stupidly didn’t understand and as by this time there was a line behind me I left, still not knowing I had a Thrifty car.
I arrived back to the hotel to collect Ros and the luggage for the drive to Denali and noticed how filthy the car was, so I took some photos for later reference.
While in Denali I decided to contact Hertz to say I was not happy with the Corolla and could I get the car I reserved from the fairbanks airport office to which they agreed.
When I handed over the rental agreement to the Hertz staff in Fairbanks for the change over, I was told that it was a Thrifty contract and that I had a Thrifty car NOT a Hertz.
This completely threw me and I could not believe I was in such a ridiculous situation. Thanks to the unbelievable assistance of Shellie at Thrifty in Fairbanks and the staff at Hertz, I terminated the Thrifty agreement (382 miles cost AUD1452 = $3.80 per mile) and proceeded with my original prepaid voucher. Luckily both the Anchorage and Fairbanks Hertz offices are owned by the same company.
The 4 days I had the Thrifty Corolla cost AUD1452, the amount I prepaid for the Hertz Malibu for 16 days was AUD1298.16.
However after checking the original contract with Thrifty the rude arrogant rental agent at Anchorage had charged me AUD3109 for 16 days.
I have approached Thrifty in Anchorage for some answers and compensation for this disgusting personal attacked on someone so vulnerable.
The company president once stated in a local newspaper in 2005 about a company ripping off elderly people as “heart-wrenching, especially for those who had saved up for a trip of a lifetime, he went on to say, for those people to get ripped off is criminal. I can only thinks it’s OK these days.
My tip is : GIVE THRIFTY CAR RENTAL ANCHORAGE a very very wide berth. My experience is, they cannot be trusted.
Day 4 and it was time to hit the road. There was, however, a drama with the car rental but that will have to wait for another day when outstanding issues are resolved with Dollar/Thrifty. After two picture-perfect days, the rain had arrived and it made for a very wet and uninteresting 237 mile trip to Grande Denali Lodge perch high on a hill overlooking the Nenana River and the entrance to the Denali National Park. After securing a room on the top floor with a view it was straight to the bar to find some more lifetime friends and it wasn’t long before we were engrossed in conversation. We allowed 3 nights stay which gave us 2 full days to explore the wonderland. The first day was a 6.55am pickup for a 3 hour 12 mile rafting trip down the Nenana River. After the usual signing of your life away and the only fault of any mishap was the fact that you wanted to do it in the first place scenario, we were ushered into the fit out section. This involved a lengthy lecture on the do’s and don’ts of our restrictive and waterproof survival suit for the journey down the river. We were bus 10 miles upriver to near Cantwell for our launch. Here we were briefed on safety issues which were a little concerning with the option to bail if you were not happy about proceedings. There had been a fair amount of rain the night before and the river was running fast, which made for a quicker trip. A whole bunch of fun and plenty of video footage for a future YouTube video. Day 2 was an earlier start of 6.15am. This time I was able to secure a great coffee from the foyer of the hotel before setting off on our 13 hour Denali Backcountry Adventure Bus Tour. The old school bus was full and as we were the last one we had the back to ourselves. The commentary from the driver/guide was not the best and there was not a lot of animals on offer. We managed some Dall sheep high on a hill, a mother Grizzly with 2 cubs, a large herd caribou and a small assortment of little mammals and birds. Lunch at the Kantishna Roadhouse was excellent with gold panning and a historic tour on offer for those who wished to participate. All in all a well run operation. You do have the option to fly back if you wish and there were 6 passengers who had prebooked this, which is recommended. On the way back we were lucky to see a fair bit of Mt Denali on the way back. There are plenty of stops out and back on the 92 miles each way trip. A great day was had by all. The township has plenty of eating establishments and a few trendy coffee places. It is a serious tourist trap so check with your bank manager before setting out, however it is a vibrant atmosphere and a great place to visit.
Rafting Down River Nenana
This beautiful nature reserve is located near the Denali Visitors Centre. A short walk will take you to the trailhead where you commence the moderate rated 2 mile, 2 hour hike. The best experience is to take the loop trail around the lake. There are viewing platforms overlooking the south end of the lake. There is a great view of a beaver dam about mid-way around the lake on the east side. The north end of the loop brings you out of the forest and along the Nenana River.
Staying at Rydges International Airport gave us the maximum amount of rest for the long journey ahead. The 9.50am flight required an early checkin plus we had duty tax to collect and the American Express Lounge to enjoy breakfast, all worked like a dream. Sitting upstairs on the Qantas A380 was a new experience and made for a very comfortable flight, all 14 hours of it. There was a 3 hour layover in LAX which was plenty as they now have an automated custom system as do Australia. A brisk walk of 1 kilometer to terminal 6 and we were on the final leg with Alaska Air to Anchorage another 5 hours on a full flight arrriving at 2.30pm. Who said there is a slump in air travel ?
Our transport to the Quality Suites Historic Downtown accommodation had us collected and delivered in no time for our 3 night stay. The staff at the hotel was not exactly the friendliest, however we weren’t there to see them. After a quick walk around town it was time for a little nap before we ventured out dinner. Anchorage is a like a small town and a little spread out and appears to have more parking lots than shops. We stumbled upon Simon & Seafort’s which is apparently the best restaurant in the place, the bill certainly attested to that. My old mate Speed told me I had to try the Halibut cheeks which I did and they were sensational, known locally as poor man’s lobster, not going on the price though. A late start the next day had us down to The Brewhouse (another great restaurant) for lunch before a 1 hour trolley bus tour of the highlights of Anchorage. On day 2 we went on a 2 hour Segway tour of town, that was a hoot, completely out of the comfort zone. On our 2 days in Anchorage we managed to gain a lot of information for our upcoming adventure and climatise however it was hotter than I anticipated.
Unfortunately this was not a very pleasant experience dealing with this character. I have never been treated with such contempt in my life and to top it off it cost me a load of money. I would definitely not deal with this organisation again.
Saturday 13 June 2015
This year we are off to The Cook Islands. So far so good, Gorm picked us up on time at 12 noon for the short trip to Port Macquarie for our 2pm flight to Sydney. We arrived into Sydney on time and were soon on the train to the International Airport. One flat price of $5.80 per trip. The beauty about departing Sydney on Saturday afternoon is the smooth run through the airport. We were probably the first to check-in for our flight and were offered The Lounge at a small charge. We grabbed it with both hands and headed straight there. The area had just been refurbished and the food and service were outstanding. We have a 6 hour flight ahead of us and will need a little kip on the way over as we arrive this morning into Raratonga at 7.20am. Then we are off to the markets for the morning and then on the 3.30pm flight to Aitutaki arriving at 4.20.
RosandDensTravels 