Day 10

Elona Typing

We woke up this morning a little unsure as to what we were going to do ...first things first we booked a car that we would pick up late in the afternoon just the thought of this was dead scary as neither of us had ever driven on the other side of the road - well that's not entirely true but I won't go into it - also neither of us were very confident as to how we would go having the steering wheel on the other side of the car.
We decided to calm our nerves we would go to the zoo!!! Now the cab driver thought this an odd choice as well but still took us there and gave us some wonderful background of Anchorage and surrounding areas being a local.

As we got out of the cab we realised 1: this is the nicer side of town - you should see the size of the houses here - we're thinking way expensive to heat and that makes us feel better! he he he 2. How absolutely gorgeous the zoo looks with what looks like a fresh coating of snow and just picturesque. 3. Holy crap it's cold and the family who braved it on this day with the same thought as us came a little more prepared - the entire family fully kitted out in their snow gear and extra blankets on the double stroller - clever!!

We began by taking photos of just the scenery; we hadn't even looked at the animals and we were impressed. The surroundings were very similar to that of the back country and some of the terrain we had to actually navigate a snowmobile through. Check out the photos and you'll understand; the previous night shots were the same surroundings as at the zoo - better to see it in the daylight :)

Meg's (lazily sitting by me after kindly making me a cuppa - because I forgot to put the jug on - is dictating from the couch with snuggly blanket!!)

To begin:   I'm ready (she's giggling...lots....stilll....waiting?!?! She's lost it - stuff it I'll just continue myself.
Right some of the animals we saw today were things like (she's still laughing!) Sea lions, foxes - including the really cute one that his cousin kindly donated his life for the warmth of my head!!!! he he he So we took some photos and video of him. We saw Harry Potter's Owl - Hedwig aka Snow Owl - just beautiful. We saw bald eagles sunning themselves infront of a sun lamp (serious!!), a weird little ADHD wolverine AKA Hugh Jackman - moved lots more than that one at the cafe! Yaks, goats (check out Nemo) and Oxen and the most bizarre ugly looking camel with two humps and lots of shaggy hair - dredlock camel...Ooooh there were also alpacas - yeah for the alpaca - they believe here that they are very rare. Snow leopard, magpie (different to ours NOT territorial and a little fluffier or that could just be a winter thing) Yes we did see moose - very far away but they were there! The best thing though was a toss between two animals - the lynx who were making some very interesting noises and were quite territorial, spraying etc or the piece de resistance: ze polar bears - just fabulous. Just a point of interest - this is the zoo where the Australian dude got mauled by the grizzly bear...we didn't see him: the dude or the bear.

Meg's Typing

Yes, I have managed to collect myself.  Once we had visited all the animals, I lost Elona to the Zoo gift shop...  Many items purchased later and the kindly shop lady tried to call a taxi for us.  Easy you would think - not so.  Apparently some cab companies don't pick up when they see the zoo's phone number because it is too far to drive.  What we have come to realise is that anything more that the 10mins average commute to work each morning is a long way.  Most appear to spend more time heating up their cars of a morning then the actual journey time to work.  Anyway the taxi came to collect us and the first thing the Mr Taxi driver says to us on entering the cab was "Are you Crazy?"

Our response was "Absolutely", the next question asked was the standard, "Where are you from?".  The rest of the 20min trip went by reasonably smoothly.  We arrived home chilled out for about an hour until it was time to call for the Thrifty courtesy car to come and collect us.  Nerves started, wait I said to Elona - if everything is on the other side compared to what we are used to, does that mean that the accelerator and brake are reversed too??????????

"NOOOOOO, surely not!" says Elona.  She then quickly finds the next car on the street and peers in the window to try and verify that the accelerator and brake were where they should be........tense moment......"Looks right" she states.  In the end all was good.

We picked up the car, "Gav"(see photos) and I drove back to the apartment.  First corner was a little hairy I was sure I was on the right side of the road... oops ... lucky it was not a main road and that the only cars on the street were parked.

My next biggest hurdle was that every time I indicated - I turned the windscreen wipers on.  Elona started saying indicate with your left hand that we are turning......

Needless to say we got home safe and sound - challenge accepted and completed.  Sooo hope it does not snow tomorrow.