Looking at the Pacific....

Yes, tonight we are looking at the Pacific ocean, although New Zealand is still a long way away!

Anyway, Portland was absolutely lovely, and we enjoyed our time there. Our hostel was in the north-west district of Portland, which seems to be a very nice part of town, and with lots of friendly people. An older couple commented over breakfast this morning, that we have a lovely family! But I can see why Glen has chosen Portland to come back to, to continue working.

So during our time there, we went to Powells bookshop, spent nearly 2 hours in there, and only managed the first floor! And walked out with a bag full of books! We had a look round town, went to the zoo, wandered along the waterfront and visited the markets. The zoo was amazing, very large and a wide variety of animals including bears, giraffe, elephants, goats, snakes, apes, chimps, buffalo, wolves, hippos, sealions, fish, a few aviaries, an insect zoo (yes, quite creepy!) and more! While we were in one of the aviaries, we got to feed to lorikeets and had them landing on our hands, shoulders and whatever else the could. It was really cool!

This morning after visiting the markets, we got back on the road and drove to the coast and down to Cape Kiwanda. When we left Portland it was 34 degrees(!), and we have arrived on the coast where there is a very cold seabreeze blowing through and all of a sudden feel very cold! But it is a beautiful wee spot, and we are staying in a very cosy and basic log cabin near the beach. The beach looks beautiful, and we are really hoping that the wind will have disappeared in the morning. If not, well there is an indoor pool here, so the kids can still get a swim. The beach here also has this giant sand dune, and the kids have already checked out hiring some boards (quite cheap), so they can go surfing down the dunes tomorrow.

Will post some photos later - the internet connection here is very weak and we keep losing the connection, so won't attempt to post any photos now!

One week to go.....