Again we awoke to a group of ships in the small harbour of Juneau. This community can only be accessed by air or water. There are no roads in or out.

This time there were 2 different Holland American ships and the Golden Princess.

[nggallery id=53]

We planned to send a package of ‘junk’ home to lighten our hand luggage. I bought the box at the Skagway Post Office yesterday.

As we went to leave the ship we realised we needed to take our package to Customs on the ship. This took about 10 minutes.
We then walked straight up the main street to the Post Office. Well what an ordeal this was. It took about 40 minutes to complete the customs forms etc to send a 7 pound package. We had been told it is easier to send things home from the states than Canada, but I am not so sure. Perhaps there processes have changed in the last few years to increase security. It cost $73.50 to send 7 pounds home.

We then checked out the shop. I purchased some Northern Lights topaz jewellery as a souvenir.

Then we went to the famous Red Dog Saloon. Luckily Paul got a seat at the bar near the door. Last time we were taken to the loft and it was really crowded. I felt very claustrophobic as the floor is covered in saw dust and if someone dropped match the whole place would go up in flames – with no exits from the loft. Anyway, I felt much safer near the door and we stayed a while. Paul asked the barmaid if the saw dust contained fire retardant, and she had no idea. She suggested he ask the manger, but that told us enough. I had also mentioned it to the jeweller, ( a local) and he said he knows the owner of the Red Dog and he has never heard about it being treated.

[nggallery id=54]

Later we sauntered around town and went to the Viking Bar we visited on out last trip.

We had a drink and were checking out the walls of the hotel – it has so many local artefacts on display.

On one wall there were boxes of what we call ‘scratchies’. We asked the barmaid if foreigners could buy them as we thought it may a state run lottery type of thing for locals. She said we could play and the prizes we given immediately, and that if you win a good prize you tip the person who sold you the ticket 10%. So for a bit of fun we bought 10 x $2 tickets. She brought the tickets over and gave us a basket for the rubbish. You didn’t scratch them, but ripped the top layer of paper off. As in Australia, we were looking for 3 matching symbols. I kept the tickets on the table and told her I didn’t think we had won because nothing seemed to match. Luckily, she was a very honest barmaid as she checked our tickets and said, “oh, no, you have won $500”. Well what a surprise! So she paid us out and we tipped her $60. We are very aware she could have confirmed that we did not win and kept it all for herself. Its great to know there are honest people about.

[nggallery id=55]

Well our walk back to the Diamond Princess was quite jovial after that.

[nggallery id=56]

[nggallery id=57]