Willkommen in Deutschland

Saturday 28 May

Survived the flight quite well and no hassles at either airports. Arrived Frankfurt 6am Saturday and able to check into the Adina apartments (off shoot of Medina) immediately as had prior arranged (very worth it when you start flaking out and need a sleep early afternoon). Temperature similar to Brisbane but with cooler winds.

Went exploring the flea markets on the south bank of the Mein river (Sachsenhausen) then walked back across to the old city.

Visited Kaiserdom (Imperial cathedral of 16^th century), and in awe of magnificent historical buildings most of which rebuilt after the war.

Couldn't help ourselves and had to start off with a Starbucks coffee then explored the farmers markets with produce ranging from fresh fruit and veg (minus Spanish cucumbers), cheese, meats, salmon, wine and many vendors selling frankfurters, and lots of fried fare. Checked out the Zeil shopping strip and sorted out new sim cards (lucky to be served by very helpful girl as bit difficult to finalise connection when IVR only in German).

After a little nana nap we returned to old city centre for dinner at Cafe Liebfrauenberg est 1893. Sylv had a delicious potatoe and salmon soup and Bill a pork medallion with mushroom sauce and potato cakes. The live entertainment was a duo singing mostly English songs to a very merry crowd some of whom displayed their dance skills. We tried a local pino grigio which wasn't spectacular (at least compared to the Aussie wines we're used to) but they were too slow returning for our dessert order so we opted for Haagen Das (to take away as it's 2 Euro more to eat in, even in a cone!!!).

The Germans definitely have a more liberal attitude to drinking in public – where in the squares anyway, and locals and tourists alike were taking advantage of the last weekend of spring. A classic idea sorely needed in Australia is the Bier Bike where you mount your seat around a mobile bar, and everyone has to peddle to keep the bike moving and the bier flowing.

Overall a great day to start off our adventure. 

Sunday 29 May

Both slept reasonably well so off to explore Palmengarten (tropical and botanical gardens) a 30 min walk away. We really enjoyed certain areas – cacti & fuchsias, tropicals and palms our favourites – but compared to the Montreal botanical gardens visited August 2010, these paled.

With much of the day left we headed to the much acclaimed Zoologischer Garten only to find sad looking animals in totally unnatural surrounds. The best were the giraffes happily munching and hilarious looking lamas freshly shorn for summer.

We are following the E.coli outbreak closely but news to date is it's more in the North which we won't get to until much later. We have both eaten cucumber and salads and are still here to tell the tale.  Maybe this Lama ate some cucumber....

Also amazing that we had our first view of an Cassowary... in Germany!

Today's weather was indeed warmer with clear skys and top temp of 24 degrees, so we stopped for a beer at cute little beer garden on way home. Services wasn't happening so Bill went inside to order and pay (“no pay now, I bring it to you”). Ok, sounds like a tip will be required!! Nice beer in any case but paying proved very frustrating and we almost left without. Seems some Germans are as arrogant as the some French with foreigners.

Dinner in as we'd bought some salmon at the markets yesterday and some famed white asparagus (is about 4 times the size of our green asparagus). Turns out only the Germans think it's famous!! We found it bitter and stringy but the salmon was delicious. Dessert was half each of two enormous strudels, one cherry and one apple. Cherry was the winner. Wine was an Austrian Chardonnay which was quite nice.

Early to bed as still recovering from flight and two big walking days.

Monday 30 May

Much hotter today ... 30 degrees whew!

Went back to the My Ziel to ride the longest escalator in the world, and do some shopping.

Otherwise a fairly quiet day as we prepare to pick up the Motor-home tomorrow and hit the road.

Still no impact from the E.coli scare where we are - it is mainly in the north around Hamburg, and we are well to the south and about to head further south/west.

But we took precautions at the behest of Bill's sister, and had a great Sushi lunch - not a cucumber in sight.  Reminded us of our favorite Japanese Restaurant, Misu back home.

It is light very late for the last days of Spring.  Bright daylight at 9pm - so not sure how late it will stay light in summer and as we head further north later in the trip.


Frankfurt is a nice and really easy city to get around - lots of people on bicycles - lots of garden spaces and broad squares and streets.  They call it the Manhattan of Germany because the CBD highrise buildings apparently give it a skyline similar to Manhattan.  I think they must mean Manhattan, Kansas, not Manhattan, New York, as there are not that many high rises - much less than Brisbane - more than Townsville. 


They are however clearly proud to be part of the European Union.

Our last night not on 4 wheels...  More photos here.


Auf Wiedersehen!

Four Sleeps to Go

Only 4 sleeps to go.  Sylvi has a cold.  I have back strain from lifting boxes.  Qantas pilots are threatening strike action in Australia.  Morning fog in Brisbane is disrupting flights.   Another Icelandic Volcano is threatening air travel into Europe.  Otherwise everything is fine.

We had some trepidation about this blog, but both of us are feeling the strain of trying to keep up the information flow to family and friends about what we are doing before we leave, so hopefully this will make it easier to keep in touch once we are under way.

Thanks to Sylvi's friend Carleen for the suggestion to include a rough plan of where we are heading for the European leg of the trip.  My first attempt can be accessed through the link under Reference Pages on the right.  Hopefully it will become less vague as we progress.

The NZ Test Run

We thought it might be a good idea to have a small test run of the whole motorhome thing before starting our 3 month first phase in Europe.  Luckily we were already committed to 11 days in New Zealand, which had been planned some time ago.  So we changed the original NZ plan from hiring a car and staying at apartments, and hired a camper van from Kea in NZ. 

Friday 22 April

We landed in Auckland on Good Friday, and were met at the Airport by a Kea representative, who took us across to there depot in the North Shore.  We had selected a 4 Berth Motorhome which you can check it out in more detail here.

So after a briefing on the vehicle, we set off to find some provisions - on Good Friday - which was a bad idea because all the shops were closed. Luckily we found a service station that had enough supplies to get us through to the next day, and Billy had packed a bottle of wine.

Our first stop was at Orewa, only 20 minutes from the Kea Depot.  Much to Sylv's horror, the park was full of campers, kids, and was swept by a chilly wind, but once we parked, and settled in, it was good.  We cooked our meagre provisions at the communal kitchen, had our first conversation with a local, had nice showers, and settled for the night.

This was when we encountered our first challenge.  The beds made good seats, but bad beds, as they were very hard, and the pillows were too flat.  We had been given the opportunity to take on board more bedding at the depot but it was all a blur, so now we had to make do.  So the first night was fairly uncomfortable, with strange sounds (including the on-board fridge kicking in often) and surroundings.

Saturday 23 April

We scouted the nearby areas, and found a nice cafe for breakfast, and nearby supermarkets, that we raided shortly afterwards, to stock up with some more wholesome provisions.  Surprised to find alcohol on sale in their version of Woolworths, and Sylv was very happy that bananas were only $2 a kilo (NZ$2 that is) compared to $12 back home.  

Then we set off for a fairly decent drive north to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, where we stayed at the Twin Pines Holiday Park - about 8 kms outside Paihia, but beside the Waitangi River, and close to the Haruru falls.  We got there in time to have a look around Paihia, and do most of the walk from the holiday park to the Treaty Grounds, alongside the Waitangi River.

The facilities at the holiday park were great, but there was a large group on the first night that stayed up late making noise.

Sunday 24 April

Into Paihia early to catch the Fullers Ferry for a dolphin encounter and to see the Hole in the Rock.  We saw heaps of dolphins, and then headed out to the Rock, the sea being rough enough for Sylv to get a little nervous.  I never thought we would actually go through the Hole in the Rock, but we did!

We stopped of at Russell on the way back and had a beautiful lunch at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel - the oldest hotel in NZ.

That afternoon we visited the Treaty Grounds - where visitors had to pay $25/head to enter but the locals get in for free!  Well they get badgered for a donation...

Monday 25 April

Across to the West Coast today to meet up with some friends at Omopere, but not before a short 35km diversion to look at the Kauri Forests...  2 hours later we arrived late for lunch, and had to look forward to travelling the tight winding road once more to get back to our camping ground at Kaihu for the night.  Good facilities again.

Tuesday 26 April

Big day of driving to head back south past Auckland to Flaxmill Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula.  Stopped at Warkworth for lunch, groceries, and finally decided we needed new pillows.  Needed a coffee mid afternoon, after surviving buffeting cross winds, so pulled into the Corogate Cafe, where we got the Royal treatment, just ahead of the Royal Wedding.  Great quirky cafe, terrible coffee.

The windy mountain crossing taught us why you never overstock the fridge door - because it flew open around one corner, we stopped, thought we had fixed it, only to have it happen again at a place were we could not pull over for some time.  Lesson learned.

All by ourselves that night at the lovely Flaxmill Bay Holiday Park.  Our first experience of timed showers.  Another lesson overnight - don't park under trees on rainy nights if you don't want to endure Chinese Water Torture!

Wednesday 27 April

Ignored the wet weather and went for a great walk to Cathedral Cove, where the weather cleared up for us.

A nice lunch at Hot Water Beach, and some real coffee.   

Took the ferry over to Whitianga in the afternoon, and thought we would return the next day to try out the "Lost Springs" thermal pools.  But the bad weather was returning, so we made plans to leave a day early, and head south to the sun.

Thursday 28 April

Drove to Rotorua, where we stayed the night at the Cosy Cottage Camping Park.  Surprised to find they had a natural thermal spring on-site, with a series of hot pools that we could enjoy for free - which made up for missing out on the Lost Springs.  The hot water was welcome as the temperature had started to drop - it was cold out. So far we had not used the on board loo (because if you use it, you have to empty it!!) but it was tempting in the freezing temperature at 3am.

Friday 29 April

Visited Te Puia in the morning for some Maori Culture, and to see the Pohutu Geyser.  It was very interesting - a great place to visit.

Only a short drive to Taupo, but the temperatures were dropping, so it was lucky we were staying at the De Bretts Holiday Park, which has a large commercial Hot Springs Water Park attached.  This was the night of the Royal Wedding, which we watched in the lounge with other royal subjects, and some confused Germans.

Saturday 30 April

Decided to work off the wedding festivities this morning with a walk to the Huka Falls.  Sylv thought we could walk directly from the Holiday park - a decision we would rue later in the day - as getting to the start of the falls walk took nearly an hour.  But it was a great walk alongside the Waitako River to the falls.  After a long day of walking, we tested the healing powers of the hot springs. They were so good, we had another session the following morning. As well as not using the on board loo, we also hadn't used the sink much but decided we'd better empty out the grey water anyway.  Funny....nothing much came out.

Sunday 1 May

Decided to leave cold Taupo a day early to go see some glow worms at Waitomo.  Arrived at 1 pm and were lucky to get on a Spellbound Cave tour at 2pm.  This went for 3 hours and included rafting through the most fantastic glow worm cave and then visiting another spooky dry cave.  It was a great afternoon - excellent guide - probably the highlight of the trip. Had another go at emptying out the grey water, and there must have been an air bubble in there before, because it certainly all came gushing out today.

Monday 2 May

Heading home today, back to Auckland.  Bad weather forecast, but fortunately we left today, as the next day the road we drove down to return our Motorhome was hit by a Tornado.  We were proud to return the motorhome without having used the on board loo or shower at all.  Well there's really no need to with the park facilities so fantastic.

We really enjoyed our quick tour of the North Island.  Learned quite a lot about travelling in a Motorhome too, which has hopefully prepared us a little for the bigger trip ahead.

More photos are available here.