We made it! Day 731 is upon us and to reward ourselves for this epic journey we made it to Berlin and have the flu! Yep, both of us! So we've been feeling pretty sorry for ourselves....oh....poor us....cough, cough.
To top it all off, we had trouble finding a campsite that was open (many don't open till 1May) and that wasn't a million dollars a night (ie under 20euro inc electricity). Our gas regulator decided to become blocked and therefore gas heating virtually non-existent so wildcamping is out of the question as most nights are around-8c and there is still snow everywhere! As we are feeling a bit sick and sorry for ourselves we've been particularly unmotivated to blog or to go sight-seeing. We'd just been bragging to ourselves (as there was no-one else around anyway) that we hadn't had a flu, cold or been sick for 2 years with any of those funky viral things that go around the work place every season. Hahhh, that'll teach us hey! I'm sure no one one was really holding their breath anyway as we are no where near as pro-fo as some of our fellow travelers. Its hard to believe that 2 years ago, we said goodbye to our loved ones in Australia & flew off to discover big bad Europa. When we think back to when we left it only feels like a few months ago but when we look back at how much we've done it it seems like ages ago. Its a weird feeling, we've have done soooo much & we are incredibly lucky peeps.
that bloody bike - Alpe d'Huez, France
Our journey so far has taken us to 23 countries across 4 continents. We've traveled all around the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland), 2 loops of Europe in a southerly direction, the top of Africa to Morocco, through Eastern Europe and skiing 2 incredible season's in the AMAZING French & Austrian Alps. That doesn't include the side trip to New York & transatlantic crossing on QM2 (well we are in d'hood) plus the bonus of seeing family and loved ones to celebrate Nicky & Tony's wedding in wonderful Thailand. We've frozen our butts off on our motorbike at minus -20c in the French Alps but made up for it with the summer we shall never forget living in our kini's and euro-swimshorts on the Italian & Greek coastline.....Yep, its been a tough 2 years.
yankee stadium, NYC - USA
lake Garda, Italy
With great debate between the 2 of us, with jury still out on what should & shouldn't be included, I thought it only fitting that we make a list of our personal observations & highlights from the past 731 days.
General
Italy has the worst drivers closely followed by Morocco & then France
Italians 'make friends' by offering you food. We hated this - NOT. hence they came known to us by whatever food they offered. ie Mr & Mrs Bruschetta from Naples, Mr & Mrs Lemoncino from Catania
The birds in France make beautiful bird song all times of the day and night, summer & winter, it really is beautiful and haven't found this to be the case anywhere else but France
LOVE France, hate their dog shit
UK supermarkets are excellent, extensive, high quality, well priced and really fresh
England make "THE" best Ales & beer by far! & yes, brown ale taste best at room temperature
We love England and could live there if it wasn't for the weather
In just about every country an excellent bottle of wine is no more than 3euro & 500ml beer only 50cents - were gunna get a shock when we go back to OZ
We want to live in Greece
Australians are a mixed bag of European cultures and we can now see where (ie what nationality) we get certain traits, attitudes and ethics from......
laid back friendly attitude from the Greeks
get in there and give it a go work ethic from the Italians
our love beer from the Poms
German's for high income tax
Best countries, locations for a road trip
England, in particular Scotland & Wales, France, Switzerland.
Italy's Great Lakes (Como & Garda), Amalfi Coast, Sicily & the state of Puglia in Southern Italy
The Peloponnese, Greece
Bath - England
Our favorite country so far
Greece
wild camping Greece
Highlights
England & Scotland
cris-crossing the Pyrenees France, Spain & Andorra
Nimes, Bordeaux & Dordogne Region inc. Gouffre de Padirac Cave, France
Budapest, Hungary
Siena & Puglia, Italy
Seville, Spain
Peloponnese, Greece
Dresden & Berlin, Germany
Cascades d'Ouzoud & High Atlas Mountains, Morocco
the tip of Africa, Ait Benhaddou, Morocco
slightly uninspired by
Athens & Olympia, Greece
The Romantic Road & Munich, Germany
Marrakesh, Morocco
Ireland
We've mastered the art of international speak whilst on this journey and had the most wonderful conversations with people who don't speak a word of English and we don't speak a word of what ever language they speak. Google translate has become a good friend and of cause a bottle of vino (the top shelf stuff at 3euro) always helps break down barriers in any language.
Dordogne region, france
We've not met nearly as many fellow travelers as we had hoped but we now also realize our preferred weather conditions and therefore journey take us in totally different directions. The British tend to go South in winter and North in summer & backpackers or those on GAP year tend to visit the 'big sites' which we did on previous trips.
We've had some inspiring moments and met amazing people whom we now call friends, but we've also had some lonely times when we've had no other English speaking contact for 3 months. We've been known to stalk Dutch motorhomer's as they are generally really friendly & speak excellent English. We are pretty sure that we scared one English guy on the chairlift in Alpe d'Huez he was the first person we'd been able to have a conversation with in nearly 6 weeks, but as soon as his ski's could hit the snow, he was off like lightening. (we still laugh about this one)
There are a few things from this trip that we wish we could share with friends & families just once.
wild camping on a beach in Greece & having the whole thing to yourself
driving up & down our 'snow driveway' in Bischofshofen, Austria
waking up to one of the most amazing views of the Alps from our bedroom window on the farm
view from the farm - Bischofshofen, Austria
The old saying is true for us.....we shall never regret that of which we did, but only regret that of which we didn't do. Thank goodness for Facebook, blogging & digital photos otherwise we could find ourselves forgetting some of that, which we don't regret.
roughing it on QM2
From here our journey will take us to Tasmania (aka Denmark - we've told Mary to pop the kettle on), Sweden, Netherlands and back to UK for our MOT. We've booked a 7 night cruise ex Southampton for the Norway Fjords which we are super excited about.
the euro's - greece
me and ma kini's, Puglia, Italy
Our intention was then to make our way back to Bulgaria & Greece for summer, but now after all this travel through Germany we are in 2 minds as to what we will do for summer. Maybe it's the fact that we are missing home and excited to know we will be back later this year but we can't be bothered doing the big drive across Europe again and are feeling a little less motivated. We've done so many miles in the past 2 years and our main goal for summer is live in our togs on the beach, surf, swim, spearfish & BBQ's. So we are now considering just choosing one location, i.e. northern Spain, Portugal or Italy and stay put for 2-3months. No sightseeing, just being bums in our swimsuits and working on our tans.
ohhhhh - tough decisions. where would you choose???
WOW.....I
didn't realize how close we were to reaching our target of 731 days.
It’s only fitting then that this post comes just as we are about to move
out of our apartment and hit the road again. It’s a funny feeling
as time has flown by & it seems like only a few months ago that we left
Australia for this adventure, but it also seems like ages ago.
We're
being held captive by all this snow. We initially intended on
leaving Bischofshofen on 16 March, but then the cold snap came.
Europe is in the throes of winter again and it doesn't look
like it’s going to end anytime soon. In a moment of brilliance I decided
to sell our Ski's, snowboard & passes last week from the back of our car
boot (like a true Aussie scab) so we haven't been able to get on the
slopes to enjoy it. It was hilarious and I was the talk of the
Ski Resort car park. Word got around that I was from Australia, so lots
people just came over for a chat. They wanted to know what I was doing
here, what Australia was like and then coming back later to see how I was going
with my sales. I even had a taxi driver, couldn't speak a word of
English, but he kept dropping is clients off in front of me, just in case they
bought something.....how’s that for free advertising! The Austrian's are
such great people & we will really miss them.
We have
wonderful landlords here, so it nice to have not been in a rush to say goodbye.
We've been able to get in the last of our Deutsch-lisch,
google translated & hand gesture conversations before we leave & Loni
presents us with a bit of home cooked food every now and then (which is super
yummy) so wheres the rush!!
It has
also given us a good chance to give Wher'dmadaygo a bit of TLC before we hit
the road. She's been resting quietly these past 3 months high up on the
farm with a million dollar view. The soggy ground and snow didn't want
to let go at first, but Rupert didn't let that stop him. He pushed and
pushed and I have absolutely no idea how he did it! Rupert v 4.5ton Wher'dmadaygo - Rupert won!
No machines or tractors where used in this process, just sheer brute man
power. We're wondering how we can bottle him up and take
him with us for all those sticky situations we get in around Europe.
We had a
wonderful day trip the other day to see the beautiful town of St. Wolfgangsee.
On our return decided to take a high mountain pass back to the farm only
be to held up by the authorities as they needed to clear the road.
It will be sad to say goodbye to the Holzmann's
& Austria but also excited about seeing Germany, Denmark, a bit of Sweden, Netherlands
& Belgium as we head north and then back to UK for more cold
weather.
Wolfgangsee
We also booked a cruise to check out the
Norway Fjords yesterday, which we will do in May from UK. We
are running out of time, so this is the best option and at 399pound per person,
it is a total bargain and soooo much cheaper than trying to take the
camper through super expensive Norway with its hefty tolls & fuel costs.
We are missing home, and work, so plan to be
back in Australia by November. There is so much that we haven't seen or
done yet, but it will be nice to have a few places to discover when we return
in later years.
Thought
it was about time to post a recipe as it’s been a while. Not an
Austrian dish, but it’s a great winter comfort food, especially for a lazy
Sunday morning brecky whilst enjoying our spectacular view of the Alps. It’s also really good for those fellow
campers out there, who only have a hob as no oven is needed.
naughty french toast
Ingredients
·1-2 small banana's
·a nice handful of blueberries
·1-2 large eggs
·1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
·4 slices of medium-cut white bread
·butter, at room temperature
·low-fat Greek yoghurt, to serve
·optional: icing sugar, for dusting
To
prepare
Peel the
banana and mash in a bowl, add the blueberries and lightly crush.
Crack the eggs into a separate shallow bowl, add the sugar and beat with a
fork.
Place bread in the sweet egg mixture till soaked through on both sides.
Pick up the bread and let the excess egg drip off, then pop on a plate.
Smear most of the banana & berry mixture onto one slice, leaving a little
gap around the edges, leaving a little of the mixture left over for serving.
Put the other slice on top and press down with a egg flip to help them stick
together.
Put a frying pan on a medium heat and add a knob of butter and melt.
Fry for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown & crisp.
Transfer to a plate, serve with a dollop of yoghurt and the remaining fruit
mixture on top.
Dust with icing sugar.
Summer has been ripped away from us like a band-aid once
again. Our month spent in Thailand went
way too quick and we were having too much fun to be bothered to update the blog,
so this is a post-Thailand update. There a few things that I really miss about my previous
employment; 1) Being paid an income. 2)
flying as a staff member. For the first time in nearly 10 years I had to fly as a
normal commercial passenger & realized how horrible it is. I really miss being able to go on standby for
any flight with any airline and hated being stuck to a schedule for just 1
airline. I also realize that I don’t
miss flying! When we first embarked on
this road journey I was wondering how I would go driving around Europe in a
camper and not stepping foot an aircraft for nearly 2 years. I thought I would really miss it. Long haul travel was (in fact for both of us)
quite the norm for our jobs but from the moment we checked–in at Munich airport
I just wanted it all to be over with and hated not having control of our own
journey and destiny.
gorgeous setting at AoNang Hilltop
The sole purpose for this trip was to attend Nicky &
Tony’s wedding in Krabi and being that is was a wedding in the family meant it
was an opportunity to see them all after 2 years away from home. The wedding was amazing…..so beautiful &
they are such an awesome couple! I’ve
always been pretty biased and thought that our wedding was the best but I’d have
to say Nicky and Tony’s wedding takes the cake.
The location was just stunning, set above Krabi bay with beautiful views
and a spectacular sunset that gave it such an stunning atmosphere. They had everything from fire-dancers,
lanterns, fireworks, DJ, open bar and not a dry eye in the house when it was
time for speeches and Tony did a special presentation for Nicky.
& our ride - tuk tuk
kath & joe - paul's folks
We hired our own Tuk-Tuk as transport for the 4 of us
(Paul’s folks + us) and the locals thought that was pretty funny. It’s not often they see a Farang driving a locals
Tuk-Tuk’s as it’s actually really hard
to handle and keep stable. Thumbs up
everywhere we went and on a few occasions traffic was held up in both
directions as they wanted to talk Paul and ask where he was from and how he was
going with it.
floating snack bar - Railey beach
In true Rose & Paul style most of our time was spent in
our togs on a beach & in the water. Have
to admit we were not that impressed with Krabi beaches & don’t think we would
go back. To access the good beaches you
had to take a boat out into the bay & go to one of the islands or to the
remote beaches that can’t be accessed by road which was a bit of a pain. They were a nice setting but the water wasn't really that clear, not a huge amount of fish, dead coral so it just didn't seem worth the effort to us.
We couldn't help it but we kept comparing it to Greece & the Med. Nothing compares to wild camping on a deserted beach in Greece, with crystal clear water & fish abundant. This is one of the little experiences we wish we could share with friends & family just once.
Hong Island
When then took a speedboat to Phuket to meet Daniel & Ingrid (Rose's bro & sis-in-law) & spend a wonderful week with them. It was so great to see them and spend time
with them, we always have a blast and really didn't want to say goodbye when
the time came. We love you guys and miss you a bucket load already.
2 best people anyone could wish for in their life.
Paulie & Ing
Phuket was wonderful and there is so much more to Phuket
than we ever imagined. We virtually
explored the whole island, every beach, every cove and found the most beautiful
out of the way places to stay and eat in, it was wonderful. The water was so much clearer & calmer
than Krabi.
my! what good genes we have Dan!
Previously when I thought about Phuket I only ever knew it
for the Patong & Karon areas. The commercialized,
touristy hot spots with an OK beach, lots of big posh resorts, go-go bars,
ping-pong shows, lady boys & drunk yobbo’s.
Not that there is anything wrong with that! In fact I've always loved Phuket and stayed
in some lovely spots but I’d just never really adventured to far from this
area, maybe 1 beach north or 1 beach south and didn't realize how big the
Island was and how much it had to offer.
There are so many amazing bays & beaches in Phuket that I had never
heard off and we have fallen in love with the place! We've been trying to work out how we can live
there! Yeah right - Dream on sista!
beach bungalow with a view
We stayed in some very basic beach bungalows on a beautiful
little private bay at the southernmost part of Phuket, called AoSane
beach. Came complete with wooden plank for bed, mozzies, cold shower & rock'n happy hour. What more could one ask for??? Paul also caught his biggest fish ever
within 20mins of being in the water.
Paul wants to live in Phuket just so he can go spear-fishing for the rest
of his life. We have heard that during
the rainy season the water is not so flat and clear, so I suppose we did go at
the best possible time. We are looking
forward to checking out the rest of Thailand one day around Koh Lak, Koh Thao &
Koh Samaui – I hear the waters are even better around these places.
paulies big catch - it was yum
It was pretty hard saying goodbye to everyone when the time
came, but we hope it’s not too long before we see you all again. We are now back on the farm in Austria. It’s funny but as soon as we arrived back on
the farm we instantly felt at home. The
Holzmann-Spieglfamily have made us feel so
welcome during our stay here that I think it will be another sad goodbye when
we leave for good in a few weeks.
Austria has also turned it on again for us. Lots of fresh stuff when we arrived and it kept snowing for 4 days. The sunshine is out
now though, temps are above zero and everything is melting pretty quickly, so we
better get out there and enjoy it while we can.
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UPDATE: Anticipation is building as we countdown the days to seeing our families for the first time in nearly 2 years. Tony & Nicky's wedding is in Krabi, Thailand next Saturday 26January & we can hardly wait. We haven't been on a holiday for ages!!!! LOL anyway, here's a quick snap from today at the top of Salzburg - what a day and what a view
I was thinking of heading this post " the hills are...." but then I thought everyone would have that little tune stuck in their head all day.....oops there you go - I can hear you singing it already.
Mr Holzmann's milk tractor
....alive with the sound of cows mooing. We still get a giggle when we hear them having a good mooing session out in the shed. The cows are tucked away nice and warm for winter, fed 5 times a day & milked 3 times. We're also in the company of celebrity here at Farm Holzmann, being the home of the "Lady of Salzburg" a prize winning cow has been awarded many blue ribbons, which are stuck tall & proud on the barn wall. Also twin baby cows where born on 18Dec....they are soooo cute for words and love a good tickle under the chin. This "white winter wonderland" is spectacular! We didn't know if we would get use to the 'snow' driveway...aka the 4km road down to the village...but alas we are pelting up & down every day just like Herr Holzmann & his tractor full of milk & get a real kick out of it every time.
On the night of our arrival, not use to driving in the snow, we started slipping & stopped half way up to put on snow chains. Stupid us stopped in the middle of the road thus holding up a few cars, only to find our chains didn't fit...bloody dumb ozzies! A tad embarrassing and perhaps something we should have checked before arrival??? Anyway a local guy came to our rescue with some valuable advice "drive on the soft fluffy stuff, not on the icey tracks of other cars" ....VIOLA we where on our way again no chains required. We have winter tyres on the car, which makes this possible & now carry the correct chains.
Salzburg
As you can imagine the Austrian Alps are SMAZING! High moutnain passes, snow covered peaks, frozen lakes & waterfalls....views abound in every direction. Everyday we catch ourselves saying WOW....it's certainly a memorable winter. Since we're "in da hood", we've checked out the beautiful city of Salzburg(40mins) and a day trip to Munich (1.5hrs) & a few other locations around the area.
It's unseasonably wet in this part of Austria & many of the Austrian's we have met keep apologizing for the weather. Our Ski pass
gives us access to 22 ski regions in Salzburg area so we can always find
powder or excellent snow conditions, even if we wake up in the morning
to rain & green grass on the hills outside our bedroom window. Skiing this year is a totally different experience than that of last year. As our snow pass was only for Alpe d'Huez (and a few bonus days in neighbouring resorts) we got to know the mountain really well. This year with 22 resorts to choose from...I've found myself sighting seeing, taking pics and enjoying the view a little too much. Unfortunatly I'm not really sure if my skiing ability is going to improve this year (Paul's is - must take leaf out of his book) as I'm spending so much time exploring and not enough time on technique.
Our favorite ski resorts thus far are: Obertauren as it always has amazing conditions, Hochkönig for its nice long runs with views (aka königstour) & black run no.14 at Zell am See (rest of Zell is too busy).
Zell am See - Black No.14
Yesterday was a tad exciting as we saw someone get taken off the slopes in a Helicopter at Zell am See (well maybe not for them), it was a very spectacular rescue for a broken leg. It's been snowing quite a bit the last 2 days, so I think we'll head out & do the königstour again today....hopefully we don't break a leg!
Zell broken leg rescue
Bischofshofen was over flowing with an extra 35,000 people who had come from all over Europe to view the final stage of the 4 Hills ski jumping Tournament on 6Jan. Awesome event and once in a life time opportunity for us to see it. The rian unfortunately didn't ease up but the Austrians don't let a bit of rain dampen their spirits. They know how to party & keep warm by making good use of hot mulled wine & beer. By the end of the night most where soaked through, muddy & taking 3 steps left and 1 step right, signing away to sweet Caroline - it was hilarious. Here's some footage of the jumping:
Here's sweet Caroline being sung by the drunk Austrians.....apologizes for my singing - it was too funny not to record & share:
"other people" on holiday = manic queue
Thousands of Europeans came to the Alps for a White Christmas and it was bedlam for weeks on the ski slopes. The queues at the charilifts where manic, especially at the end of the day when your trying to get from one side of the resort to the other where you parked the car. We'll be in Thailand for the next round of holidays thank goodness.
They have all gone home now so its quite and we once again have the slopes all to ourselves. Its just under 2 weeks before we head off to Thailand for Nicky & Tony's wedding so we are making the most of it plus the weather gods have been kind to us are we are being treated with fresh dumps these past few days so the conditions are just perfect.
I got a quick glance of my naked body in the mirror the other day and it's safe to say the Greek tan is certainly fading. It's remained well hidden under all these layers in Austria and the wonderful summer spent in our togs seems like a summer time ago....funny that! My pimply bum still glows like a Scottish neon light bulb & unfortunately the rest of the body is fast catching up.....Bring on the sun in Thailand.
My camera hasn't recovered well after dropping it in Hungary so the photos I've taken thus far are not really that great....but I'll post a few anyway. Can't wait to get my new camera (Canon SX50HS) in a few weeks so I can then spam facebook to make up for it.
We have a Salzburg Super Ski card for the winter, which gives us access to 22 major ski regions of the Salzburgerland and a few in neighbouring ski areas like Tirol. If you look at a map of Austria from East to west that covers an area of approx 150kms as the crow flies. In terms of skiable terrain....that's 2550kms of skiing enjoyment! We have 'liked' the Hochkonig Facebook page and received a status updated the other day, advertising their "Konigstour". We hadn't attempted the Hochkonig ski area yet so thought it was about time to get out and see it. The ski area for this resort is huge and the movie doesn't do it justice. We where originally a bit ho-hum when we saw the video as we thought that the runs looked a bit easy and didn't seem that challenging. Boy where we wrong! Well all I can just say is we attempted it! We got 1/2 way through before we realised we better turn back as we didn't want to miss the last chair lift back to the car park. Today was a rest day...our bodies and legs needed it. Yesterday was a beautiful day, with clear blue skis and 100% visibility, so perfect conditions and the scenery was SMAZING....looking forward to doing the other half when we think we can handle it....he he pics to come later....here's the video from their site
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side of our blog.
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postings, pics or other tabs which allow comments. You'll see a comments box at
the bottom of every page or posting.
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UPDATE: We are now living high in the Austrian Alps. High enough to
almost give you a nose bleed. This place is more beautiful than we expected & we are having a true Austrian Alps Winter Experience.
Our apartment is in 1 of 3 buildings on a working dairy farm.
The owners are just lovely people and we are really excited to spend
winter here. Heir Holzmann takes the milk down to the village at 10am
every day on the back of his tracker. They work so hard during the day
and night, sometimes in freezing conditions, but life goes on, the village needs
their milk no matter what the weather.
The farm is actually 4kms from the village road and our
driveway/road links about 10 farms to the village. The village road is
500m above sea level and our farm is 920m above sea level, so it takes 4km to
climb 400m from the village. Doesn't seem that much but when you check
out our video's below you'll get a good understanding of just what life is
going to be like for us over the next 3 months.
Yes - we actually ended up getting Wher'dmadaygo up in this snow,
thank goodness Mr Holzmann had snow chains to fit it and he did the driving.
We were so scared at the time we totally forgot to get pics, he did a
super job, didn't break a sweat and Wher'dmadaygo is now sitting the winter out
with one of the best views in the world.
motorhome with a view
We where a little worried on the first night when we
arrived and wondered if we had bit of more than we could chew, but we are now so
use it and really enjoying it the drive - everyday day has that WOW factor.
Here is some video we took yesterday of the journey down to the
village road on our way to do some skiing.
