Kos, Greece

On a ferry between Kos and Santorini in the Greek Islands. Satelite internet will not allow photo uploads. Will updat photos ASAP!

What a way to finish this magical mystery tour. We arrived in Greece on Saturday 4th, June after a very early start flying from Bari (Italy) with Ryanair. It's flying like that which makes me realise what a wonderful airline Ansett truly was. I am still dumbfounded that people will jostle onto an aircraft with no designated seat and grab whatever is available. During this stage it is each man for himself, luckily Jordan had the manners to help an elderly Italian lady with her bag, she was so impressed and prattled off what we think was a flurry of praise in Italian before firmly planting a kiss on his cheek. Poor Jordan was a little embarassed but he sure could teach some Italian men good old fashioned Aussie manners. It also makes you a little nervous when a great cheer goes up after a successful take-off and then the same response for landing. Don't even get me started on the taxi ride to the airport that morning. Seven of us crammed into a 5-seater and the driver cornering like it was the Indy 500. We had to dig Alex out from all the luggage that had toppled onto him during the speedy trip.

The journey however proved to be more than worth it as shortly after landing in Kos we found a cheap, clean apartment overlooking the sparkling Aegean and only a 50 metre walk to the best beach (Kefalos) this holiday. Sunday 5th, June was our last special occasion for this holiday, Alexanders' ninth birthday. What better present than a snorkelling set (we bought one extra set as six was pushing it for our luggage) and have, in pairs, been underwater ever since. If that wasn't enough, the locals are extremely friendly, the restaurants are cheap and this place is so relaxing. But the ultimate surprise and thrill for the boys came today when I wandered up to the local bike rental company and for 15Euro rented a quad bike for the day. In the boys' words "this is awesome!", "this is as good as snow skiing!" and of course the obvious........ "Can we buy one of these when we get home?"

And so we near the end...... from the Canyons of Arizona/Utah to the ski fields of Vancouver, ice skating in New York and everywhere in between. Ten weeks touring as much of Europe as we possibly could, cruising the Mediterranean and now snorkelling and quad biking in Greece.

From here we plan to do a little Island hopping, starting with a ferry ride to Santorini tomorrow night, then to Paros, Athens and Singapore. The adventure is not over yet!!!!!!!!!

Geia Sou       (Yasoo)

The Wockies

Crusin' the Med!

Photos to come. On a ferry between Kos and Santorini in the Greek Islands.  Satelite internet will not upload photos. Will upload ASAP!

We have written these out of order. We will complete ASAP.

Lake Como

Photos to come. On a ferry between Kos and Santorini in the Greek Islands.  Satelite internet will not upload photos. Will upload ASAP!

We have written blogs out of order. We will write ASAP.

Amsterdam

Photos to come. On a ferry between Kos and Santorini in the Greek Islands.  Satelite internet will not upload photos. Will upload ASAP!

One of the must see places on our European travel itinerary was Amsterdam, the promised land of the back packer. The difference was that this was the family version. As we walked around we could see and smell some unusual goings on and had to keep the kids moving and hope that we need not explain what was going on around us.

Thus we dodged the trams and hoards of cyclists and enjoyed the sites of the great flat land. We were amazed at the sheer number of push bikes that can be seen at all hours of the night, as witnessed after our late, or should we say early arrival in the city. Finding accommodation in the city itself proved a nightmare and we had to resort to driving part of the way back out before we found an opening.  We loved some of the bicycle family rigs with kids sitting up front and parents or grandparents pushing away behind. It certainly was a nice change from the sea of mopeds we have become accustomed to in European cities.

To answer the question posed by one of our friends, no… we didn’t go ‘window shopping’, although we did take a look around the standard shopping districts and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  For me I couldn’t help draw some parallels with Venice, but on a much smaller scale. Many pretty canals with boats of all varieties, but no gondillas. We did note that a favourite party activity is to rent a boat with or without a driver, pack a picnic and fill an ice bucket/esky and then simply cruise the canals talking, laughing and listening to music. What else would you expect for a country that exists below sea level than to enjoy the water?

On our second day we went to Anne Franks’ house.  The rooms that 8 people lived in during the German occupation are so small and the floors creak when you walk, so it is hard to imagine that they lived there for nearly two years prior to their capture without being detected. The Dutch have done a wonderful job preserving the memories of the Frank family on behalf of the millions of Jews exterminated in camps in WW2. The kids were moved by their visit and realised that it must have been so hard to live like this when we have had difficulty staying quite in hotel rooms.

Off to Belgium next on our run back to Italy for the cruise.

The Wockies

Porsche Museum, Stuttgart, Germany by Jordan

As part of my birthday present Mum and Dad promised me a trip to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. Unfortunately you have to be 16 to go on the free factory tour where you can watch these swift cars be assembled. Alexander and Ben decided they wanted to come in with Dad and I while Sam and Mum rested in the car.  We hired some electronic guides to help with the tour, but dad had trouble understanding his. His German isn't very good, so he had to get another in English.

The museum was very flash. On the top floor there were the cars and the bottom floor had the foyer. At the top of the escalator the first thing I saw was a slick prototype named ‘Type 64’ and is the father of all porches. Type 64 was far ahead of its time in aerodynamics.  It was designed for the Berlin to Paris long distance race, but didn't get to compete due to WW2 breaking out. This aluminium car reached 130 km on public roads, a high speed for the time. After World War 2 the car was raced and was a winner in looks, streamline and handling. It was given the first Porsche label and the company began.  The shape of this vehicle is the basis for all future models.

The creator, Ferdinand Porsche was a true genius. He not only created cars but he also wired his parents’ house for electricity as a gift, designed the first fire truck, designed aircraft engines and was the driving force for the VW beetle. 

After 2 hours we had seen a concept model porsche that never went into production, a procession of LeMans racing cars, including a model that was bolted to the ceiling to illustrate that it went so fast, and had such huge downwards forces created by the body shape and rear spoiler that it theoretically could go upside down and drive on the ceiling. There was also a range of cars used for rally racing and the European racing circuit.

The Porsche museum was amazing and totally changed my opinion as to just how amazing they are. I'm definitly doing the factory tour next time!

Jordan

Innsbruck, Austria- A Bavarian Beauty

We departed the fairy tale beauty of Neuschwanstein castle on the Austrian border and drove on towards Innsbruck through the picturesque but windy Alps. Overhead soared stunning mountain peaks covered in snow which remains there most of the year. The road often cuts through large sections of the Alps with tunnels in excess of 15 km long. In other places the road weaves down cliff like faces with multiple hair pin turns. Local truck and car drivers descend at speeds that we would consider reckless and overtake where we wouldn’t consider, while we took our time and gawked at the amazing vistas.

Darkness has arrived well and truly by the time we pull into Innsbruck and make our way towards the city centre. Rooms in the centre are small and expensive, so we decide to drive out to the outskirts where we had noticed some camping signs on the way in. Tired and desperate after finding that none of the campsites offer bungalows, we decided to try a guest house nearby, the Kranbitterhof Gasthof. Suzi negotiated a super deal, and we headed to our first true Bavarian room. (3^rd floor in photo) All of the fittings and furniture were carved or decorated with floral and other local artwork, and we went to sleep expecting to be woken by yodelling or cow bells.

We were close! Donkeys baying in the morning awoke us and when we opened our bedroom shutters, we were taken aback by the snow covered mountains that fringe Innsbruck looming above us. After a breakfast served by ladies wearing the traditional garb consisting of off the shoulder blouses, lace up vests and billowing ¾ dresses, the younger 3 boys jumped at the opportunity to visit and feed the animals of the attached farm and spent the morning in the playground while we reorganised our bags and cleaned up the car interior.

We ventured into the old town and enjoyed the Christmas shop and many other unique stores and took up the opportunity to entertain each other trying on novelty hats.  We loved the local architecture and although we suddenly found ourselves looking for our winter gear again, we enjoyed Innsbruck’s beauty.

That afternoon we headed towards Stuttgart, Germany to fulfil our birthday promise to Jordan to visit the Porsche Museum. (Next Blog written by Jord)  As we drove along the highway through the mountains we studied the map more closely and decided that a huge lake on the map would be an excellent stop over. We arrived in a town on the bank of the Bodensee (as per the map) or Lake Bregenz (according to the signs) by late afternoon and went in search of a home for the night. The lake is stunning and huge, with Sydney Harbour type ferries operating. It helps form the border between Austria, Germany and Switzerland and is obviously fed by the melted snow from the area. We again failed to secure a bungalow, and so after the positive experience the previous night, we settled in at the Krone Guesthouse.  Lovely!

In the morning we explored the banks of the lake where access to the water was possible amongst the bird habitat and avoided collisions with the stream of aging cyclists who were out exercising.  The kids were fascinated by the sight of a flock of ducks resting/ feeding in the water while large fish which we guessed to be Pikes, breached the water as they attacked something on the surface. Mother ducks carefully herded their chicks towards the shallows to prevent them becoming a meal.  Try as we may, the leaps were erratic and taking an action shot was impossible, although we caught plenty of splashes.

We followed the lake road towards the Autobahn to Stuttgart and came to Lindau, a charming town with beautiful views over the lake.  As we wanted to continue driving, we stopped to admire, take a photo or 2 including this obscene sunbaker, added the town to our ‘come back without kids’ list and hit the road again.  We got to Stuttgart a couple of hours before the museum closed, and had some male bonding time.  For those not interested in 4 wheels, we warn you that the next blog may not be your cup of tea.

Until then, goodbye from the Wockies.