FAR OUT!!!!! We were innocently driving on our way to Munich and it is sunny and bright, then the rain starts... ok, it has been like this most of the way... next second the hail stones start to pelt down – I'm talking about 1cm balls. We passed a gang of motorcyclists, poor guys had to pull over because they were being hit hard! We slowed and 'drove to the conditions' then no more than 1 minute later the sun is shining! That was a tad scary! Anyway onto the day, and I am going to keep it short... Today's aim was to make it to Munich but travelling down part of the Romatic Road (we gave up after reaching Rothenburg and decided to hit the autobahns again!) Started off from Frankfurt at about 9.10 and ... read more

Again I woke up latish today, we were aiming to be on the road by 9.00/9.15 at the latest as we had to head to Lingen to pick up our rental car for Germany. Although I still folded all the washing, packed my bags, had breakfast (I'm contimplating moving in permanently... Kamanikaas and Hagel Slaag every morning... It doesn't get much better) and was still ready 15 minutes before Steve (Aunty Margareth is very quick off the mark and has picked up on the fact that you need to tell Steve before everyone else to get ready to leave). Very bravely (or stupidly) Aunty Margareth let Steve drive her car, with all of us in it, to Lingen – I don't think Uncle Albert or Aunty Margareth are prepared to let that happen again!!!! We got ... read more

6.30am came around with a rude awakening of a lovely lady telling us to get up and that we would be docking at about 8.20am! After being on of the last people to get off the boat and going through 'customs' we jumped onto the train to Rotterdam Central Train Station. We went and asked at the information stand about getting to Coevorden and the lady laughed at me because apparently my pronunciation was not very good! Got the instructions then went had to wait for an hour, we were getting hungry by then but not a single place in any train station seemed to accept credit cards (Steve thinks it is because the Dutchies will need to be charged a transaction fee and they can't have that!). Had a few dramas with disruptions on the ... read more

We crashed rather early last night (around 9pm) and all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows! Woke up this morning to a pigeon making rather unusual noises outside our window! We started the day off with a full English Breakfast at the hotel we are staying at - Baked beans, bacon, egg, sausage and toast with juice and coffee. Caught the Underground to Hyde Park today and wandered to Harrods (we got there at 9.30 and NO shops were open yet!). After wandering around for a while we headed back for Harrods... It is HUGE!!!!! It is like a million stores in one! But in saying that I did not like it hugely... after eventually finding the 'non-designer' clothes the price of a plain black singlet top was 57.95euro!!!!! The best part ... read more

Hi everyone! We made it safely to Auckland at about 12.15pm. It has been a long day, we had lunch with some of Steve's work mates then spent the rest of the day with Steve's cousin Joel... Joel and Steve are so much alike it is SCARY!!! While with Joel we went and met up with Aunty Sherie, Nana and Aunty Sherie's cousin, Louise (they had tea but we weren't hungry). After that we went to Hebie's house and spent some time with her and the twins, Sam and Jared. Now we are just sitting in the Koru Lounge waiting for our flight... and eating food... and drinking free wine! Hehe! Well that's all for now, Love Danielle... read more