Mark Slater
I am an Aussie with a passion for photography, bushwalking, travelling abroad and learning about different cultures.Paparazzo
Travel Blog Posts
October 20th 2008
We packed up all our gear and Nikki, said our goodbyes to Michael and headed off to Innsbruck in Austria. But first we made a detour to the point in Basel were the three countries of Switzerland, Germany and France all meet. We drove across the German border to a footbridge across the Rhine. Here we walked from Germany into France and back without any checkpoints. We called into a nearby supermarket and stocked up on supplies, before heading off to Austria. The scenery was very spectacular along the way and drove through so many tunnels that we lost count, the longest was almost 14km long. Again we were waved on through the border by the guards and again we embarrassed Nikki by stopping to get our passports stamped. The freeways in Austria are generally much ... read more
October 19th 2008
We had brunch with Michael and Tim. In the afternoon we visited Basel Zoo, which is very impressive for such a small city. We had dinner with Regula and Stefan (Nikki’s 2nd host family) and their son Thomas. We meet Mauritcio who is a Mexican exchange student currently staying with them. Regula and Stefan also have two daughters Corrine who is currently in Argentina and Nadine who is in Mexico, both are on youth exchange. They are a lovely family; we had a traditional Swiss dinner - special cheese topped with choice of toppings e.g. onions, tomato, peppers, pineapple, spices melted under a grill then served over mashed potatoes. Dessert was a chestnut paste (put through a spaghetti maker and served on a meringue with cream on the side. We had a fun time. Weather: Sunny ... read more
October 18th 2008
We caught the tram into Basel and went shopping and sightseeing in the morning. The Swiss public transport system is incredible. Australia has a lot to learn. In the afternoon Wendy and Nicole stayed home as Wendy had lightly sprained her ankle in the morning, I caught the tram into Basel city and wandered around photographing the sights and people. Weather: Sunny and fine - 17C. ... read more
October 17th 2008
We headed off on our day trip to the Black Forest. We followed the Rhine on the Swiss side for a few kilometres, before turning left at the nuclear reactor and crossed over the river into Germany. The border guards just waved us and every other car through. But we stopped just so we could get our passports stamped, much to Nikki’s embarrassment. The drive was very pretty and scenic, we drove on small country roads through hillsides, picturesque farms and forest. We stopped at a small town called Titisee, which is on the one of the large seas (lakes) in the area. It was very beautiful, the Autumn leaves were very spectacular. We completed a large loop and eventually found our way back into Basel. Pia and Tim, two of Michael and Ursula’s grown up ... read more
October 16th 2008
We woke up to a wet and rainy day. We drove into downtown Basel in the morning to have a look around and do some shopping. At lunch time Nikki had to give her Rotary presentation to her host club the Rotary Club of Basel - St Jakob. We were very impressed with Nikki’s presentation, not that we could understand a word of it as she now speaks fluent German. A lot of the club members commented on how well she speaks German. Despite the rain we were able to wander around Basel and do some sightseeing. It is a beautiful old city with a network of old cobbled streets. We visited the Munster which is a church built in 1000AD and climbed to spire to get views across the city. We walked to the Rhine ... read more
October 15th 2008
We arrived at Heathrow Airport, London to a very wet and rainy morning. The aerobridge wouldn’t connect properly so we had to walk down stairs and onto tarmac. We the caught a bus to terminal 5, where we had to have our Qantas boarding passes reprinted to British Airways boarding passes, but kept the same seats. We waited in British Airways Club Lounge until our flight was due to depart. Very comfortable and a large buffet breakfast was available. We were able to have a shower; it was nice to be able to freshen up. We boarded our BA flight to Zurich and as we taxied to the runway we counted that we were one of 12 planes in a queue waiting to take off. The flight to Zurich was uneventful and short, we both napped ... read more
October 14th 2008
We got a lift to Albury airport with Jenna from Wendy’s work. We were able to check our bags all the way through to Zurich and were issued our boarding passes all the way through to Zurich as well. The flight left on time at 1.40pm and was a smooth uneventful flight. We arrived in Sydney and took the transfer bus to the international terminal and waited in the Qantas Club Lounge for our flight. The flight to Singapore was an hour late as a passenger who had checked in for the flight didn’t board and they had to remove his luggage. The 7 hour flight was smooth and we both sleep a lot of the way. We arrived in Singapore and had to take all our hand luggage and leave the plane. We had a ... read more
March 8th 2008
We spent all day today working again, the carpenters finished all the work that the school had expected of them. They quickly brought out a wish list of additional items to be constructed, so they could take advantage of the skills of the apprentices. These included the design and construction of cupboard doors for the large kitchen in the dinning hall, book trolleys for the library and shelving for the office. A lot of time was also spent training Alfonse the “wood fundi” (Swahili for carpenter) on how to make and assemble these items after the team leaves in 4 days. That evening we went out to a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was in a small dusty side street and was run by two Muslim brothers. I think the food was Pakistani and was quite ... read more
March 7th 2008
In the morning we drove to through the park and saw a lot more monkeys as it was heavily forested in places. It was very lush and green and pretty and it was on the edge very high cliffs that went on forever and was known as the Great Rift, which runs all the way up into Kenya forming the Great Rift Valley. We went back to the lodge and had lunch before driving back to Arusha. We got home around about 4pm, but our truck got a flat tyre just as we got into Arusha. We drew a large crowd of onlookers as we changed it on the edge of a very busy road. We arrived back at St Judes very hot dusty and tired. It was a great trip, but camping all the time ... read more
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