Rem, Mir and the kids
We are a family of 5. Kids 8, 10 and 11, Mom and Dad. We have always wanted to explore more of this world and now it is so far... Jan 15 we will be leaving to Thailand and then travel on Feb 17 to Australia. March 12 we will be back in Canada...... with hopefully a "suitcase" full of experiencesThe Dutchies
Travel Blog Posts
March 11th 2007
Sunday afternoon and we are finished all we want to do. Today we were up early to take the ferry through Sydney Harbour and land in Manly Beach. We know that sun and beach will be a distanced memory after 1 week back in wet/cold Canada. So we gave ourselves 2 hours to dive in the waves, tast the salt water and work on our tan! The ferry to Manly was a 30 minutes side seeing tour through Sydney and the down town core looking from the water side. Last night Miriam and I celebrated our first evening dinner without the kids and saw the Opera La Traviata at the Opera house. Sorry boys, but you have to give once in a while! During the day we both shopped for somewhat formal party gear as all ... read more
March 10th 2007
Well, living in the house on wheels is finished........ Now we have 4 days in a 5 star hotel (yep, again through my visa points). Tuesday we were still in Noosa head ( a little surfers Paradise) and had for the first time in our trip a day of rain, it was actually kind of nice to sit in the motorhome, read books and hear the rain..... So on Wednesday we drove to Brisbane, where we - after getting lost, driving against traffic - finally got to our hotel, dropped of the kids and brought back the motorhome. Another chapter from our travelling closed,. We loved travelling in the motorhome, it's great to go to places and you have everything handy, the only thing that stated to annoy me was making the beds every night, especially ... read more
March 9th 2007
G'day mates, How is it going? Australia is heaps of fun, but reality is starting to sink in with 3 more days left. Yesterday Meindert, Kirsten and I climbed the Harbour Bridge in Sydney in the end of the day and had a beautiful view of the city sky line, the harbour with the sail boats and the Oprah house. It's a 3 hour trip up the ramps of the bridge all the way to the top. Some spots was a bit scary but you are clipped in with a harnas onto a rope. We had fun doing together and the kids thought it was easy. As I said earlier the trip of a lifetime comes close to the end. But it feels right as I think we did as much as we wanted to do ... read more
March 5th 2007
Hi mates, Well you haven't heard from us for a while. The Aussies aren't as well developed in internet cafes as the Thais. After the Zoo we went up to Hervey Bay, where I wrote my last blog. The Tuesday was a rest day. For Wednesday and Thursday we booked a snorkeling trip to Lady Elliot Island........ Absoluty heaven, paradise....... What a great spot, we felt we were on one of those paradise islands. We flew from Hervey Bay Airport for 50 min. in a 8 person airplane, what a beautiful view we had ........and then arrived at Lady Elliot Island. (maybe website is Lady Elliot Island .com ?????) This one of the more south islands from the Great Barrier Reef. We arrived around 10.00 in the morning, got our cabin ( 3 bunkbeds a closet ... read more
February 27th 2007
Hi everybody, Well another update from Paradise. We had a great time at the surfing lesson, the kids all got up, standing and surfing !!!!! (Please Mr Bloch, tell this to Mrs Bartel !!!!!!!!!!!) That afternoon (Saturday) we drove up to Surfers Paradise, and it is paradise !!!!!!!!! Waves are very strong !!! There were about 17 people that had to be rescued that day. The beaches are very well patrolled, you can only swim between the flags. The city itself is shopping heaven !!!!!!! Then Sunday morning Kirsten had to go to the doctor as she had a huge splinter in her feet and it got infected. So we gave ouselves a lazy day and did nothing, just sitting on the beach. Monday morning we left early to go to the Australia Zoo. Here we ... read more
February 23rd 2007
Hello everybody, Well that has been a while, as there are not as many Internet Cafe's in Australia as in Thailand. The computers at the RV Campgrounds are old and some have dial up. So here I am in Tweed Heads, in an internet cafe, typing as fast as I can. Remmert and Meindert are getting a haircut, bien is watching me and Kirsten is e-mailing her friends. We had a lovely time in Sydney, went for a tour, saw the opera house, stayed in a great hotel. Picked up the rv on Sunday afternoon. (Rupert we will be back in Sydney from March 8 -12, when are you there ??) The motorhome is great, it is handy to go and have everything with us. On the otherhand you have to make sure that everything is ... read more
pics, pics and more pics
Published: February 17th 2007Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Darling Harbour
February 16th 2007
Well after being up for almost 24 hours we arrived in Sydney, what a nice clean city compared to Bangkok. Thanks to the shopping of me and the VISA , we are staying again in a nice hotel. And even better, just explored a bit and found a Starbucks right across from the hotel !!!! Jippie, no more Thai brew !!!! To-morrow will be the house on wheels for 2.5 weeks and after that we will come back here again. Hereby some pics from the last couple of days, enjoy. Thanks everybody for writing us, Meindert and Sabien loved getting the messages. Love Mir... read more
February 15th 2007
Hi everybody, here a blog from Remmert and me together. Wanted to first make clear that the 1000.00 CAD came from the choir from Cheam Elementary School. They raised the funds at their X Mas concert, this for the people that didn't know. Second I haven't done any housework or laundry for over a month !!!!!!!! Start to get really used to this, oh also no cooking for a month, we are all looking forward to a home cooked meal in the motorhome. enjoying last day in Bangkok, full of luxuries, thanks to shopping with the VISA (with the Aeroplan points you can only get 5 star resorts) Boys yesterday was the day to be nice to our spouses, hope you didn't forget! Last week we made a day trip from BangSean to Pattaya and did ... read more
February 12th 2007
First of all Happy Birthday Sis !!!! Thirty something ???? Forty approaching !!!!! Also happy belated B Day to Dion and Ed, we had a few Singha's here as a toast for the Birthday. Yesterday we spend almost the whole day with Karen and Ricky and their 4 daughters. They have started here a Christian Church and an orphanage for 8 boys who are HIV positive. These kids were before in a government orphanage, you know 15 in a room etc. Npow they are living with the 8 of them in a house setting, the youngest one is 7 months old, the oldest 13. One of the sad parts is that the Thai people are very judgemental about HIV and AIDS. Not every school wanted to have the boys because of this. The boys are very ... read more
February 8th 2007
It's nearly 3 o'clock and we are ready to leave Chiang Mai and take the nght train to Bangkok. We had two slow days at C.M. I think all the travel from the last 3 weeks caught up to us yesterday. Kirsten became quite sick two nights ago. Most of the night she spent in the washroom followed by her Mother in the early morning. Unfortuately if you can't keep anything in, there is no sense in taking pills to stop it. We just had to sit this one out by taking it easy for two days. Both are feeling well now, just hungry! We realize that we have slept in 10 different beds so far and two more to go for in Thailand. The house on wheels in Austalia sound for 3 weeks sound very ... read more
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