Leipzig Germany 26 May 2013 As it was still raining, we drove around Leipzig rather than stopping and walking. Leipzig is one of Germany’s leading commercial towns, but also for culture and learning. It has Germany’s biggest train station, the Hauptbahnhof. We picked out the Museum der Bildenden which houses a collection of masterpieces created by German masters. As it was Sunday, it was easy to drive around. There were occasions we were on the same road as the trams. We sometimes wondered if there were any accidents between trams and cars. Out trusty GPS took us around the city centre. We saw how beautiful the city is. The Germans have created some beautiful buildings, parks and very efficient public transport. After completing the drive around and being a little disappointed that the weather wasn’t inviting ... read more

Keurkenhoff Annual Tulip Show, 20 May 2013 While we were in Amsterdam, we also learned that we were able to catch the last 2 days of the big annual tulip festival at Keurkenhof which was a display covering 38 hectares. There were 10-minutely busses going out these each day. It was beautiful….but I won’t bore you with too many photos!! However, I will let the photos talk for themselves!... read more

Utrecht, The Netherlands, 15 to 17 and to20 to 22 May 2013 On arriving at the busy Utrecht train station, we caught a taxi to the Apollo Hotel (took 5 minutes!!) which is right in the centre of the CBD. Utrecht, which was founded by the Romans in AD 47, is full of bike tracks and malls. There are more bicycles in the Netherlands than there are people. Everyone rides a bike, in sunshine and rain. We saw lots of bikes with 2 little seats and mini trailers attached for toddlers, saddle bags for purchases, ties for strollers to be carried on bikes and everything else you need to move. The Netherlands is very flat with lots of water: dykes to control waterways, multiple canals and rivers. It has been cold and sometimes wet. Everything is ... read more

On 9th May we fly to Perth to see our son and daughter-in-law Adam and Ange for 4 days before flying to Frankfurt, Germany to see our friends Kevin & Julia who we met in Africa. Kevin has been most helpful with the issue of us buying a motor home in Germany. He found that as foreigners, we cannot register and insure a vehicle in Germay/Europe so we have had to go to Plan "B".... and that is buy a vehicle through Turner Cars and Campers in The Netherlands where they find vehicles for us and check them out mechanically and negotiate a good price for us. They have found a way so that we can register and insure a vehicle as foreigners in Europe. We will be going by train from Frankfurt to Utrecht which ... read more

Route 62 & Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa, 14-18 September On 14 September we arriving at Addo, we settle into our unit where we were staying for 1 night. The accommodation was large but run down unfortunately. It would be a good situation for a family who wanted to self cater, but for us it didn’t quite work. At least we had good heating because it was really cold at night. We booked ourselves in for a night game drive and a morning game drive. We made sure we put plenty of clothes on and the guide also provided a woollen poncho for each of us. We saw plenty of animals, however saw even more when we were driving around ourselves during the day. So the next day, we spent driving around Addo, which was ... read more