Saturday 27th Dec 09...we visited Chateau Chillon in the south of Switzerland up against the French border.

Friday 26/12/08

Ralph took us snow skiing to day - the ladies stayed home - it was an exciting day for the 6 boys and two Dads - Ralph took Ti under his wings and using a very Swiss method helped build his confidence.

Thursday 25th December 2008 Christmas Day!!

Pressies for kids, tobogganing, and a sumptuous roast Turkey for dinner!!
This is sheldon trying to control his Toboggan down a fierce slope...

Wednesday 24/12/08
Lots of driving, explored the Roman Chariot tracks, and the old village of Aosta...

...and visited the base of the Matterhorn from the Italian side..then on to Ralph and Heidi's (and Hannas and Dillon and Liam) at Donneloye in Switzerland for Xmas Eve.

Tuesday 23/12/08 Breakfast with Carlo and Marie Helene and Marie Helen's Mum, Cammy, and Jean Daniel and Rom, 2 castles visited, winding streets getting stuck, town square 3 times we drove the same path trying to find a park, and then lot’s of driving as we headed south into Italy from Switzerland then West to Carema and Cup of Tea with Romelo and Maria, and o/nt in the conv grounds, long interesting walk around town, then bed!!





Monday 22/12/08
Lea’s 42nd Birthday, so decided to have a McDonalds Breakfast – Lea ordered a McCroissant, and deep fried camembert with crushed berry marmalat – delicious; the kids burgers and Curly fries – which are chips all curled up and very yummy..(but revolting for breakfast I think…and coke!! Ugh! Quickly changed to OJ). Tried the internet café but blog sites banned. Then it was time to hit the road and off we headed through

some more pristine snow covered alps and as we drifted down through the snow dusted valleys the soft chatter of machine gun fire from the computer games the kids were playing deftly played on our ears. As we pointed out new and interesting sites the obligatory Wow! And ‘Amazing’ rang out less and less convincingly the further we travelled on until darkness eventually overcame us. We did come across an amazing ice sculpture/water fountain on the isde of the road..We headed south into Italy, then west and North into Switzerland arriving around 7pm at Marie Hélène and Carlo's household for a fine Swiss evening "Roclet' meal of melted cheese on potatoes with salad of lettuce, beetroot, gherkin and baby corn cobs. Four servings later I declined a fifth helping under the threat of exploding, and then succumbed to dessert. Temperature today ranged from 1 to 15 degrees in Switzerland.

Sunday 21/12/08
Woke to the steady drumming of rain. Had the usual cereal for Brekky and after we had cleaned up and packed things away decided to go through the museum in Hallstat. Very interesting with a 3d movie to begin with. Evidence has been found of settlement as far back as 5000 BC, with a reindeer antler pick used by the early settlers, the original is on display. The Celts came along 1000 BC and mined the area for salt, then the Romans took over, and they were eventually thrust out by the Germans and ever since then it has been relatively peaceful – beautiful unique village right on the waters edge, all the buildings perched on the side of the mountain.
We then got going and drove to Lienz, through some beautiful little villages and lots of magnificent snow scenery – many buildings with close to 1 metre of snow on their roofs – looks like white icing has been placed on everything. Weather cleared and actually saw the sun for the first time in days. Parked in the main square in Lienz, South West Austria not far from the Italian border and off we went to another Christmas Market where we tried the Rum Punsch – hot rum!! (pron Rom I found out).Ti wanted to try the roast chestnuts, which smell divine, but taste like chalk he found out and Dad ended up with the lot so I tried to palm them off to Kaydon and Sheldon, who had declined the latest market adventure and stayed in the Van playing medal of Honour. They managed half a chestnut each!! The food is delightful in these village markets, and the Rack of Pork ribs on offer sorely tempted my nostrils as we sauntered past, until the price tag ($25) jolted me back to reality and I settled for a humongous boiled potato with chopped bacon and completely drowned in sour cream for about 1/3 the price. Most people speak a few words of English and all are quite friendly – filled up the van with 100 l of wasser today at an Esso by a very helpful Austrian who advised the water was the best in Europe, comes out of the mountains. The less we understood each other the louder we talked and gesticulated – lea and the boys were in the van killing themselves with laughter!! It’s now 9:30pm, about 7 degrees outside – advised by a local the it is normally -15 here and that it is very unusual for this heat!! It’s on it way – tomorrow he assured me.

Saturday 20/12/08
It’s raining, actually it’s been raining all day, and in between times it’s been snowing. So has been quite cold but anything from miserable as one very excited family went off to check out the Leopoldskrom, that is the manor used in the Sound of Music. Last night we watched the movie, borrowed on a complete strangers video card – Arnacht felt sorry for us and let us hire the movie on his card. The kids loved the flick, seeing it for the first time and recognised lots of buildings used in the scenes. Then it was off to St Wolfgang where we wandered up and down the main St amongst the Chriskindelmarkt (Christmas Markets) and fires lit in the streets with people huddled around for warmth sipping the warm wine known as Gluhwein and orangepunsch. Had Bosna Bratwurst for lunch, consisting of 2 skinny snags on a roll with curry and raw onion. Tasted OK. Had a text from Mark Gresswell – is looking forward to catching up! Went through a magnificent church today, then we hit the road and onto Hallstatt, one of the oldest settlements in Europe. Arrived at 4:40pm, and already dark, and raining however we put on our wet weather gear and off we trundled into town, a 1km walk along side the lakes edge. At 5pm loud gunshots rang out over the lake as the traditional evening shots were fired. This kept up until 8pm. We wandered through the deserted town, found an interesting souvenir/ski shop. Downstairs had been excavated and was originally Roman Baths. Lots of artefacts. Decided we would go out for T, but everywhere was closed so trundled back to the van, parked right up close to the water’s edge and Leanne cooked up some pasta and mince, and after a game of Skip Bo we have all just hit the hay – it’s 9pm Sat local time, 6am Sun Australia!!

Fri 19/12/08
Up at the crack of 8am, and after breakfast off to the Liquid Gas place to fill up or replace our gas bottle –well 34 Euro later ($68 ie costing $17/day in gas) and after I had picked my jaw up off the floor, we trundled into Salzburg City centre. Well what a debacle trying to find a park turned out to be. First we were advised it would be 300 Euro ($600) if we parked in a spot reserved for buses (I argued we were a bus!!), and advised to go out of town to a Park and Ride…so we did (30 min drive) only to be told no motor homes allowed. Advised by the local Tourist centre to go into town and park right at the city centre – which we ended up doing but this all consumed about 2 hours of our day!! Eventually got going and off we trekked into the heart of Salzburg, over the bridge through the Christmas markets and up the Rail Carriage to the imposing fortress that looks over the entire city. Wandered around this for a while, viewing the armoury, cannons etc – boys were wide eyed as they took it all in, then back to trek through the Christmas markets and try out the massive cinnamon pretzels and bratwiurst rolls, sauerkraut and all – not many takers from the family on that one!! Bought a few gifts, then back to the van and back to outside maccas, where we managed to rent a video of the sound of Music.

TO BE CONTINUED!! Thanks for all the comments - great to hear from you all, keep them coming. We are currently staying with friends, Heidi and Ralph in Donneloye, in Switzerland, (they have 3 boys too) ...and have access to the internet at last- many of the places we stayed had no access, and it was a job an a half finding a parking spot, let alone then trying to find a place to hook up to the net, so each night we simply kept a note of what we did!! We're having fun, but its full on too. It's funny, we visit all these places, but all the boys can talk about is going toboganning, or skiing, or having a snow ball fight!!
We trust you all had a wonderful Christmas - we have had a quiet one, ended up going to a toboganning slope with the 6 boys, Ralph and I, while the girls prepared traditional Roast turkey for Christmas dinner...it was sensational!! It was bitterly cold today; when taking photos at the snow my hand started to lose feeling...

Thursday 18/12/08
Awoken at 6 by a very noisy snow plow – looked out to see it had snowed close to 6 inches overnight and the entire car park was covered, however the Snow Plow man was roaring around on his tractor and blade cleaning it all up. So up we got and moved the van for him, then had brekky and at 9am sharp off we went on the Salt mine tour. Very interesting – this mine dates back to the time 500ish BC when the Celts used to mine by pick and shovel. We went along in a small train for a distance and then walked about 1.5 km through tunnels and mine shafts. Crossed the German border, downs some steep wooden slides, and even a boat ride acoss a lake in the middle of the mine, back into Austria again and back into daylight eventually. Had some lunch and then we headed on towards Salzburg. Continued snowing all day, and we found a great spot to spend the night in an empty Supermaket car park, but didn’t realise that the local hoons use it for a speed way track after a snowfall and after an hour of them roaring around sideways we moved on and ended up staying overnight in a Guesthof Parking Platz.

Wednesday 17/12/08
Very interesting experience going through the crystal interactive ‘museum’, quite out of this world entering through a green goblin, and ending up at the Swarovski shop – WOW! What an assortment of glass and crystal for sale. Then onto Kitsbuhel. The scenery is breathtaking, and as we wound our way through the countryside each bend seem to offer up more little villages with snow capped rooves and pristine untouched hillsides all covered in a dense blanket of snow. Arrived at Kitsbuhel, a gorgious little village in Austria. We parked about 500 m from the town centre, after trying to drive through town and finding the lanes getting narrower and narrower until I had to turn off and drive throught the local park along the bike lane to get back on track – received a few glares over that one. This village was our first real experience of a medieval village complete with cobblestone roads and narrow little archways. Eventually found an internet café and forget our blog sight so no use, so checked our emails and had a coffee, then eventually back to van, and off we went to spend the night at the Saltzvelten (Salzburg Salt mines) car park, Hellein. It was gently snowing by the time we finished T and all fell into bed rather early.

Tuesday 16/12/08
Boys awoke at 5am rearing to go, still dark so chatted away until breakfast at 6 (not sure how long this is going to last) and as soon as they could see, out the door into the snow for the hugest snow battle ever. Lea and I staggered out around 7ish to the most beautiful sight to behold – Crystal clear blue sky was dawning, the snow was pristine, the lake dead calm. Later the sun inched it’s way over the mountains and bathed the whole area in sunlight making the whole scene surreal. All too soon we moved on and went to visit Linderhof Schloss – and took a guided tour of the Palace – very impressive particularly the room of mirrors where in every direction you see the same room reflected hundreds of times. Hit the road again and went and drove right into Innsbruck, saw the city at night – absolutely alive with Christmas cheer, but too busy for us so decided to spend the night at the Swarovski Crystal car Park just out of town at Wattens. Sensational drive in with all the trees lit up with lights. Visited by a security guard who wondered what the fluid coming from our van was – it was simply the washing water being released into the drain!!

Monday 15/12/08
Met the other couple in the van this am – Germans, who were very friendly and told us all about this town, and encouraged us to visit the Thermal baths (which we had no idea existed here) so we decide to. What an experience, bathing in hot springs in about 35 degree waters, out in the open with snow all around and in the distance Neuschwenstein towering over the valley. Decided to go upstairs to check out the sauna and found out they were all naked, thank goodness didn't take the kids up there!! Hit the road again and on towards Linderhof, another of King Ludwig's castles. Found an absolutely magnificent spot at a campsight closed for the winter. The snow was glistening in the moonlight as we pulled up. The street lined with old fashioned lamps, about 50 metres from the edge of a lake.

Sunday 14/12/08
Up early and continued on to Munich arriving just in time for the Sunday morning meeting at the Hubert and Julie's. Beautiful meeting where everyone’s testimony was translated into English for us, and we translated back to German for them. Unfortunately Hubert was away and their children were all very sick with Bronchitis, similar ages to our boys and would have dearly loved to see them as apparently they do not get to see many other friends their ages – one of the only churches in whole of Germany. Then on our way to Neuschwenstein, built by king Ludwig II during the 1870's. Took a horse drawn cart to the top, then a guided tour through the castle – boys were in awe. This is the castle used as the inspiration for Disneyland themes. Walked back to the van, bought our first German pastries – hot cinnamon rolls – then we drove on to a town near Fussen where we camped next to another Campervan.

Saturday 13/12/08
Up around 8am to a sumptuous buffet breakfast, kids had their first snowball fight in the Novatel car park in the dark!! I went and picked up the hire car, a VW station wagon and then North east to southern Germany to 'Bad Walsee' to pick up the camper from Hymer. Quite funny driving on the other side of the road again, but got used to it soon enough – not much choice really!! GPS is working like a treat – guided us straight there – Weather is absolutely freezing and there is snow everywhere – in fact some times it looks like we are driving in a black and white landscape. We took a ferry to cross a lake at one point and the wind chill must have been -10. It was cold... Picked up the van, it is a 6.7 metre HYMER, built on a Ford chassis, with a 3.8l Turbo Diesel. Good handling with lots of power. The van is pretty roomy inside with 2 tables that seat six, and fold down to a double bed at night, 3 burner stove, toilet and showers at back of van and double bunks on the side - above the cabin is the master bedroom consisting of the only permanent double bed!!

Off we went to drop back the Hire car at a town called Ravensburg, where we went to a massive supermarket and filled up with supplies only to find out at the check out they did not take Visa or Amex, and our Handy Card wasn’t accepted at the ATM. Well we were in a fix. Ended up having to leave the trolley, drive into town find an ATM that did work, get out cash and drive back for a groceries, which they had kept for us. No one understood a word of our German, or English but all very friendly and understanding (particularly with 3 kids in tow…all starving hungry of course. Got dark at 4:30pm and got even colder, somehow this translated to very hungry and need food NOW…So we fed the kids and off down the main highway towards Munchen (Munich).

Friday 12/12/08
Flew out at 11am to London. Arriving 2pm, but actually 12 hrs-long flight, with movies on tap – made the time go quick, however arrived in London like zombies, then a 4 hr wait and onto Zurich, arriving at Novatel around midnight.

Thursday 11/12/08
Left Aussie land – met Elton and Sarah and boys off to NZ at Airport.
Tokyo overnight – the highlight being Jelly fanta and instead of a gourmet Japanese buffet meal ($280) we ‘enjoyed’ cup of noodles in our hotel room.

Late night...early morning

Well, here we are still doing last minute things, like setting up this blog!!...its 2:01am and we have to be up at 4:30, Taxi arrives at 5am, Check in at 6am flight to tokyo leaves at 8:45am. somehow we don't seem tired...living on adrenalin!!