Happy mothers day From ‘down under’

Dear mum,

As I look back on my life, I find myself wondering…

Did I remember to thank you, for all that you have done for me?

For all of the times you were by my side to help me celebrate my successes and accept my defeats?

Or for teaching me the value of hard work, good judgement, courage and honesty?

I wonder if I’ve ever thanked you for the simple things…the laughter and the complicity we shared and all the great holidays we made.

If I’ve forgotten to express my gratitude for any of these things, I’m thanking you now and want to tell you that I love you very much!

And I’m hoping that you’ve known all along how very much you are appreciated for being part of my life!

Love,

your daughter Isabelle 

 

Goodbye Australia and New Zealand

Melbourne: Brighton and kangaroo meat

Today my travelbuddy had a fever. My mother instincts told me to leave him at the hotel. So I went exploring on my own 🙂

It was again a beautiful sunny day, 23 degrees, so up to Brighton, where the beach was nice and empty. Then cruising the city to see the docklands, Queen Victoria’s market, Fitzroy Gardens and the Southbank.

After a nice avocado salad in the parc with the ‘zen sound’ of a fountain and the waving of the palmtrees, I fell asleep. But then classical music woke me up, it was a streetartist who was playing the violin in front of the Victoria museum.

From there to Federation Square and some shopping.

In the evening, my buddy felt a lot better. We went to a nice little restarant ‘Vons’ ( http://www.vonsrestaurantbar.com.au), where we enjoyed kangarou steak with mashed potatos. Kangarou meat tasted stronger than veal or lamb – it is heavenly.

Melbourne: St. Kilda and Botanic Garden

 

On this sunny day, 22 degrees, we decided to check out the beach at St. kilda. After 20 minutes we had arrived. All of a sudden, it was much colder and a bit of a storm came up. Since most of the shops and restaurants were closed, because of the winter season, we decided no to hang around for too long and went to the Botanic Garden.

On the tram we talked to 2 students from Amsterdam and London. Both were studying psychology in Melbourne. They loved it!

The gardens were beautiful. We also saw the ‘shrine of remembrance’, an emotional memorial to all Australians who lost their lives in a war.

On the way back, we discovered Federation Square with it’s artsy neighbourhood. We had a peek at the Victoria museum and the library. Amazing and very inviting places for young and old to come together.

We were looking for a nice greek restaurant in the evening, but found a very trendy place ‘Trunk’ (http://www.trunktown.com.au) and had peachy gnocchi…yummi.

Marvellous Melbourne

Marvellous Melbourne got it’s name during the gold rush of the 1850. Today we walked the vibrant, elegant and multicultural streets of Melbourne. We loved the grand Victorian buildings between the modern office buildings.

We took the free tram and looked at the Queen Victoria market, but it was closed. Federation Square is an ultra-modern design, hosting more than 2000 events annually.

Thanks to the tip of a friend, we went to the Intercontinental Rialto. (Thanks Paul!). What an awesome building, all that from an old factory building. Wauw! Here you can really see how the Aussies managed to preserve the style of the old times and combine it with ultra modern buildings.

Tomorrow we will do the Botanical Gardens and St. Kilda.

 

Auckland Museum and the Haka

This morning we went to the Auckland Museum. In one word: FANTASTIC!!! Most of it is about the Maori people and their origins, but there was also a cool expo about 75 years of New Zealand airways. It reminded me a bit about my time at Sabena airlines. But the Maori exhibition….WAUW! They explaned us about their life, their weapons, dances and songs. And see for yourself: They are ‘sexy’ 😝

The national anthem is sung half in Maori, the haka is embraced as the fierce warrior spirit of the whole nation, Kia Ora is the standard greeting and their way of life is at the forefront of everything that is done here.

The Maori culture is not forced into the shadows of shame and rejection like many indigenous cultures around the world have.

There is a history of bloodshed here, yes, but all that matters is how they have managed to heal the wounds of their past in order to make a better present. The Kiwis have done an incredible job of this and should be an example to us all.

I LOVE this about New Zealand; my admiration grows for their peaceful and accepting spirits.
Having spent a tiny bit of time in New Zealand has taught me much about the fiercy temperament of the land and spirit of its people.

New Zealanders are deeply connected to the Earth. They understand that she is more powerful than us and needs to be treated with respect and awe. They have found many ways to live in harmony with the land and to enjoy the much splendour that she offers us.

I hope to return to this beautiful place of our earth one day….

Waiheke Island

Today we took the ferry to Waiheke island (pronounced as Waihiki). Waiheke Island is the jewel in the crown of the stunning Hauraki Gulf. Waiheke, in the Maori language, means cascading or ebbing water. In November 2015, Waiheke island received international attention when it was rated the fifth best destination in the world to visit by lonely planet.

Gragam, our guide let us see some of the island. The island is 20 km long and 10 km wide. In the winter there are approximately 8000 people, in summer it can go up to 35.000! Waiheke island also has the lowest crime rate in New Zealand. Indeed: Who is going to steal your car on an island? 😁

There are 46 vineyards and it’s mostly Germans who help out when the grapes are ripe. There are also 3 clinic, lots of doctors and a helicopter that can drop you on the roof of the Auckland hospital in 10 minutes. So, according to Graham it’s a place for the newly wed and the nearly dead …Indeed, lots of retirees move to Waiheke, but living there is not cheap. We saw a house near the beach that was sold a little while ago for 3 million euro! I talked to a lady who said that her house had tripled in the last 5 years. Talking about a good investment …(it was actually a comic situation: her husband cheated on her and now he had to leave the island…she told me everything while we waited for the bus :)) I also talked to some nice girls who flew in from Papeete, since Tahiti is only 5 hours away. And a Dutch girl added me on facebook after she told me that she was travelling the world in 1 year (she was 35 and a lawyer with a stressy life and decided to take a year of leave without pay).

Anyway, big news is that there was a street called Ostend street and Belgium street. Apparently some settlers came to Waiheke after the 1st world war. Who knows,  I might have an old and rich uncle there that I don’t know about 🙂

It was again a beautiful day in New Zealand. Tomorrow, the Maori dances and then back to Australia.

My birthday, Auckland and the Museum of Modern Art

This gallery contains 11 photos.

Today I woke up and felt old…Was this because it was my birthday or because I only had 4 hours of sleep? ( or probably both). We arrived late at night in Auckland, but hooray…our appartment was perfect! 2 rooms, … Continue reading →

Christchurch

After a very unhealthy, but o so yummy breakfast (homemade pancakes and fresh cookies), we walked till the Botanical Garden where we took a shuttle to the gondola. What an amazing view, this was so worth it! Wim was very happy and wanted to do more mountain hiking. I took the gondola back and was just in time for my guided tour at 13h00.
Our guide, Caroline, was a 75 year old, energetic lady who survived several earthquakes. We were a group of six (2 older ladies from Virginia, 2 nice guys from Canada and a Frenchman)
Caroline first told us a bit about the history of New Zealand. We visited the museum, saw the Botanical Garden and then hit the city. It’s unimaginable that this was once a lively city. In 2011 Christchurch was hit with the biggest earthquake ever. (6.3 on the scale of Richter). It was at 13h00, so many people outside and 185 of them were killed. Because this time the earth did not only shake from right to left, but also from top to bottom, a lot of buildings were torn from their foundations. The insurance companies are paying billions to reconstruct the houses, hotels, buildings, shops, churches, gentlemen’s clubs…but it has already taken more than 5 years and Christchurch is still a bit of a ghost town.
Thanks to some artists and people with innovative ideas, murals and street art give the city back some color. The shopping area is now made out of colorful containers. We also visited a ‘private boys’ boarding school (30.000 euro/year) that looked a bit like ‘Zweinstein’, the school out of the ‘Harry Potter’ movie. Boys can choose as second language Maori or Mandarin. And besides rugby and soccer, they also do country golf. I’m sure that my son would love it.
After the lovely 3 hour walking tour, we left Christchurch and are on our way to Auckland.
And although ChCh, as the locals call it, was a bit of a ghost town, it’s the smile and the good heart and spirit of the people that make visiting Christchurch worthwile.

Akaroa and the Bays

Banks Peninsula was formed following violent eruptions by 3 volcanoes. It’s believed that Akaroa was first settled by Maori around 800 years ago. Akaroa is a French-British settlement that is nestled in the heart of one of the ancient volcanoes. It’s a nice summer resort where kiwi’s rent a ‘batch’. (= a summer house). In winter, the population is of 700. In summer it goes up to 7000! It is a cute  harbour town with colonial architecture ( I love those cute and colourful houses!), art galeries, craft stores and cosy cafés.

We arrived by bus. Graham, our busguide was very knowledgeable  and great fun to listen to. We stopped in ‘Little River’ first. I felt catapulted back in time, as if I was Laura Ingalls in ‘Little house on the prairie’. Cute red houses, selfmade dolls and lots of sheep.

We continued over the hills to the delightful seaside town with its French flavour and cute French streetnames. In the morning we enjoyed the views and did some mountainclimbing. We got hungry and found a nice French restaurant near the water. Fresh salmon for me and fish and chips for my travelbuddy. Yummy!

After that heavenly lunch we explored ‘little France’, the dramatic outer bays and we really soaked in the magic of this area.

A great trip and now we will be exploring Christchurch by night on Friday 🙂