Kiwi Tales

And yes, here we are in ‘New Zealand’, ‘New Zilind’ as the kiwi’s pronounce it.
The real Middle Earth…
Famous because of the Lord of the rings books from Peter Jackson.

Christchurch saw an earthquake in 2011 (6.3 scale of Richter) with 185 people who died. The business district was completely destroyed, most of the survivors moved to other places. But some creative brains put their heads together and out of the rubble rose a a beautiful new city with innovative projects, nice cafes and great street art like Chch as the kiwi’s call it.

Auckland is with its 1.3 million inhabitants ( more than 1/4 of the population), not the capital of NZ . Wellington is. The Maori’s call this land Aotearoa (= land of the long, white cloud) and it is 270.000 square km. NZ does not have creepy crawlers (= spiders or snakes.

Tomorrow at 09h00 we are taking the bus to Akaroa and now we are enjoying  ‘roast and mash’  in the rockpool where our waiter Chris is supernice and wifi is free 🙂

Bondi beach and shopping

Today we took the bus to Bondi beach. It was 22 degrees and the water looked so refreshing. I decided to take a swim. My travelbuddy was afraid of sharks, so he went hiking instead. The water was refreshing and the waves thunderous… I was enjoying the sun on my skin, when my eye caught a sign ‘ Royal rehab return 2 sport’ Young surfers were helping disabled people in wheelchairs to get  in the ocean and took them around on a surfboard. There was an asian girl in a wheelchair and a surferboy swam with her on a surfboard for at least half an hour. The sight of those young people helping so many disabled people and seeing the joy on those people’s faces was just heartwarming. Please take a look at their site ‘ http://www.royalrehab.com.au’ . They also help disabled with tennis, golf and wintersports. A great project that Belgium should copy.

We decided to skip the surflesson and sat down in one of the funky cafes that had plants in nutella jars.

On the busride back to the center, we stopped at Hyde park and visited the beautiful cathedral and enjoyed the view.

And then ….shopping for 2 hours. Queen Victoria building, fantastic! Wim introduced me to this Japanese store that I did not know: ‘Uniqlo’, they also have one in Antwerp, but I have never been there. I loved it!

Tomorrow we are heading to Christchurch, New Zealand.

A B-day poem for my son

16 years ago today
They placed you in my arms
I became a mother
Bewitched by your freckles and your charms

You learned to walk, to read
Each day brought something new
No more my little boy
In hockey you got hurt, you cried, you grew…

I blinked my eyes, I turned around
with your 1m80 you are almost grown
Why did it go so fast?
Let these child memories last

In your struggle to be free
Sometimes we don’t get along
But I’m always on your side
I’ll always be your mom
that fills my heart with pride

In my eyes there is only one like you
I can’t wait to see what you’ll become
My pride and joy, I love you
Happy birthday to my son

My son’s 16th B-day today

Today is my son’s 16th B-day. OMG! Time goes so incredible fast when you are enjoying yourself. He was so tiny and small, 48 cm. Now he is a big lad of 1,80m!
I have tried my best, even without his dad being present. But my Maximilien grew up to be a fine young man, who knows right from wrong, who has a good sense of humor, and is always happy. He can endure a lot (with a helicopter mum AND a German granny!) and he has a big heart. HAPPY B-DAY MAX!!! I’m proud of the young man you became! I hope that your present is arriving soon 😉🎂⛳️⛳️

A special thanks to granny and grandpa. I could not have done this without you!!! Love♥️♥️♥️

Taronga zoo and Manly

Today we took the metro and the ferry to Taronga zoo. The weather was perfect, a nice 20 degrees. We took the cable car and enjoyed the amazing views from the top. We saw some koala’s, wallabees, kangaroos and meerkats. In all honesty: I have seen better and bigger zoos, but the environment on the island was special.

After that adventure, we took the ferry to Watson’s Bay and to Manly. Watson’s Bay has great houses…wauw, a bit like Cape Cod. We enjoyed a very good salmon lunch with a spectacular view on the water. Manly is a peninsula that is bound by its Sydney harbour Sydney National park and the Atlantic ocean. A bit like ‘Knokke’ in Belgium, but warmer and lots of sexy paddle surfers. A nice end of the day with the sunset above the opera on the ferrytrip to the hotel.

Tomorrow is our last day in Sydney, so we have to see Bondi beach and visit Hyde park.

Sydney bike ride and The Rocks

Today was ANZAC day. A day of remembrance of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who fought and died in the 1st World war. So we were greeted by a colorful parade when we came out of the hotel. We had a very nice conversation with a veteran who was afraid of the future and said that we should learn from the past… A wise man.

We then had a great bike ride over Harbour Bridge (very steep, so hooray!) and discovered some nice hidden gems in Sydney. By boat we came back to Darling Harbour where we enjoyed a tour in The Rocks with its colourful convict history.

Since we changed hotels, we had dinner in an excellent Chinese restaurant and walked around in Chinatown.

Tomorrow it will be 23 degrees so we will be taking a ferry to Manly beach and Taronga Zoo.

 

Sydney’s Opera House

Sydney is the oldest of all Australian cities. When you see the white sails of the Opera House and the graceful arch of Harbour Bridge, it’s hard to imagine this was once a brutal convict colony in 1788.

Today we visited one of the world’s great icons and a UNESCO site, the Sydney Opera House. Famous for its cutting-edge architecture, the building series of 1 million white tiles is perched on a platform of pink granite and was designed by Danish architect Jorn Uzon and opened in 1973. It was interesting to take a backstage tour. Unfortunately there were no concerts that we were interested in at the moment.

We then went to discover the Royal Botanic Gardens where parrots come to sit on your shoulder if you give them some birdseads….a beatiful place where families come together and have picknics in the parc.

After lunch in the Gardens, we went to see the rocks where the oldest surviving house was built in 1816.

Since we walked more than 20.000 steps today, with only 4 hours of sleep, we will have some dumplings for dinner and go to bed early.

Tomorrow will be another great day with a bike ride 😄

Cheers mates!!!

Flight from Dubai to Sydney

 

 

After some more security checks,  we could finally board our Emirates big bird, the airbus 380. An amazing plane, 500 seats, 30 crewmembers, flashy staircases, beds, showers and even a small office, but …no hottub 😉

Anyway, 6 hours journey from Ostend to Brussels, 6 hours to Dubai, 3 hours transit in Dubai, 15 hours from Dubai to Sydney. Some glasses of champagne, great food, a zillion movies and no sleep for 30 hours….but now we will take a little nap at the hotel before we discover Sydney downtown! Zzzzz…

Arrival Dubai Airport

After a relaxing flight we safely arrived at Dubai international airport. The biggest airport in the world. Everything is glamorous and definitively more shiny than in Brussels. Money is no issue here… Unreal… Since we have a 3-hour stopover, we decide to do some windowshopping😀

 

 

Departure from Brussels Airport

It was with mixed feelings that I left Brussels airport. To imagine that 2 bombs exploded here, is simply unimaginable. Brussels airport has always been a place that had that happy, exciting buzz. Families happy to go on holiday, lovers meeting again after a long time… This was ‘my’ airport where I worked, lived and loved for 13 years…
No…the feeling will never be  the same again.
But let’s be positive and get on that  plane to Dubai 🙂