Pictures, pictures, pictures

Addo Elephant Park, South Africa...






Groot Constantia wine estate, Cape Town, South Africa...




Christmas in Bresahn, Germany...


My sister Heike, Marlon and I...


Maren's family...





Christmas in Kiel (at Jürgen's parents place)...





Visiting Vibi, her son Jonah and the new born baby... (Hamburg)


Visiting Anna, Mathieu and Pax... (also Hamburg)



Marlon, feeding the ducks with Grandpa... (Kiel)


Marlon and his cousin Oskar, getting ready for the new years eve party...


Marlon, Jürgen and Oskar...


Visiting Markus and Sonja... (Hamburg)


Totally exhausted in Singapore after a long journey...


The view from Claus' balcony in Singapore...


We were thrown out of this pool, because we were wearing too much... can you believe it?


In a Hindu temple in China Town, Singapore (Claus, Marlon and Jürgen)


Walking around near China Town, Singapore...







Our "spaceship", great for two people, a little bit too small for the two of us and Marlon... (at least for longer than a week! :-((( )



With Sven's family in Russell...



Camping in Kerikeri...


Taputaputa (the northern most camp ground in New Zealand)











Nap in the shade...


Cape Reinga, the northern most point of New Zealand...


The Beach you can drive your car on for 90 kilometers...


Marlon loves the "spaceship"... (camping in Uretiti)





looks a little bit like the north or baltic sea, doesn't it...


Auckland...




Jürgen and Marlon with Sven, our good friend from Hamburg, who moved to NZ...


At Nina and Andrew's place in Hamilton, Marlon is enjoying good company: Alea


Alea


Luca


Marlon

Finally better

Two weeks have passed since we set foot on New Zealand ground and exactly that time we needed to recover and truely arrive here. I did end up taking pain killers, but by now it's healed up and I feel a lot better. The shingles were followed by a bad cold, though. Juergen battled Sinusitis and Marlon had fever, again, and also a bad cold. Camping with our nice "spaceship" (photos will follow) was terribly exhausting, as well, and we were stumbling from camp ground to camp ground, hoping the nightmare would somehow dissolve by itself. To make a long story short, despite the serious (at least from our point of view) problems we had, we saw some beautiful spots and are happy that we've almost recovered by now! The northern most point of New Zealand is absolutely beautiful!!! The northern most camp ground 3 km further south east is also a dream come true. With crystal clear waters, nice waves to dive into and a great coastal walkway. The mosquitoes were nasty and poor Marlon does show quite a few bites, though. Now we're back in Auckland at Sveni's place since yesterday. Today we looked around down town and harbor. Auckland is also called the city of sails because of it's big number of sailers. The Louis Vuitton cup is also held here, I actually think it's taking place next week. We saw two of the boats they sail in the America's Cup. Two hours sailing experience on the boat cost 150 New Zealand dollars...
Tomorrow Marlon and I are off to Nina's while Juergi will stay here with Sveni for the weekend. On monday he might go on a short sailing trip with Andrew (Nina's husband).

People kept asking me what shingles are. It's also called Guertelrose in german and is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox (Windpocken). So everyone who had chickenpox as a child (or adult) can get shingles. One nerve (sometimes more) gets inflamed and blisters develop on the connected skin area. It can be horribly painful, and it can destroy parts of the nerve if not treated correctly and in time. In my case the diagnose was pretty clear at an early stage, so we were able to treat in time. It also was only a small area. Anyway it was pretty painful and I don't wish it for anybody! At least I didn't need to take any morphines or antidepressants as some patients have to.

We hope all of you are well! We are always happy to hear some news from YOU, too!!!

Christmas in Germany, a long and complicated trip to New Zealand

We enjoyed our remaining time in Cape Town a lot! Spent time with our friends Jardin (whose place we stayed at repeatedly), Leigh and little Troy, soaked up some sun and shipped 15 kg via mail to relieve our heavy load... We really hope our stuff will make it home, because we went into the post office shortly before it was to close on a Saturday, only to find out that they didn't sell the boxes we needed to put our belongings in. So we quickly got some old boxes from the store next door, but we had to cut them (they were too big) and tape them back together. Since post office clerks in South Africa are just as keen to go home in time as the german ones, the whole thing got pretty stressful, but we made it. The parcels just looked a bit unstable...
A nice afternoon on a wine estate, drinking a sip of wine in the sun preceeded our flight back home. We were warmly welcomed by our families and spent the first day drinking coffee and eating christmas cookies, then fell into our beds like rocks. It was nice to be home, again, but time went by fast.... christmas, visiting friends, meeting new babies, new years eve, and off we were, again, on the 5th of January....
It was the most horrible trip in my life (speaking only for myself, of course, but I think Juergi thinks the same). After more or less stressful packing action, we went to the airport in a good mood. Our flight to Frankfurt was one hour delayed, because of snow chaos in Frankfurt. At first we weren't worried, because we had almost 2 and a half hours time in Frankfurt to catch the connecting flight. But then it was delayed for another hour and we started to get a little nervous. Finally we sat in the plane on our way to Frankfurt. They announced that some people would not be able to catch their connecting flights that day anymore and announced those flight numbers and when the next flights would be available. Since ours wasn't mentioned, we assumed that we are gonna be able to go on. We rushed out of the plane to the transfer desk as we had been told, but we found it deserted. Some other Lufthansa official told us to go directly to the gate. We ran to the "sky train" only to find it out of order. At the next desk, they said the plane had already left and we should relax... GREAT !!! NOT!!! By 2 o'clock that night we had finally eaten something and fell into our beds at the Sheraton Hotel opposite the airport. After a short night we barely made it for breakfast till nine the next morning. Since we didn't have our luggage we were still wearing the same clothes from the day before. Fortunately they were able to get us on a plane to Singapore at noon, instead of 10 p.m. as they had first told us the night before. Happy to be on the way, again, our mood was lowered, as we found out that we had the most terrible seating. 2 middle seats for the two of us and Marlon. We were able to swap, but then the guy sitting behind Juergi was so tall that Juergi wasn't able to put back his back rest. He basically didn't sleep at all. Our friend Claus picked us up from the airport in Singapore and we would have been happy. But Marlon had a hot head and 40 degrees celcius fever. I wasn't feeling well either and by the evening we were pretty sure I had shingles on my back. This meant we had to get medication for me and I would have to stop breast feeding Marlon immediately (in a situation where he was jet lagged, sick, in a new climate and with more than ten hours on a plane in front of us). As you can imagine our mood was dropping rappidly. Besides that Claus was taking good care of us and we managed to at least go out for food two times, see China Town and cool off in the pool (where we were told that we could not swim in what we were wearing. Juergis pants were too long and clogging up the water. ???? And I was also wearing too much, because my swimming suit was in my luggage which hadn't arrived, yet.) After two days and one night in Singapore Claus took us to the airport and we sat down together to eat a last meal together and gain some energy for the long flight to New Zealand via Australia. 40 minutes before boarding I had the feeling that Marlon was getting sicker. He was very quiet and looked like he was developing some kind of a rash in his face. The thought of locking myself into a plane with him for 7 and a half hours didn't make me happy at all. I wasn't able to eat much and we decided to find the airport clinic. After listening to his lungs and a look at his tonsils we decide we could take the risk. He was also more awake and happier all of the sudden. Once on the plane we were already feeling much better. The seats were great an the couple beside us had a boy the same age as Marlon, so they could play. Marlon did not have a rash in his face any more. God knows what that was... We had decided that I would only start on medication after the flight, so I could still breast feed Marlon and the flight was quite good. The shingles pain was still bearable and we got to Brisbane in a much better mood! Quickly on to Auckland New Zealand, where Sveni picked us up. We were so happy to be there, you can't even imagine! Marlon's fever was fortunately gone, but my shingles were getting worse. Last night I breast fed him for the last time. That cost me some tears! I'm sure some of the moms reading this might know how I felt and still feel. The night was terrible! Marlon was awake from 1 till 5, screaming, playing walking around outside with Juergi and me... Then he finally fell asleep on top of me and we got up at 8:30 a.m.. Today we managed to all stay awake and I think everything is going to be better, now. My shingles are still getting more painful, but I'm taking the medication and fortunately I didn't need to touch any painkillers, yet. Sveni's mom made a delicious lunch for us at her place and tonight Sveni cooked a nice dinner for us, as well.
Marlon and Juergi are sound asleep beside me and I will go to bed now, too. Hoping that this night will be better than the last...

Almost Christmas

4 more days and we are going home for Christmas. Hard to imagine with 30°C and blue skies, but it's true.
After we left Langebaan, we went to a wonderful wedding in Yzerfontein. It was the most beautiful setting! Directly on the beach. It went on for two days and we tried to enjoy it as much as we could, taking turns when Marlon needed to sleep. Some nice days in Cape Town followed, again before we flew up the East Coast to East London and then on to Cintsa. Buccaneers backpackers is a place I know from 5 years, ago and it was as beautiful as ever! We left all water sports equipment in Cape Town, so we had great relaxing 1 1/2 weeks playing on the beach with Marlon, reading (when he was sleeping), playing volleyball, jumping into the pool, battling an ant invasion every two days, sleeping ourselves and so on..... After that we spent two days in Addo to visit the Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Safaris. Marlon freaked out when he saw all the animals! Espescially the elephants and the giraffes got his attention... We loved it, too, but it was soooo hot! So we're happy to be back in Cape Town! Now we have to try and minimize our luggage to fly back to Germany. Last night Juergi and I almost had a nervous breakdown, when we realized how much stuff we accumulated... ;-)

Time flies, still! It's already more than a week since my last post. We've been kitesurfing like crazy and met some nice people. They come and go, we're staying. 12 more days, then we will go on to Yzerfontein to a wedding for two days...

Some more Pictures

I added some more pictures to the previous two blogs.
Maren had an awesome kitesurfing day, today! Tomorrow it'll blow even more. We'll see how it goes!... Will try to keep you posted and also put in even more pictures...
Good night...

Langebaan

Since last Saturday we are in Langebaan, 2 hours west from Cape Town. It’s very quiet, but also very beautiful and we are staying in a nice guesthouse, only 2 minutes from the beach by foot. It’s a kitesurfers paradise! Espescially for beginners, since there is a huge lagoon, which is mostly protected from waves. The past two days we spent getting back into our kitesurfing, and it’s awesome!!! Last time I was flying a kite is two years, ago. So I’m thrilled! We will stay here for the whole month of November, so we are looking forward to a great time on the water....

Some pics from the past days...

Our "new home"...