WORLD TOUR 2017

With a hot weekend behind us we enjoyed daily life in Cecilie's and Nikos' house from Monday and onwards. Cecilie had been very nice to take holidays during our full stay, so she was looking very well after us all the time.  Nikos and the girls had to go to work each day.  We joined Cecilie some of the days, when she went to the school to pick Anna Maria and Zoe up at 15.05.  School started in the morning at 08.45.  And on Friday morning I had the pleasure to join in at the school's weekly ASSEMBLY , where all 300 students meet and one of the classes has to do the performance. That day it was Anna Maria's class.  A very interesting and clever performance on the stage. Anna Maria was one of the active trees in the play - and dressed like that.  It is also during this weekly Assembly that students get their yellow certificates for extra good work and nice behaviour.  Anna Maria and Zoe did not get any at this occasion. But they have received many at previous assemblies :-

We are now at our last stop on our tour around the world! This is WESTERN AUSTRALIA !  The part of Australia, which has the Indian Ocean and all its whales and sharks as its closest neighbour.   We arrived here with the Australian national carrier QANTAS from Melbourne.  A flight of "just" 4 hours 15 minutes.  A fantastic flight, by the way.  We had been promised an Airbus, but we had to live with a Boeing!  The crew and the ambience was fantastic. The only other flight we have felt the same "hyggelige" and warm happiness was some years ago with Air France from Paris to Yerevan in Armenia. This is our third visit to Perth and Western Australia. The first time was in 2011 as the start of a cruise around Australia and New Zealand. The second time was over Christmas - New Year 2014-15 to visit Cecilie and her family right after they moved out here.  And the third time is now - for 12 days. Western Australia was until a few years ago the richest part of the country

We have reached the very last day here in Lorne west of Melbourne. Lorne is the surfing capital of Australia. We have watched - not tried :-) Lots of people were practicing all the time in front of our balcony.  Lorne is a real holiday resort with lots of hotels, motels, restaurants, cafes, etc. The famous Great Ocean Road is going right through the town. It was built to commemorate Australia's enormous sacrificies during World War I.  The end of WWI will be celebrated here tomorrow, November 11, as in many other countries like Belgium, France and United Kingdom. My silence the last few days has two reasons:   1. That the internet is having a frequent and long nap in this area  :-(   2. That some food in a local restaurant in the Outback flattened me for a few days.   I am back in full swing again (almost). The internet is not.  I will try, though, to sneak out this message while the net has one of its few good moments! Tonight we will arrive in Perth - about

Last stop on our great tour around the globe!  In LORNE on the Great Ocean Road west of Melbourne. Relaxing, beautiful views on the impressive surfing beaches! In a way we feel that we have seen and done all we wanted to do during this fantastic trip!  Two relaxing days here, before we join Cecilie and her family in Perth on Friday - for 12 days!

Australia's bush land: Just arrived to our two-days stay in fantastic Tooma ! At the edge of Australia's biggest mountains south of Canberra. We are in a second-to-none Bed & Breakfast called Brigham House .  Only 4 suites.  Just met the very charming owner Jeff , who is born here and earlier worked 40 years in Sydney as an indoor architect.  He is right now assisted by an elderly American craftsman, George . He is travelling around the world doing small jobs here and there. In the northern summer he is often in Luleå in Sweden. After the stay here he will go to New Zealand for three months. As he says:  he is living nowhere and everywhere! And today they have for the first time a local market. In full sunshine and 18 degrees with fresh mountain air! It very much reminds us of the best of South Africa - such as Stellenbosch! Though only about a hundred people live in the whole area ( mostly farms ) the local inn here was more than full of people tonight. Everybody very

Canberra is definately not the most visited city in Australia. But it is the Nation's Capital. Or the " Bush Capital ", as they also call it ( and this has nothing to do with George W. Bush !).  When it was selected as capital in 1908, it had 5.000 inhabitants. Today about 400.000 people live here. And it is spread over an area of about 100 km in each direction. They claim that it has 120 "satellite cities" or suburbs.  The design of the city was won in an international competition by an American architect from Chicago before World War I.  By the way, he ran into some difficulties with the local politicians - just as Jørn Utzon did many years later with the Sydney Opera House. We have now tried to see and discover the city as much as we can during our two days here.  The Old Parliament House, which is very nice and now called " Museum of Democracy "  ( funny thought that you put democracy in museum :-)  ). The new and very impressive Parliament Hous