Niklas: Uke 5 / Woche 5

Tusen takk for alle kommentarene, spesielt til 1B!!!
Jeg savner dere!!!
Gleder med til å komme tilbake - selv om det er en stund til...
Rart å tenke at det er Jul snart og det er sommer her.

Vielen Dank für ale kommentare, besonders an die 1B! Ich vermisse euch!!! Ich freue mich zurückzukommen, auch wenn das nocheine Weile hin ist... Komisch, dass bald Weihnachten ist, obwohl hier Sommer ist.

Silja: Cape Reinga – Waipoua Forest - Auckland

Sunset behind the dunes (Cape Reinga)

We went up to the north cape of New Zealand, Cape Reinga (which is – like the Norwegian Nordkapp – just almost the northernmost point). Here the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific, which I expected to bequite a spectacle, which it was not really...

Unfortunately the weather was rather bad and the closest we could get to a weather forecast was the lady in the tourist information in Awanui saying «This does not really feel like a long-term thing». What was even more depressing than the weather were all the logging trucks passing us. There were permanent road signs warning us of them and inevitably completely deforested hills. Since we had been told to fill up with food and fuel before we go up to the cape, we expected wilderness and instead we found sheep, cattle and farmland everywhere.

It was not all dissappointment, though:

Lisa has already mentioned the giant sand dunes in her post and they really were something! It was probably a good thing, that the sun was not heating up the sand that day and we could go barefooted. We goofed around, climbing up and runnig down the steep dunes till it became rather late and the sun was setting, turning the sky into the most beautiful colours!

Resting at a stream in jungle-like forest

We then drove south again, this time keeping to the western shore of the island.

We had seen the large Kauri trees before, but in Waipoura Forest we found a whole new dimension of these giants. Here are several trees that are around 1500 years old and the largest we saw had a trunk girth of over 16 meters!

We went on a night walk, hoping to see the nocturnal Kiwi bird. We did not, but instead we came across an owel and very large insects that made humming noises. The birds held quite a concert, too.

We went back into the forest the next day and walked for hours. We still made it back to Auckland the same day, with the kids asking «Are we at Caitlin's soon?!» every five minutes. After a cheerful reunion we had a real feast together and watched the movie «BOY» afterwards. (Great film about a Maori boy in the early eighties).

Now we will check out the city center of Auckland.

Niklas: Uke 4 / Woche 4

Vi har vært i et akvarium (Silja: Aquarium of the Pacific in L.A.). Der så vi store og små haier og vi så Nemo og Dori! Neste dag tok vi flyet helt til New Zealand.

Her er det veldig flott landskap, med store sandstrender og palmer og apehaletrær (Silja:Vet ikke hva treet egentlig heter, men det som faller ned kalles for «monkey tales») og stooore, gamle kauritrær.

Wir waren in einem Aquarium (Silja: in L.A.). Dort sahen wir grosse und kleine Haie und Nemo und Dori!
Amnächsten Tag flogen wir nach Neuseeland. Hier ist die Landschaft toll, mit grossen Sandstränden, Palmen und riesigen Kauribäumen.

Lisa i New Zealand

Her i New Zealand er det veldig fint. Vi her besøkt en jente, som heter Caitlin på samme alder som meg. Nå har jeg og Caitlin blitt bestevenner. Når vi skulle dra fra henne, begynte hun a gråte i bilen, men vi skal sees om en uke. Da får jeg kanskje være med på skolen. Etterpå kjørte videre nordover og der var det kjempestore sandduner. Først måtte vi gå over en elv og så måtte vi klatre veldig, veldig høyt opp. Så gikk vi litt til vi måtte klatre enda mer. Det var slitsomt!

Hier in Neuseeland ist es klasse. Wir besuchten ein Mädchen, das Caitlin heisst und genauso alt ist wie ich. Nun sind wir beste Freunde. Als wir weiterfahren wollten, begann sie im Auto zu weinen, aber wir werden uns in einer Woche wiedersehen. Da kann ich vielleicht mit in die Schule gehen. Danach fuhren wir weiter nach Norden zu riesigen Sanddünen. Uerst mussten wir einen Fluss überqueren und dann ganz steil hochklettern. Dann sind wir ein bisschen gegangen, ehe wir wieder klettern mussten. Das war anstrengend!

Silja: Aukland – Whangarei – Doubtless Bay

We have only been here a couple of days and already I do not know where to start...

  As I mentioned in the previous post: We had such a wonderful time with Anette, Roy and Caitlin and were far too busy to write much. It was great to have such good guides the first few days that patiently answered all our questions. 

They took us to two beaches that were under an hour's drive away. The beach in Miruai was on the west coast, where we were met by strong winds and a huge swell, which makes it a popular place among surfers. It is also popular among ganets (Deutsch: Tölpel) that nested there in great numbers and we were able to get amazingly close via steps and balconies that were built into the cliff ( - and unfortunately excluded Anette in the wheel chair from the experience).

The next day, when the kids were done feeding the cats, fish and chickens (and even collected their own egg each!), we all went to Wenderholm Regional Park, which was on the east coast and had a completely different character. It was rather windy here, too, but not so much at the beach and the water was quiet. Here they could swim in the water and build sand castles until it was time to say good bye. Both Caitlin and Lisa were devastated and crying because they had become such good friends.

For a reasonable $10 we stayed the night at the park, from where we went on several walks through dense, lush forest full of unfamiliar plants and sounds. We spotted tui birds, wood pigeons, a very colorful parrot…

Then we went on to Whangarei, a city with a lively harbor. Here we found a huge playground and  interesting shops and galleries for souvenir-hunting. So we ended up with such originality-lacking items as 3 jumping kiwi-bird toys and a fridge magnet, a ring made with paua ( abalone shell or marine opal)) and a t-shirt.

We left the city for a couple of hours to visit the A H Reed Kauri Park, where a canopy walkway leads you through an amazing forest of huge and ancient kauri trees, fern trees and palm trees, again accompanied by the sounds of exotic-sounding birds. We then carried on to the Abbey caves and while I stayed with sleeping Lea, Axel and the other two took their head lamps and explored the limestone caves. When they came back they eagerly talked about glow worms, an eel and more.

From Whangarei it was only a short drive to the Tutukaka Coast, where the perfect beach at Matapouri made it impossible to carry on. Instead we collected shells, hunted crabs and just lay in the warm sand.

When we finally drove on, we passed several other great beaches but nevertheless kept driving until we got to Doubtless Bay. Here we parked right by the sea, enjoying the sound of the waves and a glass of New Zealand red wine.

Silja: Auckland

Even though the flight to New Zealand took 12.5 hours, there was only a 3 hour time difference and we did not feel too bad. After  picking up the RV, shopping and driving out to Ranui, we had a good night's sleep and were fit to meet the world and our friends, whom we had not since 2001! Lisa and Caitlin, who are the same age but have never met before connected immediately. Lisa, who so far claimed to not speak English, suddenly does rather well. They are so inseperable that they all spent the night in the RV together.
To be continued...

Travelling in the U.S.A. with celiac disease

Travelling in the U.S.A. with celiac disease

I guess it is due to the mode of travel that we chose that it all went so well. The RV had a kitchen with a fridge-freezer and even a microwave. We went to restaurants at first but non of the children liked that very much, so even the two that could choose from the whole menu prefered to eat «at home». Had we been restrained to restaurants we would have had a hard time, since it is all about burgers, pizza and pancakes. The same chains with the same type of food are everywhere and (unlike me) Lisa was not happy with having to choose from the salad-menu. Even though Lisa cannot have soy-sauce, we mostly chose Asian restaurants, where they fixed rice with vegetables and meat for her. We had a hard time explaining the problem, though, either because they had not heard of «gluten» or simply did not speak English well. At Panda Express they kept informing us about the sodium content of their meals. At a fancy restaurant we had absolutely no problem ordering especially, but that price range was not a daily option.

In supermarkets we found that the product-range varied even within one chain. We were at a Walmart that did not even have apples and very little fresh produce in general – actually nothing they had was fresh (– but  the candy-section lacked nothing).  At another Walmart it was a whole different story! Albertsons had the best selection of gluten free foods such as bread, waffles, cookies and pasta. They had it all in one place, whereas other supermarkets had the gluten free products where the regular products of the same kind were.

The labeling system is inhomogenous, so even though some foods were labeled with symbols or had allergy information, not much time was saved compared to home.

Silja: The Aquarium of the Pacific in L.A.

Golden Shores RV Resort

Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach

After a quick swim in the pool of the overpriced RV-Resort in Newport Beach we transitioned further north to Long Beach.
Even though that was a relatively short drive, the kids behaved as if we had confined them to their car seats for hours, running around and doing yoga when we let them out of the RV at Golden Shore RV Resort. What a great place! It is right by the sea and at the same time so close to the center. The skyskrapers are shielding us from the noise of the city and we could walk along the water front to the Aquarium of the Pacific that John (whom we had met at Joshua Tree Ntl. Park) had recommended. Internet-reviews were not exactly raving and I do not know why not?! It was huge and had such varied exhibitions that we stayed till they closed at 6pm. We are definitely ending our stay in the U.S.A. on a high note!

However, we are looking forward to New Zealand and are very excited to be leaving for Aukland tomorrow!

Silja: Joshua Tree Natl. Park

On our way to Joshua Tree Ntl Park

Joshua Tree Natl. Park

This is the National Park we knew the least about (even thought it is featured on a U2-album), so we did not really know what to expect, when we drove in at the south end of this huge park. The road was leading up into the mountains and as we climbed, the vegetation got more and more varied and most of the plants were unknown to us. They were all dry bushes or cactus and yucca variants, some blooming in beautiful colors like pink and yellow. We had already driven for miles when we finally arrived at the visitor's center Cotton Wood. There we learned that the nearby campground was closed and that we had to drive even further into the park to find a place to stay. It was all worth it though. During that drive we crossed a point where the Mojave Desert meets the Colorado Desert, which was visible by one certain kind of Cactus ( Cholla) that was suddenly everywhere! A mile later it disappeared again and big granite boulders in all shapes rose from the ground. We found a beautiful campground (White Tank) among those rocks. The kids were thrilled! A huge playground full of climbing and hiding possibilities! It was only when Niklas fell and hurt his knee that the fun was over for him and  the three of them were playing «at the doctor's» for the rest of the evening.

The beach in Oceanside near L.A.

Great campsite right on the Pacific Ocean

The next morning after breakfast the kids asked to be prepped with English phrases like «Come and play» and then went over to our neighbor John and his two kids, who were the same age as Lea and Niklas. Five minutes later the boys had a game of chess going, which did not require much English skills. Lea and the girl spoke a lot with each other and held hands on our little hike that we took all together. Lisa seemed rather happy in the role of the «big sister» helping the little girls. The boys found their own «trail» climbing over the rocks, taking turns leading the way. We all found it hard to say «Good Bye» around noon, when we drove on to «Skull Rock Trail» and «The Hidden Valley».

Here the Joshua Trees were everywhere and so were the climbers. We loved the atmosphere, but we had to leave because we were running out of propane. It was so hard to find a place that could fill our tank that we ended up too far away to go back.

Therefor we drove on towards L.A. and gave the kids a few days of beach-holiday that they were wishing for. We had one day of glorious weather but now the dark clouds and chilly air do not quite give us that summer feeling and the beach is not really an attractive place to be...

Niklas: uke 3 / Woche 3

Vi var i Grand Canyon. Der lå det snø og det var kaldt. I Joshua Tree National Park klatret vi på store stein. Vi kjørte til en campingplass og vi badet i havet.

Wir waren im Garnd Canyon. Da lag Schnee und es war kalt. Im Joshua Tree National Park kletterten war auf grosse Steine. Wir fuhren zu einem Campingplatz und badeten im Meer.

Lisa: I snøen / Im Schnee

Her i Arizona er det snø. Vi gikk til et utsiktspunkt for å se litt på Grand Canyon. Etterpå skulle vi gå tilbake, men Pappa og jeg gikk en tur til. De andre var bare sultne de. Det var så fint der vi gikk og det var mange istapper på trærne. Jeg spiste en og en om gangen. De var veldig gode. Så fant Pappa en veldig stor istapp, som jeg trodde jeg skulle få, men så spiste han den selv! Jeg savner vennene mine veldig og syns det er veldig fint at dere ser inn i bloggen! 

Hier in Arizona liegt Schnee. Wir gingen zu einem Aussichtspunkt, um in den Grand Canyon zu gucken. Anschliessend sollten wir eigentlich zurück gehen, doch Papa und ich gingen alleine noch ein bisschen weiter. Es war wunderschön da und an den Bäumen hingen viele Eiszapfen. Ich ass einen nach dem anderen. Die waren echt gut. Als Papa einen sehr grossen fand, dachte ich, ich würde den auch kriegen, aber den ass er selber! 

Ich vermisse meine Freunde sehr und finde es toll, dass ihr in den Blog seht!

Silja: The Grand Canyon

The past few days seem to have been spent driving – and a lot of that driving was through snow...

We had known for days that a snowstorm was coming, so we planned ahead and make sure to spend the nights as sheltered and low as we could. Unfortunately, visiting a slot canyon makes no sense and is probably not even possible after all this rain and snow, so we decided to cut the fantastic Antelope Canyon in Page from the itinerary. We were just about to cut the Grand Canyon from the list as well, when we learned that roads into Flagstaff were closed after a foot (!) of snow and there was really nowhere to go from Cameron, which is surrounded by the huge Colorado Plateau. We decided to spend the night to see what morning will bring.

We seemed to be the only «white people» around. We were in Navajo Nation and everyone was Native American. However, that fact was hardly reflected or acknowledged in historical accounts. Natives were merely mentioned as ancient history and then Mormon settlers came and the native people never get mentioned from that point forward, neither is any conflict of interests…

  The atmosphere was rather different here. People seemed to be standing around a lot. Service at the post office and the supermarket was slow, which did not feel relaxed but rather depressed. I could not help but frustratedly ask the lady at the visitor's center, who could not answer any of our questions concerning the weather forecast or road conditions, what kind of visitor's center this was and felt bad when she answered that it was a visitor's center for Cameron as a community of native people. Even though we were such irritable tourists, she finally agreed to let us call a line for a road condition report. The man on the other end said he was not a weather man but roads should clear up the next day.

Luckily he was right and we woke up to a clear sky and sunshine! After us girls had had a yoga session at sunrise in the desert plain (and breakfast!) we were heading for the Grand Canyon.

They had cleared the road and it was no problem to drive. The cedars were heavy with snow which was twinkling in the sun and it was so beautiful that we stopped complaining about this NOT being part of our plan at all. Together with surprisingly many other tourists we threw snowballs into the canyon and took pictures of white snow on red sandstone and green agaves covered in ice crystals against blue skies.

On the way out of the national park we stopped in Tusayan to see an IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon. Even more entertaining than the movie was to watch 3-year-old Lea's face, when staring at the huge screen. After that we drove south until there was no more snow on the ground (which took a while...) Now, a day later, we even made it to a resort with an open pool and the kids can hardly wait till tomorrow morning!

Niklas: uke 2/ Woche 2

Ferien er veldig kjedelig akkurat nå. Mamma og Papa kjører bare rundt, stopper og tar bilder. Vi går opp på røde fjell. Vi så struts, ekorn, rådyr og hjort. Det er kalt og jeg hadde heller vært på en plass hele tida ved et varmt basseng.

Der Urlaub ist grade sehr langweilig, weil Mama und Papa nur rumfahren und stoppen und Fotos machen. Wir wandern auf Berge, die rot aussehen. Wir haben Strausse gesehen und Streifenhörnchen, Eichhörnchen, Rehe und Hirsche. Es ist sehr kalt und ich wäre jetzt lieber an einem Ort an einem warmen Pool sein.

Silja: Capital Reef Ntl. Park & Arches Ntl. Park

Hickman Bridge

  Even though snow was predicted for the weekend, we continued on to Capital Reef. Unlike Bryce, where you are on top looking down, we drove through a beautiful, narrowing valley looking up to colourful cliff formations. From winter we had returned to fall and the sun was still strong enough to heat up the sandstone that reflected the warmth well into the night. The yellow leaves of the trees were a fantastic contrast to the red rocks.

We hiked up the cliffs for a mile to look at «Hickman Bridge», a huge red sandstone arch, surrounded by yellow, white and red sandstone that errosion had cut into, leaving cracks, fissures, holes and tunnels everywhere. The kids climbed into those holes and larger cracks until they were covered in red and yellow dust.The next day we hiked into the «Grand Wash», a currently dry riverbed running between sheer, white walls of sandstone into which the flashfloods had cut. Since the sun had not yet reached this narrow canyon so early in the day, it was still rather cold, but when climbed into cavelike holes, the air was so much warmer that the kids would not get out again. Lea would point at holes in the wall, saying «This is my fridge and here is where I...» They are all quickly willing to settle and live as Indians, but when the white RV comes into sight again they are still glad.

We spent a windy day driving north-east to Arches National Park, where we arrived late in the afternoon and since rain (or snow) is predicted for tomorrow, it was a race against the setting sun! The kids thought it was fun to run up the trail to the viewpoint for Delicate Arch even though we did not quite make it in time to see it in sunlight. On the way back we could see big, grey clouds coming towards us and Niklas complained that this holiday of driving and taking pictures did not really work for him. He would much rather go to a beach everyday. He does enjoy mountains but they had to be proper mountains with strenuous climbs involved...

He had more action coming his way: At night the wind picked up greatly and our 6-ton- RV was swaying in the gusts of wind. Then it started to rain hard and long. Luckily it cleared up enough for us to hike through "Devils Garden" in the afternoon and that was the difficult, exciting terrain that Niklas had been hoping for, but he was too cold to enjoy it much...

Lisa: Den vilde westen / Der wilde Westen

 Vi var på en restaurant hvor man kunne stryke mange forskjelige dyr. Der tok vi dette bilde.
På Halloween gikk vi rundt i mørket og sa "trick or treat". Vi fikk veldig masse godteri, men mest fikk vi av Pappa. Når vi kjørte videre, datt min skål ned på gulvet og godteriet forsvant i an sprekk. Da ble jeg veldig trist fordi vi ikke fikk tak i det og Mamma og Pappa ble sinte.

Jeg lærte meg å svømme i et baseng på en campingplass.
 Vi gikk også i fjellet til stien endte og man måtte gå i vannet. Pappa gikk videre alene, mens jeg og lillebroren kranglet veldig og jeg bestemte meg for å bo i naturen, fordi jeg var så sint. Jeg forsvant i en hule og da ble Mamma og Pappa sinte på meg. Vi så også mange ekorn og to hjorter. Vi kom veldig nære dem og den ene så på oss som om han sa :"Tok dere bilde nå? Kan jeg gå videre?"
Jeg tok fine bilder fra Bryce Canyon.

Wir waren in einem Restaurant, wo man verschiedene Tiere streicheln durften. Dort entstand das Bild.
An Halloween gingen wir im Dunkeln herum und sagten "trick or treat". Wir bekamen massenweise Süssigkeiten, aber am meisten bekamen wir von Papa. Als wir weiterfuhren, fiel meine Schale auf den Boden und die Süssigkeiten verschwanden in einem Spalt. Ich wurde traurig und Mama und Papa wurden böse. 
Im Pool von einem Campingplatz lernte ich schwimmen. 
Wir wanderten auch in den Bergen, bis der Weg zu Ende war und man im Wasser weiterlaufen musste. Pappa ging alleine weiter und ich stritt mit meinem kleinen Bruder, so dass ich beschloss in der Natur zu wohnen, weil ich so sauer war. Ich verschwand in einer Höhle und da wurden Mama und Papa sauer auf mich. Wir haben auch viele Eichhörnchen und zwei Hirsche gesehen. Wir kamen ganz nah dran und der eine sah uns an, als ob er sagte:" Habt ihr endlich das Foto gemacht? Kann ich jetzt weitergehen?"
Ich habe schöne Fotos vom Bryce Canyon gemacht.

Silja: Bryce Canyon

One last trail to an outlook before we leave Zion Ntl Park.

 We went through 3 seasons the past three days. It had felt like summer, when the kids had used the resort's outdoor pool before we entered Zion Canyon, where the leaves just about had started to turn yellow and red. When we left Zion Ntl. Park winds started to pick up.
We passed a buffalo-ranch and in the background of those video-shots you can hear Lea say "It's so cold, mum!" We stayed at the restaurant to taste buffalo meat, which turned out to be rather dry...

At night the temperatures dropped below zero. And when we entered Bryce Canyon, there was snow on the ground! It disappeared during the day, so the pictures don't show it, but we are not wearing T-shirts any more! The highest point in Bryce is about 3000m above sea level. The kids, who at first had been excited about the snow, refused to get out of the car each time we stopped at a view point: "No, it is so cold out there!"
To get them warm I chased them up to one of the "balconies" from which one had amazing views over intricately shaped pinnacles of sandstone and we all got so out of breath because of the thin air.
The weather forecast said  -9 Celsius for tonight, so we drove to lower altitude. (Even though the place is called Tropic, it is not! By 22:00 the temperature was already down to -3 Celsius.)
From here we will continue on the Capital Reef Ntl. Park hoping that temperatures do not drop further. Here they are expecting a snowstorm by Friday...

A masterpiece taken by Axel from sunset point at sunset

Silja: Zion Canyon

We arrived in breathtaking Zion Canyon yesterday. I was going to let the pictures speak for themselves, because there is just not time to describe it all, but the net is so slow that I have to give up!

Ostrich on a farm we passed on the way.

Picnic by the river in Zion Canyon