20/10/2006 - Back in Brussels!
After a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeryyyyyyyy long flight of 24 hours pure flight time we get to brussels, completely jetlagged but at same very happy & satisfied with this great big travel we could make thanks to all of you!
Our last days in Australia were very very nice, the weather got better and we even got to swim at legendary Bondi Beach close to Sydney! Very nice beach with fine sands. The concert at the opera hoouse was also unforgettable and for sure one of the very hightlights of the trip!
Another highlight of the day: we have got Selma's bag back! Finally it appeared in Brussels only! So applause for my sweet wife as she survived the first month of our marriage with very few clothes and even then always smelling good and looking slightly different! :-)
17/10/2006 - Sydney, the big apple of Australia
Hi there! We are getting to the very final part of our honeymoon, Australia!
After a short flight of just 3 hours we arrived in Sydney on sunday afternoon. Got to the hostel and directly to Hillsong, a very famous church where Selma took me! It was a great experience, so many young people, so much power, it looked like a rock concert but then with a spiritual content!
On monday we made a very big walk through the city and saw some of the classical views like Sydney Opera, Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour and more: very nice! We also visited Wildlife Experience, a kind of zoo brandnewly opened which specializes in Australian animal species; very interesting & informing! We also managed to buy 2 tickets for a concert at ... the Sydney Opera!!! This will be tomorrow night, I'm very proud of the fact of going to a concert in one of the most famous buildings of this type in the world!
Today we visited the Blue Mountains, a mountain chain at a 100km of Sydney with spectacular views and nice walks. We also took the scenic railway, the steepest railway in the world 52 degrees!! Very funny.
So... there's only few days left now before we get home... Well, still some days left in Belgium!! We'll be in Belgium from friday afternoon until monday early morning!
Hugs and kisses
jan and selma
10/10/2006 - Wellington , capital of New Zealand
We arrived at the very southern part of the north island of new zealand: Wellington! We're staying for the first time at a youth hostel and not in a hotel, not because of lack of money but because its the most central location. Today we did something very crazy ! ! !
We went to the "Gravity Canyon" and did "the worlds most extreme flying fox ride". Hmmm seems interesting....
I thought: hmmm, w'ere in the country where they invented bungyjumping, zorbing and more crazy things so we have to try one of them! After a big climb we arrived to the top and with a very small heart we let ourselves strap into the flying harnesses... there we go, head down, overlooking a magnificent river valley with the river quietely passing 180m under us... 180 m ??????!!!! Yes indeed, we were about to go down on just a small cable into the ravine at 160km/hour, head down!!! Indeed, very scary! And then back up again at a slow speed, so that you could overlook everything well :)
But once we were gone I liked it and Selma liked it even so much she wanted to repeat the ride after ! Anyway well show you the DVD after so that you can see... it was amazing indeed!
Everything more than okay here!
Hugs and kisses
jan and selma
??/10/2006
Hello friends and family,
Just a small update on our honeymoon! In the meantime we have arrived in Rotorua, that is in the heart of New Zealand and the middle of a very volcanic active zone! It is very beautiful here, we are staying in a hotel with an exclusive view of a Geyser which erupts several times a day! It smells like rotten eggs here, that because of the sulfur escaping from the earth... It's all kindof magic! There are beautiful coloured hot pools and funny pools with boiling and jumping mud.
The weather has been very nice last days, though a bit cold at night and in the morning the sun is shining a lot and I was even burned yesterday (that is me, jan! selma not of course...).
We took a ride on one of those high speed boats in the beautiful Bay of Islands, it was very exciting and the driver was joking a lot, jumping with us on the waves and getting us even through a hole in a rock in the sea!
We're having a really wonderful time together on this honeymoon, a big THANK YOU ! ! ! ! YOU !!! for supporting us so much & attaching to the idea we had about the kilometers! We are now halfway more or less so let's see if we can make it back as well!!
Oh,one bad point> Selmas bag still didnt arrive... what a shame, Qantas Airlines!!!
A big hug and kisses,
Jan and Selma
2/10/2006
Hallo iedereen !! We zijn heel goed toegekomen in nieuw zeeland! Selma's baggage is uitgekomen (valies was nog in Londen!!) en is ondertussen onderweg van londen naar hier. We verblijven 2 nachten bij Maori-mensen en het is zeer interessant. Het heeft wel al veel geregend hier en is vrij fris, maar wel heel mooi! Morgen trekken we noordwaarts op zoek naar hopelijk beter weer. Zeer speciale stad Auckland vanwege zijn ligging op 22 uitgedoofde vulkanen. We hebben er enkele bezocht. Het land doet erg aan Engeland denken! Veel lol! Kortom alles goed hier!! Binnenkort meer !
liefs,Jan en Selma
Ola amigos,
Esta tudo bem aqui, chegamos bem a nova zelandia e apesar da chuva e um pais muito lindo. A agagem dela ja esta a caminho (estava ainda em Londres!) Mais noticias em breve... Amanha vamos para o Norte de Nova Zelandia (agora estamos em Auckland, capital e cidade especial construida sobre 22 vulcoes)... Beijos
Jan e Selma
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30/09/2006
Hello friends and family!
Today we're leaving thailand, it's been a great experience so far !! We've seen really a lot of Bangkok and we spent also a day cycling on the countryside with 2 smiley thai girls. Yyou can see pictures of that on the following link:
http://www.absoluteexplorer.com/share/dailypic.php?year=2006&month=9&day=28Still no news of Selma's luggage... hope they find them soon!!
From tomorrow on we'll be in New Zealand already!
Big kiss and thanks for all those kilometers!! You'll get more details about your part of the trip after we're back...
Jan & Selma
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27/09/2006
Goed toegekomen in Thailand ! ! !
Arrived well in Thailand!!
Chegamos ben a Tailandia!!!
Tis hier een heel vochtig tropisch klimaat, lastig voor mij... het ljikt alsof je constant in een tropische serre zit hier! Heel drukke stad maar met oases van rust in de verschillende tempels en pagodes. Met de tuktuk de stad door, een kruising van een vespa en een taxi!
De thailandezen zijn supervriendelijk!
Ons hostel valt enorm mee en het eten is lekker en heel spicy en goedkoop.
Groetjes en liefs
jan
