Round the World with One American Family
Caption: Had a fabulous trip down to Cassis to see the Mediterranean, wander around the port, and get our fix of the fantastic scene here in this picturesque fishing village. The sun was out and the light was just glorious.
6/16/01--Well, we did it! We went around the world and now we're back. It felt great to walk into our house after nearly nine months away. Melissa's friends were waiting for us at the bottom of the driveway with flashlights and left big banners over the door--the house looked great and it was good to be home! We've been digging out from under mounds of mail and wagons of weeds, but the place is coming together. It's been great to see friends and family, and the trip really was a huge success! Would we do it again? I say, in a heartbeat!! Now we'll get the pictures organized and give you some more updates on the transition period.
4/22/01--Matt's sister Stephanie and my cousin Annie arrived on Friday--it's great to see some of our families! Today we all climbed Mont St. Victoire on a seven-hour hike. Also recently got to visit the Observatoire de Haute Provence, where we attended a lecture on the life of a star, complete with photos from the Hubble Spacecraft. Also got to look at Jupiter and its four moons through the observatory telescope. Great stuff. Lots more to come--don't forget to check out the photos in the Picture Gallery and Where We've Been. And we'll be more regular in our updates and photo changes!
4/5/01--Happy Spring! Hope that the Northeast has begun to dig out of the snow and is enjoying the first shoots of spring. Here in Provence the cherries trees are in their full white blossom glory, and the wisteria has just opened, filling the air with its sweet smell. We are enjoying life in Southern France as it should be: days of wine, cheese, tennis, painting and meeting wonderful people from all over the world! But don't forget schoolwork! The kids have classes in sax, flute, math, French, and pottery. We are taking pottery, too, and Matt is taking yoga, while Vicki is working on her painting! Tout va bien. Au revoir!!
3/22/01
as i write this we are happily ensconced in the absolutely perfect ancient house we’ve rented here in the village of saignon in the provencal region of france. we’ll be here for the next two and a half months, and we are looking forward to relaxing and getting into a rhythm of classes -- for us and for the kids -- and a bit exploring and cooking.
we had a fabulous time in italy, as you can see from the web updates we’ve all just written, and it was a tough stretch -- from perth on january 6 to bali to bangkok to kenya to cairo to greece and then through italy (we all felt homesick and tired and fed up with travelling). but now we’ve arrived in provence. we all feel relief and excitement and are looking forward to this, the last leg of our journey! (believe it or not we only have one set of plane tickets left!) but i don’t want to say too much, so read on, you’ve got plenty of great stories to hear about...a bientot!
3/5/01--We are now in Rome after a wonderful two week stay in Greece. First we stayed in the ritzy suburb of Glyfada, near Athens, which was so modern and American-like after our travels in Asia and Africa. The kids were thrilled with all the stores and the chains like Haagen Dazs, Wendy's, etc. Of course we visited the incredible Acropolis. Then we spend eight days on the Pelopennian Peninsula in a beautiful seaside village of Assini, where we had been sent by our friends the Goldbecks of Woodstock. We met wonderful people and saw incredible places. Read each of our pages for some great details. Now we are totally enjoying Rome, but you'll have to wait until our next web update to hear about our exploits in Italia! Ciao for now!
2/19/01--Our six days in Cairo with my mother were just wonderful. She treated us all to a stay at the Marriott on Zamalek Island in the Nile River, which is built around a former palace. The complex is situated around gorgeous gardens, a swimming pool, a health club and lots of outdoor tables and restaurants. We visited the pyramids, of course, where we rode camels across the Sahara Desert. We saw the gold and jewels of King Tutenkhamen’s tomb, which are on display at the Egyptian Museum, and we wandered through narrow passageways of the famous Khan El-Khalili bazaar, where we bargained for inlaid boxes, carved pyramids and a blue glass hookah. What fun. Also enjoyed the delicious homemade pita bread, cooked in round ovens (nothing like the flat, dry stuff we can get at home), the feta cheese, yogurt and eggplant. It was wonderful to spend time with my mother and we really enjoyed the exotic, multi-dimentional fabric of Cairo.
Reflections on our Safari in Kenya, from Cairo 2/11/01
We had always been fascinated by Africa, and had longed to travel there, to see the landscape Hemingway described, to feel the wind blowing through the savannah, to hear the roar of the lion and the trumpet of the elephant -- and when we arrived we were not disappointed.
We travelled from Nairobi to a number of game parks and preserves: from Mount Kenya to Lake Nakuru; from Masai Mara to Lake Naivasha; from Tsavo West to Amboseli. each place was more fantastic than the next, and we were constantly amazed and awed by what Kenya had to offer. At Amboseli we saw herds of hundreds of elephants grazing in the shadow of snow-cappped Mount Kilamanjaro; they walked slowly through the savannah into the bush, seemingly oblivious to our presence -- old bulls with huge tusks, mothers with babies, some so small they refused to leave the comfort of their mothers’ sheltering bodies. At Tsavo West our hotel was built around a watering hole, and each evening over three hundred African Cape Buffalo would come to graze, to drink and to rest. At Masai Mara we drove through the savannah on brutally rough roads, made even worse by recent rainstorms, to see lions sleeping in thickets under a carpet of incredibly blue sky, hippos languishing on the banks of the Mara River, and a leopard high in the branches of an acacia tree, planning the evening’s hunt. At Lake Nakuru we came within 20 feet of a family of three rhinos, and saw a python with an impala it had just killed, preparing to swallow it whole by dragging it and positioning it just so.
While we were amazed by so many of the things we saw, it was the timeless rhythms of African life, the way the animals would move around and hunt or scavenge at dawn, sleep during the day, and repeat the process at sunset that stuck with us. We felt somehow connected to a pattern that has repeated itself for eons, and has changed little even as man has tried to impose his will on the animal kingdom -- Kenya remains wild and we feel incredibly lucky to have experienced it.
2/5/01 nairobi, kenya
what a week we have had in kenya. we started with an evening in nairobi, at the nairobi safari club, then off to the mountain lodge, where all the rooms face a watering hole, which is visited continuously by wildlife. we saw african buffalo, bush buck, water buck, hyenas, bush pigs, sykes monkeys, and many bvirds, all from the balcony of our rooms. this place was great, at the foot of mt. kenya, way out in the forest of kenya. from here we drove for many hours over rough roads to lake nakuru, which is a fenced game park, so that there is a great concentration of animals that are very easy to see, nakuru is famous for the flamingoes that line the shore, and you can't imagine how gorgeous a sight it is to see a solid pink mass, and as you get closer to the shore, realize that what you are seeing is literally thousands upon thousands of these bright pink birds! also at nakuru we saw giraffes, rhinos, a python with an impala it had just killed, rhinos -- all from the relative comfort and safety of our van. i say relative because when you are 10 feet away from a 2 ton rhino in a 1 ton van you do not feel entirely safe -- but it certainly is exhilirating. from nakuru we drove many more hours over brutal roads (there have had major rains and floods here lately, and the roads show it) out to masai mara. we visited a masai vilage, where the people have chosen to maintain a traditional lifestyle, living in dung huts, and living in close harmony with their cattle-- i say chosen because they have many tourists stopping by, and they take them through their village, teach them their ways, and charge them for it, so they are not cut off from the outside world by any means. a wild experience!! then off to the masai mara game park, which is huge and exactly what youimagine africa to be -- savannahs and plains dotted with tall acacia trees and thickets of thorn bush. here we saw many many elephants -- again from very close range, no more than 20 or 30 feet!! our photos are fantastic, but internet access here in africa is very difficult, and we are not yet able to upload any photos. we also saw lions, a leopard, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, gazelles, topi, giraffes and more. the mara is full of birds, and we've seen literally 75 different species from maribou storks to crested cranes to guinea fowl to multi-colored weavers and a hooded vulture. we have a mammal book and a bird book and we are checking them off as we sight them, and that is a lot of fun.
in the masai mara we stayed at the mara sarova camp, where we spent three days living out of a gorgeous tent -- actually one for us and one for the kids -- which was an incredible experience. it made us feel as if we were on one of the safaris of old -- travelling in grand style, but living in a tent out in the bush, with wildlife all around us. each morning and each evening all of the guests at these camps -- and there are a number of them in the park -- climb into their vans, with the pop-up roof popped up for good viewing and photo opportunities, and drive the ruted dirt roads of the mara insearch of animals -- what a wild experience.
after masai mara, we stayed at elsamere, which is joy adamson's house, which is now a guest house and lodge, and was a fantastic experience. we even got to watch born free there, which was so perfect -- and the kids had never seen itbefore. we even got a photo of melissa sitting at joy's mold manual typewriter -- the one she wrote born free on!! just a fantastic evening. and to top it off, every night hippos come up from lake naivasha, and graze on the grounds of elesa mere, so we actually peeked out fromour curtains to see the great beasts chompingand snorting nomore than five feet away from us!! our next stop is tsavo west, another game park, and we'll update you soon.we have had such an exciting adventure here in africa, we are just flying with excitement!!
1/23/01--Bangkok, Thailand. Our first day we went to visit the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddah. It was just amazing; everything is mosaic tile and so colorful and bright; even in an impending thunderstorm! Tomorrow we go to Ayuttaya, the old capital; we take a bus up and a river cruise back. today we all rode on elephants! Bangkok is fascinating; very busy and big and chaotic, but with some wonderful things to see. Last night our Thai friend Meow took us out to dinner at the seafood market. You walk through with a shopping cart and pick what you want and then tell them how you want it cooked. We had fresh water prawns the size of Maine lobsters! Also scallops, local clams, local fish and lots of veggies and noodles--delicious. More later!!
1/11/01--We are now in Bali and it is absolutely gorgeous! We are in Sanur on the beach, with views of the water and the mountains in the distance, with the island of Lembongen in view. We have seen several beautiful Balinese dances, together with Gamelon, and have visited several temples. There are temples and shrines everywhere, and the women give offerings several times a day--flowers and incense in little palm-frond baskets. The food is great and the costumes are gorgeous. We travelled through the countryside and saw people working in stepped rice paddies wearing straw hats and pulling their plows with oxen. It's quite amazing.
1/5/01
Well, as we say farewell to Australia, and all of our new friends here, we look forward to the next leg of our journey. And while we just love this fine, big country, the guidebook does refer to bali as paradise, so...
From Sydney to Kangaroo Valley, from Phillip Island to Melbourne, from Cairns to Uluru, our travels have been filled with excitement, adventure, wildlife, expolration and the great pleasure of meeting and making new friends! We’ve had such a fine time here we can’t imagine not coming back sometime soon! We wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year, and great travelling in the year to come!
12/24/00--Perth, Australia. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year!! Our travels continue to amaze us, with the wonderful people, the incredible wildlife, and the beauty of the scenery we have been enjoying here in Australia. Each of our pages has updates of our impressions and photos of the varied places we have visited since we left Sydney, from the pristine, kangaroo-covered beaches on the south coast, to the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforests of Queensland, to the Indian Ocean, where Perth and Freemantle are situated on the West Coast. The weather here is clear and sunny every day, with temperatures in the 80s. In two weeks we leave this nation-continent for Bali and a whole new chapter in our travels. Stay tuned!!
12/16/00--Had a wonderful birthday celebration for Matt, complete with champagne and a buffet dinner in the desert while watching the sun set over Uluru (Ayer's Rock). Just amazing! Also a star show, with a glorious array of Southern Hemisphere stars, including Saturn and Jupiter viewed through the telescope. Our Great Barrier Reef trip was fabulous--catamaran out to the reef for snorkelling, and a trip to the rainforest by cable car and scenic railway.
12/11/00 -- Monday finds us north of Cairns, where we plan to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, and explore the Rainforest during our five days here. Today is a slow day, catching up on schoolwork, webwork and relaxation after a whirlwind tour of Melbourne.
12/6/00-- Oh we love this country! We left sydney on a great high. For our last night in town, we went to see one of the new friends the kids have made, Lilly, perform in the Sydney Children’s Choir with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, along with a fabulous soprano, Sara McLiver, in an evening of Christmas-inspired music at the Opera House. They even had the audience sing along with a few classic christmas carols. Afterwards we went out for a bite for the kids and a glass of wine with Lilly’s parents Tony and Amanda, and we all got along famously -- the kids were enjoying themselves so much they all went back to Lilly’s for a sleepover!
Then we left town, and made our way down to Kangaroo Valley, where we had two families to look up that offer accomodations. The first had moved on, but at the Kangaroo Valley Tourist Park we found Mike and Rhonnie. They were full up, but we found a great room at the motel, and spent the weekend hanging in the Valley.
Mike and Rhonnie took us under their wing, setting us up with kayaks, drives out to the the bush to find mobs of kangaroos, even a dusk platypus hunt! There was a difference of opinion about whether any platypi were sighted, but that’s a different story.
Once again, the generosity and hospitality of our hosts was just overwhelming, and we had an incredible time with our new mates! From the Valley we drove on down to a highly recommended spot, pebbly beach, which we accessed down a rutted out dirt road 8 k, (don’t tell hertz ), found this little secluded beach, parked and were mobbed by kangaroos and colorful parrots. It was a riot! There was another family there with a big bag of bird seed and apples, and they shared with us and we were literally overrun with wildlife --it was like parrot paradise, with four and five birds alighting on the kid’s arms as they fed out of their hands! and the ‘roos. These giant, squirmy mice would come right up to us and use their short front paws and latch onto our hands and eat right out of them! Too much!
We swam, and took loads of photos and even got to touch a joey inside a mother’s pouch!! We were all beside ourself and just freaking out about how incredible this country is -- here we were just a few hours out of sydney and we were living out our wildest aussie dreams! cheers for now!
28/11/00 In the past two weeks we have been enjoying the company of our new Australian friends. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving feast at or apartment for 8 adults and four kids, and it was a blast. Special ordered a gigantic turkey of 11 kilos from our local Chinese butcher, and had stuffing, sweet potatoes, string beans, and more; very traditional and lots of fun for all.
The next weekend we went up to the Blue Mountains, two hours west of Sydney, to visit with David and Maxine and Donna and Daniel (Donna is Maxine's daughter) up at David's family house in Oberon. Their place is fantastic,and we saw kangaroos running through the fields just like we see deer back home!
David has a wine cellar that would rival most liquor stores,and to say we drank liberally would be an understatement! While there we hiked the Kanangra Walls, a fabulous primeval landscape that brought Edgar Rice Burroughs name to our lips (he wrote Tarzan),as well as Katoomba Falls. We took a sky cable car, and a sceneic railway (the steepest railway line in the world,it has pitches of 52 degrees!,and then hiked over to Wentworth Falls. The Blue Mountains are wild country, because you start at the tops of the dry, hot cliffs themselves, and hike down into the depths of a moist, cool, sub-tropical rainforest.
This afternoon we go sailing on the 35 foot Beneteau of another friend we met at Oberon! We love Sydney and will be sad to leave here on Friday --but we will get to explore more of this great country.
ttfn
mk
11/16/00- We are planning a real American Thanksgiving, with a traditional dinner on Sunday at the American Society in Sydney. Then on Thanksgiving itself we are having some of our new friends--both Americans living here and Australians--over to our apartment for another traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The ballet at the Opera House last night was wonderful. Last sunday we had a great time at the annual Kite Festival out at Bondi Beach. Even took a dip in the Pacific!
11/8/00--Still enjoying the city live, and learning and seeing more of Sydney and its surroundings every day. Bought a new zoom lens to take with us on safari and everywhere else. The girls are into some good classes, and we'll all take a ceramics class today. Finding some great local pubs and meeting some wonderful people.
sydney, 30/10/00
Sydney is a great city, and we are getting a real kick out of settling in here and discovering as much as we can about it. So far we have gotten our library card, become annual members of the Sydney Aquarium, gotten a sax and a flute for the kids, bongos for matt, and a keyboard for vicki and the girls. (all we need now is the guitar and we can hit the streets to make a little money). We have the kids signed up for music, tennis and gymnastics lessons, and we’ve been loving working out in the health club and pool in our apartment building.
We’ve done a lot of walking in our first week here, and we’ve been to the Sydney Opera House (we got tickets to the ballet for next week), the Royal Botanic Gardens, Hyde Park, the Sydney Museum of Art (where a chamber group from kelsey’s music school gave a free concert of Mozart and Dvorak), and the Sydney Aquarium. We’ve wandered all around Darling Harbour, with it’s great outdoor restaurants right on the esplanade, and Circular Quay where the ferries head out to take people from Sydney to the outer waterfront suburbs. Circular Quay is also the spot where you can see incredible views of the Opera House and the Sydney harbour Bridge.
The city is just gorgeous, and is filled with great outdoor public spaces designed on a grand scale. It seems that every time we arrive at a new destination, we are wowed yet again by the vista before us. And the public transportation is great -- we can get from our place to virtually anywhere using the subway, the monorail or the bus system. The trains are quiet and clean, the buses run on natural gas, and the monorail runs in a loop from just two blocks away over to Darling Harbour and back -- one night we rode it three times around the loop just to look around, and it was a blast.
We’ve made a couple of friends, Daniel and Donna, who live in nearby Glen Haven. he is a fine furniture builder, who works in a workshop behind his house (and a great piano player), and she is a sixth year student in naturopathy -- she finishes up this year and then does a residency. We met them at a great concert -- Joe Zawinul, one of the founders of Weather Report, and a phenomenal keyboard player who has played with Cannonball Adderly and Miles Davis. Last night we met them at a bar called the Hero of Waterloo, where Daniel played piano while the band packed up, and he was much better than they had been. Then we went out to a fantastic Chinese restaurant, the Balmain Star, where they showed us the mud crabs and barramundi fresh from the tank before they served it to us -- and the food was superb.
until the next update,
cheers, mate.
10/21/00 A Glossary of Kiwi Terms: Give way=yield Good on ya=good job or good for you Happy as Larry=happy as a clam Lemonade=Sprite No Worries=no problem Cheers, mate=see ya later Abseiling=rappelling Chips=french fries Bacon=ham Stripey bacon=bacon Loo=bathroom Ring up=make a phone call Capsicum=peppers (the vegetable) Tea=dinner Tramp=hike Track=trail
10/22/00 Now we are off to Sydney, Australia on a 3 pm flight. We'll write more from Oz! Ta Ta and Cherio!
10/14 New Zealand is an outdoor paradise. We have gone on fabulous hikes here on "tracks" that can only be reached by boat or helicopter. We've sea kayaked in Tasman Bay, just off the coast of Abel Tasman National Park. We've hiked Mount Maunganui and the hills above Picton. The scenery here is nothing short of spectacular -- aquamarine seas, golden sandy beaches, mountains soaring up to a crystal clear azure sky...every vista is more breathtaking than the last. we'll update in more detail later today...
Where We're Going: Our Itinerary
More About Our Trip:
Itinerary Details Useful Links:
Where We've Been
Photo Gallery #1
Kelsey's Page
Melissa's Page
Vicki's Page
Matt's Page
Ticket Planet
Australia.com
Family Adventure Travel
In Your Ear: CDs online
