Franc-ly Swiss

Our passage into to Switzerland was aided by a professional table tennis player from Poland who couldn't speak English but happened to have a couple of spare seats in his car. Unfortunately he dropped us off on the side of the road somewhere in Switzerland that we are yet to identify and left us to fend for ourselves.

We had our first couch surfing experience in Switzerland. Couch surfing is an internet based forum where peole offer their spare couch to travellers for the night (www.couchsurfing.com). The idea is that you then offer your couch to others when able. Our first night in Zurich we stayed with a girl called Alma who lived in Winterthur. She looked after us incredibly well not only making us dinner and breakfast but also preparing a snack for us on our onward train journey. We would definitely recommend couchsurfing to others who are planning on travelling as a fantastic way to meet local people and get insider information as well as saving money! Incredibly we unexpectedly stumbled upon our next couch surfing host from Liechtenstein while we were still in Switzerland! We were all staying in the same hostel and he recognised Renee's photo when we were both cooking in the communal kitchen.

From Zurich we travelled to Notwill, a small town set on a magnificent lake, that is home to the worlds best spinal cord injury unit. We were given a personalised tour of the facility for an entire morning by the head of physiotherapy department and her assistant. Most impressive were the gait devices (mechanical assisted walking on a treadmill) worth over $250,000 , the swimming pool that could have its depth adjusted, and the hippotherapy facilities (unfortunately all the hippos were out that day!) It definitely made Shenton Park look very basic.

The scenery around the unit was stunningly majestic. We perched ourselves on the end of a jetty over the lake and ate our picnic in total isolation. The jetty then became the site of stage one of Tim's beautician / barber experience, (beard trim), performed by Renee. Stage two (the haircut) commenced on the balcony of our hostel!


Site of Tim's much needed haircut - it may not be the best one he's ever had, but it's definitely the most scenic

From Notwil we travelled to Lucerne, which is a medievel old town with ancient rampart walls and towers set on a gorgeous lake, surrounded by snow capped mountains. It even comes complete with medievil markets on the weekends run by a group of people who like getting dressed up in period clothing and selling axes! We were very impressed with the beauty of the town, it being the first place to rival our favourite country (Laos) in scenery - however when it comes to value for money Switzerland isn't even in the competition!!



Lucerne's postcard pretty scenery with a pin up boy in front (note the stunning new haircut!)


Apparently the most well known monument of Lucerne, Kapellebrucke or Chapel Bridge dating from the 1300's ... I'd never seen it before (but have been told I live in a cultural black hole!)


It's also the most photographed monument... so we thought we should include two pictures


On the other side of the lake is the dying lion monument, carved beautifully into the side of the hill. It is probably the most impressive sculpture we have seen so far - with so much expression and such a difficult place to work (not to mention that you only get one attempt. It's not as if you can easily get another piece of mountain to replace a mistake.)



Dying Lion Monument (in memory of Swiss mercinaries) - For scale purposes, the Lion is approx 2m high and 6m long!


Near the Lion Monument is the Gletschergarten or Glacier Garden. This was found some years ago by a Swiss fellow who was planning to build a wine cellar. In the process of excavation he discovered glacier tracks in the ground into which he was digging. The wine cellar idea was quickly abandoned and instead the glacier garden was uncovered. Most incredible were the giant glacial potholes created when the movement of the glacier over the ground trapped a "marble" or rock and spiralled it down into the earth. These apparently provide proof that this area of Switzerland was once a prehistoric subtropical palm beach.



Giant glacial pothole in the glacier garden


A highlight of Switzerland was a day trip to the town of Engelburg. Even the train ride up to the town was an incredible experience, though this paled in comparison to the triple cable car ride needed to reach the peak of Mt Titlis at just over 3000m. Despite Tim having jokingly made many comments about the name and it's reference to female anatomy, it was confirmed for us that the mountain was actually named due to it's supposed similarity to a woman's breasts!! At the top we were able to walk/stumble/slide out onto the glacier although we only tolerated about ten minutes at a time as it was freezing cold. We also explored a glacial cave which is a constant -3 degrees all year and has been carved out 25m below the glacier.

The cows in this part of the world must go stark raving mad! There is the constant sound of cow bells ringing and each of the beasts has one strung around their neck, even if they are enclosed in a paddock. Every time the poor creature moves it's head the bell sounds. It's a pleasant sound initially, but 24hours a day right next to your ear would be a bit much to take!



The very picturesque town of Engelberg


Aweseome snow drifts being lifted off the peaks of Mt Titlus above Engelburg


Our cable car breaking out of the clouds as we descend Mt Titlus
(Evidence, Tim says, that he no longer has his head in the clouds)


We also visited St Gallens on our way out to Liechtenstein (having been unsuccessful in trying to meet up with my Swiss friend Veronique who I met in Montreal four years ago). The little town had it's origins in 612AD with an Irish monk called Gallen, a bear and a bush. When the itinerant monk fell into a bush he interpreted it as a sign from God and built a hermitage there (and legend would have you believe he achieved this with the help of a passing bear??)

The town had a gorgous, cobbled, pedestrian only old town that lacks only one thing - Fondu! We went on a great search for this famous traditional meal only to find a solitary fondu restaurant, that was inconveniently open only in winter, amongst an abundance of kebab shops.



In Lucerne we found a mirror maze which occupied the two of us for hours (as you can see from the photos at the bottom of the blog)




River dance!!




Too much swiss chocolate for Renee!


Eye see you! ....urgggg!


Renee and her friends about to bob for apples.

Greece Lightening

Getting off the ferry upon arrival at a Greek Island was like going back in history to our time in Asia... in just the same way we were met by hoardes of local touts who mobbed us in an attempt to secure tenants for their various forms of holiday accomodation. Amusingly, they all bargained the price down amongst themselves so that we didn´t have to do any negotiation but instead just wait for them to finish arguing amongst themselves. It was about a month before peak season... and the prices were about 1/3 what they would have been in just another few weeks!

As you imagine, just about everything in the Greek Islands that can be painted is blue and white. Apparently it is law to paint your buildings white, while the colour of the doors and windows is left to your own discretion. We personally think that blue paint is heavily subsidised!! On Mykonos we found it hard to tell one building from another - the shops, houses, offices etc all looked virtually identical. Our enthusiastic land lady on Naxos assured us that we couldn´t possibly get lost getting back to our apartment in the heart of the old town... her definition of lost and ours must differ significantly as we spent an extended period of time wandering the labyrinthe of cobblestoned streets searching for our blue and white abode amongst the thousands of others.




Santorini. A volcano island, of awesome views and tiring walks!

A hot model on the top of a hot rock. The middle core of the volcano. Last eruption in 1950, but small tremors are aparently not uncommon.

Typical greek island. Brilliant blue water, and a white church on a precipice. (The circular rim of the volcano can be seen when you join the two land masses in the background.)


The weather was a bit too cool for us to get our gear off and hit the water... but it surely didn´t stop plenty of overweight, pasty white European tourists from getting there´s completely off!! Due to this unattractive beach scenery we avoided hanging out at the waterside and instead spent our time exploring the islands on scooter.

* Mykonos was rather ugly... the coastline was beautiful but the island itself was barren and littered with rocks and churches - both amazingly numerous!!. Private chapels (of course blue and white) are present in many backyards and have been built on almost every high rock peak on the island.

* Naxos was much more intersting, still with beautiful beaches and an abundance of churches... but it also has a varied landscape and actually had some hills and trees. Tim was impressed with the many winding roads that the island for hair raising exploration trips by motorbike.

* The volcanic island of Santorini was absolutly stunning. The island is edged by cliffs that form the rim of the volcano with the core being a separate island in the middle of the ring. The drive up the cliff from the port at the bottom was absolutely magical!



A magnificent sunset over the outer rim of the volcano island.
This was taken at the same time as a wedding was taking place next door. Very nice back drop!


What Greece is famous for. The water is amazing! Photos just dont do it justice. (W.A still kicks butt in terms of sand though!)


Ancient Greece mixed with modern Greece on the beautiful island of Naxos.
A sea of stark white with a touch of blue to match the actual sea of brilliant blue with the ocassional touch of white!


He-man... a legend in his own lunchbox. Able to lift heavy things with ease after extensive training with his backpack.


A humanoid, left abandoned in a quarry. Also a big marble statue that wasnt finished!


Motorbike heaven! Twisty roads up and down the mountains! Tim loved it, Renee got freaked a few times and the rented scooter got returned with a few ground down foot pegs! Ooops!
The cut out hill in the background is a marble quarry. Very cool to see the huge blocks being cut out and moved.


A traditional windmill; minus the sails. Few have them any more. The sails are triangular and rolled up on each "stick blade" you can see. (A neat pulley system opens and closes them.)


Renee wanted this picture... To remember what colours the buildings were, I think.


One of the many many churches. Its not uncommon for people to have one that holds just a few people ... in their back yard! Strangely they are all blue and white. Not to mention being built on the most difficult places to get to. (usually the peak of a hill or hanging off a cliff over the water!)


With bells on it. (And they ring constantly all over the country.)


Strange on two counts. (not including Tim). Why they decided on such a small door we dont know. Its a full(ish) size room. Secondally, the door is red. What!! Not Blue???!!



After some "dodgy" ferry travel from the islands we found ourselves in Athens with only one day to explore the ancient Acropolis. Probably more interesting than the famous ruins was the opportunity to witness a Eurovision final! The whole of Greece had gone Eurovision crazy as they were the host nation for 2006 after having won the year before. We watched the entire competition in the courtyard of our hostel with assorted Europeans and bemused others. It was quite an experience. Being first time eurovision viewers we required a lot of explanation from our European friends... but it became obvious that even though the best act from each country was competing in the final, quality was not a word that could be applied to the performances. It was absolutley atrocious!! For example, Germany did a Country & Western song Texan theme complete with neon cacti. In the end, Finland won with a heavy metal song called "Hard Rock Hallelujah" featuring all the band members disguised as monsters. Definitely an evening that won´t quickly be forgotten.



Here we are at the Acropolis now! :)

Travelling `round Turkey

We were a bit reluctant flying into Istanbul due to the recent bombing, not to mention that our friend Kristy spent $100 on a taxi just getting from the airport to the hotel. Fortunately, we caught public transport and it only cost us $4. In general, prices were significantly higher than during the trip Renee made to Turkey 4 years ago (following Turkey's economic crash and tourism crisis post terrorist bombings). Recollection of Turkey having awesome food must be somewhat distorted as the food (for vegetarians) this trip was absolutley terrible in most places.

Here we met up with Renees long-time friend Kristy who was travelling the area between London hops, as Aussies seem to be doing so much over here!! After spending a couple of days in Istanbul visiting the main sites such as Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque (and miraculously avoiding being dragged into even one carpet shop!!) we travelled by yet another overnight bus to Goreme (Cappadocia) in central Turkey.




This has already been touched on in our previous post, but hot air ballooning was only one of our Goreme activities. The view was much more spectacular from the air, but a ground tour of the region was also good. Clambering through the Underground City was interesting. (Built by early Christians who needed to hide from who ever was invading at the time! ...Such a turbulent/dynamic history.) We clammered through similar cave houses and churches carved in the walls of the Ihlara Valley - which was very picturesque with its little river running through the middle.


Renee and Kristy at the end of the Ihlara Valley.


What are you thinking??... naughty girl!


Renee, Kristy and Tim outside the rock monastary.


Renee, snuggled up in our "cave dorm"!


The engagement was obviously a highlight especially combined with the Balloon ride but I'm sure you've already read that bit! ;o)





Next stop was a little beach on the mid-south called Olympos. Apart from its beach with ancient ruins scattered around it, at night we explored an interesting volcanic formation called the Chimera. Flamable gasses escaping from the volcanic mountain side in a number of spots are alight, making very interesting effects.





Olympos is famous for its "Tree houses", which to us looked like badly constructed cubby houses. They are only a tourist thing... (and budget at that), but considering we bought tickets for a 4-day boat cruise, (and it was low season) we were given a free night in a much more "luxurious" bungalow that we took advantage of, rather than freezing for night on purely experience value.





From here, we decided on a mediteranian cruise. No, not the $$$$ multi-storey all inclusive trip thingos... this is a small twin mast "sailing" yacht called a Gulet. The Gulet cruise was to replace the planned Felucca sail on Egypts Nile.
In similar form to the Felucca, I say "sailing", as despite the fact that there was enough wind, they decided only to use the sail once in the four day cruise. That was for about 10 minutes.... I think just to prove to us it had sails! It was only the spinnaker on a short downwind leg. Their excuse for not using sails was "you have to zig-zag too much!". Sheesh. So a twin mast motorboat ride was enjoyed instead. It was very relaxing and we saw some magnificent bays, beaches and waters of turkeys southern coast.



(Renee forgot to check if she had put her pants on!!)


Our boat anchored in one of the magical blue bays.


Butterfly Valley. (Which has become a "back to nature" hippie commune, featuring naked chicks posessing only armpit hair and ipods!!)


The lovely view out of our rooms port hole! (Lifes tough when you have to endure this each morning huh??)


Once landed, we moved further round the southwest coast to a lakeside village called Koygez. Very peaceful and had a great home-made Icecream place! As we were still adjusting to getting our "land legs" back, we opted for a small boat day-trip across the lake to Turtle beach. Didnt see any turtles here, but we did see lots on the way back, when we stopped at the hot springs and mud-baths! So thats how they live for so long!



Here we are at Pizmo beach, and all the clams that we can eat...., oh no, its Turtle beach. With a distinct lack of turtles.... and Tourists according to the number of umbrellas set up!


Next stop was of Biblical proportions! The ancient city of Ephesus. (as referred to in the book of Ephesians) They were as cool as Renee hyped them up to be! Preserved (and restored) to the point where it seemed almost as if you could see the people still walking down the streets and going about their everyday business.... as it was a couple of thousand years ago!


Tim going about his every day business as they did in Ephesus! Public dunnies, all seated in a circle, with musicians playing pleasant melodies to cover up any less pleasant noises! (plus the rich had their servants warm up the marble seat for them before they used it!)

The (partially reconstructed) ancient library, second only in size to the one at Alexandria.


A reconstruction of one of the ancient statues that lined the streets.


Before heading across to Greece, we decided that I (Tim) had to see Gallipoli and the ANZAC sites while we were here. Very glad that we made the trip, despite it being two consecutive overnight bus trips!

The stories of war are always hard to imagine, but to visit the actual terrain the soldiers had to endure made it seem more real and added an extra sense of awe and sympathy for the young men (boys, really) who were unfortunately there. To see the cliffs and gullies that had to be climbed, while carrying heavy backpacks, guns and ammunition, all whilst being wet, and not least of all, being shot at! The trenches that were later dug on secured grounds were at some points, only 8 metres from the Turkish trenches. There were some very inspiring stories from soldiers on both sides, that helped restore some faith in the human spirit, despite the context of war and killings.


Lone Pine memorial for Australian troups who lost their lives at Gallipoli.

The story behind this solitary pine on this Turkish hill:
An Australian soldier had the unfortunate experience of finding his brother dead on the battle field. A pine cone was resting on his body, so he decided to send that back to their parents in Australia in memory, until bodies could be collected and buried properly. The mother planted the pinecone in the garden of their family home, which successfully grew into a large tree. After the war, when peace had settled and memorials were being constructed, this story was revealed. The land was still laregely bare from the battles, so it was requested that a pinecone be sent from the tree still growing back in Australia. That pinecone was planted and is now the "lone pine" tree near the cemetary that accompanies the Australian section of the ANZAC memorials.

Flying High in Cappadocia

As you may have guessed Tim McLennan has recently become Tim Weston-to-be!
That might be all the information that some of you (males) need, but for those of you know want the details... the story is as follows:

Our friend Kristy and I (Renee) were at an internet cafe in Goreme, Turkey on Sunday night. Tim excused himself and didn't reappear until late that night, several hours later. When he did reappear he was dropped off by one of the locals (a young travel agent) at our cave "pension" where Kristy and myself were waiting for him in the courtyard. He claimed to have been caught by a carpet salesman who insisted on him drinking Turkish tea with him (quite a plausible story). In fact, he had been organising a hot air balloon ride for sunrise the next morning and the young travel agent had spent the evening driving him around to get things organised. He even drove him to the next town and got a family friend to open his florist shop (at 10pm) so that Tim could get the flowers he wanted for the mornings event. When they arrived, some hushed talking went on between the travel agent and the pension owner. I later found out that this involved organising the owner to collect the flowers and other items they'd purchased from the side of the street where Tim had put them so as to keep them out of my sight.




















The next morning we woke up at 5.27 (as the alarm clock hadn't been set properly by someone who will remain nameless!!) and were due to be picked up three minutes later. When the minibus arrived to take us to the launch site Tim urged me to run back and get motion sickness tablets just incase (knowing full well that we wouldn't need them but wanting to create an opportunity to get the flowers out of the fridge and into the bus without me seeing them).

We arrived at the launch site and I ran around excitedly taking photos, fitting in well with all the Japanese tourists. Meanwhile, Tim "discussed weather conditions" with the balloon pilot as a cover for arranging his plans.
















The balloon ride was absolutely magnificent. The sun rose over the unique, beautiful (and very phallic) formations of Cappadocia as we sailed over and between them. The other 18 people in our balloon were all Asian tourists, mainly young Japanese girls who were very exciteable and giggly. Tim distracted me while he signalled to the balloon pilot he was ready (meanwhile reaching into his pocket only to find that the ring was no longer there!!). The pilot followed his instructions and handed out white lillies to the other passengers in the balloon. Some of them got confused and assumed that the flowers were a gift from the pilot and Tim could hear a few surprised exclamations of "thankyou". Once the pilot managed to communicate (quietly) that they were actually supposed to give me the flowers he got me to turn around. I was then presented with the lillies accompanied by a chorus of "happy birthday", which was started enthusiastically by one of the Japanese girls who was still confused as to what was actually happening. The pilot felt he needed to correct them and said loudly "It's not her birthday, he's trying to propose marriage!!"

I then turned around to Tim who had somehow got down on his knees in the cramped balloon basket and presented me with a red rose, chocolate and strawberries (he knows me well!). He then recited his poem to me with much endearing stumbling and nervousness:

My gorgeous girl,

My very best friend;

To be there for you,

Is what I intend.

To hold you close,

Is like a dream come true;

I can't imagine

My life without you.

Your smile, laugh and kisses

Set my heart free

Will you make me the luckiest

And marry me?

Obviously I said yes, much to the excitement of all the Japanese girls who were busy taking a multitude of photographs and squealing loudly. I'm convinced that for the rest of the flight they took more photos of Tim and myself than they did of the the scenery!

Meanwhile the pilot was busy radioing his ground crew to search for the lost ring. Fortunately, when we landed one of them ran up to Tim and presented him with the missing box. He had found it in the back of the minivan where Tim must have dropped it in his hurried attempt to conceal the flowers earlier in the morning.

Many of you would know that I've always said that I didn't want an engagement ring but this is so special and has great sentimental value. Tim's grandad (who died when Tim was in highschool) collected precious and semiprecious stones. The one in my ring was personally found and cut by him and was left to Tim in his will. Tim has carried the stone with us through out our trip having secretly had it set during our time in Chiang Mai. It is absolutely beautiful!

I was highly suspicious that Tim would propose that day and had a slight nervous freak out the evening before. Kristy, who was in the dorm room with us, can attest to the fact that Tim too was nervous as he apparently drove her crazy tossing and turning all night. Both of us are at peace with our decision now and are very happy and excited. He is such an exceptional person and I am very blessed to receive his love.