The central place also will be made fully new with only 4 new trees replacing 8 grown trees. But the archeologists found a lot of cellars from before the big fire of 1470.

The new idea of the archeologists is that Unterseen was not just founded in 1279 but continuously populated from Roman times till now. Here was the only ford over the Aare river between the lakes of Thun and Brienz. So Unterseen was a place for the transfer of goods coming over the Alps in the direction of Berne and the other way.

After the fire of 1470 the town was laid out by order of Berne with a large square in the middle, only having a central warehouse. The excavations are not finished yet and the final conclusions are to be developed still, but this gives really a new perspective for the history of the small town of Unterseen pushed in 1279 by King Rudolph of Habsburg.

The statistics tells me 1.2 million people do live in the metropolitan area of Adelaide. But they don’t make a bruising city at all. It is like being in a remote quite place with a lot of buildings and houses, the people is kept off the streets.

For the layout of the central city is very green with the surrounding terraces, and the Glenelg seaside are really enjoyable, the city where all should be happening is just around a few streets some sort of busy. Nevertheless we stayed 4 days and enjoyed a daytrip to the Murray River and visited twice Glenelg right at the beach.

Twice we had dinner at Rigoni’s close to the main railway station. This is the right place to have fine dining in a nice setting with very friendly and professional service. Just go and have lunch or dinner, this is a must. I won’t publish the name of our ‘serviced’ apartment at the Morphett Street it wasn’t clean and the carpet looked like having a lot of red wine stains (I still hope these were no blood stains!). But the advantage was having the city in walking distance.

Glenelg was remade since our last visit 11 years ago.  The square in front of the pier has been redone really good. After walking along the Esplanade’s and the Pier it was good sitting around looking after the families with their playing children. The tram-connection with the city of Adelaide has been modernized. The tram connects now also the South Terrace with the Main Railway Station. This new part of the tramway is free of charge.

We enjoyed the Adelaide Arcade. Like in Sydney the Strand Arcade the small shops are very stilish and it is a great pleasure having a morning coffee and watch the people walking past.  The Rundle Mall is full of shoppers and quite a few street musicians are looking for some income, but the Arcade has more athmosphere.

In Adelaide our yourney with the Ghan started at a station outside the city centre without public transport connecting this railway station anyhow. We first went to the Main Station and we did receive detailed information where we would start, 2 hours before inchecking, and that only a taxi was the possible connection at all. Thanks to this information we got in time at the Keswick terminal and from there all went very smoothly with the Ghan straight to Darwin

Due to the rainfall last summer, but also the years before, the river Murray does have a lot of water. The time we are visiting Australia and New Zealand showed us very green land. Only the southern part of South Australia seams to have missed the main rainfall.
From Adelaide we started by coach departing from the central coach station just the next block from our appartment. Our tour went through the Adelaide Hills eastward along Hahndorf, which we didn’t visit straight to Murraybridge on the river. We learnt about the importance the ports had in early settlement times. The past time of goldrushes they had downhere. Why don’t we have any goldrushes in Europe?
At a small landingplace between Murraybridge and Mannum we went aboard the Proud Mary. This is a fully renewed historical boat making tours starting from a few hours up to 3 days or even more I think.

You have your dinner aboard and sleeping accomodation is available in cabins. We didn’t have the chance to take a look in a cabin, because our tour of one and a half hour was just placed inbetween a longer tour for people sleeping aboard. They made a tour in the countryside. This was a slow motion tour just to have a time to relax, boating through a partly pastural partly rocky countryside.

We had lunch, a great buffet serving quality cooking products. We had nice discussions aboard with Australian tourists and also an interesting talk with one of the big shots of the shipping company. For us it could be an opportunity to make once a while a Murray tour for 3 or so days. By coach we visited Mannum,

a nice historic town along the Murray with a ferry crossing the river. A nice walk along the historic buildings to the historic Murray Princess,

a huge ship for special tours on the river. In a small shop Käti was happy finding a glass just fitting in her selection for only 50 cts, with a special discount for the day she had to pay half the price.
Our coachtour continued to visit Gumeracha with the largest rocking horse in Australia. Via the Torrens Valley Road we had a wonderful drive back to Adelaide.

For Europeans it is nearly a daily treat to go by train. Not always as cheep as flying or driving, but quite comfortable without big risks. Normally you just use the train to go somewhere, but with the Ghan through the Australian Outback the journey is the thing. Like we say in German: der Weg ist das Ziel – the journey is the reward.

We booked the trip 2 months before, and had the last Platinum-Class cabin

for the trip of 15 April, we had planned to travel another day, but that was fully booked already. The business is good organized, the money has to be paid at least one month before departure. I like these business-models. On the other hand I found it a bit weird to realize the Ghan is not starting at the Main Station in Adelaide. There is even no train going from the Adelaide Station to the remote Keswick-station where the Ghan starts. We did a very clever job to go and ask one day before at the main station in Adelaide when and where we have to embark. Further it was also clear that boarding this train is like boarding at the airport. Although it was not an international departure we had to be 2 hours before at the station. We, like real Swiss, we did of course, but most people arrived about one hour before boarding and had to line up through the whole station. The service included in our ticket was really perfect, the luggage you needed for your daily use was put in the cabine and the other luggage handled like air-transport in a seperate waggon.

The train had a size of 827m with 33 waggons. When they started the train had a length up to 1.2km, but thanks to the more regular schedule with 2 trips a week during the main season, they can do with this short trains by now.

After boarding we where welcomed by a glas of champaign (or was this sparkling wine?) in a very neat cabin with ensuite toilet and shower. We just liked it from the start. Our special host Rachel welcomed us an gave us al information needed to survive this long trip. We made our choice for the late dinner schedule, not used to having breakfast at 7 in the morning. We enjoyed a second welcome in the Outback Explorer Lounge car with again a glass of champaign, now also including the Gold service guests and after this more or less official welcome we had our first lunch in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant. Although you could take breakfast in your cabin, we preferred to have all meals in the restaurant being the best place to get in contact with the other travellers. We didn’t stick to the first couple for the whole trip but tried to have the meals with several other couples. Having a cabin for ourselves we could retire from the social life as we wanted.

The platinum service included a lot, like tea before breakfast, afternoon tea, a nightcap before sleep and the full hotel service for our cabin with cleaning and making the bed and so on. One of the backlashes could be the missing connection with the mobile and internet world. The journey goes through an area whithout these modern equipment. So you really can enjoy the time without any interference from the outside world.

The Iron Man in respect of the builders of the railway

We enjoyed the whole trip, including the stops in Alice Springs and Katherine with the opportunity to make excursions. For the whole trip we could sleep, had good food, enjoyed the contacts – it was just great. We are thinking of another journey by train through Australia.

We did Katherine by the Ghan. Arrival at 9 in the morning and just 4 hours available for touring. We decided for the Nitmiluk Gorge café cruise. This was the right decision.

With a small bus from the railwaystation of Katherine we reached the park and after a short break caused by a woman who fell on the road walking down to the river boat. A wonderful day we had, and in the morning also the temperature is still bearable. It is btw quite hot in this region of Australia.

Our indigenous guide did a very good job on the bus. The management of the park and also the tours is completely done by indigenous people doing a real good job. At the riverboat we had another guide telling us a lot of interesting stories and facts about the famous Katherine Gorges and about indigenous life hereabout.

We could see old Aboriginal rock paintings, and so we were confronted with the original Australian culture.

This is becoming more and more interesting, because nothing is written down which leaves always to a lot of questions without definite answers. The knowledge of the Western culture is based on much more facts an written souces and although there are still unanswered questions, the dimension of the unknown is totally different.

Our way back was again with the small bus, with our same chauffeur as before. She, a real Australian Outback, wanted to do even a better job than our indigenous guide. She just overdid. Well the driving was the way one expects in this Australian state without speedlimit. She did make a lot of advertisement on Katherine, to visit it once again and stay more than 4 hours. I must support this, because the region is worth a longer visit and I can’t remember a better tourist guide as the Essential Katherine Region Visitor Guide.

Alice Springs itself is a small town in the middle of nowhere. During Worldwar 2, people from the north (Darwin) were moved into Alice to shelter for the bombing Japanese. After the war a lot of the refugees just wanted to stay in Alice which made this former small village into a town with a certain importance for the surrounding and in the meantime it became a real tourist hub. A lot of guests are starting from here to visit the famous Uluru, which is only a bit less than 500km away. Its like staying in Milan to go to visit Rome or in Amsterdam to visit Paris. But for the Australian mind this is the way to do.

We met at the Ghan a couple who booked a one-day tour from Alice and back by coach. Starting 6 in the morning and back at midnight. That is real intensive enjoyment.

build in the 1850ties but the towers are dated back to 1819. A nice guide told us a bit about the church and history. We walked Church street and we got the impression, the population of Parramatta differs from the other places in Sydney we have been by now. A much larger part of the population has a Middle-Eastern background. Further was the look less wealthy.
Well we had a nice coffee overthere and went back by the ferry. The Parramatta river was smelling close to unbearable. The smell finished as soon as we come in deeper water of the Ocean inlet. Our way back was via Darling Harbour. but the weather changed rough wind and a drop in temperature made us to go back to Simon’s place to warm up.
Our evening dinner was at the 3 Weeds pub in Rozelle. This was the 2011 best Pub Restaurant. The food was sepcial and good, the service was good, but a bit stiff. As if they wanted to do a real professional job, but missed something out. But a nice place to go anyway.
During our week in Sydney we went day by day earlier to bed. I am not used to go even before 10 to sleep, and really fall asleep. The big wave of impressions are surely one of the reasons we were so tired day after day.

The road from Napier to Taupo through the mountains is very scenic. Just driving though empty land, no farms, villages or towns for about 100 km, but great views, forests, lookouts and of course (we are in New Zealand) nearly no traffic.
Taupo seems to be an New Zealander holiday place with a great variety of activities they offer. The lake is just big and the view of the 3 Volcanos makes a nice horizon.
We were happy to travel further to Rotorua, in the land of geysers and hot pools and sulphur smell. You are just in the middle of an active volcanic area which is one of the main aspects of New Zealand.
It could be possible for a lot of people to think this land is too risky to live in, but what is the difference, to know about the risks or just to trust that in other places there is no risk at all. I lived my first 21 years in Holland, born 4 m under sealevel. I would live there again, no problem.
Although the sea is more and more dangerous for the land due to the global climate changes. Further we know that scientists are very well willing to ensure there is 99.9% chance that nothing risky will happen as we have learned from the Fukushima catastrophy.
In Rotorua we were confronted by the Maori culture, visiting Te Puia and the Rainbow Springs. I think the Maori people are living in 2 worlds. There is no way back to their former culture, but they need this background to identify themselves as the first settlers of New Zealand.
It is good to get knowledge of the cultural background, but this is a general rule for all people. As a Dutchman I cannot deny the global influance and keeping hold on the ‘real’ Dutch culture will just mean folklore, nostalgic parties etc.
So New Zealand had a period of Maori occupation followed by European occupation and what is now going on?
Let’s go back to Rotorua. We walked the city several times, we missed out a lot of interesting sites we visited 11 yaers ago, so next time we have to stay more than 2 days.
Waitomo Caves is a must for visitors to New Zealand. We enjoyed it even more than the first time in 2001.

Finally Auckland. After 12 days NZ, we think this is a different world. NZ is a rural, remote part of the world. Main roads do have traffic like roads in northern Friesland or in the Swiss Jura.

Auckland is busy, over 30% of the New Zealand population live here and it is the centre for everything except the government. But that is about the same in a lot of countries in the world like Australia, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where the governments are not in the cities which are the real centre of life, culture, trade, business etc.
We enjoyed Auckland, it was a good step between remote NZ and our next place to stay: Sydney.

We left the South Island by the ferry from Picton.