Thailand and Cambodia Trip with Monika and Alfred

Not expecting to get back home to Austria in 2012 (which turned out otherwise, see previous post) we made plans to meet up with Tom's sister Monika and her partner Alfred "somewhere in the middle". This somewhere in the middle turned out to be Thailand - approx. 12h flight from both locations.

We spent a few days in Bangkok and then went on to Cambodia, where we visited a few temples (Angkor Wat & Co), drove on the Bush Railway (see below) and visited the capital Phnom Penh. Then we went back to Thailand and relaxed for some days on the island Koh Kood before going back to Bangkok.

We enjoyed the food a lot, but what we enjoyed even more was the nice company we had!

Photos

Da wir 2012 eigentlich nicht geplant hatten nach Österreich heimzufliegen, haben wir Pläne gemacht uns mit Tom`s Schwester Monika und ihrem Freund Alfred "irgendwo in der Mitte" zu treffen. Dieses irgendwo in der Mitte hat sich dann als Thailand ergeben, ungefähr 12 Flugstunden sowohl von Ö als auch NZ. 

Wir haben uns in Bangkok getroffen und dort ein paar Tage verbracht bevor es nach Kambodscha weiter ging. Dort haben wir uns einige Tempel angeschaut (Angkor Wat & Co), fuhren mit der Busch-Eisenbahn (Video siehe unten) und haben die Hauptstadt Phnom Penh besucht. Danach gings zurück nach Thailand. Nach ein paar Tagen Entspannung auf der Insel Koh Kood machten wir uns wieder auf nach Bangkok.

Wir haben den Urlaub sehr genossen, vor allem das Essen, noch viel mehr aber die nette Reisegesellschaft!

Fotos





Video Bush Railway:

Home sweet home

You could call it a bit short-notice when my sister Anna told us in August that she was going to get married just a month later. After a bit of planning here and there we made it possible to go home to Austria for a short visit! Imagine our excitement, and we couldn't even tell anyone - it was to be a secret/surprise wedding! So we turned up at Vienna airport and Anna, her hubby-to-be and their son Jakob picked us up. At that point they had just texted their parents, siblings and grand-parents that they were going to marry the next day.

On the way home Tom then called his mom and asked what it would be for dinner. If it was Cordon bleu, he'd come by ... by the time we got there, his mum had already dried her tears (with help from a neighbour and some Schnaps) and the Cordons were cooking. We hadn't told Luci's family yet but when we got to Anzenberg, the "bush telephone" had already worked and we were expected! Was quite a shocker still!

The two weeks that followed then were full of friends, family, heaps of great food and wine - just lovely! A few pics for you to see a few things we were up to!

First a few pics from before we even started to Austria - we wanted to bring our parents some pictures from us in our traditional clothes on a beach in NZ. Our flatmate Noelia played the photographer. Tom also took the chance for a bit of "Herminating". The pics were taken in Sandfly bay, by the way.

The first and most important event of the trip was Anna and Bernhard's wedding - quite an unusual wedding in Austrian terms, nonetheless a great one. Congratulations again!

And here's a compilation of pics from the rest of our trip!

  

We are still here!

Hello out there! You might have been wondering already whether we're still in NZ, yes we are. But even in such a stunning country everyday live gets you! But I'll try and catch up with what we've been up to since aehm ... May.

Alrighty, let's start with a beautiful trip  to ...

Lake Tekapo

For a change, that's not a seaside location but still worthy going there. Beautiful bright blue lakes amidst mountains - feels a bit like home! We spent a few days (in June) in the area, also visited Mt Cook village and the Hot Pools in Tekapo, all very relaxing.

To pass winter in Dunedin, our friend Cohen had the great idea to throw a ...

Cocktail Party

(well he kind of won it from a Vodka producer) So we all dressed up and partied!

We also got a bit out into the snow on our ...

Cross-country skiing trip

Joined by Ben, Susie and Noelia we ran to a hut on our skis where we cooked, played, and stayed the night. Next day we skied out again. 

To keep warm (and well fed) we took turns with our flatmate Noelia and cooked our favorite Austrian and Spanish dishes in our

International Nights

Yummm .... here are some pics of only some of them

And then it was already 

Spring

And Tom went on some trips with his mates: 

Paua diving
Boat trip





Und wer gern von unseren Abenteuern auf Deutsch hoeren will, bitte auf Skype anrufen :)
LG Luci

2 Trips: Easter time around Lake Wakatipu and a Doubtfulsound Cruise

In the last few months, 2 great trips were on our plans. First we spent Easter with some friends in the area around Queenstown. And only last weekend we went for the first time down to Fjordland in the very South of NZ and spent two days on a cruise through the stunningly beautiful Doubtful Sound. Both trips were amazing experiences and showed us two different, beautiful sides of NZ.

In den letzten paar Monaten haben wir zwei tolle Ausflüge gemacht. Zuerst haben wir Ostern mit einigen Freunden in der Gegend rund um Queenstown verbracht. Und letztes Wochenende fuhren wir das erste Mal nach Fjordland in den Süden Neuseelands hinunter. Wir verbrachten dort zwei Tage auf einer Schiffsfahrt durch den atemberaubend schönen Doubtful Sound. Beide Ausflüge waren wunderbare Erlebnisse und zeigten uns zwei unterschiedliche, schöne Seiten von Neuseeland.

Hike to Lake Rere

Rain, sandflies and mountains - that's what you can expect in Fjordland. Fortunately we just got the mountains!

Visitors in Dunedin

We can hardly believe our luck how many of our friends traveled all the way to NZ this year. But I assume us being here is only a good excuse to visit this beautiful country. Here are the pics from Michael&Ulli's visit in February and Giggi&Martina's visit in April. Both were great times with lots of fun and adventure! Hopefully our visitors liked it as much, too!

Wir können es kaum fassen, wie viele von unseren Freunden die weite Reise nach Neuseeland auf sich genommen haben. Aber ich schätze, dass wir hier sind, ist nur eine gute Ausrede um dieses wunderschöne Land zu besuchen. Hier gibt's Fotos von unseren Besuchern im Februar - Michael&Ulli - und im April - Giggi&Martina. Beide Male hatten wir eine grossartige Zeit mit viel Spass und Abenteuer! Hoffentlich hat's unseren Besuchern auch so gut gefallen!

Michael & Ulli

Giggi & Martina

Tom's sad time alone in Dunedin

While Luci was back in Austria, Tom did not only work and shed tears, he also did some stuff that actually looks really fun!


Während Luci in Österreich war, hat Tom nicht nur gearbeitet und ein paar Tränen vergossen, er hat auch einiges unternommen, das eigentlich recht nach Spass aussieht!

Tom alone in Dunedin

Austrian times

In March Luci was visiting Austria, mainly for her father's 60th and to spend time with the family, but of course also to meet friends! It was a great time, and I enjoyed every minute. Unfortunately I didn't meet everyone I would have liked to see despite the already very tight program; the main focus was on my family. But thanks for the wonderful time that I could spend with so many of you. The only downside was that Tom wasn't there as well, so next time we'll definitely go both!

Im März hat Luci einen Kurztrip nach Österreich gemacht, hauptsächlich zum 60er ihres Vaters und um Zeit mit der Familie zu verbringen, aber natürlich auch um Freunde zu treffen! Es war eine grossartige Zeit, und ich habe jede Minute genossen. Leider ist es sich trotz des ziemlich engen Zeitplans nicht ausgegangen sich mit allen zu treffen, die ich gerne gesehen hätte; der Focus lag auf meiner Familie. Aber vielen, vielen Dank für die schöne Zeit die ich mit so vielen von euch hatte! Der einzige Wermutstropfen war dass Tom nicht mit dabei war, also nächstes Mal fliegen wir sicher beide!

60th Party

Anzenberg & around

Building a new cowshed

Trip to Vienna

Zoo Schönbrunn with the Hubsls

New Vino Wagram

Girls-afternoon