Back to Fox Glacier New Zealand

Our next 3-month adventure has us back to a familar place of Fox Glacier, New Zealand and the Lake Matheson Motel.  When we were here last April our hosts Mike and Heather Reilly asked if we would return and help them during their busy summer season.  We really like this area and didn't hesitate to return. 

Arriving in Christchurch after our 30 hour journey

We left Tulsa, OK on January 5th and arrived in Christchurch on January 7th.  We lost a day somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, but we'll get it back in April upon our return.  We rented a car in Christchurch, picked up a hitchhiker soon after leaving the airport (because that's what you do in New Zealand), and drove 3 hours to Hokitika.  Our hitchhiker was going to Greymouth, so we dropped him off just before getting to Hokitika.  We bought some groceries, returned our rental car, and met up with Debbie, the owner of the Motel.  She drove us half way to Fox Glacier where Heather met us to take us the rest of the way.   We spent a nice evening with Mike and Heather catching up from last year and preparing for our next few days.  Mike and Heather planned a 5 day get-a-way for themselves since we were coming to help.

This was our view of the mountains our first morning; a bit cloudy, but the view never gets old!

Lake Matheson Motel - Home Sweet Home!

Time to get to work.  
The motel has 24 rooms and is usually fully booked during the summer season.

Folding pillow cases

 David can always find something to fix

After a few days of getting settled in, we finally went out on a familar hike toward the glacier.  Below are a few pictures we took along the way.

 

Glacier River

A view from a historic bridge just outside of Fox Glacier

The clouds cleared enough to get a quick view of the snow capped Mt. Cook 
peaking up in the background

This is the "Staff House" we live in.  We share it with a great young couple, Fernando and Annie, from Argentina, and a nice single lady named Flavia, from Uruguay.

Back to Ramstein Air Base and Etschberg

We are spending our last week in Europe on our old stomping grounds of Ramstein Air Base and Etschberg.  After almost 3 months in Europe it felt pretty good to be back on a little bit of American soil (in Germany!)

Coming through the main gate of Ramstein

 New Ramstein Hotel.  This isn't really "new", but it wasn't here when we were stationed at Ramstein.  There is also a nice B-X, large shopping center, and movie theater.

 We are staying with our friends (who were our Landlords) Werner (pronounced Vanna) and Gabi Theiss.  This is the view of Remigiusberg Castle from their balcony.

 These are our neighbors Edgar and Hedi; our kids spent many days in their house.  Such great people live in this village!

 This is a photo of Inge and Emil.  Emil is not with us anymore, but Inge is and gave us this picture.

 Emil has been gone for 2 1/2 years, but Inge is doing well

 Werner reading the paper

 This was our old house.  There were no tenents living in it so we were able to see inside.

 This is a bird house Werner made for his garden

 On Tuesday we took a drive to the Mosel River.  Below are many views along the way.

We drove along the Mosel from Mehring to Traben-Trarbach and stopped to get a run in

We had lunch in the village of Traben

We drove up through the vineyards and even got to taste some of the left over grapes

On Tuesday evening we met up with a few of Linda's friends from where she worked while we were in Germany.  Good food, great friends!

On Friday, November 13th, we drove the Rhine River from Bingen to Saint Goar to see some familar sights and a few castles.

 This is the village of Saint Goar on the Rhine

 Schonburg Castle

 View of the Rhine River from Schonburg Castle

 Village of Oberwesel

 Kranenturm Hotel in Bacharach.  We stayed in this "Tower Hotel" 16 years ago while stationed in Germany.

 We took a ferry across the river from Bingen to Rudesheim

 Had to stop for our favorite dessert of Apfelstrudel and cappuccino

Rudesheim is one of our favorite villages in Germany

 They were getting ready for their Weihnachtsmarkt

On Saturday afternoon we went for a run on one of the many paths through the forest

 We came across these Scottish Highland bulls

Just a few of the many meals and cakes we ate this week.  This is why we have to keep running! The top left photo is kasekuchen from Hedi and the top right photo is Gabi's apfelkuchen!

Dinner with our good friends Karin and Winfred Rech.  They also live in Etschberg.

 We had such a good time this week in Etschberg.  

Many thanks to our host, Werner and Gabi Theiss.

We leave Germany in the morning to start our journey back home for the holidays.  

Until next time...