When we wrote last we were just leaving the arms of Csilla and Oli (H/U members in Romania) and taking off for 5 months on a tour of Europe on our half share Super Tenere, fondly named Miss Adventure III. It is now 8,000km later and we have had many wonderful experiences and made many friends for life.
We followed the Danube River, which was in flood, so a bit tricky in places, from Romania, Serbia, Hungary and into Austria. We had fantastic weather until we arrived in Vienna and the bad weather set in for a few days! That was OK as we were tucked up nice and dry at HU memebers near Vienna, Hanka and Eriks little love shack with their 2 year old son, Mika. We did many rides around their house and went into Vienna many times to check out some of the fantastic museums.
We love Austria and Austrians and then slowly headed west towards Switzerland. From past experience we knew Switzerland was stunning and VERY expensive. Through www.housecarers.com we arranged to look after a house, cat and garden near Murten for 3 wonderful weeks. Franziska and Romano Hunger are the owners of this gorgeous home and became dear friends. Everyday we would either ride their bicycles or our motorbike and discover the area. We really like this way of travelling, it takes away the stress of looking for a place to sleep every night and you can get to know an area and the people better...we will do more of this housecaring. During our 3 wonderful weeks in Murten we met many Horizons members and shared many meals and many miles with them.
We shared a few meals and miles with Patrick and Nathalie (H/U members) from La Tour-de-Peilz, on Lake Geneva. They mentioned that they were going on holidays for 10 days, would we like to stay at their place and water the plants! So off we went to our next near new house with lake views! Lucky hey!
We then visited an amazing guy called Ben Ischer (H/U Member) who lives in the mountains in a lovely village called Frutigen, which is close to a very popular town called Zermatt. Ben had just returned from 3 months working in India and enthralled us with stories of his amazing life and upbringing in all sorts of developing countries. Such an amazing spirit and only 30 years old..it was a real pleasure to meet him and his friends and great Mum.
Next, we moved to Marcel and Flavia Wolfs home near Lucern. They spent 3.5 years riding their motorbike around the world and we have many friends in common. We spent a wonderful week with them, went on some amazing rides and had some great parties, we even had our good friend from Cairns- Anna Marie Minchau and Walter Frey over for dinner one night! Such a busy couple, yet so loving, warm and inviting to 2 fellow bikers!
We are now in Lenzburg with Claudio Angelini and Sabine Salm in their family farm house. Claudio also travelled around the world for 2.5 years and is now working for Moto Mader, the largest BMW and Yamaha dealership in Switzerland.
Next, we are off to meet Dieter Zerndt in St. Gallen for the weekend and then we will have to leave our beloved Switzerland after 6 wonderful weeks. We LOVE YOU Switzerland and will return again one day!
While travelling in South America and the Middle East we hardly saw any other bikers, but in Switzerland on a sunny day there are thousands of bikes out, so many that our wrists get sore from constant waving..Pat wants to get a plastic hand on a spring!!
Miss Adventure III has done her job admirably and now its time to give her some attention, so we are going to Kerstin and Volker (H/U Members) near Stuttgart, Germany to give her new tyres, a service and check the shimms.
Our route back to Romania over September will depend on the weather. We are hoping to cross the Alps again early September and spend some time in Northern Italy, slowly making our way east to Romania early October. We will then fly back to Johannesburg October 8 and cruise around Southern Africa area til March 2011, when we return to the Davis Clan in Cairns, Australia. Cant wait...bring it on!
Every day is a pleasure and a joy, with so much freedom and beauty surrounding us. We absolutely love this life and wouldnt change a thing. We are very lucky that we both love the same things and are both very sociable people...we love meeting new people..chatting to complete strangers and finding out about different cultures and, if we can, helping people to make their dreams happen too.