Ozzie

Ozzie

Monday 30 April 2018

Mon 30 Apr 2018. In Raab servicing and repairing vehicle

Mon 30 Apr 2018. In Raab servicing and repairing vehicle
Wonderful to be back in Landhotel Gausthaus Baubock again - they do divine boiled eggs and have the lightest, crustiest bread. Erich picked up BoyRob, who spent the morning replacing Ozzie’s water pump, replacing front parking lights, flushing and filling water tanks, and finally using high pressure hose for a very necessary clean. He discovered some damage to the solar panels on the roof, but nothing that will inhibit the vehicle’s power. 
GirlRob enjoyed some time to herself to download and edit photos, do computer backups etc. It was a pleasure to have strong internet for first time - finally got Fitbit watch to sync and set itself to Europe time (its been so tiresome to keep subtracting 8 hours to tell the time!!) For some reason the bells in church next door went crazy throughout day. 




Drove Ozzie to Raab for a test drive, fueled tank and container for stove, and picked up initial supermarket supplies.  

DIY hot chocolate...















Saw 3 deer in a green field, a hare standing at attention in a fallow field, and finally a pheasant in a field just sprouting - obviously not yet hunting season!! Went for a walk over bridge to town hall. Had dinner at pub over road - as usual, had to sit in back room to avoid all smokers in the restaurant. Ordered from the spargel menu, but neither the pork nor the beef dinner contained asparagus! Disappointing...

Sunday 29 April 2018

Sun 29 Apr 2018. Munich to Passau Germany, and Andorf, Austria

Sun 29 Apr 2018. Munich to Passau Germany, and Andorf, Austria
Oh the noise and stuffiness in this pokey room - we’ve never disliked accommodation this much. Last night we found the hotel we were happy in two years ago (with similar name) just a few doors down – it was undergoing renovations behind 10-story dropsheets. No wonder we missed it! Relieved to have a quick breakfast and checkout, lugged our very heavy luggage over to train station. Initially glad we’d booked online because we had no drama trying to understand ticket kiosk BUT when went to show conductor we’d paid on phone, couldn’t open PDF ticket so he could scan code. We showed him email which stated date, destination, train, our names and amount paid - but he wasn’t interested. GirlRob swapped sims to another with data credit - still no luck. Guy in next seat interpreted throughout but conductor insisted we pay again. We (politely) declined and tried to open PDF on BoyRobs phone - same issue. Conductor wandered off to other passengers. GirlRob removed and reinserted BoyRob’s sim, and re-entered new profile, checked still had $25 data credit. Finally success! GirlRob clapped, conductor didn’t even smile as he scanned code and moved on. Checked second train ticket through another company - phew! No problems as it had already been downloaded. 

Arrived in pretty pretty Passau, our favourite German city. Disembarked only to find the luggage lift down under the tracks was “kaput”! So lugged baggage painfully down two flights of stairs to go to toilet, buy lunch, and check which platform for next train. Drat! It was the one we’d landed on! Back to the stairs. Fortunately two fit young men had just carried their bicycles up, looked down at GirlRob with pity, and came to the rescue! How very generous with their youth/ muscles! Had clean, quiet, modern train almost to ourselves for the 5 stops to Andorf. 



Erich and Gina were at station with two two-seater cars to fit us and our luggage and drop to our Gasthaus. On arrival Erich said he was going to work on our vehicle service this arvo if we could give him the spare parts we had brought with us! So right on the pavement BoyRob opened up the strapped suitcase, extracted the oil filter, fuel filter and water filter and Erich happily drove back to Raab, saying he’ll pick us up in the morning. Once more we gathered our bits to check in - to a room on the first floor, without a lift, sigh. It will be a relief to finally separate the camper items and leave them stored in it for the trip to Africa. Lovely bright room overlooking the square and Catholic Church with its impressive somber crucified Christ on the front. Set about sorting out everything we had packed into two piles (1) truck, and (2) onward luggage. Felt good to be ready for the driving leg (albeit we won’t know until tomorrow how the truck has fared since we last left it here in October 2016). 
















There was a commotion in our ensuite - we found a pigeon had flown in through the open window and was struggling to escape from the toilet bowl. Poor thing. BoyRob rescued it and set it free (washing thoroughly afterwards of course!) 













Went for a walk to loosen up the travel kinks - nice to re-aquaint ourselves with "our" village. It was a pleasure to meet up with proprietors Heidi and husband Hans the chef again; dinner of fried salmon was ever so tasty. Heidi told us they were closed as usual tomorrow night, but also on Tuesday because of May Day, so GirlRob decided to have their house-specialty apple strudel one last time! 











Saturday 28 April 2018

Sat 28 Apr 2018. Out and about in Munich

Sat 28 Apr 2018. Out and about in Munich
Awake early, such a noisy location (late revelers coming home, early workers starting), pigeon cooing on window ledge next to our open window 3 floors up. At least internet was now working for emails and Facebook. Lucky Dad got an extra postcard! We knew Munich was birthplace of Nazi Party, but didn’t want to visit sites, or hear more stories of Third Reich in Munich – felt we had seen enough visiting Berlin, Nuremberg and concentration camps. 

Munich appeared to be quite spread out, so we decided to take hop on/off bus “three tours for price of one” option. Bonus that we were early enough to get front seats upstairs. First we took the red line Inner City, including Odeonsplatz, Marienplatz, Opera etc. 
















Stopped briefly at Munich Old Town, glimpsed Old Town Hall, Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) and St Peters Church.












Next was the purple line Greater Munich, including quick loop of Olympia Park, Stadium and the 290mt high Olympic Tower. English Garden (where river surfers catch waves in the shallow rapids of the Eisbach), Schwabing and Pinakotheken art museums.












Last was the blue line out to Nymphenburg Palace which dates back to the 1660’s. The Royal Gardens are quite striking, the Great Cascade very pretty, and trumpeter swans swim in the lakes. 




Heard lots of interesting stories eg the Hofbrauhaus was the venue for the first Nazi mass meeting, and beer is called liquid bread. In between we walked and had a break for bagels.














Found Apple shop and had GirlRob’s iphone checked (dratted thing has not made or taken calls since we departed Australia) Settings and profile all OK, staff said definitely a problem with the knowroaming sticker, original sim now not working. Came back to our tiny (and now hot) abode for some RnR – GirlRob choosing to work on first blog entries. Not really surprised when revellers commenced again mid-afternoon. Dinner again at Peter and Wolff but meals less appealing, BoyRob’s freshwater fish had no sauce, and GirlRob’s spinach and ricotta pancakes too much sauce!! Read until tired enough for sleep.

Friday 27 April 2018

Fri 27 Apr 2018. To Munich, Germany

Fri 27 Apr 2018. To Munich, Germany
7.3° this morning - unexpectedly getting colder every day instead of warming into Spring. Enjoyed slower start to the day, repacking. Booked train tickets online to Passau, then to Andorf. Breakfast room decorated for Kings Day, orange cakes on display, cleaner dressed all in orange. 



Wrote 8 postcards (half each) checked out by noon. Set-price taxi to airport thankfully because it was caught up in traffic, pedestrians everywhere, families headed to Vondelpark for children’s activities eg playing instruments like violin. 














Flea-market atmosphere, impromptu stalls lined the streets, some food but mostly used clothing, items and furniture. Orange flower hats, scarves and sweatshirts abounded.






At airport posted postcards. Wanderoos had most thorough examination by customs ever, they went through every bag, ever pocket, every item carried, and then body frisking. We reminded ourselves it was worth it, not to be travelling with a terrorist. KLM slow boarding again but made up time on flight. It was great to see the final orange message, its time to be re-united with Ozzie, and get on the road again.


Arrived into warm afternoon in early 20°s! Dismayed to find hotel was not same one we chose last time in Munich just across road from train station, similar name but pokey lift and tiny rooms. Logistical exercise to place luggage in a way that left a path to the bed and to the bathroom. To top it all off the internet was not working. Went out for a walk and to dinner - enjoyed an Aperol Spritzer, and food at Peter and Wolff was light and delicious, veal in cranberries. Walked through Munich train station to familiarise for Sunday’s train.