The travel adventures of Mark & Vanessa Greatorex
Having turned from the Rhine River on to the River Main at around 10:30 pm the previous evening, our ship made steady progress throughout the night, passing major cities such as Mainz, Frankfurt and Aschaffenburg along the way. As the dawn broke, we found ourselves gliding along the much more tranquil waters of the Main…
Fresh from a bath and lunch in the main restaurant, we walked down the gangplank onto the main dock at Rüdesheim am Rhein a little before 1:00 pm and immediately made our way up the hill to Weingut Adolf Storzel for a stroll through the vineyards. Our vineyard walk was hosted by Hans, a very…
Our ship departed Andernach in the early hours of the morning, which sadly meant that we passed a couple of significant landmarks, namely the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers at Koblenz and the giant Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, in total darkness. In fact, it wasn’t until we rounded the bend at Braubach that first light…
Day 4 of our cruise began with another spectacular sunrise, as the AmaVerde slowly cruised its way towards a dawn docking at the German city of Cologne. As the light began to creep across the land, the unmistakable sight of the Cologne Cathedral, the Kölner Dom, came into view, and soon the ship was making…
Our first sunrise in Europe was a masterpiece fit for a museum, and thanks to a wildly malfunctioning body clock I was well and truly awake to see it. I had actually managed to get some sleep, although it came in fits and starts. Given the early hour that we had retired the night before…
On arrival at Amsterdam Schipol we learnt a valuable lesson – always have a small amount of local currency on you when traversing an airport. Even if you are being met at the gates for a pre-arranged transfer as we were, after almost a full day’s travelling, you’re probably going to want to grab a…
Our next big adventure came in November 2014, with an APT River Cruise through Europe. 15 days cruising the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers, visiting 5 different countries along the way. But first, we had to negotiate 21 hours of flying, from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport to Amsterdam Schipol via Singapore. Our flights left Melbourne at…
Our flight back to Melbourne was generally uneventful, except for the fact that we hit a bit of turbulence midway which caused me to become quite ill with motion sickness. Sadly the last hour or two of my first international return flight were spent with my head in a bag, which can really put a…
Our last full day in New Zealand and the weather gods had turned on their finest for us, with brilliant blue skies, light winds and a pleasantly warm temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. Just the sort of conditions to take a long and leisurely walk around the city, to revisit some of our favourite places…
As New Year’s Day dawned and our trip began to draw to a close, we headed back towards where it all started at Christchurch, but first of all we had a couple of stops to make along the way at Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs. The road to Kaikoura follows the rugged South Pacific coastline for…