Happy end for this blog

This is the end of our 2007 travel blog and I am glad so many of you enjoyed reading and watching. If you would like to look at all the photos in this blog you can see them in my brandnew Picase web album. Just click on this link

Craig and Tanja on Career Break!

We have now safely arrived in our new (and for now final) destination of BRISBANE!
I am still trying to get my head around being on the other side of the planet and having to completely reinvent myself but it is all looking good and I am looking forward to new challenges and many sunny days at the beach.
I will share my new Downunder experiences in a new blog http://www.tanjadownunder.blogspot.com/
Come and visit and please stay in touch.
Lots of love,
Tanja xox

Final weeks in Germany

Tigerpalast, 22.11.07

Our final weeks in Germany are coming to an end and we are packing up and getting ready for our final departure on Tuesday evening. I am very pleased we got to spend a lot of time with family and friends and I do feel like I am ready and mentally prepared for the big move abroad. My parents have been absolute stars by enduring the constant chaos of boxes and suitcases and piles of all sorts of stuff in their house and by looking after all our needs, especially the culinary ones! DANKE Mutti! See pictures of my parents, my sister and her chap and my nieces from my brother.

Craig is full of anticipation of warm weather, beach and BBQs and of course his family. I imagine the weeks of family get togethers with way too much food and drink have only just started!!

I cannot imagine spending Christmas so far away from home in hot weather but I need to get my head around it quick!

I will let you know our new contact numbers as soon as we have them but for now we will only be available on email and Skype (craigmillis and tengelmann3142).

Until next time from down under! OVAH!

We are now officially on the way to Oz!!!

We did it!

We are finally officially on the way to Oz! All our worldly goods are packed away and on their way to Bremen where they will board a ship to Brisbane. We will hopefully see our 40 boxes again before the end of the year??? Not much hope for a delivery before Christmas apparently but hopefully not much longer than that. That will be a lot of late Christmas presents!

It is such a relief to be rid of them after 2 weeks of day and night sorting and wrapping and packing and labeling... so boring!

Now we are back to a more normal and enjoyable life with seeing friends and saying our farewells.

Craig is already in the UK on 1 November and I will fly out on the 8th,, staying until the 17th.

Get in touch if you are around in London or Bristol or inbetween - 07776 166109.

Touring Germany

While Craig's mum Mollie was over in Germany we did lots of little touristy excursions to show her the hotspots of the country and also for me and Craigo to say goodbye to Germany for the next couple of... months? years? (I prefer not to think about it too much).

We went on boat trips on the Rhine river and visited the Ludwig castles in Bavaria (here are some pictures of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle) and went up the 3000m high Zugspitze (using the train of course!), Germany's highest peak overlooking the Alps towards Italy, Austria and Switzerland.

It was a great way to see the best of Germany and the weather was glorious. And I think Craig's mum and my parents got to know each other fairly well (and some of Australia's and Germany's most popular folk songs). We all got along together and hopefully moving to the other side of the planet will be easier for all of us.

I would also like to add that thanks to my mum's delicious cooking and various Weissbier in Bavaria together with Schweinehaxen and a plethora of cakes has taken care of our weight loss in South America and we both put the stone we lost back on...

We are now facing the highly entertaining task of repacking all our belongings into boxes for sea transport and are trying to organise a container for the end of this month to Brisbane. Just as well my parents have such a big house as we have our belongings spread out across 4 rooms! (Thank you mum for putting up with the mess!) Once the container has left we will hopefully be able to enjoy the last month in Europe with lots of drinks with friends and my family. Naturally, we are definitely still planning to return to the UK for the appropriate farewell celebrations in November. I will be in touch!

Craig's mum visiting Europe

Craig said he would write a little report on the unbelievable story of his mum's uncle Jack - and how it came that she was able to visit Europe sponsored by the Australian government. Watch this space!