Tierpark Berlin

If people go to the zoo in Berlin, most will head for the Berlin Zoo in the middle of the city and home to Knut: the most famous polar bear in the world.

Yesterday, we took J's boys to Tierpark Berlin - a zoopark located in what was East Berlin before the wall came down.

It was awesome. As the biggest zoological zoopark in Europe standing on 160 hectares, it would take at least 2 days to walk around and to see all the animals on display. We walked our feet off for 6 hours and still didn't get to see everything.

Less crowded than the Berlin Zoo, the expansive park surroundings also contribute to the feeling that there are fewer people visiting the zoo than there actually are within the grounds. The only times that we ran into crowds were during the big cats' feeding time and in the reptile house - the latter because it started to rain and everyone headed indoors.

One thing that stood out for me, of which I'm in total awe, was the number of animals who had young babies at their heels. The zoo must have one of the most successful breeding programs in the world and I'm sure that a major contributing factor is the relaxed and calm nature of the zoo, as well as the peaceful surroundings of the park.

We saw baby black bears, elephants, oxen, antelope, rhinoceros, giraffes, tigers, black panthers, leopards, wolves, flamingos and lynx - just to name a few.

Staring Showdown

Pelican

Meeting with a Porcupine

Heading to the gate for lunch

The Giraffe enclosure

Green Mamba - although it looked yellow to us

Lemur - you got to move it, move it!

Black bear cubs

Black Mambas - they looked grey

The animals were alert and interacted with the human visitors more than I've seen in other zoos. The Tierpark must have one of the largest exhibition of birds of prey - I saw so many different eagles that I didn't even know existed.

If you ever get to Berlin, take time to go to the Tierpark Berlin. From Alexanderplatz station, you can take the U-Bahn U5 line and get off at the Tierpark station which exits right outside the entrance gate. Entry is Eu11.00 per adult and Eu5.50 per child under 16, or a family daypass for 2 adults and 2 kids is Eu29.00.

Don't forget to take some bottled water with you. There are cafeterias dotted around the grounds, but some of the walks in between them can be quite long and dry. We also found that a lot of families opted to bring food with them and it was great to see them stretched out on blankets under the trees, enjoying the shade as they broke out their picnic lunches.

Oh, and if you have a dog, you can take them in for free provided that they are on a short leash. I thought that it was wonderful to see the dogs interacting with the other animals, although there were a few worried expressions on some of them when confronted with the tigers which were about 20x bigger. I could almost hear them having second thoughts about ever again chasing the neighbourhood cats - just in case one of these bigger cats was lurking around the corner, lying in wait!

The boys about to be eaten by a sabre-tooth tiger!

We had a great day out and the kids behaved really well which made it an even better experience!

New Year's Eve

Just before midnight on New Year's Eve, we bundled into the car to drive into the woods above the house to let off our fireworks.

On the edge of a cliff, overlooking Bad Karlshafen, we set up our rocket launching pad and another log for the ground fireworks.

Below us, the church bells rang out 2006 and rang in 2007, and a barrage of fireworks rose into the air, accompanied by bangs and whistles depending on the type of projectile.

On our hill:
it was cold
it was windy
it rained

But we had the best time! For 30mins, all the adults were kids again!

Our rockets head for the sky

Simultaneous aerial explosions

Our ground assault

Our Blair Witch photo!

Bad Karlshafen over Christmas and New Year

We had a relaxing time at J's parents' place in the little town of Bad Karlshafen in the middle of Germany.

The weather has been unseasonally mild for this time of year, and only a few snowflakes fell on Boxing Day morning - not even enough to settle on the ground.

We did have one sunny day that stayed below freezing all day, and while the grandparents took the boys to the local hot water baths for a swim, J and I went for a walk.

At 4pm, the plants and the ground still in the shadows were covered in ice - it was beautiful.

About 10 minutes after we arrived home, the clouds closed in and we lost the sun!

Space Work over New Zealand

Cruising Rod Drury's blog tonight, I saw an amazing image of the International Space Station (ISS) passing over New Zealand.

The astronauts are out trying to fix the faulty port solar panel array.


A truly awesome shot. Above the station is the bottom half of the North Island. To the left of it is the top of the South Island.

We can see Nelson. Hi bros!

Click here for the high-res image from the Nasa website.

For more on the ISS, here's another link to info.

Warmer thoughts

Hmmm….winter announced that it isn’t too far away today, and the weather turned grey and cold, exacerbated by having to keep the doors open for the builders who are traipsing in and out in their efforts to replace the upstairs balcony railing.

Our thoughts went back to a couple of weeks ago when we took J's 2 kids to visit her parents in the central German town of Bad Karlshafen.

Bad Karlshafen - known for its natural, hot, salt water thermal baths


The weather was incredibly balmy for the time of year and we used it to good advantage by taking daily walks through the countryside.

Happiness is an empty lane and a stone to kick along it


Investigating black beetles


Seeing the wood for the trees


We now have the fire burning, and thank goodness we’re soon returning to Dubai!

We're especially proud...

...of M's no-so-little little brother.


D is a Porsche mechanic extraordinaire, and just recently, his company which he started upon returning to New Zealand from San Francisco played a key role for the team that smashed the 10 year old New Zealand Endurance Distance record.

D's crew was responsible for the preparation of the car and also its servicing during the 24 hour event.

Driving a twin turbo Porsche 996, the 6 driver team took 2 hour turns behind the wheel and battled through heavy rain, strong winds and appalling driving conditions to break the record, with 2 hours left to spare. On the way they set new 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 hour endurance marks.

The record-breaking twin turbo Porsche 996
The new 24 hour distance now stands at 2,942.13 km which was achieved at an average speed of 122.66kph, surpassing the previous mark (set in October 1996) by 188.17 km.

Check out the full PR details of the event on D's company website.

You can also view the TV news coverage of the event - it will give you a great indication of how bad the conditions were.

M met the interviewed driver of the diesel VW, Maurice O'Reilly, when he was in Dubai at the end of last year racing in an endurance event at the Dubai Autodrome.

She also knows the interviewed driver of the Porsche, Ray Williams, and a few years ago had the extreme thrill of being a passenger in his Turbo Porsche as he took it through its paces on the Pukekohe track in Auckland, NZ. There's nothing like it for adrenaline - a high-powered car in the hands of a master driver - it's truly awesome!

Congratulations to both teams and to all the people involved - and we especially want to congratulate bro on his spectacular return to the NZ Porsche scene!

Hmmm.....that's both of M's brothers with websites - this one with his Motorsport business and the other mentioned in this post with the gorgeous B&B!

Who's looking at who?

M's nephew and the Mapua aquarium octopus size each other up!

Almost Altogether

The unbelievably beautiful NZ winter weather continues as M moves further south to the top of the South Island of NZ to Nelson.

With the exception of J who continues to travel for business, M’s immediate family – mother, father, 2 brothers, respective partners and nephew - is together to celebrate little bro’s 30th birthday.

Click on the images to enlarge them in your browser.

We’re staying at Te Puna Wai Lodge which is owned by M’s other brother and his partner. Te Puna Wai is a stunning property nestled on Nelson’s Port Hills and overlooks the picturesque Tasman Bay. The view is a constant source of entertainment with the changing light and various vessels sailing to and fro.

One of the biggest pleasures for M has been to make the acquaintance of her 1 year old nephew whom she last saw as a 6 week old baby in San Francisco in June 2005. He is a joy to have in the family and is blessed with intelligence and good looks! This is one special kid for all of us!

It ain't half hot, Mum

J’s boys have been with us for the past 10 days over spring vacation, and we’ve (well, mostly J) been run ragged taking them to places in an effort to keep them amused – Khasab for the dhow ride; MOE for the snow; Ibn Battuta for pizza and the movies; Wild Wadi for the fake tattoos. In between, they’ve been swimming in the apartment pool, and yesterday morning we took them fishing under the marina bridge. The first time fishing for them, and it was a success – one little fish caught and then let go!

They’ve gone home now, and the apartment is silent without the kids' noises. No PC/Gameboy sounds generated by the older one, and no Madagascar on DVD for the younger for the hundredth time, and no "Mutti, Mutti, Mutti" (German for mum) every 5 seconds!

This is one of my favourite images of the two of them and was taken in the height of summer last year.

On the way to the Arabian Wildlife Center in Sharjah, we went offroad to show them the desert. More like 50m off the tarseal really!

Excitedly they exited the car to run up the small sand dune, only to come to a screaming stop as they realised that the sand trickling into their sandals was a gazillion degrees and their feet were burning. Punctuated with cries of pain, the race back was done in half the time, as J and I chuckled sadistically in the cool confines of the Honda!

See you next time, boys. Wir lieben euch!

No children, animals or parents were harmed during the making of this vacation, but the sanity of the adults was severely tested.

Rocky Hajjar Picture Show

Update:  I notice that a lot of people come to this post after googling to find out if there is a passport control between Dibba and Ras Al Kaimah.  At the time of writing in 2006, there was a control at the RAK end, but since then I have heard reports that this route has been closed to through traffic, and only UAE (maybe GCC) nationals are allowed to use it.  

I'm not sure how you would check that information, but entering it from the Dibba end and expecting to turn back would be the best bet, if you did want to go ahead and try it.  At least you'd get to see the most stunning bits through the wadi and on the high mountain route - and carry your passports just in case they let you back in through RAK!

Don't attempt driving through Wadi Bih if it's been raining or looks as if it's going to rain.  Flash floods rip through the wadi, taking everything away.

Also read:    
Through Wadi Bih
The Long and Winding Road


With J’s sister and bro-in-law in town, we decided to take them to Fujairah and then along our favourite road to RAK from Dibba, through the wadi and over the Hajjar range.

About 5km into our gravel journey from Dibba, we had to stop – there was no road!

The recent rains have caused considerable damage in this area, and as the road followed a wadi bed through the canyon, the water has washed away the route. In its place is tonnes of rock, gravel and silt. We walked up the wadi over rocks as big as cars, and marvelled at what must have been a most incredible act of nature. The scratches and gouges in the canyon walls from the debris rose 3m above us – that’s how high the water must have been.

We estimate this damaged area to be about 1km long, and without knowing the condition of the rest of the track, it’s going to take a few months to carve a road back out of the debris.

We’ll let the images tell the story - you can click on them to enlarge.
 

Before: 
After:

UAE - Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi

As you do when any visitors come to town to stay, you take them to places that sometimes you've never seen either. Such as when M's parents were in Dubai for 2 weeks, and we took them to the Emirates Palace at the western end of the Corniche in Abu Dhabi which is the capital city of the UAE.

Run by the Kempinski Hotels management, (the same company with hotels in Ajman and a new one about to opened at the Mall of the Emirates), this amazing place really has to be experienced to be believed. No expense has been spared to make this an iconic landmark on the Abu Dhabi waterfront.
It's main purpose is to serve as a place to host the royal families and heads of state of the GCC countries when they come to visit the UAE, and need a place to rest their weary heads. There's no going in the main entry door for these folks: from the gates at the front 2 corners of the hotel grounds, there's a car access ramp especially for the GCC visitors which puts them into a private Majlis (meeting and welcome) area, after which they are whisked into their suites. Quite rightly too - who would want to mix with the hoi polloi below, who if our palace tour guide could be believed, can spend over Euro 3,000 per night to stay in one of the 'smaller' suites.

On our visit in October '05, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the guards at the gate waved us through without making us stop to give us the 3rd degree. They have VERY tall doormen at the front entrance, and we chatted to a couple of them who were from Nigeria and the Philippines. They told us that they were picked for the job based on their height! Every staff member that we encountered was extremely pleasant and helpful, and we were made to feel very welcome. Even when we ventured into areas that were out-of-bounds, the security guards went to great lengths to politely steer us back to where we were officially allowed to be.

J had booked us into Le Vendome Brasserie for lunch. There must have been at least 100 dishes on the buffet tables: there were 5 long benches bowed under the weight of every conceivable dish that you could imagine. It did make us wonder how much food is wasted, as there were only around 20 people in the restaurant, and the amount eaten didn't cause a dent in any of the food.
After lunch, we signed on for the hotel tour which we were lucky enough to get for free, because we had eaten in the hotel. Our guide was a very pleasant, tall Russian woman who took us on a tour of 3 different sizes of accommodation suites, the gym, the auditorium and the ballroom.

There is a distance of 1 km to walk from one side of the hotel to the other! We were shown suites in the main dome area, as well as in the West Wing of the hotel.

The gym is state-of-the art, as is everything else in this place. All the rooms have the latest electronic equipment - free internet, audio and stereo equipment; with at least one over 50" plasma TV mounted on the walls - some suites had 2 of these: 1 in the lounge and 1 in the bedroom.

You could host a party in the bathrooms, and some suites had dining rooms that could seat small, intimate soirees of about 20 people!

Our tour group did think that the furnishings were a bit bland and neutral for the size of the rooms. It would have been nice to have a splash of bright colour in either the curtains or the bedspreads, instead of all the beige and neutral 'colours of the desert' in which the rooms were decorated.

If the Swarovski family wasn't already rich, then they could surely retire on what was earned from the chandeliers that their company was commissioned to create and assemble for the Palace. Each one was a work of art, and all people on the tour agreed that we wouldn't like the twice-yearly job of hand-polishing every individual crystal in the hundreds of chandeliers that were installed throughout the hotel.

The grounds of the hotel are beautiful. From a distance, we saw a pool that looked like a river which wound its way around islands of greenery. The river had a water current running through it, so the swimmers could either go with the flow, or swim against it. The beach was manicured to perfection, and there were lots of areas to sit in the shade and relax with a cool drink served by the ever-attentive staff.

With the tour officially over, we were invited to privately walk around the public areas at our leisure, after which we drove back to Dubai; totally bemused at the opulence, richness and grandeur that we had just witnessed.