Leaving on June 4th we headed west to the most isolated capital city in the world being Perth. After a five hour flight, the first of many, we arrived to see that the airport was a bit of a distance from the actual CBD. Perth is highlighted by an abundance of cranes as this city is experiencing a building boom on the back of the thriving mining industry. Sadly this isn’t necessarily appealing to the eye when you view the skyline but I guess it is a sign of progress.
We spent a day down at Fremantle and visited the very cool Little Creatures brewery to sample a few lagers and enjoy the "different" feel of the locals and other visitors. The next day Anja discovered firsthand the greatness of the West Coast ocean water and beaches after we made it to Rottnest Island, a truly beautiful island populated by the very cute Quokkas. We even could hire bikes to get around but as always Jason had bike problems! The blue of the ocean on the west coast has to be seen to be believed.
After a short but eventful time in Western Australia’s capital city our next flights awaited us with Qantas where we flew five hours to Singapore then changed planes to take the next eleven hours of flying to Frankfurt. Excitedly we were able to indulge in a coffee and a "proper" German bread roll whilst we waited for our next much shorter two hour flight to Helsinki the "funky" capital of Finland.
As you can imagine we were two weary travellers upon arrival in a country neither of us had been and once we had navigated our way to our motel the best we could do was wander a little time before falling asleep pretty early! Being so far north was also very different as the sun rose before 4.30am and didn't really set till 11pm.
During our few days we explored Helsinki by foot and that really emphasised how "funky" Helsinki is. A visit to the really cool markets is compulsory for any visitor and it is where they serve REALLY strong coffee and also sell bear and reindeer meat in cans, we only tried the first! Also it is a must to step inside the magnificent Helsinki cathedral and we normally don’t take photos out of respect in churches but this was an exception.
We also took advantage of the proximity of Estonia to Finland and jumped on a ferry for a short ride to the capital Tallinn.
The Old City of Tallinn is a Unesco World Heritage Site and as you wander through you are very thankful that this is the case. We had to exchange 50 Euros and got 651 Kroons the local currency so we felt rich for a day! Arriving early was great as our first impression of the city square was uninterrupted by the large crowds that we were later to encounter. From our time in Helsinki we discovered that the cruise ships frequented these spots so we were joined by five ships later that day but the mix of people made the city even more interesting.
When in Rome do as the Romans they say, so we had a medieval lunch at a place called Olde Hansa where the local girls dress appropriately in clothes of the period and pose for countless photos with never ceasing smiles! Eating with your hands was optional but not one taken and the cinnamon beer was certainly an acquired taste. Loved our time in both of these new countries but I think we both were looking really forward to arriving in Germany to see Anja's family after such a long time away.
The actual day of our flight was a bit longer than we thought however. It was torrential rain in Helsinki on the day of departure so our flight was slightly delayed to Frankfurt but we eventually got going. After a hurried transfer of luggage so we could get on another flight to Hannover to our horror the forty five minute flight was delayed by an hour. Not all was lost though as the World Cup was on the TV at least.
Finally upon arrival in Hannover we were greeted by Anja's family with a great big Welcome sign and we made the train trip to nice and quiet Wennigsen!
To be continued...
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