News – March 2008 (Nelson/New Zealand, March 29, 2008)
- Website statistics: In February we were able to welcome on our website 43'824 visitors who did 1'325'837 hits.
- (January = 50'201 visitors – 1'578'377 hits)
- The visitors are coming from about 100 to 118 different countries!
- Record day since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: 11/5/2007 = 13'407 visitors and 787'456 hits
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Within six weeks, we covered 2'200 miles and explored nearly all of the Southern Island of New Zealand, the 159th
- country visited with our LandCruiser. Apart of three rainy days, we experienced only fine weather. The Southern summer
- seems to have been extremely dry this year, what is reflected by the brown grass all along the East Coast. The more than
- 40 million sheep have to be content with "hay".
- Here is now our impression about New Zealand: The beauty of the South Island repeats itself again and again; but two
- major areas stick out particularly: Milford Sound and Mt. Cook – both alone worth a journey. Unfortunately there are –
- especially in the Western part of the island – plenty of sandflies around too, which can be a real pest. The country itself
- shows to be very clean, and the roads are well maintained without exception. On the negative side, however, is definitely
- the price level that seems to be copied from Europe. Up to now, we always believed that Switzerland and Japan would
- be the absolute frontrunners, but obviously there are more countries going to catch up! Now as before, we find the New
- Zealanders open-hearted and friendly, however a lot is about money too – but where actually not? It's amazing, how many
- tourists are flooding the islands, although the high season is meant to have finished at the end of February. Some are
- holidaying only for a few weeks, while others with motor homes are roaming around for some months.
- Despite of the overhaul of our LandCruiser in Miri/Sarawak on the island of Borneo in mid-2006, three new break-
- downs happened within the first month being in New Zealand: Once more the long rear axle shaft; then for the first
- time the original starter; and soon afterwards the clutch release cylinder. But it's simply not possible to make new out of
- old – a car consists of too many parts that would have to be replaced – if they still could be found on the world market.
- The fact is that not only our continuous worldtour of 23½ years leaves its traces, but also the availability of genuine spare
- parts gets more and more difficult and a nightmare.
- Unfortunately, due to the expensive and 'insufficient' internet system of New Zealand, some delays occurred in updating
- our "Last Trip Pictures from New Zealand", as well as in completing the "Pictures of our journey to the Philippines". An
- additional reason was also the ongoing beautiful weather situation that pushed us to drive "more, longer and further than
- usually" – the first wintry weather systems might arrive anytime. On April 6th, the clock will be changed anyway to
- wintertime (Standard Time). We think to leave in April by ferry to the North Island, which is smaller by 25% than the
- South Island, but accommodates three times more people. Said that, the population density of 65 people per square mile
- is still very low (on the South Island even only 16), compared to our two previous visited destinations Taiwan
- (1'600/sq.mile) and Hong Kong (16'000/sq.mile).
New Reports/Pictures
- SOUTHEAST ASIA: mouse over picture shows comments
- click a picture to see details
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
 |
|
|
||
|
 |
|
|
||
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| + our Taiwan Trip, 1st part | Kaohsiung-Kenting-Taitung – Oct. 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, 6th part | Kalimantan – July 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, within the 5th part | Tana Toraja (Toraja-Land) – June+July 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, 5th part | Sulawesi – June+July 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, 4th part | Sumba, West Timor – May+June 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, 3rd part | Lombok, Sumabawa, Flores – April 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, 2nd part | Bali – Jan.-March 2007 |
|
| + our Indonesia Trip, 1st part | Sumatra, Java – Dec. 2006 |
|
| + our Borneo Trip | Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Kalimantan – Sept.-Nov. 2006 |
|
| + our LandCruiser on a "Rejuvenation Cure" | in Miri/Sarawak - the East Malaysian province on Borneo Engine/Body: June-Aug. 2006/Transmission: Sept. 2007 |
|
| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
|
| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
|
| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997) |
|
|
|
|
|
||
