Canal Cruise (Houses and Dolphins)

Besides 'celebrating' Christmas, which for us means going to the video-shop, rent 6 movies and watch them in 2 days time:-) :-) we also went on a canal cruise in Mandurah with friends. Madurah is a town about an hours drive South of Perth. In a specific area in Mandurah (the Mandurah Estuary. Zoomed in a bit closer: Estuary). The two main features of such a cruise (which takes about an hour) are houses (some of them rather estates than houses:-)) and if you're lucky dolphins. We were lucky .....

Here is a selection of some photos I took (a link to all photos at the end:-)). Do note there are quite a few of those mansions that are up for sale... Oh and can you imagine that also quite a few of those are 'only' holiday homes ... :













(War memorial, this is where the yearly Dawn Service (Anac Day) is held in Mandurah (Dawn Service for remembering all war-victims):


SO, if you want to see all photos, have a look here and click on slide show

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Our patio furniture (ordered in August, with promises to deliver in 3 - 4 weeks, thanks Harvey Norman!) arrived only today .. Very late, but lets stay positive and say just in time for the Christmas patio makeover .. :-).

Our pation BEFORE:


The unpacking:


Our patio After:

2011 Holiday - Part 4

Right .. Getting closer to the end of our holdiay photos... Hope you all still like them:-).

So we ended 'part 3' when we reached the Giglachsee Hutte:


Time for a bit of rest and some drinks. And some balancing tricks by the youngest participant in the walk:



Instead of skis, it' all canes waiting for their owners to start walking again:



Time to walk back, here's an impression:



When we returned at the little rest houses at the start of the walk there were some different type of 'guests':



So that ended another very nice day:



THE NEXT DAY (last full day before driving back to the Netherlands) we decided to go up to the Dachstein mountain to have a look at the Dachstein Gletscher.
We were advised (thanks Dave!!) that we should either drive to the lift very early (be there by 08:00am) OR wait till late morning. This being holiday we obviously decided to do the latter ... While driving up (and yes again loads of hairpin turns) we saw the side of the roads already packed with cars from a few kilometers before the destination. We thought these must have been from early arrivals and decided to drive on and hope for a place closer at the lift. Indeed that was a good choice. Still busy, but places available (see the little restaurant at the top left?):



Before going up to the gletscher we obviously had to have a bit of food (nearing lunch time after all):




Here's a view from the restaurant's terrace were we were sitting:



So then it was time to make the trip up to the gletscher. The top side of the gletscher is at about 2600 m high. The 'lift' up is to somewhere up there:



Some shots from the way up:



And there the top of the gletscher:



Oh, and on the way up we noted someone that seems to have taken a slightly different route:



A few more shots from up there, do have a look at the whole set though (go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perthpete/sets/72157627792983932/ and then click on the slideshow button, you'll get all shots of this Dachstein trip)... I just couldn't stop shooting to be honest ...



And a final one for here, a panoramic photo (combination of about 6 photos):