Tuesday July 17, Fischer Motorhome Service, Elsdorf, Germany

Rhine Tower in Dusseldorf.
We made it to the top in 40 Secs!

It was three countries in three hours with temperatures close to 30 degrees, and the aircon not working properly! And Jilly and I had several confrontations, made worse when I needed an exit off the motorway only to find that it was closed…grrrrr! But we finally made it and a cold beer was very welcome.

Over breakfast I worked out a route that would take us on some lesser more scenic roads and we set off about 10am and the first few hours were fine. It was a great drive through the very pretty countryside of Netherlands and into Belgium where we noticed a different style of houses. We passed some particularly grand mansions, with large gardens. And as always in this very flat country the cycle lanes are everywhere, often on both sides of the road.

But as the temperatures rose, Jilly was not happy with the route I wanted to take and kept rerouting us onto the motorways. In the end, she won and I let her take over and we covered the rest of the drive on motorways, very successfully until the closed exit. I needed to stop at a supermarket and had found an Edeka just off the motorway. Ended up with some very quick Googling while Ian drove and found one at the next town. After a few wrong turns that took us into a residential area we made it and enjoyed pushing the trolley around in the airconditioned store. Another half an hour drive and we arrived at Fischer’s at 4.30.

Went for a walk this evening and spotted a vehicle service centre not far away. On their sign they mentioned Klimaservice, checked their website out when we got back, translated it with Google Translate and they service air-conditioning units. Will see them in the morning and see if they can check Ruakiwi out after we are finished here. With temperatures like they are at the moment, we really need it.

They will start working on the vehicle at 8 in the morning so will have to be organised. After we finish here we are going to our friends, Conny and Hitten, who live just out of Dusseldorf for a few days so probably won’t get much up on the blog for a little while. Not many photos today, just a few drive by ones from the front window!

Friday July 20, Neuekirchen

Just a rather lengthy catch up from the last few days, busy getting Ruakiwi sorted out and made to feel very welcome from our friends, Conny and Hitten.

Work started on Ruakiwi at 8am on Wednesday, Klaus fitted the repaired satellite dish, tuned it and it is now working perfectly again. Not that we use it a lot, but always good to catch up on the news and hopefully will be able to watch some of the Tour de France. We had been having issues with our hot water system last year and Ian had tried a number of things without success but Klaus found a split fitting in the boiler and replaced that for us. Now we will be able to have a good shower without fluctuating water temperatures. We needed new “house” batteries to replace the 11 year old original ones which were not holding the charge from the solar panels very well. They were ordered on Monday but didn’t arrive until 2 so we took the van around the corner to the service centre we had spotted yesterday. They checked out the air conditioning and found a small hole in the heat exchanger and the gas had been lost. A new one was ordered and they were able to make a booking for 1pm Thursday, so lucky we could get in.

By the time we had finished at Fischer’s it was 3.30 and time to set Jilly for the Heidemann’s, a 40 minute drive. But all turned to custard when there was a new motorway system, Jilly knew nothing about it and we ended up who knows where cruising down the autobahn. A frantic help call to Hitten on Whatsapp and he worked out where we were, heading in quite the wrong direction, needed to find the next off ramp and return in the direction we came from! He told us which off ramp to exit and said he would be waiting there for us!!! Whew. We followed him home and there was a kiwi flag waving in the breeze reserving a space on the road to park Ruakiwi. Just so good to see them again, it was almost two years ago that we first met them in Norway and since then we have visited them in Dusseldorf a number of times and they have visited us in New Zealand, they have become very special friends.

The bubbles were waiting to celebrate our arrival, and we talked well into the night. Their son Janno and his girlfriend Miriam joined us for a barbecue dinner, it was a great night and so easy for us as they all speak English.

Next morning breakfast was outside, the temperatures are just so warm. Set off mid-morning to go to a caravan supply shop where we needed to buy a new chair for me….Ian replaced his 12 months ago after it broke (nothing to do with being too heavy for it!) but my one was still hanging in, but when we got it out after it had been in storage for 10 months it had become very mouldy and looked disgusting. Found a very good chair and pleased that it was also on sale. After picking up other essentials such as toilet chemicals it was back to the workshop to have the air-conditioning repaired, which ended up taking almost 3 hours. They also checked why Ian’s window was having issues and found the current was faulty and without the Rapido wiring diagram they could not repair it! Now we need to contact Rapido and get them to hopefully send these to us, so we can get it sorted. ….The small dramas of life on the road! But we can manage without the window now that the air-con is working.

Conny and Hitten took us into Dusseldorf this morning to visit the Rhine Tower, which at 234 metres towers over the city. A very slick 40 sec trip in the elevator took us to the top for some great views although with the heat today it was a little hazy. The Rhine snakes through the city, always full of barges and boats. The day was really heating up so it was off to a monastery to sit in the garden with a cold drink and a treat.

Conny’s 18 year old niece Pia arrived this afternoon. She is going to New Zealand at the end of August to spend 12 months travelling the country.  Pia has a Working Visitor Permit and is hoping to pick up casual work during her stay, and is prepared to do any work.
She has just finished college and is taking a Gap year before starting University and studying Economics and Psychology. For the last 2 years Pia has worked in a Rest Home restaurant after school and during the holidays so is not afraid of work!! Pia is a lovely girl, speaks excellent English and I know she would fit in and help wherever needed. If you have any thoughts or contacts would love to hear from you.
It’s our last night with Conny and Hitten, and tomorrow we head off south…to who knows where.

Schneider Bakerei near Fischer's

Guess who!!!

...and views from the top.

The monastery for a cool drink.