Through travel, we have made friends all around the world, but it seems that the majority of our overseas friends live in Germany! Well, that’s a surprise – not!! Some of these friends we have met when they were travelling in Australia and some when we were travelling ourselves.

The first group of friends that we visited, Ralf & Karen, were travelling in Australia a couple of years ago and, through mutual friends, we invited them to stay with us at home. We discovered many similarities and some differences that intrigued us – Ralf loves 2CVs (aka Deux Cheveaux) and Karen loves baking bread and is into Geocaching. Yes, Nick isn’t sure if he has forgiven Karen for introducing MJ to the world of Geocaching!

They live in Bavaria and invited us to stay with them in their home. This was great because it gave us a break from our WoMo. On the day we arrived, Karen took us to a local Biergarten for a beer and a meal. And I “did a Di” – this is when everyone else is drinking beer and I’m drinking a glass of wine! The next day, Karen had to do a bit of work in the morning and Ralf also had to some meetings, then Karen took us out to Landshut, which is the closest large shopping area.

When Nick left home, he had a pair of Keens sandals that had done sterling service since he went to South America in 2017, but early on this trip, he noticed that they were starting to crack and split. So he went looking to see if he would be able to buy a new pair when we got home but he couldn’t find them anywhere, except in Europe. So Karen took us shopping! But first she looked for which shops in Landshut stocked these sandals and then we visited all three locations – but we were out of luck. By this time, she had roped Ralf in to help and then we found ourselves in Regensburg, at an amazing Outdoor shop called “Globetrotters”! And finally, Nick had a new pair of travel sandals and he was happy!

Now in our previous posts about our trip, MJ had posted a photo, from Austria, of Nick enjoying an Erdinger beer and Ralf had the wonderful idea to book a tour of the Erdinger Brewery, which is not far from where they live. We got a tour of the brewery, but after hours, so we didn’t see any actual production, then we got to choose which beer we wanted to taste and we also had a choice of meal, either Wurst or Obatzter, which is my new favourite for Abendsbrot! In case you are wondering, Obatzter is a mix of Camembert and soft curd cheese, with paprika & beer. I have a recipe and will be trying to make it when I get home!

Our final day with Ralf and Karen was spent going up into the mountains to visit an alpine lake and go for a swim and lunch (or dinner). But, with a twist! Ralf & Nick went in Ralf’s 2CV and Karen & MJ went in Karen’s Audi Convertible, with the roof down!  Along the way, we stopped for a cooling ale in another Biergarten, just so that MJ could find a cache that was “cute and sounded like fun”! Then it was off to the Schliersee for a swim, did we mention that the day was sunny and hot , and the water was cold!! But after a refreshing, if slightly chilly swim, we were then off to a late lunch, or an early dinner, at somewhere called Fischbachau and we had the best meal. One thing about this Gaststube is that they have a rule – if the Kuchen is less than 300g, then it’s only a Keks (cookie)! Nick had Kässler and MJ had Kasespätzle and we shared a strawberry flan (less cream).

Sadly, Sunday morning was time for us to move on but not before we had a bit of drama! Seeing that MJ & Karen were together, they decided that they wanted to try and find a few caches – and there was a cache just across the canal, under a bridge. Well, Nick wouldn’t let MJ try to climb down (not with her hip!), so he offered to get the cache but… it was raining lightly and the sloped wall of the canal was compacted dirt and Nick slid down into the canal, up to his armpits! Thank goodness he didn’t have his phone in his pocket! Karen was on the phone to Ralf telling him he needed to bring a rope, but then MJ found a long branch which we were able to stretch down so that Nick could reach it… just and we managed to get him out of the water!! For his troubles, he had some scrapes and grazes and was soaked through, so MJ & Karen dropped him home for a shower and change into some dry clothes, while they went off to find one more cache, which turned into three more. But that’s caching for you! And no, we didn’t find the cache!

With his wounds dressed, we were back in the WoMo and on the road to visit our next friend.  We first met Ulla in 2013, when we spent Christmas with Tobi & Christine (more about them later). We quickly became good friends, which wasn’t hard as she is Tobi’s mother and only a few years older than us.  She lives in a lovely little German village – no shops, no bakery, no nothing except surrounded by farmland and forest.

And she loves having visitors and didn’t stop feeding us!!! And of course, MJ had a cache that she wanted to find, “It’s only 2kms away…in a straight line!”. And we all know that there are no straight lines in Nature! But it was a lovely walk that took us up into the highest point, in that area, of something called the Europäischer Wasserscheideweg, which means that all the rain that falls on one side flows down to the Rhine River and if it falls on the other side, it flows down to the Danube River.

And yes, we found the cache!

Now it was time to move on to visit a Tobi and Christine.  We first met Christine in 2005-ish when she was in Australia.  She & MJ met in Darwin and then, when Christine was in Brisbane, she came to visit and we took her up to our farm. Christine is a motorcyclist, so when she started her travels on her bike, she went back to the farm for a few days.  Later on, we met Tobi in 2008, when MJ was in Germany as an exchange student at Oldenburg University.

We have been to see them several times over the years, and have met their children when they were babies, but it has now been almost 8 years since we saw them in Germany and past time for another visit.  Well, those babies have grown!! The little baby who had her first Christmas when we were there in 2013, is now at High School (Realschule), and the baby boy who shares Nick’s birthday has also grown so much.

We spent a wonderful few days with them, enjoying the opportunity to relax and not stress about travelling. We also had the opportunity to spread the Geocaching bug a bit further! Yes, MJ wanted to find a few caches and Lena wanted to come along!  Now she is hooked, too!

Tobi and Christine had warned us that they were going to a Motorbike Rally on the weekend. But wait, isn’t that the same Rally that Ralf and Karen were going to as well?? We checked – and, yes, it was! So we put them in touch and they met up at the Rally! I only hope that they all had wonderful things to say about us as friends and guests!

Before, we head into the old DDR and Central Germany, we visited the Therme at Sinsheim.  We have been here before and really loved the opportunity for a refresh and rejuvenation session with swimming and several saunas and a lot of relaxation. And we could park the WoMo for the night in their car park for free!

Tomorrow we head eastwards – Berlin is only 600+ kms away!