Jeffrey in South Africa
When a student at our school said they were going on holiday to South Africa I had to go too. That’s what’s great about our school, I’m taken everywhere! As soon as I flew in I had to meet what South Africa is famous for, its wildlife.
This is me with penguins on Boulders Beach in Simon‘s Town, a little seaside town on the Western Cape Province near Cape Town.
This is where I met my new little South African friend, an African Penguin called Hope.
We had a lot of fun together but she told me that African Penguins are on the world’s endangered list of animals – can you believe it, in such a beautiful place. If we don’t support animals like my friend Hope, in the future all African Penguins will be gone, forever!
Next stop Table Mountain, the most important sight near Cape Town.
This is where I met my new little South African friend, an African Penguin called Hope.
We had a lot of fun together but she told me that African Penguins are on the world’s endangered list of animals – can you believe it, in such a beautiful place. If we don’t support animals like my friend Hope, in the future all African Penguins will be gone, forever!
Next stop Table Mountain, the most important sight near Cape Town.
This is me with my new friend Jeffrey Simba the lion in the Drakenstein Lion Park in Paarl. It`s the only genuine lion sanctuary in the Western Cape with the largest lion population, including rare white lions. The one thing all the animals here kept telling me was how interconnected our lives are. If we lose one species, we will then lose another until it’s too late. The main thing, they tell me, is to make sure humankind is aware how fragile lives are and how quickly we can lose the very animals we treasure.
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Leaving South Africa was difficult. The hospitality of the people was just awesome but when I return, will all my animal friends still be there?
So please support the people and organisations helping friends like Hope and together with all the support they can gain, they will still be there for my next adventure to the land of hope!
So please support the people and organisations helping friends like Hope and together with all the support they can gain, they will still be there for my next adventure to the land of hope!
Oman and the deep blue sea
Hello everyone!
Oman is a state on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. I recently flew to Muscat, Oman’s capital and largest city, to find out about and meet some of my underwater friends. On the long flight at night I slept by covering my eyes with a very big blue piece of material. A bit like a sock for your head! |
I was lucky to team up with two like-minded people who would teach me a thing or two about underwater life, even though a can’t dive myself. I did land a job though as a translator at the diving registration centre where divers were amazed that I could even talk – “come on guys” I thought, “haven’t you heard that vultures can talk, at least this one can!”.
Wow, so much equipment. What these divers need for a dive is awesome! |
On the boat, helping the captain steer a course was just cool.
Oman has one of the hottest climates in the world, with temperatures climbing to 50°C in the summer months but as I’m a vulture, nature has made me into a super heat resistant travel buddy. But in the heat I couldn’t do what all the humans did and that was to go swimming but I was captain for an hour! |
I even wanted to try a trial dive by the pool. The dive mask was a strange shape for my head but my eyes and beak fitted nicely into one half and peeking at others was a dream. I think the jacket really suited me too and it made me feel much safer.
I know you’re going to ask me what did when I wasn’t busy with my diving team. Well I explored the hotel grounds.
Total concentration’s the name of the game because if not, it’s checkmate!
After all this, I packed my case and started my journey back to Gütersloh in Germany. The soft sands and deep blue water of the Arabian Peninsula a distant memory but the hospitality of the people of Oman still lives on in my heart...... |
G’ day Australia and good on ya!
In the summer holidays I travelled to Australia, mostly staying in Hobart, Tasmania with a friend and her family. Tasmania is the island in the south of Australia.
After that I visited Tasmania’s most significant attraction: A historical modal village.
This model village shows Hobart in the 1820s. It is interesting how Hobart has changed in nearly 200 years!
This model village shows Hobart in the 1820s. It is interesting how Hobart has changed in nearly 200 years!
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And then I went to Bonorong. Bonorong is a wildlife park with typical Australian animals. So I saw a lot of kangaroos. They are really gentle. One of them shared lunch with me! I also saw sugar gliders, tiger snakes, a spotted tailed quoll, black and white cockatoos, lorikeets, emus, wombat "Tina", koala "Bird" and Tasmanian Devils. Tassie Devils only live in Tasmania and are threatened with extinction. In Bonorong's shop I found my favorite cook book "Roadkill Recipes" - sorry, but I can’t help myself!
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In the picture you can see me with my walking stick. I needed it because I visited the Hastings Caves. The caves developed ten million years ago and even today they are growing slowly. The lights were turned off for some seconds. That was scary. You could not see anything, not even your wing in front of your eyes!
The best part of my holiday in Australia was the four day trip to Sydney. The flight from Hobart to Sydney was one and a half hours long. The view from my apartment was spectacular. You could see the famous Opera House!
The Opera House is an impressive construction, as well as the Harbour Bridge. I even climbed up that huge bridge and had a spectacular view over the whole city! I also saw a seal sunbathing in front of the Opera House. But the best thing about Sydney is that I have my own street and my own wharf the "Jeffrey Street Kirribilli Wharf".
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Trip to jamaica
I spent part of the summer holidays 2015 with my friend and her family in Jamaica. That is an island in the Caribbean near Florida and Cuba. After a very long flight of 11 hours we landed at Montego Bay airport. In Jamaica there is a time difference of seven hours. We arrived at 7 p.m. whereas people and birds were sleeping in Germany as it was 2 a.m. there. All of us were very tired and a very nice Jamaican taxi driver brought us safely to our hotel.
Jamaica is a very green island with a lot of plants and many areas look like a jungle. Jamaicans are always in a good mood and many love singing Reggae music. I think I know every song off by heart. |
The forefathers of the Jamaicans were slaves from Africa as it used to be a British colony. That’s why the Jamaicans speak English with a Jamaican dialect – of course. Everybody says ‘yaman’ which means ‘yes, man’ or simply ‘yes’. The currency is the Jamaican Dollar but people prefer to be paid in US Dollars. The country is very poor and the unemployment rate is very high. The biggest industry is tourism with many guests from the US and Canada but also from Britain. Those people who have a job earn about 200 US Dollars per month which is less than 200 Euros whereas the prices in the supermarkets are not lower than here in Germany. So not many people can afford to buy meat and other things. That’s why they often eat food they get for free like bananas, mangos or they go fishing or breed their own chickens. Not many people can afford to drive a car.
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We spent our two weeks in two different hotels and areas of the island. The first hotel was a typical tourist hotel where we enjoyed the beautiful beach. Many Jamaicans tried to sell things like cigars, coconuts, hats or were trying to earn some money by singing for the tourists. They mostly sang Reggae songs by Bob Marley, a very popular Reggae singer from Jamaica who is known all over the world. The Jamaicans are very proud of him. In Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, there is even a Bob Marley museum.
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Although it is illegal many Jamaicans smoke strange cigarettes which smell sweet.
They also try to sell them and one guy asked me if I wanted to give it a try but my friend told me that it was not a good idea!! Not far from our first hotel was Rick’s Café, a very popular bar on the rocks where people enjoy the beautiful sunset with a drink. |
What is very special here is that people jump from very high rocks into the sea. Some locals are very athletic and do risky loops but also tourists are brave enough to simply jump these 10 meters down. It was fun watching the different jumpers. I did that as well with a triple loop but unfortunately we forgot the camera that day …
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There we learnt much more about Jamaica and we had interesting discussions with the owner of that small hotel. In the garden I met many of my relatives, so many colorful birds. I have even seen a colibris, the smallest bird in the world. From here we visited amazing waterfalls and hidden paradise beaches.
It was very amazing that hardly any other tourists left their hotels to discover this beautiful country. We did not see many other tourists on the streets although travelling in Jamaica is not dangerous. It was a little sad that most tourists did not leave their all-inclusive resorts which would help the Jamaicans to profit a little from tourism.
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The Algarve and Sevilla
Over Easter I took the chance to travel towards sunnier and warmer days; I went to the Algarve in the south of Portugal, and to Sevilla. What a great trip!
The Algarve is located in the south of mainland Portugal. This region is well-known by its beautiful beaches on the North Atlantic Ocean; at the east it borders with Spain. I decided to spend most of the time on the beach, enjoying the good weather and the impressive sceneries. |
On the west of the Algarve it is often very windy. If one draws a straight line between the Portuguese and the US coast, it would be almost 6.000 kilometers long and it almost always go over water; only the Azores Islands that belong to Portugal are in between. But they are also far away, at about 1.400 kilometers from the Portuguese shore. So, there is here literally nothing to stop the wind that comes from the sea!
The Algarve is an ideal region for surfing. I saw many surfers coming from very different countries that spend hours in the water, always looking after the bigger waves to ride them.
The Algarve is an ideal region for surfing. I saw many surfers coming from very different countries that spend hours in the water, always looking after the bigger waves to ride them.
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but brrr... how cold is the water at this time of the year!!!
I couldn’t leave the region without seeing the Cape St. Vincent that forms the southwestern end of Portugal and of the entire European continent. This cape saw many naval battles that took place in the 14th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Very close from here there was a navigation school in the 15th century that formed most of the sailors that made all the discoveries for Portugal, which then lead to the colonies they had at that time, spread through the entire world. |
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The lighthouse located here can be seen up to 60 kilometers away!
Having breathed tons of good and fresh air, I continued my journey to Sevilla. This city is the fourth largest one in Spain and it is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia. I arrived here in the middle of the celebration of the Holy Week. During this time, many catholic processions take place. These processions are conducted by brotherhoods that carry several Virgins and platforms with scenarios of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, from their different home churches to the Cathedral and back. Many of the processions are accompanied by musicians. In the night from Holy Thursday to Good Friday there are processions all night long. The whole night thousands of people are underway in this impressive city and all the bars remain open! Many of the local people is very well dressed: men wearing dark suits and ties, and women black dresses and ornamental combs in their hairs called “peinetas”.
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One day, I visited the famous Cathedral of Sevilla. It is huge! This Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world. I walked the 35 ramps up to the top of the Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral. These ramps were built to allow people to ride them up with horses. Since I couldn’t find any horse that day, I had to walk them with my little fees, which took me a very long time. But when I finally got there, I enjoyed fantastic views! I could also smell the delicious aroma of the orange trees from the big patio next to the Cathedral.
Here rest the remains of Christopher Columbus - believed to be, by many people, the first European who discovered the American continent.
I also met Luis, a friendly but a bit crazy Andalusian guy who gave me a lot of explanations about his wonderful native city, which we then visited riding a bicycle.
Before I came back home, I wrote many postcards to my friends in Germany… did you receive one of them ? I can tell you that at the end of this journey
I was exhausted. You cannot imagine how happy I have been to finally find my own lovely bed to take a good long rest! |
Trip To Croatia to meet friends
For the
first time, I visited Zagreb which is the capital city of Croatia. Croatia is
located in Southeast Europe. In Zagreb I visited my friend Petar. He showed
me city people and my favorite food
‘štrukli’. This is traditional Croatian food. Petar showed me how štrukli is made. Later I got opportunity to taste it. It tastes amazing, it is so good. Creamy sour cream on the top and fresh cheese inside. If you want to learn, how it's made, just visit my "recipes page". |
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Finally I
visited the local school. In the school
I met my new friends in the biology
class.
In the next
few days I went sightseeing.
I saw Croatian public theatre, Park Zrinjevac, Museum Mimara, a cathedral and the Church of Saint Marko.
I saw Croatian public theatre, Park Zrinjevac, Museum Mimara, a cathedral and the Church of Saint Marko.
I really enjoyed my Croatian journey and if you are somewhere near you should visit Zagreb for at least a day!
Trip to Dublin and the Six Nations
This
time, I visited Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. Ireland is an
island located west of the United Kingdom. It is therefore very convenient to
fly there. The journey is very fast because the plane flies over the sea,
crossing the English Channel between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea
and the St. George’s Channel between the Celtic and the Irish Sea. These
crossings only take a few minutes, while a ship would need several hours to
make this part of the trip.
In Dublin I visited my friend Lorna. She is a
very kind Irish young woman who fortunately, like all the people of Ireland,
speaks English... with a wonderful accent that I got used to very quickly. Irish or Irish Gaelic, the
language that has originated from within the island, is only fluently spoken by
a minority of the people nowadays.
Irish people are very friendly; I like them a lot!
Lorna took me out to visit some of the more modern parts of the city: the Samuel Beckett Bridge that has been designed by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava from Valencia, Spain
Irish people are very friendly; I like them a lot!
Lorna took me out to visit some of the more modern parts of the city: the Samuel Beckett Bridge that has been designed by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava from Valencia, Spain
and the
Convention Centre.
During my
stay in Dublin, a very important sport event took place. The national team of
Ireland played a rugby match of the Six Nations Championship against England.
This sport is not popular and almost unknown in Germany. However, in countries
like Ireland, UK, New Zealand or South Africa, people love it. It is played
with a ball like his one and it is very tough game!
Wow, those
sportsmen, very big and well trained, did not look friendly to me anymore! They
played at the Aviva Stadium which is a very impressive building.
After an
intense fight the Irish team won and the locals were very happy!
I then took a nice journey with Lorna on a bicycle that everyone can use and rent throughout the entire city. We went to see the offices of Google.
I then took a nice journey with Lorna on a bicycle that everyone can use and rent throughout the entire city. We went to see the offices of Google.
I am sure
that all of you will know the most successful Internet searching machine. A few
thousand young people coming from many different countries work at their
European base located here. What an amazing environment!
Well folks, if you ever want to come and visit this very nice city, I will be happy to give you some tips. Jeffrey says bye bye to you now. I hope that you all will join me on my next trip later this year.
Well folks, if you ever want to come and visit this very nice city, I will be happy to give you some tips. Jeffrey says bye bye to you now. I hope that you all will join me on my next trip later this year.
My friend "Trucker Jeff"
Hi there,
This time I would like to tell you about my short trip to Birmingham in England, which was quite an adventure. My friend “trucker Jeff” had to make an urgent delivery to a furniture show in Birmingham, a 1500 km round trip in three days. Travelling through Holland, Belgium and France, it wasn’t possible to do it alone, Jeff asked me if I wanted to help. |
We agreed to meet at 03:45 a.m. Jeff had done all the vehicle checks, lights, everything in order so we set off at 4 a.m. Jeff drove first, which was great as I wasn’t really awake yet….come on it was 4 a.m. Gütersloh is situated right next to the motorway, so in ten minutes we were on the A2 going towards Dortmund, it felt great, “kings of the road”. No traffic, just the two Jeffs and our Mercedes truck…music blasting out just like in the films. |
Jeff explained we had to be in Calais France by 1 p.m. he was only allowed to drive four and a half hours, then I had to take over.
We worked out that we should be in France in 8 hours with one two minute breaks to change drivers.
Time flew by, into Holland then Belgium straight across the border, no passport control, 4 hours driving then it was my turn.
The truck and trailer is 18 meters long and 2.5 meters wide and fully loaded it weighs 22 tons.
The truck has 420 ps and 12 gears all automatic, it was amazing, you sit so high and you can see everything.
I settled down into my 4 hour drive.
The roads were fuller but still no traffic jams, the truck only goes 90 km/h which is fast enough, it feels like 160 km/h.
We entered France….Calais here we come…straight to the port to get the ferry.
Of course England is an island, we have to go across the water – the English Channel.
We worked out that we should be in France in 8 hours with one two minute breaks to change drivers.
Time flew by, into Holland then Belgium straight across the border, no passport control, 4 hours driving then it was my turn.
The truck and trailer is 18 meters long and 2.5 meters wide and fully loaded it weighs 22 tons.
The truck has 420 ps and 12 gears all automatic, it was amazing, you sit so high and you can see everything.
I settled down into my 4 hour drive.
The roads were fuller but still no traffic jams, the truck only goes 90 km/h which is fast enough, it feels like 160 km/h.
We entered France….Calais here we come…straight to the port to get the ferry.
Of course England is an island, we have to go across the water – the English Channel.
This time there were loads of checks, passport control and we had to go through a great big x-ray machine so they could see what was inside the truck.
The paperwork was all in order and we followed the cars and other truckers onto the ferry, all easy, I was getting used to this driving truck life. I said to Jeff that we had been on the road for 8 hours and not left the motorway, he smiled and said that it will be the same on the other side…maybe a few little changes, wait and see, best I drive! The ferry was smaller than I expected. I sat outside on the deck it was very wet and windy, thought I would have a little rest, 90 minutes later I see land, the white cliffs of Dover, we had arrived, that was quick. |
300 km or 180 miles later we arrived at the show in Birmingham.
It was 8 p.m. but when I looked up at the clock it was only 7 p.m. Even the time is different in England. We had a very long day, 14 hours on the road and everything was closed. As we had to have an 11 hour break we left the unloading for the next day. So time to sleep in the truck, no hotel for truckers, the truck had two beds and it was such a long day we both fell straight into a deep sleep, the truck even has heating, very nice. |
Next morning 8 a.m. a bang on the door, the guys waiting to offload the truck, of course we helped them and in 4 hours the trailer was empty.
No time to waste, we had a ferry to catch but this time a different route across the North Sea with Stena Line from Hull to Holland.
I was surprised as there was no passport control and the crossing took a whole 16 hours!
No time to waste, we had a ferry to catch but this time a different route across the North Sea with Stena Line from Hull to Holland.
I was surprised as there was no passport control and the crossing took a whole 16 hours!
I had my own cabin, no sleeping in the truck. The ship crossing is more expensive but you save on diesel because you miss out on driving through France and Belgium and it is less stressful on the driver – still decided to go on the massage chair, it was lovely.
After a great night’s sleep and breakfast we drove off the ferry straight onto…. Yes, the motorway!!
Only 350 km to Gütersloh, easy for truckers like us, we arrived at home in 5 hours, I drove the last hour, who knows when I will get the chance to be a trucker again.
3 days, 4 countries, 1500 km, English Channel, North Sea – that’s a lot of travelling and a lot of motorway!!
Happy to be home
Jeffrey
After a great night’s sleep and breakfast we drove off the ferry straight onto…. Yes, the motorway!!
Only 350 km to Gütersloh, easy for truckers like us, we arrived at home in 5 hours, I drove the last hour, who knows when I will get the chance to be a trucker again.
3 days, 4 countries, 1500 km, English Channel, North Sea – that’s a lot of travelling and a lot of motorway!!
Happy to be home
Jeffrey