Rhein-Zeitung (Ahrweiler), Tuesday, 28.Oct.03

The daughters take place in the sidecar

On Thursday Ulrike and Frank Schmitz from Wershofen/Germany start for their five month journey through New Zealand with their Yamaha

The motorbike and the sidecar are already on the way to the other end of the world by ship. In two days Ulrike an Frank Schmitz from Wershofen/Germany are going to follow with their two little kids. The family wants to explore New Zealand by motorbike for five month..

 

WERSHOFEN. Since the middle of September the four-headed family sits in front of their computer every evening to watch a containership via internet which is on the way to New Zealand. So they accompany their white-lacqued Yamaha with the silver-grey sidecar which are well packed up in a special box. On October 30th the parents Uli and Frank with their two daughters Malin (5) und Laura (2) will get on board of the plane to land on the iland in the Pacific Ocean after a 26 hours flight-marathon. There they´ll start their five month lasting tour with bike and sidecar across New Zealand. The little daughters take place in their child seats in the sidecar, Mum and Dad on the Yamaha FJ 1200. With this tour the motorbikeloving parents make their dream come true. Before they got their children they always spent their holiday by bike. Now the right time has come. For Frank who was soldier for a time the duty ends, Ulrike is able to extend her maternity leave and the oldest daughter has to visit school not before next summer. Only the destination had to be found. Where you can do an extended journey with two little kids without an extreme weather situation, political unrests, dangerous animals? Also the food shouldn´t be too different. They choosed New Zealand. „A small, civilized country where the spring begins when we start our tour in November.“, the parents say. During the last month everything in Schmitz´ home was marked by the trip. Uncountable small and big things had to be organized and also the girls were involved in the plannings.The parents brushed their English up and the five years old Malin visited an English class especially for children. In stages not exceeding 200 kms a day the family wants to explore the country. The nights shall be spend in youthhostels or on campsites. The girls travel very comfortable in their sidecar. They have a cassette recorder and many games. And naturally there´ll be much to experience. Because of the little height of the kids there´s enough space on the floor for sleeping bags and mats. There´re also aluminium cases at the bike and the trunk from the sidecar to stow away the luggage. So they had to choose carefully what to take with. They don´t have a fixed route because most things they want to decide spontaneously. Only several things are fixed. Ulrike Schmitz: „The kids want to see the glow worm caves and the penguins .“ They have a tour diary and with their digital videocamera they want to capture their adventures to show them on their homepage www.schlumf.com.


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