Changing my course

A new year requires new decisions and changes, I want to save time and bundle my blog posts and all pages together. You can now find everything on my new website paulabloggt.org, you will be forwarded from there.

• Current links can now be found under this side. 
• You can find new blog posts on my new website paulabloggt.org
• Blog around the world - Paula's kaleidoscope (experience from over 80 cruises)
• Do you already know PAULAS DOWNLOAD BUNDLE? But in the moment only available in German.

Paula's Download Bundle will be available for €18.00 just in time for planning your next vacation. You can already buy it from Digistore24 and do good, all purchases made up to the end of February 2022 will go to the DGzRS Die Seenotretter.

So remember, my latest links and top tips, so much greatness in one place! You will find under PAULAS LINKS!

You always want to be up to date? Then please subscribe to my newsletter, from which you can always unsubscribe!

Stay tuned and stay healthy!
Yours Paula

Happy New Year

Thanks Jule www.juliareyelt.de

I am looking forward, what the next year will bring us. The nice picture from Jule will give us a little bit of winterfeeling. 

Don't forget the past, learn from it. Don't look back.  
New Years marks a new beginning, new people to meet and new adventures to enjoy.

May the year ahead brings you good luck, fortune, success and lots of love. 
Have a smashing new year filled with lots of delightful surprises. 
 
I wish you all a Happy New Year 

All the best 
Constanze Hoffmann

Wonderful Christmas time

 

Snowflakes, snowflakes, soft and white,
Falling, falling, through the night.
While the children sleep for hours,
You will cover fields and flowers.
Snowflakes, snowflakes soft and white,
Falling, falling through the night.

(author unknown)

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas time
© Constanze Hoffmann

Cruiseship Insignia news

Cruise Ship Fire Leaves 3 Dead, Passengers Evacuated

A fire broke out in the engine room of Oceania Cruises’ Insignia while the cruise ship was docked on the island of St. Lucia on Thursday morning.  The fire left three dead, one crew member and two contractors.

The fire happened at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Thursday and all passengers were evacuated from the ship. There are no reports of injuries to any passengers at this time.  The cause of the fire is under investigation at this time [source text cruisefever.net].

Read more under: cruisefever.net.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.

Constanze Hoffmann 

World Heritage Committee stands firm on need for stronger Reef protection

Posted on 18 June 2014 www.org.au

Fight for the Reef campaigners have welcomed the decision by the World
Heritage Committee (just after 7pm Australian time) to maintain pressure
on Australia to improve protection of the Great Barrier Reef and
address threats from industrial port development, dredging, dumping, and
poor water quality.

“The World Heritage Committee has resisted intense pressure from the
Australian and Queensland Governments to water down its decision on the
Reef,” said WWF-Australia Reef campaigner Richard Leck.

Please read more 👉  under WWF Australia

Yours Constanze Hoffmann

Merry Christmas

 

At Christmas time, 

we deck the hall 

With holly branches brave and tall,

With sturdy pine and hemlock bright
And in the Yule log's dancing light
We tell old tales of field and fight

At Christmas time.

At Christmas time 

we pile the board
With flesh and fruit and vintage stored,And mid the laughter and the glow
We tread a measure soft and slow,
And kiss beneath the mistletoe 

At Christmas time. 

English Traditional at santas.net

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and

a Happy New Year!

Best wishes 

Constanze 

A really big bird

- in the far north of Australia the cassowary plays a central role in shaping the rain forest.

Today I found an interesting article at national geographics about this very big bird. 

 

Detail of a Southern Cassowary head - picture wikipedia

• About cassowaries at national geographics by writer Olivia Judson
• German version at national geographics
• Photo gallery at national geographics by Photograph Christian Ziegler
• Video - Dungsnuffling to find Cassuwaries - at national geographics

The cassowaries (IPA: /,kæsɵwæri/) are ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone) in the genus Casuarius native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, nearby islands, and northeastern Australia. 
There are three extant species recognized today. The most common of these, the Southern Cassowary, is the third tallest and second heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu.

Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus play an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree Ryparosa were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%).
Grown  Cassowaries can be up to 1.70 meters high and over 60 kilograms. However, cassowaries hold their head straight, the protective function of the helmet will only occur with bowed head, so they look smaller than they are. A cassowary's three-toed feet have sharp claws. The second toe, the inner one in the medial position, sports a dagger-like claw that is 125 millimetres (5 in) long.

(Read more on Wikipedia).

A road sign in Cairns, Queensland, Australia

They then studied 140 cases of cassowary mortality and found that motor vehicle strikes accounted for 55% of them, and dog attacks produced another 18%.

 

See this video on YouTube - BBC Natural World - Cassowaries

On the ground in front of me there’s a large round pile of what looks like moist purple mud. It’s roughly the volume of a baseball cap, and it’s studded with berries and seeds—more than 50. Some of the seeds are larger than an avocado stone.
I kneel down to look more closely. Putting my nose just a couple of inches away, I take a sniff. It smells of fruit mixed with a whiff of vinegar. There’s also a hint of that mouth-puckering, astringent flavor you get from strong black tea. Peculiar. But not unpleasant. 

What is it? It’s a bird dropping. A big bird dropping. From a big bird.
I stand up and look around. I’m in the Daintree Rainforest, two hours’ drive up the coast from the seaside city of Cairns, in the far north of Australia. Here and there, shafts of sunlight fall through the canopy, dappling the ground. On a tree beside me, I spot a Boyd’s forest dragon—a handsome lizard with a crest on its head and spikes down its spine. Somewhere nearby, insects are singing. But of a big bird—no sign. 

Read more on national geographics by writer Olivia Judson

Have a nice day

Constanze Hoffmann

X-mas wishes

"Christmas is a time of joy, 

a time for love and cheer.

A time for making memories

to last throughout the year".

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and

a Happy New Year!

Best wishes 

Constanze 

 

Blog award

- Please vote for Conny's travel blog

Moorea 2012

Update - the winner is:

1. www.kids-on-cruise.de 1433 votes
2. www.lookinforjonny.de  650 votes
3. www.myhomeismycar.com 1250 votes. 

Thanks a lot for your voting! 

Update -  After all the travel blogs in the final selection will have had time to mobilize their friends and fans, now the jury will decide, who really wrote the best travel blog 2012. Click here to see the jury.

The Criteria for selection are: Overall layout / construction, artwork, text quality and treatment issues, interactivity with the reader and added value to the reader.

Update 11.09.2012 - I am nominated on 6th Position - may the best blog will win!

Update 07.09.2012 - Head-to-head race for the 4th Position - Pole position is far away - to be hitting 548 votes. The next participant is close at hand - he has 181 votes - one more than me. The next hurdle is 238 votes. So please vote strongly - 1 x day will going. However you have problems with the security code - please do not despair.

My blog has been recommended from someone unknown to the Blog Award from weg.de. Thank you very much Mr. Unknown!  

So up to the 10 th september 2012 I need many votes as possible to be nominated.
I am looking forward to your votes. Here you are welcome to vote or just click on the subscriber button.

Important is, at the end of the list you have to put in the security code (captcha code) and click on "Jetzt abstimmen".

Many thanks in advance. 
 

To action: At the proposal stage of 14.08.2012 to 10.09.2012 you can vote for the participating travel blogs. Blogs that have received the most votes in this period, has been nominated as favorites and go into "voting countdown". That means, from 11.09.2012 to 18.09.2012, the participating blogs can once again mobilizing all friends and fans of their travel blogs and go "fishing" for votes. 
If you have it, the badge will automatically switch on your blog from "participants" to "nominated". The number of votes goes to 50% in the final result. (Source weg.de )  

Conny is fishing

 
German version

Best wishes and have a nice day
Constanze Hoffmann

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day

The Christmas chimes are pealing high

Beneath the solemn Christmas sky,

And blowing winds their notes prolong

Like echoes from an angel's song;

Good will and peace, peace and good will

Ring out the carols glad and gay,

Telling the heavenly message still

That Christ the Child was born to-day.

In lowly hut and palace hall

Peasant and king keep festival,

And childhood wears a fairer guise,

And tenderer shine all mother-eyes;

The aged man forgets his years,

The mirthful heart is doubly gay,

The sad are cheated of their tears,

For Christ the Lord was born to-day.

(Susan Coolidge)

Ich wünsche Ihnen ein gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest und ein schönes Neues Jahr!

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas time and a happy New Year!

Yours Constanze 

Make a wish

... but don't wonder or wanna a big portion of ice?

All my friends know, that I love to make expedition cruises, my favorite holiday destinations are the ice areas. 

Those people, whom once stood in front of a glacier, will know this desire, it might even break off a big piece. Many times we made zodiac tours with Ms Hanseatic in front of fantastic glaciers. All the time this amazing views and all the time everybody have the same wish –a large portion of ice, please. So am I!

On my last trip expedition Norway around Spitsbergen. We made a zodiac trip in the bay in front of the Monaco glacier, which is about 40 m high. Small pieces are falling down from wall. When I checked the pics on my camera, a scream scared me. It was something like, "Oh God, now the hole wall is breaking down." Any questions for the force of thought desire? 
 

By the way - I made wonderful pics, which you can see here.

My whole log, which I started in 2009 you can read here, please use Google translater, because I wrote all the logs from my trips in german. 

So the conclusion of my journey is, when you make a wish, be mindful, because you never know, how your wishes come true.

Picture from Dr. Arne Kertelhein

Have a great day
©mustangconny

The moon wished to marry the sun

As she realized that she would never be able to unite with him, she shed huge, yellow tears. These tears are the origin of the Amazon River. (Ancient Amazon myth)

The element water is a determinating factor in the myths and legends of the people who live on the Amazon. Many curanderos tell tales of mysterious under water worlds that may be visited both in the visions an in real life. It is told that the ancient magicians of the Amazon could live under water as long as they pleased. They lived in the underwater world with their water-wives, the "sirenas" or the "yacu-warmis" (yacu = water, warmi=woman). When they would return, after weeks or months, they would leave the river with dry clothes.

So it is told that Don Pedro's uncle, Don Eleuthenio Guerra, had these special powers. He was a "sumi". This is the title of the Amazon shamans that have the capacity of remaining under Water as long as they whish. He was married to two women, one of whom was a Yacuwarmi, a sirena of the Amazon River. At the age of 107 he took his leave and went to live with his sirena for good. The water-spirits are called by the curanderos during the ceremonies, by means of the icaros.

   >> Hear an icaro against snake bites from Don Pedro



Informations about the world of the great mother of the water and more you will found on Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales. The shaman Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales lives in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. He is a descendent of an ancient healer family. Like his father before him (Don Jose Guerra), Pedro is a "Palero", a tree shaman.
Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales is one of the most renowned shamans of the Amazon.

The german text you will find here

Don't forget! 
Don Pedro will return to Europe from April 28th to May 8th, 2011
Ask for information

Next date for group travel to Camp Don Pedro:
Monday 28 February to Wednesday 16 March 2011 More

  
Best wishes!
Constanze Hoffmann

What is your focus?

Have always time for a smile!
 
The days around the turn of the year are often packed full of wishes and dreams, with the formulation of goals and visions, often drawn to the smallest detail. For many of us it is definitely quite round in my head. I sometimes find myself here that remain out of sheer plan and objectives, formulating the fun and ease rather on the track. A Chinese proverb says: "Life is either mastered smiling - or not." How true is it!

 

Therefore I decided in 2011 to the following motto: Have always time for a smile!
  

- More smiles instead of brooding 
- More pleasure instead of waiver
- More rest instead of restless
- More ease severity rather than
 
I sincerely hope that many join this motto, and that we can jointly take more life, more laughter and more ease in the world!

© mustangonny