Author: vicki

Our van had been sitting without electricity for now over 3 weeks and we discovered that the batteries for the van had run out so we needed to head off to a campsite where we could recharge the batteries and get 3 weeks of washing done plus move closer to Scandinavia.

Before heading out on Saturday the 4^th July though, there was a particular game we had to try to watch online – the final of the super 15 rugby which happened to be between Highlanders and Hurricanes – in effect South Island vs North Island – Vicki vs Scot (game of the decade really).  We couldn’t find anywhere to watch it and couldn’t find anyone on line live streaming it, so we had to settle for 2-3 minute updates which was nerve wracking especially since the Highlanders were winning all the way.  HIGHLANDERS then won – yay to my team, but very disappointed we hadn’t been able to watch what would have been a spectacular and very close game.

It was a very hot day again – mid thirties and we headed off to Holwerd, which is close to where the ferries leave to go over to Amerland – a large 25km long island sanctuary that a lot of people go over to as they have beaches where you can swim.  We arrived at the campsite and parked the van.  Then we had to start it again and shift it on to the ramps to level it up but when we turned the van off, the fan in the engine kept going.  We figured it was so hot that it just needed to stay on to cool the van down.  We headed off into the little village to get a baguette for lunch, but on returning to the van the fan was still going.  Eventually Scot had to disconnect the battery to stop it as it would have just continued to run.

We stopped here for two nights and it rained on the day we were there or else we may have taken the ferry across to the islands, but it was stormy with thunder and lightning all day.  We did bike out to the ferry just to check it out later in the day but we got caught in a rain squall coming back and got soaked.  We did manage to get 4 loads of washing done whilst there and dried plus charged the van back up, but when we went to leave on the Monday the van wouldn’t start.  Crap!  In a very small village with nothing close by, what bad luck.  Then we found there was a small mechanic shop in the heart of the village, so we engaged him to come and jump start us.  We had also had a problem where one lot of our van lights were blowing a fuse everytime the fuse was replaced.  So after the van started we drove to Groningen where we had found a campervan repair shop who should be able to check the lights for us.  We also figured if the van wouldn’t start there again, then we would have someone who could have a look at the battery and at least get us started again.  We have learnt though, that if you phone ahead, a lot of these places will plead too busy to help you and will say to go elsewhere, so we now just lob up and hope they can help within a day or two of seeing them.  The place in Groningen were unable to help but phoned a place in Coevorden who said they could help us the next morning.  Coevorden was travelling the wrong way – back down south east, but we wanted to get the lights fixed, so off we went.  We found a lovely little camping ground about 8km east of Coevorden where we are staying.

The camping place was indeed able to help fix the lights which ended up taking no time at all and at little cost which was fortunate (mostly because we pointed out which light we thought it was) as we had worried that wiring issues tend to be very difficult to find and very costly like our very expensive reverse lighting wiring that we had fixed in Westkapelle. They also checked our battery which was ok.

Later this morning we received the very sad news that my mother had just passed away, so currently we are staying put just outside of Coevorden until the funeral  which is on Monday 13 July so we know we can get good wifi to be able to watch it via live streaming.

Amongst the very sad circumstances there have been some positives for us.  Staying where we are has meant these people have leant us a ladder (which no one would do so far due to legal liabilities) so Scot can clean and de-mould the roof of the van which has never been done and we will be putting a wax coat so that water will just run off.  He also was able to use the ladder to silicone up another couple of areas that required it.

We will also ride across the border into Germany on one of the days and go down to Coevorden for the Haven boats and carnival that is on at the same time.  Even though we would prefer to be heading north, due to the circumstances, at least we can do some exploring around the local area.

Coevorden is the sister city of Vancouver, as in the past, Coevorden pioneers travelled to North America and founded the area of Vancouver.

 

Friday 12 June

We left Amsterdam,  3 days were really enough to see the sights and experience the atmosphere.  We headed off to Apeldoorn where we were to meet up with some of my friend Carmen’s family members – her Uncle and Aunt Herman and Els and her cousin Marion and her partner Michel (Michael in English).  We stayed at a camping ground which was similar to wild camping about 10kms west of Apeldoorn in a place called Assel.  This is a beautiful woodland forest area which is part of the kings palace area.  The camping ground didn’t have any electricity which made us thankful we have gas to run the fridge on.  What a beautiful secluded peaceful area.  They have these portable fire dishes which you can move to your campsite and light an open fire in them.  There is lots of wood around in the forest or you can pay for some.  On the Friday night Carmen’s family happened to be camping beside our spot in the ground which was quite funny as we didn’t let them know who we were when they arrived.  We waited until her cousin and partner had arrived and then surprised them.  We joined them for a drink around the fire which was lovely.  The next day we had a coffee at a café that is close by near the railway line.  There is nothing really in Assel but everyone comes here to bike through the forest paths as it is lovely and peaceful.  The café survives I think by these bikers who pass by stopping for lunch or a coffee etc.  The train runs through here quite often from Apeldoorn or further out to Amsterdam and beyond.  They come through regularly at about 130km/hr.

On Saturday we biked with Herman and Els the 10km into Apeldoorn for a BBQ for Marions birthday and for their house they recently moved into.  What a treat for us to be invited into a family’s get together with lovely food and great company- we felt very privileged and welcomed.  It was so nice to be included in something on the other side of the world after it being just us for the last couple of months.  We biked back in the last of the daylight around 10pm.

On Sunday we said goodbye to Herman and Els and then biked back into Apeldoorn with Marion to join them for a Sunday session at a local bar where there was a band playing and we met their friend Martinique.  Marion treated us to some Bitter Balls, which is a deep fried dutch snack – a bit difficult to explain what it’s like, but is very nice.  We also had deep fried cheese balls plus other snacks.  Just yummy.  After a few drinks there we went to an Irish bar where we had further drinks and some frites.  We were having such a good time, and the fact that it doesn’t get dark till late, we didn’t leave until 11.30pm.  We had to push bike back on our own in the dark – the 10km back to the campsite.  The bike path is quite narrow and goes through a pitch black forest.  Even though we had done this the day before in daylight, it was still quite creepy.  Luckily I had a small torch taped to my handlebars so I could see a little in front of me.  At one point Scot, who was behind me, said ‘I can hear something rustling in the bushes beside us’.  I told him I didn’t want to know what he could hear as it freaked me out thinking something was in the bush beside us.  And a couple of minutes later all of a sudden two deer jumped out of the bush and crossed just in front of us and scared the shit out of me.  There are a lot of deer in these woods as well as wart hogs – which you don’t want to meet on a dark night!  The wart hogs come out at night and dig along the side of the paths or roads looking for food in the soil.  This looks like a digger has come along and turned the soil over ready for planting.  We crossed the train line a bit after this and just as we had gone across a train came through – also a bit freaky in the dark of the night.  Anyway we got home safely.

Monday came and we were going to leave but this place was so peaceful and we had wanted to light a fire the night before but it was too late so we decided to stay another night and have a fire to cook our tea on.

During the day we walked up to the cemetery near by which we had heard was really lovely.  That was correct – it was a different place.  Instead of just a whole lot of orderly concrete gravesites it was inside a heavily treed area with lots of plants and flowers.  The gravesites were just medium sized rocks with names and dates and were quite modest in nature but were often planted around with flowers or had burning candles there.  It was a very serene and restful place.  You need to look at this place in perspective of where it is located – surrounded by acres of forest land with only a couple or so houses nearby.  It is a long way from the town.

We also drove into town to buy a whole lot of supplies of non perishable things as well as a few fresh things plus alcohol to stock up on before we head up to Scandinavia.  Better to have a few cheaper things in store and avoid some of the greater expense of that part of the world.

We cooked salmon and potatoes, mushrooms and broccoli on the fire which was just so lovely.  Nothing tastes quite like fire cooked food.  We had bought marshmallows to toast as well.

Tuesday 16^th

Bad news arrived and we had to prepare to leave on Wednesday and fly back to Dunedin.  The news was that my mother may not last the night and all the family had flown over.  What an agonising decision we had to make – whether we could or would make the trip or not.  Luckily we had stayed the extra night near Apeldoorn which is an hour by train from Amsterdam Airport or we wouldn’t have been able to go.  We also were able to leave the van in a safe location at the campsite and had Michel and Marion to help us with plans and get us to and from the train.  We were so grateful to them for all their help, especially since I was so distressed and not thinking that clearly.

We flew out the following morning.

 

Back into the blogs, but since it is nearly a month ago we won’t remember everything about what we did so bear with us as we try to recall our movements.

Sunday 7 June

We went back to Delft to have another look around.  This is such a lovely town.  We enjoy going into the touristy shops selling dutch foods and enjoying samples – particularly of the different cheeses, they have delicious gouda.  I am sure Scot’s doctor would be shaking her head at all the cheese he is eating and the potential cholesterol increase – but maybe it isn’t doing anything.

We were impressed with the Delft pottery – it is the blue and white pottery made locally, but they send the individual items off to many highly trained painters around the country who paint the strict Delft style on all their different pieces.  Because each piece is individually done they aren’t cheap to buy and having a look at very old pieces for sale around the town and in one particular shop the prices were extraordinary.  Some were up for sale for over 10,000 euro – although most of these pieces were over a hundred years old.  The painters are chosen based on their painting ability and are trained for a considerable amount of time before they are given pottery that is to sell.  I had to buy a gorgeous little cat skilfully painted as my souvenir from Holland.

We enjoyed the usual beer in the market place watching the happenings of people around us.

We saw some boots I was particularly keen to check out so decided we needed to come back in on Monday morning before leaving to have a closer look.  So on Monday morning we biked back into the town and discovered that virtually nothing opened on a Monday here.  Strange, but I guess they open on a Saturday so Sunday/Monday is their weekend off, so the boots were a no go.  We did find a couple of charity shops open to have a look around though.  On our way out of town I stopped to pat a pussy cat sleeping on an outside window sill.  He was very friendly and as I was patting him a gentleman stopped and was looking at me like I was going to steal him or something.  He happened to be the owner who was quite ok with me patting his cat and we had a lovely long chat with him before we took off back to the van.

We then drove off to Amsterdam to stay in a camping ground – Gaasperplas – which is on the outskirts of Amsterdam amongst a large recreation area of parkland with a lake, and has a train station very close by.  When we arrived there we couldn’t go in as they had had a huge rave there on the weekend and they were still cleaning up and there were trucks still loading hired equipment etc .  The rave had 60,000 people at it and 5,000 of them were camping in Gasperplas camping ground.  When they did finally let us in we were led to our park.  It was the only little piece of clean ground in the whole complex.  Behind us was a hedge and on the other side a massive field that was completely covered in litter left behind by the partygoers who had been at the rave.  We couldn ‘t believe our eyes.  We had to wander through as we were gobsmacked at the sight – and I know the photos don’t really show what it was like.  There were tents, blow up beds, food, balloons, thousands of the little balloon gas cylinders that they use to get high, chairs, clothes, drinks, colgate products given out as a promotion and many more things too lengthy to mention.  The organisers were really slack in their clean up, instead of using large vacuum machines to pick up the rubbish,  they were using blowers to try and blow it all into one place to pick up.  The problem with this is that it was windy and rubbish (tents included) was being blown away from the piles and into the waterways and even into our campsite area.  I did find a few euro as we were strolling around the ground.  Some of the campers were going picking up things to keep.  The Frenchies next to us picked up food – yes it was probably ok as there was lots of stuff unopened, but I couldn’t have done it, you never know what has happened to it.

Tuesday 9 June

We bought a 3 day train pass and headed into Amsterdam quite early so if we decided to do any of the touristy things we wouldn’t be caught in the long lines.  We found out from information on the inside of the train we caught that there are 177 different nationalities living in Amsterdam and it listed all around the walls which countries, how many people were from that country, the average wage from that country and the population, quite interesting really.  We got off the train in Central and started to walk the streets.  Holy Shit – what an unbelievable amount of tourists everywhere and it was only 9am, it was so busy, Amsterdam would not survive if anything stopped these people coming, they must bring in a huge amount of income to this city.

We decided to go on a canal cruise first thing in the morning to have a look around and know what there is to see.  It was interesting.  If you have a look at the width of the buildings, people used to be taxed on how wide their buildings were, so many of them are very narrow – in fact there was one building that was virtually only one door width wide, there is a photo below.  So when you see buildings that are very wide, you know whomever built that house must have been very rich indeed.  Each building has a goods lift which is a pulley system with hook on the outside of the building as the staircases aren’t’ wide enough to take furniture so they get it through the windows on the front of each building.  We watched one lady have her groceries lifted into her apartment via the lift.

We decided that we wouldn’t do the tourist things like museums etc (except the Rijk museum)  as they cost a huge amount and how many museums can you see and are all the tourist traps really worth it.  So based on that we started walking the different streets just looking at the canals, boats, houses, people etc, very interesting really.  We didn’t want to bike around this city as it was insane.  With the trams, cars, scooters, bikes, tourists it was bedlam and most tourists didn’t look out for bikes so there were a lot of near misses. We had a vegetarian pita pocket for lunch which was nice except for the olives that had pips in that Scot didn’t realise and he nearly broke a tooth on one.  We still aren’t sure whether his tooth is ok or not yet – could have been a very expensive olive!  We found that the same shop with the boots I liked in Delft was in Amsterdam so we started trying to find it.  We walked for miles trying to find this shop, getting lost multiple times and went around in circles, but stopped at a whole lot of shoe shops on the way having a look at boots. We did eventually find it only to find the boots weren’t right. We did waste a bit much time shopping.  We did come across a scene where it looked like there must have been some famous star in town as there were girls screaming and running after someone who had got out of a limousine.  When we went to investigate we realised they were just filming something for who knows what – maybe just a commercial or something and it wasn’t really anyone important after all.

We had walked for such a long time that my body was starting to ache, so we decided we would try some of the local legal substances to maybe assist in the pain reduction.  I bought a brownie – guaranteed to help with the pain – but I think I was ripped off as there was no pain relief let alone effect at all – that was a buggar.  However I wasn’t willing to try the other local pain relief which Scot did and seemed to work quite well for him.  There are sanctioned coffee shops which are really just drug dens where you can buy what you like and sit down and drink and smoke as much as you like.  This wasn’t our scene so we didn’t hang around in there, but did go into the most famous one in Amsterdam (the bulldog one) which was the first coffee house established there.  Not everyone can sell the drugs – they are controlled by the government – but you can smoke virtually anywhere you like.  When walking around the streets particularly the red light district you can smell pot everywhere being smoked.  There are rooms where you can buy mushrooms and relax for up to 6 hours whilst the effects take place but they don’t recommend this for amateurs.  Locals are allowed to grow 3 plants here and can have on them 3 grams legally.  But so far outside of Amsterdam we haven’t seen (or smelt) anyone smoking, so it obviously isn’t a big deal for locals.

We saw the flower market area which is where they sell all the tulip bulbs and a lot of fake wooden tulips and other souvenirs.  We also went into the nunnery which is a very serene area amongst the crazy city bustle.  This place is now a haven for women who need sanctuary.  We came across the strangest sight just outside the nunnery.  Someone had set up about 6 double beds in the middle of a street roped off.  What happened was you paid 5 euro and got into bed and lay down and an actor got in beside you and then read poetry to you with discreet non sexual soothing touches for 5 minutes, like to the face and hands etc.  When they finished you got up out of the bed, put your shoes on and left.  Supposedly this is art??  We decided to head back to the van early as we had started early and were buggared and could do the red light district etc the next night.

Wednesday 10 June

We went in late in the morning and got off the train a couple of stops before Central station.  We decided to walk around an area where the Van Gough and Rijk museums were as it was supposed to be a lovely area and then we would walk into the heart of the city past some other tourist traps from there.  We found a cute café – the Amstel café – on a canal boat where we stopped for our normal morning coffee fix, only to find their coffee machine was broken.  So we had to have a beer instead.  It was a beautiful day so this was very pleasant anyway.  We got to the Rijk museum and then decided to have our lunch (home made baguettes again) and then went into the museum.  This was the only attraction we visited.  We saw some Van Gough paintings here, but I guess the majority of them would have been in the Van Gough museum, so we didn’t see many of them.  Personally I didn’t think his painting were that great, but who am I to judge that.  However there were some amazing pieces of art to be seen here.  Hard to believe that after many centuries the colours are still very vibrant.  I felt that after going through the Louvre nothing really compares, but still enjoyed the visit.  We left the museum and walked up the canals to find the ‘Anne Frank Huis (house)’ just to see where it was and what it looked like.  It was very disappointing from the outside – looked a bit like a factory type of building but at 7pm there were still queues of about 50 people even at this time.  I had thought of going in here, but didn’t know what there was really to look at.  People we had talked to hadn’t been very impressed and were mostly disappointed so felt that the 20 odd euro was a waste of money.  On line others had posted there was really nothing much to see and was a waste of money.  Afterwards we went to find the cat sanctuary boat called ‘De Poezenboot’.  It was closed but was open the next day.  On the other side of the canal you could see the cats wandering around the decking that was enclosed so the cats didn’t fall into the water.  We had tired legs so stopped in the market square for a drink.  We didn’t think about it, but just sat in a spare seat out front and ordered.  We had a beer and a cider which ended up costing us 9 euro each (about $15) which we were horrified about but didn’t think to ask the cost before ordering.  You pay for the position and the view and really market squares need to be avoided for having drinks.

We waited until about 9pm and headed into the red light district area.  The ladies aren’t in the windows at this time and don’t appear until after 10pm.  The windows are really a glass door that they can then open to negotiate with potential customers.  The girls apparently pay quite a lot for their spots.  Most of the girls looked like they were east European and definitely not Dutch and not always that appealing, especially the 50-60 year olds sitting in the window with their S&M gear on.  According to statistics 80% of the windows were show casing men but we didn’t see any so we were unsure where the men were.  However one woman was re-arranging her package as we passed so it wasn’t noticeable in the bikini briefs he/she wore.  I felt sorry for a lot of them though as there were that many tourists just there to look and not buy and they were getting in the way of the windows so the real punters couldn’t negotiate.  Some girls were knocking loudly on their windows to shoo away people stopping in front of their doorways.  This area is absolutely buzzing at this time of night and is completely packed.  We had a look in a couple of the sex shops which we were quite intrigued to have a look at.  Amsterdam seems to be a major attraction for extreme fetishes and gay guys and the sex shops reflected this.  I’m no prude but there things in there that were gobsmackingly bizzare and sometimes just downright disgusting.  Who knows what people get off on.  A lot of the shops had viewing rooms where you sample the product – go figure!  There were the obvious sex shows on stage and peep shows for those who so desired.

We sat at the popular Old Sailors Hotel on a busy corner of the canal and had a couple of drinks.  We watched the world go by out the front.  Scot befriended a young lady whilst I was in the loo – she was from France and she was on her own.  It is a hard area to be in on your own so we had a drink and had an interesting chat to her for a while before having to leave for what I thought at the time was the last train back to Gasperplaas at 11.30pm.  She had been to NZ and had worked there for a while but hadn’t been able to stay.  The great thing about being on holiday is this experience of meeting people from all sorts of places.

Thursday 11 June

We again left late in the morning after a good sleep in and leisurely breakfast – that’s the advantage when it doesn’t get dark until 10.30-11.00 at night.  You don’t feel like you need to get up early to take make use of the whole day.

We went to De Poezenboot  as a first stop as it was only open for 2 hours.  We stopped there and patted the cats for a while and I got my cat fix.  Its really cool how it’s on a boat and the cats look out onto the canal.  We couldn’t resist buying a t-shirt from there and giving them a donation.  The organisation has been going since about the 1970’s when a lady took in a stray cat and then a couple more and it grew from there.  It is still growing strong.  Our friend Di visited the boat in the 70’s I think and it’s still going strong to this day – supported only by donations.

Afterwards we walked around other parts of the western side of the city where we hadn’t’ been before and eventually found a cute pub on a busy narrow road and had a drink whilst watching the passers-by.  We had people from Leiden in the Netherlands sit down next to us and we got chatting as you do.  They were there celebrating the mother’s 80^th birthday – a lovely family who were very curious about our holiday.  Scot impressed them with knowledge of their home town but only because he had seen a painting at the Rijk museum the day before that had the description of a navy boat that had exploded in the docks and had killed 150 people and devastated the surrounding city in about 1850’s.  So it does pay to go and see museums and read descriptions of some of the paintings – it just so happened he read the most appropriate one out of the hundreds there were.

We decided to have a nice sit down meal – just of pizza – for a change.  I find it strange though that people seem to expect you to order a pizza each when I couldn’t eat that much.  Its almost as if they are pissed off that you are only ordering one pizza to share – but I don’t see the sense in wasting food.

We walked around the red light district for the last time.  We came across the same double beds that we had encountered on the Tuesday, but this time they had been placed in the middle of the canals and the customers were taken there by boats.  It was interesting to watch it taking place.  Whilst watching we watched another scene taking place – a very angry older man who was running after someone who looked a bit feral.  When he caught up with him he was confronting him about something and his mates were trying to calm him down.  He was shaking his umbrella at the fellow.  I would say the guy must have ripped him off or scammed him or something as he was really pissed off over something.  I had thought they may have got the police involved as they are everywhere.  The cops are on horseback, pushbike and on foot, and there are many of them all over patrolling the area.

As we were walking along the canals we encountered a group of guys who were dressed as smurfs.  They had blue bodies and faces with white hats and shorts.  There were maybe about 20 of them and they were probably on a bucks night out.  They were obviously intoxicated and probably stoned and having a ball.  The crowd were loving what they saw and encouraging them.  A little later we spotted one smurf on his own who was staggering and completely and utterly lost (let’s hope he hadn’t sampled the mushrooms) and did not have any idea where he was.  We were on the other side of the canal and I was concerned he might fall into the canal as he staggered to the left then the right then back then forward and didn’t have any idea where he was going.  The canals don’t have anything to stop you falling into them and there are few ladders or buoys to get out.  We watched him for a bit but thought hopefully someone over that side would help him out if needed.

We were tired after 3 days of walking miles and we had seen enough so we went back to the van.  Friday onto Apeldoorn….

Friday 5/6/15 Off to Rotterdam to meet up with Kristie (for those who don’t know Kristie is a friend I work with).  The day started warm but it was a heatwave for Holland with a temp of at least 32 degrees – felt just like what we had left in Aus – sweating hot weather (don’t miss it one little bit).  We had heard that Staadcamping in Rotterdam wasn’t a very nice campsite, but it was fine.  A bit rustic – a big paddock with electricity in some places and the shower cubicles are small and there isn’t any loo paper – you have to ask for it at reception – but I think some people are a little precious about camping grounds.  This camp site is 3-4kms from the centre of Rotterdam and it is the only one so it’s great just to be able to park up safely and bike into the centre.  We travelled from delft to the campsite in about 30 minutes.  Got on our bikes and biked to the grand central hotel to meet up with Kristie.  We had read that after Rotterdam got bombed so badly during the war when they rebuilt they decided to build modern and not like most other places that re-built things the way they were.  We were very impressed with how it has been rebuilt.  The architecture is really quite amazing and they could teach Aust and NZ a few lessons on better architecture.

We saw the new market place – where there are apartments on the outside of the big arch that forms over a food market – with the most delicious looking food – it’s amazing inside, peoples windows in their apartments look over the market below.  A place where I wished I had the most amazing metabolism so I could try all the cuisine.  We wandered around the city which is so unlike anything we have seen in Europe yet.  Not that it is remarkable – just so modern compared with everywhere else.  We heard music playing so headed in that direction to find a cultural concert which we sat down and enjoyed along with the free wine and beer they were handing out.  We found V&D department store where they have a great eatery and had dinner.  Whilst eating we had a thunder storm with hail – how ironic that we get a day like Brisbane and then get a typical Aussie storm at the end of it.  We then went to an Irish bar for a nightcap before saying goodbye.  As I said on facebook – In a place where everyone is a stranger it is so nice to see a friendly face that you know well – was so sad to say goodbye but at least we had that little bit of time.

We decided to stay on in Rotterdam for Saturday and biked once again into the city.  What we did though was just bike around street after street – looking at different parts of the city since it is really quite a big city.  We were heading for the docks as there were a few places there that are historic, but would have been too far to walk to on Friday.  When we found a really cool place with a lot of quite old boats on the canal we parked the bikes and wandered around the cafes.  There were so many people sitting in the sun in these cafes and so many others wandering around – a very busy day.  You can tell everyone is coming out for the summer sun.  Scot found a pub that had about 20 boutique brewed beers and the owner started talking to us as we stood outside looking at all the bottles.  A very nice man – who obviously enjoyed having someone who was interested in hearing about how all the beers were brewed so he sat with us for a while having a chat.  I was interested to hear where he thought were the best places to visit, so when we left we went on his recommendation and continued towards the harbour/docks of the area of the former Holland/Amerika lines.  In its hay day it was the liner that all the immigrants went to America on to start a new life.  The area was also the old red light district, but is now a food market and eatery along with apartments that looked like they could now be used for new ethnic immigrants.  We ended up going to the end of the island where the SS Rotterdam rests.  This is the largest Ship that the Netherlands ever built and did its last world voyage back in 1997.  It now sits as a tourist attraction with guided tours, hotel rooms, restaurants and bars.  However the first two floors and promenade deck are free to the public which as poor tourists J we took advantage of.  We talked to the lady guide who was very friendly and again seemed amazed that we were on a 12 month European holiday.  People over here seem to think we are incredibly adventurous, but I don’t think many people from NZ and Aussie travel too far out of their comfort zone – or the tourist zones.

I am impressed with the bikeways around the city – it certainly makes bike riding much more enjoyable when you know the cars aren’t going to run you over or come so close you fall off your bike.  Also you get to see lots of things you most likely wouldn’t see from a car at a higher speed.  The bikeways are on each side of the road and have a centre line to allow both way bike traffic.  The only thing that stuffs it all up is the scooters travelling at 60+km that fly past you and scare the pants off you.  It is illegal for them to do that, but it seems most don’t get caught.  We really were wowed by the architecture and you will have to excuse all the photos we took as it is so different from the boring square typical staid uninventive architecture we are used to.

Below there is a photo of one building that didn’t get bombed during the war and it‘s really quite a cool building.  It was built about the 1890’s so is very old although it doesn’t look it.  Another picture is like an Escher building where the walls are all cubes and it looks like the rooms are sloping downwards – really an amazing building.  There are peoples books and things in the windows.

I hadn’t been fussed on visiting Rotterdam, but I am glad we did because it is an amazing city with so much to see, but you do need a bike to see it all.

 

After our little campsite shuffle on Sunday we think we upset our next door neighbour by having our door open on the wrong side.  In the camp grounds everyone has their door open on the same side as that then becomes like ‘their backyard’ and they have their awning plus chairs and table there etc and they don’t have to look at the next door people.  Well we like to back our van in and this means our door often opens onto someone else’s backyard (because we are right hand drive with the door on the opposite side to left hand drive vans) which hasn’t been a problem until now.  These people beside us didn’t like it.  They tried to tell us that we needed to turn around but we just said we weren’t putting chairs out and we wanted our bedroom to look out onto the hedge rather than the walkway.  They moved away the next morning.  I guess our name was mud for not following the standard convention but I was only concerned with where we look out from our bed and don’t care about their protocol.  We thought it was hilarious that it was that much of a problem.

Monday we biked into Domburg.  It is about 10+ kms away from Zouteland where we were staying.  There was still quite a bit of wind around and we hoped it was a sideways wind but unfortunately for us it wasn’t.  It was a tail wind on the way to Domburg making the return very difficult.   Biking along the top of the dike looking out over the ocean on one side and the flat country on the other side was quite cool.  The more you see of Holland the more you realise it is a country that would be put under water if global warming allows the oceans to rise and they didn’t have measures in place to keep out the tidal surges and rises.  There is already so much water that any rise in it would put much of the land under water.  It is very pretty though as you bike along and there are red poppies everywhere and daisies.  We have a mug with wild flowers in it on our bench top which is a nice little touch as it just adds a little colour and homeliness to our van.  Domburg had a market on in its centre so we parked up our bikes and had a walk around.  With hundreds of bikes everywhere you need to be sure that you park up your bike in a place that is easily recognisable as otherwise you would lose it amongst all the others.  The only difference about ours is that they are red mountain bikes and totally unlike anything the Dutch ride.  All their bikes are black/grey and have high handlebars and low seats so they all sit upright riding around.

I was trying to find another jumper as you just can’t fit enough clothes in a suitcase for a whole year and feel like you aren’t wearing exactly the same thing every day (although that’s ok for Scot – he doesn’t mind).  So we wandered around having a look at all the clothes for sale.  Here in Domburg the flavour seems to be nautical looking anything that has embroidered yacht club names or whatever on, plus say they are from Norway and have emblems etc.  Seems to be the trend and they aren’t cheap.   From 40 to 60 Euro for a fleecy thing that isn’t fantastic quality but is a little flashy looking.  With the current exchange rate that is about $65 – $95.  Markets always seem to be a little bit of an expensive exercise from what we have seen, but we did buy cheap raspberries (not as cheap as England though) and a few veges.  Markets here aren’t like Australia.  There is a large amount of things like cheeses, hams/salamis, veges, lollies (salted liquorice) plus other local products, but rarely do you see stalls with any Asian made products – I guess its too far away, but the markets are quite worthwhile looking at for supplies – this coming from me who doesn’t do markets normally!

We biked back to the campsite which was really a very hard slog – about 8kms with a blustery headwind – which wasn’t much fun really.

Tuesday – van repair day.  The van went into the workshop to get the problematic fuse issue fixed.  It turned out that the reverse light cables were faulty and both had to be replaced.  A very expensive exercise but one that we had no control over as it had to be done and we weren’t in a position to look elsewhere to have it done.  It took all day which we spent in Middleburg again having a look around.  Again today started out a little wet but the rain went away, but it was so windy and very cool.  We sat at the bus stop on our way back to pick the van up and we watched two guys with strange gas contraptions burning the grass on the side of the canals.  We wondered why they didn’t just use a mower or whipper snipper??  We think it may have to do with seed propagation but would like to know.  These contraptions have a gas cylinder on top like a lawn mower and they light the gas so underneath is on fire…go figure?

Wednesday – After a week in Zouteland we are finally off north towards The Hague.  We went over a couple of amazing bridges which are designed to control the flow of surge water inland during storms built in about the 1950’s – see photo below.  We knew when we were coming near Rotterdam.  The traffic increased ten fold and the highways got larger.  We were gobsmacked by the  enormity of the industrial and port areas leading up to Rotterdam.  They were the size of Brisbane – if not bigger and everywhere we looked were refineries, processing plants, warehouses etc – see photos below.  They just seemed never ending.  Scot says looked like Fishermans Island on steroids plus!  We didn’t even get into Rotterdam before we turned off towards the Hook of Holland (christened the Hood of Holland).  We got a bit confused by roadworks everywhere.  This area is the glasshouse capital of the world.  The equivalent of Rotterdams industrial area is a massive glasshouse growing area.  Miles and Miles of glasshouses as far as the eye could see.  Scot wondered if they were growing Weed for Amsterdam, especially those with clouded glass so you couldn’t see what they were growing.  Found an average camp for the night but it was getting late and we couldn’t be bothered travelling further.

Today, we travelled up the coast to The Hague.  We stopped in one area and walked over the dunes to a café on the beach – they are everywhere along the beaches.  The weather was magnificent today – warm but not too hot and not too windy.  We had our standard morning coffee with apple pie and slagroom (whipped cream).  We would have loved to have stayed longer and maybe had a swim (even though the water was cold) but we had to move on.  Could imagine this place pumping in the summer and so packed with no room to move.  The café had sun beds and lounge chairs I believe you would hire as I saw them move on a guy who thought they were free.  The Hague is a city absolutely chock a block with apartment blocks and very condensed living.  The area between The Hague and Amsterdam (Ranstaadt) is supposedly the most densely populated area in Europe and this isn’t a surprise when you see the amount of apartments that stretch in never ending rows – a bit like the glasshouses down south.   On the road again and we decided to go via The Hague centre – BIG mistake!!  We know why we must give cities a wide berth and this wasn’t a large one either.  The car traffic lights are difficult to determine from the bike lights and there are of course bikes everywhere and scooters and what a nightmare.  After going through a red light plus nearly taking out a scooter guy (when Scot wanted to do a U turn on the tram lines) who then gave Scot more than the finger and fist, plus the numerous road works and detours we managed to get out of The Hague and got to Delft, which is really only separated by a green belt and barely discernible.  What a difference.  We found a lovely campground 5 minutes bike ride from the centre (centrum).  We took a ride into Delft and what a lovely town it is.  The canals are so full though that you could imagine if they had a little rain, they would overflow into everyones houses.  But, they must have pretty good water control or there would be chaos.  We did the standard thing and had a beer in the market square with the hundred or so others.  Not sure if they are all also tourists or locals but it is certainly great people watching.  Crazy with the sun shining like midday and it’s still 7-8 at night.  It doesn’t get dark here until about 10.45 and will get lighter later as we travel further north.  Sleep will obviously be overrated then and we may have to stay out partying late!

Tomorrow off to Rotterdam to meet up with Kristie – awesome to be able to meet up with a friend while on the other side of the world!  Although we can get a campsite in Rotterdam we can’t find anywhere to camp on Saturday night yet as being the weekend everyone is full.  Who knows what is in store for us, but we are coming back to Delft on Sunday night for another look before heading to Amsterdam on Monday.

 

Travelled out of Maastricht Wednesday morning.  Can never get away early enough but always a good sleep in.  After restocking the larder off we went to our next destination which was the province of Zeeland – a large island closest to Belgium.  Looked at a few camps but decided on Janse campsite as it looked larger and immaculate compared to the first one we saw.

It was quite a long trip coming to Zeeland from Maastricht (bottom of Netherlands).  We travelled on the main highway as it would have taken us twice as long travelling on the minor roads (took us about 4 hours anyway) like we have done on other occasions.  It was interesting on the highways though as there were hundreds and hundreds of trucks.  We figured they were travelling from Belgium or Germany up to Rotterdam perhaps to take the ferry over to England or up to Amsterdam or on further up to Scandinavia.  There were just as many coming back towards Germany and Belgium most likely from Rotterdam.  We stayed in the slow lane most of the way as Vicki was driving and trucks aren’t supposed to move into the passing lane on most parts of the highways.  This is great if you are in car and can go the 130km speed that’s posted.

Seemed to take for ever to get to the west side of the country, but as we found when we were riding our pushbikes here, the kms seemed to glide by as it is so flat.

Where we are staying is right on the beach (a short walk over the dunes) and then miles of beach to walk along which is awesome.  They have sand erosion prevention in the form of vertical logs in lines (see photos) and little surf club type cafes every 500m for miles along the beach.  Great summer beach pub crawl :-).  The weather was lovely when we arrived on Wednesday and went for a walk along the beach.  We even toyed with the idea of a swim the next day but the weather turned a bit crappy so didn’t get the chance.  On Thursday we biked down to Westkapelle where there was a small Bosch service centre.  We spoke to the guys there about our fuses blowing (it blew again when we arrived at Zeeland) and they said to bring the van in on Friday to have a look at it.  There are both pushbike lanes and walking lanes everywhere. Pushbikes definitely have more rights than cars and you see the cars watching out for pushbikes all the time.  The only bad thing is that the scooters are allowed to use the bike lanes too and they wiz past at high speeds nearly taking out anyone in their way.  Gave us a hell of a fright coming back from Westkapelle when they screamed up behind us with horns blaring – we wondered what the hell was going on.  Really scary when you go to cross the road.  You have to look in the opposite direction for the cars, bikes and scooters plus any other vehicles coming from whatever direction you forgot to look!  You do have to look out for all push bikes as they don’t look out for you – they just keep on riding on regardless of who is in their way.

Westkapelle was heavily bombed towards the end of the war when the yanks liberated Zeeland by bombing and breaching the dikes to flood out the Germans and then staged an amphibious assault. They have a monument with all the names of those who died with a Sherman tank and assault craft. I am always reminded that, when walking around admiring the beautiful buildings that they were nearly all destroyed and remarkably rebuilt still with a sense of history. You have to admire all the countries rebuilding efforts and the will of the governments and people to not let the devastation remain. Wandering around you really don’t get a sense that it was all smashed up 70 years ago.

Friday – we took the van in to the service centre and had a look around Westkapelle which is a nice little village, but doesn’t take long to look around.  The go here is to have Frites (chips) – they are everywhere and you get them served up in a paper cone with either mayonnaise or ketchup.  We took the van in at 10.30 but ended up having to amuse ourselves until 5.30 when they had finished looking.  They were only looking at the van in between their other jobs which is why it took all day.  The weather turned bad and started to rain so we had to pass the time having soup/beer (guess who had what!!) at the pub all afternoon while waiting.  We have arranged for the van to go back in on Tuesday to have a reversing cable replaced which was what was causing the indicators and dash lights fuse to blow.  A really nice garage and everyone very friendly and only too happy to help us.  Only hope it’s not too expensive, but I guess we can’t do anything about it, it’s a fault that needs repair.  At least they can speak a bit of English and they know what the problem is.

So we have to stay here until Wednesday, but it’s not a problem as there is lots to explore and it’s a really lovely part of the country.

Yesterday we took the bus into Middleburg – the main city centre closest to where we are.  Another lovely town with neat narrow cobbled streets and the typical canal layout around the outside the town centre.  It has the typical market square you see in most towns or cities in Europe.  There was an large automated musical organ playing continuously at the start of the market square and the vendors shake cans of money wanting you to contribute to their cause – which is their own back pocket.  However I would rather have given them money to shut the f*** up as their music just went on and on.  We think the guys were most likely eastern European as they were doing nothing and expecting to get money – happens a lot in Europe.

Today we played musical vans where we had to shuffle our parking area in the camp to satisfy the new arrivals. We feel that the Germans (mainly) are not very flexible and like what they like and if they have stayed in that spot previously then that is where they will be, some have been coming here to the exact spot for 30 years+. Go figure. Strange we don’t see to many English mainly Dutch & German, maybe cos dogs aren’t allowed everywhere like the other places we have been.  Smokers here are the most inconsiderate shitheads possible.  They smoke everywhere – in the showers, toilets, restaurants, anywhere they can and it’s really quite shitty if you are a non-smoker, makes it so unpleasant.

We read for most of the day and Vicki did the laundry as the weather was pretty fowl , finally cleared a bit so walked to the beach club had a few wine & beers played dominos & euchre and then home for tea stuffed chicken with brie & mushrooms with vege stirfry so now relax watch a movie and tomorrow into Domburg as we can bike and have a look around.