Christmas 2008

January 2nd, 2009

We had a nice low key Christmas at home. Greg, Bek, Linz and Sian were here and we had a nice lunch followed by an awesome pudding which Brad made. It was weird on Christmas day that some of shops were opened. In the Netherlands people tend to celebrate Sinterklaas instead of Christmas, which is based on a real saint and where our Santa Claus derives from.

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My new bike

December 8th, 2008

He’s second hand but rides well. Dutch colours!

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Den Bosch, Maastricht & Düsseldorf

November 23rd, 2008

We dropped in to Den Bosch on our way to Maastricht. It’s a cute little Dutch town, quite small but worth checking out. In summer you can get a boat which takes you to canals that run under this medieval town. Very cute.

Maastricht we fell in love with straight away. It’s beautifully set out and the old town is amazing to roam around. The food in generally is of very high standard & the Stay Ok hostel we stayed at was great value and quite modern. The thing that blew us away though was the limestone tunnels under the city. There are thousands of tunnels built under this town and many of them extend into Germany and Belgium. We took a guided tour which is the only way you can see the tunnels. We found out that quite a few Jews were saved buy crossing the boarder this way during the WW2 & also this is where priceless Dutch art was stored at this time so they also survived the war.

Düsseldorf was pretty cool, but nothing on Maastricht. We wandered around the city, which is quite big. . . but it’s pretty much just another city. We caught the fast train back to Amsterdam, which was great and only took about 2 hours, averaging about 156km/ph.

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Amsterdam to Marken

November 1st, 2008

This was by far the more scenic ride I have been on so far. The whole ride took around 5 hours. The first 3 hours was amazing but once the weather rolled in, riding back in the dark and rain was not so good. We covered about 46km all up and I suggest leaving earlier in the day to avoid the dark. It’s all sign posted which makes it quite easy to find the island.

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Dan & Dean come to visit

November 1st, 2008

It was great seeing Dan and Dean. We cruised around Amsterdam, got to go to a fair and a beer festival and ate heaps and heaps of cheese & fish sandwiches. . . blah! Also, heaps and heaps of riding.

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Mindcontroller

October 7th, 2008

We, as we are getting old, Brad and I needed a nap before we went to Zandaam to Mindcontroller. We slept till 12 and got to the rave about 2am. Worried about not getting into the venue that late, be played the stupid tourist angle which seemed to work. Had a dance, saw Scott Brown and when home. . . heaps of fun!

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Glyn & Aviva’s stay

October 7th, 2008

We had heaps of fun and the sun was out the whole time which was amazing! We did a bit of paddle boating, looked around at the shops & generally cruised around Amsterdam with the chair on wheels

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My first Football game

October 7th, 2008

Dean arrived and we all decided to go to Australia v’s Holland in Eindhoven. This was the best introduction to football. The crowd was a mass sea of orange, chanting, Holland got ‘red carded’ & Australia Won! Could not have asked for much more than th