Beer, Bikes, Windmills and Cheese
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2006
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Trip End
Dec 28, 2007
Dordrecht, Netherlands
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Our first day in our new home the reality of the real world was looming and we were straight down to business at the town hall trying to sort out our visas once and for all - of course it wasnt that easy and we had to wait 2 weeks until we finally did get the visas so we were satisfied that we had skipped Egypt for a good reason.
We have tried to fit in with the locals by most importantly getting ourselves some bikes and we are attempting to learn some dutch.Ryan is overly delighted at the price of Heiniken equal to $12 AUD a case - if its the only thing thats cheap to us in Europe its the most important !
It hasnt been hard to see a lot of Holland in the 2 weeks we have been here because it is so small and because we have had some enthusiastic tour guides
Amber in Clog
! Weve really enjoyed spending time with the Family and the kids are excited to have some new play mates.The Kinder Dyke (where the little boy put his finger in the dyke and saved the town) is about 5 mins drive from here and it is a lovely little rural area where there are about 15 working windmills that are hundreds of years old all lined up along the dyke in a row.
We managed to get to Kuekenhof - (the famous tulip gardens) although it was in the last week and many of the flowers were gone they were still mooi (beautiful) gardens. We have also been to Gouda a lovely quaint town where Gouda cheese originated from - of course we came back with a good stash of cheese .
Last weekend we went for a 25km bike ride through the National Park near our home over numerous dykes and rivers. It will be no surprise to tell you that there is a lot of water in Holland. Sitting here on the computer i am looking out onto a lovely big square pond complete with ducks, water hen and fish and surrounded with a nice park right in the middle of the residential area.
We also went down to Zeeland a lakes district surrounded by farms and which also has a beautiful big beach - the best one we had seen since Africa
Gauda - In town canal
! We could even just make out the white cliffs of Dover, England in the distance.But it hasnt all been fun and games since we have arrived. We have been hitting the pavement and the internet to try and find some work. There are a few possibilites coming to light at the moment a few more than i expected considering we dont speak dutch. Ryan looks like he will be a bit of a handyman and all my job prospects are office/accounting jobs in International Companies.
Even when we do settle into a job we are still going to be taking advantage of the prime position of The Netherlands. We are only 3 hours drive from Paris and 45 mins to Brussels and Germany is right next door too !
We will be sure to keep you updated !
