Category: ‘NL Holland’

It’s her birthday…

We have been in the middle of a dramatic shift in spending patterns this past few months. Consciously trying to move away from the pure consumerism that seems to be the western-way. Buying stuff and things that we don’t really need…

We all know the drill; keeping up with the Jones’s is also part of it. Well; the Jones’s can keep their brand new car, and stereo, plasma, ipod, iphone, ipad, imac, idon’t-care…. Read the rest »

Cousins Ina and Andries live near Groningen in the very top of Holland. We live close to Amsterdam. When we go camping, we often meet in the middle.

Okay, not so much in the middle. We choose a quiet little spot in Vierhuizen. Less crowded than other campings nearby …

The proximity to Lauwersmeer National Park (Lauwer lake) makes it fabulous for cycling. Another drawcard to the area is the ferry to Schiermonnikoog. Read the rest »

I look back at the noughties with mixed feelings. It’s been the toughest decade ever and yet my most rewarding. We gave up the sunny comfort of South Africa and chose to migrate to the Netherlands.

Emmen was our first port of call. Where Marcel started life and still has some family. More to the point, it was chosen ‘cos of the work. For Marcel. And for me? Glad you asked. I couldn’t speak Dutch and being in the North East, there aren’t many English speaking jobs available. So I stayed at home.

Read the rest »

60 years ago we would have needed a boat to stand next to the “Dukdalf” that we were now celebrating. And a snorkel and goggles, and possibly a scuba diving dry suit.

But there we were, standing on dry land 5 metres below sea level. It’s all rather mind boggling!  Read the rest »

We bought our house ‘cos of the view through the kitchen window. The rest of the interior wasn’t to our taste and has since forged us into frenetic DIY-ers!

In the past three years, we’ve stripped kilometers of wallpaper, ripped out ornamental arches and cornices and stroked numerous layers of paint onto the once bare concrete walls.

But through all of this, we’ve kept our budget on a diet. It has to be said … we muuuch prefer travelling! Read the rest »

Yup, another delivery in Rotterdam today - yay! Good for business and with this lovely weather, a great drive; 127 km’s from us to the Erasmus Brigde; the white suspension bridge you often see at large events, like the Red Bull airplane racing or when Volvo Ocean Race comes to town.

During WWII most of Rotterdam’s ancient buildings were decimated and the city had to rebuild itself, so a lot of the architecture is new. Read the rest »

En-route to a delivery near Rotterdam this morning, I took my favourite scenic route through the Oostvaarderplassen wildlife nature reserve.

There’s a viewpoint overlooking a huge plain that always reminds us of Africa. Occassionally we see herds of Heck Cows and at other times herds of Red Deer.

But we’ve heard of a herd of horses that lived in the region, and on occassion have seen a horse (or two) here and there …  Read the rest »

In 2002 I first heard about the mysterious Christmas market in the caves somewhere in Limburg. Previous years brought various attempts to organise a visit, but inevitably something else came up and this market dropped down our to-do list. This year … we got lucky! On 6th of December we drove 250 km’s from Lelystad to Valkenburg to visit the Dutch Christmas Caves. Read the rest »

Batavia Stad is a designer clothing outlet shopping centre a few km’s from where we live. Some friends jealously wonder why we don’t live there permanently. Well the truth is, I don’t like shopping!

Yes … I’m a woman! Gosh, just ask my husband about the nightmare it was to find my wedding dress … (he was the only person I could entrust with the goal, so we did that together). Marcel has the patience of Job when it comes to spending time in stores. Read the rest »

Our serene harbour village is approximately 65 km’s away from the bustle of Amsterdam. We enjoy the water and nature, but once in a blue moon we venture off to the capital to take in city life.

We park our car relatively close to Amsterdam, and catch the train for the last few stops, which saves us mucho money and stress from trying to find parking. The train journey into Amsterdam is really cool. First you ride past dreary flat blocks, which considering we’d contemplated living in the city, makes us appreciate our home even more. Then you ride past architectually-stunning apartments on the IJ River. Read the rest »

Waiting to be released from an Amsterdam traffic light, the corner of my eye forced my head leftwards to the side of the road. There they were … two magic little words I never thought I’d see … Bolshoi Ballet.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I strained to read the poster. Carre Theatre. Swan Lake. Showing Soon. My heart leaped into the air as triumphantly as the man in red tights. Read the rest »

We all need to eat, have shelter, wear clothing (there are some who would argue this) and travel around. To do this, we buy clothes, houses, furniture, gas, water, vehicles, and the list goes on and on. However in undeveloped countries, this list is much shorter. “They’ve got warmth and sunshine” I’ve heard in rebuff as to why they “don’t have the same needs”. But this is changing big time now that India and China are becoming super-consumers. Read the rest »

The winters in The Netherlands are becoming milder and milder. Much to the dismay of the Dutch, for whom ice skating on natural ice is highly sought after. Thanks to the myriad of canals and rivers, skaters can enjoy courses of up to 200km.

The outdoors, ice skating in nature, wafting along reed beds, freedom. That’s the intention behind the multi-functional outdoor recreation centre that opened in December 2007, called “FlevOnice” or “Ice World”. We visited the course on a very busy Boxing Day (2007). Read the rest »

The Netherlands experienced another record warm year in 2007. But in the week before Christmas, the temperatures plummeted. On the 21st of December, it even dropped to minus 8 deg Celcius. Brrr. Winter water sport enthusiasts were enthralled.

We hope you enjoy this brief glimpse into “hard water sailing” and read more about it further down the page. Read the rest »

The most beautiful spring gardens in the world are open for a few months each year. In 2007, when we filmed this video, they were open from 23/03/07 until 20/05/2007.

It was our second visit to Keukenhof and we spent 5,5 hours in this 32-hectare eden. Not surprising, you need the time to fully enjoy the flowers, smells, sights and sounds. Further details about Keukenhof appear below the video. Read the rest »

We live next to a Dutch wetlands nature reserve, called the Oostvaardersplassen (lakes of the East-farers, roughly translated). It’s totally peaceful and home to a multitude of bird species and wild animals like beavers, roe deer, red deer, heck cows and wild horses.

This video is our first foray into making films. Hee hee. It’s great fun looking back at our first attempt. Hope you enjoy it too, and the beautiful marshlands. Read the rest »

Marcel was born in Holland and grew up in South Africa as his folks emigrated in 1971. Fortunately over the years, Marcel learned how to speak Dutch from his parents.

Another real blessing for us, he lived in Holland for five years (from 1990) and then returned to South Africa, where we met and got married. At the end of 2001, we moved to The Netherlands. Read the rest »

For my birthday in 2006, Marcel gave me a totally unexpected and wonderful gift - a flight lesson in Lelystad. Since watching a documentary about Emelia Erhardt when I was a little girl, I’ve always thought it would be cool to be a pilot.

I’m also envious of a bird’s ability to fly … the apparent freedom to come and go as you please is very appealing. On the 8th of March, Marcel and I headed to Lelystad from Zwolle, where we were living at the time. We’d just bought a house in Lelystad-Haven and we very excited about moving there in May. Read the rest »

“No matter where you come from, as long as you’re a black man, you’re an African. No mind your nationality, you have got the identity of an African“. ~ Peter Tosh

Albeit in reverse, Peter Tosh sings about the way I felt a lot of the time while growing up in South Africa with my pale skin - I felt out of place in my country of birth. The old apartheid “European Only” signs indicated that a white skin meant that we were European, but we felt African. So, who and what are we? Are we South Africans? Are we English? Are we Dutch? None of the above? Read the rest »