Forgive my interlude. My brother and father (with some overlap) have kept me occupied the last 6 weeks and since a wise ass just inquired as to whether I had "lost my pen", I figured I better fill you in on the gaps. Much has happened in the past 2 months and I will start with a family road trip down south to see some of our heritage.

With only one weekend of overlap between my bro and old man, we decided to rent a car and travel to our grandfather Paul's (my dad's dad) place of birth and hometown, Dusseldorf. The drive was relatively uneventful but it was the first time for all of us on German soil and I must say an air of uneasiness did faintly waft through the windows as German road signs started to pass us by. We fleetingly cast our minds back 60 years before pressing on-wards to find Paul's house.

We found the site of the house with little difficulty. To our dismay, initially we thought the house was next door which was the only site on the street in the process of being ripped down. After already having discovered my grandmother's pre-war house on Sarphatistraat had been replaced by a 1960s behemoth, fortunately this time we had miscounted the street numbers. There are a few photos below of the site of the house (the building since demolished with 3 apartment blocks erected) and the park and Rhine river across the road. The house must have been enormous and the setting in front of the park and river felt rather stately.

Our intention was to stay in Maastricht that night, so we dashed into Dusseldorf town centre to scope thing out. As we exited the underground car park into the historical city centre we walked head on into what can only be described as Germany the musical. The music, costume, body type and activities were hilariously German stereotype and we had a fabulous time wandering the streets sampling the delights before hitting the road back to the Netherlands.

We spent the night on a houseboat in Maastricht. Our room felt a little like a jail cell as the windows were barred to prevent post-natal swans from taking out an eyeball. The historic town centre was really very beautiful. The town goes back to ancient Rome and a good sample of historical periods have been quite well preserved. There is a roman bridge, walls from the dark and medieval ages and the rest is mainly from the last 400 years with very little modern development. We stayed mainly in the historic centre which takes around 3 or 4 hours to explore before driving back to Amsterdam in the evening.

I was completely surprised today by the stunning beaches Amsterdam has to offer, believe it or not! A work colleague invited me on a small road trip out to Zandvoort. Within roughly a 15km drive from Amsterdam I felt like I was back home where I grew up in Bondi.

The sand is soft and white and it was so hot today you had to do the bare foot dash across it to dive into the refreshing 18 degree North Sea waters. We had a blistering 33 degrees which really made for an experience no different to being on the shores back home in the middle of summer. A game of beach volleyball, some lemon sorbet and plenty of swimming and sunbathing filled out the evening hours and we left home around 9, with the temperature still at 28 degrees and the sun far above the horizon.

Here are a few shots from the day:

I was invited to an expat BBQ over at the vondelpark today and thought it a an opportunity to meet some new people and see what the park was all about. We lit up our coals on the far west side by the lakes (see map at bottom), this area seemed to be mostly locals. Turned out to be a wholesome evening. Frisbee, skipping ropes, bullrush and plenty of atmosphere. People here really make the most of nice weather. Here are some photos which trace the evening from start to finish (including the midnight amble back home).

Today I spent a sunny afternoon cycling through the dutch countryside just north of Amsterdam. It took less than 15 minutes to pedal from bustling Centraal station to open fields of cattle cut by canals co-habited by ducks and water lilies.

This trip is a great one for the amateur cyclist who wants an easy scenic ride with plentiful coffee and cake interludes.

I attempted to follow a route I read about on this travel blog but immediately lost my way only to end up in the depths of the Vliegenbos park. I suggest purposefully heading this way as it shoots you out on to a cute little canal lined with house boats which lead me into Nieuwendam where I made my first coffee stop (and watched Australia lose the first Ashes test).


From here you pass the ring road and head into the countryside. The paths wind their way through fields and towns and I was surprised at how few other cyclists were out and about. You can ride from town to town keeping the calorie intake and burning in equilibrium then head home once your bum can't take the pain any more.

Here's a shot of what much of the ride looks like:

and here are a few other shots from along the way: