. . . and now to Gerringong

So,  it seems our European adventure is now over.    Rob’s contract in Amsterdam ended in a puff of white smoke and it was with great sadness that we said tot ziens to Amsterdam and all of the great friends that we had made there.

We are now back below the equator.  Rob has a contract  in Nowra,  NSW  (of all places) and we are living by the sea in sunny Gerringong,  two hours south of Sydney.  We have rented this house which has awesome views of the beach.  It’s about 200 times bigger than our house in Amsterdam (although not nearly as cute).

We rescued all of our belongings from storage and Charlie spent up big at about 30 garage sales in order to fill the empty rooms.  Now there’s hardly enough space to ride a horse in the living room.

The Purple Car

One of the cool things about being back home again was getting my little car back.  Now 18 years old, it’s still as cute as ever!

Surfin’

After being deprived of waves for 4 years, Rob is loving living so close to the surf.  It certainly is different than how we remember winter in Europe!

I have given up surfing as a bad joke and have taken up boogie boarding.  Although, I don’t look nearly as cool it certainly provides instant gratification.  Our mates came down from Sydney for the weekend and here we are with Grimesy going out for a dip.

Small town living

Having never lived in a small town before I have a few things to get used to:

I wanted to take the bus into Nowra. I rang the bus company to ask where the bus stops were,  “No worries love,  we will collect you from your door”.  The bus indeed collected me and I was the only one on the bus for the entire hour journey.

Rob took his car to the mechanic and had no cash to pay for it.  The mechanic was unconcerned.  He let Rob take the car and asked him to bring the money tomorrow.

I had asked the real estate to do some repairs in the house.  One day I heard a noise inside.  On investigation I found the repairman inside the house.  He explained that he had knocked but the music was so loud I didn’t hear him.  He had a key (!) and let himself in to start working.

And,  this newspaper cutting shows what world breaking events happen in our area.

This van drives around the streets selling ice creams – how quaint!

Cycling

Our container from Amsterdam finally arrived.  (It took 4mths to get here!)   Anyhow, in the container were our bikes.  We were pretty excited to see these trusty friends again so we oiled up the chains and took them for a spin around Kiama.

Hiking in the Budawangs

We live in paradise!  We are right by the beach and then it is only a short drive to many beautiful National Parks.  It’s perfect for outdoor adventures.  It’s not so bad being home after all . . . On the weekend we did a 17km hike in the Moreton National Park.   Everyday has been filled with blue skies and this day was no different.

As you can see we had some awesome views of what is known to the aborigines as “Boob Mountain”.

The Comfortable Chair

In the few months that we have been home Rob has managed to squeeze in a gig with his band The Comfortable Chair.  As always it was a great night and you could hardly tell they hadn’t played together for 5 years.  Rob, you are such a rock star!

Happy Birthday Ann

We were delighted to host Ann Spence’s 70th birthday in Gerringong.  We had a lovely weekend with all of the family together.                   Happy Birthday Ann!

Winter wonderland in Winterberg

We took advantage of the cold weather and drove to Germany for a weekend of skiing, in the very cute and aptly named town of Winterberg.

A day at the beach (in the snow)

Having lapped up the sun during our trip to Australia we found ourselves back in Amsterdam wondering what to do with ourselves on a sunny Sunday in Amsterdam.  Making use of our newly acquired “52 bicycle routes of Holland” guide book, we decided to take a train trip to Den Haag and a cycle ride through the sand dunes to the nearby beach.  When we left Amsterdam it was a beautifully sunny day….by the time we got to the beach it was snowing and blowing a mild North Sea gale.  The beach was covered in snow and the water looked cold, brown and decidedly uninviting.

As we turned to go home I got a flat tire.  I won’t go into how much fun it is changing a tire in the snow…..but I will say that by the time I had finished, Charlie (who was not wearing footwear or gloves appropriate to the weather situation), was close to frostbite.

Fortunately, her fingers were saved by the open fire at a conveniently located Pancake restaurant which we stumbled across as we rode back to the Den Haag station.

Australia – home after so long

We hadn’t been home for three and half years so when we were in Australia it was a whirl wind of socialising and visiting friends and family.  It was great to see all of our friends since being away for so  long. Thanks everyone for looking after us so well and really spoiling us.

We even had time to fit in a road trip along the coast (Melbourne to Brisbane) and do some surfing at our favourtie beaches.

Cambodia

On our way home to Australia we had two weeks in Cambodia. Our good friend Paula was getting married there and so it was a perfect excuse to visit.

The country is beautiful, the wedding was super romantic and the sun was shining. So a perfect holiday.

We spent some time at Angkor Watt, the 12th century temple complex. It is the worlds largest religious monument and in the surrounding area there are more than one thousand temples, ranging from well restored buildings to nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields. It is indeed an awe inspiring place.

Rome

I had a little holiday on my own in Rome. All the stereo types that we hear about are true – delicious gelato, pizza, excellent coffee, a centuries old monument on every corner and those hot Italian men!

Like this guy I met at the Colosseum

Barcelona

I met my girlfriend from Brussels, Helmi in Barcelona for a weekend.  Unlike the rest of Europe, the sky was blue and the sun was shining.

The work of the Spanish Art Nouveau architect, Antoni Gaudi,  fills the city and before hanging out at the tapas bar we explored his designs across the city.