Today we were heading to my nieces in Benson Oxfordshire, we had to pick up our mail and the rest of our stuff as we only took a few things with us to the Netherlands. Normally we stay with my niece but this time we will have to find somewhere to park Matilda as Lisa's house has no driveway and the parking area by her house is small. She suggested maybe leaving it on the more major road next to her road and even though its a quiet road I wasn't too happy leaving it until we had more security devices fitted so we booked ourselves into Benson Cafe which had units and a small area at the end for motorhomes, tents and caravans. Our first stop on our drive to Oxfordshire was Reading to pick ... read more

Today we were heading into Belgium to spend the afternoon and evening with a couple of friends, Valerie and Isabelle that were on our African overland trip last year. Both girls live in different parts of Belgium but it was easiest if we camped near Ostend for quick access to the Dunkirk ferry in the morning and Isabelle and her partner Joe said it was easy enough for them to come visit from where they lived. We decided to take the scenic route past The Hague and take the bridges over the islands and arrive for about lunchtime. The weather started out OK but by the time we reached the first island near Ouddorp it was cold, grey and windy, it was like a Melbourne winter! The North Sea looked bleak as did the coastline which ... read more

We have a motorhome, a house on wheels for the next 12 months or more and she had to have a name, we called her Matilda! A perfect name for two reasons, one its a German name and its a German built motorhome and two, it now has two Aussie owners and if you heard of "Waltzing Matilda" then you would know that the song could not be more Australian. Over the next 5 days while we waited for the finances to clear we spent time adding some improvements to our Matilda. Vaughan is very handy and we had access to Camperfun's shed and tools so he added a SOG unit to the toilet so we didn't have to use chemicals, an external access point to the LPG as some countries get sticky about not having ... read more

Sunday the motor home sale places are closed so it gave us the chance to have a day out and explore this part of Holland. I did some research of things to see and do in the area and one place that was worth seeing is Giethoorn a popular picturesque car-free village with its boat-filled waterways, footpaths, bike trails and centuries old thatched roof houses. The fact its built on waterways earned its nickname "Venice of Holland". The village borders a section of Weerrbben-Wieden National Park, a marshy areas once known for its peat and read harvesting. Tourists travel 1.5 hours from Amsterdam to visit Giethoorn, fortunately for us its only about half and hour down the road! It was a lovely sunny day so perfect for an outing to a chocolate box village. We parked ... read more

Utrecht is small city in Central Holland and one that I was keen to visit since it was only half hour drive, it's main attraction was its old medieval town and canals. We woke to pouring rain so took our time with breakfast in the hope that it would stop, well it didn't! We couldn't delay it much longer if we were to see Utrecht, we needed to get moving. The city was indeed attractive even in the rain! It reminded me of Amsterdam. We picked up a map and just wondered along its picturesque canal side walkways, it wasn't hard to find the cathedral you just followed the bells! Although it sounded like a music practice it was really pleasant to listen to. The cathedral's long beautifully painted windows were its most striking feature, along ... read more