Our Canaling Adventures: May 2007

Encase you hadn’t heard we have left Perth for our big adventure – to buy ourselves a canal boat!!

We left on Royal Brunei on Tuesday 4th September flying to Brunei as our first stop. This took about 5 hours and was a pleasant trip.

As this airline does not serve alcohol we took some in little clear containers that were under the 100 ml limit. The security guys were not at all happy about letting it through, but the lady in charge allowed it. So we were able to order tonic and add our gin to it. One guy bought a bottle of wine.

I don’t think I would bother again. I can do without alcohol for a few hours.

We left Brunei and we thought we were heading to London but we stopped down in Dubai for one hour. So after 7 hours we were woken up and told to get off the plane. I assume that had to fuel up. We walked out in to transit, turned the corner and straight back in through security and into the waiting lounge. I couldn’t believe it. We then headed to London arriving at about 6am. As we were concerned at how long it would take to go to get our bags and go out through customs and back into customs at Terminal 4 we booked our next flight to Amsterdam at 10.30. We were sitting waiting to for our flight by 7am. It was all very quick and the security wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be.

We arrived in Amsterdam and our hotel after 30 hours of travelling. Gosh we were tired.

We spent Thursday walking around Amsterdam. It was raining when we arrived, but the day got warmer as the day progressed. We booked ourselves on a canal boat trip and spent the day roaming the canals of Amsterdam – and there are plenty of them. We were both very tried when we got back to the hotel. It does take a few days to get over the jetlag.

Today we are heading to Rotterdam where hopefully we will pick up our campervan and then we will hit the boat yards.

We purchased a phone card and tried to ring the Motor Home Pick up point but couldn’t raise them so we went for help at the hotel reception. The Manager rang and got directions. – Train to Rotterdam, bus to a little town north of Rotterdam and a 6 minute walk to the pick up point. – Easy!!!

The bus dropped us off and all we could see were houses – no business. What do we do!!

Tom Tom ( our Navigation Unit) says Rus that’s why we bought it. So he left me at the bus stop with all the gear and off he walked Tom Tom in hand. It took him the long way but eventually he arrived and then came and picked me up.

Our little home is fabulous. We have a shower and toilet, a double bed , frig and cooking.

We needed to get food and cooking equipment and bedding – where do we go? Lets try the Tom Tom – points of interest- it took us to a great shopping centre where we were able to get everything we needed. We then headed down south to the Hoek Van Holland where we stayed in a camping ground. There are heaps of Camping grounds in Holland and once again we use our Tom Tom to find them. Once we get to an area we wish to stay we ask the Tom Tom for advice. It will give you the distance to the next campsite.

Yesterday however we found it hard to find a camping ground that could fit us in. You need to arrive by 5pm as the owners go home and don’t get up till nine the next morning when they will open the gate to let you out. Most camping grounds have mostly permanent homes and they are very quite.

Toilet Duties

Sometimes the Tom Tom is confusing and you miss the turn off. This happened yesterday and it took us into the back streets of a town that had very narrow streets. The van is quite wide and has two very large mirrors that stick out a long way and it is very hard to judge. Well we hit another mirror on a stationery car and broke their mirror. Fortunately our mirror was OK. Russel stopped and spoke to the owner. Anyway to cut a long story short it cost us 75 Euro.

The driving is not easy especially when you are tired.

We have been to a number of boat yards and seen heaps of boats and are starting to understand what we want and what to look for.

Boat Yard

Tonight we are staying in a park in the forest. It has wireless internet connection so this why I am able to send this. We have spent the last hour looking at boats on line. We are so glad we bought our lap top. It’s been in valuable.

Camp Grounds

We have travelled from Amsterdam down to Rotterdam, stayed at Hoek Van Holland, Vlaardingen then up through Aslameel then Old Loosdrecht and up to Harderwijk up to Elburg, Hattern, Giethoorn, Ossenzijl and today to the Sneek area. For those that have a map can follow our route. Each destination seems to take about and 30 to 60 minutes to get there. The Tom Tom takes us via motor ways if possible.

The countryside is green and lush. Plenty of cows and sheep and heaps of waterways. There are marinas all over the place. We stopped at one yesterday which was not on our list. The master had about 50 boats just in his little marina. He has had a few Australian buy boats there. He is going to stay with them shortly – one lot in Albany the other in Adelaide. It’s amazing the number of foreigners that buy boats.

A boat we liked

We have seen heaps of boats, but just not the right ones. We have however worked out what we want. Now we just have to get it all in one boat.

Yesterday we went to a boat builder – Vri-Jon Yatchs. The boats are gorgeous – new- expensive – but too big. It felt like being on Laurie’s 43 foot boat – just too big for the canals.

We have seen a boat we like at Holland yachting – Marhen 1075 – a fairly new boat we would have to put a shower in, but its fairly new and has plenty of space. However it does not have a formal dining area – the dining is in the saloon – not a problem for us but might be for resale. The boat builder is also not a well known one. It means you wouldn’t be buying a Holden – not sure if you can sell quickly. There are so many boats that have been sitting around for a few years.

We liked this one too

Monday night we stayed in Elburg in the boating Marina. We hooked up to electricity and walked around all the boats that night. In the morning we were given the keys to look over the boats. However the boats were large and very expensive so we moved on. Tuesday night we stayed in a National Park in Ossenzyl. This is a very big park with canoeing, boating, walking etc. So pretty and plenty of ducks and rabbits running around.

Those coming to the Netherlands need to know that credit cards are not a big thing. We have used our card two times. All food is either cash or Debit cards and our debit card doesn’t work on their machine. The result is we are carrying lots of cash. It maybe different in the bigger towns but even in Amsterdam we tried to pay for our meal with a card and they said cash only.

Laundry apparently is left at the supermarket and returned in 3 days. We were starting to get desperate but finally the caravan Park had a Wasserette and now we have clean clothes again. The other thing about caravan parks is that you pay for your shower on top of park fees and you have to take your own toilet paper. All a big learning curve, but I am so glad we organized our van. We can have a cup of coffee and lunch when ever we want.

You can get internet at these parks also, if you have your own wireless computer. The pocketmail that we thought would be great has proved useless. We haven’t yet used it because we can’t find a public phone and if you do you need a phone card. Mobile phones have taken over here and they are removing public phones.

Today (Wednesday) we arrived in Terherne to look at boats and ran out of time as there were so many boats, so the owner gave us power and we are now in his boat yard. Tomorrow at 8.30 we will start looking at more boats.

We found a great boat today – called Arcturus and then met some people in the marina who had owned the boat a few years ago. They loved it. I really loved this boat. However it was a Charter boat, still in great condition internally but motor has 6500 hours. They tell us not a problem.

Arcturus as we first saw her

We spent a lot of time on this boat. The owner wants to sell and has left everything on the boat – 2 bikes , outside chairs and tables, TV ,cutlery and crockery, pots and pans and even his flying ducks and plenty of ornaments. A real must for the Dutch people. We wouldn’t have to buy anything.

We left and headed for Sneek hoping there would be a great range. However today has been very disappointing. We have seen nothing to compare with Arcturus (apparently the name of a star)

A pretty spot in Sneek.

We spent a day looking at boatyards around Sneek, but they either didn’t have any of the type of boat we were looking for or they were too expensive. We decided to head back to Loosedrecht to see De Valk boats. They had been closed when we were passing through, however we decided to have another look at Arcturus in Terherne. That was Saturday.

Terherne is a pretty little village and today Tuesday we are still here in the local caravan park, which I might add is not one of the better parks. The local shop keeper greets us as locals and our van is well known around town.

Caravan park in Ternherne

Yes we put in an offer on Arcturus on Sunday and had to wait till Tuesday for the Surveyor to come to check the boat.

I just love this little boat. Russel was a bit apprehensive about it, but today after the surveyor went over it, he is a lot happier. We took it out for its first trial today and were both very disappointed with the speed. It wouldn’t go over 10.6 kph (kilometers per hour) and 2500 rpm. We told Tom (the surveyor) that we would not buy this boat if that is all it could do. We want to be able to up the Rhine and one needs more power than that. So he had a look at the engine and believed that it had been restricted because it was a hire boat. He got the mechanic and he did an adjustment and so on the second trial it did 15kph and 3000 rpm. So we are happy. Tom also believes if we change the prop we will get more out of it.

He found a few other things wrong, which should be fixed by the owner.

So guys, looks like we have found our canal boat and I believe we will be very comfortable.

We have to go back again tomorrow to discuss a few things. Amanda has arranged the finance so let hope it comes through quickly so we can get on our boat and sail the canals.

Monday we went to Sneek and Leeuwarden (the capital of Friesland) and roamed around the shops. We had to be back at the boat yard at five to watch our boat come out of the water. It was very clean underneath.

Wednesday we went back to the boat yard and the mechanic was fixing all the problems up. He came to the oil pressure gauge which wasn’t working and couldn’t find the trouble. However he did find another meter that had burnt out so had to get a new one in. We were hoping the money had come through so we could take the bikes off the boat but as it didn’t arrive we decided to leave anyway and see a bit of the Netherlands.

Our saloon area

The Gallery

The forward cabin for guests

Our Folding Bikes

We put Den Helder in the Tom Tom and it said 100 klms so off we went.

It took us over this very long causeway or dyke called Afsluitdijk over the Ijsselmeer (Sea) on one side and the Noordzee (North Sea) on the other.

Afsluitdijk over the Ijsselmeer

We stopped and had a good look around.

We walked to the North Sea- it was freezing.

Russel doesn't look as cold as me!!

We walked down to see the North Sea this morning; it was a very angry sea. It reminded me of the day Steph, Barb and I went to Rottenest when the boys went south. I was quite frightened last night every time the van shook with the wind. I could imagine being picked up and taken out to sea. There is only a big sand hill between us and the North Sea.

Den helder

is where you catch the boat to Texel an island off the coast. Very much like Rottenest.

We were going to go over on Thursday but the weather has turned really bad.We found out where the big Bunning’s type stores are so we are going to see what they have. Russel wants to have a few basic tools before we sail off into the canals. We found the stores and Russel purchased a few basic tools. The rest we will bring over with us.

The next day we drove to Alkmaar – a well know cheese making town. We went over the Cheese Museum and learnt lots about cheese making – Gouda and Edam, just the names of the local towns. Every Friday during April to September they bring over 30,000kg of cheese into the central market and a ceremonial way of selling occurs. However it stopped on Sept 5th so we missed out on that. We then headed back to the boat yard to see if the money had been paid. The first instalment had been received so we were allowed to take the two bikes off the boat. We then headed to Groningen the capital city of the North.

Groningen is a large city so we decided to look for the Ikea and do a bit of shopping for the boat. Ikea was huge – two floors set out in the same way as Perth Ikea. Gosh we had fun. We were like a couple of kids setting up our first home. 95 euro later we headed to the campsite. This took a lot longer than expected as Tom Tom took us to one side of the campsite that didn’t have an entrance. An hour later of turning, back tracking etc we parked in the campsite and here we will stay for two days.

At last we have our bikes. It is so much easier parking the van out of town and riding in on bikes. The Netherlands is so set up for bike riding. There are hundreds of bikes. There is always a bike lane next to the car lane and bikes have the right of way in most cases. They are all much laid back here. I wouldn’t think they have heard of the word Road Rage.

Our Bikes at Last

Just a few BIkes at a Railway Station

Its Sunday today. Sunday in the Netherlands is a day of rest. Everyone seems to sleep in. No shops open and life is very quiet. We woke up late and then had a long chat with Amanda. It was great to catch up on all the family news. We are going to go sight seeing at about 11.30 as the museums open about 1pm.

Looks like we should have our boat by next Friday. We have to take the van back on Friday so hopefully the money will have been paid and we will be the proud owners of a canal boat. We spent a lot of time making sure we got two cabins, so guys start planning holidays over here and join us for a couple of weeks.

We had two sunny days in Groningen and then the rain set in again. I consulted the Lonely Planet and they suggested a place called Boulange, which is near the German border. It is a town that has been recreated as if it was in the fifteenth century, quite spectacular with the two moat system to protect the city. It was set up like Sovereign in Victoria is. A little false.

Entrance to Bountange

We are very relaxed. We wake about 7.30, have a cuppa about 8am then slowly dress then breakfast. We tend not to get going until about 10.30am. Life is very slow here.

What to do after Bourtange

We were so close to Germany that I wanted to go over the border to find a super market. They might have some different meats. The selection of fresh meat is very limited. They have chicken, beef mince, maybe a beef steak, then pork – chops, fillet and stir fry. We asked a butcher for lamb and he went to the back and brought out a side, costing 26.50 euro per kilo which equates to $47 per kilo. I now understand why David wanted a leg lamb on his return to Australia. Please please Amanda make sure our freezer has some lamb chops for us to eat on our return. Oh for a lamb chop!!!

We drove to place called Papenburg in Germany. We did a big shop but the meat wasn’t very different. We did find some interesting sausage which we are going to have tonight.

Papenburg was a very interesting town. Meyer Werft a very big ship building company. All of the constructions are done in a very large building. We went on a tour over this company. It was very well done, but in German so we could only look and not understand.

Inside the Factory

They had heaps of models of the ships they have built – The star line – The Leo and the Virgo , The Norwegian star, The Aurora and a long time ago – the Oriana.

We stayed in Papenburg the night and next day drove around the countryside and back through the border to The Netherlands. We have ended up in Harlingen – a coastal town and shipping port. It is here you catch the ferry to the Islands. We never did get to see any of the islands and the weather has been so bad. We went for a great bike ride around the town and saw lots of canal boats like ours. We head back to Terherne tomorrow to see if they have fixed all the problems and the money has arrived. I do hope they are all fixed as I really would like this boat, but Russel assures me if they haven’t he will not go through with it.

We arrived in Terherne to find Hank (the guy we are dealing with) was not in, so nothing could be done. We had to give the van back Friday so we weren’t sure what to do. We maybe homeless.

Russel rang Hank and he assured us all problems would be sorted out, so we got up at 6.30 the next morning and drove to Rotterdam to give the van back. Before we left we put all our belongings on the boat. It took us 2.5 hours to Rotterdam. The van was handed back and we caught the train back to Akkrum and we were picked up and taken back to Terherne. Our money for the boat hadn’t arrived. What a pain. Hank said we could stay on the boat, but we were not allowed to drive it as we wouldn’t have insurance.

It’s now Monday and the money still hasn’t arrived. We rang London to find out what is happening and the guy had just been talking to Amanda, so everyone is on the case

( Thanks Sweetie) Gosh I hope it arrives tomorrow I so want to leave this marina and use the boat.

So we spent Saturday and Sunday on the boat – it rained every minute of the day on Saturday- I didn’t realize the skies could drop so much water.

Saturday we went through all the cupboards and sorted out what we had and what we still have to get.

Sunday Russel went through the boat- every panel was lifted – every cupboard was checked and he now knows exactly how his boat works – he even photographed every bit of equipment, so if anything goes wrong he has model numbers of all machinery.

Our Engine!!!

Russel going in to the Hull

Monday we decided to get out and do some exercise so we jumped on our bikes and rode to Acctrum - some 6 klms away. The sun wasn’t shining but at least it wasn’t raining. We had lunch in the local café and received text messages informing us of the sad loss of Chris Mainwaring. What a shame – so sad.

Tuesday the money still hasn’t come- gosh what a pain this all is. We decided to ride further this time and check out Grou- this is only a 10 klm ride. The day was just gorgeous. The sun shining at long last and the wind wasn’t so bad.

We decided to check out a few places where we could store the boat for the winter. We have the choice of two yards. This is for storage under cover. It will cost about 1400 euro. We could store on the land but not under cover for about 300 euro. Oh what to do.!!

We once again hit the shops and bought a few more things for the boat that should make life easy. Like coat hangers, containers etc.

Not sure if I mentioned our DVD buying. A place was selling them for 1 euro each if you buy five off. We have now bought 15 DVD plus a DVD player for 29.95 euro. Yesterday we also bought a card for our KPN player (Foxtel in Perth) for 12 euro. We now have 3 Netherlands channels and one Frisland channel. Last night we watched a documentary on lions which was in English. Apparently they have movies in English so with a bit of luck we might get some to watch.

Wainting for the bus to Heereveen

The next day we decided to bus to Heereveen to see the bank that was to receive our money and they assured us that the money had not reached the Netherlands. We went back to Ozforex in England but they needed to speak to Sydney and they had all gone home for the weekend, so we now need to wait until Monday to find out where our 99 thousand euro has gone. It is suppose to take up to 5 days. It is now 10 days.

We decided to get out of Terherne for the weekend.

We rode our bikes to Acctrum, got on the train and went to Harlingen and caught the ferry to the Island Terschelling. We are going to ride around the island today and have a look.

This could be us one Day

The bikes we have are folding bikes. You can travel everywhere with folding bikes and not pay extra for your bikes. They consider folding bikes as luggage, but you must fold them. It saved us 20 euro on the ferry.

Let’s hope our money arrives next week. We have only a few weeks left now.

We rode and rode around the island – about 30 klm -it was fun but our bottoms were very sore the next day. It is a bigger island than Rottenest but not much different.

We caught the 4pm ferry back to Harlingen and trained back to Terherne and hopefully wake up the next morning to our money arriving.

We put the alarm on for 2am and rang Sydney to see what they were doing re our money. They assured us that everything that could be done was being done. The manager was to ring Barclays in Paris that night. – No money Monday – we woke up again at 2am and called Sydney – this time we lost our cool – they still had no contact with the French as no one there could speak English.

The next morning we rang the local bank with a motive number and they were finally able to see the funds. They arrived on Wednesday morning, so finally we able to sail our boat away from Terherne.

We sailed to Sneek and we are now here in “The Dompe “camping spot. We finally cracked the bottle of champagne we bought some 2 weeks ago.

We stayed in Sneek two nights. We went to an electronic company who was to fix our compass which had never worked. They advised us that it was too old to fix and would have to replace it. We discussed this with the brokers and we managed to get a satellite dish for the GPS so we now have that working.

We then headed to Grou via Terherne. Once again Hank wasn’t in so we sailed on. We spent three nights in Grou. We met a young Dutch couple who were able to tell us lots of information. He was a mechanic for the army, so had a look at the motor with Russel and Russel learnt lots more about his motor. John ( the mechanic) is off to Afghanistan at the end of November. I wouldn’t like it if my partner had to go. They live in Steenwjk and we plan to see then on Thursday.

Arcturus in Grou

John and Rinolda

Lyn Coen is flying in from London to meet us at Steenwjk. It will be great to have some company.

We sailed under this bridge

Sailing towards the bridge

We left Grou and returned to Terherne to finalize the account and to get the rudder indicator fixed. The mechanic took it away so we decided to sail to Heek for the night.

It has been very windy the last few days. We are of course still trying to learn how to sail this boat. We managed to get into a pen at Heek, but were very concerned how we were going to turn the boat to get out again. It was very tight. Anyway we tried one way ( backing out) and it didn’t work so I suggested Russel drive forward into the jetty like he had done before, and low and behold it worked. We turned the boat so easily and sailed away. It was a very windy day, and we went through a few lift bridges and across lakes navigating from the map. We learn lots and our confidence was up, until we arrived in Joure.

Russel came up to the side well, I got off and started to tie off. Russel went to tie the back and the boat kept going backward. He had left it in gear, so he went back and this time he left it in forward gear. I was petrified. This large boat was heading to the edge of the canal. Anyway to cut a long story short, Russel took control of the boat and we tied it up. I was shaking for a while, but we learnt lots. We rode into town and once again hit the shops. Russel normally hates shopping but he certainly has been shopping till he drops this time.

The mechanic dropped off the new rudder control so that should be the last time we see them. We are heading to Mepple where we are going to house our boat for the winter. We decided not to go to Grou , as we wanted to head south. We really have seen lots of the north of Holland.

Entrance to Steenwijk

At the side of the canal

Next day we headed to Steenwijk, where our friends John and Rinolda live. We parked the boat in front of their flat. We then went for a ride to find the train station. Lyn was to arrive about 7pm so we needed to find the station. It would be a big walk for Lyn, but John used his car to pick her up. We all then went out for dinner. Its great to have a friend that we can ask heaps of question. Russel is learning heaps from John. John showed us a nice trip to go to on the way to Mepple.

The next day we casually got up and headed back to the Weeribben National Park.

We slowly sailed through this very picturesque canal. It was very pretty with houses and gardens on the side of the canals. We stopped in Kalenberg, as we needed to go through a bridge . The harbour meester was at lunch from 12 to 1pm so we stopped and had lunch too. A lot of the bridges are manned. This one we had to pay 2 euro. The have a fishing line with a clog on the end. As you pass them they feed the shoe out to you and in goes your money. It is really quite quaint.

That night we stopped in Blokzijl. We had to pass through our first sluis (loch) to get to the middle of the town centre where you are able to pull up and park for the night. Lyn and I got on our bikes and rode around the town looking for an internet. Couldn’t find one.

The next day we sailed to Giethoorn. This town is like a little Venice. The canals wander through the town with very pretty little houses and bridges. The canals are so small that you really can only take a dingy through. Their were lots for hire. We decided to ride, so Lyn hired a bike for 4.5 euro for the half day and re explored the town. We had lunch on the canal – we all had mustard soup which is very tasty

That night we watched the finals of the rugby.

Today we are heading for Mepple . This is where we are going to store our boat for the winter. Lyn leaves tomorrow for London. We are going to stay on the boat until Tuesday and then head to Amsterdam for the night. We leave for Brunei on Wednesday and have three days there. We arrive home on Monday morning early. It will be great to get back to the warm weather. It is cold here and it has now started to rain.