Yesterday I got a last-minute call from a colleague of mine, saying that he had two tickets for the St. Kilda – Collingwood game left over and if Kai and myself wanted to come. What a rhetorical question!
So we got dressed, had a quick lunch, and off we went.
As you do when you have visitors in the city you live in, you do the touristy things that you never get around to doing by yourself. Like visiting the penguins. Or going up the Eureka Tower. Which we did.
The Eureka Tower is the tallest building in Melbourne and, surprisingly, a residential building. As a visitor you can get up to the Skydeck on the 88th floor (and to 89 if you go for dinner). Which is pretty high up. Continue reading “High on up – on top of the Eureka Tower”
The Mornington Peninsula is a very popular holiday destination for Melburnians. Why? We did not know yet, so time for us to head out there and explore a little. Continue reading “The Mornington Peninsula beaches”
First we went in the train to go to the city. In the train we had a guy with us called flat Luke*. He is made of paper and our grandpa and his partner where there too. Continue reading “A day at the town with flat Luke”
Penguins. Those cute little birds that can’t fly but can glide under water with almost equal grace. The ones that live in cold places like Antarctica.
Well, OK, there are a few of them that come to some beaches in South Africa and Australia. But that’s way down in Phillip Island, and frightfully touristy and expensive…
Well, not quite true. Because there is a colony of Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) that have made the breakwaters of St. Kilda Beach their home. And those we went to visit. Continue reading “Looking for penguins”
No, this is not a town where they mine tourists, as the sign might suggest. Walhalla is an old Victorian gold-mine town that got deserted in 1915, but has been kept very much as it used to be and is now a touristic village.
After a suggestion from someone on the Dutchies in Melbourne Facebook page, we decided to pack up our camping gear and head out to mountains. It is only a two hour drive East of Melbourne, so easy to reach. Continue reading “Easter weekend in Walhalla”
Last weekend, the new Formula 1 season (2016) kicked off with the Melbourne Grand Prix. And, while I am not a real petrol-head, I have always wanted to go to one of these races. So I took the chance that presented itself and went, together with a few colleagues of mine. Continue reading “the F1 experience in Melbourne”
If you are a bit of a F1 enthusiast, you will know that the new season started today, with the Australian Grand Prix the first stop on the calendar. And, if you followed the race (or the news), you will have heard about the crash between Alonso and Gutierrez.
Well, I was there when it happened.
Project Avo is now almost 2 months old. Time for another update.
Although the quality and variety of food in Australia is great, there are times when we long for some Dutch food. No, for us that is not the kroketten the frikandellen or the drop. They even make decent fries here, although people give you an astonished look when you ask for mayonnaise with it. “Yes, we fuck’n drown them in that shit”. What we miss is all the different bread toppings, like pindakaas, hagelslag, appelstroop and ontbijtkoek (see picture above).
Luckily there is a Dutch-German store in Croyden that has most of the supplies that make us happy. So today I drove up there for the second time to do some grocery shopping.
Since the Dutch are already krenterig by nature (a Dutch word which is closest to thrifty, as in using money carefully and not wanting to spent too much), they might be extra krenterig when it concerns food that they know has very different prices in the Netherlands. Therefore the store can probably not live off Dutch-German food alone, so it is also a gift store and a confectionery.
I guess the Dutch are pretty specialized on their sweet bread toppings, as I have not seen any other country that has such a big variety. Next to the ‘normal toppings’ like marmelade, honey and Nutella there are many different chocolate varieties like hagelslag (sprinkles) and vlokken (flakes), which of course all come in milk, dark and white variety. But also speculoos (a cookie spread), muisjes and gestampte muisjes (anise flavored sprinkles), gekleurde hagelslag (coloured sprinkles).
Paying $ 8.50/€ 6.10 for a small jar of peanut butter is a lot of money. But the expression on Kai’s face when putting his teeth in a Calvé peanut butter sandwich completely makes up for that. They sell some sort of peanut butter here as well, but it just isn’t the same…
Last time I visited the Dutch store, they even sold Old Amsterdam cheese. A really tasteful cheese, even the exported variety. The regular Dutch Gouda which they sell, unfortunately is the same quality as the one that gets exported to Germany, a variety that does not have a lot of flavor.
After living in Melbourne for nine months, it is great to be able to buy some familiar flavors. Yes it has been that long already, long enough for a baby to be conceived and born. Time sure flies when you are having fun!
europe2australia.com 