daily routine...

Life is getting a bit 'domesticated'. All I do is sleep, eat, work & sew. Winter came back after a few 'warm' days. This morning it was so cold again, we are back to using 2 hot water bottles instead of 1.



Ah well, can't complain, I actually love winter as much as I love summer if only it was a bit more varied. Dutch winters are always unpredictable...it can freeze, snow, rain or be sunny, whereas here it's dry most of the times and always around 15 degrees. One thing I really miss is ice-skating...it's just not the same on an icerink.

The crafty business is going well, I'm loving it and some other people too because I sold some things already. Mum absolutely loves the cushion covers I made for her birthday. All is good.

Check Hollabee for my crafty stuff.

snowboarding...

On the 6th of July we got in the car and headed for the snowfields. At around 9am we picked Nic up in Hawthorn and we were on our way. It's approx 2 hours to Warragul, where we booked a cabin and then another 2 up the mountain.

So after dropping our stuff off at the caravan park, we went up to the mountain to have our very first afternoon in the snow. I hadn't been on a wintersport holiday for 2 years and Marcel & Nic had never been. It was all so exciting.

We hired our boards & boots and I tried to explain how things work to Marcel & Nic. Marcel got the hang of it pretty quickly, but Nic was struggeling a bit. So for the Saturday we booked a private lesson for the two of them, which helped.

The snow was awesome and we all loved it! for a pic & more news on the trip, click here.

Daylesford...

Long time since I last updated my webpage.
On the 8th of June we left for Daylesford, about an hour drive from Melbourne. We stayed in this lovely cosy room at the back of Mc Arthurs Books & Cafe in Maldon.
Maldon is such a cute and lovely little place with great country shops and restaurants, the town is still beautifully preserved and the buildings are amazing.

The first day we drove to Daylesford and Hepburn Springs to visit the Daylesford Foto Biennale. We went to a seminar and visited some great locations.

This is basically most of what we did...

We visited the Andersons Mill in Smeaton, which is an absolute must see!
Then we went to the Tuki Trout farm to buy lamb & trout..This was quite funny as all we could see from the road was a sign, but no farm....after a few k's the farm finally showed up...I don't really like dirt roads and I don't think my car does either...worse of all..Marcel (on his L's) was driving. Thank god it was in the middle of nowhere and all he could hit was rocks or sheep.
Some of the great exhibitions were Jason Edwards (National Geograpic) at the Glenlyon Shire Hall, and the exhibitions at the Clunes Bottle Museum and Clunes Town Hall. All I do is look at buildings to be honest...I mean the photographs are amazing, but I find the buildings really interesting...must be the huge difference with Europe...I am just fascinated.
Ow, we also went out for dinner at the old macaroni factory in Hepburn Springs, this is a great place to eat..the atmosphere and the wood fire make it really cosy.
We also went to the Chocolate Mill, and all I can say is Yum Chocolate! Have to say it's quite pricy, but well..so is gold.
Before I forget, we had an awesome Devonshire Tea in Trentham. It's in an old bank building (can't really miss it as the town is really small) and they have crafty things as well. It's absolutely yummie, the scones are delicious...in fact they're so good that I absolutely had to go back the week after...

Well, that was our trip really....It was freeeeezing cold, but we loved our time away. Our next weekend away is on the 6th of July...to Warragul and hopefully we'll go skiing on Mt Baw Baw...I'll have to teach Marcel how to snowboard...wish me luck :)

It has been a while...

Sorry sorry sorry....

I know you all had to wait a long time for this blog....and to be honest...it's not that special...just an update...
Where shall I start...ehm...well my parents left on the 3rd of January, so it has been a while.

Things have just been pretty steady...working, relaxing, being busy etc. Summer has gone by so quickly.

Just recently I changed jobs and am really enjoying my new job with the Union. I'm basically supporting the organisers with various admin tasks, which gives me the opportunity to be a sponge and learn a lot.

Weekends are used to relax and we are slowly getting used to the colder weather even though the temperatures are still in the mid-20's.
Last weekend it was a long weekend because of Easter and we did some small day-trips, which was great. On Friday we went to Hastings to go fishing and enjoy the great scenery and weather. Then on Saturday we went on a shopping spree to buy some new clothes for winter. On Sunday we went to Queenscliff for some more fishing (too bad we never catch anything worth eating) and on Monday we went to the wineries in the Yarra Valley region. It was a great weekend, full on fun and a relaxing time.

That's it for now, I seriously can't think of anything interesting to tell you now, but I'll definitely post it if I remember something important.

van Meeuwen's down under...

On the 4th of December it was a big day... I had to work first, but in the evening my parents and brother would land after a 24 hour flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. We were waiting at the airport and it took ages...I was getting nervous after an hour...

Luckily nothing (serious) had happened...after about 1.5 hours they walked through the door and I hugged them....It was Marcel's first time to meet my family but that was hardly noticable...him and my brother were 'mates' within minutes.

Sadly my brother's bag hadn't arrive, but more about that later. We took them to our place and they started unpacking their suitcases....heaps of presents (yessss). Then we took mum & dad to the hostel and Gerard stayed with us.

The first few days they went shopping...as my brother was walking around in Marcel's clothes and he desperately needed clothes cuz he didn't have his bag....not that he was worried about that...he loved shopping here in Melbourne.

On the 8th of December we flew to Adelaide to stay the weekend with my relatives there. On the 9th we did a winery tour in the Barossa valley....with 44 degrees. Then on the 10th we went to Victor Harbor, Gowra and Normanville where we stayed the night in a cabin. The next day we did some exploring and in the evening we flew back to Melbourne.

That week my parents made some day trips around Melbourne before heading off to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians. They met kangaroos and koalas...which they really wanted.

After about a week...the airport called...my brother's bag was found...so now he had more clothes...but he had to buy new clothes because nobody can live without clothes for a week plus he didn't expect the bag to be found....luckily they did, cuz my chocolate recipe book was in there (hehe)

On the 24th we planned to go to Christmas Carols and we did go there...however, we didn't see anyone perform because it started to rain and it was so cold. Then on the 25th we had a christmas dinner at home... yummie prawns, salad, potatoes & ham...all prepared by...Me!

On the 26th it was time for our big adventure...the 5 of us in my car...First stop was Lakes Entrance, along Victoria's east coast. We stayed in Lakes Entrance for 2 nights...the boys went fishing...and we had awesome dinners at a seafood restaurant. The hostel wasn't all that....and especially sleeping in one room with the whole family & Marcel was an adventure...

After 2 nights in Lakes Entrance we drove along the coast towards Narooma (NSW)...and the further we got, the more beautiful the scenery... mum laughed everytime we got over another hill and Marcel would shout 'OHHHH WOOOOOOW'. It was a great trip. We stayed in Narooma for 2 nights, and this time the hostel was great...especially the people...YHA Narooma...if anyone is interested. The 2nd day in Narooma the boys went fishing (again) and we saw massive stingrays from the wharf, a dolphin and a seal....also...a boat caught a marlin and I can tell you...these are BIG!

Then after 2 nights we continued our trip to Sydney where we arrived on the 30th of December. Marcel, Gerard & I stayed with Marcel's parents and mum & dad stayed with Marcel's family friends. We had a great time...went to Manly on the ferry to have dinner with Courtney and Irene and in the evening we went to Belinda & Jim's place to celebrate new year. They live opposite the opera house and have a shared rooftop terrace. The view was perfect...we could not have had a better spot. Mum & dad loved it...the best New Years eve ever... for dad's album click here

Then it was time for us to drive back to Melbourne...which we did in 2 days, so we arrived on the 2nd of Jan and my parents & brother left Australia on the 3rd of Jan.

Thanks mum, dad & Gerard ...for coming over...it was a great trip & Marcel & I had heaps of fun! See you next time..whenever that is...Take care.

Christmas dinner...

Last night we had a big christmas dinner with our friends here in Melbourne. A total of 18 people were invited and the idea was to cook a dish from your 'homeland' so that everyone could try that. Most of you know that our group consists of different nationalities so the dinner was a real multi cultural bonanza. Me and Marcel started cooking in the afternoon since we had a lot to prepare.

We decided to make 3 dishes, of which 2 were dutch and one chilean. I made a dutch vegetable soup with little meatballs and dutch appelflappen. The appelflappen are made with pastry, apple, sultanas, cinnamon and sugar. Then we also made empanadas, which is chilean. They are made of pastry, mince meat, onion, garlic, herbs, olives and a little piece of egg. It was all yum!

At around 7pm we went to Fernanda's place to present our dishes and our Kris Kringle's. It was fun to do a Kris Kringle, buying a present for a friend not knowing whom got you a present in return. The shopping for the Kris Kringle was fun and in my opinion I did really well ;) hope the person will be happy with it....

We first had dinner, trying all the delicious dishes from Germany, Brazil, Hungary, Chile, India, Indonesia, China, Australia, Poland and the Netherlands. Then we had the Kris Kringle...and the real Santa came over to visit and hand out the presents...we all had to sit on his lap and do either a trick or sing a song to get our present. Once everybody got their present, we had our deserts (best part of the dinner ;) and sang Christmas carols.

It was a great night...Thank you Fernanda & Tom...we'll be there again next year :P

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone!

Family down under...

Today is a very exciting day... My family from the Netherlands will arrive to spend one month with us here in Australia. I just received an update that they arrived in Kuala Lumpur and are waiting for their transfer. Tonight at 8.35pm we will pick them up at Melbourne airport. They must be very tired then, but I can't wait to see them and show them around.

They will have some time off before we'll start our 'big' trips. Tomorrow they will probably need to recover from the trip so I have given them 'a day off'. The day after they can go and explore Melbourne's CBD and Queen Victoria Market. On Thursday they can go to St Kilda, Prahran and surrounds. Then on Friday morning we (Marcel will not be able to come) will fly to Adelaide for a long weekend with our relatives. On Saturday we'll make a trip to the fabulous Barossa Valley, on Sunday we'll do whatever our relatives recommend us to do and on Monday we'll go on a fishing charter off Cape Jervis...to catch some big ones (hopefully). In the evening we'll fly back to Melbourne.

After that my parents & brother will have about 8 days off to tour and explore Victoria's beautiful scenery before they're heading down to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians. On the 23rd of December they will be back in Melbourne for Christmas Carols and Christmas dinner...

Then on the 26th our adventure along the coast will start. The five of us will go in my car (hope she'll make it)...On the 26th we will drive to Lakes Entrance to stay there 2 nights....then we will continue along the coast towards Narooma where we will spend 2 nights as well...Our final destination will be Sydney where we will be for New Year with Marcel's family!

On the 1st of January we will drive to Wagga Wagga and then back to Melbourne....

My parents & brother will leave on the 3rd of January... Will miss them!

New job...

Wednesday the 8th of November was a big day for me ... the start of my new job. It was exciting and a little scary but I can assure you .. I am part of the team now and enjoying it a a lot! I still have a lot to learn but I'll get there and it's a great job which is very important. So far I have revised their corporate image incl. stationary, business cards etc and I am working on a website for them, which is very exciting seen the fact that it's one of my hobbies. More news later...

Last Thursday we went out for dinner with Courtney, her parents who came over from Canada, Fernanda, Tom and Huy. We went to Toto's, a Vietnamese restaurant on Victoria street in Richmond....the food was yummie!

On Saturday we went to the Latin Festival in Fitzroy. That was great fun...a lot of Chilean and Brazilian food...yum! And of course the latin music...salsa! We didn't want to go home too late, cuz we planned a trip to the beach on Sunday.

We left home around 11am to go to Portsea surf beach...It was meant to be 31 degrees..which would be nice for the beach you'd say...Uhm..not really...once we got there it was cloudy which made the temperature drop tremendously Cry so we left quite early because we felt cold. Then in the evening we watched Idols and went to bed early.

In two weeks my parents are arriving in Melbourne, and we're really excited about that...Celebrating Christmas together...

Road trip...

Friday - Melbourne to Sale
On Friday the 3rd of November we left Melbourne at around 5.30pm to start our trip on the Great Alpine Road. This road starts in Bairnsdale, 3 hours east of Melbourne, and ends in Wangaratta, 3 hours north of Melbourne. We spent our first night in the Motor Village in Sale, the Gippsland area east of Melbourne.

Saturday - Sale to Buchan to Omeo
On Saturday we drove from Sale to Bairnsdale, and then we went a little off track because we wanted to visit the Buchan Caves. This is an amazing place where they take you underground through the caves. We can recommend it to anyone.

From Buchan we drove back to the Great Alpine Road and up to Omeo, where we would spend the second night (in the Omeo Motel). Omeo is a little ‘gold rush' town that is still very well preserved. It looks very cute and is a great stop before you start your trip into the alpine area. We had dinner there on Saturday evening at a place called Mesley's and we can absolutely recommend having dinner there...the menu is fabulous and the deserts are yummie! Definitely a top class restaurant.

Sunday - Omeo to Dinner Plain to Mt Hotham to Harrietville to Bright to Mt Beauty
The next morning we got breakfast at the local bakery and petrol before heading to Dinner Plain and Mt Hotham. These two alpine villages cater for the winter sport lovers and for that reason there's not much to do at this time of the year apart from walking the extensive mountain tracks. We just stopped and took some photos. Then we took of to Harrietville, a picturesque little village. In this village we went to the trout farm where we caught two trout (after trying 10 times...we have proof...it was hilarious...but the sad thing was that I had to knock it on the head with a stick to kill it) which we took to cook for dinner later. From Harrietville we got to Bright, an absolutely stunning place with beautiful oak trees that give the town colour. I can advise anyone to visit this place (it's my favourite). Since all accommodation in Bright was fully booked, we stayed in Mt Beauty (Bogong Moth Motel). This village is half an hour east from Bright and has a wonderful bakery (which we found out in the morning). In the evening we prepared our delicious trout with garlic, ginger, parsley and spring onion and went to bed early.

Monday - Mt Beauty to Happy Valley to Myrtleford to Beechwort to Wangaratta
After our tasty breakfast in the Mt Beauty bakery we continued our trip. We drove through the Happy Valley back to the Great Alpine Road. We passed Myrtleford on the Great Alpine Road. Since Marcel's Uni friend Jess lives near Myrtleford we went to visit her on the farm. It was great fun, since we had no clue where to go, Jess had to come get us and we followed her on a ‘dirt' road until we finally reached her place. Her mum prepared a wonderful lunch including pavlova. Jess has horses and we could go for a horse ride...it had been ages since I last rode a horse...great fun...definitely would like to do it more often. After our time on the farm, we took a ‘back' road to Beechworth, one of Victoria's best preserved ‘gold rush' towns. The main attraction in Beechworth is their fabulous bakery and cake shop (try one of their yummie pies) and the lolly shop (seriously...lollies from all over the world). From Beechworth we drove down to our final destination...North Cedars Holiday Park in Wangaratta.

Tuesday - Wangaratta to Milawa to Oxley to Mansfield to Yarra Glen to Melbourne
Melbourne cup day...but we were not going, because we had to drive 3 hours to Melbourne. After loading everythin into the car and getting petrol, we drove towards Milawa and Oxley, two little towns situated in Victoria's gourmet region. In Milawa we bought the famous olive oil and olives from the olive shop, mustards from the mustard shop and cheeses from the cheese factory. I wish I could go shopping there every day. From Oxley we drove to Mansfield and along the way we stopped at Powers lookout which gave us a magnificent view of the valley. Mansfield is a little town at the bottom of Mt Buller (another skiing resort) and then we drove all the way home through the Yarra Valley.



This trip was both amazing and shocking... Victoria is still remarkable but it was really tragic to see how the land is affected by severe drought. We have seen for ourselves that we need to do something, because this is not only a ‘farmers problem'. Soon everyone in Australia will be affected by the drought! Lakes are dry, creeks are dry, rivers are dry... it scared us. The once famous lake in Bonnie Doon is no longer there...it is dry... Don't get me wrong, Victoria is beautiful (especially Bright...my favourite) but spring time used to be ‘green and full of flowers' and now it is yellow and dry... what is summer gonna bring?



Have a look at my pics ...and see for yourself....a wonderful but tragic landscape



Had an awesome time with Marcel, we did many nice things and had great weather everyday...if you want to visit the alpine area, you should take the great ocean road and buy some of the best local produce available....the gourmet country is certainly worth it....hopefully we can do it again soon...

Birthday & BBQs

On the 21st of October it was my birthday and we went to Jells Park for a BBQ and nice day out with friends. Even though the weather wasn't as good as I hoped, it was a great day. First of all we had to get the BBQ started since it was not one of those electric ones as I expected but a real woodfire one...Well..we got it working and soon it was hot enough to put the sausages and burgers on...It was very nice and the BBQ gave us what we needed....warmth...
Most of the girls stayed close to the fire and the boys went to play soccer...it was a great day! Thanks all! Since the gallery on my site isn't working fully, have a look at the pics here

Last Saturday we had another BBQ in St Kilda, because Fiona is leaving soon..She's going back home (Indonesia) for a holiday. Had another great day!

Tonight we're going out for dinner for Fiona's farewell...and now I'm enjoying my last day at work (Sporting Shooters) before going on a mini-trip tomorrow. Marcel & I are going to the Great Alpine Road, from Melbourne to Sale, to Omeo, to Mt Beauty, to Beechworth, to Wangaratta and back to Melbourne on Tuesday. On Wednesday I will start my new job and I'm really looking forward to that :)

More news soon.

got a job...

Good news this week...I found a job....I haven't started yet, but it sounds like a great challenge and I am really looking forward to starting my new job...



The company specialises in fabric cutting systems for a variety of industries such as apparel, furniture, transportation and industrial. My job will be setting up their marketing, starting with their website (so keep an eye out) Furthermore, I'll assist with creating a support system for their distributors and agents, creating marketing materials, marketing plans, advertising, customer relations, PR etc. The company has recently moved to brand new offices in Tullamarine and has great facilities for R&D, design and manufacturing.

The rest of this week was as usual... worked 4 days in Box Hill (my current temporary job, which will finish this Thursday). Today we had a BBQ with friends in St Kilda, tonight I went to Courtney's to assemble her new bookcase and watch tv and on Thursday we'll go out for $4 pizza's because Fiona is flying to Indonesia on Friday...A lot of activities as you can see, and this will only increase cuz summer is on our doorstep :)

More news on my job & life soon...

picking it up again...

I'm transferring the continuation of my adventures back to this blog...