Farewell Amsterdam

We arrived home on Tuesday morning to embark on a week of packing the house up and preparing for the move. First half of the week goes off without a hitch and gradually, after countless return trips to Gamma and Praxis to buy yet more boxes, our house begins to resemble the shell that it was when we arrived 2 and a half years ago.

Each night we're up until the wee hours wrapping our fragile items in bubble wrap and making sure that everything is tightly packed and organised efficiently for the removalists. Early on Friday morning a huge removalists truck arrives and within 2 and a half hours the movers have placed our entire lives' belongings onto a truck bound for Oxford.

Unfortunately, our ecstacy that the move went off so smoothly was dealt a savage blow just two and a half hours later when we received a call from the real estate agent in Oxford informing us that the current tenants had not yet moved out and, as their contract ran until October 2nd, would be remaining in the property until that time. I'll spare you a description of my reaction and subsequent hours of pleading, begging, insulting and threatening other than to say that all of it was to no avail.

Thankfully, our movers were flexible enough to place our goods in storage (at a cost) and I managed to move my flight back a few days. As I had scheduled farewell drinks that evening, I was in no mood to stay sombre so within a short while (and courtesy of 5 or 6 Amstels) my melancholy state had evolved to a who cares type attitude.

I was extremely overwhelemed by the presence of both club mates (young and old) and friends at our drinks at vakzuid. Even more so, i was blown away by the gifts that we received - a number of baby gifts (to supplement the junior rugby guernsey and ball that the club had given me before our trip) as well as some lovely mementos from the HARM guys and gals and the coup de grace, a framed 't Gooi guernsey with a team photo from last years GF. It is moments like these that I will treasure and miss and friends such as those that I have made here that I am sure I will connect with for the remainder of my life.









Oxford awaits.

Home at last (however briefly)!

We arived back in Sydney on Friday the 1st of September. As usual, the weather was amazing upon our arrival which does lead us to question why we're happy to brave the cold and wet of the nothern winter when this is considered a winters day!

The following day, my sister Gabrielle married Lyndon Higgins -the weather was fantastic, Gab looked gorgeous and the day was a great celebration as you can see from the photos. I was honoured to have been asked to be the Master of Ceremonies for the evening and thankfully, from all accounts, managed to fulfill expectations of the bride and groom.




Celebrations continued into the wee hours and i had barely enough time to sleep off my drunkenness before once again being tempted by a cold beer overlooking Sydney Harbour at a post wedding / father's day luncheon with the McInerney and Higgins families. The amaazing setting, fantastic food and wonderful company were a fitting compliment to the previous days festivities.





The rest of the week was an enjoyable melange of family catch ups - including meeting our nephew Thomas (or Tommy) for the 1st time and smothering him with love, socialising with friends, taking care of certain administrative chores and enjoying countless fine meals and lovely beverages.

Catching up with friends at the Commodore


Although Sam had only given birth a few weeks prior, she very generously and selflessly organised a surprise baby shower for Claudia on the following Saturday which was well attended by friends and family alike.





The following morning we took great delight in celebrating Thomas' christening and then retreating to Sam & Eden's for a feast. Unfortunately, though it was a great day it was quite emotional for the girls that evening as we were to leave the next day. More waterworks were in evidence the next day at Kingsford Smith as we departed on QF001 for Amsterdam though our extended stay means that all of you back home now have a reason to come and visit Claud, Finn, me and junior burger (whatever sex he or she may be)!

Back online

The last month or so has been fairly hectic as we've navigated the move from Amsterdam to Oxford and in the process we've said our goodbyes (on countless occasions), enjoyed a holiday in Thailand, been back to Sydney for my sister's wedding and then returned to Amsterdam in time to pack the house up into boxes and waved goodbye to our home of 2 and a half years.

The best way to capture what has transpired is through images, so here you go:



The official graduation building at the University of Groningen

Part of my farewell to Holland was a trip with Dirk and Friso to Groningen, a town in the north of the Netherlands where most of our close Dutch friends went to University together. They all played rugby together and I even managed to make a guest appearance for the old boys team a couple of times. We had a pretty big night and felt the worse for it the next day but it was great to have a boys night and we managed to catch up with Chris Verhoef and Tom Hart whilst we were in town.



The following week was my last at work. I finished up at Douwe Egberts after 7 years and though it was strange to leave such familiarity, the prospects of the next year are so exciting that I don't feel too sentimental about the past. We had a lovely farewell dinner with my close colleagues and I was given a very generous send off with some lovely gifts, including 2 new Senseo coffee machines and some lovely photographic images of Amsterdam to reflect on our time in the Netherlands.


The next day, we boarded our Qantas flight to Bangkok for a week in the Sun at the Evason resort at Hua Hin. The staff were friendly, the weather warm and sunny and the days long and relaxing - the perfect tonic to unwind before heading home for a week of catching up with friends and family.



After lazing about by the pool, we had a complete afront to the senses when we arrived in Bangkok where the humidity, heat and polution were overwhelming. Our time in Bangkok was characterised by some great meals, including a standout meal at Celadon and some interesting shopping at the night bazaar. Our cultural void was filled by a morning visit to the Royal Palace and Wat Pho. We had a great time!