More Photos for Belguim to France

Belguim to France

Hi Everyone,
We’ve done a lot in the last week, starting with a quick drive for the Netherlands across Belgium to France. On our first night in Belgium we stayed in a sports centre carpark, it felt like we could have been staying outside Waipukurau pools at home. We were close to town, the park and the pool, though the pool was four times the price and probably not much better. It was Sunday evening and we went for a walk down the main street and it was like a ghost town. Everything was closed for the day so we couldn’t buy any food but we went into the church and looked the buildings like city hall.
The next day we went shopping at a supermarket and then drove across the rest of Belgium. Lucky for us our hardest problem was finding a park at the shop, we didn’t have to learn another language just to buy some groceries. By the end of the day we still weren’t in France but we stayed at another sports centre, stuck in our camper because of the rain.

In the morning we drove into France and the entire landscape changed dramatically. We started going over hills and though big areas of farmland planted in a variety of crops, mainly wheat and corn. All the farms looked very busy with harvesting and baling straw. The architecture changed as well all the buildings became brick with steep orange tile rooves. We also noticed that a lot of the old farm buildings had collapsed and been left as piles of bright orange tiles.
Our first few days in France we have stayed in special carparks only for motor homes called Aires. The coastline is very beautiful the sea comes right up to the big chalk cliffs/hills at high tide. At low tide there are very big flat sandy beaches. A few of the Aires have been up on these cliffs right above the sea with really good views.
One night we spent at a French Passion park. It was a Goat Farm which made cheese. We felt right at home. They did all the work inside a big barn, including making the cheese in a special room. We got to watch them hand milk their goats, they were very good and super fast. While staying at the farm we also found some blackberries which we made into some yummy jam to have with biscottes(toast bread like a cracker).

William, the Nieuwys

Note: Internet is to slow to add photos so we will add them later. Sorry

Wind and Water ,The Kinderdijk mills

Our first view of the Kinderdijk was spectacular, nineteen classic old Dutch windmills scattered on the flat landscape. We walked along the reservoir learning all about the unique water management system. The stone octagonal windmills with thatched roofs were (before they made electronic pumps) used to turn scoop water wheels. The waterwheels carried the water that had been drained off the land up from the lower reservoir to the higher reservoir. It then drained from the higher reservoir into the river Lek. Millers and there families worked and lived in the windmills. The miller had to make sure the water level was maintained at the right height. He had to rotate the windmills to the angle so the windmills sails best caught the wind. Can you imagine our family living in a windmill. We enjoyed walking along side the stationary windmills in the sunshine. We crossed over the reservoir and back thorough town to the camper. It was a interesting history lesson you would not (because of the sea level) have in New Zealand.

Delft and Rotterdam Carnival

We left Maasluis and drove to Delft where they make the hand-painted white and Blue porcelain ware more famously known as delft blue. After finding a park in a residential street we walked to the oldest factory in Delft established in 1653. We didn’t take the factory tour but went into the gallery and shop. We were very vary not to touch or break anything. Dad felt very connected to the Delft Blue and wanted to buy something. We saw a vase for 3086 Euros ($6200NZD) and tile portraits for even more. We then walked around Delft and back to our camper. We then drove the massive Motorways up to Clara Maria Cheese and Clog farm near Amstelveen. We looked at there operation and watched a lady shaping cheeses off a press and the cows get milked. We then got lost in a massive flower distribution centre thanks to a road block. We drove out to a Camperplaats in Ijmuiden and watched the bigs ships, tugboats and a Rainbow Warrior going through the Noordzee canal to Amsterdam. We walked out along the dike and played in the sand at the beach. The next day we walked along the Dike again and Mum cut our hair. We stayed there again. On Friday we drove back to Masslius to Pj and Claudia and went to a canal and watched a boat parade. The parade was advertising and celebrating the local produce growing in all the huge glasshouses in the area. After the Boat parade we drove to PJ and Caudia’s friend’s garden house near Rotterdam. We had a BBQ and went into central Rotterdam for the ‘Battle of the Drums’-A battle of four dutch cultures playing African and Caribean music for the Zomer Carnival this weekend. We walked past the ‘TreeHouses’ and into the crowd. One of the Bands stopped next to us and we watched them practise up really close. We then folowed them to the stage and got really close because no one else was following the band. We danced along to the Rhythm of the drums and caught the hats and whistles that were being thrown into the crowd.


We slept in the Carpark of the Garden Houses. After a huge breakfast from Cadia and PJ’’s awesome friends we took our convoy of cars to the nearest Metro Station and took the Metro into Rotterdam because the parking at Claudia’s brother’s apartment was full because the Zomer Carnerval was expecting over a million people watching the parade today. We found a spot in the crowd and watched the parade. There we over 50 different groups all dressed up in sparkling, colourful outfits dancing behind trucks and on floats. After 2 hours we went back to the Garden House and drove on to a Camperplaats in Kinderdijk where we had a little problem with our sewage disposal but worked it out in the end.