DIKSMUIDE

The yachthaven of Dirkmuide where Deerste spent the winter. The club had 87 boats and was built with around 1.5 million dollars of EU money. Voted one of the best 3 in Belgium. We have been invited to join – an honor as we would be exceeding the 10% foreign membership rule. Perhaps we have drunk enough Belgium beer to be considered as locals!

The port from the top of the WW1 monument.

Market day is always a lot of fun and the local produce a must. Now strawberries are in season and some of the best we have tasted. 4 half kilo punnets for 4 Euros (A$6.00) (and no soggy ones on the bottom)

The area around here saw much of the worst fighting in the First World War. Australian names feature a lot in the numerous war cemeteries in the region. It seemed a very appropriate place to honour Anzac day so we invited some friends over for morning tea and introduced them to the delights of Anzac biscuits brought over especially for the occasion. Despite Lynda’s apprehension to their reaction to this Antipodean delight (vegemite is never a winner) most had 2 or 3.

Morning tea below on Deerste, Anzac day

Belgium friends Nicky and Walter on the left, Tony, me and Eyvonne from the UK, opposite.

Underway after a week of boat work and socializing. Lynda at the wheel, all rugged up, as we head off on a club cruise to Ieper. This town was the centre of the Western Front in WW1and was completely destroyed. It has since been rebuilt much as it was. A beautiful small city where 4 days just slipped away.

It seems the Aussie fighting spirit still lives on around Iepers.

Away at Last

Arrived in Korea after 9 hours flying and two movies. The view out of the hotel room was not very encouraging and the evening meal definitely lost a lot in the translation from Korean to European. But not to be deterred we went walking next morning before our flight and it is surprising what you can discover if you give a place a chance.

All done with bottle tops. I can feel a make-over coming on for Lydford Close so save all those tops.

A small local gallery had a display of wooden dog carvings with an notation in Korean for each. Not to sure if it was an explanation of the breed or a recipe.

Lynda testing her Korean on one of the locals.

Cannot remember this story from Sunday school.

Or this one.

A walk in in the local park among the last of the cherry blossoms. From an outsiders viewpoint Korea seems to be a strange mixture of Chinese and Japanese with bits and pieces from both cultures.

Back on the bus to the airport. Greyhound take note of the decor. It seems very middle eastern and we half expected the the radio to start blaring out Arabic music. There were a lot of Turkish planes at the airport so perhaps a bit of cross culture is happening. But if they can get the bus decor right (for the Turks) why can’t they get the food from other countries right?

Off to Paris over the frozen lakes of Siberia. It does not look too inviting from 36,000 ft. On the ground it must be bloody dismal.

We are now on the boat in Dirksmuide. After a couple of days of hard work all is now shipshape for the summer. We are off to Yipes for a few days with the local boat club. The area around here is full of WW 1 battle fields with quite a few references to Australian soldiers. An appropriate place to spend Anzac day.