"10 must do" en Holanda

¿Cansados de ser un "turista más"? ¿Quereis visitar Holanda y sentiros holandeses por un dia? Pues aquí os dejo diez cosas que deberías ver o hacer y con las que el bolsillo no se resentirá:

Tired of being a "common tourist? Do you want to visit Holland and feel Dutch for a day? Then have a look at these ten things you must see or do and for which you won't have to spend a fortune:

1.- Wadlopen en Friesland o lo que es lo mismo cruzar de tierra firme a una de las islas del mar del Wadden durante marea baja. Llevad ropa vieja, porque acabareis de lodo hasta las orejas :)

1.- Wadlopen in Friesland or walk from the main land to one of the Wadden Sea islands during low tide.

2.- Participar en uno de los 11 Stedentoch (ruta por las 11 ciudades) en Friesland.

2.- Take part in one of the 11 Stedentoch (11 city tour) in Friesland.

3.- Coge el ferry a Terschelling, Vlieland o Ameland, alquila una bici y descubre la isla.

3- Take the ferry to Terschelling, Vlieland or ameland, rent a bike and discover the island.

4.- Skusjezeilen, haz vela en uno de los barcos tradicionales frisones.

4.- Skusjezeilen, sail in a traditional Frisian ship. 

5.- Visserijdagen o "dias del perscador" en Harligen

5.- Visserijdagen or fisher's days in Harlingen

6.- Bloemenmarkt en Leeuwarden, el mercado anual de flores más grande del país.

6.- Bloemenmarkt in Leeuwarden, the biggest annual flower market in the country.

7.- Visita la fábrica de cerveza y licores Us Heit en Bolsward. 

7.- Visit the brewery Us Heit in Bolsward.

8.- Visita el mercado del queso en Alkmaar.

8.- Visit the cheese market in Alkmaar.

9.- Visita Thialf en Heerenveen y aprende a patinar sobre hielo.

9.- Visit Thialf and learn how ice skating.

10.- Recorre Noord-Holland en tren de vapor y barco.

10.- Go around Noord-Holland in steam train and ship.

A cada una de ellas le voy a dedicar un post. Pero para ir abriendo boca os dejo unas fotos.

I will write a post  for each one. But to whet your  appetite, I let here some pictures.

Spaceships promo code: one day FREE

Are you planning a trip to New Zealand, Australia or the UK? Thinking of renting a spacechips? Here a promo code to get one FREE day’s hire with any Spaceships hire over 10 days!

Spaceships promo code: 5097SA

Estás planeando un viaje a Nueva Zelanda, Australia o UK? vas a alquilar una spacechips? Pues aquí te dejo un codigo promocional con el que te daran un día de alquiler gratis con cualquier alquiler superior a 10 días!!

Spaceship promo code: 5097SA


Spaceship Aktionscode: 5097SA

pictures, pictures and more pictures

I have taken a lot of pictures and I'm preparing a selection. Here are already some, I'll be adding more and more as well as make some post to comment them :)

https://picasaweb.google.com/118396746660236790419/India?authkey=Gv1sRgCJnms7r6lI7zpAE#

Australia: looking for the free camp spot

We arrived yesterday in Sydney after leaving Melbourne on monday. We rented the same type of car again and as it was for a short period, it was more expensive. To compensate we decided to camp as much as possible for free. On Monday We drove to Lorne by the Great Ocean Road and stayed in a free camp spot in middle of the mountains (only toilets without lights). Tuesday we drove to Wilson's Promontory and as a national park We paid 24$ for the camping. Wednesday we stopped near Genoa again in a free camp spot. This one had almost everything as in the past was a real camping: toilets with lights, cold showers, picnic table and BBQ (see picture). Thursday we had a free area in the kangaroo valley in mind, but probably because of the rain and flooding it was closed. But we found a camping in the neighbourhood, which was just 20$ and where we got DVDs for free :)

Australia is wonderful for camping, you don't need to look too hard to find something nice.

Ayer llegamos de nuevo a Sydney después de salir el lunes de Melbourne. Volvimos a alquilar la misma clase de coche y como era sólo una semana, salía mucho más caro. Para compensar decidimos  buscar campings gratis. El lunes fuimos a Lorne por la Great Ocean Road y encontramos un camping gratis en medio de las montañas que sólo tenía dos retretes y sin luz. El martes dormimos en Wilson's Promontory, como es un parque nacional hay que pagar 24$ por el camping. El miércoles encontramos una verdadera joya cerca de Genoa. Tenía casi de todo: baño con luces, duchas con agua fria (el agua caliente es lo único que le falta), mesas de merendero y BBQ! Para el jueves teníamos previsto un camping gratis en el área del "valle del canguro", pero cuando llegamos allí estaba cerrado probablemente por las lluvias y el riesgo de inundación. Pero encontramos otro camping en los alrededores por 20$ y en el que prestaban DVDs gratis :)

To Cape Tribulation

We got as far as Cape Tribulation. Here the view from the lions lookout on the way to Mossman from the Tablelands.


Y llegamos al final de la carretera: Cape Tribulation! Estas son las vistas desde el mirador del león de camino a Mossman desde las Tablelands.

We're missing the crocodiles

So far we have seen and interacted with many of the typical australian animals: we cuddled a koala, hand fed kangaroos, helped little turtles to reach the sea, saw little penguins, swam with sea turtles in the reef.... the only we haven't seen are the crocodiles despite all the warning signals in the north and the couple of walks we did. But who does want to swim with a salty?!

Waiting for the turtles

Today we drove from rainbow beach to Bundaberg (210 km). Our aim here: see the turtles hatching and laying eggs. It's a matter of time and patience, they said. We can be waiting until 1 in the morning if nothing happens before. It works as following: they assigned you to a group (We're in group 2), rangers patrol the beach for turtle activities, as soon as  something happens the first group is taken to the beach. On the next event, the following group is taken to the beach and so on. Yesterday the first group went at 20 to the beach, group 2 around 22. In between you can watch documentaries or listen to ranger talks... we'll see

Brisbane

Brisbane

A good night sleep

The first two nights in Australia were quite bad, I was constantly waking up feeling very hungry and at 3 am (5 pm CET) I couldn't fall sleep again.
Now we got it, two nights ago we were sleeping in a surf camp, in Arrawarra (not far from coffs harbour), where we could hear the waves of the ocean from the camper. Maybe because of this we were able to sleep through the night in once.
But waking up is also nice, you can hear the birds and the nature around you. Even today, in the city. Last night we stayed at Jacquie's, someone we met in Halong Bay three years ago. She took us to a mountain to see the city and the views were amazing there.
Today we'll be a zoo day

We're set up!

Today we picked our spaceships camper, which was very time consuming: the office was somewhere outside the center, 30 min by train to be exact. From the train station we had to walk about 2 - 3 km and this was the tiring part. It's not far if you're not carrying 15 kg. Fortunately half way a car stopped and a friendly lady asked us "are you going to kea campers?", they dropped us at the door and said "welcome to Australia". Yes, that was the welcome we're needing :)
Next thing after all the paper work was to buy some groceries. And guess what, there was an aldi just around the corner.  Perfect!
Finally we drove to the Hunter valley and for the first time we're going to sleep here. There's enough space, but I think tomorrow we need to arrange our bags in a different way.

We finally arrived!

After 36hours, we're finally in sydney

Todo lo bueno se hace esperar

Después de estar esperando más de 3 horas dentro del avión parece q llega nuestro turno. En 30 minutos vienen a descongelarnos las alas y después podemos despegar.... aún así el vuelo de conexión lo hemos perdido y no se cuantas horas tendremos que esperar, el siguiente vuelo es 11h después :(

Almost ready

All bookings we have to make before leaving are done: we have accommodation for the two first and last nights in Sydney, a ticket from Cairns to Melbourne and our campervan for the three weeks in the East Cost. Well, it's a backpacker camper, something in between a car and a camper. The only thing missing is a toilet, otherwise it has a doubel bed, cooker, fridge, dvd and a shower!!
The only thing not ready is me. I'm still not fit, with pain in the throat and ears. So not really in shape for 22 hours of airplane. Tomorrow I'll go to the doctor again, let's see if I get more antibiotics.

The most difficult part of each trip

is to decide what to see and what to leave out. So far Australia has been the hardest, but we have a route: we'll fly to Sydney, from there rent a campervan and head to Cairns (about 3000km), then fly to Melbourne and drive back to Sydney (another 1000km). It sounds so easy, but it took us a couple of weeks to decide.

First, we left out Uluru, the big red stone in the middle of nowhere. It's so far and so hard to get there, and no one was really enthusiastic about it. Then choose to fly to Adelaide, Melbourne or Tasmania, at the end Melbourne won. In the map it doesn't seem far away, but actually it is. Well, we'll have plenty of things for the next time :)

Going home

The boarding just started.15 hours ahead

'Ta Ta India!'

I just checked out and as soon as the taxi is here, I'll leave for the airport. Long journey ahead and already tired :(

Why did I have to leave Ooty?

I had an amazing long weekend in Hampi and I thought nothing will be more relaxing, but Ooty was. I spent there my last two days a.d it was fantastic!
Well it started and ended not that good: in Metupalayam there was not much accommodation available and after waking up at 5:45, the toy train was not working. On the other hand the journey from there to Bangalore was stressful.
But the two days there really worth it. Wednesday I took the train to Coonoor: 1 hour for 16 km. It's a scenic journey and i took around 120 pictures. In the evening I joined two Danish guys for dinner at the savor hotel (taj) and met there a Australian girl. For once I was enjoying the colonial life ;) Thursday I joined them again for a hiking tour through tea plantations, amazing landscapes and views!

To Ooty

Today I'm trying to get to Coimbatore by train, from there to Metupalayam by bus and tomorrow the toy train to Ooty. I'll have to "be nice" to the station master in order to get a ticket (and wake up very early). I hope It's worth it.
But first I'm going for sightseeing here.

Train II

Complaining about peak time?

"Platform number 3, hurry up!"

That was the answer this morning to "ernakulam?". I got earlier to the train station and a passenger train was already there. As everyone else, I crossed from 1 to 3 through the rails instead of the bridge, otherwise I wouldn't have made it ;) I got the perfect seat: emergency window, sitting alone. In each stop the.train was getting crowded and crowded until people was hanging in the door. Maybe because of the heat rather than the space. I could feel the heat from all the people, when the train wasn't moving it was not nice. I can't imagine being in the middle of that crowd!
It took almost two hours to get to ernakulam, but the journey was interesting as well as the landscape.

Once in fort cochin i looked for a place to stay and afterwards I decided to reward my feet for the much work they have done: pedicure and massage. To close the day, dance show :)
After a couple of power cuts, It's time to sleep