Our trip into Amsterdam was uneventful though interesting with the ships getting bigger as we approached. The approach is from the south and you have two alternative routes, one on the canalised River Amstel into the city and the other, the commercial route to the west. We were advised to take the Amstel by a Dutch couple who run a hotel boat and so we approached from that direction. Being unsure exactly where we might be able to stay we looked out for a mooring on the approach and found one with a sign >authorised vessels only= which suited us as a place to stop and do a recce on bike.

We soon tied up and I took my bike off to ride along the canal, through the old town and to the port - the Oosterdok - where I thought we might have a chance of a few days mooring. Arriving at the port office, a watch tower on the busy riverport side of Amsterdam I made enquiries. I was told that at the sluice we had to pass through to get into the city canal system I could pay the tax and arrange to stay at the Niewhaven near the Oosterdok - right in the centre of town ! As the sluice was closed until 6.00pm for the frenetic Amsterdam traffic we would have to wait till then to come through. I returned to Van Nelle.

In front of us was a permanent boat where the business of repairing washing machines was being conducted - therefore water. I approached the man working on a machine and asked if I could buy some water. He referred me to the owner who, noting the name of our boat said we could have water in exchange for some Van Nelle Black Shag tobacco - which we happened to have on board. We exchanged gifts.

Meanwhile, a young man riding by stopped his bike at the boat and declared; he knew the ship; he knew a previous owner of Van Nelle and more than that, the owner lived in Amsterdam. We rapidly asked if he could arrange a meeting and flushed with excitement about this chance encounter, he rode off and we untied and headed for the Niewhaven.

At the sluice I explained to the sluiswatcher what the port captain had advised me, that if we asked nicely the tax might be reduced for a day or two=s stay. The man looked at us and Van Nelle, asked what we wanted to do in Amsterdam (touristing) and gave us a week for just i 8 ! We were delighted and passed through the lock and for the next half hour, through the streets of Amsterdam - by canal - emerging in the heart of the old maritime centre and turning right into the haven. While there are no facilities there - power and water - it is quiet and secure, and just minutes from everything Amsterdam has to offer.

We took our bikes across the busy river by ferry to check out the Yacht haven listed in the charts - what a joke. Crammed with small plastic vessels, Sixhaven is totally unsuited to larger metal vessels - so we were relieved to have so easily arranged for our official berth at the Niewhaven.

Some time later a large, burly Dutchman arrived on a bicycle and announced he was Francois Palm, previous owner of Van Nelle. We boiled water and made coffee - always a precursor to discussion in the Netherlands. Francois chatted about how he came by the boat, filling in details we could only previously sketch around using the documents we had. We had visited the Kadaster office (the Dutch registry office of all land, ship and aircraft purchases) while in Van Grevenstein=s shipyard and had obtained other documents from Douwe Egbert. Francois promised to hunt out some other documents and photos and return with his wife for drinks - which he did the next day - then taking us to see his Luxemotor which he rents out to tourist visitors, located in a nearby permanent mooring.

Meanwhile we visited the tourist office and procured Museum passes, allowing us three days to visit many of the city=s historic attractions. We spent the next few days doing a canal tour, poring through records at the Historical Museum, visiting the Niewkirk and the Theatre Museum. Looking for live music we also went to the Musikcentrum building for some terrible unmelodic Jazz one night and an outstanding tribute party to one of Amsterdam=s Jazz legends. Many old colleagues attended and played sets or pieces with him. 70 years old, this jazz drummer is still great.

And on to more attractions, the Resistance Museum, Rijksmuseum, Holthuyser Huis, Photo Museum and on the weekend around the port, Musica Aqua - a special festival of traditional and classical music on historic barges at the Maritime Museum. This museum is a must for anyone interested in water borne craft. Not only does it hold the history of the Dutch East Indies Company ( VOC ) but also the royal barge, an East Indiaman, the life of seafarers and a collection of barges - still owned and lived on by their former operators.

During the weekend our young Dutch friends, Herzen and Neltje arrived in port with their hotel boat and we had an afternoon chatting and having a few drinks. The next day - Sunday, a family rowed by and as soon as they saw Van Nelle, exclaimed >that=s our old ship != This was Esther Croes and Michel Risjenbrij. They therefore also visited, brought memorabilia and inspected the many changes.

Van Nelle was build and operated by the Van Nelle company from 1915 to 1953 when she was sold to the Roodenburg brothers and converted to carry drinking water. She remained in that configuration through to the 90s, having been sold twice as a watership in the 80s and then to Francois Palm. He experienced the breakdown of the second engine, a two cylinder Brons, and when tied alongside a Spits barge, bought the Baudouin engine and the Spit=s wheelhouse. He then sold VN to Ester and Michel who had the engine and wheelhouse installed, then selling the ship to Frank de Jong in 1998. Frank converted her to live aboard and we bought her in 2001. As a result of these meeting, both entirely by chance, we had filled in a few of the gaps in our knowledge.

Our phone connection to France=s telecom was unusable in the Netherlands but we discovered that every town has a library and every library and internet centre, many free. By this means we were able to connect and communicate. They also gave us the chance to do some research but nothing more turned up that we did not now know.

On the 8^th day in Amsterdam a member of the waterways authority came by to inquire when we were leaving as our pass had expired and we advised we were leaving that day. Both satisfied, he and we left the scene. We were heading on to Alkmaar where Van Nelle was built.

To get to Alkmaar, up the west coast, you go through Zaandam a very pretty, small town with windmills outside in a row along the canal. This presents a perfect picture of the Holland of the postcards, windmills, pastures, flowers and rickety looking 6 century old houses.

Entering the town of Alkmaar you pass by Nicolaas Witsen Scheepswerf, successor to the yard in operation from the 1800s where Van Nelle was ordered in 1915 as ship number 532. We were about to be delighted once again in our search for details of our floating home, but first we had to find a place to stay. In the centre of town are the port facilities, firstly the Yacht Haven where we stopped. The captain soon appeared to advise we would have to move to the commercial area further away and gave us instructions. We started up again and proceeded to the area where commercials and hotel boats operate from. Charged i20 per night, we had no water or electricity and objected somewhat. The next day we had to move again since a hotel boat wanted our space - back to square one. We moved boat again and finally had a place where we could stay for the few days we required.

I rode back to the shipyard and went to the office to inquire. A young man advised he was the manager (we later found out he was actually the Managing Director) and that they had some records but they were under the control of their archivist who would be at work the next day at 10.00am. This sounded pretty good and I headed back to begin an exploration of the town.

Another picture postcard Dutch old town, Alkmaar is still dominated by the cheese market, a large square and warehouse where markets are still held every Friday - mostly now for the tourist interest. We attended and were amazed at the scene. From early morning the cheeses arrive from surrounding towns, huge yellow wheels of Edam and Alkmaar and Gouda. These are laid out on covers in front of the market building which, with it=s doors open, reveals several huge sets of scales on which the cheeses are weighed. Outside the stacks of cheeses are inspected by buyers who clap hands with the sellers until a deal is agreed when the hands are clasped and vigorously shaken.

The purchased cheese is then loaded onto sleds, about 4 per sled weighing about 100kg and the sleds are then picked up by teams of cheese carriers, all uniformed in black and white with coloured ribbons on the straw hats to indicate which team they belong to. The teams compete to carry the most cheese to the scales and back to the waiting carts and trucks of the purchasers. By this tally they are paid at the end of the day and retire to their bar inside the building to drink a few litre pots of beer. All of this is done in a highly colourful and organised manner, the methods and teams having been developed and cherished over centuries. Alkmaar is the last functioning cheese market of its kind and is besieged by hundreds of tourists for the spectacle.

But, the real task here was the search for information at Witsen=s. There, at 10.00 on the Tuesday, we met Mr Joop Zoorn, the archivist who took us to the small office where he had assembled and organised the piles of books, plans and photographs that had been piled in a corner until just a year before. Joop, now over 70 and well into his retirement, had had several strokes and was working on this task as much as therapy as for his obvious interest. Here we discovered pictures and documents of Van Nelle=s order, building and launching and then sweated over the photocopier to record it all for our growing History File. A large >blue print like= document recorded the list of ships built from 1886. Van Nelle was number 532. A diary revealed the details specified. She was to be 22 metres long, 4.3 wide and .75 deep and was to cost 11,300 Guilders. Other details included the installation of a Landaal coal gas engine.

Further searching revealed three photographs of this pristine, white painted ship, gliding down the canal near the shipyard. What a treasure, Joop was beside himself as we were the first people who had come to make inquiries and we vindicated his dedication. He confessed (with moist eyes) that he had always wanted to buy a ship like Van Nelle and explore the waterways on his retirement but that the strokes had put an end to that. We celebrated with him the next morning on Van Nelle where he presented Maureen with a book on Holland and we presented him with Woldendorp=s Looking West.

Having exhausted the records we turned to the town=s Beer Museum for a couple of hours investigation but try as we might, could not find the actual product - a dry beer museum !

So, it was time to continue our journeys and we set of to Purmerand from where we planned to go through Edam to the Ijslmeer - the remains of the Netherlands original Zuider Zee, the inland expanse of water now reduced by reclamation. Having arrived at Purmerand we discovered that the rail bridges to the Markmeer were closed for repairs so we made our stay semi-permanent in order to offload the scooter to visit Edam and Volendam. We were obviously meant to stop here since Purmerand was the birthplace of the graphic designer famous for Van Nelle advertising and promotion designs. His work was on display at the town museum where we bought a little cut-out Van Nelle shop, a thing designed in the 20s for children to cut and glue. On display in the shop are all the Van Nelle products - tea, coffee and tobacco.

Edam by scooter - about 12 km there and back on side roads. Once famous for cheese of the same name (now manufactured in factories rather than farms), this is a small and very pretty town, criss- crossed by miniature canals leading to the sea side= lock that can take sailing barges of up to 30 metres or so, many of which are based here to take groups sailing on the Ijslmeer. Just down the sea wall is Volendam, a sea side fishing village now an amazingly busy tourist town, crammed with the languages of the world alighting from fleets of coaches and rushing to restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. After a walk around and some take-away fish bits with mayonnaise, we retired back to Edam to witness their Piano Festival.

Throughout the town, signs hanging outside open house doors indicated that piano music was on offer. Some twenty house participated with a range of different music being presented. Small crowds stood outside each house, moving on after listening to one or two pieces. We joined the throng for a while then retired to the local hotel=s very pretty outside courtyard for cups of tea then on to the scooter and back to Van Nelle.

We decided that since we could not get to Amsterdam by the Ijslmeer we would go back down the west coats to Haarlem where the port captain charged i25 for 2 nights - Holland is getting pretty pricy. The town boasted a big multi screen cinema so we took the opportunity to catch the latest Star Wars episode. Haarlem also has an excellent Heysen Museum and Frans Hals Huis. We visited both and took in an Organ concert to finish.

On to Gouda. We tied up and walked the short distance to the centre but were overwhelmed by bad vibes. This did not seem to be a >feel good= town. Looked around the market and shop streets but couldn=t warm to it so we decided to leave early the next morning to get to Rotterdam. As we arrived at the lock the next day at 8.00am, having spent the night in a not too enjoyable area and just tied to a concrete wall without facilities, we were caught by the port person at the lock to pay i11.80 for nothing. Not a great start to the day but worse was to come.

As we travelled south to Rotterdam I had a feeling that the tooth that had continued to give me a pain despite having it capped in Perth was feeling different - it was - the back half suddenly dislodged and came away in my fingers. In disgust I tossed the shard overboard and rued the $ 1,000 I had paid for the cap. Then I realised that it was not that tooth, it was the one next to it. The pain I had had all along was from this other, cracked tooth and I had spent a grand having a cap placed on its neighbour. Well, I couldn=t do anything till Rotterdam so we continued as I called Rudolph at the Veerhaven to ensure our place was still vacant and did he know a dentist. Yes and yes and after arriving I hot footed to the surgery to arrange to first cab off the rank visit the next morning.

Mooring at the Veerhaven is fun - it=s a narrow marina off the huge main river that forms the vast port of Rotterdam and one has to moor facing outwards. The problem is that there is not quite enough room to turn around without putting the bow of the boat into one of the pens on the side and with that, having about 1 metre clearance. I=ve done it three times now and reckon I have it down to a fine art.

We had arranged to meet with the Van Nelle building historian at the now protected Van Nelle factory which was built as a huge Art Deco style building in the 20s but was abandoned by Douwe Egbert / Sarah Lee when they bought the company. They consolidated in Utrecht and were only able to get $ 8,000,000 for the shell. It was suggested that it be turned into a museum, expo centre and business incubator and now is looking for UNESCO heritage listing. As we were to take Van Nelle with us and to use their mooring stage in front I thought I had better get the varnishing up to date. So that, together with a dentist appointment made up my program.

The varnishing progressed well and at the appointed time, so did the dentistry. A very pretty and confident Dutch Chinese dentist did a complete repair for the huge sum of i 120. The tooth is now terrific !

While on the Rhone a few years ago we met a couple who had completely rebuilt a Luxemotor barge to original condition (externally) but with a modern live-aboard interior. Anneke and Root on Amsterdiep were here in the Veerhaven so we had a bit to chat about, comparing historical notes. His boat has the same engine as Van Nelle=s second - a Brons 2 Cylinder, 50hp diesel engine.

My great school friend Michael Kiernan=s wedding was held on the 28^th and I arranged a phone connection through Sean who was a guest. This was the second time I had been unable to attend Michael=s weddings and I was sad that it had happened while we were away but very happy for he and Susan - his new wife - and also that I had the chance to chat with him on the night. Having to get to our rendezvous, I paid the i43 port fee and we departed for the Van Nelle factory.

Sunday 29 just before 11.00am at the Van Nelle Factory - Mary Annal-Slingerland, grand daughter of the second and long term captain of Van Nelle arrived to join us on the tour of the factory and for lunch with her husband Eric. We had a great look around at the whole establishment, personally escorted by the historian and PR consultant Hans who extremely generously presented us with some outstanding memorabilia as gifts. A Van Nelle flag, a tin tea box, a tabak plaque, a book about Australia, a history CD, Puzzle, Cups and saucers and an aerial picture of the factory....wow !

Our visit to the Netherlands had given us so much more than we had expected. We considered what to do from here - to continue in Holland by going north east to Friesland or to keep heading south to join the DBA Rally in Namur - Belgium. We decided that we could not top what we had experienced so made the arrangements to join the rally in Namur and then head for Germany and Strasbourg.

2005 JOURNAL