Little Netherlands? Or am I lost?

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After the island of rustling beast I had a pretty long drive to the next place. Over there I would also be having Waitangi day, this is the national holiday of New Zealand and I was warned that everything would be closed.

On my way I suddenly saw a mirage. Was it the heat? The two nights of bad sleep? Am I so home sick I start imagining things? Or is this really a Dutch Windmill over there on the horizon?

I had to investigate and it turns out, it was really a windmill. And a small Dutch colony with even a real Dutch snackbar where they sold the delicious treats of frikandel, bitterbal and kalfskroket. And no I am not going to even try to translate those things into English. But I had some. And it was delicious. Only thing that they didn’t get ride was the amount of mayonnaise. It seems the only place outside of the Netherlands where you get the correct amount is  Belgium.

An indication, remember pulp fiction? Where the character played by John Travolta tells about how the Dutch drown everything in Mayonnaise? It is true, so go for a lot and then double it.

In the windmill was a Dutch store where they sold things like appelstroop, drop and hagelslag. It always amazes me how we Dutch are able to transplant our self all over the world but we still want hagelslag and dropjes.

The B&B in Whanganui was a beautiful house on a hill. Of course up hill. Everything here is up hill. And about 4 kilometers from town centre.

After a nap I went off to discover the town and get some food. Plenty of restaurants and the most amazing art deco architecture  on the main street.

Then I discovered  a steam paddle boat and went into the office about a tour. And guess what. They had a Waitangi day special. A whole  day on the boat, lunch BBQ included up the river where they only on once a year. To a park in the middle of nowhere. So I signed up and was all set for the national holiday when everything is closed.

Luckily for me the Sundays sandwich store was open as well. So got myself a nice foot long with tomato. And that is the start of a new pet peeve. Why if you want four different things you can get a very well filled bread but if I want only tomato it is with extra and extra only two layers. Why not four layers of tomato? And again, mayo people, it really is a staple food. So not two drops but squirt it on. Big fat blobs of it.

That evening I had the BBQ at the B&B. And I think that once I have my new place I might invest in a weber BBQ, those things are very handy and fast. I love BBQ but never do it because for one person it is just to much work. But with one of those gas fired weber or something like it things it is almost faster than normal cooking.

Last day I went for a nice long walk up the hill to the park. Again up hill. Why is everything up hill? Never mind. The park was beautiful. And that is what counts. The weather was amazing.

Whanganui was a big hit with me. Was a bit sad to leave.