The Hoge Veluwe

It was amazing. The Hoge Veluwe is one of the Netherlands' few national parks and located in the middle of the country.
After class on Monday, I caught the train to Ede-Wageningen to the Sauer home where Steve and Shireen live. I was kindly welcomed and treated with much hospitality by the whole family, including Shireen's very cool parents. After a home-cooked dinner, we had some quality time jamming on Steve's turntables, and I was introduced to some great Afro-beats and jazz sounds. I also learnt a very useful line that will come to impress many Dutch people I meet: "Ik probeer en bitje Nederlandse" (I try a bit of Dutch).


Waking the next morning, I was able to fully appreciate the beautiful self-built homestead in the spring sun. Yes, it was the second day of spring and the sun was shining, it was an absolutely perfect day to explore the national park nearby. I could not believe my luck in timing as it had been overcast and rainy during the recent winter weeks.


Shireen dropped Steve and myself at the entrance to the park where we excitedly picked a free white bike each. We were frothin'.

Ingeniously, we connected my iPod to Steve's portable speakers and set them in his backpack mesh, so we had four wheels and sound speakers: ROAD TRIP!

Eddie Vedder's deep voice welcomed us 'Into the Wild',
the relaxed energy of Radiohead sustained our forward motion,
and some sublime Sigur Ros completed the day.
Although a small park in a small country, the park encompassed African savannah, Twilight forest, desert 'Shifting Sands' and Fields of Gold all in a space that could be adequately toured in a day. A sculpture of a man loomed before us in the middle of the desert. We rode past a picturesque castle. We enjoyed our packed sandwich lunch (Dutch brown bread, aromatic salami, Dutch cheese, pesto, and fruity potent chilli sambal) in an observation hut.

In the middle of the national park is the Kröller-Müller museum, with works by Van Gogh and Picasso and others; and a well-curated sculpture museum outside.
Shireen kindly picked us up from another entrance to the park, saving us from having to backtrack, and we had a revitalising dinner at a Portugese grilled chicken restaurant (harking back to last summer's Nando's in Sydney).

Shireen riding the peri-peri train!

That night, to make up for the lack of animal-sighting, we took Noah the family dog (a lean, benevolent, athletic creature) for a walk in the woods, after dark, in schwine territory, with the risk of being charged by a boar.
To complete the day, we sweated it out in the sauna.

Riding back to reality - class - the next morning.