It’s All Dutch To Me

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it's all dutch to me

My husband has been homesick for Dutch food while living in Australia and It’s All Dutch To Me has been a site we’ve used a few times to fulfil his cravings.

We liked that there was a flat postage rate of $9.95 and it was exciting to unpack a box that bought back days of grocery shopping at Albert Heijn or C1000!  We ordered a wide range of products all at quite reasonable prices.  Everything from Chocolade Letters, a Delft Blue Metal Beschuit Trommel, Amstel Beer Glas, Pepernoten, Calve Mayonaise and Taaipop arrived in good condition.

It’s fun browsing through their online catalogue and easy to order.  Just keep in mind that if products aren’t in stock, you are aware of this as we ordered a box to arrive in time for Sinterklaas but didn’t get it until the week later due to one product not being available (though they did advise of this).

Fulfil your Dutch food cravings or educate your Australian friends and relatives at It’s All Dutch to Me!  Great gift idea for Dutchies living in Australia.

Dutch Australian is a blog written by Renee Veldman-Tentori, based around my personal experiences of being a dual national.  Read more about me or contact me.

 

Dutch Orange Day Melbourne

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This Sunday 29th April from 11am, the Dutch Community in Melbourne will be out in Orange for the KLM Dutch Orange Day.

This year’s theme is “Holland Waterland” and for only $5 for adults (with children travelling free), you can take an Amsterdam style cruise on the River Yarra!

river yarra cruise

There is lots of excitement planned for the day, with the Today show doing live coverage from 7am-10am.  The day is supported by a number of sponsors including Dutch icons KLM and Heineken.  Holland Focus magazine will also be covering the event.

Why is it always all about Orange you may ask if you’re not Dutch?  Well the royal family in The Netherlands is also called the “House of Orange-Nassau” (click on the link for the Wikipedia article).  The Dutch also hold celebrations on or around 30 April each year as this is “Koninginnedag” (the Queen’s Birthday – also click for the Wikipedia article).

So whether you are Dutch or not, check out the KLM Dutch Orange Day website and get along for a fun (orange!) day out.

Oranje Family Day Brisbane 29 April 2012

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This event is being organised by the Dutch Club NAQ Inc, we have offered to publicise it through this website. Nederlands & English versions below. PLEASE RSVP TO LUCY BY FRIDAY 27TH APRIL, details below.
Nederlands
Zondag 29 April aanvang 11 uur voor middag. Koffie, thee en lekkere “Home made” Appel-taart, Moorkoppen en cake verkrijgbaar. Vanaf 12 uur poffertjes en pannekoeken, friet en kroketjes. Kom zoveel mogelijk in Oranje om H.M Koningin Beatrix haar verjaardag te vieren. Rond 2 uur officieel gedeelte met een speech van  de Hon. Consul in Queensland Kapitein Kasper Kuiper R.O.N.
Met Uw hulp gaan we touwtrekken, zakken lopen en koekhappen en niet te vergeten Sjoelen. Als er genoeg animo is met versierde kinder- fietsjes etc. Houden we een parade waar een prijs mee gewonnen kan worden!!  Zeg het voort !
Breng je kinderen en klein-kinderen. Toegang is gratis.
Bar, keuken en winkel open. Laat ons even weten als je komt; in verband met de inkopen:  Tony: 3219 7639 Lucy: 3345 5709
Email: dutchclub_naqinc@hotmail.com

English

Sunday 29 April we will celebrate the bithday of the dutch Queen. We will have a “vrij markt” sort of fleamarket for the children. If they have something to sell, they can bring a little carpet or suitcase to display their stuf. We also try do get some craft for the children to make. They can set-up their space from 10 am. the market is on from 10.30 untill 1.30 pm. After that their will be an official part by Consul Kasper Kuiper.RON

Shop and kitchen open . We have croquettes,chips, rookworst,coffee, tea, appeltaart (pie) poffertjes and orange shirts for sale. Bar open. Stricktly no BYO, we are fully licenced. Please let me know if you are attending by Friday 27th of April.

regards, Lucy Bertens Secretary
Ps: if its raining we have space inside and in the courtyard.

Aprilfest 2012 Dutch Festival Brisbane

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It was a great day at Prins Willem Alexander Village for the annual Aprilfest on Sunday 22nd April 2012.  The weather was beautiful and the atmosphere was gezellig!  It was wonderful to be part of the sea of orange.

I took so many photos and have tried to reduce the number…but love them all..so you can browse through below.  View as a slideshow or click on individual pictures.  Feel free to comment below on your experience of the day if you were there.  Renee.

Meet Maurice Wells

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maurice Today I’d like to introduce Maurice Wells from Omafiets Dutch Bicycles.  Born in Canberra and currently based in Sydney, 27-year-old Maurice has a father born in New Zealand and a Korean mother so is very multicultural!  The family have lived in in a lot of different places around the world, at different times calling the United States, Leiden (The Netherlands), and Torino (Italy) home.

Here is his story: 

I was born in Canberra but my first memories are from the US, where I lived from very young until moving back to Canberra at 9 years of age.  I have lived mostly in Australia since other than a year in the Netherlands and a year in Italy.

My father took a sabbatical to work at Leiden University’s Korean history department in 1998 and took the family with him. I was 14 at the time and enrolled in a local Dutch high school for the year. One thing that struck me was that the entire class went for school trips (athletics days, swimming pool etc) by bicycle with no need to arrange a bus. It’s hard to imagine that in Australia.

These days I’m importing used bicycles from the Netherlands and selling them in Sydney under the name Omafiets Dutch Bicycles.

omafiets

It’s great watching the local reaction to the beautiful, practical and varied bicycles that are ridden there. It’s particularly nice when a Dutch person wanders in and is hit with the Nostalgia of seeing over a hundred Dutch bicycles all in one room.

[I think] Australia is a very beautiful country with amazing natural geography and a great and varied climate. I feel like it’s wasted on its current inhabitants though, who box themselves in cars and make it nearly impossible to do anything without being harassed by car’s noise, smell and physical presence. It boggles the mind how much space we give to cars in the physical sense as well as space in our budget (household and national) and in our minds. Ever noticed how much people talk about traffic, parking and petrol in Sydney?

Ik heb mijn nederlands nog niet helemaal vergeten…

I only lived a year in the Netherlands and am probably not qualified to comment on the place as a whole. I am most taken by the use of bicycles in everyday life in the Netherlands and needless to say, I like what I see. It’s a strikingly beautiful place to cycle around. As well as the postcard scenes of farms, windmills and canals there’s the beauty of riding past ordinary things at a human speed. Things like beautifully manicured front gardens, small town squares or your favourite restaurant. It turns towns and cities into places you live in, rather than places you drive past.

I have been back to the Netherlands twice since living there. The latest time was an unplanned trip which blossomed into our latest business venture after I got a firsthand look at the second hand Dutch bicycle market. I couldn’t believe how many shops were selling used bicycles in such numbers.

bikes

 

Meet Jorgen van Eck

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A Dutchman in the Wild 2I “met” Jorgen van Eck via Facebook and thought his project sounded really interesting so asked him to complete this profile.

Currently living in North Maclean, Queensland, Jorgen is is 42 and was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands and has also lived in Maastricht.  He  emigrated to Australia in November 1980 with Mum, Dad and younger brother, with the remainder of his relatives still living in The Netherlands.

Jorgen is filming “A Dutchman in the Wild” for internet TV, and you can find out more about it here by following his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ADutchmanInTheWild.www.flickwillfixit.com.au

Though the programme doesn’t launch until March 7th, and will be posted weekly on this page from then, his page is already very active with lots of beautiful photos. The show is about Australian wildlife, fishing, kayaking, camping, photography and all things Australian.

Despite living in Australia for so long, when asked about his feelings about The Netherlands Jorgen says

I am still extremely patriotic, fly the Dutch flag, have an NL sticker on my truck and wake the neighbours during the FIFA World Cup, stern supporter of FC Utrecht. It’s my heritage and I’m extremely proud of it. I’m known in Australia as “Dutch” or “Dutchy”. HUP HUP   I communicate quite regularly with old friends and family using email and Face Book, we regularly eat Dutch meals (when I can find the ingredients), but due to work restraints, I haven’t had the time to go to any Dutch celebrations for quite some time. I wish to visit my family in The Netherlands hopefully at the end of this year.

He has four children who were all born here in Australia and though he’s trying to teach them Dutch language, he finds they have limited interest in learning.

When asked about his feelings about Australia?

I love it, it’s my home and I’m in my realm

I think he’s about to show even those of us who were born in Australia a new angle to this country in his online tv show so make sure you tune in from 7th March.

 

Happy Australia Day!

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Australian Flag

Today is a national holiday.  We celebrate Australia Day on the 26th January each year.  You can read more information on the Wikipedia Australia Day entry and here is a short extract:

Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day, and ANA Day)[1] is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.[2]

 

So even this short introduction brings up some interesting issues for Dutch Australians:

The first Europeans to “discover” Australia were the Dutch, when in 1606, the crew of the Duyfken landed on Cape York Peninsula.  However they chose not to settle there, so the first settlement wasn’t until 1788, which is what we celebrate today.  When I was living in The Netherlands, there was a wonderful celebration in 2006 of 400 years of relations between the two countries and I’ll share some stories about that in another post.  For many years, even after settlement, Australia was known as New Holland and again, an interesting article on Wikipedia.

Australia was of course already inhabited when the Europeans arrived.  An alternate name given to Australia Day by some Indigenous Australians is “Invasion Day” and I can definitely understand this view.  We are heading in the right direction with reconciliation but I feel still need more recognition and acknowledgment of the traditional owners of the land.  There are some proposals that we change the date of celebration.

indigenous hunter

Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world.  Though the first settlers may have been British, due to our history of emigration, we have residents here in Australia from all around the world.  Personally, my father came to Australia as an Italian refugee in the war and my mother is born to parents with British and Italian heritage.  I love that you can look around in any city of Australia into a sea of faces, all from obvious mixed cultural backgrounds.

So what does Australia Day mean to you?  To me, I feel it’s a chance for everyone to celebrate together, regardless of our history and background.  We live in an amazing country.  Sure, there is always room for improvement, but overall this is a wonderful place to live.  As I write the sun is shining (after a few days of bucketing rain!), the cicadas are singing and we live amongst great opportunities for our children to grow up safe, healthy & happy.  Whether you were born in Australia, have moved here or are here temporarily, may Australia Day be a great celebration of joy for you, your friends and your family.

Here is a video my little Dutch Australians did last night: