The Aussie Nomads Motorhome Adventures: NETHERLANDS TO BELGIUM

On the way to the south we drove along the side of the Randmeren, it was Sunday and we have never seen so many wind surfers in one place they were like bees in a swarm. I wanted to take a photo so off of the highway and onto a side road only to find out we would need to pay 10 euros to reach the water. We walked down and got one photo as most were in packing up.

There was also the largest shop for wind sailors we have ever seen. This was a third of the shop.

Our next stop was Zeeland and as we had never been here by boat we visited Willemstad, a lovely small walled city with a small harbour nestled in amongst very narrow streets. We found out the narrow bit once we turned a corner and the mirrors were almost touching the sides. We had time for a coffee overlooking the harbour before everyone started moving for the day. After years of driving a tourist coach Kevin is very good with his judgement, even so, we left with our mirrors folded in.

We drove on through Zeeland to Terneuzen seeing the large waterways which have been tamed by closing the North Sea end to create very large inland waters.

This area was where there were huge floods in 1953. At that time all the waterways were open to the sea and under the influence of the North Sea tides. Very high tides combined with unusually strong winds broached the dikes and flooded the surrounding towns. Some of our friends in Perth migrated as children from these areas. We stopped at The Delta Information Centre on Neeltje Jans Island which has models showing how the large areas of water were closed by building huge sluice gates. The island was the construction site for the huge storm surge gates which are used to control the flow of water.

No space is wasted in the

Netherlands

, the road runs along the top of the storm barriers.

The concrete barriers for each gate are huge. They were built on site then floated on huge barges to their positions. This is one built as a spare but never used.