Dunedin Reunion!

On the second day of hanging out with mum and dad, we got to meet up with our lovely family friend, Rita, who happens to live just north of Haarlem in Driehuis. We decided to have a leisurely brunch and then get in more bike riding so as to ease me in to this whole exercise thing that I've not really been doing so much of lately. This in mind, we went for a trip through the dunes to the west of Haarlem and even got in a wee walk along the shore of the North Sea. The area is blustery, beautiful, and filled with people celebrating the end of another winter. Just to clarify... while the long brown pants may have been dad's clothing of choice regardless, he *had* had his suitcase lost on the flight over, and at this point hadn't received it from the airline. I just feel like he and his attire need a little defending :)

Along the way there were Highland Cattle. On the flat coast of the Netherlands? What? Apparently these have been introduced to keep down an invasive species of plants. I hope that this is the one and only time this practice has actually worked, and that these creatures aren't going to multiply uncontrollably or undermine this particular ecosystem à la the cane toads. Oh the cane toads. Jo Galletly, I thought you'd appreciate this one. No, I didn't get to ride one (the highland cattle, not the cane toads--although I don't think it's possible to ride one of those).

We wished Andrew and Hester could be with us to complete the family fun. Hmmm... time to plan where that reunion could be...