A girl and her backpack

I thought it was about time to add a picture of me and the backpack.... this is what's it is like when I'm moving around from place to place! Even though I packed as lightly as I could, this backpack does get heavy after a while!! I'm certainly glad to be putting it down when I arrive at the next destination. I don't complain though coz if I want to have something with me, then I have to be prepared to carry it :)
Photo: compliments of Janita

The land of the leprechauns - take 2

Hello everyone,

Here are some more pictures of my amazing Irish adventures! I've seen so much of the country, met so many great people and visited some incredibly beautiful places. Ireland is a stunning piece of God's creation, there is no doubt about it. When you explore the country side you can't help but sing, 'Our God is an Awesome God', for His works of creation here in this land of green truly are awesome!

Below are some pictures of my first 5 days in Ireland :) Enjoy them!

Love Sarah xx

My first glimpse from the plane window

Hillary, Cat & Liz - three girls from Pennsylvania that I met on my first day here. We spent the next day together exploring Dublin and visiting the Guinness Brewery - where you have a pint of Guinness of course!

I've never been a huge fan of Guinness, I'm sorry to say. I did think that drinking it in Ireland may change my mind... while I can get through a pint, I can't say that I've been converted to the black stuff.....

The next day I began a road trip with Kylie and Nat - two girls I met at the hostel! They asked me if I was interested in joining them and within the hour I had packed my bags, had breakfast, showered and was on the road with them. A fantastic few days!! Here are some high crosses - you see them in graves all through Ireland. While they have various meanings, these high crosses mark graves and were thought to ward off evil spirits. High crosses were also carved, some depicting Bible stories, which are described as pictorial sermons. Really interesting!

I love this! Stone walls, which you see all throughout Ireland, when you get out of the city. I really love how you can see the green grass through the wall. Something little that really excited me :)

A monastic site - we explored this site really well - the graveyard, round tower, cathedrals and other buildings. We spent a lot of time here, due to the fact that our car keys went missing somewhere in the fields.... they fell out of Nat's pocket and after 5 hours of searching we were wondering what to do... the kind man who lived nearby had been helping us look and he came across them. Unbelievable! I was so glad to be in a bed that night :)

The stunning Cliffs of Moher! We walked along the top of these cliffs, absolutely stunning! Photos just don't do justice...

They were very high - Dad, you would have hated it!

Kylie, Nat & I

Rolling green hills, beautiful, aren't they?

Green hills, stone walls and sheep running all over. A real picture of Psalm 23 - 'The Lord is my Shepherd'

The cute coastal town of Dingle. We enjoyed fish and chips for dinner looking over the water, was a really lovely way to end the day!

Saw this sign in one of the shop windows. Classic, hey!! Didn't bother finding out if there were any worthwhile ones :)

As we were driving around we happened across this old castle. Was loads of fun scrambling through it - still had some stairs intact, so we clambered up and were rewarded with an amazing view! Spot me there? That's the highest we could go unfortunately...

Classic Ireland - a beach, with a stone ruin.... only in Ireland! Oh, and probably Scotland too, but haven't been there yet.... :)

The Blarney Castle

and the rest of the photos are on my previous post! Am pleased to find the internet is being more cooperative today :)

The land of the lephrechauns

Hello everyone,

It's been a while! I'm in Ireland and it's been amazing - amazing scenery, amazing history, amazing people, amazing dancing, amazing music, amazing everything! An experience never to forget. I've tried 3 times today to load photos and the internet doesn't seem to be letting me so I'm going to post this and then try again. If not, stay tuned over the next few days! Welcome to the world of technical problems overseas :)

Hope all is well with you! You're all in my prayers, especially Sylv, Des and little Levi. Can't wait to meet you!

Love Sarah xxx


Kissing the Blarney Stone - this isn't me! I got someone else to take my picture - which resulted in an unbelievable photo of my chest... and the tourist shot is priced at $25 AUD.... not worth getting crumpled in my backpack!

It's a long way to Tipperary! Not for me at the moment.... :) Here I am with Kylie and Nat - two girls I met in Dublin that I travelled around the South West of Ireland with. Thanks guys!

Some amazing Irish dancing - their feet move incredibly fast... oh to be that quick!

Another shot - it's so cool to watch, your eyes need to move so fast to keep up with it

Moving around in Holland!

Over the past week I've been in Kampen, Rotterdam, Delft, Gouda, Hardenberg, Zwartsluis and Geithoorn. Here are some of the pictures

The Tower of Babel - absolutely stunning when you see it in real life!

One of Monet's pieces featuring poppies :)

The Euromast tower in Rotterdam, reaching 185 m. Gives a perfect view of the city!

It needs cleaning of course! With what? you may ask...
A KARCHER!

When you are in a tower and there is a restaurant, the best thing to do is soak up the view with a glass of red wine, don't you think?

And some great company!

We still have a bigger one!

The view as we travelled higher

another section of the city

and me, at the highest level visitors are allowed to go to - that is outside

showing the distance to other towers around the world... am quite close to Paris!! It's about the same distance from Perth to Albany :) Should get in the car.....

Beautiful Delft

the Vermeer museum in Delft - do you recognise this Oma?!

seeing Delft blue being painted

and Gouda... famous for... Cheese! Mum & Dad - notice the HUGE knee brace under my jeans? I'm being a very good girl and am wearing it every day :)

just a small sample of the massive amounts of cheese that Gouda has to offer

the beautiful stained glass windows in St Johns Church in Gouda, so hard to photograph unfortunately

Kampen

Hello everyone,

I spent last weekend with Gerrit at Tim and Hanneke's place, which was a lot of fun. It was really amazing to be in the very city that Opa and Oma Kroeze lived in for such a long time. I really enjoyed driving around and visiting different parts of the city. Below is a snapshot of some of things we did! I also had my first Dutch bike ride so that was really cool!

Enjoy :)

Love Sarah xx

Just to show that we were actually there!
Freezing our butts off in Kampen. Man, it has been chilly in Holland - I've been wearing so many clothes but still haven't always felt warm! Reminds me of Tassie winter :)

The organ in one of the many churches in Kampen - the Boven Kerk. Gerrit played two organs here. This one has 4000 pipes and is from 1743. Amazing hey!!

Gerrit playing the organ - it sounded really nice!

Oma, this one is for you! I won't be able to bring any home, though :)

The Kleinste Huisje - the smallest house you ever did see! I had to duck to get through the door :) It was basically one room downstairs and one room upstairs - with both of these rooms being very small. A family of 5 lived there which is absolutely incredible!!

Yep, Gerrit is too tall for the door too!

Inside the house - it's set up for display so it's quite full of little things but you get the general idea... it's amazing how people can cope with small environments when it's necessary.

Oma - look what I found!!!

This is the station house in Kampen. Oma, is this familiar??! Was really cool for me to see it.

The canal outside the house that Opa used to live in. I loved the fact that you could walk out of the front door and there is a canal on the other side of the road.

Tim and Hanneke standing outside Opa's house

Gerrit and I standing outside Opa's house

Upstairs was a hiding place where Opa's family hid Jews during WW2. It was unbelievable to actually see it. So amazing to think that this secret place saved lives

Looking down into it. It's incredibly small!

Replacing the floor cover and then flipping the carpet back over

Standing in the front room. From what we could figure out, this fire place is part of the original house. A lot of things have been changed, but this seems to be the same :)

A strawberry farm. You don't even have to go in, you can buy boxes of strawberries from the vending machine. You see this all over Holland. It's quite unreal!!

The boats in Urk, on the Dutch coast. Urk has a rich history in fishing, which is still the main source of income for the local people today.