Belgium

what a blur! We are almost away. In seven more hours we leave the comforts of Belgium and take a big silver bird to Prague. I am soooo ready to get movin. I weighed in our fully loaded haversacks last night and the results are as follows:

Steve: 23Kg
Lute: 17Kg
Max/Victor:~13Kg

I reckon they are too heavy but theres not too many luxuries. Most of the weight comes from the essentials required to hike and camp (tents, stoves etc) and I am uncertain how much of this is actually going to occur. I have now read that they dont allow free camping in the remaining wilderness areas in Croatia (i think this has someting to do with remnant landmines). Well if jettisoning is required it will be done.

The highlights of the last few days are as follows:

- Replacing my 20yr old Trangia metho burner with a fancy new multifuel model. I havent had time to use it yet but its a nicely designed bit of kit. Unforturtunately they dont recommend you burn unleaded fuel in it due to all the additives.
- Last drinks at the Witzli Poetzli. I hired Dirk, a busker that I met on the local shopping strip to serenade us with his violin and the regular flow of Belgian beers/wine put the 20 or so people who turned up into a merry state.
- Watching our 700kg shipping crate almost fall off the rear of the hired moving van. The hydraulic hoist of the van really wasnt strong enough and sagged as the pallet trolly rolled onto it. This was one of those "oh fuck" moments that fortunately didnt end in disaster thanks to the warehouse fork lift driver.
- Flowing tears and strong emotions as we said final goodbyes to Lutes mum and dad last night. Jos doesnt think this trip is responsible and his final words to me as he walked out the door were "make sure you look after Lute and the boys Steve".

OK gotta move. Our final breakfast in Belgium is about to begin, god I am going to miss the Belgian bakeries which must be the finest in the world.

I knew I was starting to lose it when I realised I had packed nails into one of the cardboard boxes that had already been carefully stacked inside the shipping crate. So, with no other way to nail the crate shut, out came the boxes. Bloody hell, if I had known that it was going to be so much hassle and cost to ship personal goods back into Australia I would have given this away long before we started. In total, it is going to cost us about $1600 to ship 1.4m3 of goods from Antwerp to Melbourne. Half of these costs are the shipping, the rest is the customs/quarantine and port costs in Melbourne. I reckon these costs are about triple what we paid 12 years ago to ship twice as much gear...

Lut has finished work and is tidying up her paperwork. The boys are just hanging out, though they did go to the scuba diving course again last night. The next few days will see me ferrying furniture and goods back to the family and friends who have so kindly lent them to us.

I am looking forward to getting out of the apartment and on the road and have bought a Kerouack, "the Dharma Bums", to fill in the spaces.

"Daaad, that doesn't smell good!" Max tried to broach tactfully as I was cooking the pancakes this morning. I ignored him, after all what would he know! We are emptying the kitchen cupboards and the pancake mix needed to be used. It wasn't until Lute yelled from upstairs "Steeeve, your not cooking them in butter are you?", that I realised that something may have been amiss. Arrgh...another sign that I am not to be the next naked chef.

Anyway, the pallet box is half full and the apartment is almost empty. Our haversacks are sitting in a corner of the spare room and they are almost complete. I have bought a good map of Czech Republic/Slovakia and Croatia and ordered the Lonely Planet Nepalese phrasebook. All of our important travel documents have been scanned and I have put copies of them onto skydrive, which is a free 5GB data storage facility that is offered by MSN (damn it!) and linked with my hotmail accounts. We have decided we wont travel with a mobile phone. The convenience was tempting but the global SIM cards on offer don't work in half the countries we are planning on visiting and I had the feeling that it would compromise the escapist feeling of the trip.

Last night Lute and I rode our bikes to the Museum in the Middleheim park in Antwerp and saw an exhibition by a Belgian artist called Leo Copers. In this exhibition he had quite a few works that used fire as a primary medium and I was very impressed by some of these. What was really good about some of the works was that you could get really close to them, something that the Australian safety Nazis would never allow. My favourite work used a small square pond that had LPG bubbling up from under water which then randomly ignited from a pilot flame near the surface. If you are into sculpture and installation art in a beautiful outdoor setting then the museum is for you. Check it out at http://www.middelheimmuseum.be/

Family training has fallen over. I must get them out tonight.

8 days to Go!

Well its now one year since we landed in Antwerp and true to our original plan we will be heading off for the big 5 month journey back to Australia in 10 days. This blog entry is another invitation to all you Belgians and other odd European connections to have a drink and one last hoorah with us.

WHERE: Witzli Poetsli (Right next to the northern side of Antwerp's Cathedral)
WHEN: Friday 22 August
TIME: 8pm

Come on and sit with us under the trees on the cobblestones next to the cathedral and be a Duvel with us one more time! The Witzli Poetzli has arguably one of the best settings of all the cafes around Antwerp, if it doesn't rain! If it rains and we relocate somewhere else, we will leave a message at the bar.

We stood in the forest and listened to the silence...then we blew a big doobie and it got even quieter. Jan, Ward and Rafaella squatted around me and I am sure they all felt something similar. There was a rich finality to the moment, one rooted in travels and events that had occurred 13years ago when I was living on the Moby Dick in Antwerp. Somehow time has cemented these friendships whilst so many others have weathered and washed away. Sometimes I wish I understood better what it takes to hold onto friendships, for my past seems to be littered with so many valued losses - but then again, perhaps this process is inevitable and to try and retain what should be released can only limit growth.

Jan had driven us all from Brussels to the Abbey in Orval, where they make a renowned beer of the same name. It was a joyful escape from the city and our travel preparations. The Abbey sits at the base of a valley right near the French/Belgium border and is surrounded by forest..after a quick poke around we wandered along an 8.5km route through the forest which was well worthwhile.

Prior to the trip I dropped in our passports at the Syrian embassy in Brussels where the ever so efficient clerk noticed that my identity permit had expired. I explained the situation, but the clerks command of Dutch was non-existant and her English was basic. The situation resolved when I proffered my alternative, a British Passport. She then explained that Brits (apparently not so popular in Syria) need to pay 85Euro instead of 25Euro, then after a brief period of contemplation quietly took my Australian passport and said if I paid 112 Euro I could pick up all the visas next week. Sweet!

I Measured all our weights tonight, which might provide an interesting comparison as the trip progresses:

Steve: 68kg
Lute: 51kg
Victor: 39kg
Max: 38kg

Training has withered somewhat due to family protests. I hope to get everybody out tomorrow night.

12 days to blastoff