Queen's Day - the details!

Ok, so it has taken me nearly two weeks to get around to it, but here is the story of Queen's Day 2007. The simple summary - a Queen's Day never to be forgotten!

The big thing for Queen's Day is to get on a boat cruising the canals. We had not got around to it before, but this year some friends Garth and Cath had hired a boat, and managed to squeeze us on board, as well as find space for Dwayne and Lisa, our friends from Canberra who were visiting for the weekend.

We spent the weekend stocking up, and dutifully arrived at the meeting point weighed down with boxes of beer, bottles of wine and a suitable assortment of cheeses, olives, and all the sort of foods you need for an afternoon of cruising (and Dwayne had his hip flask of Bacardi - pure class!) . The weather was fab, and the plan was for six hours on the water.

Fifteen minutes or so after scheduled departure word came around that there was a bit of a delay with the boat. Did not seem surprising, since the canals were already packed, and a traffic jam was not unlikely. We cracked the drinks and got started anyway!

Half an hour later the word got much worse - our boat was not coming, double booked or some other story, but no boat. There we were - 50 of us abandoned on the wharf, more food and drink than you can imagine, dressed up and nowhere to go. Poor Garth and Cath - not their fault, but they were gutted.

But then someone came up with Plan B! Across the way was one of the Amsterdam tourist boats. Soon we had 50 lots of 10 euros, and we were off, piling on board and heading out on the canals. Due to the traffic, our 75 min cruise took a whole lot longer, and by the time we got back, we were having so much fun, we just bought another 50 tickets and went round again!

So we had our afternoon on the canals, partied like crazy, finally spent a Queen's Day on the water, made a bunch of new friends, and survived! Can't wait for next year...

As for the photo, this one is on the boat - you saw the last photo with me wearing the wig - that was not what I left home wearing. This joker hat was my original effort - not sure which was worse, but as you can see, we all had plenty of orange. More Dutch than the Dutch...

Shane