On the 16th of August I flew out from Sydney with the destination of Amsterdam via Heathrow. That was approximately 1 week after the trans Atlantic terrorist foiled plot. The cabin baggage restriction was a small carry on bag with no liquids. In Heathrow they said that my backpack was too big and that I'd have to go out through immigration and re-check my bag with the hold luggage. I repacked my bag and put on all of the clothing I had in my backpack and squeezed through without rechecking the bag in. None the less, I missed my flight to Amsterdam, along with countless other people.

Jet lag slept off, I spent the weekend in Leusden with an English speaking cousin of my father and was introduced to Dutch culture, food and history. Lots of cheese, bread, fish and a little beer. I then went to Berlikum in Freisland, in the north and was hosted by a tomato grower and their family for two weeks. The parents didn't speak a word of English, my Dutch is very limited, which was difficult as that was where I slept and had my meals.

They grow truss tomatoes in 7ha of glasshouses which 10x our growing area in Tasmania. During the day I helped by working in the crop and finding out as much as I could from the English speaking sons. This experience was tiring but invaluable! I'm now having a weekend off in Delft, the home of the Dutch Delft blue china ware, before attending a training school in Ede. On in between days I'll be catching up with glasshouse supplier contacts.