The boat did not go anywhere last night as there are some tours scheduled for Amsterdam. We had already selected a tour which would take us out by bus into the countryside to see some windmills in action, some cheese making and some making of wooden shoes.

The commentary on the bus was excellent, helped by the dry wit of our guide. The country was flat as expected with a large portion of it below sea level. As we got further inland it became quite foggy and we wondered if we were going to see anything at all. When we arrived at Zaanse Schans the fog was beginning to lift. We firstly went in to watch the making of wooden shoes, both how they used to be done and how they are now done. Something that used to take hours was now taking minutes using lathes. The wood used is poplar and is not dried out. In fact the demonstrator was able to blow moisture out through the finished, but unsanded, product. The souvenir store had so many different types of wooden shoes it made your head spin. Some of the designs on them were unbelievable and what you could do was only left to your imagination, and of course skill to create it.

The next visit was to the cheese making. The main cheese in the Netherlands is Gouda but the variations of is numerous. The person who owned this factory invented the wax covering for the cheeses to allow them to be exported without the need for refrigeration. The cheese could last 6 weeks as long as the wax was intact. It was mentioned that the cheese in the wax was allowed into Australia through border control and when they realised there were some NZers in the group they picked one of them the try it through NZ border patrol. These people were to make sure NZ border patrol would always let it through if it met these conditions. Anne's favourite was the goat's cheese gouda and Bruce's was the smoked goats cheese gouda.

After the demonstrations we had time to wander around the heritage village and visit the various windmills which were used to crush spices (different wheels depending on the spice), peanuts and other vegetables to make various oils, etc. A good look around some of the very old houses and stores and we were back on the bus heading for a different port where the boat was on its way to meet us.

Back on the boat we had lunch and then more time to familiarise ourselves with the boat. At 5 we have 5s during which time Nevena briefed us further on the upcoming activities and some of the rules and regulations. Some more of the crew were also introduced whereupon more drinking and mixing took place before dinner and the watch of the ABs playing Georgia. Need to pick it up boys!