Louise Barbara
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Travel
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • United Kingdom >
      • England
    • Europe >
      • France
      • Belgium
      • The Netherlands
      • Germany
      • Czech Republic
      • Switzerland
      • Italy
    • Japan >
      • Tokyo
      • Nara
      • Osaka
      • Takasago
      • Hiroshima
      • Kyoto
  • People
    • Personal
    • Professional
  • Film
    • Film Diary
  • VIDEOS
  • Blog

Tulip

27/9/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
A little bit of The Netherlands in the middle of the Dandenong Ranges.
Be warned: this post contains A LOT of photographs. It was just so difficult to pick only a few!

​Chantelle had suggested going to the Tesselaar Tulip Festival in the Dandenong Ranges, so naturally I said yes.  We head out from my place after a slight distraction (I locked us out of my car and house, typically enough). The drive is stunning, we meander along the back lanes passing magnificent country estates and, Chantelle's favourite, a number of horse ranches. As we pull up to the tulip farms, Chantelle starts to exclaim like a teenager at a Justin Beiber concert. Today we are tulip dorks. To be fair, the glimpse of tulip fields in front of us is stunning.

Inside, the atmosphere feels like a beginning of summer festival, all sunglasses and hats and drink cups filled with lemonade. There are quaint little shops up the top of the hill, selling clogs, potted tulips and souvenirs. We wriggle our way through them, squeezing past mothers dragging their children out of the toy shop and the elderly discussing the benefits of planting bulbs in June. The vista in front of us when we emerge is worth the two hour drive. Row upon row of bright tulips line the fields, dotted here and there with people. Tiny kids run through the aisles, dismayed when their parents tell them not to pick the blooms. I can understand their disappointment. 

There are little touches of The Netherlands scattered here and there. A giant clog sits in the middle of the field, covered with children and adults alike who are scrambling to take photographs on it before the next batch of photo takers arrive. We take our photographs on it later on, when only a lone girl with blond braids sits atop of it. She kindly crouches down behind the impractical shoe as we take our photos, jumping back up into position when we finish. A windmill that does not work sits down the bottom of the field. Dutch pancakes are being sold by a woman in a food van next to an old man running a giant music machine. The music he plays lends to the feeling of a Dutch festival and reminds me of my time spent in Amsterdam. 

We eat baked potatoes smothered in coleslaw and sour cream under the shade of a blossoming cherry tree whilst listening to a band play hits by The Andrews Sisters. Behind us is a fairy garden, complete with tiny dangling bridges hanging between the trees and a wishing well that Chantelle is particularly delighted with. I sit in a throne made of twisted tree branches and peer through windows set into the sides of trees. 

By the time we are ready to head home we have taken far too many photographs of the flowers and our shoes are caked with a red clay. We vow to be back next year and the year after and bring home with us two sets of potted tulips that we optimistically agree to plant at our prospective houses. I say optimistically because despite our obsession with the flowers neither of us are gardeners, but we figure that we will just buy another lot next year!
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Megan
27/9/2016 02:51:57 pm

Beautiful pics and a delightful story.
No Dutch pancakes for you though? ?

Reply
Louise
27/9/2016 07:57:32 pm

Hey Megan, haha I did have some! Managed to get icing sugar all down me too.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Hi! I'm Louise. I am a writer, photographer, traveler, book fanatic and blogger. I love to post about my adventures and the little things I do that make life fun. 

    Categories

    TRAVEL, FILM, PORTRAITURE, PERSONAL, CURRENTLY, MARLEE,
    ​BOOK REVIEWS

    Archives

    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013


    Instagram
    @louisebarbara

    MARLEE'S INSTAGRAM: @marleethecat

    Twitter

    Tweets by @louise_barbara

    Follow Along

    RSS Feed

    Follow on Bloglovin

    Louise's bookshelf: currently-reading

    Madame Bovary
    Madame Bovary
    by Gustave Flaubert
    Anne of Green Gables
    Anne of Green Gables
    by L.M. Montgomery

    goodreads.com

    Picture

Thank you so much for visiting!

HOME     -     BLOG
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Travel
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • United Kingdom >
      • England
    • Europe >
      • France
      • Belgium
      • The Netherlands
      • Germany
      • Czech Republic
      • Switzerland
      • Italy
    • Japan >
      • Tokyo
      • Nara
      • Osaka
      • Takasago
      • Hiroshima
      • Kyoto
  • People
    • Personal
    • Professional
  • Film
    • Film Diary
  • VIDEOS
  • Blog
✕