phonenumber

People,

My Australian Mobile Phone Number is:

+61 450 644 720

Bas.

huiswerk

Hi there all of you people around the world.

My former workplace was named by Wallpaper Magazine to be one of the 'hottest' new architecture offices of 2008. On visit the wallpaper website and the architects directory there to see more.

Huiswerk Architecten also (finally!) got their new website running, check it at:

www.huiswerkarchitecten.nl

Melbourne-2

Luckily Dennis had a quiet week at university so we were able to go to Emily's parents' beachhouse at Anglesea (2hours south-west of Melbourne)for a couple of days. It was really great!

We arrived on thursday-afternoon and after doing some grocery-shopping we installed ourselves in front of the fireplace to get warm. All days were quite chilly (7-10 degrees) and we had some sun and rain, almost Dutch autumn-weather. Dennis went for a surf in the afternoon, I went along to monitor his skills but there were almost no waves to catch. So I just enjoyed the fresh air on the beach and the sundown. That evening we cooked, ate, and had some beers in front of the fireplace. We had a great discussion during dinner about Damien Hirst's artwork (2 cows in the series "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living") I had seen in Tokyo.

The next morning we took off for driving along the "Great Ocean Road", a coastal (high)way that leads all the way to Adelaide (I think). Amazing views and cliffs along the way. We spent most of the day in the car (since distances are amazing here in Australia) be we hopped out of the car for some scenic spots and a walk or sight here & there.

So for instance we visited a rainforrest (a small piece of it, left over in one of the valleys along the coast). They had made a tree-top walk, with steel bridges, so you'd get a better view of the forrest-canopy. Turns out that even in the relatively moderate climate-zones trees can grow fast and huge; some of the trees grow 1m/year for the first 50years of their live. And eventhough they grow so fast, their wood is excellent: strong and hard. Some of the trees in along the tree-top walk were some 35m high, but they can grow over 100m tall!

Our destination for the day was the 'Twelve Apostles', a coastal rockformation (picture above). We arrived there (after a long but very enjoyable drive trough cultivated lands a bit further from the coast) very late in the afternoon with the sun almost setting- it was an absolutely stunning and spectacular view! It was just the perfect moment, with the clouds opening up for some sunshine, a sturdy breeze from the ocean, not to many tourists and a nice wavy ocean!

Very close to 'the Twelve Apostles" there is quite a dramatic coastline with blow-holes, caves, secluded beaches and cliffs. We wandered around a bit and ran into a solitary black kangaroo... beautiful, but to shy for me to take a picture in time.

We drove back from the Twelve Apostles during the evening and night. Along the way we had a very nice dinner in a pub overlooking the moonlit quiet ocean. What a great day.

Since we arrived home quite late we took it easy the next morning. Dennis went for a surf after breakfast (but still not much surf at Anglesea) and the rest of us cleaned up the house. Before driving to Melbourne we dropped by the Anglesea Golfcourse to check out the Kangaroos. You can see them in the picture at the picasa site:

pictures of beachhouse-weekend

This week I will be in Melbourne, watching two alp-stages of the Tour de France (yes!) and spending my time reading and visiting some museums. Friday-evening we will all go watch a game of Australian Football ("foottie"). It is a mix of Rugby and Soccer. It is the coolest game (after basketball) that I know. It really cool and everybody is into it here- seems to be one of the biggest sports in Australia, if not THE biggest. We watched a game of Dennis' team in a nearby pub (while enjoying another kangaroo-steak) and I enjoyed it so much that we will go and watch Hawthorn Hawks (Dennis' favorite team, 3rd in the standings) against Geelong Cats (1st in standings) on friday... They've promised me it will be great. Looking forward to that!

pictures of Melbourne-time at picasa

That's all for now people. Guess next time I will be writing to you from the west-coast. Take care,

Bas.

who what where when

Hi there people,

All good here in Melbourne. I forgot to tell you last time who is Dennis. Well, Dennis and I met in Delft while he was studying there for six months in 2004 (I think). I had just gotten back from Barcelona, and Alberto (my architect friend from Barcelona) had come to NL to study in Delft for six-months. I think Alberto and Dennis met in University and soon we teamed up for great discussions and dinnerparties with the Erasmus-group in Delft. Since Dennis got back in Australia soon thereafter, we've always maintained contact by email- it is great to discuss and talk face-to-face again!

After a week of thinking and planning and talking, I have figured out a sketch-plan for my trip the next couple of months (gosh). I will fly to Perth from Melbourne, saturday 26th. I will spent a couple of days in the beautiful area south of Perth (hilly lush farmlands and wineries along the ocean) before starting to travel north along the west coast, eventually passing Broome and Darwin on my way to Cairns, where in early September (if all goes well) I will meet my aunt&uncle when they will be visiting my cousin in Townsville (south of Cairns). After that I will travel south again along the east coast (let's hope all the european, Japanese and American tourists will have left again by then) passing Brisbane and Sydney to come back to Melbourne (end of October?).

Before flying to New Zealand I will probably have to work for a couple of months (as an architect hopefully) to refill my budgets... but we'll see how it goes. Its a rough outline of my plans, but on the way, one can never really predict what happens...

Melbourne-1

Hello there,

Just quickly, a picture of Dennis and me, and a picture of us all having dinner at 'little creatures' in Melbourne. In the background you see Dennis and me and from left to right: Mat, Merrin and Emily. Excuse me for looking tired- but I was.

I got a phone here in Australia, so might you miss me, you can give me a call (but I might be busy or sleeping if I dont pick up...).

+61 450 644 720

I am passing my days here just wandering around Melbourne and spending time in the university architecture library; planning my trip a bit and trying to figure out a way to best travel is continent-sized country.

Talk to you soon again.

Bas.

Moving On

After Tokyo where I spent the last couple of days checking more contemporary architecture and spending good times with sweet Marieke (picture above) I have taken a flight to New Zealand. I landed in Auckland early in the morning, and a very nice guy that I met in the plane, gave me a ride to the centre of Auckland (after having arranged a hotel at the airport because my flight to Melbourne was leaving quite early the next morning). There he drove me around in his car to see some of the centre and give a me a sort of little tour. I will be back there in a couple of months so this little preview turned out really nice. We had a great breakfast/lunch somewhere and then I took of into the city centre.

It was dark and rainy (yes, on this side of the world, at these lattitudes, it is actually winter time people). And Auckland doesnt seem to be a very pretty city (although the bad wheather must have emphasized that). The impression that I got from it was also that it is a rather quiet city. But there were many interesting things (nice bars and restaurants, some interesting older and newer buildings, and tons of amazing postcards of the surroundings) that kind of make me look forward to travelling that amazing country. There are only 4 million people living in this huge country, of which 1 million live in Auckland and about another million live in Wellington+Christchurch. So... it must be really really empty out there in the wild.

I had great (amazing) dinner in a nice small pub there, amazing seafood, maybe even fresher then the Japanese seafood...

The next morning I hopped on a plane to Melbourne, where winter has brought even cooler temperatures. Dennis, a friend a have met in Delft a couple of years ago when he was studying there for a semester after I came back from Barcelona, picked me up from the airport with his 1973 Alfa-Romeo sportscar! He was there with a friend with whom he lives together and went out to surf that (cold sunday) morning. It was really really REALLY great seeing Dennis again. We have been spending all afternoon chatting and walking around Melbourne, and in the evening we have gone out for dinner together with his friend and housemate Math and another friend and housemate (girl) named Marrain and Dennis' grilfriend Emmily, that I've met before in Delft aswell. It was really nice, AND good food! First evening in Australia I have already Kangaroo! Very nice! Love Australia alreay!

More to come soon.

SICK!

How insane is this picture hey (for the ones recognising Daan's sister Jans and her boyfriend)!? On (alomst) my last morning in Tokyo (and Japan) I walked up to a museum designed by Le Corbusier- thought I'd better go check it out- I saw them just coming out of it. Out of the blue, I meet friends on the streets of Tokyo, a city with 36 million inhabitants... this is really insane! I went crazy- just couldnt believe it. really nice! We've been chatting about Japan (they were just starting a 4 week trip) and in the evening we met again for some dinner and drinks. It was really REALLY nice!

Defeated!

The mountains, or the weather-gods have defeated me. I didnt het higher then 2300m. There was snow and I couldn`t find the track. I have been looking for it for 45min, but couldn`t find it. With the ice and all the boulders (as you can see in the pictures) it was quite dangerous, and since I thought you`d all like to see the photos, I thought: lets enjoy it from here. Nice thing was that all the way up dan down (4,5hours) I didnt see a single soul. Only the last 6 of the approx.18km`s (along the river) there were quite a few Japanese tourists... but up in the mountain, all alone was realy really really special. Really great- just the sound of birds, wind and my respiration and sound of pumping of blood in my ears... That`s life... so defeated? Guess not!

pictures at picasa

Mountains

Today I have arrived in Katayama, in what is called the `japanese alps`. Sure hilly here, but alps... not really.. yet. I`ll get up early in the morning (0600h) to go catch a bus to Kamakochi, 1500m up in the mountains (there should be real ones there). From there I am planning to climb up the 3rd highest mountain of Japan, some 3190m. Up in the morning and down in the afternoon again to get back to my hostell in Katayama with the last bus... Let`s hope the weather is good. By the time the first one reads this I will at least be half-way up if all gets well.

The hostell that I am staying at in Katayama is actually not really a hostell- it is a Zenn-buhdist temple, that rents out rooms (dormitory). Nice people here. Lots of young people wanting to go up mountains. It`s got a good athmosphere. It is run by one of the monks, an old guy that speaks perfect Enlish. I`ll take pictures here before leaving, promise.

After Kyoto I have travelled to Hiroshima, to see what the first atomic bomb had done. There was a memorial park and a museum documenting the events. It was very impressive!

After that I went to Himeji, where there was an amazing and huge castle, still mostly in authentic style. That was marvelous... check the pictures (although they are not half as good as reality).

pictures

After that I`ve spent a day in Nara and a day in Osaka, where I have visited more temples and a museum by Tadao Ando. It was nice but all not really what I`d expected. So, now I am here, planning to spent some days in the mountains before heading back to Tokyo, to spent my last days in Japan with Marieke and see some more of that amazing city.

Bas.

Kyoto-2

Hello there!

I have spent a couple of days in Kyoto. This is the cultural centre of Japan so heaps of temples, gardens and shrines. I walked a lot and the result you can see in mi picasa-website:

pictures of Kyoto

Anyway, in the hostell in Kyoto I met a guy and a girl from Barcelona and we spent a lot of time chatting in the evenings. Yesterday-evening I was planning to write a long story about Kyoto, but first I ended up having a great politcal discussion about life with Felio- the guy from Barcelona- who by the way has travelled an amazing lot. After that we ate something together and another Spanish guy with his argentenian girlfriend joined us at the table. They had also just started a trip around the world so who knows, maybe we;ll meet again somewhere on this planet. Never thought I would speak so much Spanish in Japan! Haha.

But since we had such a good time yesterday evening I didnt manage to write. I think that all the temple and castle and garden stuff will speak for itself. Enjoy the pictures. I am off to Hiroshima now, catching a speedy train again, so go and see what those Americans have done there at the end of WWII. Talk to you soon!

Greetings,

Bas.

PS I ENJOY YOUR COMMENTS! So dont leave without posting one!