Day 8: Enkhuizen - trip to Apenheul

Today was our day to enjoy the surprise that Rosemarie and Maikel had planned for us. Our surprise was a trip to Apenheul Primate Park in Apeldoorn which is about 70 kilometres to the south east of Enkhuizen. Apenheul is a zoo that specialises in apes and monkeys and was the first zoo in the world where monkeys could walk (or swing) freely in the forest and between visitors. There are more than 30 different primates including the bonobo, orangutan and gorillas.

Amy and I love watching primates, especially gorillas and we had talked about how we wanted to go to Apenheul when Maikel and Rosemarie had visited us in Loxton and it was very thoughtful of them to remember this and organise today, it was a great surprise, although Amy did have her suspicions this may have been the surprise awaiting us, but we very much appreciated today and loved our time at Apenheul. The highlight was seeing the gorillas, I loved watching them. This is the second time I've seen gorillas close up, we saw gorillas at Artis Zoo in 2014 as well and both times it's been the highlight of the day.

We had a great time at Apenheul and many thanks to Rosemarie and Maikel for taking us there, we really enjoyed it.

The drive to Apenheul was very different to yesterday, the countryside this time was forest for much of the trip as we drove through the Leuvenumse Bos a national forest. It was very beautiful. We also saw Maikel's workplace in Lelystad, he has about a 25 minute drive across the dike between Enkhuizen and Lelystad each day.

In the afternoon Amy and I enjoyed a walk around Enkhuizen heading up to the Main Street to do some shopping as well as visit a few of our favourite places such as the Drommedaris, Davidstraat where Dad was born as well as Tante Marie's old home. I could never get sick of walking around this beautiful town, not only do I love the scenery and amenity it is also a great feeling being in a town and walking the same streets that Oma and Opa and the previous generations of our Dutch family lived in, and still live in. It's hard to describe the feeling I get but I know it's good for the soul.

Rosemarie prepared another delicious meal for us tonight, she and Maikel have been spoiling us and their hospitality is second to none. Our meal was topped off with olliebollen for dessert, this was a little naughty given we are supposed to eat them at New Years, but I guess being together with such great family and friends from opposite sides of the world is a celebration worthy of these tasty morsels. I couldn't resist sending a photo of them to Dad just to stir him up as I know how much he would have enjoyed eating them too.

So that was our day, another enjoyable one. The next leg of our holiday is fast approaching (only 2 more sleeps) which we are looking forward to but at the same time I don't want my time here in Enkhuizen to end.

It's time to call it a night.

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