Late last year at the Expatica I Am Not a Tourist fair, I had the good fortune of meeting the lovely Renee Veldman-Tentori who is a multi-talented social media expert and who runs the wonderful community Dutch Australian.
Renee has a similar (if you use your wild imagination) story to my own. She met her husband when he was a backpacker in Australia (as did I), she connected with him in the UK (as did I) and moved to the Netherlands to be with him (as did I!). That's where the parallel lives end, however. Renee has two gorgeous daughters, is a dual Dutch/Australian citizen (something I never seem to get round to organising...) and moved back to Australia for several years before returning to South Holland early in 2012.
Why am I telling you all about Renee? Well, I have been spending quite a bit of time hanging out on the Dutch Australian Facebook page, which is an excellent resource for anybody with Dutch and Australian connections (as well as a lively place to just hang out). Plus, Renee recently featured me on her wonderful Dutch Australian site, which you can read all about here:
Right now Renee is in the middle of what is probably the single most irritating factor about being an Australian living in the Netherlands: getting her driver's license. Like me, Renee has a perfectly good Australian driver's license sitting in her purse, but after living in NL for six months, she is no longer allowed to drive using it so has to exchange it for a Dutch license. That's where the problem starts. An Australian license is not recognised as one of the chosen few that may be exchanged. Instead she has to go through the painful and expensive process of "learning to drive" before sitting exams at €250 a pop.
Wish her luck and join me at Dutch Australian, you'll love it.
Renee has a similar (if you use your wild imagination) story to my own. She met her husband when he was a backpacker in Australia (as did I), she connected with him in the UK (as did I) and moved to the Netherlands to be with him (as did I!). That's where the parallel lives end, however. Renee has two gorgeous daughters, is a dual Dutch/Australian citizen (something I never seem to get round to organising...) and moved back to Australia for several years before returning to South Holland early in 2012.
Why am I telling you all about Renee? Well, I have been spending quite a bit of time hanging out on the Dutch Australian Facebook page, which is an excellent resource for anybody with Dutch and Australian connections (as well as a lively place to just hang out). Plus, Renee recently featured me on her wonderful Dutch Australian site, which you can read all about here:
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| Image from Dutch Australian |
Wish her luck and join me at Dutch Australian, you'll love it.
