A very old photo from Holland above and a more recent from Thailand to the right

Your host Rob was born in the famous cheese town of Gouda in the Netherlands where he spent more than 20 years battling arctic conditions, until he started travelling the world and found the pleasant tropical climate of north Queensland, Australia.

My travels have taken me all over the world until finally settling down in Cape Tribulation in 1993.
While holidaying at the backpackers I went for a walk, saw a "For Sale" sign and started questioning the locals on how you could buy land in the National Park. They explained to me that blocks of land had been subdivided in the early 1970's, about 10 years before the National Park was even declared, and that these blocks were still being bought and sold. So a few visits to real estate agents and the bank later I found myself the owner of two hectares of the world's oldest rainforest. I went back to Darwin where I was making maps for a gold mining company, sold my house, quit my job, and changed the Monday to Friday office lifestyle for a home in the wilderness.

Things started off a bit basic, living in the garden shed until the first stage of the house was up, but gradually things grew bigger and bigger.
I had never built a house before, only a coffee table and a pergola, but I figured any idiot can cut bits of wood to the right length and then nail the ends together, and so Rainforest Hideaway came to be.
Initially I occupied myself with building the house, then became the local Harley tour operator, then a sea kayaking guide, bus driver, long distance tour guide (Cairns to Darwin 6 day outback camping trips), a couple of weeks as a rambutan packer at the local fruit farm and then a B&B owner:

I am a Gemini, described by the horoscope as "Jack of all trades, master of none", which is a good starsign for a B&B owner as you have to be host, reception staff, cook, mechanic, electrician, cleaner, website designer, book keeper and tour guide all at the same time, and I also occupy myself with house building, furniture making, drawing and painting, and am also a part time computer nerd. In my spare time I do website work for the local tourism association, have built this site, and my project www.amazingaustralia.com.au . If you take any good photos on your travels around Australia that you'd be happy to share I'll be happy to add them to this site.

I usually spend the wet seasons in Thailand, my favorite little island was Koh Kham, now unfortunately sold to developers, last year I spent some of the holiday up in northern Thailand in Chiang Mai doing some Thai massage courses and Thai cooking courses.

In 2008 I decided to get in to sculpture too, these are all made of cement;

Rob and his Easter Island Moai

Two Moai guarding the entrance

A third Moai overlooking the big fishpond

African Woman

The new mail box

Buddha

The entrance to the house

The front steps

The latest project; a bridge on the new walking track to the creek

Even on holidays in Thailand in 2010 I got a bit creative....

Find a suitable bit of wood

Make some adjustments to the shape

Turn bit of wood to do same on other side

Remove some bits to achieve shape

Shape a bit more

Put coffee table on some rollers

Drive in to position

Voila! One crocodile coffe table!