Diary for Our Grey Nomad Adventures


Loving this Grey Nomadding !

2017-01-23

Well everyone this is our first travel blog. What a time we are having.........sorry we have not added anything till now. My phone died and I lost a lot of pics so have been gathering more. We have been loving these free camps ... cows and all ! The Mann River at Cangaii was idyllic for a few days stop. We mastered putting out the awning thing here... there is a lot to learn when travelling !! 


North Straddie is magic..

2017-02-04

We stayed with our friends, Maxine,Nadine and Ed, on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately at the end of all our fun, my phone died with all the pics of that fun.(MORAL: Download your pics pronto always ) We went on a tinny and jetski over to Sth Stradbroke Island and they suggested we go to Nth Straddie too. 

Since Grey Nomads make instant decisions... like ... okay ! We did.

It reminded me of Maui in 1978.... and it turned out our friends, Pamela and Ross, lived there too. So Pamela and I had lots of walks... Ken and Ross had lots of drinks.... and we fell in love wiht Nth Straddie. Our rig took up half the ferry !


Ken and his family catching up...

2017-02-10

Ken has been catching up with his siblings in Brisbane. It has been really nice.


Fun with Pete and Moira in Coolum

2017-02-11

Pete and Moira were the originators of the Get Jealous Blog. They travelled about Oz for a few years about 6 years ago and we followed their blog, wishing it was us.

Now it is ... Woo Hoo !

I spent my birthday with them, and Moi showed us all over the area while Pete renovated.

How much fun did we have with them !

We are meeting them again in August to go to the Gympie Muster. Yee Hah !


We saw Bruce Springsteen in Brisbane

2017-02-16

What a great concert !

Such passion, energy and emotion !


Kenny wants a new bike !

2017-02-18

We are camped at the Motorcycle Museum in Nabiac.

Kenny wants to get a new bike to put on the back of the van....lol !


Watch out Tassie ! We are on our way !

2017-03-01

Wonderful week with Dad, and catching up with family and friends in Sydney and our mates enroute to Melbourne.

Now we are about to head to Tassie for 2 months !


Woo hoo Tassie.. the Holts have arrived…

2017-03-08

Only one week here and we feel like it has been ages. Mum looked over our Bass Strait crossing cos it was like a lake…. so calm ! What fun we had on the boat too. They had a yummy “Tastes of Tassie” buffet lunch. We read our books, listened to a great singer and then won Disco Bingo !

The night before we left, we parked along the street near the ferry with lots of other vans, and were invited to our first Happy Hour on the footpath. What fun that was too getting tips from all these long-term vanners. Then, when we arrived, and drove into our first night’s spot on the local sportsground in Devonport, these lovely vanners moved their car and helped to squeeze us in to a spot cos it was quite full there that night. We are feeling so blessed !

We have only had two camp spots since then cos we set up, and then use the cruiser to explore the area. Wow, it is so hilly up here in the North-West ! We are glad not to be pulling Funup on some of these windy hilly roads. The first spot was beside the ocean near Penguin, and we had a baby penguin in the rocks right beside us. Now we are next to a pond and the ducks come greeting us. All these spots are amazing and free. Vanners tell us they have been here for 3 months and always stayed in natural free camp spots. It seems Tassie figures this will attract more people down here who will spend their money amongst the businesses in the towns….which is what is happening. We are glad we made sure we booked our passage back on the Spirit cos vanners who came without a return, cannot get back on the Spirit until July ! It is fully booked.

The weather has been great…chilly at night with glorious days. Other vanners tell us it was freezing here in February … so.. again… blessed.

We now have a routine when we arrive…. Kenny (who is getting really good at “pulling” Funup) does the unhook and legs down etc, while I come inside and open the windows, vents etc , get the drinks and nibblies ready and then get the chairs, table and Tommie out. We are down to about 20 minutes from arrival to “feet-up”.

Have been walking lots. I did the gorgeous Leven Gorge, including the 697 steps ( I think it was that many). Yesterday I walked up The Nut in Stanley while Ken took the chairlift. Then we both walked the 2klm walk around the perimeter of The Nut. I was so glad Kenny did it. Our doctor told us before we left that Kenny has half my lungs and half my heart strength so he can do half what I do… hence the chairlift !

Today we are off to Arthur River and Edge of the World. I know most of you don’t read this, so will sign off now and let the pics do the talking ! 


We are too busy having too much fun !

2017-03-17

HI All, 

Thanks for getting back to us saying yes you were, or no you weren't gettin g the blog. Great to hear from so many of you.

We have been having a blast... and it is only a few weeks into it. There are few backroads in the North West or Central Highlands we have not driven on. We put the van in a spot and then loop the area in the Landcruiser.

My battery is about to die so I will be fast and then tell more tomorrow night.

Had a great St Patrick's Day. We went ziplining across the tree tops of these ancient tall trees. Was such fun ! Have been staying in a little town called Westbury. We are camped at the Sportsground. They were suppposed to have an Irish Festival today on the Village Green here ... this is why we came here. But the "new committee" forgot to tell the advertisers they had changed the date to last weekend.... how Irish is that !! But we have been enjoying the area anyway.

The ziplining was such a blast. We went on about 6 ziplines varying in length and speed. Woo Hoo.. Yahoo.. way to go.... you all should try it ! Naturally Kenny and I were the oldest in the group..... but they all loved us.

We have done lots of walking through heaps of forests, canyons etc. Today we went to Liffey Falls. What a drive that was ! Will post pics of that tomorrow.

In fact will go now as battery is about to expire.

Enjoy the pics !


Have a bit more time for a chat now...

2017-03-18

Well darlings this travelling around aimlessly takes a lot of time ! You have to decide what time you will choose to finally get up, what forest/village/mountain/backroad you will explore today, what book you will finish off.... ahh it is such an effort !

You will be pleased to know we are not divorced yet..... (this is why we got a BIG caravan) and are having a ball. We have parked the van in about 4 spots and then loop the area in the Landcruiser. I am keeping Kenny loving me with my wonderful cooking skills. He is even getting a bit fatter...despite the fact that I am dragging him on lots of walks.

 We are currently parked in the sportsground at Westbury in the middle of Tassie. Ken is outside watching the locals play cricket. I am finishing this before we go to the local church where we have been invited to the St Patrick's Day Service and a pot luck tea afterwards in the school hall.

We were so impressed with St Patricks River last week that we are going to go there tomorrow night to stay a few days on our way across to the East Coast. The weather has been delightful ! Many of you I know are either sick of the rain, or hoping for some and boiling to death. Here it is like a gorgeous Sydney autumn. 

The letterbox trail was such fun. Simon, you could have done a WonderWorld story on it ! Henry S, you should make a personalised letterbox for your property on Razorback and start a trend out there. Great for local tourism. Kenny says his letterbox would be a camera. Mine would be a big heart with a smile and two arms out for a hug.

What would all your letterboxes be like ? Do let us know hey !

On that question, I will drag Kenny from the cricket and head to church !

Do not be worried, I cannot write again for at least a week as we will be out of range !!

Love you all, 

xxx


We have made it to the East Coast !

2017-03-23

Thanks for all your messages and emails. Love to hear from you all. 

We are in the Bay of Fires on the East Coast. Meant to be idyllic blue seas etc but.... we have had our first taste of not so good weather. I have never seen an ocean so pounding and smashing before. I feel for those Boxing Day sailors if they come across such as this !

Meant to get better tomorrow so we will see.

Had a great stay in the Pub In The Paddock. They have these pigs that are alcoholics !! You get to feed then a beer ! Do they ever gobble them down !

The drive over was hairy in parts as we had some steep hills and many twist and turns to get to the East Coast. Kenny drove like a trooper though. 

The mainland is telling lies about Tassie though. We have not seen any tree huggers, dole buldgers or people with two heads ! All we see are hard workers ! Even the road crews do  not lean on their shovels ! 

Going to work our way down the coast and then go right down the bottom before we meet Dad and Chris in Hobart for Easter.

Will add some pics of the van cos some are asking us about it that have not seen it yet.

Cheers for now !


This is Fun Up

2017-03-24

Several have been asking us about our caravan.

So here is FunUp for you to check out. 

We love her !


Freycinet and the BIG walk …..

2017-03-31

Well we have had a delightful week.

We stayed at Chain of Lagoons for 3 nights. This was a magical place with the ocean right beside (again !). We read, had fires, I did a 3 hr walk to the end of the beach (phew) and we sat on the beach late every night trying to see the Aurora that is currently on display down here. 

We have not seen the Aurora yet but do think we will see it before we leave cos we are going further south all the time. Those who have been in a spot to see it say it is amazing... will definitely save us going to Iceland to see it if we can see it here !!

Our friend, Kiwi, turned 60 on Friday (she does not look a day over 30 !) and she is a bushwalker. So to honour her, I decided to do the BIG Freycinet walk !

It was so great ! It took 5 and a half hours ! But what scenery ! The last 2 hours I walked with a really nice husband and wife from near Campbelltown (my home town ).  The pics will give you a glimpse of the scenery... then you will have to wait for the photo book !

We are heading to Richmond tomorrow where they are having a Heritage Festival. Then we are off cruising to Maria Island on Monday we hope..... they need 2 more people for the cruise to go !  Then we head way down south to Cockle Creek... the most southerly point ! GOT to see the Aurora there !!

Looking forward to Dad and Chrissie, my sister, joining us at Easter. We will have great fun together with them and Kellie, who I taught in Year 3 about 35 years ago !!!!


Our $2000 day with 3 oops moments !

2017-04-03

Ever since we have arrived in Tassie, people have told us to do the Maria Island Cruise.

We went to book it and they told us they may not run it cos they had minimum numbers which had not been reached.

We thought if we are meant to go, it will happen. And it did ! The lady called to say they only had 7 attendees (they take 22 normally !) but they were going to run it anyway. Well……………. It felt like we had hired a private boat for the day !

The other 5 people were so nice and we all had so much room. The weather was to die for. The water so blue and crystal clear. What a day. I had taken my swimmers cos I was told you could snorkel with the wild seals….. and I was not going to miss that chance !

On the way over to the Isle of Seals, we must have had 40 dolphins playing alongside the boat. It was simply magical. The captain let me sit at the very front of the boat where I could see them all by the bow playing and frolicking….. I shot heaps of pics ! Kenny climbed out there too and it was simply exhilarating.

The captain kept slowing the boat and then speeding it up playing with them and they loved it, leaping out of the water heaps.

We finally got to the island where we were headed and there were these two huge sea caves and  the captain took the boat right inside the caves. They had another big hole in the rock on one side and when the sunlight streamed in, it made all the rocks a kaleidoscope  of colours. Breathtaking ! He then backed the 40 ft boat out of the cave….no mean feat !

It was on to the seals and my chance to swim with them. I stepped in and snorkled over to them. There were so many seals and the amazing thing was that they were wild but they wanted to play with me, and were swimming up and coming right up to my face for a look. They have the biggest eyes. At one stage, I think there were about 20 seals of all sizes swimming around me. Another magical memory made !

Time for lunch… on our way there, the captain stopped the boat so that the other worker could pick up a plastic bag that was floating. I thought how environmentally good is this, so went to go to the side of the boat to take a pic to put on FB and say how good is this company. I tripped on a bit of raised carpet just as the boat also lurched slightly to the left and …………..

My 2 mth old iPhone 7 Plus, worth $1600, fell into the ocean ! Yep ! You can imagine the moment, and my face. Dad, it was like that time I was young and I carried the whole dinner set over to wash up and dropped them all…… remember ?

Everyone gasped…. I nearly jumped in clothes and all…. But it was sinking too fast into the 40 metres of ocean ! I looked over at Kenny, thinking oh oh how deep in trouble am I now ??? The absolute darling just put his hand to his mouth and said “Oops !” OMG I was so relieved !

This will now become a day to remember forever….. but it gets better.

We then had lunch. They gave me a glass of wine. I put it down on the table and served my lunch. When I picked it up, it hit the side of a dish and the bottom of the stem broke off !!!

Then I went looking for my prescription sunnies which I had taken off to go snorkel with the seals. Could not find them anywhere…… until….. are these them ? Someone had sat on them and the side arm snapped off !

So…….. Kenny said that is it… the three things are over now !

What a day ! But fear not, we went to Hobart today and got the ONLY iPhone 7 Plus in Tassie !

So, I am now sorted again. I have got a phone case now that has a ring on the back of it ! I laughed at you at school Maria A when you showed me yours with the ring… now I think of it as a safety feature !!!


We are wayyyy down south...

2017-04-05

Am catching up for you all here, so there will be 3 diary entries. Okay.

This starts them off.

We headed down south of Hobart for the week before Dad and Chris, my sister, arrived.

We went as far south as you can go and swam, drank and walked about.

We even saw a fleeting glimpse of the Southern Lights !


Hobart with Dad and Chris

2017-04-14

We were so excited cos Dad and my sister, Chris, flew down to spend a week with us.

It was soooo good to see them. We were lucky cos Kellie, a girl I taught in Yr 3 in 1978 !!(yes that long ago !) lives in Hobart and showed us about the town. Kellie has a great sense of humour so it was sooo much fun. She keeps calling me Miss Meehan (my name when I taught her). Says she cannot bring herself to call me Kathie. She was doing a Miss Meehan on me though and always asking me my tables !! 

Kellie made Dad wear these big glasses while we toured. We even lent them to some other people at the top of My Wellington for a pic too ! Was a lot of laughing together that made our time with Kellie so memorable.

We went on the ferry to Bruny Island on Easter Thursday which was really lucky. We arrived at the ferry terminal for the ferry in both directions and got on in 10 mins. On Good Friday the wait time was 2 hours to get on the ferry ! We did everything there was to do over there: ate the oysters, the chocolates, had lunch at the winery, walked to the southernmost lighthouse.

We also went to MONA in Hobart. This is a controversial art museum located underground. Well.... the best part for us was the ferry ride there and back in the Posh Pit where they gave you as much champagne etc as you could drink in 30 mins there and back ! This must be to get you ready fpr the "art". I am afraid we all thought the art was too much: bags of coal, a goldfish in a bowl of water on a chair, plaster casts of heaps of vaginas..... We are thinking hard about what we can convince them is a good art piece and make up a good story to sell it to them.... The wine tasting we did in the middle of the day was fun. But we did not like the claustrophobic feel of the museum. Give us a good Monet anyday.

The week went really fast. The pics will tell you more ! My battery here is running our and have to do the last diary entry for you.


The South West wilderness

2017-04-19

After Dad left we went to the south west wilderness area.

How gorgeous is that. Drove all the way to the Gordon Dam and saw that magnificent feat of engineering in the dam wall. 

Lunched at Lake Pedder. Did the waterfalls in Mt Field National Park. 

Went to The Wall in Derwent Bridge. This is a huge wall of Huon pine that tnhis chap has carved with a story of the settlement of Tasmania. It is sooooo real. if you ever come this way, it is s must. You can feel the grief in a ladies face and the joy in another piece. It is the most amazing piece of art I have ever seen and I did not need the Posh Pit to get me ready for it. Ken and I simply sat there for ages spellbound by it.

The weather has now started to turn for us. We have had such great weather to date.

But it is autumn hey and we are in Tasmania ! Our first "bad " weather day was cosily spent reading a good book. Since it seems to have set in, we are now simply embracing it and exploring anyway !

Cannot believe we have only one week left in our two months here. We are hoping the rain clears here tonight in Evandale cos the Southern Lights are at a really high level and this is the perfect spot to see it. Fingers crossed !

Will be seeing you all soon !


Leaving Tassie tomorrow...

2017-04-28

Well we are here in the ferry queue waiting for Happy Hour to start !

How fast have the last 2 months gone.

We finished up at Clarence Point near the head of the Tamar River. We stayed at a spot that was literally almost in the middle of the river. It was magical !

Went  and saw the Targa, held some seahorses in our hands, chased a few echidnas and listened to the Anzac day footy match.

The horses now have their coats on down here. The leaves are falling, as is the rain. It is chilly at night. So................... we love you Tassie but............... time to head north !


Three Sisters Weekend at Abba Festival

2017-05-06

Well do we look like the Dancing Queens ??

My sisters and I have a Three Sisters Weekend each year and this year we went to the Abba Festival at Trundle.

We stayed in the caravan together, and had such fun. We adopted Chris's friend, Stacie, so she came with us too.

We are now back in Sydney where we have had a great week with Dad, a lovely Mothers Day today and are headed to Borneo on Tuesday.

Hope you all had a special funfilled family day today for Mothers Day too.


Borneo...wonderfully wild !

2017-05-16

What a time we had in Borneo !

The pics fill you in. We got so close to wild animals, amazing flowers....

The group we travelled with were so nice too. 

We drove across the state of Sabah really and saw everything including trips on old steam trains, dips in thermal pools, magestic mountain scenery, safari cruises along a wild river...

It was great.

We are leaving tomorrow to start the trek to Cape York in FunUp.

Will keep you posted !


Warning: this blog has graphic images.

2017-06-16

Well we are in Ayr tonight on our way to Cape York.

We have been on the road for a few weeks now. We have been enjoying some time wiith family and mates on the way to here.We visited with Ken's sister, Barbara and her family, and also Ken's brother, Dick, on the way up. We then had a lovely catch-up and lunch with some longtime friends, Noel and Glenda, who have moved near Bundaberg. And the past few days we spent with Ken's stepmother in Mackay. She was so excited to be with us, she told us she could not sleep. How sweet.

We had a litlle mishap with Ken's toe in Mackay. He was taking off the weight distribution bars and the pipe he uses to do that slipped and sliced his toe badly. Ouch ! It is looking much better today though than it does in the pic. He was a good boy in the hospital and left with a lolly for not crying when he got his needle !

We have been reading avidly as we stay at some fantastic campsites. 

We loved Bundaberg. We went to the Bundaberg Rum distillery...... the pic tells how Kenny felt about that... We also went to the ginger beer brewery too. 

We head towards the Atherton tomorrow. Some wonderful friends we met in Tassie live there and we are going to leave our caravan at their place when we head to the Cape.  We are going to spend the second weekend in July with my twin and his wife, Eileen, in Cairns. We are looking forward to that.

Then it is onto the "TIP" and ALL those corrugations !! LOL.

Keep you posted !


Catching up..... before the tip trek.

2017-06-28

We are now in Mareeba. About to leave our caravan at our wonderful friends, Peter and Pauline,  at Lake Tinaroo while we venture to “the tip” where we will camp our way up and back.

Thanks to everyone who called us about Ken and his foot. It was so sweet of you, and so nice to hear from you. We love your messages on the site here too. 

Ken’s foot is progressing well, according to all the pics I send to my sister, Bernadette, who is a nurse. The next thing he will be in hospital for will be RSI of his fingers from the two-finger wave he gives to all passing caravans ! There are lots of them going south… so there are lots of waves !! Must be making space at “the tip” for us !

We will be going camping (yes in a tent..) for the next week around Cooktown and the Battlecamp Track. This will be interesting as it has been raining….. so we hope it stops before we become campers !! FunUp will be like heaven when we get back to her !

Herberton was a great place to stay. The historical village there was amazing. Trouble is half the stuff in it we used to have before we sold the house and lots of that stuff…. How fast does one become “heritage”…..  I especially loved the old schoolhouse and have put pics here of exams from that time. Just adds proof to my red pen adoration…… cos I do not think the kids today at the age these tests were for, could do them. I loved the “old” textbooks…. In fact the Maths Problems one I have been using for years … LOL.

We meet my brother, John, and his wife, Eileen, in Cairns on July 7. We are looking forward to having fun with them.

Then we head to Weipa so that Kenny can be there for the State of Origin decider. Wanted to be in a memorable place for that, and with all the miners and campers in Weipa, it should be memorable “on the gulf”. Of course, Kenny goes for Qld since he was born in Mackay so……… we should not be “aliens” in the crowd…

So until after the “decider”…….


Oops ... I forgot the test pics.. Have a go now..

2017-06-30

Sorry.... I forgot the tests from 1959 pics.

 Thanks for the calls to ask me where they were.

 How many of them can you do ?

 Expectations have sure dropped from 1959 hey !

 Knock yourself out !


The Tip Adventure…..

2017-07-14

Well we are not drowned in some river on The Telegraph Track……..

My brother, John, and his wife, Eileen, could not come to meet us due to Eileen’s nephew being very ill so we headed off early for the tip.

The internet is not that good up at “The Tip” …. So… this is the first chance we have had to do a blog…. Grab a coffee !!

We left the Atherton in rain and fog….. AND guess what ?? The rain and drizzle continued all the way to “the tip” ! So glad I bought that tent, instead of the swag. The difference being you can at least get dressed on your knees in the tent. In the swag , it would have been on my back looking like those movie stars trying to get into size 0 jeans !! LOL

The tent looked a lot bigger in the shop than it did when we finally put it up !

But, at least it kept out the rain !

We did not really know what lay ahead when we left the Atherton… but left anyway.

We hit the dirt after Laura…. FunUp (the landcruiser) is like a stallion on holidays. She is loving all these dirt roads and corrugations ! She rides over them like a dream (sometimes !)

We have had wild horses, wild cows, cane toads, snakes, kangaroos, emus and turtles to keep us entertained over the 9 million corrugations and red dirt.

We made “the tip” on 10-7-17 and you can all see the pics. I was determined to swim at the northernmost point cos I swam in the southernmost.

We had a memorable State of Origin decider in the northernmost bar in Australia.

We went to Thursday island on the one gorgeous day so far… AND  loved teal seas.

We are now in Weipa, and about to head to Chilli Beach, Cooktown and then meet Kellie, my grade 3 student of nearly 40 years ago, in Cape Tribulation.

Enjoy the pics !


How To Send Us A Message

2017-08-01

Well many of you are having difficulties leaving us a message on Get Jealous it seems.

So here is the way to do it. Okay ?

Most of you are on mobiles I think when you get the email that we have posted.

So you go to the bottom of the page and you click Desktop. A new page will open up.

This is the main page and you will see some green tabs at the top. The one on the absolute right says Message Board. If you click that, it goes to the place where you can leave us a message.

We love getting your messages but we cannot reply to the messages though.

You can always email us at holtie@tpg.com.au as well and we reply to that !

We will post again in a few days. We are about to head to Lawn Hill National Park.

We are currently in Karumba right on the Gulf of Carpentaria. The internet is VERY slow though so I do not think the pics would upload here so will wait till we have a better strength of internet to do it.


Heading South to the Gympie Muster

2017-08-03

Hi all, 

We are now heading south to the Gympie Muster.. We are in Julia Creek right now. Heading off to the local campfire dinner the community puts on every Monday night for the Grey Nomads. Sticky date pudding is the desert so Ken is happy.

We went to a similar one at Leichhardt Lagoon out on the homestead and it was such fun !

We stayed in Karumba for several days. Was so relaxing. I lolled around the pool at the park as we waited for our friends from the Atherton, who had been on an adventure across the NT, to come to town. We went on a bird watching cruise which was "interesting"..... birds are so small up here we hardly saw any....  

We then went on a sunset/croc spotting cruise with Peter and Pauline too. Now that one was fun, and we saw more birds on that than on the morning one !

We went swimming, canoeing and walking in Lawn Hill National Park. Been very relaxing.

Should be in Gympie by next week and looking forward to catching up with some of you then.

Got to go get ready for the dinner !

Cheers.


We are "in" at the Gympie Muster...

2017-08-10

Have been having a great time driving south staying at all these rustic places. 

The Prairie Hotel was wonderful. Such a collection of interesting things everywhere !

We have seen roos, cows, wedgetail eagles, emus, goats, goannas, snakes, horses, ducks, brolgas and frillneck lizards along the roadside.........Then we came across the lady and man leading the wild camels who were almost causing accidents cos the camels were not behaving in their 2 cms of space the poor things had to walk along the side of the road !! And the pink bikini was causing a great deal of attention on the UHF channel for the truckers !!  Not to mention the man supposedly "supporting" and "warning" in the caravan he left half parked across the road with a texta cardboard sign tied with a bit of string saying... Camels ahead !!!

Anyway we made it into Gympie and are out at the Muster site where it is being set up for the Muster. Some people set their own bars up and you can see one of them in the pics. Kevie's Bar is really famous apparenty. He is a lovely guy and Kenny and I have been there a few times.

We are off visiting friends around the Sunshine Coast for the next few days. Then back to the Muster.

Over and out !


Fun few days

2017-08-18

Hi All, 

Have been having a great time catching up with mates in the area.

Check the pics.

People are rolling into the Muster site and setting up the most fun structures for the event.

It is really extraordinary how campers set up their own "bars" and then invite anyone who wants to drop in, to BYOG and come and party on. 

Check the pics for some of the bars.

Off for drinks at a campfire so in a rush. Just wanted to show you the bars.

Yeehah !


I swam with whales !

2017-08-21

Well if I thought swimming with the seals in Tassie was great, I have now swum and snorkelled with whales.

What a treat !

We went out with a group of 20. They gave you a shark repeller to put on your leg !!

Then we spent a long time looking for the whales. When we finally found some, they waited to see if they would be playfully interested in humans….. then suddenly they yell go.. go…go !

And we all rush to jump in and swim closer towards them and see what they do.

The best one was when one whale swam under us, turned upside down so that we could see his white stomach. Then he waved his flipper !

We had 3 swims about 20 mins each with different whales we found.

So…. tick that off the bucket list ! ( and I did not even know it was on the bucket list as a possibility !)


Yeehah … Gympie was a hoot !

2017-08-24

Well the music rocked…. The weather was fantastic… the company was fun…I luurrvveed the line dancing classes ….. we did not have to drive anywhere… simply fall back into the van which was not that far to walk away… what more can one ask for ?

Discovered some great new talent. Loved Fred Smith.

All the money from the Gympie Muster goes to charity and this year it was to Mates4Mates.

You all need to add the Gympie Muster to your bucket list.

My only disappointment was that I did not get to wear my gumboots !!! No rain !

We are now headed home to Sydney to have Fathers Day with everyone, and spend some family time together. We are looking forward to that. 


How fantastic is camping on the Murray River

2017-09-21

We are camped on the banks of the Murray River, and it is wonderful.

You can camp anywhere along the Murray on the Victorian side. This is our second spot, and it is only 3 klms from downtown Yarrawonga. But you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. We are moving on . in a few days, to find another fabulous spot at Tocumwal.

It has been nearly a month since I blogged. We came back to Sydney to celebrate Fathers Day at a BBQ at my sisters, Bernadette. We also celebrated my sister-in-law, Eileen's, birthday too. Was so good to see everyone after our 3 mths away doing Cape York. We stayed in Sydney for about 10 days and celebrated Dad's 85th birthday at a family lunch in Camden. Was such fun. Thanks heavens I was driven home...... had a few champers... or 10 ! Lol !

We left Sydney and took the caravan to Melbourne for another great service with Supreme. On the way, we stopped at Seymour, and then spent a day with our mates, Melissa and Tony. They have a gorgeous cottage called Whispering Waters cos it is on a little babbling river. This is where Ken and I had opur honeymoon. Melissa and Tony have built an amazing house into the side of a hill opposite Whispering Waters. So we went and had lunch with them. Being such a gorgeous day, we had a BBQ at their summer house on their lake. Great day !

Then in Melbourne, we caught up with some friends of Kens from Sth Africa : Henk, Rose and Carin. Was great to get together and have some good laughs.

We came up along the Murray after that, and stayed at Police Paddocks, north of Rutherglen. So tranquil. We visited the Corowa Whiskey Distillery and Chocolate Factory. This guy paid $1 for the old flour mill site and then spent one million dollars creating a wonderful function centre, cafe etc. There was a photographer there, Sue Davis, so Ken went to look at her work. We got chatting and turns out she had photographed our friends, Kate and John's daughters wedding. She took us into "secret" parts of the old mill, and then took a lovely pic of us in there. Shw showed me how to do Instagram....... but I think I need about 10 years more lessons !!!

Our friends, Jo and Al, then came down from Albury to spend the weekend with us. Was great to sit about the fire and laugh and chat. We went to the markets in Yarrawonga on Sunday, and what a surprise ! We ran into our next door neighbour from Engadine, Marita and her parents !

So we spent Sunday night having dinner with them. Was such a great surprise.

Then Monday we went to see our friends, John and Kate, for dinner ..... and that had some other old friends staying there: Barbara and Barry. Barbara and I were bridesmaids at John and Kate's wedding nearly 40 years ago. When she gives me the recipe for her slow cooked lamb... I will post it here. It is to die for !

And so now, Ken is back to my cooking.....

We do not think there are any more mates from now till we are back in Sydney early October. Just gorgeous camps along the Murray.

But it has been so wonderful having the time to catch up with our mates.

This is one of my favourite things about our trip: being able to spend time and laughs with good mates that  "busyness" over the last many years has not allowed us to do.

So good luck for whatever team you want to win the Grand Finals. We will be finding a rustic country pub to watch the games at.

Cheers.


We've been at the Slim Dusty Festival

2017-10-23

Everyone groaned when I told them we were going to the Slim Dusty Festival in Kempsey.

But it was fabulous ! If you want a good belly laugh you tube Errol Grey. He is a bush balladeer comedian I discovered at the Bush Poets Breakfasts... I laughed so hard at his songs.

There were so many great entertainers and it was such a relaxing event, sitting in the sun listening to all the music. We took a bus tour out to Nulla Nulla, the boyhood home of Slim Dusty. 

We also visited the Slim Dusty Centre. Slim won 51 Golden Guitars and soooo many gold records. He really is the father of counrty music in Australia. The number of people who have written songs for him in tribute to him was amazing.... even Keith Urban.

 A memorable week !


Kenny is all good now....

2017-11-03

Kenny recently had a hernia operation to sort out his hernia so that we could be worry free on the high seas cruising on the Queen Mary , and staying in the back of beyond in the outback next year. He was very nervous, not having been to hospital but they soon had him laughing (and posing in his sexy stockings and red undies !!).

He is all good now. We have been staying with Chuz n Phil while Ken had the op. They have been spoiling us rotten.

We are headed tomorrow to spend some time at their holiday house on the Sth Coast to rest up and get 100%, cos Ken cannot lift anything heavy for several weeks. Truly wonderful to have use of our daughter and son-in-law's holiday house. Thanks darlings !

We gave FunUp the best polish and clean so that she would behave herself at Joe & Josephine's for the summer. Thanks so much to them for looking after her for us.

So FunUp is having a rest too ! We will not be back in her till February cos we will be at Fisho's, and then it is virtually Christmas. Then we are away with my sisters and Dad for a few weeks. Then we are off to Sth Africa and cruising back on Queen Mary 2. FunUp will be rearing to get back on the road when we head west next year.

Keep safe.


Kenny in his birthday suit.....

2017-12-09

Kenny had a great birthday. He got some new suits cos he will need them for weddings next year and on the Queen Mary 2 in January. He looks pretty trendy for a 73 year old hey !

We have been down at our daughter and son-in-law's wonderful holiday house near Ulladulla on the South Coast.

It has been so relaxing. Charmaine and Phil came down this weekend, and what a hoot we had. We had given them this game where you put these things in your mouth that makes your mouth big and then you have to say a phrase and the others have to work out what you are saying. We laughed till we cried while we played this game. 

We then went on to play Pictionary, which was a hoot too. The girls won !

While we have been here, we have explored the area. Got ourselves a gorgeous chair in a little village called Milton. Got to store it now till we move into Wentworth Point but could not resist.

We went back up to Dad's for Mum's anniversary. Cannot believe it has been a year since Mum passed away. We tried to cook Mum's famous Pork Fillets in Mustard Cream sauce. We did not do Mum justice........ She should have taught us how to make it better before she left us (lol)..... anyway we were going to make her Golden Syrup dumplings too. But left it at the Pork Fillets ... when we could not get those right even... Still it was a lovely evening in Mum's honour though.

Heading back to Dad's this week where we will celebrate Christmas. 

We wish everyone a Happy Christmas, and fun New Year. Thanks all those who have made our 2017 such a memorable year.


Family fun...

2018-01-04

Kenny and I had a lovely 24th wedding anniversary dinner on December 18th. How fast time flies !

We had a great Christmas at Bern and Andy's in Stanmore. They are always the perfect hosts.

Dinner was delicious and the Christmas present "game" was a hoot ! Andy and John tried to play strategically and take the girl's gifts at the start in order to wreck havoc. It worked !

We have been holidaying for the last two weeks with all the family. We spent the first week in Nelsons Bay, and are now at McMasters Beach. We are simply "beaching" it every day so are black as berries ! We go on many long walks each day too. 

I will leave the pics to tell the story of our family time.

Kenny and I head back on Tuesday to fly to Sth Africa on Wednesday. 

Will write from there.


African family time....

2018-01-18

We finished up the family holiday at McMasters Beach.

We then arrived in Sth Africa a week ago. We stayed with Ken's niece, Joni, in Johannesburg for 4 days and then came down to visit his sister, Margaret, and niece, Tamlyn, in Durban.

It has been such a lovely family time here with them too. In JNB, we explored the town on the red hopon/hop off bus, including going to Soweto, and the Apartheid Museum. We spent the first weekend at Joni and Gav's holiday house in The Vaal, which is a holiday area on a dam about an hour outside of JNB. We walked, rode bikes, attended a 21st birthday party of the neighbours..... fun..fun.

Then we flew down to Ken's sister, Margaret, in Durban to see Margaret, her husband, Roger, and his niece, Tamlyn. They were going to fly up to see us in JNB, but when they could not make it at the last minute, Tamlyn flew us down here. Thanks so much Tamlyn ! 

This meant the Ken could go and see his childhood home with Margaret and also visit his mother's grave. We have also had beach time and meals out and general wonderful family time together. Margaret lives on this estate where they have all these birds and monkeys.

We are going to go to start the official tour today. We fly back to JNB and head to Pilanesburg to go "on safari" later today.

But this week has been truly the best enjoying Ken's family here.


An elephant charged at us ......

2018-01-21

We are about to leave Pilanesberg and head down to Pretoria to catch the Blue Train tomorrow.

How exciting has it been here in Pilanesberg. We have seen all the animals under the sun: lion, hippo, zebra, wilderbeast,giraffe, warthogs, mongoose, rhino, baboons,impala, kudu... and the list goes on....

This big elephant was asleep by the side of the road. When he woke up, he charged at us.... you should have seen our vehicle reversing at the speed of light.....

The giraffes are so graceful... the skin of all the animals shine so much from good health (cos only the healthy survive..)

Got to fly... the pics tell some of the story....enjoy !


OMG…the luxurious Blue Train voyage !

2018-01-22

We felt like we were in a movie ! being escorted up to the Blue Train red carpet entrance. Given tea in silver pots while we waited till the porters in white gloves came to assist us onto the Blue Train….. Oh Meghan Markle …… no wonder you didn’t let Harry out of your sights…. This is the life !

We boarded the train to be greeted by our butler ( who had about 5 cabins to look after the whole trip…..so… at our beck and call…). The cabins are all lined in this rich wood. The bathroom is full of marble…. Such decadence ! I think I could get used to this.. (watch out Meghan… I may be “making a move” !)

We went to the Lounge Car which is again full of flowers, rich wood walls, soft seats to sink into…. where we were served champagne (at 8am mind you !) and that, my friends, is how the voyage continued…… sipping champers, fine wines, craft beers as you gently roll through magnificent scenery with Masterchef style nibblies at your fingertips ….. until they call you to this sooooooooooo posh dining car for your meals. The steak more than melted in your mouth !

After dinner you can retire to the lounge car where they give you cognac and Cuban cigars….. you can hear Kenny extolling how great this is… can’t you ?

After a wonderful sleep being rocked by the train, we woke up to coffee served in bed by our butler.

700 pics later of the journey so far… we glide into the dining car for a champagne breakfast….. I have a handle on this now….. I can outdo Meghan in “picking up the lifestyle fast !”

More magnificent mountain scenery until we went through a 14klm tunnel in the Hex River Valley and burst out to see all these vineyards that went on for ages. Is this where they get all that wine ???

Too soon, we were having our final lunch, gasping at our first glimpse of Table Mountain in Capetown and disembarking from all this luxury.

The Highlands Express from Campbelltown to Sydney will never match this !

Wonder if we can fit the Orient Express to Venice from somewhere into our bucket list…..?

Although… you are lucky to stay alive on that hey ???


Move over Gidget.... Kathie is the new surfing Queen of Capetown

2018-01-24

Ken has a niece living in Capetown who is a famous surfing champion of SA... think a female Midge Farralley ? (is that how you spell it ??) Kay is too gorgeous and her mission was to get me to stand up on a surfboard while we were here.. well, as I watched the young ones ( you know ... anyone below 30 ) jumping from a prone position flat on their stomach on the surfboard to a standing position balanced like they were hanging ten.... I thought struth I could not jump like that if a lion was after me...

After a few "practises"on land, we got into the water.... we laughed so much, I nearly drowned.. anyway I finally managed to struggle to my knees while staying on the board.... a few times !

It was a lot of fun really.. but think I should have started when I was nimble and ten years old !

Apart from surfing in Capetown, we have been exploring the Waterfront area. We had a wonderful dinner in this place looking directly up at Table Mountain. The clouds swept over the top to form the "tablecloth". Was great.

We visited an old friend of Ken's, DJ, who was turning 87. He is in a nursing home so we took a brownie with as many candles as we could fit onto it for him. He laughed so much, and promptly blew them out. Ken and he had a good catch-up.

We meandered through the old section of downtown. Ken came across the projectors from a cinema he worked at here being sold in an antique shop !! 

Tomorrow we set sail on the Queen Mary 2. Very exciting. There will be no more blogs now till we get back to Australia I think cos we will  not have internet on the ship.

So, we will do our best to have a ball on the Queen Mary and hope you are enjoying the updates !


Queen Mary 2….ooolaalaa..

2018-01-30

We have just arrived back in Oz after an amazing voyage on an amazing ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2.

What we loved the most was that we had only 3 stops in 16 nights…. so we could relish fancy Queen Mary 2 shipboard life like we were “world cruisers”!

As you all know, we have done a fair bit of cruising. But this takes the cake. Everyone is sooooooooooo civilised… I love it. I have not seen anyone drunk with alcohol on this ship. Everyone is drunk with joi de vivre. You can have a great chat to anyone…. and then you find out, in casual conversation,  they are some multi-squillionaire.

Since there is such a delightful array of tempting food, I discovered the gym early…. And am loving the treadmill. I reckon every calorie I knock off, is a calorie I can add on…. And hopefully get off the ship “close” to what I got on.

I have loved the formality of getting dressed up posh every night for dinner. Kenny has had his moments with this…. But I “persuade” him to get that suit on ….. and off we strut…..

The food is to die for: on every occasion except one. On my birthday they especially made me a passionfruit mango crème brulee. You see, at my friend Stephanie’s wedding I had that for dessert…. and have never been able to replicate that taste… I cannot even go to a restaurant for it cos it was served at a wedding reception where they have no restaurant as well. So, since they had lots of crème brulees on the dessert menu, I told the maitre d’ about Stephanies’s crème brulee. He said he would make it for me. Stephanie…. yours still wins ! No-one can replicate that one at  your wedding. But…. all the other food….. well that is why I am at  the gym twice a day !

Kenny really spoilt me for my birthday. I got brekkie in bed and lots of pressies. Of course my heart was with my twin as it always is on our birthday. All day I was saying to Kenny… John will be doing this now…. John will be doing that…. I look forward to celebrating with my darling twin back in Oz.

Our laadeedaa balcony cabin has been wonderful….. we sit looking at the expanse of the Indian Ocean and think of our friends, Lisa and Rijnhard, who are sailing around the world on their yacht. Every time the “swell” seems large, we toast Lisa and Rijnhard for their adventurous spirits !

There have been many Broadway quality shows onboard. I have no idea how those dancers have such stamina and can survive those extended dance spectaculars which thrill us. Ventroquilists, comedians, orchestral geniuses…. we have experienced them all.

I also go line dancing each day… yeehah ! luurrvvee it !

So we are spending a week in Sydney with our precious family. Our brother-in-law, Andy, has his 60th birthday for us to celebrate with him.

Then, after we celebrate Mum’s birthday with Dad, we are off in FunUp…… Our Queen Mary caravan.


Well things are a bit up in the air.....

2018-03-17

HI All

We are about to leave to meet Ken's friend, Jimmy and his wife, Cheryl, in Bright. Then we will head north, eventually getting to Dubbo on Easter Tuesday for my sisters wedding on April 6.

We have been in Sydney since we got off the Queen Mary. 

We had intended to leave Dad's February 28th. But Kenny had results from a routine blood test that informed us he needed to undergo some investigation into his prostrate levels.

After doing this, we were told last Friday that Kenny has prostrate cancer at an intermediate level. We need now to treat this before we can go away for any length of time. We were a bit blindsided by all this news, and thank everyone for their love and support you have shown us.

We are going away for this 3 weeks and then will have to do some  more tests in order to ascertain what treatment Kenny will undertake. 

We have spent our time here catching up with family and friends. It has been great to do that.

We will let you know things as we find them out. But are really looking forward to getting back in our beloved FunUp tomorrow and heading south for a good time...... again with friends and then family at our sister's wedding in Dubbo.


What fun was the wedding and our Bright trip

2018-04-06

Firstly thanks to all for the fabulous support you have shown us regarding Ken and his cancer.

We are very grateful, and should know end of this week what the treatment plan etc will be.

Have had a fun few weeks though. 

Got back in the caravan (Woo Hoo) and went south.

Had another great night with Jo & Al in Albury, before meeting Jimmy and Cheryl in Bright.

After lots of walks, laughing and "just enjoying " each other, we went to Lake Cargelligo for Easter. How relaxing was that ! Great free camp right on the shores......

Caught up with Kay in Parkes and then off to Chrissie and Shane's wedding. It was a wonderful family time, and a warm fun wedding. We stayed with Rob and Stacey, who are now looking after our van while we get Kenny sorted out..... and then head west.

We have been back in Sydney doing a stack of tests for Kenny. Will keep you posted.


Update on Kenny……. And us…

2018-06-01

Thanks again to you for your calls, prayers and positive thoughts for Kenny. This has felt like a long haul as we have progressed forward in Kenny’s treatment. We know how blessed we are though that this was discovered when it was and it can be sorted. I know it has been a while since we posted…. So here goes the latest…

We will be doing the radiation seeding for Kenny’s prostate cancer on June 15th. We hope that, soon after that, we can head off towards WA. There will be a few flights back for Kenny while Charmaine takes him to the Drs for checks. But we hope all will be fine and we can stay in WA till late September.

Dad, and Charmaine & Phil, have been wonderful putting us up while we have been in Sydney for so long. It is wonderful to have such a loving family. Dad and I have been enjoying lots of Skipbo…. He is right now the reigning champion…. much to his delight. Mumba, Phil & Charmaine's dog, gets its lead the minute I arrive as he now loves me the most for all the walking I do with him.

I had a lovely night with my girlfriends, Maia and Domenica, for the Royal Wedding.

We did get a short trip in down to Fishos after Ken had the bladder operation. And today we have just come back from Canberra, where we had a few days. I loved the Cartier Exhibition !

Next week we are going to go to Mt Gambier via the Silo Art Trail in Victoria. We were going to head here straight after the seeding…. But the Dr tells us he wants us to stay a bit closer to Adelaide in the first instance. I guess it will just have to be the Barossa then…. Hic !

Tomorrow we have my niece’s BUBAQ. This is Dad’s first great grandchild and my twin’s first grandchild on his side. Very exciting. The baby is due early July.

Happy first day of winter to you all !


Waiting today to go in for Kenny to have his radiation seeding..

2018-06-15

Hi All, 

The day has finally arrived. Kenny goes in later this afternoon for his radiation seeding. 

Thanks for the phone calls and messages of good luck etc we have been getting all morning. He is really touched. He is feeling a bit nervous, but I will have him doing silly things in there soon and he will be laughing. 

I will post next week about it all.

Last week, we went for a short quick trip to Mount Gambier to calm his nerves. It was great ! The long sunset across the Hay Plains was soooo memorable. We fell in love with Balranald. We traipsed down the Art Silo Trail in Victoria which was fun. I have put in the pics all the info about why they painted what they did cos it was so interesting.

We came up the Limetsone Coast cos we thought it was like The Great Ocean Rd. Well it is for a short time if you are coming from Adelaide down to Robe..... but the bit from Mt Gambier to Robe is a lot of salt bush !!!

We had to rush back a bit faster in the end beacuse very sadly the man who I sold my Personal Cooling Products business to, 2 years ago, passed away suddenly. It was so sad ! We came back for his funeral which was a great tribute to him.

Now today we will be heading off to the hospital in an hour to get Kenny sorted. The urologist said we can go away straight after this ...... so we are looking forward to being in FunUp again.

Chat to you again soon.


Kenny surprised his sister and niece !

2018-06-26

Well Kenny is now officially “hot stuff” according to Dad. He has 101 radiation seeds in his prostate working hard to restore his health. Charmaine counted out 101 grains of rice (cos that is how big the drs told us they were ) to ascertain the size of them. He is doing really well.

Because we had to see the Drs (today) before we could go away to WA, Kenny got to be in Sydney to see his sister and niece who are here on a visit. We had told them we would not be here. But we hid under the window, and let them discover us ! Was a great surprise !

We then had 4 days with them, which was lovely. Did a Harbour Cruise, lunch in The Rocks at the old Irish Mercantile Pub, The Rocks Market and a trip to the Blue Mountains. They left for Queensland to have a rest !!!

So today we “get the okay” (fingers crossed) from the Drs and we will then leave on Thursday (exactly 4 months after we were supposed to leave) to go to Dubbo to collect our wonderful FunUp and head “west”……

We are soooooooooooooooo grateful to Dad and Charmaine & Phil, who have “put us up” through this whole journey. We also are grateful to Rob & Stacey in Dubbo for looking after our caravan for us while we have been in Sydney.

We will post more often now……. Adventures ahead !!


On our way to WA ……

2018-07-11

Well Kenny got the okay from the Dr and so we left Sydney after Kenny had surprised his sister and niece who had travelled from Sth Africa.

Daddio waved us off (again….. he is an expert waver offer..) and we headed to Dubbo where FunUp had been lovingly cared for for the last 4 months by Stacey and Rob. Had a lovely catch-up lunch with Rainey in Orange en-route to Dubbo.

Spent a few great days with my sister, Chris, as we got FunUp ready for “the road” again. Rob made the most delicious paella one night. I had no idea paella was sooo complicated to make ! Thanks Rob so much.

We set off not knowing really where we were going to stay while we ambled towards Adelaide. When Ken got tired I checked WikiCamps and we stayed 1 klm down the road after that at Mirrool. What a great free camp spot ! There was already a huge tree root alight on a fire pit, showers, loos and a lovely bunch of people to chat away to.

Headed across the Hay Plains and ended up in Mildura a few days later where we camped right on the Murray (again !) For the first time we used our great firepit “thingy” that Jussie and Wayne gave us last year when we visited them on our way to The Tip. It is fabulous ! We have used it every night since ! Thanks Jussie and Wayne.

Phil & Chuz told us we HAD to go to Mungo National Park and see the Walls of China, so we headed to Pooncarrie to camp on the banks of the Darling River. Another magnificent spot ! We went to Mungo and shook our way through the corrugations there ! The CB aerial fell off… the dashcam fell off and then when we got back to Pooncarrie Ken could not get one of the side doors on the Cruiser open cos the collapsible ladder had fallen down on top of the door opener thingy….. Kenny persisted until he got it fixed. But even the road toThe Tip was not that bad ! Thank God we had not taken the caravan in there !

We passed the Bra Tree, the Torch Tree and the Shoe Tree on our way in. Are trying to think of a “unique” tree to start. Any ideas ?? Saw heaps of wildlife too. In fact, first night at Pooncarrie beside the river, a kangaroo as tall as Kenny came to pay us a visit. Came right up beside the van to check us out, followed by the

Are now in Renmark. Have spent the last 4 days exploring this area. Had no idea there were so may fruit trees, almond trees, grape vines etc here. You drive along the road and look out and as far as you can see there are all of the above. The oranges are falling off the trees everywhere and are so sweet. Have been spoilt with morning fresh squeezed orange juice for days. And I’m loving it !

Heading a bit closer to Adelaide tomorrow cos Kenny flies back to Sydney next Tuesday to see the Drs to make sure all is good. Thanks Chuz n Phil for looking after him while he is there. He seems to be doing well. The scans will confirm that next week.

Enjoy the pics ! Will post after Adelaide and on the way to crossing the Nullabor.


Almost to Perth….

2018-07-28

 What a fabulous time we are having ! Finished crossing the Nullabor two days ago and are headed now to Perth. What you don’t realise is how far Perth is after you cross the border into WA.

Kenny flew back to Sydney and got a good report from the Dr for everything so far. Thanks Chuz n Phil for looking after him. He got a surprise too cos his sister, Margaret, was on her way back to Sth Africa and timed it so she could stay her last night with them in Sydney.

We headed straight off after Ken got back. We have had the best bush camps over the last few weeks, especially the one at Bunda Cliffs on the edge of the Great Australian Bight ! We were parked right on the edge of Australia ! We saw eight whales while we were there and made some great new mates too. One of our new mates even took a drone of us there. I am hoping I can put it up here with the pics ! Do make sure you look at the movies cos I did get them up.. Woo Hoo !

The Nullabor was wonderful ! heaps of “nothing” but we loved it.

I will let the pics tell the story here now.

Imagine….only another 4 weeks till Spring… where has this year gone ?


Quokkas and a quick dash home….

2018-08-13

What a great time we are having.

We really enjoyed the drive from the border to Perth. We took about a week to do it through Kalgoorlie and Kulin. We nearly did not get Tommie into the state as we required a permit…. unbeknown to us. Anyway we were given a “warning” about importing birds illegally and bought an export permit so we can get him out when we leave… lol.

Had wonderful weather to drive the Tin Horse Highway at Kulin (the pics tell all about it)

Then when we came into Perth, the heavens opened up ! How cold and wet was it…. We still went out and about though. Perth is so small really. Had a wonderful day on Rottnest Island with the quokkas.

Then we flew home to Sydney for Ken to see the Dr again, for us to attend my niece’s wedding and for us to meet my great nephew. We had a fabulous time … check the pics.

Have just landed back in Perth where the weather is much better…. Alleluia !

We head north tomorrow and will spend a few days “Grey Nomadding” with the lady who used to do my BAS for my business, Jan and her better half. They have been on the road for 4 years. Ah…. If only….

Next post will be all about hiking, canoeing and swimming with whale sharks….so keep posted !!


Kalbarri….meeting our mates and wildflowers galore !

2018-08-24

We left Perth and headed north at last. Drove up the Indian Ocean Highway to Seven Mile Beach and had another idyllic free camp right alongside the ocean. Thank heavens for WikiCamps who tells us where all these great camps are.

We drove onto Geraldton which we explored and did a stock shop at before deciding to whip out west for a look at the wildflowers that the visitor centre lady told us were the best for years. And…… they are amazing ! It is like WA is carpeted in flowers.  What is interesting is that each area seems to have its own unique wildflowers though. I am in heaven taking in all their beauty….. Kenny is wildflowered out. I think if I ask him to stop for another flowers shot….. well …… I may be walking back to Sydney ! But we are very lucky as so many people tell us these are the best wildflowers in years.

We had a sad call at 6am while we were camped behind the Yuna Memorial Hall. Ken’s brother, Dick, had passed away. Dick has been ill for quite some time. Still, when loved ones do pass on, no matter how long they have been ill, it is very sad.

We then drove north, past the Pink Lake and the tree on its side, to meet our friends, Jan and Warren, in Kalbarri. Jan used to do my BAS for my business, and they have been travelling about for 5 years. I would ask her “What creek are you nestled beside doing my BAS today ?”

We had the best time together. They are both such good company and easy going. Jan and I had our list of all the things to do in and about Kalbarri. Warren was kissing my feet telling me I could do all the hikes with Jan while he and Kenny sat back and relaxed.

And so off Jan and I went…. Visiting the Parrot Jungle… snorkelling…sipping champers at sunset overlooking the Indian Ocean and catching up on all our past adventures…..doing an 8klm walk along the side of the ocean cliffs…. And the pics can tell the rest…

Kenny and I then headed into Point Quobba, a rustic beachside area north of Carnarvon, famous for its blowhole amongst other things. It was an interesting place in that you are “in the moment” there cos there is no phone or internet range and it is so varied. The blowhole is the biggest I have ever seen and the waves along the coast crash with such ferocity. Yet… there is also the Aquarium there which is a natural protected area alive with fish and wonderful snorkelling. Did I also mention the wildflowers ???

We took a road trip one day north along this delight (not) corrugated road to visit Red Bluff and Quobba Station. Red Bluff was simply gorgeous… but I have no idea at what pace the people who took their caravans there drove in… must have been about 8kph !

We “came out” of our isolation to discover we have a new Prime Minister. Ahhhh…. Isolation.

Had another station stay last night at Bullara Station where we ran into Andrew and Mel, who we had camped with at Bunda Cliffs, and made some lovely new friends too. Bullara is very rustic, and we loved their outdoor showers… again the pics will tell the story.

We are now in Exmouth. Kenny has flown back to Brisbane for Dick’s funeral. I am minding the van and Tommie.

So that catches you all up. Love the emails and messages you send us. Think it is soooo great that you are following us from America Jules and Johnny !


I swam with whalesharks !

2018-09-01

Well I can tick another life goal off the list. After hearing our friends, Pete and Moira, talk about their time in Exmouth and their whaleshark swim, I had dreamt that I would do it too.

When Kenny got sick and we had to leave so late, it was a worry that we would not make it to Exmouth while the whalesharks were still here. But…… Mum had other plans and she kept them here for me !

What a wonderful experience ! The whalesharks are the world’s biggest fish and are gentle giants. This time last year, they were all gone. The organisers said they are amazed that they are still taking tours out this year.  Not only were they still here, but I swam with 3 different ones ! All in all 5 swims alongside them.

Then we also, on the most magical day weather wise, went snorkelling in fabulous  coral reefs, saw a multitude of colourful fish as well as colourful coral. I have snorkelled and dived lots of places and been very disappointed about the colour of the coral. Not here !!!

We had some whales come past , a few dugong (very shy creatures) come past and I had a snorkel using this “propeller” (see the pics) kind of thing that, if I was somewhere where I did a lot of snorkelling, would definitely have one of them on my Santa list.

Was a simply delightful day. I missed Kenny  cos he was back in Brisbane at Dick’s funeral. But, since I have not shit up about it since, he thinks he was really there too…..


Osprey Bay is heaven !

2018-09-03

After Kenny came back from Brisbane, we headed straight to Osprey Bay.

What a slice of heaven is that place. It is in the Cape Range National Park and so there is only national park camping (which you have to book 6 months in advance to even get a spot !) so it is really rustic and natural.

You can snorkel straight off the campsites into the clearest water. I swam one day for about 30 minutes with the fattest turtle, who totally ignored me as I snorkelled alongside him watching him go about his day.

We found Sandy Bay and never wanted to leave that beach. The pics will show you why.

There was a wedding there one day with all the set-up looking magical. Johnny and Jules, it reminded us of your fabulous wedding we went to in Hawaii !

We are brown as berries and sooooooooooo relaxed !

I hiked Yardie Gorge and met up with ospreys and rock wallabies. Kenny indulged in more Coffin Bay oysters. It was so hard to leave this spot !


Karijini….. gorges and …. wildflowers !

2018-09-07

Karijini National Park is in the middle of the Hammersley Ranges and is stunning. The iron ore in the mountains is like a rustic red glow. It is quite isolated and again a national park camp. This is the reason you are getting 3 posts at once. We have been “off the grid” for a while.

I am sitting outside the Newman Visitors Centre right now. We are staying the night in the carpark here (all to ourselves) cos we are doing a mine tour in the morning, and then spending the rest of the day lolling around the local swimming pool cos it will be 35 degrees tomorrow. Perfect weather for a good book and a dip.

Back to Karijini. I was in my element….. wildflowers everywhere. I walked and took pics… I know my limits with making Kenny stop every 30 metres now !!! There were amazing gorges I trekked and waterholes we both trekked too. Yes…… I got Kenny trekking !!!!! And he loved the places I got him to trek to. Especially the Eco Lodge where we had a drink (or 10) and a cheese platter to die for.

The stars were astounding. If you have been to central Australia you will know what I mean. Have no pics though… sorry. You will simply have to go there yourself and check it out.

The red dust is proving ”interesting”….. our wonderful caravan though gets none of it inside. So I have a “de-dust” bucket at the door….. you cannot believe how red that water gets.

Enjoy the pics. Don’t know when we will get range after this. But will see you “on the net” soon as we can !


About to head back across the Nullabor

2018-09-14

Cannot believe we are about to start back across the Nullabor……. Will be back in Sydney September 26.

We have been heading down the middle of outback WA. We had a wonderful last day in Karijini. I started with a walk at 7am to Circular Pool, which is way down in a gorge. The water was supposedly very cold…. But I could not resist a swim in it cos you never know if you will ever be back to do it again. So, in I went, and it was not that bad. Was so cute cos there was a girl there about 10 years old and she told her mother look that lady is in there. Then her mother let he go in too. Ah…. Inspiring “have a go !”

Then I hiked right along the bottom of the gorge to another pool, called Fern Pool, which was simply magical. Hiked back up all the steps to get Kenny to come and have a swim there too…… and he did !

Then I swam in Fortescue Falls as well, before hiking along the top of the ridge past all the wildflowers ! What a wonderful day !

We left Karijini and headed to  Newman and dropped anchor in the Visitor Centre carpark. Was great ! They  even had a drive through coffee/smoothie hut there, and this huge mining truck. We did the tour of the mine, spent a day at the local swimming pool and “did” the sunset from the lookout hill.

As we headed south you should have seen all the oversize semis heading our way ! We pulled over so many times for these semis carrying huge pieces of mining equipment.  This slowed us a bit so we pulled into Lake Nallan for the night and I was ecstatic at the wildflowers there !

Next we headed to Gwalia which is a mining ghost town where locals have taken the responsibility to restore some miners huts etc so this can become an historical record of its day. Was wonderful. Herbert Hoover (yes the Us president) had the job as a mine manager there. He built this very swanky house for himself. We had afternoon tea on the balcony.

Further south we dropped in to the Kookynie Hotel, where the horse invites itself in. Great experience. We then went to Lake Ballard, which is that salt lake with all the human metal sculptures in it. The flies there were unbelievable !

We are now in Kalgoorlie and Ken is watching the footy hoping the Sharks win.

Until we chat again, stay safe !


Back at Dads

2018-10-11

Well we have been having a busy time back in Sydney.

We went to the 90th anniversary concert at my school, have had heaps of birthday celebrations, took photos of our great nephew for our niece, been packing and repacking for our trip ( need to leave lots of space for those Parisian fashions.....) and generally enjoying the family.

We leave on October 14th (two days away) and it is coming about sooo fast. We go to Paris for a week, then a 21 day Mediterranean cruise and a week in Rome, 4 days in Dubai and then back home.

The trip back across the Nullabor was a lot more windy than the one going across. We stayed at Bunda Cliffs again... but oh so different to the first time. I thought we would get blown off the edge if we stayed close to the edge this time, so we stayed back in the sandhills. 

We had a tyre blow out and shred on us outside Wilcannia. It happened so fast. Was "an adventure" changing it cos of the road camber. Luckily a lovely bloke stopped and between his jack and ours we eventually got it changed.

Enjoyed a night with my sister in Dubbo again.

Otherwise having lots of family time whilst we have been here.

I have bought a car so returning to school is now 'real'. 

Next time we write will be Bonjour from Paris.


Je t'aime Paris

2018-10-20

We are having such a wonderful time in Paris. Today we leave to go to Italy for our cruise.

We have mastered the Metro, so are real "locals" here. Kenny can even find his way around the Metro better than the roads of Australia ! He says it is easy cos they are numbered and colour coded..... so ScoMo ...there's an idea for our road system !

Our apartment is right in the centre of Paris, near the Louvre. We have this charming cobblestone street out the front with all these little cafes etc. It is closed to cars most of the time so tres chic.

The first night we were here we woke up at 4am with jetlag so decided to check out the area. Was such fun window shopping and  trying to get the bakers attention so he would open up and sell us a croissant.... or 10.  We came across these young guys who were collecting these  electric scooters they rent here. They gave us a ride.... what a ball that was at 4am !!

We went on a dinner cruise up the Seine last night and then a "cabaret" show .....

Have been making wishes in all the churches.... so you are all safe and protected now !!!  And I have not even got to Rome yet.....

We have walked lots up these sweet little streets. Kenny can never tell me he cannot walk far again...

Anyway the pics can tell the story... got to finish packing and head off for a creme brulee before we go to the airport !

Au revoir !


Just finished the first cruise.....

2018-10-30

Today we are at the port in Rome (but not leaving the ship) as we are going on the next cruise). So I am using the new terminal’s wifi to hopefully get this off to you all. It is raining a bit today (so far we have been lucky with the weather). But the porter here told Kenny that a ship broke from the moorings yesterday and several ships had to go back out to sea. But today we are docked and fine… lucky.

Have been on our first cruise for the last 11 days. We left Paris and flew to Fiumicino Italy for the night before we boarded the cruise. Stayed right on the coast at this lovely little hotel in this quaint village.

I went to mass. It was a lovely local church. I went to do my usual candle lighting. The Italians have it down pat though. I dropped enough money in for 6 candles (I have 6 special wishes I am praying about particularly) expecting to be able to light up 6 candles. But no.... this is an automatic "candle lighter." When you drop money in (regardless of the amount) ONE candle lights up !!!

Had a great transfer to the ship and were boarded quickly. Really like the Norwegian Spirit. Had a sea day first day and then started on the ports.

We were lucky to get to Dubrovnik too. Another ship had to bypass it just after us cos there had been an earthquake there they were told soon after we left.

Kenny and I play this game where I always walk past the jewellery shops and point my finger and say "I will have that one please." Well this time in the old walled city of Dubrovnik, it worked.... Kenny and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on December 18th. Amethyst is my birthstone and roses are the first flowers Kenny gave to me. So… when I pointed it out laughing… Kenny insisted I try it on. Like Cinderella it was the perfect fit. This ring reminded me of a rose. Roses were the first flowers Kenny gave me, and the stone is my birthstone. I feel very spoilt to have Kenny buy it for me.

But Kenny is not missing out. He has a few new bracelets. Kenny is looking to challenge the Swazi ladies (who wear the rings around their necks ) to be the male Swazi with bracelets all up his arm....

We were so lucky to see Venice.... as 3 days after we were there, it was flooded. A metre and a half under water ! In St Mark's Square where the main amazing cathedral is, they have these coffee shops lining the outside of the Square and have orchestras playing.... and are soooooo expensive to have a coffee at... yes worse than our $50 coffees in Paris.

We took a gondola ride in Venice. Was wonderful. The "gondola driver" even sang to us "Amore".... like Dean Martin.... and we did kiss under the Rialto Bridge (as you are meant to...)

You expect to see James Bond, or Sophia Loren, in these amazing wooden boats they have there as they flash around the canals.

The Olympia site is mostly ruins but, if you imagine what it had been like in its heyday, it is incredible.

I think Malta is some kind of tax haven... the amount of luxury cruisers....looked out for Jamie Packer...to no avail. The ship sails through a “what looks like tiny gap” and you have this incredible vista of ancient fortresses surrounding you.

Anyway, I will let the pics tell the stories now. Lots have people have turned up here so the wifi will slow down. Hope this gets through to you.

Thanks for the emails and messages. So good to hear from you.


And so for the second cruise...

2018-11-11

It was soooo good to stay on the ship and go around again, especially when it was all different ports. This time we concentrated on the Greek Islands and the bottom of Italy.

We stayed in the same room on the ship so it was great. The crew are really lovely and this time around we felt like family.

We have been soooo lucky with the weather.. it has been so pleasant all the time. 

Santorini was just like all the brochures say. I did not realise it was perched on the top of a rock jutting out of the sea really. We had a private guide that day and she took us all over the island. 

In Athens we also did a tour down the coast to the Temple of Poseidon, followed by a Greek lunch and then back to do all the highlights of Athens such as the Acropolis and Pantheon etc. There have still been lots of crowds. I thought there wiould be hardly anyone at this time of the year.

Anyway this time next week we will be home almost ( and can tell you everything ) so will let the pics do the talking and put up some words on Rome too.


Only two more days in Roma...

2018-11-15

Well have been too busy to write so am doing it all tonight.

Have put a lot of info on the pics so read that too.

We have a gorgeous apartment in the middle of Rome. We can walk to everything.... ask Kenny.... we are !

In Paris I had the Metro sorted fast. Here I have had to walk everythere cos it is kind of like a twisted mess all the streets here and the only way I can get my head about it is getting lost and then finding the Tiber and heading back to our apartment. But after 4 days I can now get us anywhere and have mastered the buses (thanks to a bus app)

Have been doing all the history... they were a brutal lot these Romans.

I went to the Papal Audience and got really up close to Papa Francesca as they call him here. He is amazing how many languages he speaks and how warm and friendly he is. Not to mention the stamina. He chatted to people after his general audience for about 90 minutes....maybe it was the gorgeous weather that kept him staying on.

Kenny and I went to Mass in St Peters tonight. We had a break for a coffee and cake before we headed into the Vatican.... was another one of those OMG food breaks. We thought the cake was presented really nicely with fruit and ice cream even. Then we got the bill.... lol. 2 drinks and 2 cakes (and a nice chair for 15 minutes...) was $85. It was outside the Vatican so did not expect it to be like St Marks in Venice..... We laughed ourselves silly.

We only have two more days here so it is "down to the wire" in the guide book.... Kenny has been great with all the walking. 

Anyway got to fly as it is late here and we are off to the Appian Way tomorrow and the Catacombs (if we don't get too scared !!!)


WARNING: the LAST blog : Read NOW

2019-01-02

Hi Everyone

Well how fast did those 2 yrs go ???

This is our LAST post.... the site will be taken down very soon ( Jan 6 I think) So hope you get to read this last post before it happens. I am trying to get them to keep it up a bit longer since none of you could access it for so long.

We are on the Sth Coast at Charmaine & Phil's holiday house and loving it. Had Dad and Bernadette, my sister, here with us for about a week. Went to every beach around here..cos it was hot, hot, hot (like all of Australia!)

Have a variety of pics here cos did not think I would even get to do a last post as the site did not seem to be working. Had a week in Dubai on our way back from Europe and there was so much to do there. Took Kenny on an Arabian Desert Adventure for his birthday with falcon flying, sand dune bashing, belly dancing etc. Really fun. The hotel decorated our room for Kenny's birthday. They were fabulous to us. If you are going to Dubai, stay at the Jumeriah  Emirates Towers Hotel.

After getting back we went to Victoria for our caravan service and our last "hurrah" in our beloved FunUp. We did the Snowy side of the Muray and loved it. In fact, Gadds Reserve near Walwa, is officially my favourite place in Australia..

It has been the most magical 2 yrs. It has been great to make many new friends, and to use this blog to stay in touch with both our old and new mates. You will now have to email us at our normal email or call to stay in touch.

Kenny got wonderful news when he did his last PSA test. His PSA test in February was 12.9 and started our whole prostate cancer journey. However, under the wonderful care of his doctors who did the radiation seeding, his last test  results were 1.1 ! A miracle. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support as we went through it all.

We will start this up again when we go on another big adventure.... but who knows when that will be ? Meanwhile I will be back at school in February... and ask that you pray I will cope...lol.

We will be putting our van and Landcruiser for sale in the first part of 2019. If you know anyone who would like to buy our beloved FunUps, please contact us so we can have a chat with them.

Keep safe and happy !