Season’s Greetings!
Another year has slipped by. Here we are nearly at the end of 2017 and as always, we hope this Christmas letter finds you well and happy.
2017 has mostly been a year of travels for us. There have been highs and lows along the way, but December finds us well and in good health and ready for an exciting 2018.
So, three years into retirement. Simply put, it suits us! No complaints and no regrets. We know that life will throw in curve balls along the way, but when things are going well, life truly is good!
January saw us heading to Albany with David and Sophie (and Arnie their dog) to go camping on our block. The weather was kind and the beach at Gull Rock was as always, sensational. It was lovely to catch up with people while we were there.
January also saw Ashleigh returning from England, so we had a second late Christmas in January. She loved her time overseas and crammed as much as she could into the time she was there. She saw and experienced amazing things. But that is another story. She plans to go back if she can and misses the cold weather. Unfortunately, her incredible wardrobe of Christmas attire doesn’t quite suit the summer Christmas here. In the meantime, she fulfilled a "bucketlist" dream to own a Mini. It is indeed a lovely car which she has named Ed (in defference to Ed Sheeran).
February saw us head to Dawesville to cruise up the Murray River to the Ravenswood Hotel for lunch and to stay with Vicki and Rod at their beach house. As usual, good company and good hospitality. Thanks Vicki and Rod. Beautiful warm weather, sitting on the deck watching the sun go down – what’s not to like?
February also saw us take a short 5-day cruise aboard The Astor to celebrate Steve’s birthday. We have been on this cruise line before. It wasn’t until we were on the ship we discovered there was the Australasian China Painting Convention booked with about 300 people involved. While we had a relaxing time and enjoyed ourselves, we were disappointed we had not been told this as it did change the way things ran.
At the last minute, we made a dash to Melbourne in March to meet up with a wonderful group of people we met on our European trip in 2014. Our gorgeous Canadian friend Caroline, was holidaying in Australia and planned meeting up with several couples while she was in Melbourne. We decided to fly across and surprise her and what a surprise and fabulous time we all had. We upgraded with Frequent Flyers to Business Class. That was fun!
March also saw Steve’s Dad, Denis, turn 80. We held a birthday celebration at our place for family and friends. The weather forecast for the day was 42! Thanks to Vicki and Rod for the loan of their water spraying fan and to the air conditioning repair men who fixed ours that broke down the day before the party. We are now the proud owners of our own fan that we have used several times since then. Brilliant. The party went really well with everyone having a great time. More photos can be found here.
April 1st saw us leaving Perth for a 5-month caravanning adventure to the north of WA, NT, Northern and Inland Queensland. What can we say? Everyday was exciting and awesome. We would do it all again tomorrow. The first 5 weeks saw us travelling to Kununurra with our lovely friends Pam and Roy – who we met on our Kimberley Cruise tour in 2016. What fantastic company they were. We spent a month in Kununurra fishing for the elusive Barramundi. Steve landed hundreds, all undersize – but eventually did land a beauty. Going by the amount of undersized fish, next year should be a bumper year! Lots of great days, great nights, eating out, eating and drinking way too much, sight-seeing, cane toad hunting, river cruising and just wonderful times were had by all. The Kimberley had experienced a huge wet season prior to our visit and water was flowing in abundance everywhere. This led to some interesting tracks that needed careful negotiation when driving. But the country is breathtaking and we will go back again on another adventure. Steve has taken some fabulous drone footage that is just wonderful to watch as it gives a different perspective to what you are seeing. (Drone Pentacost River Crossing footage is here.) (Longer Ivanhoe Crossing drone footage is here.)
Due to Pam and Roy having a commitment in Kununurra, after 5 weeks with them, we headed to Lake Argyle for 4 nights. While we have been there before, it was just magical. The weather was fantastic, the evenings were stunning and the view spectacular. We will go back there every time we pass that way again in the future. From there we entered the N.T.
The plan was to meet up with Pam and Roy again in just under two weeks, which we did, and head to Pussy Cat Flats near Pine Creek (Some drone footage is here). What an experience and what a fabulous place. It had once been a horse racing track and is now used as a camping site. The caretakers were a West Australian couple who have been managing the place for some years during the dry season. They have kept the grass trimmed and the bar open and provide a yummy choice of meals at a cheap price. A great stop over.
Over the next week or so, we visited several different places for fishing – The Douglas Daly and Daly River – before Pam and Roy headed back to W.A. and we continued on to Darwin.
Twenty years ago, we bundled up David, Mark and Ashleigh for 6 months and headed on “The Lap” around Australia in a caravan on our Long Service Leave. We loved it then and we loved it again this time. We went to some places that we had been before and places that were new. But everywhere we went, we had the best time and every day was just brilliant.
We could spend so much time writing about all the places we visited, things we saw and did, but can’t do any of it true justice. Our advice would be to see as much of this wonderful country as you can. Spend time in some of the remote places and just enjoy this remarkable country. Steve is slowly working through the photos and video and will post more here when he's got it all under control!
So, here are some highlights.
Always Kakadu and Litchfield in N.T. We just loved them!
Darwin – what a great little city.
Mt Isa Rodeo! - Such an Australian flavour and experience.
Caranbarini Conservation Reserve not far from Borroloola. “The Lost City”, the most amazing rock formations. A smaller scale to The Bungles, but so spectacular.
Hahn Creek Bush Camp – what a stunning Billabong to camp beside by ourselves.
Adels Grove and Lawn Hill National Park. Beautiful gorge where we went canoeing.
Cairns – Fabulous place for us to ride our electric bikes around! Lots of lunches in the city with easy access thanks to our bike and the flat terrain!
Undara Lava Tube Experience - Absolutely amazing to see. Just go!
Inland Queensland towns.
Hughenden – Dinosaur country. Home of a huge Muttaburrasaurus replica.
Winton – fantastic chook races, such a hoot. Outstanding Age of Dinosaurs Experience. Well worth the visit.
Longreach – The Stockman’s Hall of Fame and The Qantas Museum – brilliant. You could spend so much time there.
Barcladine – Home of the Australian Trade Union Movement and the Labor Party. Fantastic memorial.
Walkabout Creek Hotel – featured in the Crocodile Dundee movies. It is Australian, you’ve just got to do it! Located in a little Queensland town called McKinlay.
Uluru – just because it is breathtaking. We did the sunrise and sunset photo shoot. We never tire looking at it.
Great Central Road – simply stunning in every respect, the colours, the landscape and the wild life.
Alas, all good things come to an end and we were home at the end of August for some appointments that we had pushed back as far as we could. The bright side is that we can do it all again. And we will. The caravan performed well with only a few minor bits and pieces needing attention, but we expected that especially with some of the roads we were on. The Land Cruiser performed faultlessly. In total, we travelled just over 21,000 km!
Coming back home made us realise that we never really finished the renovations we started last year. We just shut the door and went away! So 2018 will see us finishing off lots of jobs, but we are sure we will have time to slip away occasionally for some camping trips.
November saw us head to Beachlands Caravan Park in Busselton with Glenn, and Les and Pete Norrish again. The weather was much kinder to us this year and we had a very relaxing and happy time.
Steve is well and while we were travelling took thousands of photos and some amazing drone footage - that he will eventually organise and put on our web site. He is planning to print of some of the gorgeous panoramas and landscapes to hang on our walls – when he finds the time! There are so many distractions and life and adventures stop him from completing some projects. We are not complaining though. Life is good. He is heading to the Third Test Match for a day with Roy next week.
Paula has had her follow up one year breast screen, which has come back clear. Yay! She keeps herself busy in a little vegetable garden and continues to work on sewing projects.
Great exciting news! David and Sophie are expecting their first child on May 4th. Everyone is delighted and thrilled. 2018 will be a big year for them. David still works at Austal Shipping in Naval Base doing marine electrical work. He enjoys this and in this current employment climate, is just happy to have a job. Sophie still manages a Mimco store in Cottesloe. They have just recently returned from 3 weeks in Europe and Sophie’s home town of Exmouth in Devon.
Mark continues to work at All Type Engineering. Mark works hard and has responsibility for quality assurance on the work leaving the workshop. He finds this a bit stressful as a mistake can mean big money for the company. Mark has Tyler regularly and we are able to have Tyler stay with us whenever we want and just ring Vanessa, when he's not with Mark, who has been fantastic with this. We love Tyler – who is now 6 - so very much. He is a delight in our lives.
Ashleigh has returned to Hammond Park and is in a Pre Primary class for this year and again in 2018. She is a born teacher and loves her job. The displays in her room are always amazing and the amount of glitter and sparkle she leaves behind will be legendary! She moved out with a friend earlier this year, but we still see a lot of her.
All the best to everyone for a safe and Happy Christmas and holiday season and a wonderful 2018.
