Here we are at the end of another year. A year we hope has been a good one for you. The lifting of COVID restrictions has certainly enabled many people to get out and about again. We did!
We have now been retired for eight years and that time has also gone fast. We find we are continually on the go and there is always something to see or do. We never have times trying to think of something to do. Life continues to be good.
Late January through to February saw us head to Cervantes as we have done for the past few years. It is so relaxing and peaceful. We just enjoy it. So much so, that we decided to bring Steve’s dad Denis up for his birthday in March. We had the best time doing all the touristy things, visiting The Pinnacles and eating out at The Lobster Shack (YUM!) watching the seagulls and the beautiful ocean with the Lobster trawlers coming and going and just sitting and chatting. We stayed overnight at the Cervantes Motel and it was just lovely and gentle. We all enjoyed the time.
February saw us head to Karri Valley with our friends Pam and Roy and Pam’s sister and husband. It truly is a beautiful place to spend time with the magnificent forests and lake. It’s just a great place to chill out for a few days.
We headed to the Casino for a 3 Day Luxury Escape with Pam and Roy in March and basically lounged around and enjoyed the atmosphere. Good fun!
April saw us heading away for a planned 4 month adventure. We met up with Pam and Roy in Kununurra for three weeks before moving into the Northern Territory, inland Queensland then heading across the Central Desert Road back home. Steve is happy to drive and gets us safely from place to place reversing the caravan into some very interesting and on occasion, tight spots! To put it quite simply, we live in a magnificent, majestic and beautiful country! The landscape, ever changing colours and generally fabulous weather make travelling exciting and leaves you wanting more. Unfortunately, most of the population of Australia must also think the same as we had never seen it so busy as we travelled around. While it is great that so many people are out there exploring this amazing land, it made being spontaneous impossible. Booking ahead became something we had to do but had never done before. Planning to stay longer in some places was not possible as everything was booked or overcrowded. We are people who like wide open spaces and it seems many others have discovered this too!
One of the highlights of our trip away was a Helicopter Pub Crawl from Darwin. What a laugh and so much fun! We visited 5 “Outback” pubs during our 8 hour tour. There were some very iconic places that just made it a wonderful experience. Visiting Crab Claw Resort left us wanting to go back and stay for a while on another adventure at another time and Goat Island Lodge is definitely a special memory with two large local salt water crocodiles living quite happily just metres from where you are seated. The owner is certainly a character and keeps the crocodiles under control with a long handled frying pan if they get a bit feisty! Got to love it! Not long after we visited Goat Island, we heard that the larger of the two crocodiles was removed as it was quite aggressive. Infact, it ate the owner’s dog a year or so before! As we said, you have to laugh! So Australian.
Another highlight was finding a few old sites for detecting. Steve and Roy had a great time fossicking around and finding some unique items. Pam and Paula spent time walking and chatting which they found they could do very well!
On our way back across Central desert, the vibrations of the road cracked the gas pipe on our fridge so we patched things up but headed home earlier than we had planned. Luckily it was towards the end of our wonderful journey and also luckily, we were able to get it repaired cheaply by our friend Glenn’s son-in-law Mark. Thank goodness for Mark because a new fridge was going to cost $3000 - $4000! And of course, they don’t make the same fridge anymore, so getting one the size we needed was not possible.
Sadly, Paula’s nephew passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in July, so there were several visits to Albany over a short period. While the circumstance was sad, it was nice to catchup with family again and enjoy their company which was long overdue.
We headed off on another Luxury Escape to The Esplanade in Fremantle in September. Fremantle is a great place to wander around and there are always great places to stop and have a bite to eat and a drink or three! We went on one of the Fremantle Prison tours that are available, which we had done some years ago, but it was interesting listening to the history of the jail and plan to go back and do a different tour next time we pick up another Luxury Escape in Fremantle. Especially as Steve has recently discovered through his ancestry, that he had a great, great great grandfather who was a convict transported to WA who helped build the original gaol. He actually died in the prison hospital there. History that until recently wasn’t known to us.
We headed back to Albany late September in the van to check up on family and stayed at Paula’s sisters place which is next door to the blocks of land we used to own. It was a lovely stay with Tracey and Bruce, overlooking the beautiful Kalgan River – thank you! We took our time getting to Albany and stopped overnight at Woodanilling on the way down and went to the pub for tea, delicious food. We stayed at the Woodanilling Rec Grounds. What a great stop over and great place. Very friendly locals
Our time upon returning from our caravan trip was/has been hectic. It has been filled in with so many things – appointments, maintenance around the house, car and van, catch ups with friends, family lunches and a never ending list of things to do. We have been busy.
We also took our gorgeous four year grand daughter Poppy to swimming lessons for 10 weeks in term 4 at our local swimming complex. We did this for ten weeks earlier in the year and she has come a long in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, she likes the idea of going in our pool when she comes over to visit regardless of the temperature!!!!! We have been taking 20month old Nora with us too and she is enjoying splashing around in the shallows of the pool while Poppy has her lessons. They are both such good fun and fabulous time wasters. Love them. We also took Poppy to see “Frozen The Musical”. The production was brilliant and anyone who went will say the same. Poppy was enraptured the whole time and has asked to go to the next production that comes along. It was a fabulous experience for all three of us.
We have Tyler over to stay when we can and he is a delightful 11 year old. He is never any trouble and is easy to please and entertain. Paula and Tyler play many games of Monopoly, Backgammon, Snakes and Ladders and card games as well as spending lots of time cooking and eating! Steve and Tyler enjoy backyard camping! We plan to have him again over the summer holidays. We took Tyler and Poppy out for a picnic to Serpentine falls during the year. What a gorgeous day.
David, Sophie and the girls headed back to England in July/August for a month and stayed with Sophie’s family. The plane trip over was long and unfortunately clashed with a train strike the day they landed, which was how they had planned to get to Devon. 30 hours after departing Perth they got there! They had a wonderful time after such a long period of not being able to travel due to COVID.
David continues to work at Austal Shipping as a supervisor in Naval Base doing marine electrical work. He has been doing heaps of overtime and is often working 6 days a week. Sophie continues to work casually with MIMCO while studying Law. She enjoys her study and her grades are very high. While Poppy is at Kindy, Nora is at Day Care and Sophie is able to juggle her study time around the girls, although life can be hectic for them all!
Ashleigh is still at Hammond Park and moves back to Pre Primary for next year. She is getting a bit fed up with having different year levels between Kindy and Pre each year, but at least this year she doesn’t have to move rooms. Perhaps she is the one who is least likely to complain so they move her around. I think that will change if they do it again! She works very long hours and is a perfectionist so there is always something to do. She still lives in South Perth in a lovely little unit that suits her needs.
She and Steve’s dad Denis continue to have a wonderful relationship. “Pizza and Plonk” nights are a regular on their social calendar, as well as heading out to lunch or to the Swan Valley for wine tastings. It is so lovely. Denis still lives in the family house and is keeping fit and healthy and will probably outlive us all!
Mark continues to live his own life in his house and while we don’t hear from him, David and Ashleigh keep in contact with him and keep us filled in.
October saw us heading back to Broome again. We stayed at Moonlight Bay Apartments which suits our needs well. Pam and Roy came with us and a good time was had by all. We just enjoyed wandering around, stopping here and there for a cocktail and then back to our apartment to watch the sunset and enjoy the warmth that is unique to The Kimberleys. We are hoping to get back again in 2023. It is becoming an enjoyable annual event!
We head into Perth each year for a Cellar Door wine tasting event held by West Cape Howe wines, Mount Trio and several other wine makers. We went with Ashleigh, and our lovely friends Vicki, Ann and Mike. We had a great time and were not planning on buying any wine, but a delivery is due any day! It looks like it will be a very merry Christmas.
Steve continues to go metal detecting when he can, which unfortunately during the later part of this year hasn’t been too often. He loves it and often will find an old coin or two or some interesting artifacts. He has done something to his shoulder and foot and finds it difficult to walk for long periods, but hopefully things are on the way up and he will be out and about soon.
We also purchased a new car this year. A nice Toyota RAV 4. Our little red car “Fran” (Paula’s mum’s car) was aging. It was still going strong, but we decided to make the change. We love it. Originally the wait for it was going to be quite a lengthy time, but the company sourced one from somewhere in Australia and it is now in our garage!
We have just finished attending the West Indies Vs Australia Test Match at Optus Stadium with Pam and Roy. We went for 4 days and while the crowds were low, it was fabulous. The stadium is just a super venue. As WACA members and having reserved seating, we found we were able to move around easily and it suited us well. Having a drink at 10:00 am was a bit of a worry though. You’ll be pleased to know that we adapted fast and it only happened during the test!
Travel for us next year will see us heading away several times but for shorter periods. We are going to Busselton, Augusta, Albany and Esperance next February/March for about 4 weeks. Bookings have already been made! Then we will be back for a few birthdays and head off to the Wheat Belt area for a while before returning and then heading north later in the year. In amongst that, hopefully there will be some Luxury Escapes and Broome of course. Not sure about international travel yet. We are still happy to meander around our state. Over the next 3 years we hope to go to Tasmania and New Zealand and so will start planning for those trips soon. Anyone with tips are welcome to share!
That’s about it for 2022. All the best to everyone for a Happy Christmas and a wonderful and safe 2023.