Welcome back to our blog, we hope all our readers had a wonderful Christmas – we sure did.
Our November/December “visiting grand-daughter in Canada (Lois)/doing van maintenance in Temora (Jeff)” hiatus gave us a wonderful opportunity in fact to do both those things – that said, one could always use just a bit more time as you never seem to tick quite every box on your list.
In the time leading up to Christmas, with Lois in Canada, my weeks were mostly spent cleaning, repairing and replacing parts on the van along with a couple of short ( but wonderful ) visits with old friends and other family members. The lion’s share of that time was spent, as planned, in “Hangar 19” at the Temora Airpark. I was very happy with the tasks I was able to tick off my list and incredibly grateful to my brother ( and his wife ) for hosting me and, quite literally, giving me free rein with his tools, workspace, and – especially on the many hot days – unfettered access to their pool ! I said, only half jokingly, that if I was asked to design a place to spend a few weeks just to get all this stuff done, I would have designed exactly what they provided ! Spacious, flat, covered, secure, powered….and with the refreshing pool to boot. Bliss…..!
During my time in Temora I headed off to a dear old friend’s home in nearby Canowindra for a get- together of old school friends (about 22 in all) giving me an opportunity to catch up ( in one location ) with old friends, many I’ve been able to stay in touch with but with a handful of others I have not seen for 44 years – yes, some serious catching up was done. Thank you Maria for putting it on. Fabulous time !
Just prior to Christmas I drove to Sydney to pick up Lois who, despite veiled threats to stay home with the new baby, did in fact fly back to Oz 😊. That flight, as usual, was long and tiring – an hour from our home to Vancouver by plane, a 4 hour wait for the connecting international flight, then 14 hours in the air across the Pacific to Sydney. Never an easy one. Back together in the van ( now all cleaned up ! ) the plan was to make one final visit to my hometown of Forbes but not before taking the scenic route via the charming ( and thriving ) little town of Mudgee, one of Australia’s newer wine regions. Famed for their excellent products, we put that reputation to the test visiting 3 of their better known vineyards. Indeed, they make some great product !
Christmas in Oz is hot, and for Europeans and North Americans used to a traditionally cold ( and often snow-covered ) Christmas, that heat can be a bit hard to get used to. This year however, in a small town ( Grenfell ), not far from us in Temora, folks woke up to a surprise “White Christmas” of their own: :
No such White Christmas in Temora but it was a wonderful one nonetheless. With Lois back just in time to join us, my younger sister joined Lois and I, and my older brother and his family for an absolutely delightful time. The tyranny of distance makes such reunions rare so this year’s Christmas was a extra special.
All good things must come to an end, though, and it was with a real mixture of emotions that we pulled out of Hangar 19 to continue our travels on Boxing Day – it had, I must confess, begun to feel very much like home ( always the sign of good hosts !). The coming days will see us head back towards the state of Victoria with the ferry scheduled to take us to Tasmania early in January ( a trip which is 12 months overdue ! ).
Till next week……
Great blog yet again in which Ian & I and the family + Pickle all featured. It was a pleasure having you – great that we could provide the workspace & pool for you. Enjoy Victoria & Tasmania – know that you will.
And I really enjoyed staying ! Was a wonderful Christmas, too – the icing on the cake ! I have your Tassie “tips” list handy 😊 – looking forward to it.
Wow, such adventures, so happy for you guys in making a dream come true. Congratulations on being grand parents!!!
Thanks Joanne !
Merry Christmas!
And to you and the family as well, Chris !
I really the addition of the routes to your map. Happy new year to you and Lois.
A huge HNY to you, Dawn and the family, Mark. And, yes, the route map saves me lots of explaining lol !!
Happy New Year Lo and Jeff! Amazing amount of work and clean up you did on the van Jeff. It’s been a long time since you had Christmas in Oz, so great to be with friends and fam… but I must say the highlight was beautiful little Hadley. Spitting image of her mom 🙂
Thanks Ollie, and yes, while I missed Hadley ( and Lo !!! ) terribly, the family and friends time here was awesome. Hi to Keith and HNY to you both.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you both. Congrats again on the birth of your new grand daughter.
Thanks Lorna, look forward to catching up when we return next ( PS: a little birdie told me someone has a new camper ???? )
Great read and love the photo of you with lovely Kas and Ian
Thanks Michelle, loved catching up with everyone this trip. The hotel must almost be done ? Love to see some pics!
Happy New Year !!!!
Wonderful that all is working well for you, family, friends, repair downtime, and now back to travel. I am familiar with all those towns, stayed in Cowra for some days. Love it all, enjoy it all.
Yes, I figured some of that area would be familiar to you. Nice country, for sure. Pretty pathetic that I had travelled to Cowra probably 30 times in my life and had NEVER visited the breakout memorial 🥱. HNY to you and Pam !