Apr 19, 2019 - Day 1 Tour de Cowra.

Group ride to Mt Collins distance. 76 km. Elevation gain. 493m As always we split into groups at a pace that felt comfortable. Tom and I mostly rode with Phil B and then a Dutch couple on the way back BBQ dinner with salads and fruit salad and yoghurt for dessert

Apr 18, 2019 - Uneventful arrival in Cowra

Arrival in Cowra. A late start (after my pilates class) got us to Cowra just after 15:30 followed by paying the balance on the house but forgetting to collect the key at the same time. Uh-oh! Luckily the house was fully open. Meanwhile a quick unload of the car and we left the house to Brian whilst Tom and I (again ) collected the key and did the house shopping until dark 𯘄 Meanwhile geoff arrived followed by Leanne and Goran. We had the traditional first night pizza delivery and others went to bed whilst I stayed up to greet Amanda and...

Apr 7, 2019 - New friends from old family

An exciting day today as we are going to visit Braidwood and Major’s Creek, areas where the Heazlett family settled. These folks are the brothers of Tony’s Gr-Gr- grandfather, who came to NZ around 1841. Because of family scandal it was some time before we found the true origins of the family, thanks to dna matching. The Heazletts came from Enniskillen, Ireland, came to Australia as convict ship guards with the 96th Foot Regiment. One brother stayed in Australia, and was later joined by another brother and his father and other family....

Apr 1, 2019 - Happy 60th Cynthea

Happy 60th Cynthea xxx We planned to go into the city for the day, Cynthea’s must do in Sydney is to at least see the Harbour Bridge. We just miss the shuttle bus to the ferry wharf, but there will be another in 15 minutes… or not. The bus arrives, but is not in service as the driver is off on his break, so it is drop off only. Bugger. We get the next bus, but the weather has not been pleasant. Still warm enough for us, but the Aussies are rugged up against the “cold”. Heavy grey clouds threaten rain, and there is a forecast 60% chance it...

Mar 29, 2019 - Wentworth Point (not Wentworth Scrubs)

Friday 29th Weather is warm (25), sunny and humid. A good sleep in today, we are suffering from the early start yesterday. After lunch we explore the area, Wentworth Point has a free shuttle bus that takes a loop around a couple of shopping centres, here, and across the Parramatta River in Rhodes. A brilliant wee service that departs every 15 minutes, and the drivers we met yesterday were friendly and helpful, and even waited for people running to get on. We stay on for a complete circuit to get our bearings, and then get off at Rhodes and...

Mar 28, 2019 - Sydney

Not a lot of sleep, someone in the room was snoring (lightly), and the person in the bunk below Tony thought it was him, and kept prodding him through the night. It was muggy, and the mosquitoes had a right old feast despite lashings of bug spray... (note to self, get better strength stuff in Aussie!) We were up at 03:45 to get ready to catch the bus. Coffee is soon made and put into travel cups, and we snack on pizza left overs from the night before. We have a chunk of cheese and that comes with us too. Our room mate Dave from Manchester...

Mar 12, 2019 - Sydney

Great day in Sydney. After a 0430 getup to see entry to Sydney harbor,we spent most of the day on a walkabout seeing the city. We did several train rides and ferry boats and then returned to the ship for some tucker.AH had a mudslide to top off lunch.(after she saw me enjoying mine) Sailing south today. Melbourne tomorrow. G-day..R

Feb 19, 2019 - Family visit

Hi All, The 1st part of this trip was to go on the cruise which we have done and the second part was to attend a reunion of our old Apex Club members organised by friends of ours with a bit of help from us. Apex is an Australian service cub where the member are made to leave when they hit the magical old age of 40. Marco did 14 years in the club and serving in most positions plus being a District Governor and doing 2 stints as an zone treasurer servicing 92 clubs in South east New South Wales. In attending the reunion we met up with old...

Feb 14, 2019 - UPDATE NOTES.....Sydney, Australia

Hi all A few more days at sea and more sites to see. Leaving Mystery Island in Vanuatu we travelled about 1000 nautical miles south to Tauranga in New Zealand from where we took a bus tour to Rotorau famous for its hot geysers and mud pools. The heated air and water comes from deep in the earth and comes out of vents in either pools of mud or as steam and water from fissures in the ground. The emissions are very sulfer loaded and the smell is very evident, its bad but interesting to see. From there we moved to Auckland where we had lunch...

Feb 2, 2019 - Day 8 UPDATE NOTES

Hi All, First part of the trip completed, we visited Wollongong for a few days prior to boarding a cruise ship for a 12 day cruise of the Pacific Ocean which will visit Noumea, Mystery Island, its real name for the cruise industry, and 3 ports in New Zealand. We took 3 days to reach Wollongong with the van in tow, it's much more tiring driving with the van attached so we use caution and limit our driving to about 4 hours a day, that leaves plenty of time to set up and generally we do a bit of sightseeing where we stop. On the way this trip...

Jan 30, 2019 - Beautiful Sydney

Our trip to Sydney is uneventful, well sort of … Gail first leaves her phone in the bathroom at the airport, then she thinks in the bus to the hotel. While she is calling the bus company, I find that it on the floor fallen out of her purse. Then after happy hour drinks she leaves it on the bar and has to be chased down by the server. We are not off to a good start. We are staying at the Sir Stamford at the Circular Quay, a wonderful late 1800 hotel that has a lot of charm and an even better location. We can see the botanical garden and the...

Jan 27, 2019 - UPDATE NOTES - Day 1

Hi All, So after a dismal 2018 of trips and touring we had hoped for a better start to 2019 but Anne's sister poor health has changed that, we are off could be for 3 weeks could be for 7, either way we are off and using different steads. We are looking forward to the trip. More soon Kind regards Mum and Dad UM and AA GM and GD Anne and Marco