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Published: December 24th 2011
Christmas Greetings to all and a very very Happy Birthday to our dear daughter Sarah whose birthday it is today, Christmas Eve. She is just relaxing at home today - good on you, Sarah!
We have now been in Australia since 14 August 2010 and this will be our second Christmas here in Melbourne. During 2011 we have travelled to some really fabulous places, met some truly delightful people and enjoyed some incredibly exciting activities.
Since starting our travels we have covered well over 50 thousand kilometers, we have issued some 236 travel blogs which contain 330356 words and which have been illustrated by 4459 photographs. We are currently about a week behind with our blogs but we record our adventures daily and will endeavor to turn them into blogs at the earliest possible opportunity.
We are now much nearer the end of our adventure than the start and we regularly think of being re-united with family and friends back home in March 2012 and, after being away from our house for so long, getting back into a domestic routine again. Of course we have desperately missed dear Sarah and Darryl but have been able to keep in
Just received from Sarah and Darryl
a lovely surprise - thank you so muchtouch with texts, phone calls, e-mails and Skype using a web-cam and that has been of great comfort to us. Others too have put their Skype and web-cams to good use especially Barb and Tony in Tewkesbury and Rod and Tania in Calne.
We have also made contact and spent time with many people in Australia that Sarah and Darryl befriended on their “Round Aus” trip in 2009/2010. The Reeves family house in Mansfield, which was where the caravan was stored pending our arrival, has become a regular stopping place for us and Mark, Simone, Zoe. Ken and Beth have been exceptionally generous with invitations to spend time at their fabulous home. It is here also we met their neighbours Bernie and Doose, Julie, who so kindly let us use her holiday home in beautiful Peterborough a couple of times, and more travelling companions of Sarah’s and Darryl’s namely The Elliots – Nigel, Belinda, Zali and Lachlan - who have recently chosen to settle in Mansfield (at least for now!). In Orange, NSW we met up with Jane and Tony with whom Sarah and Darryl toured much of Tasmania, and in Canberra we met Caroline and Andy of KangarooJack
Happy Christmas everyone!
one of the first photos of 2011 fame who became the inspiration for so much of Sarah’s and Darryl’s adventures. Beautiful people one and all and we feel so privileged to have met them.
We spent 11 days in New Zealand where we set foot on an active volcano and went to a gannet sanctuary, we’ve been swimming with manta rays, we saw pandas in Adelaide Zoo (not Aussie we know but special nevertheless), we’ve ridden camels in Broome, we’ve had the odd confrontation with crocodiles, dangerous snakes and spiders as well as the sad sight of so much road-kill – we’ll never get accustomed to that. We’ve seen some absolutely fantastic scenery – too much to list it all – and recently did some tricky four wheel driving in the Alpine National Park. All very exciting stuff.
But primarily, this brief message is just an excuse to wish all our family, friends and acquaintances that read our blogs and give us such encouraging feedback, a truly wonderful Christmas and a prosperous and happy New Year. We will be thinking of you.
Best Wishes
Jan and Graham – The Pootling Possums
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Darryl and Sarah
Wallaby Wanderers
Merry Christmas Mum and Dad!
What a fabulous review of your travelling time so far! We've loved all of your 330356 words and all the photographs too. Fun, love and laughter all the way. Have a lovely Christmas, you won't get many warm ones back in the UK!!! Missing you both very much, thank you for my lovely birthday pressies. Speak to you soon x x x x Sarah and Darryl x x x x