Blogs from Oceania

We are now back in Wellington after enjoying our trip to catch up with the kids in Norway. Always such a special time. We had a very relaxing time with Chris, Hege, Lilly and Stella. So very special to be part of their lives, 24/7. We enjoy the busy life of the two girls with their sport and social times. I enjoy listening to both Lilly and Stella playing the piano and singing. Both very talented, with Lilly in a band that practices every week and does the odd concert. I'm very proud of them both. Chris is enjoying his new job with the Hotel Norge and when he was on weekend duty we were able to stay in the hotel as well, so were a bit spoiled, enjoying being in the middle of the city ... read more

After a tasty bearkfast of fruit plus Graeme's special scrambled egg and bacon, we got organised for a trip to Manly. Wendy drove us to nearby Gordon train station, where we caught a smart double decker train into Wynyard Station. We had a short walk througt the city, past Graeme's offie, to Circular Quay to catch the fast ferry to Manly. Once again we had a sunshiny day to view the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. We could see brave people walking over the top of the bridge! Georges Head As it was such a beautiful day in Manly, so many other people were there too. We wandered down to Shelly Beach, which was a little quieter, but all the restaurants were extremely busy. We decided to head home to St Ives to relax by the ... read more

After a relatively short drive from Leliyn, we arrived in Cooinda on 27th with much excitement as we looked forward to Bird week, seeing our friends Luke and Sarah and as we think Kakadu is such an amazing place. Surpisingly, one of Merlin's friends, Alec, and his family were also in Kakadu and had decided to stay in Cooinda as well- we ended up camping next to each other for about 5 days which was fabulous for the kids to hang out together. Sat morning we were booked on the sunrise cruise of Yellow Waters with Luke. We were really keen to see, and get shots of, many of the special creatures up here but in particular, the Little Kingfisher, the Black Bittern and the Golden Tree Snake. The mist across the water as we took ... read more

We went to Chris, Natalie and Mikey's school this morning leaving the house at 7.10, so the Natalie was in time to try for a place in the Soft Ball team. We heard later that she had been selected. We popped home for a quick breakfast before setting off for the Blue Mountains. It took about 2 hours, through the busy traffic, for Graeme to drive us to Katoomba. We started our tour of the Blue Mountains at Echo Point with magnificent views over the extensive forests, stretching into the far distance. The iconic Three Sisters were lit by the sun. We took the 30 minute scenic walk to Katoomba Cascades and Falls, which included quite a number of steps up and down! But we were rewarded with spectacular views. Graeme kindly walked back to collect ... read more

18th August 2019 So we landed back in Auckland after spending 12 days in Australia, celebrating quitting our jobs with no next job in sight!! We decided that we didn't want to pay for a camp site as we wouldn't be arriving until after midnight and wouldn't be able to get our moneys worth (already getting into the tight traveller mindset). Luckily we found a "freedom" campsite about 40 minutes from the airport at Onewhero domain. This proves difficult when you are not self contained in NZ and because our van is so tiny, and we didn't want to sacrifice bed space for a portable toilet, we need to find campsites with toilet facilities..... This was going to be a limitation over the next 5 months but i still stand by our design! The next challenge ... read more