When we signed off from last year’s update we were about to head off on (yet another) cruise to our favourite place on the planet – Antarctica. The good news is that despite Jacky’s little health hiccup just before we went, all was good, and we had a great time aboard Silversea’s Silver Cloud doing a round trip from Puerto Williams at the very southern tip of Chille. It was a real expedition-oriented trip with much jumping in and out of Zodiacs and Jacky managed to get up close (or as close as you are allowed) to her much-loved Penguins in both South Georgia and Antarctica.
It’s been a good year on the travel front, in March we did a short two-week roundtrip Sydney>Sydney on board the Seabourn Odyssey going to places like Kangaroo Island, Phillip Island, Adelaide and Melbourne. Stops in Adelaide and Melbourne allowed us to catch up with family members there, it was so great to be able to see everyone. In July we did a big Aussie Road trip, we drove from Brisbane all the way up to one of our other favourite places, Port Douglas, for a two-week winter break in balmy tropical north QLD, a 3600 Km round trip! We took it easy though taking 3 days in each direction and stopping in interesting places like Rockhampton and Townsville.
In November we headed over to Queenstown with a group of friends that we do trips with from time to time, and we had a great time enjoying the fine wines and restaurants of Queenstown and the central Otago district, not to mention a fun tour of the recently founded Cardrona Distillery there. No sooner had we got back from that trip than we were off to Sydney to once again join the Seabourn Odyssey, for a cruise back to New Zealand! We have only just got back from that trip, hence the slightly later than usual update this year.
The big family news this year was the arrival in May of Remy, a son for Mark and Emma and little brother for Lyla. He’s a super cute little lad who already seems to be holding his own with his big sister, but she adores him of course. David and Rachelle have taken on the mantle of doing some foster caring during this year which they are to be congratulated for. D&R’s two boys Arlo and Lane are doing well, Arlo has just completed his first year at school and it seems like every time we see them they have grown a bit! Amy and Jacob are doing well and enjoying life with their ‘fur babies’.
One less fun aspect of life we have noted as we get older though is that we do seem to be attending more funerals. Some of John’s old Rotary friends have passed away this year but for us the saddest of all was the loss of John’s cousin Ron Austin. We were lucky enough to see Ron on our March visit to Adelaide, but sadly we were back there for his funeral in June. Ron and his wife Lynn and their family have been a key link for us in Australia over the last 20 years and so losing Ron is something we have felt particularly.
On a more celebratory note, in April we were once again in Sydney, but this time to help my cousin Michael Baker celebrate his 90th Birthday. A fantastic family event bringing together family members from across Australia and New Zealand, great fun and a great time had by all.
Another highlight of the year was Jacky’s sister Jo coming out to visit in August/September. Her trip coincided with the Brisbane Festival, so there were many opportunities for trips to art shows, light installations, and the Brisbane River fire fireworks. It would be fair to say that the two sisters had a ball together and it made Jacky’s year!
One of our main bits of news from this year though relates to where we live. If you read last year’s update you may recall that we had a property search underway to try to seek out somewhere suitable in Jacky’s preferred suburbs of Wynnum or Manly, which are effectively ‘Brisbane by the Bay’. After several months of fruitless searching in March we decided to use a Buyer’s Agent to try to move things along. It still took several months but in October we eventually found somewhere that met almost all of the exacting criteria! With the help of our agent we eventually managed to close a deal to buy it. The only minor technical problem being that we have not yet sold the current place at Wellington Point, so right now, we are the proud owners of two principal residences! Of course, the market has slowed down over Christmas plus it’s always easier to sell a place while it’s still occupied, so we have not moved into the new house yet. Fingers crossed things will pick up again after Christmas so we can be moved to the new place by the end of January.
Looking forward to next year we have a big UK trip planned for the middle of the year, it’s mainly to attend a family wedding but given the cost of travel we are bolting on a couple of cruises and a few days away in the UK. More on that for our UK friends in due course. At the end of 2024 we have booked a trans-pacific cruise leaving from Los Angeles in November, so hopefully that will enable us to catch up with some of our USA/California based friends as well.
Jacky is still very active as president of the local refuge that provides emergency shelter for women and kids escaping the effects of Domestic Violence, which also gets her involved in wider anti-domestic violence advocacy. It’s a great cause and it’s so good to see an organisation making a real and tangible difference to help those affected by Domestic Violence. John still does a little start-up and early-stage business mentoring, plus he still maintains his involvement with Appenate, the low code mobile data app business he got involved with several years ago.
So those are the main headlines of news from us for 2023. In writing this we realised that we have now been doing these annual missives for 20 years! They started out mainly as a way to keep in touch with and update friends and family back in the UK after we emigrated, but modern social media has largely replaced the need for an annual news update. So, this may well be the last one of these that we put out – unless of course you really love getting these each Christmas, in which case let us know if there is still sufficient interest, we may keep them going a little longer!
Whatever you are doing, and wherever you are, do have a safe and wonderful holiday season and best wishes for 2024.