21 days in Poland – Days 1-7

A delayed 2 hour Ryannair flight landed us in Gdansk at midnight. Followed by a long bus ride and finally a cab we arrived at our B&B at 2.00am. There was little accommodation in Gdansk when we booked and we found ourselves in an apartment building that looked like it was in the Eastern Bloc in the 1950’s. Luckily we were just a short walk to the city.

We discovered the St Dominics Fair was on which brings 7 million visitors to the city over a period of 3 weeks and we were there in the middle of it. This made for crowded streets and everything busy but it also made an amazing atmosphere.

Gdańsk is a port city on the Baltic coast of Poland and the heart of the world Amber trade. Napoleon said “Gdansk is the key to everything”. It is the birthplace of Daniel Fahrenheit and Gunter Grass, the 1999 Nobel Prizewinner in Literature. At the centre of its Main Town are the colourful facades of Long Market, which were reconstructed after the bombing of WW2. Due to the size of the port on the Baltic Sea, Hitler intended it to become a Nazi stronghold and the first battlefields of WW2 were Westerplatte and the Polish Post Office in Gdansk. It was also here that the strike by the shipyard workers led by Lech Wałęsa heralded the beginning of the end of communism in this part of Europe. So the city we see today is definitely worth  a visit. It doesn’t take a long walk, however, to find yourself in an area that still looks like it could be post war. We had 3 nights and 2 days planned but we could have spent more time here to take in more of the historic sites.

Malbork

Just a short 1 hour train ride took us to Malbork. The town was built in Prussia in 1274 on the east bank of the river Nogat by the Teutonic Knights and it became the seat of the Teutonic Order and Europe’s largest Gothic fortress. Under continuous construction for nearly 230 years, the castle complex is actually three castles combined in one and is the world’s largest brick castle. The castle was in the process of being restored by the Germans when WW2 broke out. During the war, the castle was over 50% destroyed. Restoration has been ongoing since the war and it is now listed as one of Unesco’s World Heritage Sites. The queue to go inside was even more chaotic than going to Wimbledon so we gave that a miss and spent the afternoon walking around the grounds.

Our Apartment Building – Hmmm!

Gdansk on the river Motlawa

Zurek Starolpolski

Streets of Gdansk

Malbork Castle

That’s us across the river Nogat

Torun

A 2 hour train ride took us to Torun, a city on the Vistula River. During World War 2 Torun was one of few cities in the country where no damage was sustained which allowed the Old Town to be fully preserved with its iconic central marketplace. Believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Toruń is renowned for the Museum of Gingerbread whose baking tradition dates back nearly a millenium, and its large Cathedral. In 1997 the medieval part of the city was designated a Unesco World Heritage site. We had an apartment in the middle of the Old Town which was great for walking to all the recommended sites but was also party central, with our apartment being 2 floors above a bar that didn’t close until 2.00am. There was a lot to see and we managed it all even though we slept late.

Czestochowa – pronounced chen-stow-hoe-vah

Oh yes this language is difficult. The best we’ve managed is Thankyou very much – Dziękuję Ci bardzo – pronounced Jen-ku-ya bard-zo – and Good Morning – Dzień dobry – pronounced Jen dobray – Not even sure they understand us!

This time a 4 hour train ride south to a city known for the famous Pauline Monastery of Jasna Gora which is the home of the Black Madonna painting. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see it. And yes you got it, we arrived on the public holiday of Assumption Day and also Armed Forces Day – nothing open! But what fabulous accommodation, in the city, not above a bar, and spotlessly clean with everything working – a rarity in Europe!

At first glance the Monastery and religious places throughout the city seem to be the only reason to visit but on walking outside the main tourist areas its a beautiful city with friendly people and an easy relaxed lifestyle. We found some local markets and loved buying biscuits by the kg so bought one of 6 different flavours. Another great way to taste the local food. It was here we found a cafe that has a cheap smorgasbord where you can fill your plate and pay 3.69 Polish zloty per 100 grams and after 6pm there is a 20 % discount and after 6.30 a 50 % discount.

The beautiful city of Torun

View from our apartment

Torun at dinner time

Torun Town Hall

Torun Cathedral

Holy Spirit Church in the Market Square

Czestochowa graffiti

Czestochowa Town Hall

Jasna Gora Monastery

Pop John Paul

Waiting for the train to Krakow

Next Stop: Krakow!

Bishop Auckland, Durham

Our housesit was in High Etherley, a village just a 10 minute drive from Bishop Auckland. The Brits have an unusual area naming system. We lived in High Etherley Within 3 kms of us there is Low Etherley, Etherley Dene, Etherley Grange & Etherley Moor. Guess they all want their specific area. Our charges were Oscar – the huge Labrador – Mosley and Norman – both ginger cats and Norman is a girl!

Oscar

Mosely

Norman the girl

Durham Dales

Bishop Auckland Town Hall

Daleside Arms Pub

Robin Hood Bar

There certainly was plenty to do around here so we planned to be out everyday of our 8 days.

Our first adventure was 4 castles in one day, all within 20 kilometres of our home. And there are more but I’m not sure we’re up for too many more.

Barnard Castle – is a ruined medieval castle situated in the town of the same name. It was built around 1095. In 1626 the Crown sold Barnard and Raby castles to Sir Henry Vane who decided to make Raby Castle his principal residence and Barnard Castle was abandoned and its contents and much of its masonry was removed for the maintenance and improvement of Raby Castle.

Raby Castle – a medieval castle set amongst 200 acres of deerpark. The castle is still a private home and remains the seat of the Vane family. Due to dedication to the extensive renovation and restoration works, much of the castle’s rare interior architectural features have been preserved.

Auckland Castle – also known as Auckland Palace  and currently under restoration. It is surrounded by 800 acres of parkland, some of which is a deer park. In appearance more like a Gothic Stately Home, Auckland Castle remains a working episcopal palace being the residence and official headquarters of the Bishop of Durham

Witton Castle – is a much-altered 15th-century castle, which is the centrepiece of a holiday and caravan country park and is within walking distance and part of our dog walk almost everyday.

Barnard castle

Raby Castle

Auckland Castle

Auckland Castle

Witton Castle

A trip to the East Coast beach was one that needed to be done, given all our visits here and never having been to the East coast. I guess if your norm wasn’t The Sunshine coast of Australia or the northern beaches of NZ this would be nice but even in a heatwave it didn’t encourage us onto the sand.

A wet day gave us the opportunity to spend the day indoors and we headed off to the Bowes Museum armed with tickets kindly given to us by our homeowner, Christine. Bowes Museum was a purpose built museum built in the look of a French Chateau by John & Josephine Bowes. (Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother is a direct descendant) It houses an amazing collection of artefacts, relics, china, art and currently has an exhibition of original outfits from the worlds leading fashion houses – Alexander McQueen, Dior, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood etc. The icon of the museum is the automated musical Silver Swan dating from 1773. A good way to spend a wet day.

Redcar Beach

Saltburn by the Sea

Saltburn by the Sea

Redcar Beacon

Bowes Museum gardens

Bowes Museum staircase

Mechanical musical Silver Swan

Bowes Museum

Durham City

Durham  is a historic city in County Durham in North East England and lies on the River Wear. The Romanesque Durham Cathedral was founded over the final resting place of St Cuthbert and became a centre of pilgrimage in medieval England. The cathedral and adjacent 11th-century castle were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. The castle has been the home of Durham University since 1832. The river loops around the Cathedral and Castle making it an easy site to protect when under attack. The city dates back to AD995. We found it an easy city to drive into, park, wander the streets, enjoy the history, atmosphere and visit both the Cathedral and castle. Also found the Flat White cafe with lovely food and GREAT coffee.

Outside the Library

Elvet Bridge

Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral across the River Wear

Durham from Framwellgate Bridge

Castle & Cathedral across the Elvet Bridge

So it was Goodbye to Oscar, Mosely and Norman and since we hadn’t managed to fit Lincoln into our schedule we decided to make it a quick overnight stop on our way back to Stansted airport. The drive south on the A1 was in torrential rain, heavy traffic with even houses moving in these conditions. It felt incredibly dangerous but we arrived just a short time later than expected. Our B&B was in the Old town and just 100 metres to both the Cathedral and Castle but also perched on the side of a hill making access by car precarious, but Peter managed to get us there safely. We had enough time to visit the Lincoln Cathedral – the final scenes of the DaVinci Code were filmed here. Building of this Cathedral began in 1079 and due to earthquake, fire and storm damage it took many centuries to complete. There is always restoration work happening and in 2014, the Heritage Lottery Fund allocated 12.4 million pounds for continued work. For many years it held one of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Catra but this is now held in Lincoln Castle. We only had time for a quick look around the Castle grounds as we needed to move on to ensure we didn’t miss our plane to Poland.

Moving House. The other half was in front.

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

That’s me at the South Door

Lincoln Castle

We had Penny Peugeot for 22 days without incident until our last drive to Stansted when a truck in front of us threw up a stone and cracked our windscreen. It started as a tiny chip but by the end of our 2 hour trip it was 6 inches long. Luckily it was pouring with rain when we returned the car and the Avis inspector didn’t even look at the windscreen as he was too concerned about getting wet. Fingers crossed we dodged that bullet.

So that’s our time in England finished for this trip. Some observations:

1. Supermarket shopping here is so incredibly well priced.
2. They are getting on with living and not too worried about Brexit
3. The countryside never disappoints and is still really beautiful – albeit in the middle of a heatwave and quite brown in some parts.
4. Thank goodness for the lovely little English pubs – both beautiful and hospitable
5. Customer Service is slow – something to do with queuing perhaps?
6. Beautiful flowers everywhere in the summer
7. The northeast has a lot of similarities with NZ – climate, countryside, people

North to the Lake District

We packed up Penny Peugeot and headed north towards the Lake District. As usual for us we tried to avoid the motorways making the journey a little longer.

During our time in the UK in 2016 we housesat in Hartford and in Bromborough, near Liverpool, both of which we have stayed in touch with. Our first stop was in Hartford to see Angela & John. They have also been blessed with a beautiful granddaughter in the last year so we met Paige April and of course saw her lovely parents again, Sarah & Tim. We shared a very special lunch with this family before it was time to move on to Bromborough. We had a nice catch up with Nikki & Paul before heading north.

We stopped at Morecambe, the home of Eric Morecambe the comedian. It’s a coastal town on the waterfront on Morecambe Bay in Lancashire and where ferries leave for Dublin and The Isle of Man. Our hotel was not the best in town but we only needed a clean bed and a warm shower. Up and going the next day after snapping a quick shot with the Eric Morecambe statue, it was on to the Lake District. in Cumbria.

Penny Peugeot

Sarah, Tim Angie & Paige

Eric & I.

Morecambe waterfront housing

Being the start of the summer holidays it was always going to be busy – not sure we bargained for never being able to get a carpark. Our first planned stop was Kendal but without a park in sight we decided to move on to Windermere. Not a park in sight here either but we drove down though the narrow streets heading to the lake front and ended up in Bowness on Windermere on the lakefront. Such a beautiful place and it felt like being in Queenstown. It has become a tourist honeypot and busloads of people crowd the narrow streets and take boatrides on the lake. We moved on to Grasmere and despite waiting at 2 carparks for at least half an hour we gave up on that one too. Grasmere is a village and tourist destination in the centre of the English Lake District and takes its name from the adjacent lake. It is the start of several well known walks in the area so carparks didn’t turnover quickly. The poet William Wordsworth lived in Grasmere for 14 years, and described it as “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found.”

We headed north towards Keswick passing by the Thirlemere Reservoir. It occupies the site of a former natural lake which was dammed to raise the water level,  creating a reservoir to provide the city of Manchester with water supplies via the 154 kilometre long Thirlmere aqueduct. Apparently the water is so cold, swimming is not advised under any circumstances – even the current heatwave.

Keswick was the surprise for us. Such a beautiful market town sitting in the Northeast of the Lake District. The discovery of black lead at Seathwaite in the 16th century started pencil making which is still the major industry in the town.  The Pencil Museum tells the story of pencil making in Keswick. In the late 1800’s Beatrix Potter spent summer holidays nearby and two stately homes, their gardens and the surrounding landscape provided material for several of her books. We parked, walked through the tourist filled town and down to the Derwentwater lake front. There was time for tea and scones before heading east towards Durham  where we were due to start a new housesit in Bishop Auckland the following day. We had booked The George Hotel in Piercebridge without knowing how beautiful it would be. Another truly beautiful English hotel with great service and in a lovely setting beside a river. Apparently it is the site of an old Roman Fort. There’s going to be plenty to see in County Durham, I think.

Lake Windermere

Rowboats on LakeWindermere

The Stags Head, Bowness on Windermere

The White House

Thirlmere Reservoir warning

Derwentwater, Keswick

St George Hotel

 

Ware, Hertfordshire

20 days housesitting Theo, the Croatian rescue dog and Oscar the cat in Ware gave us the opportunity to revisit the area where Ainslie called home for her time living in England. The home we were in had a lovely garden and was walking distance to the market town of Ware. Records show that Ware has been occupied since at least 4000 BC. It was on the Roman Road from London to Lincoln and is thought to be one of the oldest occupied sites in Europe.

Theo took us walking in the woods everyday hoping he was going to catch a squirrel – it never happened thank goodness! We also had many other walks with him along the river and around the area. He had his first train experience after walking to Hertford along the towpath on a very hot day and catching the train back to Ware. The River Lea runs 45 kilometres from Hertford to the River Thames and walking the towpath watching the canal boats and wildlife is well worth the time and effort. The river was the major form of transport when Ware was a brewing town with barley being transported in and beer out along the river.

Our local hangout was the Waterside Inn which had great food, a lovely spot on the river but the slowest service ever. It was just a 10 minute walk from home.

Theo

Oscar

In our garden

Towpath walk

Towpath walk

Theo on his first train ride

The Waterside Inn

18 of our 20 days were during the British heatwave with temperatures soaring into the mid 30’s. English homes have amazing heating but no airconditioning. I guess they don’t generally need it. The government has promised aid to the drought hit farmers who have struggled to feed their animals. The heatwave is, well, it’s just not British. Day after day after day of the same blue skies is foreign to the Brits so there was great celebration when the thunder rolled in and the big droplets fell. Don’t think it was enough to end the drought though.

As it was a 50 minute train ride from Ware direct to Liverpool Street we made 2 trips into London. There were two things that we specifically wanted to do and with our Rail passes we received free transport on London underground and buses plus 2 for 1 deals  and priority entrance to attractions.

Kensington Palace – a Royal residence set in Kensington Gardens. It has been a residence of the British Royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex among others. Some of the State rooms are open plus the main exhibition is Diana – Her fashion story which displays many of her dresses worn in the 80’s. In this elegant exhibition at Diana’s former London home, her relationship with her favourite designers is explored through a display of some of their original fashion sketches, created for her during the design process. We spent 3 hours there before sitting in Kensington gardens to have lunch then we decided to would walk to Westminster – a mere 4.5 kms in the heat of the afternoon past the Royal Albert Hall and required a drink stop along the way.

Kensington Palace

State Room

Diana’s Going away dress after her wedding

Bruce Oldfield design worn on a State Visit to Saudia Arabia

Post divorce she started wearing internatianal designers – Gianni Versace

Thats me at Kennsington palace sunken garden

Royal Albert Hall

The Churchill War Rooms – The Rooms were opened to the public by Mrs Thatcher in April 1984 in a ceremony attended by Churchill family members and former Cabinet War Rooms staff. Following a major expansion in 2003, a suite of rooms used as accommodation by Churchill, his wife and close associates, was added to the museum. In 2005 the War Rooms were rebranded as the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, with 850 m² of the site redeveloped as a biographical museum exploring Churchill’s life. It was from the underground Cabinet Room that Churchill declared in 1940 “This is the room from which I will direct the war”. The queue was long but our priority tickets came in handy again skipping the main queue. Two hours underground with large numbers of tourists was enough and we retired to St James park for lunch before walking back past a scaffold covered Big Ben to get back on the Underground. Another scorching day in London!

Life underground

Plan

Churchill arriving at No 10

No 10 Door

St James Park

Big ben under restoration

Thats us on Westminster Bridge

Friends. It was great to have Tracy and Paul (friends of Ainslies) join us for dinner in Ware. The last time we saw them was 2016 so all of us had 10,000 words to get out.

We also met a friend from our 2014 trip to the UK in a pub in Buckden for lunch. Steve is from Alton, near Peterborough so we picked a midway point to meet and discuss latest travel plans.

We spent a day going to The Something Lovely Tearoom in Puckeridge on Ainslie’s recommendation. A quirky wee place who bought their coffee from a Kiwi but still couldn’t make a good Flat White. Now talking about Flat whites – The Coffee Lab in Hertford makes the perfect NZ coffee. They have the grind and the milk under control and we drove there several times just to get a coffee.

Singapore Airlines managed to damage Peter’s bag on the flight and at the airport we were told they would come to us and fix it. Well, that was never going to happen was it? After numerous emails and phone calls a new bag was finally delivered to us just 2 days before we were due to leave.

The Something Lovely Teashop

The Coffee Lab, Hertford

Oh Oh broken wheel!

We had 2 enjoyable meals with Caroline and John who owned the furry ones – Theo and Oscar. They had a fantastic holiday in Peru and almost missed the heatwave completely. We waved goodbye to them and headed north to Liverpool.

 

Off to the UK

On 9 July we finally climbed aboard Singapore Airlines and headed to Singapore. With a 9 hour stopover we had booked to do the free Singapore Heritage Tour. After being told by the airline that we wouldn’t arrive in time we hurried to the meeting point, just in case, and found they were waiting for us. So through immigration and onto the bus and we were off. The tour took us through the Colonial District, the Central Business District, Merlion Park, Chinatown, Little India, Kampong Glam and the Malay Heritage centre. The highlight was the 20 minute stop at Merlion Park – the Merlion is Singapore’s national icon. The mythical creature has a head of a lion and body of a fish. The body symbolises Singapore’s humble beginnings as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, meaning ‘sea town’ in Sanskrit and it’s head represents the Lion City “Singapura”.

That’s our plane

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Singapore CBD

Merlion – official mascot of Singapore

Masjid Siltan in Kampong Glam

We found a quiet spot in the airport for a rest before it was back on board for the 14 hour flight to Heathrow. We used our usual tactic of booking an aisle and a window seat to get ourselves 3 seats. I’m not sure that either of us got anymore sleep than normal on a plane but we certainly had more room.

We landed to a very warm London day and jumped on the underground to Earls Court then onto the District Line to Wimbledon. We dropped our bags at our Air B & B and headed to Wimbledon Tennis. Our aim was to get some Ground passes. We knew we would have to queue but we didn’t quite understand the Brits desire to queue. We were ticket no’s 8423 & 8424 in the queue. (Can you believe it – tickets to queue?) We arrived at 10.30 am and the gates had been open for the queue to start entering since 9.30am, but we didn’t get in until 1.30pm. Not sure how come it takes 4 hours to get 8000+ people through the gates but it does, and no amount of talking to the volunteers could find the answer to this question. They seemed to think that queuing was part of the experience of Wimbledon. The queue was in a field with water accessible at one end, no shade and no sunscreen available. When we finally entered, the grounds were quite magnificent and we did manage to be there while Roger was playing on centre court plus we saw Artem Sitak, the Kiwi doubles player who made the quarterfinals. We couldn’t get tickets to the centre court but at the exhorbitant cost we wouldn’t have anyway. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely not! By the time we fell into bed we were so exhausted we missed the foxes playing in the garden at our B&B.

First glimpse of London

Tickets to queue

Thats him on centre court

Aorangi Terrace known as Henman Hill

Don’t think we’re allowed in there

The famous Strawberries & Cream

Back into London the next day to lunch at the new Deliciously Ella cafe in Weighhouse Street just around the corner from the Bond Street Underground. We parked our suitcases upstairs and retired to the downstairs lounge to enjoy our salad bowl, organic non dairy coffees and vegan brownie in the cool. Peter coped remarkably well with the vegan menu. We love the London Underground, and since we had bought ourselves Oyster cards before arriving in London it was so much easier and cheaper. So it was Bond Street to Liverpool Street where we caught our East Anglian train to Ware, the venue for our first housesit.

Deliciously Ella Cafe

Salad Bowl

Bond Street

Underground

7 months in Queensland

We arrived back in Brisbane to the Queensland summer. If we thought we had been hot in various places around the world we had no idea. Queensland summertime and the 40 degree temperatures were a shock to the system. Queenslanders go from air conditioned homes to airconditioned buses and trains to airconditioned shops and offices. We still walked most places and were often the only people to be seen on the street.

The main purpose of spending time in Brisbane was to look after our granddaughter Lila Florence, 3 days per week so she only went to daycare 1 day. During this time she reached many milestones including teeth, crawling, walking, 1st birthday and we were priveleged to be part of them all. We had heard about children catching every cold & virus when first going to daycare – what we didn’t bargain for was getting those various bugs ourselves. This meant we had a constant run of coughs, colds and viruses. We felt bad, we could only imagine how our wee girl felt. Luckily we were able to look after her on some of those sick days. We took it upon ourselves to ensure her cafe experience was progressed which required daily training at numerous cafes around Brisbane. She developed a taste for hot chips, muffins, scones and cake which she happily shared with Nana & Grandad. Our time spent with Lila was precious to us and something that many Grandparents don’t get the honour of doing. We will always be grateful to Morgan & Sam for making it possible.

Playing with my hat.

Nana made some rattles cos I had no toys.

Admin with Grandad

Got my fav toy

Are you ready nana – let’s go!

Got my tennis outfit on

Fav cafe – Fuel & Co.

Boppin Babies

Back to the cafe

Transport

Playing hockey Nana.

First Birthday Cake Smash.

I’m a big girl walking.

Friends – We were very lucky to be able to see many friends while in the Brisbane area. It’s surprising the number of  people we know already living in Queensland or those visiting from NZ.

Yvette, one of the wonderful nannies who helped bring up our children when Morgan & Ainslie were very young

Bronwyn & John, so nice to see such good friends and share special times. So thankful to see them during one of our difficult times.

Sharon & Rob, we manage to meet these two all over the world so why not Brisbane? They were en route to a cruise on the Great Barrier Reef

Lauren & Graeme, who live in Hope Island on the Gold Coast. We were lucky enough to see them in Brisbane and again up on the Sunshine Coast.

Jo-Anne & Gary, from Wellington – good to be able to count a work colleague as a friend who would make time to visit while on holiday

Darla & Darryl, from Wellington also living in the Brisbane region helping to look after their grandchild.

Jan & Peter, from Wellington – friends for years

Claire & Paul from Wellington – used to chase horseshows with our children

Barbara & Roger from Wellington – neighbours from the 80’s who turned out to be related

Lyn & Don  – cousin living on the Queensland, New South Wales border.

Mary & Chris – Lenny, the Dalmations owners who we housesat for in Noosa in December 2016

Neville – cousin now living in Brisbane.

Cathryn – friends for over 40 years

Housesitting – To ensure we didn’t wear out our welcome in Morgans’ downstairs apartment and so we could get a feel for the various suburbs of Brisbane we still took some housesits. Due to the summer heat the only requirement was a swmming pool before even considering any other requirement or benefit.

Morningside – a lovely renovated Queenslander south of the river with Kiki, the cat who ruled the house. Mum & Dad were from Melbourne and were holidaying in the UK

Clayfield – 5 mins from Morgans with 2 dogs – Luna & Terra. Luna was our second Staffy to care for who was a beautiful baby girl but people crossed the street when out walking with her just by the look.

Ascot – a gorgeous Spoodle called Harvey and Evie the cat. Mum & Dad were also from Melbourne and holidaying in Seventeen Seventy – an area of the Queensland coast we need to visit.

Raby Bay – two beautiful Cavalier girls – Tulip and Miss T who just loved attention and walks. Mum & Dad enjoyed 2 short breaks while we looked after these little cuties.

Kiki Cat from Morningside

Harvey & Lila

Evie & Lila

Luna & Terra out walking

It was a hard walk for Luna & Terra

Raby Bay in Cleveland

Tulip & Miss T

Twin Waters – the incredibly handsome Count Leopold (Leo) who shared his lovely apartment with us while Mum & Dad toured the UK. What a privilege to spend 2 months in this beautiful place in the world. We were sick while in Twin Waters and stretched both the Australian medical system and our private health insurance, both of which made sure all costs were covered. We couldn’t have been in a better place to receive urgent and expert medical care and recuperate in beautiful and luxurious surroundings. If we’re lucky we may just come back here.

Cock & Hen cafe

Maroochydore across the water

Aww, how cute are we? Leo & Lila.

Morning reflections

Cruising down the beach

Leo

Keep walking Nana!

That’s us on Mudjimba beach.

Just sittin on the bridge

Highlights for us that made Brisbane a lovely place to pass a large part of 2018:

• Ainslie visited. It was so good to see her and her love for little Lila.
• Commonwealth Games. An evening in the Athletics arena watching Valarie Adams (shot put) and Eliza McCartney (Pole Vault)
• Maleny & Montville. Two hinterland towns in the Blackall Range on the Sunshine coast. Both well worth visiting to enjoy the views, food, coffee and local activities
• Noosa. Can’t really compete with this stunning beach place.
• Melbourne. Back to the Australian Open to see Roger win again.
• Brisbane International Tennis. Warm up for some of the players before Melbourne. Saw Nick Kyrgios play – how good is he going to be if he can take control of his game and harness the mental strength needed to be a success?
• We visited Wellington just for short visits to see our children and friends.
• Southbank. An icon in Brisbane and a must visit. As Australia’s only inner-city, man-made beach, it boasts a sparkling lagoon surrounded by white, sandy beaches and sub-tropical plants. A place to spend the day enjoying the surrounding cafes, swimming and shopping.
• Bribie Island. An island less than an hours drive north of Brisbane located in the northern part of Moreton Bay that is accessible by bridge. If you’re looking for a short roadtrip that has sand, sun and surf, this is the place. We had a lovely morning here with  Morgan & Lila.
• North Stradbroke Island. Locally known as Straddie or North Straddie and also in Moreton Bay. We hopped the ferry from Cleveland, then used the island buses to get around. There’s beautiful beaches and coastline walks to fill your day. Our time was limited as we had left the dogs at home but we still managed to enjoy lunch and do a coastal walk. An overnight stay would be great to enjoy the amazing beaches.
• Coochiemudlo Island. A small island in the south of Moreton Bay accessible by ferry for a mere $5.00 return. We walked most of the island and rested on the sandy beaches
• Big Bash Cricket. We became fans of the Brisbane Heat Big Bash team and managed to get tickets to a game with friends. After meeting for drinks across the road from the Gabba, it was straight into the game. The Gabba are fighting to keep their big cricket matches but we still thought it was a great venue. However, clearing the ground after the game and the bus system around it could definitely be improved. We had a great night out with Lauren, Graeme &  Kerenza.

Love Aunty Ainslie

33rd Wedding Anniversary

Commomwealth Games – perfect seats!

Montrose Water Wheel – Montville

Noosa Beach

Back at the Australian Open

Brisbane Open – Nick Kyrgios

Home in Wellington

Southbank Brisbane

Southbank Brisbane

Bribie Island

North Stradbroke Island Coastal walk

North Straddie

Oops – Coochiemudlo Island

Big Bash – Brisbane Heat.

So Brisbane was rather busy for us along with forward planning for the next 6 months travelling. Back on the roller coaster of travel.

Next stop – United Kingdom!