Time for a “Yomp” (look it up in the dictionary).

First stop breakfast 1.4 K to the Railway Carriage. Next stop Fremantle Markets. Pass these trees growing out seemingly from the hotel !!!!

Markets were 1.2 K. Oh boy I do love markets. Everyone seems so happy & chatty. Pick up fresh food for our stay and info re free bus service. Took the “Blue Cat” bus to the Rail Station then walked the 1 K home – up the hill!! Why is it always downhill going and uphill coming back?

Off again for lunch. Took the “Red Cat” bus – all free – to South Terrace and the restaurants. Just love people watching – sat on the sidewalk with the largest “Baby Pork” rack of ribs I have ever seen. Bang goes the diet but I have walked 3 or 4 K so far today.

Time for some retail therapy – I am going to have the smartest Hubby on the ship – new DJ – first time in 30 years!!!! Well the other one had seemingly shrunk – or was it that Ollie had expanded!!!!!

Time now to Yomp back, put feet up with well earned vino and have that bread & cheese we bought earlier.

Note:- to those new to the blog – they start daily but tend to get more spaced out as time goes on. They will this time when we’re at sea. You get some respite!!!!

Thursday was a cleaning and last minute day – mowed lawns and cleaned car. All sorted ready to leave

Oops Ollie’s hat took off in the wind into the neighbours garden on the Mulberry tree.

Friday 9th

5am – The View from our balcony up the Boyne River – last time till Dec

View towards the Coral Sea over the hillBruce & Marj arrive to take us to the airport – great taxi servicejust a bit of luggage!!! Check in was interesting – why did I throw a lighter into which case!!!!! Old habits die hard – 20 minutes later success. Through the customs bit – gee I held everyone up again – Defib sent all bells jingling – body frisk, feet and shoes. Then go to pick up hand luggage – how did those tiny scissors get into my hand luggage – oh flip – now I must be a drug Barron or an explosives expert – half an hour later and I’m successfully through customs!!!!! Time for a coffee No time as we are boarding – where did that 2 hours go to? on to our little plane and off to Brissie. Yahoo we’re offSome people are wonderful – with 14Kgs of hand luggage a double flight of stairs – rain soaked – after a walk across the tarmac looked daunting – suddenly no hand luggage as it was carried for us.

just before take off Love these cranesView of the Brisbane River on our way to Perth after a 5 hour wait in the airport

9pm Perth time – arrive – shoehorn ourselves out of the cattle truck feeling Pooped. Had the best food on the flight though.. The passenger we had sat was was amazing he helped us with our luggage – thanks mate.

Then – I couldn’t believe it – the taxi driver packed our luggage in and got it out and up the flight of stairs at our apartment – he refused a tip!!!!!

Thoroughly tired and amazed at our wonderful fellow travellers.

Just lost 20 years!!!!! Had the salt removed from my hair – left the pepper.

Whilst I spent 2 hours relaxing in the massage chair and having a scalp massage whilst having my hair done, Ollie was rushing around doing last minute things. I got a real surprise when he poked his head around the mirror – what was he doing here.

Well actually that was why he was there – he’d got to that well known point – As he approached the bank and opened the door he’d had a “blond” (not grey!!!) moment – Why am I here??? Luckily, unusually I remembered why he was there!!!

Oops – went into Bunnings and nearly had a fatal fall – well tiny trip actually = new pair shoes required. What a result – most expensive in the shop at half price (well, it means you save more)

All packed and ready to leave on Friday – hopefully beat the predicted cycloneThis is a model of the forecast for next week. Hope it’s wrong

Hi Everyone

It’s been a while. 2017 wasn’t the best year.

After dying 4 times in Feb I was lucky to make a speedy recovery, only to be knocked sideways byAussie Flu, that was followed by a fairly dramatic reaction to antibiotics.

Thinking I was on the road to recovery I contacted my Cardiac Consultant when I became anaemic and no amount of liver & spinach would change it. He immediately admitted me and did a colonoscopy after finding a tumour on a scan ( nearly killed me again as my kidneys reacted to the contrast they used). This tumour was an adenocarcinoma – the worst bit was having to wait a month over Christmas whilst all teams came back from holidays.

Again I have been so lucky all removed with no need for further action. They did try and drown me by giving me too much IV fluids!!!!! Thank to all the staff at Prince Charles Hospital – I am here because of you.

Now it’s onwards & upwards. Instead of caravanning we are Cruising!! 

We are taking the Astor back to the UK. We start on the 12th March and arrive in Tilbury on 20th April.

We are staying in a lovely spot near Colchester Essex. Link to the apartment –  https://abnb.me/RHivVQmR3K

We then leaveThe UK on 15th Oct again on the Astor and return to Oz via the Panama Canal. We arrive in Sydney on Dec. 1st.

So excited can’t wait to see grandchildren and children & friends back in UK.. Eldest Grandie Lucy will be 21, Ollie has his 70 th. On the way we visit South Africa and do a couple of Safaris. So exciting.

This should be the first of many posts but whilst we are on the Cruise it may be a bit hit and miss..

home again. Do not expect to see us yet though. !!!! This bug is really beginning to annoy me. I never coughed this much when I was smoking!!!!! There’s a temptation to have a cig girl and see if it stops the coughing!!!!!!! Maybe not!!!!

Thank goodness our tenant neighbours at the back have gone. Smelly dogs have gone as well.

Eveything seems to have survived well since we’ve been away. Thanks to Bruce & Marj for keeping an eye on things

You may have wondered why you haven’t heard from us in a while. It’s very simple – we chose the wrong year to be part of a large group of people – we together with several others are suffering with the flu!!!!! We have now withdrawn from all the Capricorn vets Carnival.

We hopefully have enough energy to drive down to Yeppoon from Mackay tomorrow. We plan the to be very lazy whilst waiting to drop the caravan off to at last get it’s skylight repaired and have a proper service on 31st August. We will then travel home and pick the caravan up at a later date.

So, effectively our Vets golf ended abruptly.!!!!!

Our day of rest started with a fridge clean!!!!! The overflow container outside under the grill was full of water and the fridge kept dripping internally. Decided to clean the tube – vinegar & soda bic – amazing how much “gunk” came out.

So, after a lazy morning we took off to Eungella and Broken River. Favourite spots of ours. These are pictures from The Chalet at Eungella.

Health & safety would have a field day here. !!!!!!! Wouldn’t get away with this at Tannum.

These garden sculptures have been here for years. So clever

Brown frog not a toad

After a brief stop we took off to Broken River to see if we could see any platypus. As it was only 3pm we thought we were a bit early. But look who came out and waved at us

We we also had a visit from this chap

So peaceful here. We were sitting on the bank watching the platypus and Ollie managed to snap this of an Eastern Yellow Robin. What a great picture