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The Adventure ....

 
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where are we ?

January 2011
visiting Australia

Has it really been 3 years' since we left Australia ? How time flies when you're having fun :-)

Initially, it was a bit weird being back, almost a bit "dream like" - everything neat and orderly, no rubbish anywhere, beautiful green gardens, orderly traffic, English spoken all around us - then reality set in and the hip pocket started hurting in a big way - living in SE Asia certainly spoils you from a "cost of living" point of view.

We thought we'd given ourselves a huge 2 month break from cruising, but time just flew by - we'd based ourselves in Brisbane but managed to travel up and down the Bruce Highway between Sydney and Brisbane 4 times!

Had a wonderful Christmas and New Year in Sydney ......
Great-uncle Brian and great-niece Isobel are introduced
couldn't resist this t-shirt for Isobel - wish it'd read "Great Uncle"
Brian and his mom, Winifred at Cottage Point, Bayview
the ONLY family gathering photo
(with Ken & Audrey, Fast Forward) that was in focus
Sydney NYE 2011 celebrations
a wonderful walk along the pensinsula - view of Narabeen Heads

caught up with friends (with apologies to those we weren't able to catch up with - will definitely make plans for later in 2011) .....
Our great friends, Debbie and Ian
Richard & Gloria (Aquarius1), Anne & Brian (Hybrasail)
Neil & Maree (Purnama)
Stuart & Nanette (Truest Passion); Richard & Gloria (sv Aquarius 1); Gus (Pampero); Dave, Pattie & Margaret (Pampero)


volunteered in the clean-up campaign after the Queenslands floods ...

lining up for buses - a few of the 50,000 volunteers
streets were littered with soiled household goods waiting collection
one of the houses where we shovelled mud - look at the ground floor brickwork to see where the flood peaked
a lighter moment at the end of very tiring & soul destroying day
Sections of the floating Brisbane River walkway (which linked Riverside Quay to Fortitude Valley) washed up on Kings Beach, Margate
- a distance of approximately 16 nautical miles (imagine them floating out at sea!) ...... and their eventual removal


and to finish off, we attended the very joyous wedding of Brian's niece, Louise to Matt - it was a wonderful day. Welcome to the family, Matt :-)
Louise and Matt - the happy couple!
Brian's sister, Stella and Fred - Louise's parents
Brian and his mom, Winifred
Yup, that's us - bit of a change from our "grotty yachtie" look
the scenic coastal highway in Woolongong, NSW
a koala was in residence when we visited our home in Brisbane


Our 2 months were up before we knew it - we'd had a great time with lots of wonderful company, much laughter, definitely too much food and wine; and yes, we even managed to do bit of sightseeing :-)

Our schedule on arrival in Kudat will be to antifoul Destiny and get her ready for sailing as soon as possible and then start our next adventure, exploring the Philippines.

B & G