HAPPILY PLANNING NEXT WANDERS

Hi All 

This will be a relatively short post ! Just a quick catch-up while we have a quiet period, before our life resumes its usual mad pace ! When I last wrote, we thought we were slowing down. MIS-TAKE. However it is now finally happening 😌😊.Feels good.

 As I mentioned, we blocked bookings and managed to spend a fair time at the beachhouse over summer, mostly mid-week visits. Unfortunately Anne had a couple of falls, with cracked pelvis and ribs, on Valentines day. She was a few days in hospital and it slowed her down briefly, but not for long!

 Her birthday, then mine, came and went, as they do with frightening frequency these days, and provided a good excuse for catching up with family and friends.
Lee, Belinda and Maryanne came over from Queensland and were joined by grandson, Corey, for lunch with us down in South Yunderup.

 


Kris also came over to the West for a visit, to us and to the block in Denmark. Also, it was the last and qualifying week of the ongoing S.E.Trauma Therapy and it is really exciting looking forward to practising. While here we marked the upcoming 'biggie' birthday, sharing the cake with Dot, whose birthday was just past. Somewhere during Kris' visit, we had the Schmah cousins and families down for a very enjoyable brunch and get-together, but, DUH- forgot to take any pictures !! :( :(
Then we had a couple of birthdays, Jett's past and Brodie's upcoming, to celebrate. Funny how as we get older, the birthdays seem to accelerate and come hurtling at us ever more quickly !!





We, -no, Anne especially-, had been wanting a trip south for some time; it had been years! So when the bookings and the birthdays settled down at about the same time, we were off ! Drove down initially to a lovely farmstay near the Porongorups for 3 nights, and did a great deal of exploring, walking and scrambling, there and in the Stirling Range. I'd forgotten how unique and lovely that area is. Then we revisited Albany, where our airbnb stay was on the slope of Mt Clarence, and we did a respectable amount of walking and scrambling there as well. The new (relatively) National Anzac Centre lived up to all we'd heard; fascinating, touching and quite distressing.  We did a bit of a detour to see Kris' block on our way to Margaret River and home. Great getaway week !

We've had a couple of fun days just lately with Dot, aka Gi-gi, and her great-granddaughter, Alaska, with our great-granddaughter Violet. Both are at the same age and stage, 2 1/2+ years. Anne and Dot were neighbours and friends when their children were growing up; now they can enjoy 'greats' and 'play-dates' together. Neat !

Now it's time to get organised for our next wanderings! We'll be off to Bali at the end of July for a heat fix, spending time in Sanur, Lembongan Island and Ubud. Sanur and Ubud we know and love; Lembongan Island we've only visited once briefly, so looking forward to exploring. Then in early September we're off to England and beyond! We're booked in the Cotswolds and all going well, will do a few days walking; wish us luck? We also hope to do a day or two walking on the Cleveland Way later, fitting around visiting family and friends in the North, as well as meeting Lee and Belinda who will be there as well. Look forward to catching up with everyone. See you soon. We will then meet up with friends, Alison and Graham, and catch a cruise from London to Sydney, via the Panama Canal. Long trip with shore stops every 2-4 days. Really looking forward to it! We'll be home early December, just in time to get ready for Christmas.

So I'll close now and probably won't post another blog until after Christmas, So this is probably your very earliest 'Merry Christmas All !!'
Happy Trails All! Stay Well and Happy.

The Happy Wanderers
Annie and Kathie