Paws and Reflect

G'Day Possums ! It has come to my attention that a number of folks are concerned we have been fried somewhere in Australia. So, I can assure everyone that we are perfectly safe and now staying currently with friends in Sydney; the time with Jan & Sam was supposed to be at Jervis Bay in the Shoalhaven but with so many fire warnings we gave that a swerve. Dennis has therefore been reunited with his new mate TED, and is having a great time. He explored the doggie beach in the Harbour at Rose Bay yesterday and even managed a bit of paddle-boarding ! Suffice to say he was shattered by the evening and the two dogs performed synchronised sleeping.....   Yesterday morning we walked from Clovelly to Tamarama in the Eastern Suburbs and revisited old haunts which were great to show Dennis (he was slightly nonplussed) Great people watching and very busy and I think most people have stayed at home rather than their usual holiday destinations.  Centennial Park alw...

Well, Von is currently doing her bit for fire preparations by raking up dead leaves from around the cottage in Kangaroo Valley, our base camp.  So Dennis and I have retreated into the cosiness of the van as: a) it's dropped 30C to around 18 and feels decidedly chilly and...  b) it's still quite smokey everywhere and....  c) it's Sunday and I thought a wee blog might be paws for reflection. Our month of trialling stuff continues with pace and so we set off this week knowing that it was about to get stinking hot in the Valley with estimated temperatures of 44C and, indeed, Irene recorded 48C yesterday, just before the winds blew through and dropped it back into the 20's.  It's already been noticeable even from a couple of conversations with random Australian strangers on the road, that sadly there is eye-rolling scepticism surrounding "Climate Change" not helped by the attitude of the current Australian Government.  There is no doubt that the climat...

FLIES FLIES FLIES....... They're everywhere at the moment. A consequence of the very dry conditions, is that the flies are also quite thirsty so seek out any moisture they can find. I've never noticed it this bad in Kangaroo Valley before and infact anywhere on this coast. Some locals are also saying it's the lack of dung beetles which keep down the fly population ? There is a lot of cattle farming around here, although where we are located not a cow in sight ? Dennis and I went for a 5k walk to get the paper this morning and I managed to transport a vast quantity of said flies on my clothing into the village , deposit them, and gain more for the lift back ?! This leads me to the next issue ; a schoolgirl error on our part borne out of lack of knowledge. We packed ,with good intentions, dark clothing and minimal to zero whites (Von snuck one in) to make the laundry simpler. However flies it would appear love sitting on dark clothing hence my mobile fly transportation....

Well here I finally am; Shazza here ! What a week it's been ; well ok slightly longer than a week..... Back to last Friday morning and we were up bright and breezy having thankfully avoided the potential of 'hanging one on' at the BBC for one final beersie with friends and neighbours. We managed to pace ourselves and Von managed to reveal her 'purple' flash ! Dennis had a 0950 check-in and so was duly dropped at the Air New Zealand Cargo area to be met by the AeroPets chap,Tony and the Air NZ Live Export chap who incidentally had been there for 55yrs so I guess he knew what he was doing. Thankfully Dennis sat quite happily in his crate and we left swiftly to avoid a scene...us not him ! All was going swimmingly well ; and we took our seats in the Koru Lounge courtesy of Von's many work trips away. A cheeky glass of Prosecco to toast our new adventure which then ground to a halt with a 3.5 hour delay of the flight. Mmm poor Dennis 😱 Mind you at least he go...

It's here ; barely 3 weeks until we 'GO' ! Hard to believe that only a few months ago we had 'THAT CONVERSATION' which lead to :- Buying a Van Selling the House Leaving our Jobs Crazy,Brave,Bonkers,Courageous,Insane and all the other superlatives that describe our states of mind or do they ? Perhaps I should return to that list..... Mid June  - Seachange Plan initiated                  - Test Drive Van @ Trakka HQ,Sydney                  - Significant Birthday                  - Significant times; de-clutter,sell and give away.                   - Kitchen renovation.......STRESS !! 😱 End July   - House to Market Mid Sept  - House SOLD ! ......This S**T just got real ! November- Moving Out and waiting...... The ultimate plan of driving around Australia h...

How we announced the adventure via Facebook...

By Von. Yesterday I handed over my final job in a naval uniform, I still have a release routine to complete but, essentially, I am done.  Nearly 27 years of Service and a whole heap of experiences.  I found myself reflecting on those years and, being a simple sailor, I recall three significant events which shaped my career and life. As the XO in HMS CROMER I keenly remember the morning in January 2000 when the CO called me into his cabin to let me know that there was about to be an announcement changing the ‘ban’ of allowing homosexuals to serve.  He was concerned about the likely fallout especially in our small ship whilst I was thinking how I might, finally, be honest regarding who I was.  A momentous occasion and yes, there was plenty of discussion and debate amongst the ship’s company (all of whom were male) yet the sky did not fall in and the sun continued to set and rise.  But for me, the need to no longer live in the third person, to not lie a...