Well another year has come and gone. Just where do they go? And how can they go so fast?
In the lead up to Christmas we’d had a few days on Lembongan Island (hint; all of the words in red are hyperlinks to take you to some pictures etc). This was followed by Christmas dinner at the Sanur Paradise Plaza with Helen & Colin Owers (friends we met on last year’s cruise) and their family. We were going to head back to Penang after Helen & Colin left but a call from Adrian let us know that he, Lin and our granddaughter Joy were arriving in Bali on New Year’s eve on their way to China to see Lin’s family.
So 2017 started for us in the centre of the most chaotic New Year’s fireworks we’ve ever seen. We were on the rooftop of the Svarna Hotel in the town of Sanur in Bali. Everywhere we looked there were explosions of colour and fire accompanied by a loud bang. It really was 360 degrees of mayhem. As we watched on from the rooftop pool we saw an international jet fly in to Denpasar and commented “wonder if that’s Adrian’s flight?” It was! This was the start of a fantastic fortnight showing them around Bali. Joy especially had a ball and while at the Bali Zoo wanted to climb in with the sun bears. It took some convincing to get her to realise these weren’t cuddly teddy bears.
Due to visa laws Shane & I had to get out of Indonesia so we did a ‘visa run’ to Singapore for 4 days. Gee, Singa’s has grown since my first visit there in 1972. We could easily stay there long term if only it wasn’t so expensive (by Asian standards -it’s actually close to Aussie costs). On one day there we visited Marina Bay Gardens and there is nothing I could say that would do this wonderland justice. We went through 3 phone batteries, 2 camera batteries and about 2600 photo’s in one day! The Cloud Forest, the Flower Dome, the Mega Trees and everything about “Gardens by the Bay” is awesomely unbelievably beautiful.
We were now allowed to return to Bali so back we went. We had some good mates, Rhonda and John Osborne (John is one of the “A-Team”, our gym group) spend a few days with us in Kuta just prior to Australia Day and we managed to catch up with the lovely Tanya Symes after many years apart after she moved to Toowoomba.
Finally Adrian, Lin and Joy caught up with us again in Bali on their way home from China so we hopped on the same flight and we all travelled home to Townsville together on February 9th. This turned out to be a godsend to Shane and I because after spending most of 2016 in Penang we had so much luggage the kids had to ‘max out’ their luggage allowance to take some bags for us.
That was about it for this year’s international travel. Our plan for the year has been to sell this house of 27 years and set off overseas somewhere while we’re both fit enough to enjoy it. Consequently the rest of the year has been spent slowly upgrading/renovating the house and now it’s just a matter of finding a buyer.
Back in Townsville in the meantime, we had another of the A-Team (my gym group) Ray Morgan and his wife Anne stay with us for a month or so followed closely by my cousin Beth and hubby Gaz.
In July I had more knee surgery. This time on my ‘good’ knee. It was great and for the first time in years I am pain free (in the knees at least) and able to walk decent distances.
Karen has had 2 trips to PNG with the Army doing ‘election duties’. She is still posted here in Townsville with 5 Aviation. Her partner, Stu is also in the Army here as well.
Adrian and Lin with our lovely granddaughter Joy live close by the airport only 15 minutes from us. They have just had another trip to Kuming in China so Joy’s maternal grandfather could celebrate her 3rd birthday with her. Reports are that they all had a fantastic time there.
In October Shane and I had a great trip to Forster, NSW for a mini-reunion of my RAN Junior Recruits course back in 1970. These get-togethers are the highlight of my life and I know Shane also really loves getting together with my mates and their wives too. This year we had several mates fly in from overseas just to make the reunion. They are so very important to us all.
As a final farewell to 4 Minsky Court we had a great “Cake Smash Last Hoorah” Party with our best party animal friends. A talented friend made a wonderful cake that ended up smashed and ground into anyone’s face who stood still. You can see in the picture Kaz, Shane and I wearing what’s left of it after everyone wore some. Awesome fun.
As I said our aim at the moment is to sell up and travel some more. (Since starting this newsletter we have sold and we move out in a few days – 21December) We have a short trip (1 month) to Penang in Feb 2018 before returning for the birth of our 2nd Grandchild (to Lin & Adrian). Once our new addition is settled in to life as a Cahill we’re off, most likely to the USA for a 12 month road trip. At least that’s ‘plan A’. Plan B is a trip to Europe starting in Italy. As my maternal grandfather was Italian I may be entitled to obtain an Italian passport (there goes any hope I have of becoming Prime Minister) and that means no visa’s needed anywhere in the EU. Plans C,D E and so on include the rest of this planet but we’re flexible enough to not do it alphabetically. Finally there’s dear old Penang. We love Georgetown and ending up there is not an unpleasant or far fetched idea for us. Who knows?
So better keep a look out for next year’s blog posts to find out where we are.
That’s it for now. All our love and best wishes.
Garry, Shane and Family.