2020 Wrapped Up

It is New Years Eve, and we wish everyone a happier 2021.  

We have been nomadic (without a permanent home) for almost 2 years,  and although 2020 was not all we planned it to be, we are still enjoying the freedom of just making it all up as we go along.  

2020 has taught us not plan too far ahead, be very flexible, look on the bright side of life, travel very slow, be grateful for what we do have and how important staying connected to family and friends is.

Our travels this year

RED was Jan to May (incl covid lockdown) BLUE after lockdown May to December

We have spent 

137 days in caravan parks

 82 days free camping

 77 days low cost, like National Parks

 44 days renting eg. our unit in Cairns, Magnetic Island 

 26 days with family

We spent over 4 months exploring the Queensland Coast... normally a 20 hour drive

Let our adventures for 2021 begin.....

Merry Christmas

This year has tested us in different ways and we hope that we all can still find some Joy this Christmas Season, and have hope that 2021 will be a kinder year to everyone. 

We are not relying on the mail this year to send our best wishes, so to everyone ...... we send All our Love, Derek and Michelle

Brisbane Break

We are coming to the close of our short trip to Brisbane and a much needed dose of Grandkiddies. 

We had a lovely stay at Main Beach Southport, Gold Coast and spent a lot of time hanging out with them. Main Beach was an awesome quiet corner of the coast, great walks and scenery, and walkable to Surfers main beach.

Sunbird Apartments

The mandatory Geocache hunt

The tradition of jumping if you get a hole-in-one at Putt Putt.....we all managed at least one

Pa minding the 2 youngest while we finish shopping.......a (virtual) reindeer hunt through the shopping centre....incredible technology

And of course a treat....they so have him around their little finger

The nights were very pleasant and gave us time to walk off dinner

We had doctors checkups at the Sunshine Coast (we are so grateful for our good health), and a couple of early Christmas get togethers with friends and family, including early presents.

We finished off with a City Cat river trip into the City, Christmas lights and tree, dinner, sundaes and a pretty City Cat ride back to our car

City Hall lights show










Sad to leave yet again, but had the best time.....they are all growing up fast

Our bird of the week is this cute little double barred finch in suburban Brisbane, spotted on our morning walk.

Time for Gratitude

Everyday is a good day to Give Thanks for what we are Grateful for, there is so much: family, friends, health, to name a few,

We are grateful for many things, including the time we spent catching up with my cousins, they are such an inspiration to us and we had a fabulous day out on Friday. We picked them up very early in the morning and drove up the range to the Windin Falls trail head by 8.30am for a 12km return hike, the chance to be amongst nature and visit this awesome waterfall on the Atherton Tablelands which has an abundance of National Parks, lakes and waterfalls to explore. We are grateful to be settled in Cairns close to Craig and family, and for the opportunity they give us to serve them and to spend time with Ayla. 

Awesome view at Windin Falls down the valley in Wooroonooran NP to Mt Bellenden Ker in the distance

Didn’t go for a dip in the infinity pool, too close to the 200 metre drop for us


Sunrise, Sunset, a great drive, hike and a rock scramble down to the waterfall at the end

We are grateful for the beautiful botanic gardens next to our Apartment and the free Birding mornings every Tuesday. It gave me an opportunity to stroll through the gardens and enjoy the plants and birds with very experienced nature lovers... 48 bird species spotted

We enjoy our morning walk through these gardens, and up and down the tough Red and Yellow Arrow Hiking Trails, it is easy to find a 5km circuit in and around the gardens

Chinese Friendship Garden






Bird of the week is the Yellow Green Oriole, unusual pink beak, its call is so loud and clear, but he is hard to spot

We’ve parked the Van up!

We have at least 2 fabulous reasons to linger longer in Cairns now that we are here, which are Ayla’s 3rd birthday in mid November and the birth of Craig & Sara’s 2nd baby early January. So with our travel plans requiring at least a 3 month stay here, with it comes hot temperatures, extreme humidity and an El Nino weather event which will bring a very wet ‘wet season’, where the rain can continue for many days at a time, and with more cyclones than usual.

So to be more comfortable (and cooler) we have parked up the van in a nearby caravan park (it is not the tourist season so storage rates are cheap) and taken a lease on a one bedroom, fully furnished apartment in a gated, tropical resort for 6 months. We were very fortunate to get something so nice so quickly. We hope we won’t miss the van too much, and I guess we can go and get it and do a few short trips if we need a “fix”.

We are grateful it is close to Craig, the Esplanade, Botanic Gardens and the many hikes through the Whitfield Conservation area.

We plan to explore the region in depth (subject to the weather) as Cairns is surrounded by a multitude of tropical rainforests, National Parks, tablelands, waterfalls, lakes, hikes, scenic views, small villages, beaches, wetlands and mountains. In between making ourselves useful to Craig and Sara, we will revisit some of the places we visited during our 8 years here - 13 years ago, and find some places we missed...I’m sure it will be a lot different this time as we have much more free time.

We enjoyed our stay here, beautiful pool, walks and scenery

The remnants of old Smithfield Town, the Barron River, and came across an abandoned Scout Camp


Said goodbye to our neighbour, they are heading down to Brisbane for Christmas...thought we recognised the shirt!

Spring cleaned the van

Made the van ready for stormy wet weather, as much as we can

Unpacked and settled into our new apartment....where did all this stuff come from?

We have a choice of 4 pools, and have already had a swim with Craig, Sara and Ayla in one of them

Our street

Our bird of the week is a Metallic Starling, found in flocks on the Esplanade

All varied so much ...this is the juvenile