In our December 2023 blog, we wrote the following:

“We are very hopeful that 2024 will be much more exciting with a great deal of travel involved. We have plans A to Z and it will be interesting to see which of those plans actually turn into a reality.

One of the biggest lessons to come out of the Covid Pandemic is never to plan too far in advance and be willing to adapt and change at short notice.”

Plan A, as of December 2023, is to head back to Alice Springs to the Women’s Museum of Australia for our 5th, and probably final time, in March 2024. We aim to stay three to four months and then head to Western Australia.“

It’s just as well we were willing to adapt and change, as 2024 did not turn out as planned.

Alice Springs ended up being a no-go.  For Ray, much needed and  long-awaited kidney surgery finally happened in March in South Australia. However, he also developed a nasty hospital acquired infection and was quite unwell. He stayed longer in hospital on intravenous antibiotics. This meant he was not strong enough to be driving and towing a caravan 1500 kilometres to Alice Springs.

Although Ray recovered well, there were a few other health needs that required us to stay local to the Noarlunga Hospital. We don’t have private health care, so are at the mercy of the public system.

We were fortunate to be offered a property sit for five months in McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide CBD. This is a beautiful location, and we jumped at the chance. It is semi rural but close to all necessary amenities.

In late October, we finally set off on a bit of a road trip and took nearly a month to get back to Western Australia. We visited a variety of folk, explored pink lakes and old jetties, and crossed the Nullarbor for the 8th time.

One of the things we needed to do in WA was sort out our belongings stored in a shipping container on a friend’s farm. Those of you following us on Facebook will know that it didn’t end well. We lost most of our stored belongings to wet rot and mould. But the silver lining was it helped us decide what to keep…..nothing!

So although we stayed put for the majority of 2024, life wasn’t totally boring.

We would like to end this update with a Merry Christmas to one and all, and every happiness for 2025. Thanks for following us! 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️🐶

Enjoy some pics from 2024!