No we didn't fall off the tip of Tasmania whilst we had a fantastic 10 weeks there. Now I will be testing my memory to relate all the places we visited and things we did. We spent the first 5 weeks touring along the North coast and staying at Devonport, Burnie, Stanley back to Burnie and Ulverstone before heading down the Midland Highway to Cambridge. We spent many days visiting lots of gorgeous little towns incl Sheffield (famous for their amazing murals), Railton (with their town of topiaries) Penguin has beautiful beach views and Stanley was very windy but a cute little place, whilst we were there we did a day trip across to Marawah (has some of the best surf breaks in the world) but was flat the day we were there so couldn't get any great photos for you Brent, and lunched at Arthur River, quite remote but a lovely place. We left our van at Burnie for a few days and went to Strahan and did the amazing Gordon River cruise (lots of yummy seafood for lunch) and then onto Queenstown and Cradle Mountain where we stayed for a night. At Ulverstone we stayed awhile, beautiful park, lovely beaches to walk along nice shopping centre and a great patchwork shop, where the 2 Lyn's looked after me and of course didn't mind taking my money. I thought it was time I made a quilt for our bed (and as yet I still haven't even cut it out). Woops - I forgot that we went to one of our favourite places in George Town and whilst there we did a day trip to Bridport, Scottsdale, Lilydale (nice patchwork shop) and back. Another day on the other side of the Tamar River was spent at Beaconsfield and found there tribute to the mine disaster simply fantastic. After staying at lovely Longford and seeing the sights of Launceston we did day trips to the Great Lakes area and Deloraine. We travelled to Cambridge to stay over the long weekend in March and Rita visited us there. We did the retail therapy bit - Salamanca Market and tripped around Snug, Kettering, Cygnet and Huonville. After she flew back to Melb (and work) we did a day cruise from Hobart down to Bruny Island and went on the open boat trip south of Bruny, we had a incredible day out. Then we were off to New Norfolk and enjoyed the views across the Derwent River and a day at Lake StClair. I enjoyed trawling the Antique shops in New Norfolk. From there we went back up the Midland and across to the East coast and spent a fantastic week at Bicheno, where we had beautiful weather visiting the Freycinet Penin, St Helens and Bay of Fires and BinalongBay the scenery is out of this world along there. Our time was coming to an end and after another night at Longford and Easter at Ulverstone again (of course I wanted to visit the patchwork shop again) we boarded the Spirit for a day sail back to Melb and of course we were keen to get back to meet our new granddaughter Alyssa Jade Norley born on 26th March. Our 10 weeks in Tas was fantastic and we were fortunate enough to see almost all of it and we were blessed with perfect weather. We are now heading up the East Coast of Aust, looking for some warm weather and have only one appointment and that is in Oct on the Gold Coast for son Troy's wedding (I guess we should be there a few weeks earlier as I have the wedding dress to make). Will try to find time to post again further up the Coast - ah this retired life is sooooo busy!!!!

The last 3 months

Lets see how good my memory is since I last posted a blog !!! We spent 3 lovely weeks in the Fleurieu Peninsula in SA in the gorgeous town of Strathalbyn. From there we were able to visit many places within an easy half hours drive - Victor Harbour, Goolwa and Port Elliott and the lovely Adelaide Hills, we were also able to see Geoff's cousin Barry and Kathy and also Auntie Marg. We spent 3 very adventurous days on Kangaroo Island and travelled some 500km in that time. Next stop was the Barossa Valley where we spent 10 days at Nuriootpa. The Barossa was lush and green and all those lovely rows of vines going up and down the hills!! We had our grandson Thomas stay with us which was great and he had plenty of room there to practice his baseball pitching (his favourite sport) it was also eldest son Trevor's birthday so we all went out for a nice dinner. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening with Auntie Joan and Jenny and Robert and all enjoyed Auntie's roast dinner, it has been really special to be able to see relatives that we don't get to see often.Then it was off to the Yorke Peninsula and we stayed at Moonta Bay right on the edge of the beach and the sunsets over the Spencer Gulf were amazing - ah the serenity !!! We travelled all over the Peninsula in one day stopping at all the little towns. They were just starting there harvesting and they had cereal crops that were a metre high in some places, I think they must have all had a bumper harvest (as compared with the poor wheat crops we saw around Mildura). We spent a terrific evening with Geoff's cousin Lyn and husband Des who live at Wallaroo and have their business in Kadina. Clare valley was the next stop and once again all those lovely lush grape vines and visited some wineries there also. A day visit to Burra was great and they had a fantastic art exhibition on then off to other little towns between there and Clare (of course I have forgotten all of the names of thus towns now). We had one night at Renmark as the start of our trip along the Murray and it was also the start of the very hot weather we had in Nov, we took advantage of their beautiful pool at the park. A week in Mildura, where every day was over 40 deg was a real test of our intestinal fortitude, thank goodness for the aircon in the van and their nice pool too. I had my birthday in Swan Hill where we went to the Pioneer Settlement and a nice cruise down the Murray and out for a lovely dinner that night. A quick stopover in Echuca and then a very relaxing week at the RACV resort at Cobram and also made good use of the pool. (Yes - by then we were getting a nice tan). A couple of nights in Wang to catch up with friends incl a lovely evening out with Rob, Di and Jayne then we were off to Bright. Geoff's stepdad Laurie was celebrating his 80th birthday so we had a week there on the banks of the Ovens river (ah the serenity again). Laurie had a great evening out with about 40 family and close friends and then on the Sunday we had a bar b que at his place. I made him a quilt - Australian Wildflowers (will try and post a photo of) and Geoff's 3 sisters and us gave that to him. Back to Wang for a couple of jobs to get done on the van and for me 2 busy evenings out, Monday night with my cards girls friends and Tues night both of us for the Inner Wheel Christmas dinner, it was fantastic to catch up with all of them again and I miss them. Healesville was our next stop for 12 days (thanks to Bev & Mike) for suggesting the park there with the Badger Creek gurgling along beside us and lots of lovely birds it was a lovely spot to relax before the Christmas festivities. We were able to go to granddaughter Ella's school concert and also her 6th birthday. We travelled up to Warragul for the funeral of my very special Auntie Jean she was in her 95th year and still a very fit and active lady who loved her garden and had not long finished milking the cows at her sons. She was given a very fitting farewell by her family. I travelled to Tamworth with Rita and Lorna (2 sisters) to go to a nephews wedding celebration and naming ceremony of their 1 yr old daughter. We had a great 3 days and once again were able to celebrate with nieces and great nieces and nephew. Christmas was spent at Chelsea at the park there and we were able to divide our time between the girls and the grandchildren. We minded Ella when Siobhan had to go back to work and we also spent a week with our gorgeous twin grandsons taking them swimming (that was very special). It was lovely to be able to catch up with my brother and sisters whilst we were down there also. And also spent a couple of nice hours with nephew Darryl and Annette and 2 of their girls when they were in Bright holidaying. We are now in Tasmania and hope to have about 3 months here. With any luck I will find time to post another blog on Tas soon (but there is soooo much to see here).