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August 2026 (Alaska, Canada and Melbourne)

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The Intrepid tour was lots of fun. And the scenery and wildlife were amazing. The mountains, rivers, streams and lakes were every but as beautiful as we expected. Truly stunning. We also saw deer, elk, bighorn sheep, chipmunks. And black bears. We saw bears twice, two days in a row. Both were beside the highway eating buffalo berries. It was such a treat to see these incredible creatures. Our favourite spot on the Intrepid Travel tour was Banff. We loved this little town (as did many thousands of others!!) It was big enough to be interesting and small enough to be charming. And it was beautiful.  One evening, we had a fun experience canoeing down the Bow River and we had a beaver swim beside us and slap his tail. After Intrepid, we had two days on the iconic Rocky Mountaineer, travelling from Banff to Vancouver. I had long dreamed of riding on this train so I was very excited to have the opportunity. Once again, the scenery was spectacular and it was also a very special experience ...
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July 2026 (Alaska and Canada)

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  What a month this has been. Just before we left Melbourne, we had the fright of our lives with our US ESTAs being denied (after they had been approved). The email came after hours and we literally had two business days to solve the issue or miss out on our Alaska cruise. Much stress and Googling and, in the middle of the night, we received another email saying we were approved again. A computer glitch apparently. Arrrghhhhh.  We started with a few days in each of Homer and Seward. What a few days – on our first day, a moose stopped traffic (!!) then we saw brown bears (on a bush plane day trip), sea otters, harbour seals, salmon, humpback whales and bald eagles. Andrew also saw halibut which he caught on a fishing charter and we ate for dinner. Yummm!!!!! The whales we saw were on wildlife cruises out of Seward and we were lucky enough to see them bubble-net feeding which is something we had never ever heard of. Basically, the whales spot herring and all blow bubbles togethe...
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June 2026 - Africa (and a little time at home)

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  Home for a brief rest as we head to Alaska and Canada at the beginning of July. The Africa and Alaska/Canada trips weren’t meant to be so close to each other but we’ll cope! 😂 Before I get to Africa, it was lovely to spend a couple of weeks at home. Caught up with our mums and spent time with all our kids and our gorgeous grandbaby. We even had a sleepover with our granddaughter to give her parents a break. She is a true delight and brings the whole family so much joy.  And, of course, we spent time with our much-loved doggies, Albus and Harry, who enjoyed a doggie holiday at the kennel whilst we were away. We are away a lot (although, usually, our daughters look after the dogs) and the dogs are so forgiving of us. Lick us to death when they see us and then act as if we were never away. I heard someone call dogs at our stage of life, “The kids after the kids grow up.” Truer words never spoken!! So, Africa…..WOW! We had a week (as a three-generation group of seven) at Mabali...
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May 2026 - The Bellarine, the Sunshine Coast and South Africa!

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We ended April by meeting the CEO and Australian Head of Sales & Operations for Panache in Sydney. We enjoyed a lovely “get to know you” breakfast and recorded some interviews. The CEO and Founder,James Cole, flew back to the UK later that day. We released our first interview on YouTube - https://youtu.be/yaG44N9BS9Y?si=hNvlJKF-F4HpIFPU where James talks about Panache and its expansion into Australia. It’s only about 15 minutes if you want to have a listen. Our second video with the Australian Head of Sales, Juliana Nasmith, is only five minutes - https://youtu.be/wyubaLcb6Bw?si=MoXnkVaOQdxQUZAH The next week, we spent two nights on the Bellarine Peninsula doing a famil (ie a trip organised for me where I have a story already commissioned ie presold/pre-ordered) and the following week we were off to the Sunshine Coast to see family. The week after that, we flew to Cape Town so it’s been a busy little period! First, the Bellarine. This trip had been in the works since February 2025...
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