May 2024 - Palm Cove, Melbourne and Noosa

^Choosing a few photos for this month's blog entry made me realise this has been the month of the Queensland beach walks!! What a privilege to live in a country where there are such beautiful, unspoiled beaches which are also accessible to all.


We started the month in Palm Cove. Our last group who stayed with us are a couple we have been friends with for almost 40 years! It was lovely to spend a few, relaxed days together. Dropping them off at Cairns airport on a Monday morning, we started the almost 3,000 kilometre drive home to Melbourne.

I wanted to be home by the Friday as I had concert tickets booked for Melbourne for the Saturday night and it was Mothers’ Day on the Sunday. We had also been away for almost three weeks and we were less than four weeks away from a two month trip to Europe (sorry, that’s a lot of numbers!!) The upshot of all that is that we had no time to wind our way down the East Coast. It was basically point the car and drive. And drive. And drive.

We have a brand new car so the drive was very comfortable and, with the help of downloaded music and podcasts, it was not even super boring but it still seemed ridiculous to me to drive 4.5 days when the flight is a mere 3 hours. Not to mention the expense of the accommodation, petrol and wear and tear on the brand new car. And did I mention that Andrew was not able to take the boat out once as the wind blew every, single day. So, all that effort and expense was for a couple of days fishing in April. The things we do….sigh.

Mothers’ Day was lovely. Brunch in the city with the kids then watching Collingwood win at Marvel Stadium then dinner at home with our mothers. I know it’s trite to say that being a mother is my greatest achievement but it is. The pride I feel when I think of my four children makes my heart burst. I don’t need any Mothers’ Day fuss nor gifts (especially on top of my birthday last month) but I’ll take the day as it is a chance to spend time with all my grown up babies 😊

We were also lucky enough to be in Melbourne to celebrate my Dad's 83rd birthday. I say lucky as 83 is a decent age plus he has been very unwell. At the moment, he is pretty good so thankful for that. 

The rest of May had some fun highlights: a concert at the iconic Palais Theatre in St Kilda, footy at the MCG and another game at Marvel, seeing the legendary Sarah Brightman perform in “Sunset Boulevard” and a sneaky few days in Noosa.

Andrew’s sister and her family are having a Sunshine Coast sea change for 2024 and our brother in law is having a milestone birthday so we flew up for a couple of days and spent some time with them. Two hours in the plane and we went from jumpers and coats in Melbourne to t-shirts in Noosa! We had coffee on the Noosa river and at the beach, Surf Club meals looking at the waves and a fancy restaurant meal to celebrate the big birthday. A gorgeous couple of days!

In super exciting news for me, I scored my first travel famil/press trip. It is a cruise of Croatia in July with Azamara Cruises. I have been sent a draft itinerary and it looks magic! Who would have thought even a year ago that I would be regarded as a travel writer/journo? Who would have thought even a year ago that I would be rewarded with a free trip (for Andrew and me) because of my travel writing??? Certainly not me!!

I actually have irons in the fire for a few other trips at the moment. What a new chapter I am having! 😜

On the 31st I will go to my first travel, networking event – a lunch organised by the Australian Society of Travel Writers. I won’t know a soul so I will have to put my big girl pants on and see what connections I can make and what I can learn. Wish me luck!

In Writing Wins for the month, I had my first piece of “essay” writing published – a reflection of not
having any teenage children any more. No More Teenagers in Our House was published in Business Insider which is based in New York City – wow!

A couple of flash fiction stories: Sibling Love and Golden Memories plus a travel article - Top 11 Things to Do in Sydney rounded out a busy month.

The next two months will be spent enjoying an epic European Summer trip. Look forward to sharing it 😊

                                                ^Clifton beach (just south of Palm Cove)

                                                                ^Peregian Beach (near Noosa)

                                                ^Noosa Main Beach

^Townsville Beach (a long drive ahead!)

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