December (Vietnam, Cambodia, Melbourne and Rye)


We started the month by meeting our newest granddog, Kevin. Adorable! (and a bit scared of our two Golden Retrievers who are giant by comparison). Kevin is a groodle and his nickname is “Big Kev” so he’ll catch up fast! Go doggie zoo at family get-togethers!

I headed into town one day for the Australian Society of Travel Writers’ Victorian Christmas lunch. It was held at the brand new Hotel Indigo on Bourke Street (adjacent to the brand new Holiday Inn) and neighbours with the brand new flagship MECCA and Rodd & Gunn stores. With the equally brand new Metro Tunnel, I am hoping that Melbourne is on the way back after the awful Covid lockdowns that snuffed Melbourne’s light.

The ASTW lunch was actually only the second Victorian event I have been able to go to, the first being in early June last year. I didn’t know a soul last year and found it very hard but I now know a few people and met a few more that day and really enjoyed it. Writing is a solitary profession and I am beginning to see how much writers enjoy a get-together and understanding why they do.

Two days after the ASTW lunch and we flew to Ho Chi Minh to start our CF Mekong by Croisi Europe cruise to Siem Reap. Our flight was meant to be late afternoon Friday. But we woke up that day to a text that it was postponed and it was then postponed a couple more times until it was ultimately cancelled and we were rebooked the next day. This had never happened to us despite all our travels and we were lucky that we we were kept informed and were able to stay at home (Andrew actually scored a bonus day of watching the Brisbane [cricket] Test!) The minus was we missed the first day of our cruise. Lucky the boat was overnighting in Ho Chi Minh so that part was easy.

We finally arrived late on the Saturday night and started our trip proper the next day with a tour of Ho Chi Minh before we sailed north towards Siem Reap in Cambodia. This was only our second Press Trip after Azamara in Croatia (July - August 2024) and we enjoyed working with others, all Aussies. 

The ship, the Toum Tium II (TT2) was the smallest ship we have ever been on with a 28 passenger capacity (only 8 passengers on our trip!). It was also our first Asian cruise.

We weren’t quite sure what to expect but we loved it. Loved the authenticity of the ship, loved the active excursions and loved the insight we got into the lives of the people who live along the Mekong.

This was really a “rural” cruise. Other than Ho Chi Minh, there were only two cities on the itinerary – Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. We had never been to Phnom Penh and really liked it. It’s worth a couple of days next time. We had been to Siem Reap before and only had an afternoon when the cruise ended so we booked our own tour to Angkor Wat. It was as beautiful as I remember but I wasn’t feeling well that day so a bit wasted on me.

As we arrived in Siem Reap, the first reports of the killings in Bondi came across my phone. Even being so far away, we were stunned and deeply saddened. I have no answers for the hate that exists in our world other than I believe there are far more good people in the world than bad and we must focus on the good. Light over darkness.

Back to the cruise, it is billed as “light adventure” so we kayaked, cycled, rowed, rode in Tuk Tuks, did walking tours, did cooking tours, did boat tours (sampans and motor boats) and rode a cable car. Everything was included in the cruise and there were Tuk Tuk options every day for those who didn’t want to/weren’t up to the more active option.

Until this year, I hadn’t ridden a bike for years but I started with an e-bike in January in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands then e-bikes a few times on our French river cruise in May, bikes in Germany with Uniworld in August and now bikes in Vietnam and Cambodia. Turns out I love the exhilaration of being on a bike (as long as there isn’t too much traffic!)

From Siem Reap we flew to Sihanoukville where we picked up and driven to the Port for our 45 minute speedboat transfer to Song Saa Private Island. We thought that this would be pretty specky but it was better than specky. It was AMAZING! The islands (there are two, joined by a footbridge) are naturally beautiful then the surrounding archipelago (Koh Rong) is beautiful, the resort is beautiful, the team is beautiful (falling over themselves to help us), the food is beautiful, the sunrises and sunsets are beautiful..!! 

In addition, we were treated like royalty with special experiences including: a couples’ outdoor massage on the water’s edge, a sound bath healing ceremony, lunch in the Chef’s Garden, dinner on the sand one night, on the edge of the infinity pool another night and in the overwater restaurant the other night. Oh and I forgot the guided walk of the jungle (with the resident botanist) and the guided trip to the nearby Village to learn about the work of the Song Saa Foundation.

My only criticism of the few days in Paradise was that we had no downtime and I would have loved a few hours by the infinity pool in our Villa. A small gripe as this was a wonderful experience.

Home a few days before Christmas, it has been a busy week or so hence posting about Christmas is short and sweet. We missed our youngest, G, and her boyfriend, E, who were travelling (they’re now home safe and sound). We gained my step-sister who was visiting from Manhattan. We had only met her once before so it was lovely to see her again.

And, of course, Christmas was made oh so special by sharing it with our new granddaughter. Sooo precious.

Post Christmas, we attended another two-day Test (that should have been 4 or 5 days...grrrr), this time at the MCG and we celebrated Andrew’s birthday at Rye where we’ll be for the next couple of weeks.

Signing off shortly as all the kids are here for NYE and we have a cocktail competition to start!!

This is my last post of the year and, as I write it, I am grappling with whether to continue these posts once a month or not. My website (to showcase my travel writing and my book/s) is about to go live and I’ll decide then what I do with this blog. In the meantime, thank you to anyone who has read my musings so far.

This year was the year we launched our YouTube channel. With 22 episodes and over 50 shorts, we have almost 64,000 subscribers!! Who would have thought????!!! The YouTube channel has been a creative outlet for Andrew and I and we’ll see where it goes!

As for my writing, I have been published by more outlets this year. To have two stories in Escape (with one more in the queue) and two in MiNDFOOD magazine plus becoming a semi-regular in the NZ Sunday papers and published three editions in a row in the RACQ magazine (with another story in the queue), a story in an inflight magazine and other new publications too…it is more than I could have expected at the beginning of the year!

Having said that, I have probably spent more time than I want to pitching story ideas and pitching collaboration ideas. My goal for next year is a bit more balance in my life even if that means fewer published stories. We’ll see…. I already have commissions for stories through to July 2026!

In Writing Wins, I’ve had three travel stories published and a flash fiction story that I wrote last year. Well, if you read it, you’ll realise it’s not fiction.

• Cruising European rivers in luxury: https://www.racq.com.au/articles/international-travel/cruising-european-rivers-in-luxury

• Spain, simplified: The relaxed luxury cruise for grown-ups: https://www.thepost.co.nz/travel/360898011/spain-simplified-relaxed-luxury-cruise-grown-ups and https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/360898011/spain-simplified-relaxed-luxury-cruise-grown-ups

• Five countries, 44 locks and one unforgettable European river cruise: https://www.joincitro.com.au/news/five-countries-european-river-cruise

• Hey Dad: https://www.cafelitmagazine.uk/2025/12/hey-dad-by-leonie-jarrett-cup-of-strong.html
















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