Two Drifters

Just a quick update this month as we have had a pleasantly quiet few weeks. As I write this, we have been in Melbourne (or Rye) for a WHOLE.4.WEEKS. Whacko!! I could say that I have cleaned the house from top to bottom and the same at Rye but that would be a lie 😂  I have done a few things – unpack is one 🤣 – but, generally, we have just got back into a bit of a rhythm. The dogs have gone back to being walked daily, the daughters have meals cooked for them (sometimes!) and we have caught up with family and friends. Our granddaughter is due to be born next week (first baby so who knows???) We are all verrrrry excited. A few days after we got home we threw a Baby Shower for A which was a beautiful afternoon of pink, pink and more pink! My girls did a lot of work with “the vision” and it was a lovely day. A few days later, it was time for our daughter-in-law to be, K, to turn 30. A and M turn 30 in coming months so it was the first of three 30th birthdays in the next three months. W...

Isn't she a beauty?! A shorter than usual entry for me this month as I am in “holiday mode.” I have spent most of the month at my happy place in Rye (where I am writing this). My first trip outside of Rye is 30 January when I fly to Perth ahead of flying the following day to the Cocos Keeling Islands for a week! Look for photo spam on @2_drifterss (Instagram) and for a rundown in February. Very excited for this incredible opportunity. Rewind to this month..the weather has been incredible in Melbourne (very stable and sunny). We have happily pottered about at our house, in the garden, read, watched the Australian Open, watched cricket, had a couple of lazy winery lunches, had family time, swam and generally lolled about. Perfect! On my first morning here, I went to Polperro Winery in Red Hill for a morning outdoor yoga class – blissful. Sadly (!!), that was the beginning and end of my yoga for the month. Oh well, one class is better than none!! Our lovely winery lunches were at Port...

The first couple of days of March were spent in India – in Jaisalmer and in Delhi. We left the tour in Jodhpur and hired a driver to take us to Jaisalmer which is in the desert. It was a five or six hour drive from Jodhpur and I had a doze (I sleep very easily in the car!). I woke with a start to Andrew yelling, “That’s enough. Pull over!” Andrew had been watching our driver‘s head nod. When the driver also took his foot off the accelerator and started to move across the road, Andrew yelled out to wake up the driver. No harm was done but I didn’t fall asleep again after that!! Jaisalmer’s claim to fame is a magnificent fort where people still live and work today. We told our driver to rest and we hired a TukTuk to take us there. It was probably the hottest day we had - about 30 degrees – but the narrow streets atop the Fort were shaded and we had a lovely meander. I even managed to buy a few gifts (colourful scarves) and a couple of dresses. We flew from Jaisalmer to Delhi. In my head,...

Another year has started and, with it, we kicked off our first trip – a cruise on the Viking Orion from Sydney to Auckland. My Dad had booked this cruise but was not well enough to go and asked us to go in his place. We didn’t need to be asked twice! We missed our eldest’s birthday (he turned 28) but he and his fiancée were holidaying in Singapore anyway so I didn’t need to feel badly about that! Their wedding is at the end of the year so I will have a married child this time next year. Wow – when did I get that old??! The cruise was fun. The timing wasn’t great as it coincided with the other 3 kids and partners being on holidays. We ordinarily would have had lots of family time at Rye but, instead, we were sailing the High Seas! Also, we would not have chosen to cruise so soon after the cruise to Antarctica. Having said all that, we enjoyed it. We flew to Sydney (an adventure in itself as wild storms closed Melbourne airport twice whilst we were there!) By the time we arrived at the V...

Buenos Aires (pronounced Irez; not Aries) was amazing – crazy weather whilst we were there. We both also suffered from jet lag for a few days so our sightseeing was sometimes a bit foggy but we enjoyed Buenos Aires for the cosmopolitan city that it is.  BA is a contrast of neighbourhoods, architecture, colour and weather! In a few days, we had both    searing sun and drenching rain. We saw suburbs of grey and suburbs of vibrant colour, Parisian-style chateaux and brightly-painted timber buildings, grand buildings and boulevards and narrow, cobblestone alleys. We lucked in with Jacaranda in full blossom so there was a beautiful sprinkling of purple everywhere.  We learnt that Argentina had been a very rich country but is now in real danger of “going broke.” Inflation is crippling and the new President has some big challenges to face.   We stayed in a wonderful hotel which opened in 1922 – the Alvear Palace. The central lobby was inspired by the great Ocean Liners...

A very quiet month which we divided between Melbourne and Rye. The Spring weather was as unpredictable as ever and we were in jeans and long sleeves more than we were in t-shirts!  We spent some time catching up on household jobs and did some Spring gardening. Two houses and two gardens to maintain is a lot but it keeps us busy. Andrew has tackled some bigger gardening projects and hung some artwork - an example is pictured below!! L turned 23 and N turned 26 so we had big family dinners. We also had all the kids (except N) at Rye over the Cup Day unofficial long weekend so there were more big gatherings!   I finished my travel writing course (can’t recall whether I had mentioned that but it was an online, self-paced course). I enjoyed it and I have implemented quite a few of the lessons but Editors are still ignoring me. Ah well…persistence hey?! I actually had a little reflection about not having teenagers any more published in “The Australian.” No payment of course and the ...