We had a quiet but very pleasant New Year with friends, Gina and Rod. We ate continuous snacks then walked along towards Southbank to watch some fireworks. A day later my sister in law, Annabelle, and niece, Ella, came to see us from where they were visiting on the Gold Coast. We had lunch at the pub as many places in the city were still closed from New Year. We hadn't seen Annabelle for a few years and Ella a few more than that! A fair bit of catching up with f...

Our plan to overnight in Istanbul worked out well. Our hotel was very Eastern European with swags, tassels and flounces and gold gilt everywhere - quite fun. It was in a super position for the old town, Grand Bazaar and the mosques and palaces etc so we'll definitely stay there when we sail up this way next year for exploring the city. the Grand bazaar is said to be the oldest in the world and I'm sure the biggest - all under cover. 4000shops and 46 different str...

Our new boat that we began purchasing in Jan 2020 still awaits us in Bordeaux! We are applying for a travel exemption to leave Australia soon and just maybe we can get back to our Med cruising....? Who knows these days. Our travels started in 2015 when we left Australia in our sailing catamaran Chat Eau Bleu. Each year we flew home for 3 months to either escape the hurricane season in the Caribbean then the winter in Europe. Of course 2020 changed all that and w...