Hi Everyone after such a long absence.  Merry Christmas to you all and hope you all had a great holiday.

It’s been such a long time since I posted that I hope you will all bear with me as I catch up on where we have been and what we have been doing.

NEWS FLASH!

Bren , Motley1’s grandson has been picked for the Queensland AFL School of Excellence.  A big Congratulations to him.  Well done Bren

!When you last read we were in Victor Harbor in South Australia and we were heading for a drive to Goolwa to see the mouth of the River Murray.  They continually dredge here to keep it flowing.  As we left to return for our last night in Victor Harbor we heard the dreaded sound of a flat tire.  We stopped to find the the tread was peeling off the car tires so we slowly drove back to Goolwa to have two new tires fitted to the car.  Thank goodness it happened today and not tomorrow when we would have had the van on.

We set off next morning and decided to take roads along which we had never travelled  ( we know, we know…crazy people) and ended up at the Wellington Ferry.  I don;t know why we have GPS we just ignore it anyway   That night we reached Ouyen and decided to stop there.  Very ordinary caravan park but more than adequate for an overnight stop.  Next day we set off again and stopped here at this very pretty park for morning tea.  By lunchtime we had had enough drving for now and stopped at the Gunbower Hotel where we had the BEST pasta carbonara either of us had ever tasted.    We set off yet again and headed for Gundagai.  We had passed through here before but never stopped in the town so decided that w would stay a couple of days and have a look around.  We booked into the caravan park where every site was like a car port with its own ensuite.  Very strange but enabled us to do some jobs on the van without getting soaked by the rain which came pouring down later that day.

Gundagai was built in the valley originally but flooded often after a major flood which caused loss of life the town was moved onto the neighbouring hills. These are the original bridges, at present unused but a local group are hoping to run a steam engine before too long.

Next on our travels was back along The Murray to Echuca/Moama where we decided to stop and do the local market.  We have seen the area pretty extensively before so took the opportunity to rest and do nothing much for a few days except feed this very friendly kookabura.

I had family arriving from Canada to visit Australia as part of their tour to the southern hemisphere so we headed north to make sure we were within travelling distance to visit with my Auntie Mary and Uncle Bob.

We travelled as far as the Southern Highlands and stopped at Mossvale, as usual it was very green.  The local library at Bowral had a book sale and I filled the van with books much to the disgust of Motley1 who keeps on about weight…I don’t know couldn’t he just lose a few pounds and I could have all the books I want?

It rained and it rained and it rained some more with thunder and lightning for good measure so any thought of doing the local market became out of the question.   It didn’t make any sense to hang around so we set off for Sydney and a visit with No.! son and daughter-in-law.

Well we have been here for five weeks now, the Canadian visitors have been and gone, Christmas has been and gone and it’s probably time we were too.  We have enjoyed wonderful hospitality as usual, we have taken part in a Backyard Blitz (laying new lawn, painting fences etc.) we have eaten well and drunk well a few times too

While here we did the Kings Cross Market. very picturesque as you can see here.  The Anzac Fountain never fails to lift my spirits.  It was a bit of an education for Motley1 though being in Kings Cross, he’s just a country boy at heart   We have done quite a few markets every week around town and so have had quite a busy time the last couple of weeks.

For the first time on our trip we have booked markets ahead for the next month as we were finding that during the holiday season it was becoming difficult to get a stall at the markets or accommodation on the coast.  We’re not sure if we like it though being committed to be somewhere as we are used to just deciding on a Monday or Tuesday where we will head to that week.

Till next time …without such a big gap this time

P.S. Hi Bob, See I did get round to updating eventually.  Was great to see you both and hope to do it again one day. Let Mary know that Motley1 dropped his camera and so the pictures from the airport won’t see the light of day on the web..awwwwwwwwwww