Greetings from Dunedin 

Hello 2024 and hello to Retirement for us both.

I gave up full time work on the 22nd of December 2022 and Vicki has joined me in late February of 2024. Our plan is to eventually start traveling a bit in our Leisureline Caravan that we have just bought. Before we start doing that though we have a trip to Oz planned for June/July this and we need to get a new vehicle that can tow the new van.  It is a bit heavier than our Swift so the Highlander needs replacing.

We are heading to Melbourne in late June to go to the International Lions Convention which starts on the 21st.  We are going over a few days earlier because we haven't been there since 2004 when we shift to Oz.  After convention we are going to drive thru to Adelaide via Shepparton and Bendigo.  We haven't been to this part of Victoria before so we will be able to mark this region off on our map of places we have been.  After that we will drive to Adelaide and spend a couple of weeks catching up with our friends there.

In 2022 Vick & I had a trip to the West Coast of the Suth Island by train which we have talked about for many years. We never went anywhere for our 40th wedding anniversary because of Covid, so we decided to do the trip on the Trans Alpine Railway from Christchurch to Greymouth  and spend a few days on the Coast.  We haven't been to Greymouth since 2007 when we did a quick trip around with Grant & Selina and we haven't been to Westport since 1997, so it was long over due. Check out the picture link below too.

 The last few years have been something out of a horror movie with Covid so it is good to see the world finally opening up again and accepting the these types of viruses may be with up for a while.  2022 was a particularly rough year for us with us both catching Covid, them me getting a dose of the flu and then in August I got hit with what was diagnosed as Legionaires Disease. It took a long time to started feeling better.  Retirement helped.

The last time we left NZ seems like a lifetime ago, back in August 2019 when we travelled to the UK & France. It is now but a fading memory We flew into Edinburgh, Scotland on Friday the 23rd of August  and spent a week doing a very quick trip down thru the UK, before getting the ferry at Dover to Calais. Our trip had been around 18 months in the planning which started on our last trip to Adelaide in early 2018, when Pete and Tina asked if we would like to join them, and others, on a trip up the Canal de Nivernais in France for a couple of weeks. Vicki's Travelogue can be seen HERE, and there is a link on that page, and also below, of some of the photos we took.

We have been under the English Channel before on the Eurostar so this time we planned to see Calais after a ferry ride. From Calais we travelled by train down to Decize to meet up with Grant & Selina and Pete & Tina. From Decize we slowly make our way north on the Canal du Nivernais over two full weeks.  There were three boat loads of us, and we travelled on a Royal Classique boat, so it was a very social journey.  After about one hundred and twenty locks we ended up in Migennes. From there we left our fellow travellers and headed first across to Lyon for two nights, then onto Dubai for 28 hours, had a brief stop over in Auckland, and finally home to Dunedin on Saturday the 21st of September.

As mentioned, our last trip to Oz was a long weekend in Adelaide in February 2018 where we got to meet Ellise & Brad's lovely wee daughter Emilia, and Erin & Nick's strapping lad Louis. Unfortunately Anthony & Jesse's little man hadn't arrived before we flew in. We had planned to spend some time back in S.A. in August of 2022 but like many things, it didn't happen. Since then Ellise and Brad have welcomed Sebastian to their family. They came and spent two weeks with us in May 2023 which was great. We are looking forward to catching up with them all this year.

Chris, Anita and the kids have moved back to Dunedin from Cromwell and bought an established home in Abbotsford.  Chris is now Otago Southland Manager of CHNZ (Commercial Hire NZ) Truck Hire based in Mosgiel and Anita has set up a mobile coffee business covering the local area, see Ynot a Coffee.

This webpage was originally set up to allow family and friends back in NZ see places we had visited while we lived in South Australia between 2004 & 2009. If you have time please check out some of the photo galleries listed below.

It is over fourteen years since we returned home from Oz. We met some amazing people while we lived in South Australia for five years, and found that, even though you don't see them as regularly, you do not lose your friends at home. We have enjoyed showing off our real home to some of our Aussie friends who have visited in the past years and look forward to hosting more if they wish to come over.  Hopefully with the world sorting out this Covid thing we will all be able to travel again, once prices sort themselves out.

Come back soon and see what we are up to. If you Hit the email icon on the left panel, you can let us know you have visited our site

 

Trev, Vicki, Mac & Coco

We now have our own Weather Station & Webcams, so if you want to see what it is like in Green Island, click on one of these links just below;

 booked.net   

   

 

 

To see some pictures of places we have visited in the past click on any of the links below

2023 Various (Coming)  
Trev's 65th & Trip to Wellington 2022 Various
2021 Various TransAlpine Trip 2022
Trip 2019 - The UK & France 2020 Various
Otematata - Feb 2019 2018 Various
Wellington 16-18th March 2018 Adelaide - Perth 2017
Adelaide & Sydney 2016 Richardson's Motor Museum
Northern Queensland 2015 T&C Fishing Trip - June 2015
Sunshine Coast 2014  Brad & Carli's Wedding
Brad & Ellise's Wedding Caravans - Old & New 
Fishing Trip out off Taieri Mouth  Fishing Trip Tuatapere & Easter 2013 
Oz Road Trip 2012   Fishing 2011
Macy Paddy Roberts (Ongoing) European Trip 2011
The Deck at Koremata Street Jigger Trip up the Taieri Gorge
Nullabor Golf 2009 Oz Road Trip 
Bali 2009  Perth, Queens Birthday 2009
Colman & Nicole's Wedding Kids Visit July 2009
Eyre Peninsula Trip 2009 Adelaide Sevens Pics 
Clipsal 500, 2009  Chris & Anita's Wedding 
NZ February 2009 Red Bull Air Race Perth
Vicki's Birthday 2008 Coonawarra Weekend  
Wilpena Pound Trip   Renmark, Mildura & Wentworth
Northern Lights Display Adelaide Rugby Sevens 2008 
House Boating on the Murray River Riley Roberts (Ongoing)
Nangchang CJ-6A Flight Old Tailem Town
Trev's 50th Fish Stalker II Charter 2007
Cleland Wildlife Park Vicki's Birthday 2007
Adelaide Gaol Visit  Queens Birthday 2007 
Adelaide Rugby Sevens 2007 The Clare Valley
New Zealand Trip 2007 Mosca Family Pics
Train Trip, North Adelaide Port Adelaide's Museums
Horsham & The Grampians Sydney
Singapore Third Ave.. Forestville
Barossa Album Around Adelaide 2004
Royal Adelaide Show 1st Yorke Peninsula Trip
South Western Suburbs Fleurieu Peninsula
'Wild Thing' Fishing Charter Adelaide Hills Vineyards
  Great Ocean Road Trip Steam Ranger Train Trip
Protea World & Chateau Barossa Padthaway Weekend
Trip Back for Chris's 21st Melbourne to Adelaide 2004

 

Page last updated 16-Mar-2024