Travel with family & friends
We had travelled to New Zealand with friends previously but I was not blogging those trips. I do have Flickr albums for trips in 2007-08 (South Island) and 2010 (North Island) and for short conference trips in 2012 (Wellington) and 2016 (Hamilton). In 2014 I was better organised and blogged this trip.
Mum turned 90 in June 2014. She had never travelled out of Australia but was always willing to try something new. Majella organised a passport and she travelled to New Zealand with all three children and their spouses.
We ravelled to Tasmania with the same group who had travelled to New Zealand in February 2014. We explored the city and countryside and saw a lot of interesting places.
Our trip to Europe in 2017 was really a succession of shorter vacation experiences. We spent a bit more than four weeks in France and because the places we rented in Brittany and Normandy had two bedrooms we invited friends to join us – Dwyers from Australia for three weeks in Brittany and Salamins from Switzerland for a few days in Normandy.
A little later on our 2017 trip we met up with family in London and then at Derby for a family wedding. After that Jane arranged for a few of us to travel on to the Netherlands for a few days.
We flew to Adelaide with the same group of couples who had been on the trip to Tasmania. From there we explored a chunk of South Australia and some of us finished by taking The Ghan to Darwin before flying home.
Hannah was turning forty and wanted Callum and Claire to experience some of things she recalled from her childhood years in Innisfail. Jane found a house that could accommodate 19 people and the whole family spent most of a week exploring FNQ.
Majella was keen to see the wildflowers in Western Australia so we began planning a trip in 2020. We mentioned it to John and Lynne Nunan and agreed to do it together. COVID-19 prevented us going in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 Lynne was ill. We finally made it in 2023.
Friends from the USA came to visit. We rode the Spirit of Queensland train from Brisbane to Cairns and enjoyed some time in Far North Queensland.