2013

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to say that our health is bearing up well apart from the usual minor aches and pains. Despite taking great care to have the latest 'flu vaccinations each of us was struck down with a virus but recovery was not unduly lengthy. Our sympathies and good wishes go out to some of our friends who are not so lucky and have major health issues to overcome.

For us it has been another year of in-country holidays enjoying the delights that Australia can offer. For some weeks in January and February we had driven down to Tassie staying mainly in the north at our beloved base of Beauty Point. We made a point of visiting new places by following the Princes Highway through the towns of southern NSW, the forests of Gippsland and spent a couple of days at Lakes Entrance enjoying the waterways. Crossing back to Melbourne we took our second look after 31 years at the Great Ocean Road and found the tourist population had grown ten-fold and access to the Apostle coast much more severely limited.

We had a delightful night in Port Campbell before heading north to Broken Hill via the Silver City Highway where wild goats outnumbered roos at least 10 to 1. Travelling back via Mildura and the Hay Plains we became trapped in Port Macquarie for several nights waiting for the floods occasioned by the remnant cyclone to die down and the Pacific Highway to reopen at Kempsey. The only major road open from Port Macquarie was back south again. A cracked windscreen and failed aircon unit were unwelcome outcomes as well. Fortunately in our absence our solar panels had built a much more welcome credit in our electricity bill.

Michael's radio-controlled Laser sailing took us on a couple of interesting trips. First a few nights in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast for the SE Qld championships at Kuwana Waters. Then a few days in Adelaide for the Australian National championships with very stiff competition. Michael finished down the field at 20th but learned a great deal. A couple of his club teammates did somewhat better and their collective presence secured the 2014 nationals for his Paradise Radio Yacht Club at Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast next year. He was later dobbed in for the organising committee as well.

With friends Tina and Wolfgang we spent a week in Cairns in November prior to the beginning of the wet season. We had good sunny weather for the most part but the temperature and humidity were trying and 5 days would have been enough.

Now we are getting organised for our maiden cruise aboard a small ship for Christmas and New Year in Australian and New Zealand waters. Our friends Bev and Dud among others finally persuaded us to take the plunge into this cruising lark despite the hit to the bank balance. Anticipation is high and a report will follow next year.

Margot continues on her mammoth task of refining our 80K member family tree filling in gaps and checking the latest information particularly in respect to location in a standard format. She is approximately half way through what appears to be a 3-year project before starting to add new branches again. To provide breaks from the keyboard she keeps our small garden surrounding the villa under control and is amassing an every-growing collection of bromeliads. These need guarding from the body corporate gardeners who look after the bulk of our resort land.

Michael has always been attracted to teaching online even though Bond Uni prided itself in specialising in small, face-to-face classes. After taking a dozen or so Massive Open Online Courses as a student Michael has finally dipped his toe in the water and created his own short MOOC which is a very short introduction to The Cloud. Taking approximately 3 hours to complete his own MOOC is called The Cloud and You and can be found on Udemy.com. He is still waiting for the course to go viral! Our second bedroom had become a studio with lights, backdrop, microphone and video camera. There is distinct room for improvement.

We send best wishes for the festive season and a happy and healthy new year.

Margot and Michael

Rocks at Narooma, NSW

Artemis Cottage on left, Beauty Point, Tas

London Bridge vanished since our last visit to the Great Ocean Road, Vic

Racing Lasers at Emerald Lakes, Gold Coast, Qld

Wangetti Beach, North Queensland