Family - Travels with Verne and Roy

Historical York, WA, 13-15 October 2020

A tale of two tiny towns; canola blossom prequel and a soapbox moment; Day Trippers, yeah! – York Motor Museum; Burnley House and Settlers Cottages – this and other cases of apostrophic abuse; where to eat, if you’re lucky

“You should spend a night or two exploring the olde-worlde historical Avon Valley,” son Carl had recommended – not once but several times. York had a great motor museum for his dad, and we should try to catch the spring wildflowers.

So, eventually, we did. I booked two nights’ mid-week accommodation at York’s Burnley House and Settlers Cottages through agoda.com. I’d fancied three nights, but Roy thought two would be enough. So now, not having seen everything there is to be seen, I have an excuse for us to go back there.

Busselton Break, 17-21 August 2020

The WA History Channel: Moondyne Joe advancing Australia fair; Broome or Busso?; Jolly Jetty Tour; Review: Bayside Geographe Bay Resort

It’s now nearly months since Roy and I have been forcibly confined to Western Australia – without one of us even having nicked a loaf of bread or a side of ham. And we’re gradually getting to know a bit about this aspect of local history, courtesy of granddaughter Mia (10).

Tea for Two at The Green Tea House, Subiaco – July 2020

The tea-tabulous Tsutomo Iwasaki; flashback to Kagoshima 2009; of catechins, monks and samurais; a long story; An Innocent Man; Sam-san the barista-in-training

Tasting green tea at the tea-tasting-tabulous Green Tea House, Subiaco, Perth

One Wednesday afternoon in July, after a light bite of lunch at Cranked in the buzzy inner city suburb of Leederville, my new friend Debbie Uller drove me to the Green Tea House (www.greenteahouse.com.au). (Find it at Shop 17, 375 Hay Street in Subiaco; call +618 9388 7425).

Debbie at the Green Tea House – a suburban shopwindow hides a little corner of Tokyo

Love in the time of Covid-19, Part Two: Flattening the Curve, May 2020

Winter whinge; my loser husband; cycling for svelteness; surf ’n’ turf birthday barbie; hallelujah for Phase 3!

Though there’s still a fair amount of sunshine, the weather has drastically cooled here in WA. We set off on our often blustery morning bike-ride to Mullaloo in temperatures of 13°C or 14°C; it might rise to 20°C or so by lunchtime, and in the wee hours it can on occasion drop as low as 8°C.

Coastal cycling path from Burns Beach to Mullaloo

Love in the Time of Covid-19, March to April 2020

The Land Down Under; All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go; Goodbye Z4, Hello Volvo CX 40; Stayin’ Alive; The End of the World as We Know it; Blue Skies Through the Tears

Bursting with travel plans for the rest of 2020, Roy and I arrived in Perth WA on 21 February from South Africa. (For the record, we’d come via Paris, Roy’s niece Charlie’s London wedding, a couple of days with my sister Dale and her family in Kent, and then six nights in Singapore.)

Brahman Hills and Verne’s Big Birthday Bash, 17-22 January 2020

Several good hotels and spas are to be found in the green and pleasant Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. The newest and shiniest of these is Brahman Hills, designed for weddings and conventions but also geared for girly getaways.

A few days after Verne’s Big Birthday Bash* at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, sister Dale and our mutual BFF Julie tore me from the bosom of assembled family and friends for a magnificent Midlands Meander birthday treat. (Click here, here, here, here and here – what, so many? – for posts on previous meanderings.)

(*Scroll down to the end for a whole lot of party photos, if you feel so inclined. Plus a gratuitous video of the author busting a move.)

Visa Run to Blighty – Part 3: 25 Sept to 1 Oct

The Morrises and The Ivy; friends, family and the three-day Fish Rule; England’s Rose Freehouse; The Real Ship Inn at Sandgate; Eurotunnel to Calais; Beaune again

Sister Summer Trilogy: Shoreham, Herne Bay and Saint-Geniès

Sometimes, we leave Karanja in her home port of Moissac and go off for a while. From what we got up to in August, here’s a trio of sister-centric outings, in the UK and in France.

While visiting my sister Dale and her family in Kent, England, she and I did a couple of day trips – first to Shoreham village and The Mount Vineyard, and then to Herne Bay. Then Roy and I went back to the Dordogne to meet up with his younger sisters Lyndsay and Cheryll.

#1 Shoreham (Kent)

You have to specify Shoreham (Kent) because there’s another one – Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex.

Montech to Grisolles, 22-24 June

Munching in Montech; walking with Wendy; boiling heat and bingo in Grisolles; Aperol spritz recipe

Daughter Wendy drove 4.5 hours from Marseilles to spend two nights on the boat with us: the first in Montech and the second in Grisolles.

Easing into Summer 2019: Moissac to Montech, 12-21 June

Summer itinerary; travel travails; party people; broken bones; fetching the Twingo; music in Montech

Summer plans

So, after two months in Durban, what’s on the cards for the next four months in France aboard Karanja? Nothing hectic, it must be said. We’ll start the cruising season by heading eastwards along the Canal de Garonne to Toulouse, and spend a week in that lovely city. Then we may continue along the Canal du Midi to Castelnaudury for a few nights, before retracing our steps back to Montech. There, you can join the Canal de Montauban, which takes you to – you guessed it! – Montauban.