1st December 2021
Today is the first of December - the official start of summer in Australia and almost the corresponding offical start of winter in the UK. It is raining non stop in Queensland, and is freezing and storms in UK. But that is OK, and to be expected - I can handle that.
But I am now 74 - in fact nearly 74 1/2 !! I have had a great life, travelling all over the world, we have 3 fantastic children and 6 (+2) gorgeous grandchildren. More recently I have been able to drive all over the world, and even competed in the 2019 Peking to Paris before the world shut down with Covid. How lucky I was to fit all that in before the world went crazy ?
This week, just as we were getting used to Delta. the Omicron strain has reared its head, and once again all the plans for re-opening the country and the world are in turmoil until "the experts" determine how "bad" it is.
I personally haven't found it hard being shut down - At least, most of the time. Initially I spent the first 6 months of lockdown in my garage, rebuilding a Volkswagen, so I kind of welcomed the peace and quiet. I didn't miss not being able to go to restaurants or bars. Then Queensland was fairly open, and we have been allowed to travel "isolation-free" to Tasmania so we could have Christmas for the past 2 years with Sarah and Benn and their girls. We even managed to drive over to Perth to see Damien and Meisha and their family in June, although we did have to make a few sudden detours when NSW and SA closed their borders on us ! So I wouldn't say that the last 2 years of Covid has been overly onerous for us - Although I readily acknowledge that we were very fortunate - A lot of people have suffered terribly during this pandemic, and my heart bleeds for them.
Janet and I have had our vaccinations, and have been more than happy to get them. We will have a booster shot as soon as we can after the 6 month wait passes. I have no problem wearing a mask, or checking in when I enter a shop of restaurant - To me that is just being a responsible adult in these trying times, and something that we should do for our community - No more onerous than having to wear a seat belt, obey speed limits and other road rules, or behave responsibly in public.
What HAS been hard is not being able to travel to the Netherlands to see Nick and Tanja and their 3 girls - two of whom were born 2 years ago and we have never seen - except on Facetime. That is hard on Janet especially, but I feel it too. And now they have just all been diagnosed with Covid, so they are all isolating at home in Almere.
But also hard for me is the realisation that my days of wandering round this planet are probably over. I find that increasingly the effort of organising everything for travel is getting much more taxing - even without Covid and all the extra tests and paperwork that are needed. This realisation does not make me sad - As I said before, how lucky have I been to fit all my recent travels in before these restictions arrived - And I feel strongly that many of the more remote countries are not going to be open for normal tourism for some time, even years, yet. No, it is more just a realisation that my body and mind are aging, and some things just aren't as easy to do as they used to be.
Now March 26th 2022, so 3 months since I wrote the above, and to be honest I feel even more the same. Janet and I have just got back from Melbourne, with Janet being down there for 2 months to help Sarah move with the girls from Tasmania to Melbourne for the new chapter in their life with Benn and their Fox Friday Brewery which will be opening in Melbourne shortly, while I just drove down later and had 3 weeks with them before we drove back to Queensland on 17th March, after spending a few days with our friends Jos and Tony on the farm in Yackandandah in Victoria. It was great to spend some time with Sarah and the girls, and Benn when he managed to get away from Hobart, and see them settling in to their new home and new schools. I think they will be very happy there.
The 4 days in Yackandandah were non stop, with expeditions out to Mitta Mitta pub for lunch in the country, and to King River Brewing, (again for lunch to celebrate Kate's birthday), located out in the stunning High Country King Valley, near Whitfield. Both excellent locations and great places to spend relaxing time with our good friends. Side trips to Beechworth prison (Ned Kelly country !!) and to the Harry Power Lookout - Harry Power was a Bush Ranger who taught a young Ned Kelly everything he knew. I just love this part of the world.
We broke our journey back to the Gold Coast by staying in a motel in Dubbo which is right across the road from the Dubbo Bowls Club, a favourite over night stop for us as you can get an excellent feed and a cold beer there, and it is just about half way between the Gold Coast and Melbourne.
Then home to see if our house was still OK after the non stop and torrential rains and floods that Queensland has been suffering while we were away. (Ironically, Melbourne weather has been beautifual and sunny !!). Everything was good at the house, apart from the grass on the lawn being about 2 ft high because the gardner has been unable to mow due to the constant rain !! Apart from that, all was good. Although we were very tired after the drive - It is about 1900 kms to Melbourne, and we used to do it non stop in one day when the kids were young. Now, even taking 2 days was too difficult - I think in future we are going to have to consider 3 days !! Which brings us back to the start of this entry, discussing some of the issues of old age !
While I was driving north we had a long rethink about our immediate plans. We have now booked to fly to Europe on the 29th June, and stay there for 3 months, returning at the end of September. This will allow us to spend lots of time with Nick and Tanja and the girls in Almere, as well as time to catch up with other friends and relatives in UK and N Europe. In the meantime I have been planning to drive Clementine the VW around Australia - basically a 20,000 km journey (if you include Tasmania !) that would take anywhere from 6-10 weeks, depending on weather / Covid restrictions / breakdowns. To be back home before the end of June would mean leaving by 1st April, which was only 2 weeks away. To make myself keep to my plans, I had even booked the ferry crossing to Tasmania for the 8th April, returning to the mainland on the 15th. But I was now starting to realise that there was so much I still was not totally confident with about the VW and that was starting to stress me a lot. The longest non-stop drive I have done so far was to the Sunshine Coast and back - A total of only 360 kms, and despite that proceeding almost withut a hitch, I have only driven it a total of 6000 kms, so to suddenly set off to do 20,000 kms in a 52 year old car that I, who is not a mechanic, had rebuilt, actually scared the living daylights out of me ! I just needed more time to prepare, to become confident in the car itself, and to test my new tent-trailer to make sure it works OK, since once again it is a unique design by me that no one has ever built or slept in before ! After lots of agonising, I decided that we have far too much to do to prepare for Europe (Accomodation, transport, meetings etc etc) and to attempt the Lap of Australia at this time would be too much - Especially since I also plan to try to raise money for Cancer Research during my Lap, and organising that also takes considerable time and effort if it is to be done properly. So the decision was made just to go down to Tasmania and then back to Queensland, so I could catch up with son-in-law Benn and see his new Brewery, and of course have a few beers while I was there! Having made this decision, I immediately felt a weight lift off my shoulders. 😊
Two days later, despite the change of plans, I found I was still stressed - So I decided to ditch even the trip to Tasmania, and focus 100% on the trip to Europe. I cancelled the ferry to Tasmania, and readjusted my midset once again, and immediately felt much better ! This trip to Europe might be our last - Along with increasing age it seems that a lack of interest in extended travel also comes, and the effort involved just seems less worthwhile. I am well aware that many people travel well into their 90's, so I am not suggesting that age limits travel. Rather I am suggesting that the manner in which one travels may change as one gets older. I look back at the extensive organisation and planning that I had to put into both my Alaska trip in the Lotus in 2012, and then the 2 1/2 year trip through the Americas and Europe and parts of Africa, and I realise that I just don't feel like putting that much effort into the planning any more, let alone tavelling through all those wild countries and places. I am also realising that there is just so much to see and do in Australia that I don't really need to go overseas. And to be honest, there aren't very many places in the world that I haven't yet seen and would like to visit. My first choice would be to return to Alaska - I love that wild place so much, plus you can easily access Canada's Yukon and NW Territories, which are also so wild and scenic. Second choice would be to Newfoundland - It just blew me away on my 2016 visit - Great part of this earth. And of course the one place I haven't been to yet - Antarctica. However, that is a VERY expensive adventure, and unfortunately is starting to become somewhat overcrowded and touristy - Something that I love to easily avoid in Alaska and Canada.
In the meantime, amongst all the planning for Europe in July, I continue to work on my friend's car collection, along with a classic car mechanic and a fabricator. We work Thursday's and Fridays in the warehouse where most of the cars are stored, and then I do odd chores on other days, like buying parts or supplies, or registering the cars for use on the road as and when we get them roadworthy. It is hard work, but I really enjoy it - Not only working with cars that I would never normally get up close to (Ferraris, Lamborghinis, as well as other older American classic cars), but also working with two great guys who are at the top of their fields - I am learning so much from them all the time. Overall, getting all the cars into good condition, and even presenting them in an appopriate environment for such a collection, could well be a10 year project !!
So that is where we are now - Looking forward to Europe in June 2022, and feeling a little older with every day that passes !! Ho Hum.
No comments:
Post a Comment