Dear Friends,
We hope this finds you well and that 2010 has been good to you. You will be probably in shock receiving this so early compared to our normal timeline for the missive. However, as part of Helen’s 60th celebrations we are off to New York on the 3 December where after a couple of days we will board Queen Mary 2 bound for the Caribbean. As we do not return to Australia until the 22 December we clearly had to do the letter early.
For us this has definitely been a year of travel. We started by making good on a promise we made with friends, back during the Rugby World Cup in 2007 in France, to see all of the Brumbies matches live (our local Rugby Super 14 team). This meant expeditions to Perth, South Africa and a couple of trips to New Zealand. A wonderful time was had by all before H and G headed overseas to escape winter and took the ‘van to Ireland, Spain and Portugal. More great fun which has been recorded in our blog http://hallingholidays.blogspot.com/. Insomniacs this is a must read.
The year has also been a milestone as Gavin sold his share in “Best Practice Project Management” which has been a successful business over the last 10 years. He is semi retired as he is still working on his second consultancy “RiskTools” and although busy when in Australia claims no one can be considered working full time given all the travel we are doing.
By comparison Helen is a real lady of leisure, running a successful B&B, working part time for the Education department, helping out with the Grandchildren, keeping up with the demands of a book reading club, craft group, gardening and numerous keeping fit type classes. When we are both at home Helen’s activities are definitely the more manic!!
The other occupier of our time has been to build a new granny flat (84 sq metres) at the side/rear of our property and revamp the swimming pool area. It is a great area for lounging out in and all we now need to do is make the time to relax out there. We currently have rented out the flat to a great couple of American students. They are good fun, keep a pretty low profile and seem to spend every other weekend down in Wagga Wagga with her parents. The flat is part of our longer term retirement plans when the main house becomes too large to manage (probably several decades away the way we are going).
Since our return we have had several trips to see Gavin’s Mum and Dad. Dad is now 94 and looks after himself well despite very poor eyesight. However, Mum is becoming more and more frail and although perky during visits spends much of the time asleep in bed.
At the other end of the spectrum are the 5 grandchildren. Kellen and Baeddan continue to be significant wild ones and are constantly on the move. Helen looks after them one afternoon a week and at the end of this is pretty much ready for bed. They are great fun but our energy levels are not quite what they were when Michael and Lianne were 5 & 6 years old. Their sister Aimee is wonderful with a mass of blond curls and has all the males in the family at her beck and call from brothers to Umpa (granddad) not to mention her Dad. Michael and Sonia have extended their house, landscaped the garden and acquired a black Labrador puppy named Odin.
The Melbourne contingent are also great fun. Tieve is Miss Personality Plus and loves ballet, swimming and pontificating on the meaning of life. Seren, also a mass of curls, is quieter but is definitely beginning to assert her independent streak and is also a keen swimmer. Lianne has astounded her school community by editing and producing a spectacular school magazine with hundreds of photos taken by Lianne. Then to cap off an astonishingly busy year developed and produced the AV presentation and managed sound and AV for the school’s Presentation Night.
Looking to next year after a very busy and exciting Christmas and New Year we anticipate only one round the world trip and plan to take the ‘van to Switzerland and the Italian lakes before heading to Canada, a wedding in Fiji and then the rugby world cup in New Zealand. Trust all are well and happy. Looking forward to hearing from you all.
Helen and Gavin.
Below are some photos taken during a delightful weekend at the end of October to celebrate Helen’s 60th. We rented Ricks (Stein’s) beach house at Bannisters (in Mollymook on the NSW coast) and also managed to catch up with Mum and Dad.
We hope this finds you well and that 2010 has been good to you. You will be probably in shock receiving this so early compared to our normal timeline for the missive. However, as part of Helen’s 60th celebrations we are off to New York on the 3 December where after a couple of days we will board Queen Mary 2 bound for the Caribbean. As we do not return to Australia until the 22 December we clearly had to do the letter early.
For us this has definitely been a year of travel. We started by making good on a promise we made with friends, back during the Rugby World Cup in 2007 in France, to see all of the Brumbies matches live (our local Rugby Super 14 team). This meant expeditions to Perth, South Africa and a couple of trips to New Zealand. A wonderful time was had by all before H and G headed overseas to escape winter and took the ‘van to Ireland, Spain and Portugal. More great fun which has been recorded in our blog http://hallingholidays.blogspot.com/. Insomniacs this is a must read.
The year has also been a milestone as Gavin sold his share in “Best Practice Project Management” which has been a successful business over the last 10 years. He is semi retired as he is still working on his second consultancy “RiskTools” and although busy when in Australia claims no one can be considered working full time given all the travel we are doing.
By comparison Helen is a real lady of leisure, running a successful B&B, working part time for the Education department, helping out with the Grandchildren, keeping up with the demands of a book reading club, craft group, gardening and numerous keeping fit type classes. When we are both at home Helen’s activities are definitely the more manic!!
The other occupier of our time has been to build a new granny flat (84 sq metres) at the side/rear of our property and revamp the swimming pool area. It is a great area for lounging out in and all we now need to do is make the time to relax out there. We currently have rented out the flat to a great couple of American students. They are good fun, keep a pretty low profile and seem to spend every other weekend down in Wagga Wagga with her parents. The flat is part of our longer term retirement plans when the main house becomes too large to manage (probably several decades away the way we are going).
Since our return we have had several trips to see Gavin’s Mum and Dad. Dad is now 94 and looks after himself well despite very poor eyesight. However, Mum is becoming more and more frail and although perky during visits spends much of the time asleep in bed.
At the other end of the spectrum are the 5 grandchildren. Kellen and Baeddan continue to be significant wild ones and are constantly on the move. Helen looks after them one afternoon a week and at the end of this is pretty much ready for bed. They are great fun but our energy levels are not quite what they were when Michael and Lianne were 5 & 6 years old. Their sister Aimee is wonderful with a mass of blond curls and has all the males in the family at her beck and call from brothers to Umpa (granddad) not to mention her Dad. Michael and Sonia have extended their house, landscaped the garden and acquired a black Labrador puppy named Odin.
The Melbourne contingent are also great fun. Tieve is Miss Personality Plus and loves ballet, swimming and pontificating on the meaning of life. Seren, also a mass of curls, is quieter but is definitely beginning to assert her independent streak and is also a keen swimmer. Lianne has astounded her school community by editing and producing a spectacular school magazine with hundreds of photos taken by Lianne. Then to cap off an astonishingly busy year developed and produced the AV presentation and managed sound and AV for the school’s Presentation Night.
Looking to next year after a very busy and exciting Christmas and New Year we anticipate only one round the world trip and plan to take the ‘van to Switzerland and the Italian lakes before heading to Canada, a wedding in Fiji and then the rugby world cup in New Zealand. Trust all are well and happy. Looking forward to hearing from you all.
Helen and Gavin.
Below are some photos taken during a delightful weekend at the end of October to celebrate Helen’s 60th. We rented Ricks (Stein’s) beach house at Bannisters (in Mollymook on the NSW coast) and also managed to catch up with Mum and Dad.
