Have you missed me? Let’s be honest. Probably not! I can confirm it was April 2026 when there was any Grace Of Longstone activity.
A quick précis then. We stripped Grace bare and left her in the capable hands of our friend Noa. We’d had a truncated sailing season in NZ for a combination of reasons. That’s okay. It didn’t tarnish our view of South Island.
We flew to Oz and avoided being bitten by anything crawly, although there was a red bellied black snake on the path outside our bedroom window when we arrived the first evening. We like a memorable welcome.
Dave and I hired a couple of bikes and cycled the Brisbane Rail trail. 160km over 3 days. Not too strenuous. To get to the start we took a three and a half hour Queensland train journey. It cost us each 27p. Yes you did read that correctly. 27p each. Any trip on Queensland public transport….bus, train, ferry is 50 cents in a drive to get people off the roads and onto public transport. Brilliant idea. Big pat on back for the authorities.
We didn’t see any slithery creatures on the trail but a wallaby did bound across the trail just a few short meters in front of us early one morning causing a modicum of alarm. No green cross code etiquette amongst the Queensland wallaby population.
We’ve been in the UK since late May. Summer was long and hot and lacking in green. The vegetation shut down and went brown. Dave worked the tents again. I tried to find us a house to buy. We had two trips to Devon to look but so far haven’t found our special place. We’ll head back down again in October for another look. That’s after a week in Croatia. There is a boat connection but they’ll be small ones. Dinghies on the ocean in the late Mediterranean summer.
We’ve had time in North Wales, the Lakes, Northumberland and the Cotswolds. Plus a trip to the Brecon area where two very special people decided to have a party which they attached the briefest of ceremonies to and made some commitments. It was attended by about 25 people and at least 5 dogs. Happy days.
It’s the equinox tomorrow. Summer is on its way in the south. And we’re off to a film premiere. Red carpet here we come.
