The Travel Thread

[horrie hastings]

Just the mid north coast in November now. Staying 4 nights in Port Macquarie then two nights at Smokey Cape Lighthouse at South West Rocks then 6 nights at Stuarts Point/ Grassy Head where hopefully my interest in fishing will be re triggered again. May drive to Dorrigo after Grassy Head to stay with friends if time permits.

[rented tracksuit]

Wet a line for me mate!

[mightyrooster]

Just the mid north coast in November now. Staying 4 nights in Port Macquarie then two nights at Smokey Cape Lighthouse at South West Rocks then 6 nights at Stuarts Point/ Grassy Head where hopefully my interest in fishing will be re triggered again. May drive to Dorrigo after Grassy Head to stay with friends if time permits.

Just the mid north coast is still a lovely break. You will have a nice relaxing time I’m sure.

[horrie hastings]

Wet a line for me mate!

Would just love to catch a couple of bream to put on the BBQ, that would do for a start. Have to get the old yabby pump out to see whether it still works, nothing nicer than catching a couple of fish on fresh bait you have gathered.

[horrie hastings]

Just the mid north coast is still a lovely break. You will have a nice relaxing time I’m sure.

Never get sick of going to the mid north coast MR, could spend months up there away from work if given the chance.

[rented tracksuit]

Would just love to catch a couple of bream to put on the BBQ, that would do for a start. Have to get the old yabby pump out to see whether it still works, nothing nicer than catching a couple of fish on fresh bait you have gathered.

If you havnt used your pump for a while, you can pretty much start looking for a new one. If you are very lucky, it might still work but generally, they are stuffed after a prolonged period of inactivity.

Good luck with the bream. Throw a flatty or two on the BBQ as well and you have a meal fit for a King! (But not Sally!)

[horrie hastings]

If you havnt used your pump for a while, you can pretty much start looking for a new one. If you are very lucky, it might still work but generally, they are stuffed after a prolonged period of inactivity.

Good luck with the bream. Throw a flatty or two on the BBQ as well and you have a meal fit for a King! (But not Sally!)

I used to keep the pump lubricated when i wasn't using it but it has been a long while, might give it a test run over at San Souci in Botany Bay before i head up the coast. The arm of the river at Stuarts Point / Grassy Head fishes well for flathead so they could well be on the menu. I have caught some nice flatties from the river when i was younger, also some wrist slapper whiting at night on fresh yabbies from the bridge there, also a few bream and also a blackfish over the years. One time staying at the caravan park there but not fishing someone caught a couple of moses perch there and also mangrove jack. Long Toms also seem a fairly common catch i have witnessed over the years.

[rented tracksuit]

Wow! A Jack around those parts! That would be awesome.

[horrie hastings]

Wow! A Jack around those parts! That would be awesome.

Its funny but Manly / Queenscliff lagoon used to a regular mangrove jack fishery until the golf club had a huge pesticide spill and wiped out millions of fish. You wouldn't think that somewhere in Sydney would be a mangrove jack habitat but it was until the pesticide spill.

[horrie hastings]

Europe trip starting to fall into place, Scotland already covered and Italy just about to be covered too maybe with one minor change but both are locked in now. Leaves London/ Brighton and Greece to fill in the dots.
Flying Japan Airlines so will have a one night stop over in Tokyo on the way over. Starting to get excited but also nervous about it all, especially the costs but it will all be worth it.

[Big Dog]

Doing a lap of Tassie in a few weeks with the missus.

[mightyrooster]

I’ve just about booked all of our Scotland accommodation except for one destination. I’ve also booked the accommodation in York / Yorkshire. But I’m still struggling to find the best place in London. We’ll be there 5 nights and I’d like something with at least a microwave and fridge. It also needs to be close to either Kings Cross or Paddington station and a tube station for easy and quick transport to the main London sites. Everything there is SOOO expensive though.

I haven’t booked our flights yet as we have decided to fly Emirates as this will get us into Glasgow and out of London Heathrow and while the dates for the onward flight are up the return dates aren’t yet. They should be up in about 3 weeks though. I wanted to fly Singapore but it was too complicated getting back to either London or Manchester as they don’t actually fly in or out of Scotland.

[mightyrooster]

Europe trip starting to fall into place, Scotland already covered and Italy just about to be covered too maybe with one minor change but both are locked in now. Leaves London/ Brighton and Greece to fill in the dots.
Flying Japan Airlines so will have a one night stop over in Tokyo on the way over. Starting to get excited but also nervous about it all, especially the costs but it will all be worth it.

Sounds great Horrie. Yes the cost is the big thing especially with inflation and everything but this is the time we’d always planned to start travelling, it’s just annoying that Covid and Ukraine invasions have driven inflation up at the worst possible time. But we don’t really want to delay while we’re still at a good enough age to appreciate it all. I also agree that it’s so exciting.

[mightyrooster]

Doing a lap of Tassie in a few weeks with the missus.

I would love to go back to Tassie again Big Dog. I did the self drive tour with the hubby pre-kids 22 years ago and it was awesome. We took the car across on the Spirit of Tasmania. We started in Devonport and did a clockwise tour around. Hope you have a great time.

[horrie hastings]

Sounds great Horrie. Yes the cost is the big thing especially with inflation and everything but this is the time we’d always planned to start travelling, it’s just annoying that Covid and Ukraine invasions have driven inflation up at the worst possible time. But we don’t really want to delay while we’re still at a good enough age to appreciate it all. I also agree that it’s so exciting.

In 2020 we had flights booked with Cathy Pacific, premium economy ,very good fare and it flew into Gatwick which was great for us heading to Brighton and it departed from Barcelona back to Sydney which was our last leg of the trip, of course that trip never happened. With this trip unless something dramatically changes we have Greece as or last leg of the trip so will have to return to Heathrow to come back to Sydney, as its only Qatar and Emarites that fly to Sydney from Athens. Flying with some unknown airway from Scotland to Milan in Italy, the Italian leg of the trip will be the most expensive as mainly going with an organised tour as i have never been to Italy before and my partner hasn't been since the 80's.
Cant help you with any ideas accommodation wise for London as we have never had to pay for accommodation there before because of friends living or staying there, in 2020 we had a small B&B booked near Soho which was really reasonable priced but the place has closed down since. We are intending of spending more time in Brighton than London so that should keep the costs down a bit. The one thing we do have to watch is seeing we are flying business class, the luggage weights we don't have to worry about but with some of the smaller airlines for the in between internal flights we will have to watch the baggage weight.

Not saying this will be our last trip O/S ever but unless we win the lottery it will be our last BIG trip so that is why we are hanging the expense this time.