I’ve realised that our (my) memory isn’t what it was and the timing and sequence of events sometimes gets a little blurry over time. This post summarises some key dates/events starting from our decision to “retire’ (at the bottom of the page) with links to other relevant posts as appropriate.
Jump down to the start of a year…
(and remember that everything is written “bottom-up”)
2026-Jan/Feb/Mar: Survived Christmas/New Year 😇 18 Jan—heading up to Travelhome at Cardiff to rectify a persistent slide-room issue: see Cardiff 202601 for details. Eventually back to Granville, interleaving medical appointments and grandkid-sitting and helping some friends clear out their house to sell and move.
^ 2026 ^
2025-Dec: After just a couple of days at Tea Gardens we headed back to Granville, with a short diversion (couple of days) to Travelhome at Cardiff. See our 2025 Trips record. Catching up with kids/grandkids and preparing for Christmas and New Year and all that that involves…
2025-Nov: November was the “homeward bound” leg; still generally longer stopovers but also including the longest driving day we’ve ever done—over six hours and, in hindsight, too long! See our 2025 Trips record. Back at Tea Gardens by the end of the month.
2025-Oct: Less kms and longer stopovers in October—I think we realised somewhere around Mt Gambier that we weren’t enjoying the pace of the trip and wanted to take things a little slower (meaning that we didn’t get to Yorke Peninsula as we’d originally planned—maybe next time). Nearly three weeks in Tumby Bay catching up with lots of rellies. See our 2025 Trips record. At Rawnsley Park Station in the Flinders Ranges at the end of the month.
2025-Sep: Covered heaps of kms in September, with average stopovers of 3 to 4 days. See our 2025 Trips record for more detail, including a map showing the route. Had a fabulous week in the Adelaide Hills, not far away from Karen and Phil and family and were able to catch up with them a fair bit. Were in Port Augusta at the end of the month
2025-Aug: rolled out of Morisset on the 19th heading west and made it just past Merriwa before having cooling system issues (see our truck log for more details). Limped into Cassilis and stayed for nearly two weeks. Made it to Forbes on 30 August. See also our 2025 Trips record.
2025-Jul/Aug: went up to Port Macquarie to visit with Geoff, Lois and Lyndell, stayed at Bonny Hills. Back to Morisset as a prelude to a longer trip to Victoria and SA. Day trip to Parramatta for Brad’s 50th. See also our 2025 Trips record.
2025-Jun: sadly, Brett passed away on Tuesday 13 May (almost immediately after we had all seen him). His memorial service was on 13 June at the Singleton Showground. See also our 2025 Trips record.
2025-05-08/13: quick trip to Tea Gardens as as a base for visiting Brett and Liz in Singleton (along with Doug, Wes and Maureen ). Brett was not at all well and we were concerned that he had little time left. See also our 2025 Trips record.
2025-Feb/Mar/Apr: headed up to Tea Gardens as we needed to get the church website up and running. Mechanical weirdness along the way, but had a lovely relaxing stay in the Church grounds and really enjoyed the interactions with the church family there. Day trip to Penrith for Joel’s 40th. See also our 2025 Trips record.
2025-Jan: had a really nice Christmas/New Year, then headed to Camden for a couple of weeks to facilitate daily “Vera-sitting” trips (see our 2025 Trips record). [“Vera-sitting” is heaps of fun; she’s a sweetheart 😀 and a joy to be with—totally unbiased opinion of course!] then back to Granville for a few weeks
^ 2025 ^
2024-10-10/11-08: while at Granville, and with no warning whatsoever, Reen fell ill on Thursday 10 October. We initially thought it to be “just” a migraine, however in the afternoon she stopped responding to us. We called the ambulance who took her to Westmead Emergency, where she was diagnosed with meningitis/encephalitis. After 2 weeks comatose in ICU and another 2 recovering in the Neuro ward, she came home 29 days later. She’s needed further time taking it easy to fully recover but seems to be reaching a similar level of “wellness” to earlier in the year as we head into the Christmas break-time
2024-Sep/Oct: Reen wanted to be back in Granville for school holidays, so after a bit longer in Bourke with John and Hazel, we ambled in that general direction. See also our 2024 Trips record.
2024-Aug/Sep: “The Kidman Way” runs from just out of Jerilderie up north through NSW to Bourke (or perhaps the Qld border, it’s a bit vague!). We, with Richard and Heather, took nearly a month, seeing plenty along the way and having a pretty darn fantastic time. See also our 2024 Trips record
2024-Aug: we’d had a trip with Richard and Heather long-planned; the first part of it was getting to the starting point at Jerilderie, seeing and enjoying the country as we went. See also our 2024 Trips record
2024-Apr/Jul: headed to Singleton for Brett and Liz’s 20th anniversary celebration, then to Tea Gardens for our long promised R&R—70-odd days, so *very* worthwhile. Back to Granville for school holidays. See also our 2024 Trips record
2024-03-15/17: (2nd) knee replacement for Reen (left knee): this time it actually did all go very well and they sent her home on day 2 (the Sunday)
2024-Mar: back to Tea Gardens planning some more catch-up time, but on just our second day received an urgent call back to Sydney from Blacktown Hospital. See also our 2024 Trips record
2024-Feb/Mar: up to Travelhome (Cardiff) for some warranty repairs and finalisation of the decals, then to Tea Gardens (one of our favourite places in all the world 🙂 )for a short break. See also our 2024 Trips record
^ 2024 ^
2023-Dec/2024-Jan: went back to Echuca for Christmas with Reen’s family. See also our 2023 Trips record
2023-Nov/Dec: the van stayed at Travelhome (Cardiff), we went cruising to (almost) New Zealand and the TCs stayed with Nyssa! See also our 2023 Trips record
2023-Oct/Nov: we’d originally planned for a week or two at Morriset exploring the Central Coast and southern Newcastle, but had the first round of what seems to be a bit of an ongoing drama with the lounge-room slide out. See also our 2023 Trips record
2023-Sep: a trip out into reasonably familiar territory in central NSW—Bathurst, Gilgandra, Parkes—and back to Granville. See also our 2023 Trips record
2023-Aug/Sep: to Echua to cruise on the Murray in a houseboat with our friends Richard and Heather. See also our 2023 Trips record.
2023-Jul: we headed back up to Travelhome for a few days for some minor warranty maintenance and to also get the first of the decals on the van and truck. See also our 2023 Trips record.
2023-Jun: Reen in Blacktown Hospital for a (supposedly simple) knee replacement. That bit was fine, it was the subsequent hernia/blocked bowel that caused the drama; she was in for nearly three weeks. See also our 2023 Trips record
2023-05-24: finally collected the van—yippee!! Short stays at Belmont and Tea Gardens before heading back to what would become our unofficial home base for the next (to date) 18+ months; the driveway of 13 Elizabeth St, Granville. See also our 2023 Trips record
^ 2023 ^
2022-12-25: all we want got for Christmas is COVID! Not impressed but made the best of it with Christmas Lunch with our friends through the kitchen “servery” window
2022-Dec: picked up our new Iveco, complete with tray, long-range fuel tank, extra “house” battery and 5th wheel hitch
2022-Oct: Dean finishes employment and becomes officially retired, we moved (back) to South Granville, to our friend’s granny flat
2022-Jul: Dean resigns from NSW Health and starts “cutting out” accumulated annual and long-service leave, we moved to Claremont Meadows (with Joel, Beck and Vera)
2022-May: contracted for an Iveco 50C210
2022-May/Jun: South Granville property sold for slightly less than we’d have liked but about OK for the market at the time
2022-Apr: commenced discussions for an order with Summer Life RV for their Drifter 29
2022-Apr: South Granville property listed for sale
^ 2022 ^
2021-12-xx: our mate (and builder) Dave Lambkin passes away suddenly 🙁
2021-Nov: moved out of South Granville to Wallacia to facilitate the renos.
2021-Oct: renovations start at 50 Boronia St
2021-May: Reen retires
2021-??: day-trip to Newcastle looking at 5th wheelers, etc. Found Jim at Summer Life and decided to buy new, rather than used!
2020-Apr—2021-Apr (or so?): what option is best for us? Long discussions with each other and both kids (and almost anyone else who would listen!). We finally settled on a 5th wheeler. In our “spare time”, sorted and disposed of 40+ years of collected stuff!
2020-Feb/Mar: we drove to Melbourne for a week, notionally to attend the Cisco Live event/conference. However due to (the beginning of) COVID19, this had been cancelled so we spent a week sightseeing. The 10+ hour drive home afforded us plenty of time to talk together and we agreed that we were both pretty much over the whole work thing and that retiring to “see Australia” sooner rather than later was the correct option; with the first step being to investigate caravan/motorhome options.