Author: Salty tales from Bali Hai

It’s been a bit of a while since I posted any news but it’s been such a busy time! I first started this blog sitting on a ferry heading for Dover.  We were on our way to a pre-Christmas catch up with our UK based siblings and their families (more of that next time!).  It…

It’s amazing how everything always seems to happen at once!  In one week our prematurely born granddaughters were released from hospital, we had the handover of our bush cottage ( situated on our son and daughter-in-law’s property) and we moved out of our town house. It was an exhausting week! The news that our son…

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions.  After a wonderful whirlwind few weeks together in Australia we farewelled our daughter Hannah, son-in-law Pieter and our beautiful 10-month old granddaughter who were returning to their home country – The Netherlands. It was, as always, a terrible wrench but the good thing is…

August was a packed month with a wonderful wedding celebration, family gatherings, our premature granddaughters making good progress and our little cottage settling into its new habitat.  Our daughter Hannah’s best friend from Primary School, Tilly, was the beautiful bride and Sam her handsome husband. The maids of honour were Tilly’s sister-in-law, Jill, and Hannah…

The moment had finally arrived – our modular house, built off-site by Hoek Homes – was being delivered to our son and daughter-in-law’s glorious 100-acre property in Lake Manchester.  Last year, Ben and Sarah very kindly suggested that we have a house built and installed in a gorgeous little clearing on their property – a…

Things are moving fast!  Our beautiful identical twin granddaughters have been making excellent progress with many milestones achieved.  In a very important step forward Eva was put onto high flow oxygen and after stabilising was moved from the Neonatal  Intensive Care to the Neonatal High Dependency Unit (the stage before the Special Care Ward) on…

In this quick update, our twin granddaughters who arrived earth-side at 28 weeks make excellent progress, our son Ben has a birthday, preparations for the delivery of our modular house are moving along, Lucy our grand dog improves and we take a break to visit our yachtie friends Sue and John. Oh and we begin…

More than four weeks have passed since my last blog update and it’s wonderful to report that our twin granddaughters were seven weeks old on 1 July (but were still only at the equivalent of 35 weeks gestation) and are both doing well.  There have been ups and downs along the way but the good…

May was momentous! The day after Mothers’ Day, (May 11) our daughter-in-law Sarah and son Ben were told that their identical twin girls would have to be delivered within the next 24 hours! Due to there being only one placenta, and evidence of fetal growth restriction, we already knew that the twins would need to…

Preparations for our “bush cottage” – which is going to stand in a glorious spot on our son and daughter-in-law’s one hundred acre property in Brisbane, Australia, – are going well despite the almost daily showers of heavy rain.  The modular house is being built off-site by Hoek Homes and will eventually be divided down…

We’ve settled in very nicely to our townhouse close to Brisbane city and are enjoying all the benefits of being in an urban area – shops and transport close by, walking distance to cafes and other amenities etc.  However, there are of course disadvantages like aircraft noise early in the morning (this doesn’t seem to…

So…. a lot has happened since we arrived back in Australia – we’ve been hit by a cyclone, become flooded in, moved house, seen the start of our new build and caught up with family and a few friends (apologies to those we haven’t caught up with yet, we are slowly getting there) – and that’s…

Since I posted my last blog,  Jonathan and I have continued to thoroughly enjoy the amazing new experience of watching our first grandchild go from a squishy, sleepy and snuggly newborn to an alert, smiling, chortling little person who learns something new every day.  Apart from a couple of trips to England to catch up…

A trip to Cornwall is always rejuvenating, especially for Jonathan who spent every childhood summer holiday there staying with his maternal grandmother in the village of Pendeen not far from the famous Cornish landmark, Lands End.  For him, it is like going home and for me it is a beautiful, relaxing and intriguing place to…

After Christmas we had a few beautiful sunny days in the Netherlands and it was just lovely to be able to go out walking in the sunshine for a change.  We had a wonderful stroll through the Delfgauw woods one day and then escaped out of the cold for a delicious hot chocolate at the…

Towards the end of our stay in England there had been some wild weather so we were looking forward to a boisterous crossing on the car ferry from Dover to Calais.  Our predictions were right – there was a big sea up and our ferry rocked and rolled all the way. Of course we loved…

November was a busy month for us with the birth of our beautiful granddaughter, the first snow of winter, a visit to sailing friends we had met in Indonesia, and then my birthday! Finally, on the very last day of the month we took our camper van on the ferry over to England.  Our darling…

During the second week of November a momentous change in our lives occurred in the shape of the birth of our first grandchild – a beautiful little girl. This huge event has certainly been overwhelming, extremely happy and of course immensely exciting for our family but at the request of the new parents, I won’t…

After a visit to Zoutkamp and Nijmegen in the camper van, we spent another lovely few days with Hannah and Pieter before setting off for the ferry over to England to have a catch up with our close family and attend a very special dinner.  We drove to Calais and spent the night in a…

After a very pleasant week back in the Netherlands we decided to give Hannah and Pieter some time on their own and take advantage of the beautiful sunny autumn days to go on another adventure.  We set off in perfect weather for a picturesque little village called Zoutkamp in the far north of the Netherlands. …

After a very busy and uplifting time in the Netherlands with our two adult children and their partners and various friends and family, Jonathan and I decided it was time to go back on the road again for some more camper van adventures.   So we took off for the small town of Aire-sur-la-Lys in…

We had finally filled up with diesel after a nail biting trip down the mountains from La Brigue which sits high up in the Alpes-Maritimes of Southern France.  It was such a relief as we honestly thought we were going to run out of fuel in the middle of one of the hundreds of narrow…

What a magical place La Brigue is! Nestled in the Alpes-Maritimes of Southeastern France, this atmospheric little village was Italian until just after World War ll at which time it became part of France as a result of the Treaty of Paris negotiated between Italy and the Allied Powers.  What makes this place so special?…

We left Montenegro hoping our newly fixed slow puncture would withstand the journey ahead – there was a long way to travel to the Netherlands and we were planning two small “side trips” en route.  For the first time, we crossed over to Croatia via the tiny border crossing near Vitaljina – the southernmost settlement…

It is said that the happiest day of your life is when you buy a boat and the second happiest day is the day you sell it and in our case anyway, I think it was true.  Although we felt quite sad as we drew away in our camper van from our beautiful catamaran Sunday…

Our camper van journey to Preveza in Greece from The Netherlands continued on through Serbia and then into North Macedonia.  We were on our way to pack up the remaining possessions aboard our catamaran Sunday which was in the process of being sold.  Serbia was very wet and dismal so we didn’t see much except…

We were having a relaxed trip in our camper van back to Aktio Boat yard in Preveza, Greece to collect the remainder of our belongings from our catamaran Sunday which was in the process of being sold.  Our trip had already taken us to Osnabrück and Leipzig in Germany, and Prague, capital of the Czech…

We were on our way back to Greece in our “land yacht” (aka camper van) to offload our remaining personal belongings from Sunday, our catamaran which was in the (very long) process of being sold.  After Osnabrück in Northwest Germany, our next stop was Leipzig, home to one of the oldest universities in Europe and…

Our last boat guests ever (our daughter Hannah and her husband Pieter) had left but it wasn’t a sad goodbye as we were going to see them very soon in The Netherlands! Early in the morning, the day after they left,  we hauled anchor for the very last time and motored just across the water…

Our second day of exploration by car around Lefkada Island in the Ionian Sea was interesting and varied – and a great way of keeping cool in the car’s air conditioning! The temperatures in Greece had risen to 35 plus again and even constant dips in the sea weren’t enough to keep us cool.  Our…

The survey on Sunday was over and our buyers had been promised the report and an estimate for the cost of some fibreglass repairs within a couple of days. They didn’t arrive when we expected! While we were waiting I flew out of Preveza to London Heathrow for a big family celebration. My sister Sarah…

We (Jonathan and I and my sister Julia) thoroughly enjoyed staying in Lakka on the small Ionian island of Paxos, despite the increasingly crowded conditions.  You wouldn’t believe how many boats ended up anchored in that pretty little cove with gorgeous turquoise water! However, watching the antics of both experienced and inexperienced boaters trying to…

When you’re anchored somewhere new it is always nice to catch up unexpectedly with fellow yachties who you’ve met in other locations. We were aboard Sunday in Garitsa Bay in Corfu, waiting for my sister Julia to arrive from England, when we heard “Ahoy Sunday” and there in a dinghy were Kath and Neal from…

Despite the bureaucracy and administrative difficulties that all cruising yachties have to face when on a boat in Greece, I still think this country has a real magic that makes all the annoying complexities totally worthwhile. We happened to arrive in Corfu at the weekend and the check-in process kind of went alright – well…

We had a wonderful “last hoorah” with our sailing buddies Sue and John when they stayed aboard “Sunday” for just under two weeks. It had been quite a shock for all of us after their beloved floating home “Catabella” sold within a few days of going on the market so it was decided that they…

Bad weather had been predicted – high winds and thunderstorms blowing straight into our anchorage – so we decided to move across the bay to a spot where we would be safer. Not surprisingly, over in our new anchorage at Uvula Krtole it was more crowded than anywhere that we’d been on the Bay of…

Although we had been lucky with the weather, it had turned a little windy for the last full day of my brother and his family’s stay on Sunday. We had planned a day in charming Herceg Novi and despite the blustery conditions we were able to manage this although Jonathan had to ferry each of…

The Bay of Kotor really is an ideal place to welcome non-yachtie guests for a beautiful week of sightseeing, eating well and enjoying the stunning scenery. My brother Pat, his wife Marie and their two adult children were the first guests of the season and we were so lucky with the weather. The month of…

We were anchored in the shelter of a small island called Sveti Marko (also known as Stradioti) in Montenegro’s beautiful Bay of Kotor. Nearby Sue and John on Catabella were also enjoying this glorious spot. It was business as usual but sadly, not for long. After three great years of travelling together our buddy boating…

The day after my arrival back in Montenegro we had to leave the Lazure Marina as our contract had come to an end and each additional day involved a hefty charge. We departed at mid morning and thankfully our port side engine which had been intermittently not starting straight away, sprung to life at first…

My few days in The Netherlands after leaving Australia and before joining Jonathan on the boat in Montenegro flew past far too quickly. It was so wonderful to arrive just at the point when Spring was absolutely in full swing. All the leaves had unfurled and the trees were fully dressed in their green finery.…

My husband Jonathan and I had parted ways – only for a few weeks thankfully – while I flew to Australia for some medical tests and he went back to our boat in Montenegro. I arrived in Brisbane on Easter Sunday at the usual ungodly hour that flights from the northern hemisphere seem to favour.…

My husband Jonathan and I had parted ways – only for a few weeks thankfully – while I flew to Australia for some medical tests and he went back to our boat in Montenegro. It was lovely to be met by our son Ben and his wife Sarah who came to meet me despite the…

After a week or so aboard our catamaran Sunday moored at Lazure Marina in Montenegro, we started the journey back to the Netherlands in the camper van. We had given Sunday a big spring clean as she is up for sale! In the process, we had a massive clear out of personal possessions that we…

We were in Graz, Austria, to pick up our yachtie cruising buddies Sue and John from their son and daughter-in-law‘s (Andrew and Lisa’s) place on the outskirts of the picturesque old town. From there we were going to drive to our boats in Montenegro over two days. The drive from our campsite to the area…

After our whistle stop tour of Devon and Cornwall, we headed for Cambridge where my eldest sister Sarah and my brother-in-law Martin live. As the road trip was a little too long to do in one day we decided to break our journey somewhere around half way. Jonathan went to work and found the perfect…

Our whirlwind camper van trip continued from Gloucestershire to beautiful Devon where we were meeting a new member of the family- my great nephew – for the first time. We stayed the night in a car park near the River Taw in Barnstable and in the morning we headed over to the tiny historic village…

It had been a busy couple of days since we had arrived in England – first with a big family reunion and then the next day a meet up with one of my nephews and his wife and family at a fabulous National Trust property in Kent. Jonathan and I had been joined on this…

The week after we arrived in The Netherlands from Australia we were on the road again in our camper van and this time – as it was the half term break – we had our daughter Hannah and son-in-law Pieter with us. We were off to England! Pieter drove the first leg to Calais where…

A week after we had arrived in The Netherlands from Australia we were on the road again in our camper van and this time – as it was the half term break – we had our daughter Hannah and son-in-law Pieter with us. We were off to England! Pieter drove the first leg to Calais…