Went up to Gympie to visit an old friend, Mary (aka Nerida) Murphy. Took advantage of this to try out Garmin on an intracity run. It worked like a charm!
Saturday 14 December 2013
Friday 13 December 2013
Not exactly trip-related, but just couldn't resist showing you this little visitor, a sacred kingfisher who stunned himself by flying into our back window. I wouldn't have picked him up, but a group of crested pigeons were showing just a little too much interest. It took him over half an hour before he recovered enough to fly off!
Tuesday 10 December 2013
We sent an email to the British High Commission in Canberra, asking for advice regarding visa and ticketing requirements. Might be useful to publish its contents:
'As we understand it, as Australian citizens travelling with Australian passports, we need no special visas to visit the UK for less than 6 months. This is our plan, but the way we are hoping to do it complicates matters.
'Normally, the possession of a return flight ticket would be sufficient evidence of our intent to return home before the 6-month visitor limit.
'What we wish to do is somewhat different. We hope to arrive in the UK in mid-April, buy a campervan, registering it with the address of some close friends in Lochcarron, Scotland. We would then travel about the UK for a few months before crossing to the continent, travelling there until we approach the Shengen 90-day limit, at which time we would move further, into the Balkans and across to Turkey (where we plan to winter), then back into the Shengen area for a further couple of months, then back to the UK, across to Ireland, then back to the UK where we plan to sell the van and return to Australia.
'We were going to purchase return air tickets, and revise the return date as the time neared. It looks as if we would need to revise this return at least twice, each time incurring a fee. Moreover, the longest return date available at the moment is in October, which puts us bang in one of the more expensive times to fly. It would be more economic (and leave us more to spend in the UK) if we could simply buy one-way tickets at the time we need them -- we will have the funds available to do so at all times. Would this option cause difficulty for us entering the UK when we first arrive? We won't have any time constraints, so I would not consider having to present for explanatory interviews to be a problem, if this were to prove necessary, but I would be very concerned if there was any chance of us being turned back at the border.
'The fact that we have family here in Australia, including two very new grandchildren, is a further guarantee that we have no intent of outstaying our welcome in the UK.'
... and here are the two grandchildren in question ...
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| Lilly with her father Tristan |
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| Ashwyn with his parents Gemma and Jonathan |
Saturday 7 December 2013
Ordered a Garmin Nüvi 2797 7" GPS from the Good Guys in Brisbane - their price was well under everybody else's. Will be able to install European maps on a Sandisk memory card for use on our trip. Chose the 7" over the 5" model after seeing the screen size in action — that extra 2 inches makes a big difference! Will be able to try it out and get used to it while driving around Brisbane and out into the country — don't want to be having teething troubles when we get to Europe!
Friday 25 October 2013
Suzie needed to buy something from Spotlight, so we also went next door to Anaconda. Found a couple of things that will be useful or the trip - collapsible toasters, for use over an open flame. Will be useful for making toast over the cooktop in the van. We tried to get some in Europe last time, in 2008, but nobody knew what we were talking about! Also found a couple of really good rain jackets, waterproof to 2000mm, breathable to 2000mvp, and negligible as to packing space. More to the point, they were marked down to less than half price! On the way home, called in to the Brookside Shopping Centre, and happened upon a luggage shop having a massive sale. Got 2 new suitcases for the trip - a lot lighter than our old luggage, and roomier, and on 4 wheels - marked down to a third of their normal price!
Another thing we finalized in preparation for the trip was to set up enduring powers of attorney for our two boys, so that if we are unable to act for ourselves in any way (and distance is one albeit temporary criterion), they will be able to act on our behalf. While we were onto the legal kick, we updated our wills, which had been getting a bit long in the tooth!
Friday 18 October 2013
Went up to Flight Centre in Ashgrove to make preliminary enquiries about flights. They were very helpful, and have sent us three possible itineraries for flights in April, returning about 6 months later — which we will need to extend as the time gets closer. (Korean Airlines — $150 per person change fee; Etihad — $125 per change; Emirates — $200 per change) A bit concerned about the need to get a return ticket, but will look into this as we go!
Wednesday 20 February 2013
Some long term planning for our trip next year. We wanted a tablet computer to use while walking about in the various cities of Europe, but with a dockable keyboard to use when doing our emails, blogging and whatever else once we get back to the van at night. Want to be well used to the computer by the time we go, so decided to get it this early. Went for a Samsung 700T unit, running Windows 8 — might have gone for a UNIX option, but Suzie is comfortable with Windows, and I don't really care. Bought it at JB Hi-Fi — good price, good service, which we found we needed, because the first unit we picked up wanted to drop into recovery mode virtually every time we tried to turn it on. Took it back, and they replaced it with no questions asked! Also got a WD Passport External hard drive and an external CD/DVD drive — this last because when we were overseas last time we bought a couple of souvenir DVDs, and should we do this again it would be good to be able to play them!
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