Journal

Covid dashed our plans to spend Christmas Day 2022 with Lachlan, Jackie, Matty, Maya and Cooper. We'd been in contact with a Covid positive friend so we weren't prepared to risk passing it on to Matty and Maya just days before they were to leave on an overseas holiday. This was especially disappointing as Nicky had come over from Perth and Lachlan and Jackie had got up super early to buy seafood for a Christmas day feast from the Sydney fish markets.

But in spite of this rocky start 2023 would end up being one with wall to wall travel and adventure in Australia and overseas. Read on....

Nicky came to visit. Here Jacqui and Nicky are at the Art gallery of NSW newly opened Northern Gallery

Summer is a great time of year for sunsets with interesting clouds and smoke haze from bushfires or hazard reduction burns intensifying the colours of the evening sky

An evening shower + a setting sun = rainbow over Narrabeen beach

Aussie Ark

Arliah spent the week before school began in 2023 with Nanny and Papa. We took her on a roadtrip to visit Aussie Ark near Barrington Tops four hours drive north of Sydney where they "protect Australia’s threatened species with robust insurance populations". We saw Tasmanian devils and spotted-tailed quolls. Tassie devils look cute and cuddly until you see how they attack their food....and each other. 

This type of communal eating is normal behviour for this scavenger. They are fed fresh road killed kangaroo and wallabies. Sadly, this food is always abundant

Devils (there is no collective noun for a group of devils) eating is an assault to the eye, the nose and the ear

But the young'uns are cute

The Spotted-tailed quoll is the closest living relative to the Tasmanian devil, and one of the last remaining predators within its environment

January is also a time for spotting other critters

Jacqui at Long Reef, two of our resident powerful owls and a king parrot that has trained us to provide sunflower seeds. He often comes with an all green female, but not this time

The Snowy Ride - a January institution for Ian

Clockwise from left:

• on his way to Jindabyne Ian stayed at his Aunt's home in Queanbeyan where Arliah got to try on the F800 for size - just a little bit of growing to do yet
• a thunderstorm theatens on the road from Dalgety to Jindabyne
• friend Malcom rode with Ian from Queanbeyan to Jindabyne on his Ducati Dharma. Malcolm almost ran out of fuel but we made it to Cooma on fumes

Fellow riders Nic and Christian lookout over Wonboyn Beach, near Green Cape on NSW's south coast

February

Arliah and her best friend Chopper pose in front of Janelle's house in Queanbeyan ready for the start of a new year at red Hill Public School. Arliah was in 1st Class in 2023

Anja and Arliah - some of Arliah's baby teeth would fall out during this year. (Anja photo)

Jacqui making temporary repairs to a part of the wildlife exclusion fence on the Wakehurst Parkway. They are damaged by the disturbingly frequent car crashes on this part of  the Parkway

 

March

A ride to Tallangatta in northern Victoria with friend Hans

Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens in the Blue Mountiains with Karen, Ian's sister (Les photo)

Mt Tomah's elevation is close to 1000m, so we spent most of this day in fog. That's Les, Ian's brother-in-law (Karen photo)

Karen and Jacqui use an app to identify some of the many birds they saw. The birds didn't seem to mind the rain

Anja's friend Megz visited with her two sons George and Harry. They get on very well with Arliah

Arliah and Maya work on desert at Jackie and Lachlan's

April & May

Anja's birthday celebration in Bowral

Anja was the most enthusiastic singer of Happy Birthday, much to Maya's amusement

Walking with Karen and Les in Ku-Ring-Gai national park

During one of our many trips to Queanbeyan in 2023 Arliah made us afternoon tea. Arliah insisted on a fire even though it wasn't cold - don't be fooled by Jacqui's down jacket, she wears it no matter what the season

Cousin Roger helps Dallas work on his and Anja's new home in Queanbeyan

Ian and Jacqui, Karen and Les and Ian's Aunt Janelle before Janelle flew to London to live with Stacey for 6 months 

In late April we went on a Blue whale watching boat trip 40km out to sea, west of Perth.

 

After checking out the whales off Perth we headed north

Popular photographic stop, Nature's Window, in Kalbarri National Park about 550Km north of Perth. Here it features Jacqui, Nicky and lots of flies

Jacqui and Nicky Kalbarri NP

Nicky organised for us to snorkel with Australian Sea Lions in Jurien Bay

Resident emus, sea gulls and ravens attack a holidayer's stash of junk food left unguarded on the beach at Monkey Mia on the shore of Shark Bay

Jacqui and Nicky beside the feral animal (foxes and cats mainly) exclusion fence protecting native animals in Francois Peron National Park, Shark Bay

We caught up with good friend Neil Wakely who moved from Bronte to Perth a few years ago

June

Our friend Peter Doddrell organised a visit to Vivid Sydney, a festival of light, music and ideas. We were enchanted by light shows synched to Nigel Stanford's album Automatica in disused tram tunnels under Wynyard in Sydney's centre

On another motorcycle ride Near Kandos one cold morning in June

A walk with Karen and Les to Bangalley Headland, Avalon

A drone's eye view of Turimetta Beach near our home

July-August A trip to Canada to see Rohan and Jess

In late July Jacqui, Nicky and I flew to Canada to see Rohan and his partner Jess. The background in this photo is the glacially fed Cheakamus River not far from Rohan and Jess' home in Whistler, British Columbia

Rohan and Jess at the Pemberton Berry Farm. Here we picked the biggest and sweatest blueberries we'd ever seen

We visited Jacqui and Nicky's sister Mel and her husband Dave at their home in Lake Country BC - about 7hrs drive east from Whistler. The mountains in the background of this photo, that was taken after a delightful dinner at Peake Cellars, are hazy due to smoke from hundred of wildfires fires burning over much of BC. Shortly after we left, Mel and Dave were put on evacuation alert. Fortunately the weather changed and the fires moved elsewhere

Jacqui, Nicky, Rohan and I were fortunate to spot this black bear while walking near Mel and Dave's home in Lake Country

I'd like to say I snapped this mountain lion in the wild, but that wouldn't be true. I took this photo in the BC Wildlife park near Kamloops where injured animals are taken to recuperate after which many are released back into the wild. Those that can't fend for themselves spend the rest of their lives being pampered and photographed

For most of our stay in Whistler the weather was warm and sunny, but not on this day when we went for a walk with Rohan and Jess to Alta lake near their home. There are lakes everywhere in BC

We did a lot of walking - here Rohan talks to Anja from the top of a mountain called Spion Kop near Lake Country BC - in the background is Lake Kalamalaka, one of the many lakes that give this area its name

Not all the wildlife we saw was big, black and scary - this squirrel played hide and seek with us during a walk near the Cheakamus River

This is the Whistler Mountain Inukshuk, created for Whistler as a symbol of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Next to Green Lake not far from Whistler. The water is green because it contains finely ground rock particles called rock flour created when a glacier moves over bedrock. You can see the ski-runs of Blackcomb Mountain in the background

Gondolas and chairlifts took us to to the tops of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. He we felt close to some of the many glaciers in the area. Their scale is hard to imagine until you get this close. What a shame their very existence is threatened due to global heating

On the Skyraker Cloud bridge atop Whistler Mountain. It's dismantled each winter as it would be crushed by the weigh of snow and ice

Rohan, Jess, Nicky and I (Jacqui isn't keen on light planes) took a Whister Air sea plane that took off from Green Lake. The 30 minute flight gave us a different perspective on the landscape. Jess described it as one of the best things she's ever done - and we agree

We said our farewell to Jess and loaded all our luggage into Mary - we were heading to Vancouver Island. Nicky snapped this bold pacific gull during our 2hr ferry trip across the Stait of Georgia to Swartz Bay We caught up with friends Sonja Ruthe and Hans Cunningham in the spectacular Butchart Gardens

Rohan and Ian went on a salmon fishing charter out of Comox on Vancouver Island. We caught our bag-limit of four salmon. The fishery is strictly regulated - fish shorter than 24cm or longer than 39cm are returned to the sea. Barbless hooks must be used to help ensure the fish released weren't too damaged - those we released swam away energetically. Click on this link to see a video of Ian and Rohan's fishing adventure - it opens in a new window and be warned you'll see fish being caught

While Ian and Rohan were fishing, Jacqui and Nicky visited Pacific Northwest Raptors in Duncan, just north of our Vancouver Island hosts Mike and Cheryl home.

Jacqui and Nicky had a special tour at Pacific Northwest Raptors which meant they had plenty of close contact with the raptors. Nicky very kindly wrote a detailed account of  her's and Jacqui's day at Pacific Northwest Raptors. Click back to return to this page when you have finished.

Jacqui and I met Mike and Cheryl on a motorcycle adventure in Patagonia in 2015. They were our generous hosts while on Vancouver Island. We have stayed with them in 2017 and they stayed with us in Australia 2018

Mike generously lent me some motorcycle clothing and allowed me to ride his beautiful 1977 Kawasaki 1000 across Vancouver Island to visit Port Renfrew

At Port Renfrew - the weather was perfect for riding. Jacqui, Nicky and Rohan followed us in Mary

Mike and Cheryl waited patiently while we expolored Port Renfrew 

On the morning of our final day in Canada we stopped off at the Oak Bay Marina. Here harbour seals waited impatiently to be fed the discarded parts of recreationally caught salmon. The one on the left had splashed to make sure the fisherman knew they were waiting

One last group shot before returning to Vancouver for our homeward flight

Nicky and Ian took a sea plane flight from Victoria to Vancouver, while Rohan and Jacqui took Mary on the Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen Ferry. Landing on the waters of Vancouver Harbour felt like trying to find a parking space in a shopping centre on Christmas eve - but I have to applaud the pilot and we landed safely. We rendevouzed with Jacqui and Rohan at Vancouver Airport at about 6:30pm - with plenty of time to catch our 11pm flight 

While we were in Canada, on 31st July, Catie Miller rang to break the sad news that Leon Millier had died after a long battle with cancer. Leon and Ian had been close friends since 1970

Leon and his wife Catie loved boats and sailing and lived in Port Douglas for many years where Leon and Catie ran their own boat yard and slipway 

Jacqui and her friends David Palmer and Marita McRae in front of the new fauna overpass that was installed on the upgraded section of Mona Vale Road in August 2023. This overpass is the first to be installed in greater Sydney.  Jacqui's roadkill records, dating back to 2003, were used by Jacqui, Dave and Marita to support their case that an overpass was needed to save many animals from becoming roadkill

Jacqui and I spent some fun time minding our granddaughter Maya. Here she's dressed up as Harry Potter, for book week, and blowing bubbles

Arliah also dressed up for book week. Her character was Pinkabella

A storm passes over Warriewood Beach in late August. Surpringly it didn't rain

Jacqui sets up her wildlife monitoring camera hoping to catch a poweful owl taking food left in the tree stump to her right

On a walk with Karen and Les in Kur-Ring-Gai Chase National park

We spotted this swamp wallaby framed by flowing boronias

September

Jacqui cooks up a vegetable lasagne for Ian's birthday

Ian on the banks of Cowan Creek (Karen photo)

Jacqui attended the Mammal Society Conference held in Adelaide SA. As part the conference we spent a few days at the Arid recovery centre where they breed threatened species. It was very hot and there were lots of flies

Click this link if you'd like to see more of Jacqui and Ian's Arid recovery excursion during the mammal conference. This link will open in a new window.

Canberra's National Zoo offers the animals it exhibits pretty good enclosures, but I'm not sure what this leopard thinks

This deer had just nudged Arliah and Jacqui expecting to be fed

October

Arliah at 3yrs (top) and 7yrs of age. Both taken at the North Bilgola Lookout 

Arliah raiding a mul;berry tree near Karen and Les's Avalon home

A barking owl and it's chick near the Narrabeen Lagoon (Richard Jackson photo - for more Richard's amazing photos click here)

Friends Vicki Powell and Peter Doddrell's newly renovated house in Pearl Beach. We were there to celebrate the completion of the renovations before they moved in. L-R Ruth (Peter's sister) Alan (Ruth's husband), Jacqui, Vicki, Christine Wiltshier and Ian (Simon Wiltshier was behind the lens)

Ian returned to South Australia for a motorcycle adventure. This photo was taken on Willow Springs station on the Skytrek Track. Shortly before Ian took this photo he'd fallen off his bike when the front wheel got buried in soft sand. As a result he broke a bone in his left foot. You can probably imagine what Jacqui had to say

After falling off Ian spent the rest of the week driving around. This taken from razorback lookout

Fortunately a broken foot didn't stop Ian walking with friends L-R Jenni Williams, Steve Prideaux, Dave Watson (NZ), Bruce Maroc (NZ) and Ian stand atop Acacia Ridge near Arkaroola

Cick this link if you'd like to see more photos from Ian's Flinders Range adventure. This link will open in a new window.

Ian, Arliah and Jacqui (AKA Nanny) dressed up and ready to go trick or treating during Halloween

Arliah and neighbours Maya and Tommy with lots of lollies

November

This succulent normally flowers in October but, perhaps in response to a cool and wet start to 2023, it didn't appear until early November. These flowers only last a day before withering

A flowering jacaranda and angophora

Sadly Ian's uncle, Hans, died, possibly from Covid. Hans was a gifted eletronics specialist and was involved in building computers in Australia in the early 1980s. He also built their home in Carwoola and more sheds than you can poke a stick at. In this photo from 1980 L-R Janelle, Hans and his daughter Michelle

New year's eve 2018 on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin: Standing L-R Hans, Janelle, Arliah, Rohan, Alanna, ?, Dallas and Anja. Seated Karen, Les, Jacqui and Ian

Matty - May 2018 and November 2023

Some of Arliah's art

Friends Simon and Christine Wiltshier moved into a new house in Sanctuary Point on St George's Basin. We visited the day after they moved in

Maya was performing in the Schools Spectacular at Qudos Arena, so jacqui and I took Arliah. It was truly spectacular

Rohan and Jess visited. These photos were taken at Sydney airport before they took Arliah to Canberra with them. Their flight was delayed but we didn't mind as we were able to spend more time chatting

A wonderful lunch at Centennial Vineyards restraurant Bowral to celebrate all being together and the exciting news that Rohan and Jess are expecting their first child - and it's a girl 

2023 was an amazing, exciting and adventurous year for us. We feel lucky and priviledged to have such a wonderful family, good health and to be able to travel as much as we do. 

Wishing you a wonderful festive season from owl of us. 

Ian and Jacqui
December 2023

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Previous Christmas letters and videos or, at least, those that I can find are here.

Family Adventures:

Around Australia with Ian, Jacqui, Lachlan (5 years) Anja (3 Years) and Rohan (2 years) from January to June 1990 - a transcription of trip diaries with photos and editied video highlights.

Motorcycle Adventures:

A Patagonian Adventure in 2015

A blog of a 5 day motorcycle ride in March 2020 (pre Covid lockdown) with my friends Peter Doddrell and Simon Withshier

A video diary of a 10 day motorcycle trip to northern NSW in October 2020

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