2022 Christmas Letter

By Ian, . Permalink

Anja, Dallas, Arliah, Ian and Jacqui welcome in the new year at our Saddleworth campsite in South Australia

QF731 was approaching Adelaide airport at 8.10am on Thursday 23rd December 2021. Announcements over the PA system reminded us to have our PCR test results ready for inspection when we disembarked. Jacqui told me to stop fidgeting but I couldn't because I was sure that we were about to be jailed or sent back to Sydney - we'd had our PCR tests 3 days ago, but we still didn't have our results. 

The tsunami of travellers and rapidity changing Covid rules enabled us to evade the overworked S.A. health officials and police that greeted us as we disembarked in Adelaide. They dismissed us saying that as we were in transit, we were someone else's problem.

Our next flight, QF 2275, landed in Port Lincoln on time at 11.50am and even though we were reminded again to have our PCR test results ready, there wasn't a police officer or SA health person anywhere in the arrivals hall. We collected our bags and, trying not to look like we'd just robbed a bank, casually bolted for our waiting Nissan X-trail rental car. Three hours later, on our way to Streaky Bay, we received a text message informing us that we didn't have Covid.

Jacqui and I were in South Australia to meet up with the travelling Te Wakes (Anja, Dallas and Arliah) who were on the home leg of their around Australia odyssey. 2021 was ending, we hadn't contracted Covid, we were allowed to travel again, and we weren't criminals.  Surely, things were looking up.

But not everything went to plan in 2022 - given the past 2 years of fires, floods, and the pandemic, it would have been a surprise if it had. The Ralph family did, though, have plenty of good times. 

 

Christmas 2021. Clockwise from top left:

  • Lachlan, Jackie, Matty, Maya and Cooper took this selfie amongst their extensive Lego collection. 
  • We had a wonderful Christmas with the travelling Te Wakes in Streaky Bay, South Australia, where the fresh local seafood and seasonal fruit made a delicious Christmas meal enjoyed in the shade of their caravan's awning. 

 

Covid lockdowns and continuous rain couldn't keep us apart. Clockwise from top left:

  • A wonderful weekend in Mollymook in May,
  • Christmas in August was a one of those unusual occasions when almost all of the family was together
  • Five idyllic days on a yacht in the Whitsundays - this photo was taken near Whitehaven Beach
  • We congregated in Berrima for a family reunion

 

Arliah's milestones. In 2022 Arliah turned six and started school at Red Hill Public in the ACT. Jacqui and I have missed spending as much time with her now that she lives in Queanbeyan. Arliah is so happy at school that when she found out that there is no school on the weekends, she was disappointed!

 

Family enjoying some of the few sunny days of 2022. From the bright sun in these photos you may not believe that 2022 was the wettest year on record on the East coast of Australia. But there were a few sunny days and we made the most of them. Clockwise from top left:

  • Brooks and Aimee in Berrima,
  • Lachlan, Jackie Mollymook
  • Les was well protected against the rarely seen sun in Berrima
  • Jess and Rohan 

When a trip from London to Perth took 6 weeks. Cleaning up old photographs I found a roll of black and white negative film. I scanned them and found these images. Nicky and Jacqui believe that they were taken during their parents' Basil and Jo's trip by sea to Australia, possibly 1954, in which case Jo was pregnant with Jacqui. Clockwise from top left:

  • Jo (short for Josephine) with a palm squirrel - perhaps in Columbo now known as Sri Lanka
  • Basil and Jo in Perth zoo
  • Jo posing on the ship's rail 
  • Basil(on the right) and an unknown man on deck chairs during their sea voyage

 

Some of the Living things that feature in our lives. Clockwise from top left:

  • A powerful owl chick (Ninox strenua) waits for its parent to bring food(probably a ring tail possum) - the photo was taken a bushland reserve near Dobroyd Point
  • Jacqui had seen foxes in our local area so she lured this one with a smell trap and her Reconyx wildlife camera took the photo - they are beautiful creatures, unless you are a native animal
  • In July we chartered a yacht in the Whitsundays where we followed the path taken by migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) as they travelled north past Hook Island - Dallas captured this shot.
  • Despite the cold and wet of 2022, I spotted this green Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus pallidicollis) on our font deck in October

 

Jacqui, wearing some of her many hats - other than her ubiquitous white one! Clockwise from top left:

  • Handing a turtle to a wildlife carer after it had been run over on the highway between Sydney and Canberra. It survived!
  • Jacqui and Janelle, two of the matriarchs of our family 
  • Enlisting a stuffed powerful owl to help make the point to a meeting of the Northern Beaches council that they should preserve the habitat of these imposing creatures
  • Collecting leaves for possums in her care - it was cold and very wet - I stayed in the warm, dry car.

 

Volcanic eruption coloured our sunsets. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano north of Tongatapu erupted on 14th January 2022. As a result of that huge eruption aerosols were hurled up into the stratosphere. These have been contributing to some beautiful sunsets. Here are a few of them captured from our home in Elanora Heights and near the entrance to Narrabeen Lagoon

 

No matter where you find them, trees add something special to any scene. Clockwise from top left:

  • A tree lined boulevard near Eden Valley in South Australia
  • Trees against a setting sun mark the presence of a road in otherwise treeless wheat fields near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia
  • Bunya Pines amongst reddish igneous rocks and white coral sands near Blue Pearl Bay in the Whitsundays
  • Norfolk Island Pine trees at North Narrabeen

 

Whitsunday's Yacht charter. When Anja, Dallas and Arliah planned their lap around Australia, Jacqui, Rohan and I suggested we spend a week with them living on a yacht in the Whitsundays. In June 2021, Covid intervened and the trip was put off until July 2022. We were the better for this delay as Rohan's partner Jess was able to join us. Clockwise from left:

  • We chartered a catamaran that had lots of room for the seven of us including a wonderfully comfortable space on the foredeck
  • The weather was cool with occasional showers
  • We were able to moor in some amazing places - this photo shows our Seawind 1160 moored in Tongue Bay on the east coast of Whitsunday Island

 

More from our yacht charter adventure. Clockwise from top left:

  • Jacqui Rohan and Jess in our Yacht Destiny's generous cockpit (if you think that Jacqui is wearing a down jacket, you're right - it was cool!)
  • Dallas and Rohan fished most evenings when we moored for the night - they did catch some good sized fish, but they returned them to the sea
  • Anja stepping out of the cabin with the waters of the Whitsundays reflected in the glass
  • Arliah after a swim with the friendly stingrays in Hill Inlet
  • Arliah and Jess paddle in Hill Inlet looking for shells and stingrays
  • Captain Dallas and his first mate Arliah on our homeward leg

 

Good friends Simon & Christine and Peter & Vicki. Clockwise from top left:

  • Peter transfers a Scallywag logo to our newly installed front deck's balustrade
  • A group photo with Simon and Chirstine (right) before they headed off on a caravan adventure
  • Jacqui talked us on board the super maxi yacht Comanche in Woolwich Dock - yes she's a good talker!
  • Simon gave Peter, Jacqui, and I a test drive of his various kayaks in Deep Creek near our home.

 

2022 was the first year following the pandemic that we welcomed visitors from overseas.  Clockwise from top left:

  • We first met Michael Rabb in Patagonia in 2015. While staying with us in July we walked up Barrenjoey Headland
  • Sonja and Hans Cunningham are Canadians whom we met during a trip to Perth on the Indian Pacific train in 2016. They visited us in 2022 on their way back to Canada after visiting family in Echuca. We spent a very cold weekend in the Blue Mountains with them - even the heater in our Airbnb struggled to keep us warm!
  • Mike on the Pittwater side of Palm Beach
  • Sonja and Hans at Echo Point

 

The more things change... In January 2022 I bought a Silver 1984 BMW K100RS motorcycle from a friend in Goulburn. On the day I bought it I stayed for the night at my Aunt Janelle's house in Queanbeyan. My cousin Stacey was also there while visiting from her home in London. Janelle, Stacey, and I have a history of sitting on or standing beside my motorcycles. The top image was taken in 1977 not long after Stacey was born - to Janelle's left is Lindsay, Stacey's dad - don't you love his cool sideburns - and I'm the bloke on the right with lots of hair. 

 

My first serious motorcycle accident in 47 years. In February 2022 I was riding my 1960 BMW R60 on the Hume highway south of Sydney. The bike became unstable and I crashed at about 100Km/h. I was admitted to Liverpool hospital. Clockwise from bottom left:

  • An X-ray showing plates attached to six of my eight broken ribs
  • The BMW wearing the scars of the accident
  • My helmet's visor after the accident - proof that full-face helmets are life-savers
  • Helping Oaky, the R60's new owner, and his friend load it into a van.

 

As you can see we had plenty of wonderful gatherings and adventures in 2022. Importantly, we have plenty more planned for 2023.

Jacqui and I send our best wishes to you and your families for the festive season and for a happy New Year. May 2023 bring you and yours much to celebrate.

Love,
Ian and Jacqui

Wow - congratulations on getting this far! If you're keen for more:

Previous Christmas letters and videos

I've decided that I don't have the stamina to write a novel! I can't even manage to produce a Christmas letter - either in video format or otherwise - each year. Those that I have produced or, at least, those 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

Comments

Would you like to comment?

Unfortunately, I had to turn the comment system off because I get thousands of spam and offensive comments added by, I assume, bots. 

If you would like to contact me to make a comment or just say hi, I'd like to hear from you, and post your comments here.

Please use the email address below - it's a picture, not a link or text, just type the address into your email system.

Yes, I know that's not ideal...

 

 

Ian

Page top