OUR TRAVEL DIARY
1963: HONEYMOON!!! Our first big trip together. Lakes Entrance, Victoria, and Sydney, New South Wales (We went to the Test Cricket - don't you dare laugh!!!!) Both in Australia, of course.
The '60s: most of our traveling was to visit family - usually piling the children in the back of the car in the early hours of the morning to drive up the Hume Highway to be at Albury for breakfast. In those days, with stops to feed the current baby, the trip took around four hours. The Easter Hockey Carnival at Albury was a regular event.
The '70s: We bought a caravan and traveled during school holidays around Victoria and the Eastern Australian coastline, from Mount Gambier, S.A. to The Entrance, north of Sydney, N.S.W. We also towed that caravan to Orienteering events throughout Victoria and N.S.W.visiting some beautiful Australian bush.
1974: George visited England, Sweden for an Orienteering event, and Hungary for a summer music course, then back through Italy & Bangkok.
1974: New Zealand, North Island.Orienteering again, and some sightseeing. We took our eldest and our youngest, who celebrated his 2nd birthday in New Zealand.
1983: Perth, Western Australia. This was our first real trip away without our children.(George played croquet & Marion explored Perth and environs.)
1984: U.S.A. "The Big Trip"
  We took three weeks to drive with our two youngest boys, from L.A. to San Francisco; Yosemite; around through the Mojave Desert and up to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Painted Desert; Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson; El Paso and the Carlsbad Caverns; San Antonio; New Orleans; and on to Florida where we visited Disney World, then spent two weeks at West Palm Beach where George (again) played croquet. we spent the last few days driving back across the country via Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico to L.A. to catch our plane home. A trip to really get those feet itching!
1986: "The Greatest Trip" Off again with the Australian Croquet Team to Ireland (stopover in Singapore). While George played croquet in Dublin, Marion drove south to Kilkenny, Cashel, Cork, kissed the Blarney Stone, Killarney, Clare, across the Burren, then, as time was limited, regretfully had to head back across to Dublin.
We flew from Ireland to Glasgow. When the Team moved south to Manchester to play the first Croquet Test, Marion drove north to Skye, Inverness, Perthshire,Edinburgh, then into England, visiting Hadrian's Wall, the Lakes District, and across the Yorkshire Dales to York. She then re-joined the Team at Birmingham.
Widdecombe in the Moor
Dartmoor
From there, the Team moved south, to London, Brighton,and Eastbourne. During a few days' break from croquet, we drove around Norfolk, visited Cambridge and Oxford, stayed at Northampton, then went south through Bath to meet the Team at Exeter. While the croquet continued, Marion enjoyed driving around Dartmoor and into Cornwall. The Team moved back to London and finally to Colchester.
With the Test series over, we moved on to Europe for the next three weeks, driving from Paris, through Normandy where we viewed the Bayeux Tapestry and Mt. Saint Michel, south through Tours and the Loire Valley, on to Poitiers, Angouleme, Limoges, then a few days at a small beach town of Fourre for a 'holiday'!
Back to Paris to catch a plane for San Francisco and Sonoma for another ten days' croquet.
Return to Paris to collect our faithful Citroen which had sat patiently in a Paris street waiting for our return. We headed for Cologne, down the Rhine River to Zurich, Switzerland; Venice; Rome; Naples; Florence; Nice and a long drive back through France to Paris to catch the train back to England. Then home after three and a half months.
1990: New Zealand. (More croquet) Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch.
1992: Hawaii. Waikiki for one week, then a second week on Kauai. Pure Paradise! (No croquet)
1993: USA. A two week whirlwind trip from Washington, D.C. and Virginia up the East coast via New York to Boston, then across to the Niagara Falls and back through Amish country to Washington. Without planning it, a trip through early American history.
The '90s: A number of trips staying at timeshare resorts in Victoria, N.S.W. and Queensland.
1997: A quick three day stay at Goolwa, South Australia. A great place with plenty to see and do. We need to go back for a longer stay. Two weeks: Albury, Canberra, then a week's relaxation at Tomakin on the NSW south coast.
1998: Five weeks touring Greece and Turkey, with stop-overs in Rome and Bangkok and a week at a timeshare resort on Corfu. We travelled Greece and Turkey on bus tours through Trafalgar Tours and appreciated their expertise and organisation.
On this trip, we met other more experienced travellers than we are. We listened to their stories and learned from their experiences. Our appetite was whetted!
1999: We drove to Central Australia in the middle of this year.  Over 10,000 kilometers of driving and learning more about this wonderful ancient land we live in. A great trip.
  


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