2020 wasn’t that bad

It seems that everyone from around the world was wishing 2020 away. Yes it is true, Covid-19 threw a few spanners in the works but 2020 wasn’t that bad for us. Our travel plans were postponed but lots of other wonderful things happened.

Here are a few good things that happened in 2020.

Laps for Life

In March, I swam 30 kilometres to raise money for people who suffer from mental health issues. It was a challenge to rack up the kilometres as the pools were closing all around me due to the pandemic. I swam the last 2kms in the ocean as by the end of the month all the pools were shut.

The main thing is I made the distance and managed to raise over $700 for Laps for Life. Plus I kept fit at the same time and swimming does wonders for my own mental health.

We bought a Jayco Outback Eagle

We waved goodbye to our soft floor camper trailer and welcomed a Jayco Outback Eagle into the family. Since we picked her up we have done numerous trips within Western Australia. We are loving the change and in April we will be hitting the road full time. Dixie has long service leave due and we will explore the Kimberly and beyond. Hopefully, there will be no more border closures and we can also explore the Northern Territory.

We wanted to go with the flow and travel slow. If we liked a place we could stay as long as we desired. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, we need to plan our trip and book caravan parks as they are filling up fast. But we can’t complain as we can still travel and we are not in lockdown unlike other countries.

We got engaged!

Well, that was a total shock to me! I had no idea that marriage was on the radar. We had been camping when we stopped in Busselton, the place we met 11 years ago. Dixie was trying to get me to go for a walk on the beach but it was raining and I was not getting out of the car. After some awkward silence and a break in the weather I reluctantly got out of the car.

The kids ran down to the beach and then I see Dixie get something out of his pocket. I am in shock, it looks like a ring box. He gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. Of course, I say yes but my head is spinning. I can not believe he could pull off a surprise like this.

We tell the kids what is going on and JJ’s response was “Did you find that ring in the sand?” Even the kids didn’t think we would tie the knot one day!

That’s Life Mega Monthly Magazine

That’s Life Magazine stumbled across my blog and asked if I would write a travel article for them. I jumped at the chance to have my work published.

Three whole pages are dedicated to Kalbarri and things to do in the area.

Seeing my words and images in a magazine is surreal. I bet my English teacher never thought I would get asked to write something for a magazine!

I must admit in Western Australia we have been extremely lucky. Living in the most isolated city in the world has helped us keep the pandemic under control and allowed us to live a relatively normal life.

We are excited for what 2021 has install for us and hopefully we will see some of you on the road! Travel safe and have a fantastic new year!

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17 thoughts on “2020 wasn’t that bad

  1. Wow – your 2020 certainly wasn’t too bad at all! Where do I start? Um … well done on swimming 30k (how do you do that?!) for charity. Congratulations on the purchase of your new Jaco Outback Eagle – fun times to be had with that I’m sure. Huge congratulations on your engagement! And another huge congratulations on having your travel article published. What a wonderful achievement! I hope 2021 is also a great year for you. Will it include a wedding?!

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    • As they say, you just keep swimming! I am not sure when we will have a wedding. We have lots of family over east so it makes it difficult to plan with Covid. Hopefully, we can arrange something at the end of the year!

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  2. Some great stuff sure did happen & many congratulations. We were lucky in QLD too – relatively speaking. I’ve been loving your pics on Instagram and look forward to following your trip in the Kimberley.

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  3. Congratulations! An engagement certainly makes for a good year! love the kids covering their faces – ewhhhh! I did a similar blog post to this too – it was a shit year for many but there still many things to be grateful for. Christine

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