I'm totally excited about a 2.5 hour trip to the coast!

[Violet_Crumble]

Pre-Covid I was getting excited about a trip to China, but now my universe is smaller (unless I want to leave Australia and not be able to get back home), Merimbula is looking mighty fine as far as tourist destinations go. So me and my new second hand Golf GTI (picture of a similar car without the super awesome European style number plates below) and wonderful Westie, Bridget (picture below as well) are going to do a short road trip and spend a week staring at the ocean and wondering to ourselves why life is so crap that I have to sit looking at the ocean instead of hanging out on the Great Wall....

My trip (if I was really clever, I would have embedded the map, but I'm not, so here we are...)

https://goo.gl/maps/seDs5Zwbv4vaVNn59

My car's doppelganger:



My Westie, who's promised she'll bark and whine for the entire trip (she's the white one)...



I'm really looking forward to when the pandemic is over and I can leave the car and the doggo at home and head back to Europe and do another river cruise down the Danube...

[DURHAM D]

1. Oh, thanks for the reminder....

I need to order some Crunchies on amazon. com

[Violet_Crumble]

4. Don't waste your time with inferior Crunchies...

This is the real deal....

https://www.amazon.com/Violet-Crumble-6-pack-Australian/dp/B0002268R0

[DURHAM D]

8. lol

I thought you would make this suggestion.

[Laffy Kat]

2. That sounds wonderful. Share photos of the trip, please.

Some of us who love to travel have to live vicariously through others' adventures. Your doggo is adorable, too!

[Violet_Crumble]

5. I've done it before, and have got pics somewhere of heavy snow between Canberra and the coast...

I'll dig them out and post them. Snow probably isn't as awe-inspiring in the US as it is here, but we kept on pulling off the road and throwing snowballs and building snowmen on the car bonnet. When I was in Europe back in 2006 and my daughter and I had a snowball fight in the carpark of the Prague Hilton, I found out quickly that Australians attitude towards snow is seen as rather infantile by others.

[Phoenix61]

3. Only cruise I've ever wanted to do were European

river cruise. The people I’ve talked to who have done them say they are wonderful. Lots of opps to explore where the boats dock.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. I've done ocean and river cruising...

I far prefer the river cruising. I did kind of get a bit sick of all the churches and cathedrals we kept on arriving at, but that's what you get when you visit Europe. I liked the smaller groups of people and the far better service and cabins. I found I was fine with dining in one restaurant every day and it was nice to sit with the same group of people all the time, though I did sit with an extreme RW Cuban American guy who got so upset he drunk-cried because me and the other Australians on our table wouldn't decry the evils of communism and thought Bush Jr. was a wanker....

[captain queeg]

7. I'm jealous. I was just thinking I need to get out of the house and go somewhere

I’m going to go down and see my sister this week. That’s something at least. I’ll stay in a hotel and visit her on her back porch. That’s about the most I’ll have done in months. I’m sure even that will help but wish I could just go somewhere fun or different. Still have a ways to go though and I don’t want to drop my guard and end up wasting the last 10 months and end up getting sick.

[mnhtnbb]

9. Lucky you!

In October I made a 3 hour car trip to my favorite coastal spot in North Carolina and sat and looked at the ocean for a week, too. Walked on the beach several times a day. Took lots of photos. Came home feeling much better.

I have never done a river cruise, but have enjoyed cruises on smaller ships of about 400 passengers. Would love to be able to go back to France, Italy, and England before my time is up, but I'm not optimistic it will happen before another year or two of this damn virus, no thanks to all the people who refuse to take it seriously and abide by public health precautions.

Enjoy your trip!

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Just let me know when an American can come to Australia so I

can have the very expensive, already paid for tour. That included the transcontinental train from Sydney to Perth.