A warm interlude

After the cold cold of the Canberra winter and quality time with new G-Kid Charlotte May we headed home – mainly to thaw out.

But within a few weeks we had itchy feet and off we headed – north this time to follow the warmth. And warmth we found – a gorgeous 23 degrees at Patonga Beach.

We stayed in a small caravan park over looking Patonga Beach and although this is nothing new (many caravan parks that are lined along the east coast of Australia) what was quirky about this one is the row of homes across the inlet.

Don and I looked dreamily at the homes thinking how lovely it would be to live there. Semi secluded, power, tank water and no road access. The occupants had to hop in a little boat and cross the inlet – all of 20 metres, anchor the boat, then hop out to either dump rubbish or better yet, hop into their cars which are all parked along the shore to head to work/shop. How idyllic!

the idyllic lifestyle we decided against

Then we started discussing well what if we had run out of milk and need a quick trip to the local store? Mmm – you cant just pop down the road for milk and bread. Then of course it would be weather dependant though with the drought currently sweeping most of Australia, this may not be an issue, but still it would get cold and very hot at times.

the idyllic lifestyle we decided against

The dream abruptly ended as Don and I processed the reality of living in such a spot. Yes doable for a week possible two, but a bit longer?? Nah we have become too used to shopping daily.

Bateau Bay

We mossied up the coast a bit more and came to Bateau Bay. Another gorgeous beach side town. Although both Don and I have seen numerous sunrises and sunsets here and across the world, we still marvel at them.

Pre-dawn saw these colours gently shading the sky and it was different than the blazing colours of sunrise.

pre-dawn

What’s more was the walk across the rocks – with moss so green and fresh and made intricate designs across the beach.

the mossy rocks

the mossy rocks

And then there is the vista – take a closer look – can you spot the bus??

spot the bus

Several RV’s we see in the parks have names(like ours Zingara) and just sometimes I feel a bit cheeky as was the day I looked at one of the big caravans in the park. Their name? Happily Uprooted. I so wanted to scrub out Up.

As we left the caravan park at Swansea I got talking to another fellow traveller. The usual questions exchanged ie where you from, how long you been travelling but the best line was when he said so you’re just wandering up the coast. This struck me and I replied, Well, yes at this point of our lives that’s what we are doing – wandering!

Swansea

A little further up we came to Swansea. Tucked away on a point with water on both sides. By this stage an injury to my left arm and elbow which had been bothering me for over 2 months, had still not eased. I had a niggling pain in my left shoulder too. So, I was determined to find a good massage therapist. I googled Thai massage and met Rosie. Initially we booked, but she rang later to change the date and was most apologetic and promised I look after you! mmm.

Wow was this woman game changer. Once on the table she immediately cracked my back and I heard it settle into place. Next, she “walked” over my legs and at times she had to scrape me off the ceiling. Well, she said you did say firm and I had.

I arrive and she tells me I must pay cash. I didn’t have much on me and was short $30. I didn’t have my cash card was only credit. She simply said, no problem I trust you. So glad she did as I didn’t want to re-schedule.

She found a very stubborn “knot” in my right shoulder and spent ages unknotting it. She did these in several other places. She went overtime but as she promised to “look after me” she didn’t charge me more.

Result? The next morning after 2 physio sessions and 3 acupuncture sessions my arm miraculously was fixed!

Best Thai massage I have had, and I have had quite a few when in Thailand. I came away floating and fixed!

This time we stayed in a caravan park overlooking the water, but it was west rather than east, so we were treated to a spectacular sunset!

Don enjoying the sunset

Dancing

details in case anyone wants to go!

Well we can’t go long without a dance somewhere. As Swansea was only half an hour or so from Newcastle we though we would visit DanceVibe Newcastle run by the friendly Adrian. He was operating from a new venue on Wednesday so in our excitement we entered the address into Google who led us straight to the school. Don and I saw the long length of cars parked outside the school but for the life of us we couldn’t work out how to get in.  The school had huge steel fences and gates all around its perimeter.

We tried a couple of gates but locked solid. We wrestled the heavy bolts on the door, thinking how do we enter? Odd said Don there is an air conditioner on.  Yes, said I, and a gate to a building is opened, but how do you get in?  So, we tried the gates again walking back and forth between the two gates, watching if cars arrived and which entrance they were using – assuming they were going dancing. We ended up concluding that they were picking up their kids from the nearby park where sport training was in progress.

 

A sign on the gate said the entrance was from another road, so we got back in the bus and went around the block of the school bringing us back to the same spot. We just couldn’t work out how to get in. Then as we circled for the second time, I spotted the Macedonian Club and as we went past the door was opened and I caught a quick glimpse of people dancing. That’s it, I said!! As Google had directed us to the school and seeing it was in School Street, we assumed it was the school. We had spent the best part of 20 mins trying to break into the school looking for our dancing fix.

Nevertheless, it was a great night of dancing. We enjoyed it so much we headed to the West Coast Swing class in the odd named suburb of Kahibah, the next night. As we hadn’t booked a place to stay and there were only two caravan parks that we could find in Newcastle with both bad reviews, we decided to free camp. We asked the boys behind the bar at the club where we had been dancing and asked if we could stay in the car park. They looked at us oddly. No-one has ever asked us that before they said. Well the car parked isn’t locked and no security comes around so yeah should be ok.

So we slept in the club carpark and it was very quiet and what’s more the ground was level!

Locals told us that there were hot showers at the Merewether Baths. So, at 5 am Don drove us around and we were treated to the most wonderful pre-dawn sunrise.

pre dawn again

Gaudi lookalike

We were also taken on a tour of Newcastle by the bubbly Nikola (a dance friend of ours) and ending up at a pub for a lunch. Nothing like being shown around a place by a local giving the local perspective and knowledge. Amongst the many new and old buildings one that took my eye was the one that had a balcony which reminded me of Gaudi.

The walk across the Anzac walkway gave us stunning views of the ocean and Newcastle itself, and a walk to the light house highlighted Newcastle harbour and we got to see the big boats coming in and out. We were also treated to dolphins frolicking in the harbour, but we weren’t quick enough to catch a pic.

light house Newcastle Harbour

The incident

We visited the harbour 2 nights in a row as we thought it was quite pretty. The first night as we were leaving, we came to a T-intersection. Don turned right, just as I said to him there is a sign there saying all traffic to the left only Don swore he didn’t see it.

The next night as we were leaving, at the intersection I said to Don you need to turn left. The car in front had just turned right. Don said oh he did it, so it must be ok. Just as he proceeded to turn right a police car with flashing lights pulled over the car who had turned right. I think Don sighed a sigh of relief as the poor driver was pulled over. However as we passed, the policeman had gotten out of the car and was pulling Don over too.

I just kept quiet.

The policeman was lovely and explained there was a sign to which Don answered he hadn’t seen it. Nevertheless he was told a fine will arrive in the mail.

Apparently the fine did arrive, but nothing more was said....

oh and our next edition

Five months in the bus

Mmm as time moves along I marvel at the amount of time we have been living in the bus. I thought it would be good to talk about what living in the bus is like – what we found, what we liked, what we found a challenge.

Let’s start with what we like – it certainly is the freedom of picking up and going wherever we please. The best part though is that the bed is always the same, so even though we are in different places, our bed doesn’t change. As you know getting a good night’s sleep is critical and when travelling we all have a horror story re the beds we have slept. I remember in Milano (no less) waking up and having small bite marks over me! Another time in London (ok it was some one-star hostel backpackers) the mattress was lumpy as!

We are getting used to living in a tiny house (as essentially that’s what it is) and manoeuvring around each other as we negotiate cooking, working in the office (for me), reaching for drinks in the fridge and lifting the bed to retrieve clothes or food.

We thought we would do more cooking outside, but somehow, we tend to do it inside, mainly cause all food prep stuff is inside and there are less flies!

What we found a challenge (note I didn’t say what we didn’t like) The smallness can get to us sometimes, especially if the weather is a bit cold or raining. Working out the layout of the new town and ensuring we stay close to walking distance to town to make life easier especially when needing food. We do have a bit of a storage of tinned and frozen food, but we both like our fresh veggies, so this means lots of trips to the market.

Sometimes we don’t get enough exercise – this can be because of the weather – can be too hot, too cold or raining, and obviously not many places where we can dance. At night we are not ones to watch TV and in a lot of these small towns it can be challenging to find things to do. Any dancing is usually towards the end of the week as a club or pub will have some live music. Occasionally we try to get to the flicks if there is one in town and of course we try and find yoga and if we are lucky we do 2 or 3 sessions a week.

Although we did bring along our yoga mats and even though doing it on a beach or river sounds great, the reality is the ground is uneven, can have sticks and stones, and weather not always enticing.

Funny thing about towns, when you google them to see what there is in the town, there appears to be lots of information about things you can do such as visiting museums, water activities and fun parks, lookouts, lots and lots of “vintage” (translate to old stuff) shops – none that really interest me much these days. Let’s face it Don and I have travelled quite a bit in our lifetimes and have seen enough of these things and more to last a lifetime. It must be extraordinary for me to take a peek inside.

We also thought we would do more dancing videos, but the reality is what do you dance in front of? In Australia other than the rock, opera house and bridge – what are the other significant structures? One person did suggest dancing in front of all the “BIG” things ie pineapple, banana, prawn etc. A thought … ahhhh not.

But what I do love is the quirkiness of towns, the people in them. Such as why set up a sourdough bakery in a small town – such as we found in Braidwood. Or refurbished a pub with no pokies, no TV screens and no gambling like we found in Tathra. Perhaps this is what makes up Australia’s story?

So what have we found? We do spend quite a bit of time together….. and suddenly I’m yearning for girlfriend outings. And I’m sure Don is looking to chat to males about ... well blokey stuff.

I though we would interact more with the people we meet in caravan parks, but I find we have little in common and Don and I are not ones to sit around and drink beer/wine and cook sausages on the BBQ – we don’t even have one! Perhaps we haven’t struck it lucky yet, but we do keep looking.

I also can’t help thinking about my parents and my mum in particular. She left a life of outside toilets (in fact our first home when I was until 7 years of age, we had an outdoor toilet), cooking over open fires, showering when possible (this sometimes equated when cooking as the fire also warmed up the water so you could take a bath, looking for water and ensuring there was enough food, when she set sail to Australia in 1956. I think if she really knew how I was currently living… well let’s not go there – Italian mothers

Ok on with our travels

Eden

Caravan park - thoughts
 of Paris

the bus

Travelling further down the south coast we land in Eden and stayed at the Garden of Eden (I kid you not) caravan park. Well this was one well-thought out park. There are several caravan parks that just squeeze you in. At times you may be positioned next to the indoor pool with a noisy spa that goes on all day. But at the Garden of Eden (ha love saying this) spaces were divided up with gorgeous trees and deciduous ones at that, so that when we arrived during Autumn we were treated to the changing colours and crisp dry leaves floating in the air. With lovely dappled sunshine through the branches I felt like I was back in Paris again!

Unfortunately, we only stayed one night there as we were on a mission – to re-live some of Don’s childhood holiday memories.

Mallacoota

Don at Mallacoota - learning against a familiar wall

We arrived mid-afternoon with Don reminiscing about the road in to the town. We found the place we were staying, and Don felt sure it was the one he had stayed at as a child. We found the wharf which hadn’t changed that much!

If we thought the views of the ocean, sunrises etc were stunning before – here they were magnificent. I did try and take some pics, but unfortunately random people and my shadow spoilt some of them Granted I am still navigating a new phone camera.

Here we also hired a small boat and took it out on the lake – wow wasn’t that a great day. Firstly, me who hates the water, got in a boat! But it was the serenity of the lake – it was vast, with several interesting points to stop at, hop off if need be and continue. We hired it for 4 hours and secretly I thought that was a long time. Amazingly it wasn’t – in fact I was surprised at how quickly time flew as we negotiated our way along the lake.

I loved the guy we hired it from. He lives in Ballarat miles from Mallacoota, but he comes over during the good weather (Oct – April) to run the hiring of the boats. I’m sure he was around 70 and very old school, though he did have an iPad  to check the weather conditions before he sent out hopefuls like us.

The vista

We try not to eat out too much – for several reasons – cost, the size of some of the dishes, though we are taking to share dishes these days, but also in some country areas it is still pub food, with lots of fried options and not too many non-meat dishes. (Not that we are entirely vegetarian, but we don’t like to eat meat all the time.) But occasionally when something catches our eyes we indulge. This time is was the figs. As I had not had any figs all season, this was a must. I had to say it was one of the most delicious ways I had eaten figs - along with my other favourite pomegranate which was added to the dish (and you can see scattered on the plate).

The food

We were told that abalone was “the” seafood of this fishing village, so we added this to our list to try. Walking through the small town (very small), and looking at the few eateries, we spotted the local Chinese, of all places, serving abalone. We decided to come back there for dinner that evening.

We entered, sat, Don went to order and returned.

Don’t have any said Don.

What do you mean they don’t have any I said, It’s on the board outside.

Well they don’t have any said Don.

Apparently and typical in a small local Chinese restaurant, the spoken English of the lady at the front, was not great and eventually Don worked out they didn’t have any, even though it was proudly displayed on their blackboard outside. We looked at each other and thought, Nah, we didn’t want to Chinese, so we left. We ended up at the pub where it turns out EVERYBODY goes for a pub meal.

Lakes Entrance

Leaving Mallacoota with Don sufficiently happy revising his childhood we headed to Lakes Entrance. This is the place for Melbournians to come to relax for a few days or so.

What a fabulous spot and I managed to find a great location for the bus – right by the river. By this time, I had worked that as much as I do love the water, it’s not the beach with its pounding surf, but the lovely flow (fast flowing at that) of the river that I love the best. It’s quieter!

Farewell Lakes Entrance

We walked along the pier and bought fresh fish caught that morning in readiness for Good Friday where we would feast on fresh seafood.

Beach huts

 

We didn’t stay long at Lakes Entrance for a couple of reasons. Don wanted to do a little more work on the bus – put in the remaining security screens so we can open the windows without worry of files and safety. We also wanted to do a little more work at the country residence and ultimately needed to be back in Canberra for the birth of yet another grandchild.

We travelled across the Victorian Alpine area which is just gorgeous in Autumn. I have travelled through the Alpine area a bit (as I lived in north east Victoria for some time) and I never stop marvelling at how ghost like the tress look during this time of the year. It is almost eerily white – a promise to what will be around the corner (snow).

A stop at Bright was mandatory just to view the spectacular change of colours from the gorgeous trees that line the streets. This is always a highlight in autumn except the day we got there you may have mistaken it for a summer day as it was quite warm.

Bright

A quick walk and stop and yet another pie shop (out clothes are starting to get tight) and we were off again heading to Wodonga/Mulwala to make the bus adjustments.

As time was on our side I again got to spend a bit more time with my daughter and her boys (in Wodonga) where we caught the musical Kinky Boots (Albury) – ok a local production, but was a good excuse for a night out with my daughter and something that her and I loved doing when she was younger and definitely before kids!

enjoying Kinky Boots in Albury

But the nicest thing about this return journey was the birth of my new granddaughter – it did take a trip to cold Canberra for this (and I mean cold) after a near 3 week stay (babies just don’t have a habit of coming on time do they?) lovely Charlotte May was born, little sister to Ella.

Enough for this time – where will be next??

4 months on the road

our travels so far

Yes folks we have been away 4 months, time certainly goes by quickly! Some have asked if we could DO a map to show where we are, so here is our journey so far. A bit of zigzagging, but then we didn’t have a set plan and as you know plans can change!

We have been staying in a variety of accommodation – National Parks, Caravan parks, showgrounds, and the street. For all accommodation except caravan parks, we rely on solar to use our appliances and keep warm. Not a problem when the sun is shining.

One weekend we decided on a bush location – quite cheap, had a picturesque dam in the middle and a bush drop toilet – one of the cleanest drop toilets I’ve seen to date. It even had magazines to read, books to swap, pamphlets of the area and fairy lights – essential in the pitch black of darkness when trying to locate the loo at night. Honestly when it is pitch black it is easy to get disorientated.

All good except when we arrived a thunderstorm was looming and when it broke out it was quite spectacular to watch from the bus. However, it pretty much poured all afternoon, all night and the next day. Was cold and although we did manage a fire to cook up some locally caught fish (not by Don), the rain persisted.

This was the first time that it had rained for so long and we were trapped in the bus. There was no where to go, was cold to boot and with no sun shining on our solar panels, turning on the electric heater was not advisable (remember we have a full-size fridge that runs 24/7). The priority suddenly became the diesel heater.

Odd thing, being marooned in the bus consequently we didn’t move about much because of the minimum space in the bus. Our legs were very sore from sitting! Both of us are people who move often and not ones to be seated for too long - even when I’m working I get up every couple of hours, go for a walk etc, but being stranded in the bus and perhaps the lack of blood circulating, our legs were extremely sore!

We decided that in future if we think it will rain for a long period, to camp in a town where there is more to do and keep warm and be in a caravan park with power! Or rent out a house on Air BnB!

2 pants suit and 1 dress

Heading out of the campsite through the town of Moruya, I spot a dress. It’s on a mannequin outside the shop and told Don to immediately pull over.

We headed in and one of the lovely things about country towns is time. People have lots of it. The dress had only just arrived – wasn’t on the rack in the shop. The lady very kindly went out the back, got my size and zipped me up. It fitted beautifully and not only did I buy the dress, I also bought two (on sale) pant suits. Ok they were for summer and summer was ending, but so super comfy and ideal for the outback!

Of course, each time I buy a dress the inevitably Is there a special occasion? No not really, I said,  We dance and I enjoy wearing dresses. I do vary my responses from time to time, but today it was I dance. Well not only did the sales lady get excited, so too did a couple of the other ladies in the shop. They wanted us to do a quick demo (in the dress), which we happily obliged, which they filmed and were going to upload to their facebook page. They asked where we were headed and told us to look up dances in the area and were so helpful! I left quite happy with my purchases.

If you are ever in Moruya stop in at Eve’s Place Fashions, look around and chat with the lovely and friendly attendant and locals.

Tathra
Well wasn’t this a big secret. Where do I start? Ok I’ll start with the pub.

Tathra Pub	View from Tathra Pub

We walked inside and immediately felt the difference. It had been renovated recently and guess what? No pokies, No large TV screens blaring sport, No gambling, No spilt drinks - it was like such a different feel.

So what was there? Live music, an amazing view as it is situated on a headland, great food and a quirky crowd, with a few quirky bits – such as…

• We started the week with live music on the Sunday night where we had a bit of a dance.
• Monday saw us attend a film makers night where we wanted to see if we could get any tips regarding our videos which incidentally paled into comparison to theirs, but they were very supportive
• The Thursday night it was pub choir night, so we hot footed ourselves back there again to join in with the singing (well me actually – read below).
• Friday was open mic and were treated to some great music from Tathra’s younger community, who incidentally were pretty good.

I believe they had live music on the Saturday night - a 3-piece Japanese Celtic band that I would have loved to hear – just the quirkiness of the name made it sound interesting – Japanese doing Celtic??  but it was time for us to leave by then.

Before	After

At the Tathra Pub

On the menu at the pub was Tathra Oysters – locally grown we were told, just up the hill. So we took a walk and found the place. They have been winning awards consistently since 1991. We were rewarded with the best dozen oysters we have had in a long time!

Being entertained by
Frankie J Holden

As a side note, the caravan place we stayed, unbeknown to us, is partly owned by old rocker FJ Holden (Old 55) who on the Sunday evening when we arrived, gave a little concert where he sang some of his old and new songs. Was an entertaining night.

Old Wharf
One of the lovely things about these coastal towns and villages is the history. Tathra had is Wharf where once upon a time it was a hub for coastal shipping and now it's a heritage listed wharf that is also an gallery and excellent cafe. More importantly was the view!

Enjoying the view at Tathra old wharf Tathra old wharf

Yoga

We got ourselves organised and found a couple of yoga classes to attend. The first one was your typically yogi – all Zen, calm but also involved the use of a chair for stretching amongst a few other equipment ie bolster, block – normal in yoga class. We went along with it.

The second one we attended, Don and I though we could walk it – after a 40 min trip past the sewerage works (the name of the road/bush track was aptly named Poo Ponds Mountain Bike Trail – I kid you not, then up (read uphill) thru the burnt-out bush (from last year’s fires) we came to an ordinary house. She ran the class for just the two of us. This one too featured a chair, along with 2 bolsters, blocks, mat, strap, another bum seat and a chair. In the one-hour class, we used every bit of equipment, including the wall and it felt hurried from one pose/stretch to another. By the end of the session we had used every bit of equipment and basically built a small castle where we sat inside to hide in and Zen out….

Burnt out bush

more burnt bush

The town is still recovering after the bush fire. There was plenty of evidence of the fire, even though the regrowth has started. One caravan park lost cabins and is still closed a year later.

We sprung a leak

Another rainy night, so here I am making myself a hot almond milk raw cacao drink, spilt a bit, cleaned it up and then started organising a few of my clothes when suddenly, I feel water splashing against my arm. 

Thinking I hadn’t turned water off, or left some sodden sponge somewhere, I look up to see water pouring out of the skylight. I call out to Don who was transfixed on some soccer match online. He promptly gets into action and pulls off the skylight cover and looks about. Yep there was a couple of holes where water was getting in. 

We were booked on the courtesy bus to head up to the Tathra pub to participate in the pub choir and the lift was due. Don said, you go, I will follow once I sort this out. So, leaving Don to sort out the leak, I headed up to the pub on my own.

When I arrived, the pub was empty but within 15 minutes it was packed for the pub choir. It is so good to see the community support such events. What, a lot of fun the pub choir turned out to be. We were taught to sing along to two original songs with the guy who wrote them.

The leak? Well Don kept texting to give me updates. Eventually the rain stopped long enough for Don to “lift” the front of the bus onto blocks, thus putting the bus at an angle so any water would “drain” away rather into the holes and into the bus. This was an interim until such time that Don could borrow a ladder and silicone up the leaks.

He texted to say send the courtesy, bus to collect him, which I did. The driver went to collect him but somehow, he missed Don and returned. Bus driver came to me to say he wasn’t there. So I’m texting Don who was saying send him again and I was about to when the pub choir ended. It wasn’t meant to be for Don that night.

Merimbula

Ok I’m getting better now at researching what’s available in towns. We leave Tathra and head to Merimbula, where I scheduled in Yoga, movie nights and through the power of Facebook (and our new-found friends in the Moruya dress shop), found some old time dances that were held during the week. I did contact them via FB and although they were happy to have us come along, they did feel that perhaps their music wouldn’t suit our style.

We arrived in Merimbula on a lazy Sunday afternoon - after a quick look around, we drove out Pambula way to the Longstocking Brewery

Gary Carson Jones’ band was playing and was such great music. We got up and had a dance along with a few rock and rollers. A woman came up to me after we sat to catch a breath, with her phone opened on my personal FB page and asked me if that was me. After saying yes, it turns out she was one of the ladies from the old-time dance group - Dance Merimbula! She enjoyed our dancing and welcomed us to the group the next evening which we turned up. She told us we were lucky as it was “supper night” and we would get tea and cakes! Well with that kind of invitation how do you refuse??

The dances

We attended on the Monday night and managed to even “bring a plate”, Don made vegan bliss balls! There was about 20 people and the dance floor was superb (it was in a church hall). We marvelled at how well they danced, and we managed to dance to their songs, and even learnt a couple of their dances! They marvelled at how well we danced! 

We even both individually won prizes – I chose (there were choices - from a box of tea, blocks of cheese, jar of peanut butter and jar of honey) honey as it was from Beechworth and we needed honey and I love the honey from Beechworth! When Don won he chose a block of cheese! Super friendly and although we had walked and were happy to walk back (about 20 min walk each way) they kept offering us lifts back to where we are staying!

On the Sunday night (after the lovely afternoon at the brewery) we headed to the local RSL where they had a karaoke night. We aren’t fans of karaoke, but we thought we could get a couple of dances in before people drank enough to get up to sing. So, I went up to the guy and asked if he could play some songs for us to dance (our kind of music that is), which he happily obliged.

As we sat to catch our breath, two women we had met at Moruya at the dress shop spotted us and headed over to join us for the evening. They had remembered us from the shop! Small world.

The highlight of the night was when a 4-year-old got on the dance floor for a bit of a jig, just as Don and I were leaving the floor. The DJ put on Baby Shark - you know the song. I can report to tell you that I sang along with the little girl and performed the actions AND I knew all the words AND the actions and performed a rousing rendition of the song with her – to the applause of the audience!

Buckwheat pancakes

I'm getting good at cooking in confined spaces. One morning I decided to make buckwheat pancakes - from scratch. Ground the buckwheat and made a very sloppy batter, which is always the case when you go a little alternative. Nevertheless I persevered and got the best tasting pancakes!

The Picture Show, Merimbula

As we did in Huskisson, we like to support local picture theatres and there was one in Merimbula, so we decided to catch a couple of movies. The first we saw was Hotel Mumbai based on a true story and filmed by an Australian. This was rather gripping from beginning to end! The second was Shazam – well let’s say if you took a ten-year-old boy – he would have enjoyed it.

Well enough for now - till next time....