November 2026 – Spring in Sydney.
We concluded our last newsletter in July with a visit from Michelle and a photo of her, Karen and Nina. I start this newsletter with an apt quote from Somerset Maugham for us and our ageing friends: “What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one’s faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one’s memories”. It’s therefore a good idea to commit our memories to paper, or a blog!
I will summarise the events we have shared and enjoyed in the past four months. We started August with the Schady-Muller’s and the Quinn’s visiting Warner’s Bay to help Karen and Evan spruce up their rental property between tenants, over three days. Good to catch up with the in-laws over renovations and evening meals. Michelle at the same time visited London and New York. She caught up with her old friends Fergus and Kate in New York. Kate’s first baby was due any moment.
Karen passed the written parts of her fellowship exams on the 6th August, to our big relief. On the 12th August we enjoyed the Sail Cruising Division’s BBQ at the Basin, followed by a Yum-Cha lunch in Ryde on the 20th. In between we had Nina for sleepovers as Evan and Karen were either on call at RPA, or studying for exams.
September kicked off with me contracting the flu, (despite vaccine shots) which developed into pneumonia – a first for me. After two courses of antibiotics, I managed to shake the coughing fits off. We also had a visit from Danie and Esme Maritz, school and Uni friends from Brisbane, early in September.
Karen had to present a paper at an orthopaedic conference in Cairns in mid September, so we enjoyed Nina for the weekend.
On the 19-20th September Karen did her final oral/practical fellowship exam, which she passed and we celebrated with breakfast in Manly. Finally, at the age of 38 and three degrees behind her name, she can now add the coveted FRACOS, Fellow of the Australasian College of Surgeons.
In early October, we had to extend our pickle ball days to three a week, as both our sailing group and Annie’s gym group had grown exponentially. Mid October saw Jeremy and Gerda Wiley visiting us from South Africa. Their son James and his wife in Sydney, had a second baby and they were here to meet the young fellow.
We also cleaned and spruced Esprit up for sale and placed her with the Yoti brokers. The time had come for us to acknowledge that a share yacht between 4 to 6 couples would entail much less work for us and be financially more viable. We are currently researching these options.
Karen and family flew to South Africa on the 17th October to visit the Kruger game park and my brothers and then fly to Cape Town. She will be able to show Evan where she grew up in Bakoven, visit friends and also Franschhoek where they have friends.
Their holiday gave us the opportunity to get away, so on the 19th, we flew to the Gold Coast to visit my old school friend Johann Schroder and his wife Felice. They kindly allowed us to use their VW Kombi camper van to travel inland into Queensland and visit the Carnarvon Gorge, one of the longest and most spectacular gorges we have ever hiked.
Along the way, we visited beautiful country towns like Maryborough before we rejoined the Sunshine coast at Noosa. From here, we travelled south along the coast to Tweed Heads, where Johann and Felice again welcomed us.
We flew back to Sydney on the 29th October. We put in a frantic 20km bike ride to Dee Why beach on the 30th. to prepare for the “Gong ride” on the 1st November. (Ha-ha-ha!) The 82km Sydney to Wollongong bike ride is now in it’s 45th iteration and is in aid of MS (Multiple Sclerosis) research – this year more than 5,500 cyclists took part. We started in Tempe, next to Ikea at 6:30. The first part through urban areas was not exciting, but once we entered the Royal National Park south of Sydney, the scenery became beautiful. The camaraderie between the riders was great and there were four water and toilet rest stops at 20km intervals. On arrival in Wollongong we soaked up the carnival atmosphere with live bands and food stalls.
Special trains were laid on to get everyone and their bikes back to Sydney’s Tempe station. Unfortunately there were no lifts and we had to drag our bikes and tired bodies up and down the pedestrian bridges for some extra fun and exercise. The enjoyment of that first cold beer when we got home, beats description!
On the 5th November we will collect Karen and family on their return at the airport. I sign off with some photos received from Michelle enjoying her catamaran, sailing between the Fijian Islands. Until our next post in the new year, love to all.
Cheers
Dirk and Annie