Written by Kim Many of you ask why we own a house because we travel often. Well….in 2024 I started keeping track of where we sleep so I would have some stats. I’m happy to report that we were home 60% of the time this year which was a slight improvement to 2024. 🤪😂 We […]
Category: 2025
Recap of Australia / New Zealand trip – Nov. 2025
Written by Kim I like to recap our big trips so I can remember the details all in one place (and to share some of our tips and stats). This trip had 4 legs: 1) few days in Sydney, 2) a cruise around New Zealand and 3) our drive from Sydney to Melbourne and 4) […]
Nov 2025 – Our last day in the city of Melbourne
Written by Kim I’m not very good at goodbyes whether it be a person or city. I realized today I may never come here again so tried to soak up all I can. I know I’m very blessed to have experienced many cities around the world but this was a great trip with my best […]
Nov 2025 – Yarra Valley Wineries outside Melbourne
Written by Kim Today we took a drive to some wineries in the Yarra Valley. The Yarra Valley is an Australian wine region located about an hour drive east of Melbourne.It is a cool climate region that is best known for producing Chardonnay, sparkling wine and Pinot Noir. Our first stop was Yering Station, Victoria’s […]
Nov 2025 – Roaming around Melbourne & catching up with Uday
Written by Kim One of our favorite things about traveling is catching up with friends around the world. I was very fortunate to meet many international colleagues during my career and do my best to keep touch with many. Uday, a SAP consultant at the time, and I worked together at both Roche and J&J. […]
Nov 2025 – Arriving at our last stop, Melbourne
Written by Kim Our drive from Phillip Island to Melbourne was about 2 hours. After a quick stop at TK Maxx to check out the Black Friday sales and buy a suitcase to take back some things we’ve bought we arrived in Melbourne. Our hotel, Veriu, is right across the street from the Queen Victoria […]
Nov 2025 – Beautiful Nature & Wildlife on Phillip Island
Written by Kim Today was Thanksgiving which isn’t celebrated in Australia so we were missing our family and traditions, I will cook a Thanksgiving dinner when we’re back. Phillip Island is rich with beautiful landscapes and wildlife so we decided to soak as much as we can in, After a good breakfast we set out […]
Nov 2025 – The Phenomenal Phillip Island Penguin Parade
Written by Kim Our morning started off a bit exciting as we were greeted by Roos leaving Mallacoota. We left early and stores don’t open early so we had a gourmet breakfast in the car we bought last night at the grocery store. We had a 6-7 hour drive ahead of us. Unfortunately, our drive […]
Nov 2025 – A day in Mallacoota
Written by Kim Our drive from Merimbula to Mallacoota was only a bit over an hour so we decided to take a small detour and visit. Green Cape Lighthouse. We drove the Steaksauce Highway (aka A1 again) to head south to Mallacoota. It was lots of forest and pastures with cows. The turnoff to Green […]
Nov 2025 – A few misty days in Merimbula
Written by Kim We were in Merimbula, a small seaside town on the far south Sapphire Coast of New South Wales, for 3 nights. It was drizzly and rainy most of the time we were here but we did get one afternoon of sunshine. The first day we just relaxed a bit before heading out […]