Colin and Fiona on board Discovery One in the Kimberleys
We really can’t believe it! Christmas is breathing down our necks again. Is it just us or have you also noticed that time is speeding up? But we guess that as the Christmas decorations have already been up in the shopping malls for weeks we really must get on and update you on the year that is about to end.
The first thing we must recount for the benefit of those who do not yet know is that we have separated. No, not broken up, just separated. We live apart. It happened like this. Fiona has never “liked” or felt entirely comfortable with living in Colin’s house at Rivett and missed her townhouse in Bonython. When her townhouse became vacant mid-year she decided to “go back home”. We are still very much a loving couple and have overnight visits together each week. Fiona is much happier, and Colin is recognizing the arrangement does have some advantages for him. Some members of our families expressed amusement and described our arrangement as ”very modern”. Colin from his perspective wonders if it is not a bit like having a cherished mistress.
The other big thing in our lives is that Colin’s sister Maureen had a very difficult year healthwise. In August, along with Colin’s other sister Marilyn, we drove up to Brisbane and had four lovely days with Maureen and caught up with her son Adam and his family. At the end of October we, again including Marilyn, flew up and back in the day to see her in palliative care. Maureen passed away on 30th November aged 81. We will always love her.
The most special thing we did this year was our thirteen-day cruise of Western Australia’s Kimberley Coast. The vessel, Discovery One, was once a Sydney Harbour ferry. It has eleven cabins, a crew of six and two Zodiac inflatable tenders. It was truly a lifetime experience. A small boat coast hugging wilderness cruise, it well and truly exceeded our expectations. There was just such a mass of islands and every day there were two or three Zodiac trips, often including going up rivers, going ashore and one memorable occasion getting soaked under a waterfall. We traversed the famous horizontal waterfall eight times. The cruise ended with us being landed on the beach of the uninhabited Naturalists Island, taken from there by helicopter to the plateau of the mountain behind the beach, then by a bigger helicopter to the Mitchell Plateau from whence we were flown by small plane back to Broome. Simply mind blowing!
Back in February we had a week at Nowra/Bomaderry which gave us a break away, the opportunity to visit friends and rellies who live on the coast and re-explore the far south coast. Unexpectedly, the non-people highlight of our trip was a visit to the Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Museum at Nowra. It is in a truly huge building and has one of every aircraft the navy has ever flown..
You might recall that last year we reported “Colin has this year not tidied up his office” … and “not completed putting up the greenhouse that was Fiona’s birthday present to him some two years ago”. Well, as evidence of the power of advertising, we can report progress. David and Candice and family travelled from Sydney to finish erecting the greenhouse as their Christmas gift to Colin. He deemed it his best Christmas gift for 2023. He is wondering who might turn up to clean his office this year. Anyone who does had best bring a quality dust mask and a very large trash pack!
At our age everyone talks about their health and so we are going to subject you to a health report. In summary, we think we are doing OK, all things considered. Fiona has problems with arthritis in her hands. She has also had asthma problems but these seem to have been fixed lately. Colin thinks he is going OK. He had a pacemaker implanted back in March.
So that's us for 2024. We trust that your year has also been kind to you and we look forward to hearing your news. We send our very best wishes to you and yours for a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Fiona and Colin
Our contact details
Colin and Fiona Field
PO Box 8051
RIVETT ACT 2611 (Australia)
cfield@pcug.org.au
fionafurze@ymail.com
Last updated: 1 December 2024