This year we spent Christmas in Inverness with Mark and Kerry. We arrived in Inverness on 22nd December to freezing fog which developed into glorious sunshine. Hannah, Aimee and Andrew joined us on 23rd. We went to the Panto Beauty and the Beast - brilliant as always, followed by an amazing meal at The Mustard Seed.
Mark, Aimee, Hannah, Monty, Sylvia with Andrew reclining
Once Paul had decided to settle down in Australia we visited him and his partner Aly several times. We had some amazing trips and saw quite a bit of Western Australia. One place in particular we loved was Monkey Mia - still one of my most favourite places.
Feeding the dolphins in Monkey Mia
Another place we loved was Kalbarri where a huge pelican would arrive on the beach every day to be fed.
Kalbarri
A huge pelican would arrive on the beach every morning for a feed of fish, much to the onlookers’ entertainment.
Then an absolute highlight and something I’ve always wanted to do was when Paul treated us to a hot air balloon experience followed by a champagne breakfast.
Our hot air balloon experience
Paul’s family grew with the addition of two gorgeous boys, Mitchell and then Fletcher two years later. I’ve included some photos of our visits below. We loved spending time with the boys.
Ten pin bowling
Monty and Paul always fitted in a game of ten pin bowling. They were very competitive!
And then in summer 2023 Paul and the boys made it to Da Rock for a holiday! That was very special as we were all together as a family, joined by Mark and his kids too. We even had a visit from Wendy and David Bourne, Mitchell and Fletcher’s Australian grandparents, which was a real treat.
