Another highlights of 2025 were:
- We started the year with two trips. We went north late February to early March to visit family in the Gold Coast and caught up with everyone there. A few weeks after that we went south to Beechworth, Melbourne and Bendigo with family and friends, and had a great time there too!
- In mid-May, we had our trip to Italy with many friends from Australia, Italy, Germany/Mexico, USA and UK/Panama. During that trip we had our 20th year anniversary celebration in Viterbo, an impromptu mock wedding at the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento and my 62nd birthday dinner party for me at Milan. The almost 12 months of Italian classes I took at the University of the Third Age (U3A) Shoalhaven paid off big time, I was able to understand everyone, and to make myself understood by everyone (Thanks U3A Shoalhaven!). OMG, we loved Italy (specially Sicily!). Huge thanks to our friends Ada, Anna, Annabelle, Ben, Bill, Giovanni, James, Klaus, Laura, Melissa, Myriam, Owen, Ruben, and Sue.
- Our trip to Adelaide with friends Josephine and Lawrence. It was a short trip, but WE LOVE ADELAIDE! So we did the best to stretch the time to show them why we loved it so much. Of course, the weekend included a lot of eating and drinking at great restaurants and bars, a great visit at the Adelaide markets, a day touring wineries at McLaren Vale, etc. OMG, we must go again soon!
- Our cruise holiday with a large group of our South American friends who live in Australia. We were 18 in the group, and the cruise ship took us north from Sydney, all the way up to the Great Barrier Reef and back. We had a great time, visiting beautiful destinations, eating, drinking, enjoying live music and shows, and just having fun together. Loved it so much, that it started planning a future cruise together.
- Our trip to Buenos Aires to visit my family. Mostly spent time with my Mum and brothers, but we also managed to go out to a few concerts, festivals, restaurants, etc. We even had the chance to play tour guides to Aussie mates Karina and Michael, who were visiting Buenos Aires before catching a tour to Patagonia. We took them to a unique TANGO CABARET show in San Telmo, and an ASADO/WINE TASTING event at our local bottle shop in Caballito. Our friends loved to experience something really Argentinian, out of the tourist path, and I think we delivered on that!
Of course, there was so much more through the year! We continued dancing and having great fun with our friends from the DANCE THERAPY GROUP every Monday evening; I had regular Wednesday morning catch up sessions for coffee and long chats in Spanish with Felisa and Carolina; I worked out at the gym early on Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings with Laura, followed by coffee and long chats; I continued to volunteer with the Harmony Week committee, this year we organised the first World Empanada Olympiad in the Shoalhaven (wow!); I also worked as a volunteer in the U3A Shoalhaven committee all through the year; etc. Sadly, I stopped doing radio shows mid-year at TripleU FM, but who knows, if they take me back I might try to start a new radio show in 2026.
At this point 2026 might bring us a lot more travel within Australia, we might make our return to Tasmania (last visit was in 2005), and we might even visit Western Australia this year which is something we had in the plans since 2021 (postponed due to COVID). So, in 2026, we plan on visiting family and friends from all around the country that we have not visited in a while; if you are one of them, you will hear from us soon !!! All the best for 2026 to everyone and to your loved ones from us.
Michael & Raul
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