Thursday 18^th October

In our year of sailing hither and yon we came across quite a few Australian families, either living the expat life, or on holiday on various tropical islands.  The children all had a nice enough time, snorkelling, fishing, swimming, eating tropical fruit.  What’s not to like?

But…do young children really love travelling?  Not so sure… My poor deprived children - I am sure I have already written about this – never got a holiday in Bali, Surfers Paradise, Fiji, as did most of their high school friends.  They assure me their friends at the time were in fact envious of the Coles Bay holidays.  They enjoyed being able to meet up with the same kids from different schools every year, and they probably enjoyed the three hour drive in our overloaded van more than their friends enjoyed their long-haul overseas flights.

When Nicky and Gavin went to South America with Hamish and Angus, the boys were 6 and 4.  They were there for three years and had all sorts of fabulous adventures – Tierra del Fuego, the Atacama Desert, big cities, the Andes.  It was regularly brought home to Nicky and Gav that what they really yearned for was…Tasmania.  When they were having a particularly wonderful two week holiday on a Caribbean island, where it was hot, sunny, beautiful, thrill-packed, Hamish and Angus said, faces alight with anticipated joy, “Mum, when we go back, we will be able to go to Grindelwald, won’t we?” 

Now Grindelwald, by any measure, would not shine by comparison to a Caribbean island resort.  It is a small pseudo-Swiss village on the banks of the Tamar, very neat, tidy and maybe just a bit dull.  There is a small golf course, a pond with ducks, geese, swans, and a very nice indoor pool.  The Wakefield family have been there recently and…the boys, now 10 and 12, still loved it. 

There’s no place like home…