Where to next?

We’re gearing up for another round-the-world extravaganza. It’s been more than 15 years since we last booked an RTW ticket. Garry and I used to buy tickets every year while living in London, starting in Sydney and finishing there a year later. This ensured that we returned to Australia (and often New Zealand) once a year.

On 27 December, we’ll depart Sydney for a six-week circuit that’ll finish on 9 February. We fly to New Zealand for ten days and spend time with my brothers, before flying directly to New York for business. Most of our time in New Zealand will be on the Coromandel Peninsula. We’ll spend six nights at Cooks Beach, where Shelley’s parents own a holiday house, before taking a road trip down the peninsula’s west coast with Hamish and Karin.

There'll be a large crowd at Cooks Beach. As a result, Garry and I have hired a fancy motor home to ensure we’ll have somewhere comfortable to sleep. While we're there, I'm hoping to tick off another bucket list item with a visit to Cathedral Cove. On 2 January, we’ll then form a convoy with Hamish and Karin as they drive their motorhome across the peninsula to Colville, then on to Coromandel township before finishing our time in New Zealand with an overnight stay at Kaiaua Beach.

I'm looking forward to the trip. The Coromandel’s west coast has been on my bucket list for decades.

Our flight to New York is another bucket list experience. Qantas began flying nonstop from Auckland in 2023. It’s currently the airline’s second-longest nonstop route. Garry and I have already taken its longest nonstop flight from Perth to London twice (including January this year). I love the idea of skipping a bothersome transit in Los Angeles or Dallas.

We have several business commitments in New York. However, we’ve booked the musical Six for a night out on Broadway. We’re also being taken for dinner by one of our American suppliers. Our final night in town will be spent in the iconic TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. Another bucket list item completed. We’ve also reserved a seat at the hotel’s cocktail bar, set up inside a lovingly restored Lockheed Super Constellation aeroplane.

On 10 January, we catch an early morning flight from JFK to Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. Here we’ll embark on a 14-day Silversea cruise that takes us to 12 countries, basically a new port every day. This is a special Sixtieth Birthday present for me, funded by my mother’s estate. In essence, it’s her final gift to me. I know Mum would have loved to do something like this, and would be delighted to know she’d made it possible for Garry and me.

There are so many bucket list moments throughout the cruise. First, we’ll spend time at Sunset Beach in Sint Maarten, where large jet aircraft swoop overhead as they come into land at the island’s international airport, just metres from the shore. Second, we’ll stop at Montserrat and visit its former capital, Plymouth, which was buried by volcanic ash and pyroclastic flows in 1996. Third, we’ll finally get to see the Gros and Petit Pitons on St Lucia. These are two breathtaking emerald peaks that rise dramatically from the sea (check out the image below). Their pyramid shape reminds me of the iconic Mitre Peak in Milford Sound.

We’ll finish our cruise in Barbados on 25 January. From here, we fly directly to London, then transfer onto flights to Germany, where we’ll spend the week walking trade show halls in Nuremberg as we’ve done annually since 2016 (setting aside a two-year hiatus during the COVID pandemic). On 31 January, we’ll fly to London for more business meetings, before making our way home with a weekend stopover in Singapore. Watch this space!

Note: All images used to illustrate this post were pulled from the web. I claim no copyright, but certainly look forward to sharing my own web-worthy photographs.