Welcome to Michael and Norma's Site
This site contains a selection of articles about Michael and Norma's travels, family history, sailing and touring around the world, Michael’s motor racing and Norma’s animals.
Page link : Books and Manuals by NormaNorma has written several books as a result of her first-hand knowledge and experience including the Australian Bird Rehabilitation Manual, Identification of Chicks Nestlings and Fledglings of Australian Birds and Small Mammals Identification and Care. These books and manuals sell to wildlife carers throughout every state in Australia. |
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Campervan in Europe 2007, 2008 and 2009
The idea of getting a motorhome for extended touring in Europe goes back a very long way. 
Its genesis was on a day in July 1988. We had been sailing round the southern tip of Greece en route for Malta. Faced by strong head winds and a forecast for stronger, we diverted to a little bay called Port Kaio, way down in the Mani. In those days there were no dwellings ashore, and apart from two or three yachts also waiting out the gale there were just a couple of campervans on the beach. As the wind whistled round the bay and we wondered how we were going to replenish the stores, we came to envy their secure situation and promised ourselves we’d give it a go one day, if we could.
It became clear to us that while we still loved to sail, our enthusiasm for crashing and splashing our way across wide blue-grey oceans had substantially diminished. We dabbled with idea of spending the summer in Europe on a canal boat, but after extensive research concluded that we might find our movements and touring too restricted and our joints over-stressed. Thus, by the end of the year, the dormant campervan project had been resurrected after nearly two decades.
Voyaging in Cera 1981 - 1989
These pages describe our eight years of voyaging, from September 1981 to September 1989. The writings are based on our log, letters and articles, which were all prepared at the time of, or soon after, the events described. The account is therefore not written with the benefit of hindsight, but simply records how we saw things at the time, warts and all.
Sydney to the Pacific Northwest New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Central Pacific, Suwarro Island, Penrhyn Island, Christmas Island, Fanning Island and north to Hawaii. Read more...
Pacific Northwest to PanamaThe West Coast USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Pacific Coast of Panama. Read more...
The Panama Canal to IrelandThe Panama Canal, The Bay Islands of Honduras, Belize, Florida, South-East USA, In the Chesapeake, The Intracoastal Waterway, Cera in the Bahamas, From the New World to the Old, and Ireland. Read more...
Ireland, England and The MediterraneanLa Manche – the Channel and London, Northwest Europe: Brittany to Spain, In the wake of Ulysses, The Aegean Sea, Turkey, Malta, Tunisia, and Leaving the Mediterranean. Read more...
From Gibraltar back to SydneyWestward Ho, Islands of the Caribbean, Venezuela and the ABC islands, Panama: the San Blas islands and the Canal again, The Galapagos Islands, and Galapagos to French Polynesia.Read more...
Afterward - a Review and ThoughtsDescription of the cruising life written shortly after our return to Australia in late 1989.Tthe dream can be realised, even by those who are not the “adventurers”. Read more...
