Tracy and I sat on the deck of our Mosman home on a warm early summer evening in 2022, with a glass of Pinot Grigio in hand and the city skyline laid out across the horizon, discussing our senior gap year plans.

Close up, the cultural distinctiveness of Tokyo became more apparent. Vending machines hummed softly, offering not just food and drink but electronics, personal supplies, even clothing.

The closest thing we had to a spiritual awakening in Reims was a tour of Maison Mumm, Tracy’s preferred brand of champagne. We learnt about the history of the Maison and the process of champagne making

After the Swiss Alps, just past Lugano, we entered Italy.Reaching the bottom of the hill, we turned right and joined the road along the lake’s edge, spotting Bellagio nestled between the water and the land on the other side.

A sin of omission is not doing something that you should have. What we experienced was a sin of omission of epic proportions.

We mapped our route to Paris, picking out famous wine regions to break up the journey. At Chablis, we booked a private e-bike tour.​

A francophile all her life, Elaine was the outward bound type of traveller, loving nothing more than exploring the countryside on foot, or bicycle. No longer being in the position to do so, we thought it was about time she visited Paris, and arranged to meet her there for her 80th birthday.

Producers wanting to cash in on the group’s ongoing popularity hounded the real Abba band members for years, wanting to organise a world tour, but they refused. Some very smart people then developed a new technology and pitched the idea of a lifelike virtual concert that would eliminate the band’s need to tour.

By hook or by crook, we obtained tickets for five major sporting occasions and enjoyed what came to be known as our Great British Summer of Sport. The first of these events was the British Grand Prix.

Our Great British Summer of Sport continued at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club for ‘The Open’.

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Next up in our Great British Summer of Sport was The Oval for day one of the fifth and final Ashes test match.

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I’d never been to the Channel Islands. Whilst it was not high on our bucket list, it ticked several boxes as somewhere we’d never been and a good place to take mum and dad for a few days away together.

In amongst all the sport we took the opportunity to have a couple of European escapes with family and friends.

We returned to the UK to continue our Great British Summer of Sport at Wembley Stadium. 

For the fifth and final leg of our Great British Summer of Sport, Tracy and I were at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first home game of the season, against Manchester United.

Growing up in North London in the 1970s, I could never have imagined that one day I would become co-owner of a caravan park in regional NSW. 

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We imagined crossing the Nullarbor would be an adventure that would resonate with the thrill of an epic challenge, with the fear and trepidation of traversing some of the most rugged and savage land on this earth.

A spa was something we craved through much of our journey across the south coast of Australia, from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia to the South Coast of Western Australia via the Nullarbor.

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There are several companies that offer a fully serviced bike tour with luggage transfers, but we went with Escape by Cycle, and they were excellent. They looked after our every need over the six days, five nights of the trip.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was a breathtaking sight, its white marble domes and towering minarets gleaming under the late afternoon sun, enhanced by intricate patterns and golden accents shimmering in the light. 

The National event is the one weekend when Spurs supporters from all over the country are invited to come together for a fun weekend, and to watch the last match of the season.

The only direct flight from Australia to South America was with Qantas to Santiago and when we discovered this, we decided to stay in Chile for a couple of days, mainly to get over the jet lag before venturing onwards.

We decided to spend some time in the rainforest with relatively little forethought. The thought process was: we’re going to the Galapagos for Tracy’s birthday. It’s a long way to go, so what else can we do whilst we are in South America?

Walking around Quito was a journey through layers of time and altitude. The air was thin and crisp at over 2,800 meters. In the historic centre, cobbled streets wind past colonial churches, painted facades, and leafy plazas.

Our experience in the Galapagos was simply fabulous. ‘Wow, just wow’, as one friend put it when commenting on my Facebook post. Put this place on your bucket list, somewhere near the top.

We decided to do the NC500, a drive around the coastline of the highlands, the part at the very top. Dreamed up by the Highlands tourism people in 2015, the NC500 has been a great success

Strolling through the centre of Vienna was a graceful journey through history and culture. The historic area in the centre was particularly stunning, with fabulous heritage buildings around every corner.

It is difficult to reflect on our experience at Paris 2024 without sounding like one of the cliched news reports that accompanies the end of the games. The IOC president said it was ‘sensational’.

The cruise we booked at short notice with my parents took us to Scandinavia: Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The ship was Celebrity Edge, this being a cruise line we had been on twice before.

Over the weekend we packed in a wide variety of activities including fishing, barefoot bowls, karaoke, poker, an 80s band and lots of beer. But it was the golf that proved to be the most interesting.

The need to check in with our parents over-rode the purity of our ‘winterless life’ concept and took us to the UK in what was the depth of winter.

I was invited to be one of three OzSpurs members on a panel discussion to be filmed by Optus Sport; my television debut in football punditry.

Immediately after my television debut, Tracy and I headed to Sydney airport for a flight to Tasmania. This was our first experience of the state outside of the Hobart area.

On race day we did the whole thing again, but with the added ingredients of wind, rain and cold. This time it was Caroline, Lou, Tracy, Ally and I attending.