We have traditionally commenced our tax year with a newsletter to all clients, advising contact details but, more importantly, including our travelogue over the years.

 

The last few years have seen significant changes to our method of operation. The Rowville office was sold and the entire practice changed to a "mail-in" service, using our ever-reliable P O Box 450, Mt Martha 3934. (Some even email their information.) This gives us much more flexibility to meet our workload as well as having time to travel. This successful formula has kept us alive, alert and refreshed for the last 18 years and given us many memorable journeys, both around Australia and overseas. For 2017, we embarked on a long-held dream to travel the Canadian Rockies on the wonderful Rocky Mountaineer train. Then a tour of the Rockies including Lake Louise and beautiful Banff, to join a cruise from Seattle through the Inside Passage to Alaska, marvelling at icy peaks, glaciers, frozen lakes and rivers swollen by a very wet winter together with melting ice. (a highlight was walking on a glacier, accessed by ice-bus) Back to Vancouver to visit the remarkable Buchart Gardens on Victoria Island, then a day in Seattle before our return home.

 

All of this in between 3 or 4 visits per year to family on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Although living amongst dozens of wineries, our pursuit of good wine has also taken us to Margaret River, Barossa, Coonawarra, Mudgee, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Avoca, Heathcote, Yarra Valley and even the granite belt of Southern Queensland.

 

2014 saw us on a delightful river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest and an interesting visit to 3 of the Cook Islands,(a dream from Expo 88 in Brisbane). In 2015 we visited our lovely German exchange students of 25 years ago, followed by a train trip across the alps from Munich to Rome, including a heavy snow-storm in Innsbruk. Then we joined forces with some wine acquaintances from Mornington to hire a genuine Tuscan villa. Heavenly, and visited places only previously read on wine labels like Brunello de Montelchino, Montepulchiano, Valpolicela, etc. Then to Florence via Sienna, and on to beautiful Lake Como.A train to Venice to walk amongst the canals in hot summer sun, to join a cruise to many of our wish-list destinations - Istanbul, Athens, Greek Islands. Then to Kusadasi, Dubrovnik, Kotor, the Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast including Sorrento & Positano, Monte Carlo, Marseille and then to Barcelona. Later in 2015, we enjoyed a look around San Diego and a relaxing cruise to Mexico, including Acapulco. 2016 had to be a rest year, with a leisurly drive to family in Mooloolaba, taking all the back roads and soaking up the attractions offered by small country towns. 

Even with all this, we still manage to fit in our important tax work whilst enjoying the lifestyle of the Mornington Peninsula - magic!