It’s a guilt trip

I sold my house in 2022 and downsized to an apartment to escape the burden of debt that I had trapped myself under.

I was tired of going out backwards financially each month and I wanted to have enough money to travel.

Fast forward to 2025 and I feel a little guilty to be raving on HouseGoesHome about my fancy French cruise.

But expeditions are my extravagance and I plan to do as many of them as I can while I’m able.

I was sitting on the balcony of my cabin yesterday, scrolling through Facebook, and saw this post:

It spoke to why I am booking so many holidays to remote places in my late 50s. I don’t want to miss out on “the trip” because I’ve left it too late.

I’m even thinking about downsizing from my three-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom one – now the kids have moved to different cities – to free up more travel cash.

But back to this holiday … since I last blogged we’ve visited Careening Bay for a nature walk, where we spotted a crab spider in a pretty field of purple wildflowers and gazed at the giant boab tree where the HMC Mermaid’s carpenter carved the name of the ship into its trunk waaaaay back in 1820.

At sunset we went on a zodiac cruise that included a cocktail bar positioned on another zodiac that served drinks to passengers as we pulled up beside it. Very cool!

Yesterday was spent at Swift Bay in the Bonaparte Archipelago. Explorer Phillip Parker King named the bay after his friend and author Jonathon Swift. A morning zodiac cruise revealed fish splashing in the water and a croc sunning himself on the beach.

In the afternoon we explored rock art galleries in the bay (DD got covered in dust lying on his back in the middens to photograph the art), followed by macaron towers for afternoon tea and cocktails on the deck before a gala dinner where my $20 TK Maxx white pants got a second airing.