I'm still needing to work around school holidays in 2025. PJM is dropping to 3 days/week prior to her planned retirement at the end of 2025, so it should be the last year of that. With judicious planning and a degree of luck in the timing of scheduled organised trips that I was keen to do, I have avoided any potential constraints on the worker.
January: 3 weeks in NZ. Starting with a few nights in Christchurch, then an 8 night Coral Expeditions Bluff-Bluff voyage around the S Island fjords, then renting a car and making a one-way circuit around the S Island from Invercargill-Wanaka-Greymouth-Kaikoura-CHC (no one-way penalty with Avis).
It was meant to be a near three week voyage Bluff-Melbourne, taking in S NZ islands and Macquarie Island. However, reliably getting permits proved too difficult, so CE pulled out of that idea. We were offered a full refund or to take the shorter voyage with a cabin upgrade, which we opted for.
I had already booked our J Awards flights PER-SYD-CHC(EK) and MEL-PER when CE announced the voyage change. I left those flights in place and snared J Awards CHC-SYD(EK)-MEL to return to Australia resume the original plan MEL-PER. Three nights in SYD between.
April: 14 day Kimberley coast voyage Broome-Wyndham on a 12-pax specialty Kimberley coast vessel. The waterfalls should still be flowing and the small vessel allows for much more in the way of activities than ships can provide, such as fishing, collecting fresh oysters, mud-crabbing, frequent beach and river excursions and so on.
July: Outback Spirit tour through the Kimberley from Broome to Darwin, taking in the Bungle Bungle, Mitchell Falls, Faraway Bay and more. It includes a floatplane trip to Horizontal Falls from BME, helo flights over the Bungle Bungle and at Mitchell Falls, with a final flight to DRW from Faraway Bay.
That's 2025 - and we already have two major trips locked in for 2026...
