There is, as mentioned elsewhere in these pages, a body of opinion (voiced, among others, by the Dragon Lady Who Used To Operate Out Of The Other End Of I Block) to the effect that Hughesy is, if not travel-averse, at least travel-reluctant.
This might be seen as a fair conclusion based on the fact that, for several years after we’d finished constructing the Little House of Concrete was complete, Hughesy didn’t engage in significant travel activities until ‘Er Indoors appeared on the scene.
The travel-hiatus over those years was, however, the result of economic factors rather than an inbuilt aversion to travel per se.
The same financial considerations had, before the construction of the Little House of Concrete meant once Hughesy’s assorted cricket-related Odysseys were out of the way for the year there wasn’t a great deal of cash available for anything above subsistence-level eating and drinking.
Then, in the run-in to retirement when we sat down and looked at the figures it became evident that my allocated pension would suffice for day to day expenses, but that would be about as far as the money was likely to go.
As a result, travel planning, choices of destination, activities along the way and such were matters for ‘Er Indoors since she’d be the one paying for each little jaunt.
Bearing those financial constraints in mind, we’ve done fairly well over the past seven years with trips to destinations along the Queensland coast, the Hunter Valley, to Melbourne, around the Yarra Valley and up to north-east Victoria, down to northern Tasmania and, most recently, Japan.
There’s also been the opportunity to catch the 2001 Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival and last year’s Eric Clapton concert in Brisbane.