Holidays on hold: Stawell's Dawn and Gary Blackman spend their first winter at home in a long time

The avid caravaners take a trip to Hervey Bay and meet up with friends whom they have met while on holidays.

The Blackmans "tack on another" trip overseas after their Hervey Bay holiday and 2020 was no different.

The coronavirus pandemic restrictions forced the couple to rethink their holiday plans and pull the winter clothes out of the closet. Friends of the couple who live in New South Wales have managed to get to the popular holiday spot in Queensland.

"It's the climate that attracts us," Mr Blackman said.

"At our age that's what you want. We have met some wonderful friends up there and we all look out for each other.

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"Because we've been going for so many years it's like a second home and we wait for everyone else to arrive."

The couple said others from Victoria or Tasmania were also stopped at home.

It's the second year in a row the couple's holiday plans haven't gone to plan. In 2019, the Blackmans were booked to go on a cruise around the Mediterranean.

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"I was having terrible with my legs so we had to cancel that," Mrs Blackman said.

"It was disappointing. The insurance company knocked us back on the insurance claim saying it was a pre-existing issue.

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"We were able to secure some of the money back from the travel agent and I kept in contact with the cruise line."

Mrs Blackman said just before the pandemic the cruise line operator offered her credit for some of the money.

"We grabbed what we could which was still well short of the total amount but it was something," she said. "We had to use it this year - so we're actually booked on a cruise this year to New Zealand. We're expecting that will be cancelled and hopefully, our credit will be extended."

Mr and Mrs Blackman both said they weren't too nervous about cruising again after the heavily publicised Ruby Princess deadly outbreak onboard the ill-fated cruise ship.

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"We've done a few cruises in the past," Mr Blackman said. "We think when they start up again those ships will have been scrubbed and scrubbed some more. We'll hang on and see what happens. We've got a couple of months to go. If we don't get there we don't get there."

Pottering around the yard the couple has found plenty of things to do.

"We're looking after our daughter's dog at the moment and I've been doing some maintenance around her house," Mr Blackman said. "We play bowls so that keeps us pretty busy as well. There's always some thing to do to fill in the time."

Are you staying home? Get in touch - cassandra.langley@stawelltimes.com.au

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