The ANZ Banking Group Retired Officers' Club's monthly Newsletter publishes regular Travel Tips. Here are two more:
Our own little hide-away, "Riverbend Cottage", on the banks of the mighty Clyde River just 8 km upriver from Batemans Bay, is a well-kept secret - and we like to keep it that way!
Guests from the city always enthuse about the air here. It's fresh and composed mainly of oxygen and nitrogen, unlike what they are used to. They fall asleep almost immediately, their bodies exhausted from the lack of carbon monoxide and lead they have come to depend on.
It is very quiet here and very peaceful and you're the only guest. Instead of having to listen to somebody else's snoring or be "entertained" by some ablution noise in the room next door, you may hear the occasional possum wander over your roof at night or be surprised by a little green frog looking at you from under the bathroom door.
All this sensory deprivation may come as a shock to you which is why we suggest in our tongue-in-cheek "Health Warning" that if your chronological (or mental) age is less than 40, you will probably lack the appreciation of being miles away from McDonald's and the sounds of an in(f)ternal combustion engine.
To all others and to those who want to recover their energy and rediscover themselves, please come and stay and stay long, sit quietly, breathe deeply, and listen to the river, to the birds, to YOURSELF!
If you are a member of ANZROC, I offer you a hefty 30% off the weekly rate of $790 - sorry, we only accept week-long bookings - as my personal "thank you" to an ex-employee of a great institution that gave me my start in Australia!
However, please note that we don't take personal cheques and may seek a Bank Opinion before accepting your booking! ☺ ☺
ANZROC members who worked with me at the Alinga Street branch in Canberra City will be accommodated FREE OF CHARGE but, please, form an orderly queue!
My wife Padma is Indonesian and we regularly visit Indonesia and Bali. We avoid Kuta and we never stay in a 'touristy' hotel. Over the years we have discovered a number of exquisite little places which offer so much more at a fraction of the cost of the usual tourist-places.
The Banjar Hills Retreat is one such place. It is very private with just four bungalows high up in the cool hills overlooking the north coast of Bali and the Java Sea. The price? An unbelievably cheap Rp.250,000, or less than $30 per bungalow (NOT per person!) And if you tell Ibu (Mrs.) Made that Pak Peter and Ibu Padma sent you, or that you stay more than just a few days, she'll give you a discount even off that low price!
If you need more information or advice on how to get to Banjar Hills, please email me.
and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine |
