<![CDATA[Noel & Jackie's Journeys

<![CDATA[Noel & Jackie's Journeys - Our Travels]]>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 02:39:13 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Fancy Puttering Along the European Canals?]]>Wed, 30 Oct 2019 22:13:40 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/fancy-puttering-along-the-european-canalsWomen on Barges FB group is the best place to start.

Carole Erdman-Grant is the found of Women on Barges Facebook group. The group is growing daily and Carole welcomed new members with the history of Women on Barges:

A BRIEF (or not-so-brief) HISTORY of WOMEN ON BARGES, in case anyone wondered:

About four years ago my husband, Barrie and I were on the train back to Sandwich from Sterling, Scotland and the reenactment of that epic battle of Bannockburn (the Scots won again, for the 750th time !!!!!) and with nothing else to do for four hours decided that we women who live or holiday - or would like to - on barges needed our own network on Facebook. It took me a few minutes to decide the guidelines which have been slightly modified since but this illustrious group was up and running. I had no expectations except connecting us, and within 24 hours I had 26 women join me!!!!!!!! What a delightful shock.

A few months later I met Jackie Parry who had completed their second almost circumnavigation in their yacht and who was in the UK visiting family while looking to purchase a barge. I invited her to join me as an Administrator since I knew her connection to all things boating fitted in well. We had already sold our yacht and narrowboat and had purchased the challenge of our life, our dear ancient Tjalk and were in the middle of refitting her from a derelict hull to a comfortable live-aboard ship with the plan of eventually sailing across the Straits of Dover to Europe.

The stunning MV Silk Purse after being brought back to life (she is now for sale - link at end of article).

Women on Barges expanded regularly mostly by word of mouth, friends telling friends. Around this time I designed a flag, a distinctive swallow tailed item of bright pink for girls, orange for the historic Dutch barges (of which ours was one) and a purple W around the edges for WOMEN.

Colour and shape were easily identified from a distance. Shortly the waterways of Europe were coloured with these little flags, signaling "one of us" was on board! I recall one conversation where two women said they had been in the same marina for almost a year and had never met, but this little colourful flag brought them together and a lovely friendship resulted. Not long later another administrator was added, Veronica Hayes joined us too. Our Admins have come and gone on to other things but WOMEN ON BARGES continues to expand. We have a new Administrator, Charlie Stockford who is the mastermind behind some coming changes to the IT aspect of the menus and files and hopefully many more improvements to our group. Bravo, Charlie for taking up the challenge!!!

Not only did women on barges join us but so did women on narrowboats in the UK and in Europe, women on power boats (cruisers) and women on sailing yachts, many in far distant locations. Women from many different countries have joined us, I think from at least 15 countries are represented, but I haven't counted them. Many of us live aboard full time, many of us spend part of the year on our boats, many take holidays on them, many run their businesses from them, many are single, and many are researching the possibilities of this wonderful floaty lifestyle, deciding if this is for them. On my first ever sail in a small dinghy on Glenmore Dam in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I knew within ten minutes that I HAD to live on a boat. It took me fifteen years to get to that state, once my children were launched but we have never doubted that this was the perfect way of life for us.

I think that the success of this group is mainly due to the gracious participation of the members, sharing their experience, fears, questions, likes, their destinations and opinions. We have kept this group relatively free from impoliteness and we all feel that there is no need for snarly or sarcastic comments. I started it partly because I experienced some of those unfriendly and sometimes nasty comments in other FB groups and feel that that attitude is completely uncalled for, no matter what the topic or experience of the one posting. Of course our Fridays are somewhat reserved for boats for sale or wanted, *other* topics like your crafts, knitting, blogs, art, pets, grandchildren, anything dear to your hearts that isn't necessarily boating related. It just gives us all a window into your lives that we may not see otherwise.

So there you have it, four years and almost 2500 women strong, our WOMEN ON BARGES group (WOBs with our DOBs - dogs on board or COBs - cats on board, with or without our BOBs - blokes on board) is exploring other avenues that we can reach out to other women who are "in the same boat" more or less. When we get men asking to join us (You'd be surprised at how many apply!!!) I usually suggest that they join the men's group, Blokes on Boats who thought it wasn't fair that we women had all the fun.....

For me, life would be pretty dry without a boat!!! My OAK (husband) likes to say sail fast but live slow. That's what we are doing for the foreseeable future, currently on our lovely old Tjalk (for sale) but hopefully soon on a different type of boat that we can continue our love of off-shore sailing.
That's the rest of the story, and I am looking forward to meeting more of our WOBs on board, out for coffee or drinks or perhaps just in passing, faring on the canals and rivers of Europe and beyond. We continue to welcome you, with or with out a barge -- or a boat of any type.

This beautiful barge is for sale - take a look here.

Women on Barges Facebook Group - click here

]]><![CDATA[A note about a well travelled (and received) book!]]>Sun, 25 Aug 2019 20:39:45 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/august-25th-2019I love hearing from readers!

This week I received this email, and realised that A Standard Journey has travelled from London to New Zealand, I wonder where it will go next.

"My friend Ann has recently lent me your book “A Standard Journey”, that you kindly signed in October 2015, when she purchased it at The Horse of the Year Show.

Both Ann and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your horsey adventures and can certainly relate to how tough the trip across Australia must have been.

Your “ boys” sound wonderful, honest and kind and you couldn’t have done the trip without them.

We hope that they are still enjoying their lives in Australia and that you and Noel are still have adventures.

I will now look out for your sailing books."

]]><![CDATA[The Painless Way to Inject Your Horse - for you and for him/her]]>Sat, 01 Dec 2018 06:23:48 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/the-painless-way-to-inject-your-horse-for-you-and-for-himherWhy I'll Never Inject my Horse in the Neck again.

Did you know a 15hh horse can pick up a grown man and throw him twenty metres, if the horse so desires?

Couple this power with a terrified dislike of jabs in the neck and there's going to be trouble.

My Neddy -boy
Ned hates needles. Rouge (a pony I had years ago) hated needles. They both behave the same way. Barging, flicking their neck, using all their power to break free. Never kicking or biting, but squishing, barging, and running.

Ned is a powerful boy.

One day our vet (years ago) became so tired of Rouge squishing him in the stable he said, 'Right, saddle him up.' We were astonished but had a great deal of respect for our vet.

Mr Blackmore (yes, Mister!) jumped on Rouge (not an easy ride), allowed him to jig-jog in circles, reached back and whacked the needle in his rump. Rouge swished his tail and lifted one leg a little higher, then carried on jig-jogging in a circle.

We were amazed.

Ned likes a good scratch - he trusts me not to hurt him.

Thirty years later, I can inject three of our boys (Noel does some, I do some) and we all cope. But not Ned. I've spent ages pinching his neck, showing him the syringe, faking injections.

He tenses.

The white of his eyes show.

He barges.

He is terrified and hard to keep hold of - Ned is powerful but would never intentionally hurt us.

Yes, I could strap up legs, twitch him and lock him in a hold and terrify him even further - but I choose not to for both our sakes.

I've been thinking about Mr Blackmore and Rouge and discussed the idea with a few horsey friends who were suitably horrified. Noel gave me a look as if to say, 'You are an utter lunatic!'

I put the idea away until today. Yesterday the needle jumped out of Ned's neck as he fearfully swung his head until it could no longer hold. He was hurt, betrayed, and extremely unhappy. So was I.

Noel was shaken, he gave the jab and the kerfuffle and Ned's utter fear of Noel after the deed really upset him.

Ned is the most intelligent horse I've had the honour to welcome into our family.

So, today I cleaned Ned's rump, marked the spot, jumped on board, rode him for five minutes so we both relaxed (just along a short, level track).

'Okay just hold his head in case he pig-routes,' I said to Noel.

I swung around, confidently plunged the needle in - Ned did the tiniest flinch - I took a breath, and slowly injected the liquid with no pain, worry, fear or look of betrayal. He didn't know it happened.

I walked him for a few more minutes - gave him a big pat, jumped off and he showed no fear or upset towards me in the slightest.

I am not recommending everyone try this - this worked for us. There are downsides, if Ned gets an abscess it is not in a great place to drain. But that is a risk I am prepared to take, it is far worse seeing the fear in his eyes and the pain I know he feels in the neck. Rump injections are not as painful as neck ones- and Ned has just proved this.

(BTW - the others take a jab the neck fine and I am happy to do it this way as they are happy.)

And you should know that Noel distracted Ned a little and gave him a carrot and Ned does relax when I am on-board - all these factors helped.

All of us - we no longer fear the needle!

]]><![CDATA[What's Been Going On?]]>Wed, 10 Oct 2018 20:22:51 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/whats-been-going-onThe lack of blogging is testament to how busy life has become.

After a trying few weeks, including some rather unpleasant medical issues, I can see a tiny pin-prick of light at the end of the tunnel - I hope.

Projects
The house - it's coming along. Noel's done most of this himself with empty promises from me, 'I'll come and help soon..'

SisterShip Training has been keeping me busy - click here to see what we are up to here!

This weekend we (Noel and me this time) are looking forward to doing our talk at Batemans Bay Yacht Club. We hope to see you there!

Sometimes I find time for these guys... they keep me sane.

BTW - we've finally had some rain, it is a lot greener now!

]]><![CDATA[House, Bush Fires, Heart-Attack, Floor Office, and an Echidna]]>Thu, 30 Aug 2018 05:39:38 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/house-bush-fires-heart-attack-floor-office-and-an-echidna'Busy' is an under-statement for my life at the moment, but then who isn't busy?

Recently a large bush fire blazed out of control, sending our area into high alert. The fire still burns. It's controlled now though, and the panic is over.

A local family, with their property threatened by the flames took refuge in our house, camping there for a few days - all seven of them!

One afternoon the effect of the smoke created a flame reflection in the creek, for a split second I thought our paddock was alight - that was the heart-attack!

In a impossibly short amount of time I have to finish writing a navigation manual and a navigation exercise booklet. It's a struggle, doing navigation on the floor. But instead of letting that worry me I think how lucky I am to have shelter and warmth and enjoy what I'm doing - it's funny really, at 47 starting from nothing - again. It's a great life and focusing on the positives is my style.

And the house is coming along beautifully!

On a weed-pulling walk this afternoon (which is my exercise, my therapy, and my paddock management all rolled into one), I met this fellow, isn't he a beauty? I snapped off a quick pic and left him in peace.

Life is hectic, but good. I am re-focusing my days to include areas of my life I've been neglecting, including this blog, so there will be more pictures and fun posts to follow.

All is well with the world - how's your world?

]]><![CDATA[Horses]]>Sat, 14 Jul 2018 01:38:00 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/horsesThose that know me, know I am besotted by horses.

So, here they are... happy chaps!

]]><![CDATA[Delicious, Low Fat, Pumpkin Cheesecake]]>Sun, 13 May 2018 21:53:16 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/delicious-low-fat-pumpkin-cheesecakeI can't confirm how much fat it in this - but compared to others, not much. And you can improve on that if you want.

Here's the recipe I, sort of, followed.

I't s pretty good, but a few weeks ago I used a different recipe which, I think, was better, but I can't find it now! This one is very close though and I made a few, minor adjustments. Below I've detailed the adjustments:

First, ask husband to cut pumpkin, I am dangerous with a knife.

I used about three-quarters of a medium sized pumpkin as my cheese cake tin is large and I made some smaller ones too (and I think pumpkin should be the main ingredients in a pumpkin cheesecake, not just there for show).

Next cooked the pumpkin and mash it up.

Add the cream cheese. I used full-fat, so you can use low fat to save some calories. This recipe said 2 x 8 oz blocks, which I used. The recipe I used previously (which I've lost), I am sure, used only one block - and that cheesecake was slightly better. However, because I have no memory and can't remember exactly what I did before, I put two in this time.

So this is the pumpkin cream cheese, sugar. I used half a cup of dark brown sugar, not a whole cup, it was still sweet, I could have used less in fact. I added a tiny bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, I only like a whisper of these flavours, so just a sprinkle of each. I also put in 6 eggs, as that is what the previous recipe called for and I felt rebellious.

See, this is why I don't write recipe books. Here's the mixture in the pan. Below the mixture is the base. I used plain old shredded wheatmeal biscuits which are not at all sweet, and I threw in about half of ginger nuts which are very sweet. I blended them into crumbs - (that was a laugh, Noel was working at his desk and if you don't know, we currently live in a shoe-box, literally, and I had to traipse out to the barn to do the blending - making a cheesecake is, I found out, a noisy process). I followed the recipe for the base, but used a third less butter. And didn't add any additional flavouring.

(Yes, bottom right, that's my finger print!) I made a large square cake and 6 small ones. They took about 1 hour and 10 mins to bake. BUT I am working in a "kitchen" that is not big enough to swing a mouse, let alone a cat - and I am working with a camping oven that is more dodgy than the dodgems. Round of applause please!

]]><![CDATA[Connections Across The Globe]]>Sat, 17 Feb 2018 04:13:58 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/connections-across-the-globeA lady from Lake George, New York, wrote to me the other day with a thank-you.

I find it extraordinary, especially when I am tucked away in a rural hide away on the far south coast of NSW, Australia.

What is more incredible, is that she found something on my blog from years ago that helped her son.

Here's what she wrote:

My son has been a scout for about a year and a half now. He has became a great leader and has learned so many life skills already. His scout leader just started a section on knots, and Jacob’s father realized he is struggling with the boating knots. My husband, who was a scout many many years ago, asked me to look up some good web pages to help him, help Jacob. I was pretty shocked with how many knots he remembered. Haha. I came across your page (https://jackieparry.com/links-2/) which had ways to tie and was a huge help.

Jacob and my husband found this page(https://www.hmy.com/a-scouts-guide-to-boating-knots) with so many different types of knots, and ways to tie them. It gives a wide variety of common knots, how knots are used on boats, boat safety, and tons more of great information! Jacob and his father asked me to tell you how much of a help that both these pages were, and that you should add the second one to your page! It helped my family and ton, and can maybe help other scouts having a hard time. (:
Thanks again for the help!

Isn't that grand? Thank you Marie for the lovely message and the back-story too, I wish Jacob all the success in the world - it's amazing where beginnings such as knot-tying can take you.

I regularly receive beautiful messages about my books, and I know that thousands of people read my website each week - but to receive a thank-you with a story attached is a wonderful gift and appreciated.

I wonder who else my website has helped?

]]><![CDATA[Happy NUDE Year!]]>Tue, 02 Jan 2018 21:29:27 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/happy-nude-yearYeah, I want to strip!

No, no, not me…. Uuwegghhh!

Strip back what New Year means!
My timeline has been full of lovely (and appreciated) New Year well wishing.
But for me it’s different.
Well, in this case, it’s not different.

What?
Okay, let me start again – the inspirational thoughts for a new year are my thoughts every day.
They don’t change because December turns in to January and 2017 flips over to 2018.

Every day I try to live by grace, inspire, motivate, and encourage.

Every day, I am:

following my dreams
having a fantastic life
the happiest I have been – ever….

My boys came home.

So, there is nothing new to do… except, to look back on what I’ve achieved:

Sold our Dutch barge
Moved back to Australia from Europe
Founded SisterShip Training
Got my boys back
Moved onto our land we purchased several years ago
The land was completely bare, so we’ve
Installed a site office
Built a shed
Built a barn (after taking it down first from another location)
Installed a container
Started building our house (house design/drawing plans)
Built three big vege patches
Installed water tanks, plumbing, electricity
Sold lots of books
Started designing merchandise

Wrote a navigation course (coming on line soon)
Started writing two new books (both on hold!)
There’s more… but I can’t remember… feeling a bit tired! ;_-)

Joe joined our family (and survived a horrid injury!)

I wish you all a healthy and happy life…. every day.

I know my limits, I choose to ignore them. T-Shirt
by UnravelTravel

]]><![CDATA[Travelling Bibliophiles]]>Sun, 22 Oct 2017 23:26:38 GMThttp://www.noelandjackiesjourneys.com/our-travels/travelling-bibliophilesMany travellers become bibliophiles - the smart ones that is.

I've recently connected with a lovely couple, Scott and Ally who are embarking on a new adventure.

Bet you can't guess what it is...

They are documenting their journey as "new boaters, but already they own a wealth of information.

Take a look - their website is fun and informative.

As with all people who are brave enough to catch their dreams, I wish them fair winds and following seas.

Don't follow your dreams - CATCH them!
by UnravelTravel

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