We spent Christmas in the Astor Hotel Motel, Goulburn – not everyone’s top choice of destination for Christmas – but it was the time of COVID-19 and the international borders were closed. This meant that almost everybody in Australia had to stay in Australia for the Christmas and school holidays. Consequently, nearly everything was fully booked and also double the normal price.

As we were ‘novice’ Jazz Nomads (this was only our second stay), we were unprepared for this – and so this is why we ended up in Goulburn.

Also, being ‘novice’ Jazz Nomads, we had booked a place without parking nearby – and so we had to carry all of our vast quantities of stuff down the street and up two flights of stairs. This led to a bit of a review of what we had with us and we decided that perhaps we shouldn’t be carrying around two pot plants. We earmarked them as future ‘gifts’ to a friend.

We weren’t working during our four days in Goulburn, and so we had a few walks along the river to a nearby wetlands. We also walked up to the Rocky Hill War Memorial for views over town, and on the one really hot day we went to Victoria Park and spent some time reading in the shade.

On Christmas Day we went on a day trip to nearby Bogonia National Park.