. . . another fab 50

Happy birthday Jason! In the end, it all worked out and we raised a glass . . . or two or three. Like Erik, a good friend from Sydney was also born in the year of Woodstock and with a bit of scheduling, we made our way to join him on this side of the globe to celebrate his big day — on an island known for its rugged beauty, fiesta and siesta: Mallorca, Spain.

The added bonus of being born in the northern summer months is just about everyone is European holiday ready. The assembled group to honour the birthday boy gave us a chance to catch up with a gaggle: our good friend Tim who left Sydney a few years back; Pete and Anthony who we ran into in Mykonos earlier on our adventure; and Sharon and Rupert who we hadn’t seen since our last trip to the UK. We also made some new friends: Oliver and Robbie (the hosts) and James, Lee and Luuis - also all from London. It was Jason who threw this tribe together from various points in his life and it all worked - we had a blast.

Because it was such a monumental birthday, our focus was on as much celebrating and recovery time in (and on) the water we could manage. There were boat days with beachside paella you worked off with a return swim, lounging by the pool time with magnificent views of the Med, beautiful meals at the local restaurants in Cala Pi, trips into Palma towered over by its magnificent cathedral La Seu, and of course — loads and loads of laughs.

Again, thank you Robbie and Oliver for being such gracious hosts and Jason for the invite — you really showed us why Mallorca has been one of the most popular holiday destinations for Europeans and one of the continent’s most beautiful. We left wanting to see more.