Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

Hello there,  I hope you had a lovely Christmas?  We did!  An Aussie Christmas takes some getting used to for those of us born and brought up in colder climes...  ' It just doesn't feel like Christmas! '   we used to cry...   It is crazy busy towards the end of November and early December. Whoever planned Christmas and end of the school year together, had to be not thinking straight... My Aussie friends go for very few holiday decorations and minimal fuss. Why bother decorating the entire house when you leave for your summer holidays on Boxing Day or shortly after, and don’t come back till school starts at the end of January? An Aussie Christmas and the beach beckons! We start getting into the Christmas spirit mid December by arranging to meet the neighbours in a local park, BYO chairs, wine and nibbles. The whole street is invited, over thirty houses, and no-one has to clean up before everyone arrives. We are lucky that we h

Shhh Let's get Wordless!

A very nice Argentinian fellow blogger who now lives in Canada, asked for a picture of our Aussie Christmas tree for his ' Christmas around the world  post.  An Aussie Christmas - surfing and seafood Moi ?  Oh dear I thought.  He, or we are going to regret this...  We are not a good example of an Australian Christmas,  but may score highly on taking the relaxed approach to Chrissy... The Tree... Well anyone who knows us well, will know that I am still bereft of half our Christmas decorations, on account of the Australian Government Customs and Excise (Border Protection, as it's now known) impounding them as illegal imports. We lost most of our European Christmas tree decorations on arrival... Made in China was OK! Yes, it's true! They refused almost anything that said 'Christmas' on the box as a threat to national security.  Anyone who is planning on moving to Australia in the foreseeable future, here's some advice.

Looking for a good place to holiday?  Look no further than  VENUS BAY... If you have just wandered in from the other side of the world  I hope you'll enjoy visiting this spectacular Victorian small coastal resort. We love Venus Bay !  We very nearly bought a holiday house there a few years ago, before deciding on a closer location on the Mornington Peninsula, and being the unadventurous types, opting for a town on mains drainage!  However for many, the pristine surf beaches make it worth going the extra mile. Venus Bay is a two hour drive, being 170km's South East of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The town is on a narrow peninsula of land, so it offers the holiday maker the choice of the wild, open sea of Bass Strait, or  the calm waters of Anderson Inlet.   Being just that bit further than many of the other more popular  South Gippsland  holiday destinations it is less crowded. A greater distance than  the favoured Melbourne escapes of Cape Paterso

Saturday Critters  We’re ALL going on a summer holiday!  But are we mad to take a dog along too? Hooray school's out, it’s summer.  Time to pack up and drive off into the sunset...  We’re off to explore some of the lesser known parts of Victoria.  We have our seventeen year old son at the wheel,  with only fifteen hours driving experience, AND the crazy poodle. On account of the car being full, Mutt has scored an upgrade to First Class . Used to travelling in the rear on an old cushion, he finds himself on the back seat with his bed! We have a special dog seat belt to ensure he is safe on the roads! Mutt sits there very smugly in his element. He knows there was much debate about whether to take him and risk, in the words of DH, sleeping in ‘ grotty doggy places .’  But things have changed, tourism has woken up to the fact that people who love their pets, want to holiday them with. Google shows a surprisingly good selection of pet friendly

Wordless Wednesday - Shhhh Let's get wordless.... Shhhhhhh Let's get  wordless