Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

#Yourholidayhelps Linking with Wordless Wednesday Todays Flowers Outdoor Wednesday

....may your year ahead be full of                            exotic journeys and rich adventures. This was the Happy Birthday message sent to me  by one of the major hotel chains in March  which I rather liked!  I had no idea that my rich adventures of travel in 2015 would include Vanuatu,  a tropical South Pacific Island,  which would be hit by a Tropical Cyclone  5 days after my birthday.   Cyclone Pam caused the worst natural disaster in Vanuatu's history. My husband and son needed a holiday, Vanuatu needed the tourists to return. Win - Win! You need to be in the mood for a tropical paradise  it’s hard work! Especially on an Island  still mopping up  from the after affects from one of the worst cyclones on record... You see when I arrived in Vanuatu straight from my city living, and errmmmm I’ve had a few cities in the past three months Melbourne - Singapore - Paris - Brussels

I know, I know you, thought I was in Europe,  or at least heading back to Australia...? I was, I did,  and now I'm on a tropical island in the South Pacific! You see after three months catching up with family and friends in Europe I got back to an Aussie winter, and a particularly cold one at that, to find that Mr Wren and my son, were in desperate need of a holiday and had booked a week in Vanuatu, including me! So here I am enjoying a relaxing holiday on Vanuatu,  an archipelago of 83 islands.  We're on Efate,  only 2-3 hours flying time  from Australia and New Zealand. Where the toughest decision you'll make all day is  whether it's the hammock or the sun loungers ?! Here the people are the friendliest, happiest  you'll meet anywhere in the world. The country is delightfully unspoilt, tropical cyclone Pam aside, with a delightful fusion of traditional Melanesian culture and  French and British colonial heritage.

Or work, travel and see the world. It's a tough one! We have a soft spot for the film ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ at our Football Club, we say it was largely responsible for our Club being! The movie certainly showcased changing attitudes to females participating in sport and inspired a whole generation of female footballers across the world. In 2002  at the time of the film, my daughter was playing for an U8 boys team in Melbourne. After the film and the surge in girls wanting to play soccer, our club was formed, and she now plays (and coaches) alongside over 200 girls and women players. Bend it like Beckham, is a new musical in London’s West End, opening with  perfect timing given the recent Women’s World Cup in Canada. Interest in the sport today is at an all time high. A record 25.4 million Americans watched their country win the Women's World Cup final on US television, other sports are green with envy with those viewing figures. I have just picked m

This year marks the 150 Anniversary of  Lewis Carroll's children's book  Alice in Wonderland Now where to start? “Begin at the beginning,"  the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”  ―  Lewis Carroll ,  Alice in Wonderland If your name is Alice,  or you have long blond hair and a blue dress  you would have been entirely at home in Oxford last weekend. There were Alices everywhere... 150 to be precise, all there to celebrate 'Alice's Day' “Curiouser and curiouser!”  ―  Lewis Carroll ,   Alice in Wonderland But as I have now been joined in the UK by my daughters, we are back to the "don't be embarrassing Mother" comments and I am banned from photographing every gorgeous young Alice! “Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense.”  ―  Lewis Carroll ,  Alice in Wonderland Alice's Day is an annual Oxford ev