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Happy New Year

Wishing you a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2018 
from my garden in Melbourne, Australia.
After our year of living in Bangkok and a huge amount of travel,
 it has been lovely to be at home for six weeks.

I will be here for the whole of January 
it is my favourite time of year in Melbourne, 
the city is quiet with lots of families away at the beach
and then there is the tennis, which I wouldn't miss for the world.
 This is our 10th year hosting players competing at the Australian Open. 
So spoiler alert, there will be a lot of tennis pics coming up!


We regrouped as a family, minus our eldest daughter who lives in London, 
with a short dog-friendly Great Ocean Road break.
We stayed at Countrywide cottages, 
a beautiful property set in the Australian bush
Where the birds would visit daily.  


It was an exhausting holiday for our crazy poodle, 
with lots of walks, who may not be quite a fit as a year ago when we left him!


For the first year in many, we had a city, not beach Christmas.
My daughter and I after finding ourselves allergic to the Christmas Tree
left it in the garden for our son and Mr Wren to decorate.
The Christmas balls in a basket so they did not blow off in the storms!

This was their final effort just for the laugh... 'nuff said.


In Melbourne, the post-Christmas thing is to watch the 
Boxing Day test cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
This year it was Australia vs England which with our dual citizenship 
meant we couldn't lose!

John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, declares that the Brits only become truly Australian when they barrack for the Aussies.
This year it wasn't that hard as the Brits had already lost the Test,
Although the day we went was the best day for England,
it was a scorcher all round!


Post-Christmas the weather changed to be cooler and I'm not complaining and we headed down to Inverloch to join friends for our summer beach fix.


We couldn't stay long as we were hosting a few friends for New Year's Eve!
I love these place settings which say eat well, travel often.
As all our friends are always extremely generous 
in bringing food to share, I can say we did eat well!


Well must keep going and get this posted before next Christmas
With love to you all


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Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia

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