Hooray for historic Hepburn Springs!

Welcome to our Wish it, Dream it, Do it weekend!

Hooray for a weekend at Hepburn Spring, I can't think of anywhere better to be.

Hepburn Springs is good for the mind, body and soul!

Treasures found at Continental House, Hepburn Springs

Hepburn Springs is ninety minutes North West of Melbourne, and a 5-minute scenic drive from my previous post 'D is for Daylesford. This is Victoria's Spa country and Hepburn Springs is slap, bang in the middle of Australia's largest concentration of mineral springs. Whilst many come for the therapeutic waters, others come for the beautiful countryside, great food, or just the feeling of pure relaxation of getting away from it all.

Hepburn Springs buildings

So if you remember since Daylesford, we are all traveling in my friends BMW Mini car! We had to laugh, when we arrived at our Continental House, our home for the yoga retreat, we found we weren't the only Mini car in the car park.

I digress, but it seems women of a certain age, once the kids have flown the nest, throw out the sensible family car, it's too late for a sports car (everyone will know you're having a mid-life crisis) so a souped-up BMW Mini with all the extras is just what the Docter ordered! Sunroof open, music blaring we arrive! We park the Mini alongside the others and are excited to meet our fellow yogis for the weekend.

Continental House, 9 Lone Pine Avenue, Hepburn Springs

Come I want to show you around. Continental House, which was built in the 1920's and scene they claim of many a good jazz party, has been recently restored. The new owners Veronica and Steve make us feel very welcome and are clearly putting a lot of love into the place, their website tells us

'Joy is everywhere.'

A big ask, me thinks, looking around at the other fellow participants all super stressed from having to bust-a-gut to leave their families and get here on a Friday night! However fair is fair, and it doesn't take long for the special atmosphere of the retreat to rub off on you and I reckon they might just be right. Here comes serenity!

Budha at Continental House

We have a full weekend of yoga from restorative, relaxing yoga to active.

But what I love about Sandra and Julia's yoga retreats, having previously been with them to Bali, is there is plenty of down time to explore. We go for walks, we have lunch (Wombat Hill House, Daylesford) with fellow retreat members and we have fun exploring the quirky shops.

Even the cash point machine's are fun, have you ever seen an ATM machine like this?!

There is so much to see and do in the Hepburn Springs-Daylesford area. Next time I want to return and take in the health-giving mineral waters. Not exactly to drink them as some people do. That's a bit too adventurous for me, my body is doing just fine coping with the vegan menu on offer whilst we are at the Continental! No, more to swim in them at one of the Hepburn Bathhouse and Spa or any of the others - all offers gratefully received :)

We came across this in some back alley to which I have added one of my favourite quotes:

Have a lovely week and don't forget to use all your crayons!

Linking with thanks at Mosaic Monday - thanks Judith

Autumn Spice and everything nice!

Hey, what ever happened to Summer? I hope yours was lovely, mine was pretty amazing! It feels like my whole year has whizzed past in a flash, how about yours? I've had a year of saying "yes" to everything offered to me. It has been exciting to put it out to the Universe to see where I should be. We feel very fortunate to be able to do this in my husband's early years of retirement. I'm just back in Asia from the US. I never feel my year is quite right without seeing British daffodils in the Spring and a pumpkin and the leaves turning in Autumn. Yay, the world nailed it this year, thank you. Read on to find out what happened when my ultimate yes occurred on a trip to Montana to meet Ruth, an IG friend. I know Bloggers will smile and not be at all concerned, we've been meeting up around the globe for years, haven't we...?! But let's just say some of my family and friends were, you're doing what?! But first some Little Wren updates! France I had so...

Taipei Adventures, naked - moi?!

I have to tell you all about my little adventure in Taipei recently, naked at the Hot Springs! I can't believe that I have never been to Taiwan, I certainly urge you all to go if you ever get the chance. For me, I loved the combination of influences of two countries I enjoy. Street views from Downtown Taipei The Chinese left some interesting historical influences and stunning architecture, which combined with a Japanese legacy and efficiency in transportation, makes Taipei an easy place to visit, with so much to see. Nowadays, Taiwan has emerged as a thoroughly modern city, I loved my time there. It felt exotic and safe until I had to get my kit off. It was a spur of the moment decisions to join my husband on his Taiwanese business trip, prompted by the delay in the arrival of our furniture into Bangkok, and ‘no room at the inn’ where we had been staying. Given that I’m commitment and fancy-free in Thailand; there’s no job, no kids, no dog and absolutely nothing in ...

L'eau de toilette....

Our meals at The Serai were a huge part of the enjoyment of our stay. Lunch & dinners are marathon five course events...We tried not to over-order but even when we cut back to try to pace ourselves, Chef would send out little treats for us to try... If one person expressed an interest in a particular dish, we all got it.... Whenever someone ordered something we all got it.... ...although sometimes it took a quite a few attempts... 'Can you do oats, no milk?' .... 'Can you do ginger, hot water and some lemon, no milk?' We have an eclectic group of tastes from Miss ' Extra spicy ' to Miss ' Not too spicy ' through to Miss ' Vegetarian, no dairy ' , myself as ' Miss Recovering, extra careful and just wants soup. ...and even Miss India herself who every now and again just orders chips... So we can't leave without saying a huge thank you to the Chef for the best food that we have had so far.... We hear conflicting reports about whether th...

Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

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