See what Wendy's been up to recently! Wendy recaps weddings, events and more in her personal blog.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I would like to honour the traditional landowners of this beautiful country as we celebrate Australia Day. A day of mixed blessings and challenges. A day, over 200 years ago, when the indigenous peoples lives were forever changed as the Europeans landed.

Today I give thanks for the beauty this country unfolds around me. This morning as I walked along the Batemans National Park just south of Moruya, NSW, I stopped to look at the purple bush flowers along the track and wondered at their colour and simplicity. Swimming in the quiet cove with dusty coloured rocks around me I enjoyed the freshness of the clean clear water. What a blessed life. I give thanks.

Meanwhile just around the corner on another secluded beach I came across an Aussie scene. A young couple setting up a tent, topped with an Australian flag, champagne flutes in hand, blow up plastic 'thong' - (for overseas readers - the footwear) and boogie boards. Wherever you find yourself today - may today be a day of gratitude for the gifts in our lives.

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Friday, January 27, 2012

A cup of tea, scones, jam and cream were on the menu for afternoon tea with mum and dad for Australia Day... we were dry and out of the pouring rain, that was important! Not very Australian I know, however to make up for it...there were a group of young guys down in the reserve just in shorts, no shirts, playing football as the rain teamed down, the more it rained the more they laughed.

Not too many barbeques happening up here on the northern NSW coasta with widespread flooding and more rain to come.

I am deeply grateful my parents migrated out from England in the1960's to come to this beautiful country. Our family came out on the ten pound pom scheme which gave assistance to British families to migrate and start new lives in Australia. My parents were charged ten pounds for the fare and us four children under 12 travelled free. For my parents it was an amazing adventure to undertake, to leave their families and friends and all that they knew. I am impressed.

They were given employment and housing and promised a more relaxed lifestyle and a better climate... all of which was true... although Tasmania is climatically like many parts of England, cold and wet... so they felt quite at home. I remember arriving as an eight year old and we stayed in the Wellington Hotel, Hobart, which was like many of the pubs I knew as a child and wondered where all the kangaroos were. That was my total expectation!

I love Australia ....from Tasmania where we landed to my teenage years in Canberra, starting a family in Dorrigo and now Coffs Harbour - diverse landscapes yet rich with abundance, possibilities and great memories.

Wherever you are in this great land... Happy Australia Day