Tag: blogger

Annual Bloggers Bash Awards – Best Pal Nomination

This year in on the 19th May,  the 4th Annual Blogger Bash is being held in London. On the same day as Harry and Megan get married. Sadly my invitation for the wedding got lost in the post but.. I did get something just as good and that is a nomination for Best Pal in the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards that will be announced at the Bash!!

If you’ve not heard about the Annual Bloggers Bash and the  Annual Bloggers Bash Awards then where have you been! Every year there is a day for bloggers to get together, learn, listen, share and finally put a face behind the names that give your blogs some of the best support. Its run and organsied by a master team who continually ensure that the Bash gets bigger and better every year.

Last year I watched along on facebook live but this year my mum Debs World is over visiting and we are venturing to the capital to have our first taste of the Annual Bloggers Bash.

There is literally so many awesome blogs within all the categories if you’ve not heard of some of them get click happy on the links and discover some new blogs to follow.

The Wandering Darlings is shortlisted in the Best Pal category. (Woohoo!) Which is summed up as the blogger you’d like to go to the pub with, once her replies to comments or leaves thoughtful notes. Basically a blogger that makes the blog-o-sphere a better place.

I am so chuffed to be nominated and especially for this category. The only downside is that some of my favourite bloggers are also nominated in this category but hay it’better when you know your in awesome company. We’d love for you to vote for us but even more we’d you to check out all the great blogs recoginsed in this list.

Click here to vote

So not only is the short list full of amazing blogs to discover but you can also vote for your favourite in each category!! You don’t need to log in or even leave an email address its a really easy process. Well, easy voting process,  trying to decide who to vote for is the hard part!

Voting closes midnight 30th April  (BST) so there is still a good few weeks to cast your vote.

Thank you so much for reading, following, liking,  commenting, sharing and of course for the nomination. It means so much to be even recognised that I already consider our blog a winner.

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ANZAC Day & the Kokoda Track

Today is ANZAC Day. For those of you not aware what this is it a significant national occasion in both Australia and New Zealand and is always on the 25th April. ANZAC stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps and during the war soldiers from Australia and New Zealand were always referred to as the ANZACs. The 25th April marks when the ANZACs landed on Gallipoli for the first major action in the First World War.

It’s a very symbolic day and is just as important if not more than Remembrance Day in both Australia and New Zealand. There is always a public holiday, dawn service (when the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli),  commemorative services, marches through all towns and cities and a day to remember what the ANZACS endured so that we could have the life we have today.

In the small country town where I am from they do something to not only commemorate what the soldiers of the past 100 years did for us but also to show a younger generation just what the soldiers had to go through so that we can grow up in the beautiful country, we call home. The local High School and Rotary club work together to train and prepare year 10 and 11 students to walk the Kokoda Track in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.

The Kokoda Track is another significant part of Australia’s history. In the Second World War, Australian had many battles along the track with the Japanese forces and it was key to hold them out so as to protect Australia.

My dad and his friend Bruce have walked this track 7 times!!  Actually, I think Bruce has walked it around 10 times. Yes, they are crazy! They have been instrumental in driving this in our town through the Dad at the School and Bruce in Rotary. It’s such an amazing thing that they are involved in they spend months (along with other leaders) training the students on walks, getting used to carrying the heavy packs and fundraising to support the trip. Most of the students haven’t been outside of Australia and in some case outside of New South Wales so to go to PNG and walk this track is such an eye opening experience. It’s also a huge sense of accomplishment in completing the track. It’s not easy,  you don’t have a comfy bed, clean clothes, the only food you have is what you can carry and if its rains it is muddy. Really muddy!


My mum went with dad and a group of parents from town and although she is extremely fit she even found it challenging at times. In Spite of all the tough parts of the training and the actual hike, my dad does it time after time. I am immensely proud and in awe of him for this.

Mum and Dad in 2008


The trip is always around ANZAC day and this isn’t by accident. The track has memorials at both the start and end which allow anyone completing the chance to honour those that have fought and fallen both here and in any military campaign.  The bond the trekkers make along the way, the old rusty machines still littering along the track showing glimpses into the past all are huge reminders of the past. When both mum and dad walked the track they experience a dawn service right there in the jungle. It would have been such an emotional experience. My Dad, Bruce and the rest of the trekkers have just returned from their most recent trip and were back in town (washed thankfully) and front row and centre at the local commemorative service heads a little higher, minds wiser and a deeper understanding and respect for the men and women involved in these campaigns.

The 2017 Kokoda Trekkers – Yes my dad is wearing a leaf crown!

I think it is so important as with many of the diggers passing away we need to make sure the younger generation engage, remember and respect the actions of those brave soldiers.

I would love to do this with dad one day. Just need to get training and maybe I’ll be ready by 2019.  Actually maybe more like 2025. Need to stop eating ANZAC biscuits!

Photos courtesy of Bruce Wright and Debbie Harris

Debbie has also blogged about her experiences walking the Kokoda Track and you can find them here

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Globetrotters- G’day Debbie 👋 

This weeks Globetrotter is a special one as it’s my lovely Mum – Debbie

My mum and dad are solely responsible for my sisters and my traveling genes. They took us on our first overseas trip when we were little and that started us all off on trying to see as much as the world as possible. They are always off seeing or doing something new. From walking the Kokoda track (REPEATEDLY!), hiking in Nepal, exploring India, cycling through Europe or just exploring new places within Australia they truly are #travelgoals. I mean any two people that can take 3 girls under 9 on a 30 hour flight must have some awesome travel resilliance. She’s also managed to wave her daughters off from most airports and whilst I know she misses us all dearly she wants us to go and explore and see the world. As a previous teacher she knows just how important the life lessons you get from travelling are.

You can find a lot of travel stories and pictures on both Debbie’s blog and Instagram and links are below. On the blog Debbie covers all topics so you will get travel as well as lifestyle, books to read and lots of fun stories about our family. She manages to get herself into rather hilarious travel mishaps which thankfully she blogs about.  Debbie was the main reason I started blogging. She has been blogging since 2011 and it was great to see her have her own creative space to share her stories, thoughts, photographs and travels. If she didn’t start her blog all those years ago then The Wandering Darlings wouldn’t be here! Thanks Mum x

So with out further ado everyone say G’day to my Mum – Debbie…


I made my travelling debut 25 years ago when we exchanged jobs, houses, cars and lives with an English teacher and his family and took our three young daughters to live on the other side of the world. We loved the Teacher Exchange program which saw us move from a small town in Australia to the village of Cheddar in Somerset UK for a year. I’ve been travelling the world ever since with my husband, my daughters and even on my own. I favour active holidays, think climbing mountains in Nepal, cycling through France, Belgium, Croatia and New Zealand, hiking in Papua New Guinea, skiing in the Italian Alps and visiting past Rotary Exchange students in Sweden, Denmark and Finland – just to name a few! I love adventures and always seem to be caught up in some excitement. I was made redundant at the end of 2016 and my husband retired in 2017 so we now have lots more time to make travel plans. I enjoy blogging, reading, writing, cycling, running, hiking and spending time with family, especially my three daughters who have also lived and travelled all over the world

What is your favourite type of trip/holiday?

Adventure/active trips with my husband. Think biking and barging from Paris to Bruges, cycling and sailing in Croatia, trekking to Annapurna Base Camp, walking the notorious Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, cycling the Otago Rail Trail in New Zealand’s South Island, Friendship Exchange with Rotarians in India. I love visiting family and friends overseas and always try to add in a little adventurous side trip.

Why do you enjoy travelling? 

Our family’s motto is borrowed from a Danish saying – To Travel is to Live. I enjoy seeing new places, interacting with people, experiencing new things, leaving a part of myself behind when I leave home to become a new person while travelling. Travel is freedom, it tests you and your relationships with others, it’s stressful, it’s fun, it’s hard, but it makes you feel so alive despite all the hurdles.

Our first experience of travelling was moving to England with our three small daughters on a yearlong Teacher Exchange back in 1992. It was a pivotal point in all our lives and has set us up with a love of travel and adventures.

Quotes to live by:

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.

Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

It’s all the little moments that make life a very big adventure.

Tell us the funniest story from one of your adventures?

Where do I start?? My life is full of adventures and funny stories but one that I love telling is this.

Driving through Denmark with my daughters and saying “there’s a big castle around here somewhere, but I can’t see it”. Looking, looking, looking…they said is it that one right in front of us? I couldn’t see it for looking.

What is your favourite photograph from your travels? 

That’s hard! This my most favourite recent travel pic. The Moeraki Boulders in New Zealand


If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would it be?

My dream place to visit is the Greek Islands and I will get there one day! I’ve just heard Mykonos and Santorini are among the most expensive places to visit in the world.

What is the best piece of travel advice you could give?

Sorry I couldn’t leave it at just one so I’ve listed three!

1. Always dress and pack for where you’re going to not where you’ve come from.

2. Be organised but also be spontaneous and ready to take opportunities should they arise.

3. Don’t live the trip through your camera or phone, put them down from time to time and just soak in the sights with your whole being.

To find more from Debbie check out the links below

Blog
Pinterest

Twitter
Instagram
Facebook

Excitement 

I can imagine like other bloggers you have several channels at which you put your stories, blogs, photos and content out on. It’s great that we can reach and be reached by so many different people in so many different places, however keeping them all up to date is almost a full time job! 

I seem to be so much better at updating Instagram than my blog. Probs need to work on that.  I try and post every day and maybe more if I’m on a roll. 

I guess  with blogging you constantly doubt yourself if you have anything worthy to say that people want to read and atleast on insta it’s just a nice picture to look and maybe a snappy description. No one has to invest on clicking into reading what you’ve wrote ..and then saved in drafts then rewote and then rewrote again before finally publishing.  I know such a first world problem! 

Anywho back to my initial reason for posting this. I’ve had an exciting this weekend just gone as I surpassed 1500 followers on Insta. 🎉🙌💃 

Woohoo my global domination is starting to take shape. 

If I haven’t lost you in this post yet I’m really keen to know what’s your best/most successful way to reach out to others? Blog? Facebook? Twitter? Insta? 

Oh and if you want to follow me and my excited face below search for thewanderingdarlings on Instagram 

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