Hi Everyone

Very much looking forward to our trip to Nepal.  Spending time with the children at the orphanage will be very special.

I spent 3 months volunteering in India, including working in orphanages and I found it an enriching an enlightening experience.

Have been fortunate to travel extensively within Australia and Overseas and what I enjoy most is mixing with the locals and learning about their culture.

Born in the UK, I came to Australia 40 years ago.  Lived in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and am now fortunate to live in Brisbane.

My career was with Non-Profits and now that I am retired, volunteer with two organisations.  National Parks and Dress for Success. Two very different organisations that I enjoy working for very much.

Look forward to hearing more about all of you.

Take care
Ann

Hello everyone. This is Irene. I live with my husband about 1 and 1/2 hours from the centre of Sydney city. East Kurrajong is at the foothills of the Blue Mountains. We like it here because it is a rural area where the air is clean, neighbours houses are far apart and it is very quite except for the gentle croak of the frogs at night. My husband built our mud brick home and our wood stove keeps us so very warm, cooks our food and heats our water. We only have one child, a son who is now 26. Where have the years gone?
Erich no longer lives at home, but enjoys coming over to mow the lawn on the ride on lawn mower.
I work part time in a public library 20 minutes from home. My husband had a major illness 20 months ago. Now that he has recovered I convinced myself that I needed a holiday. Opportunities don't happen often but when the invite to Nepal came we both agreed that I must go. Really looking forward to it, but also the added bonus of the orphanage.
I belong to a local knitting, spinning and weaving (wool and alpaca) group. A lovely homely group of ladies who meet once per week. Two weeks ago I told them about my trip to Nepal. They have decided to knit some beanies for me to give to the children. The following week I was presented with a bag of 20 colourful hats. Today, I received another 6 !!! Do hope there will be some room left in my suitcase for MY clothes.
Here are 2 photos. I am the lady on the right of the spinning photo, pictured with my 'Wee Peggy' model, spinning wheel. My first attempt at spinning alpaca.

PS: Our group usually competes in the international "Back to Back" spinning competition. It is a race, timed from the minute the shearer starts clipping wool off sheep's a back. Team members must sit, spin and knit a standard pattern jumper which needs to be sewn up before the shearer can wear it and the clock stops. Unfortunately we could not compete this year, which was a shame as we usually raise over $10,000 for breast cancer. Google it if you'd like to read more.

 

Next week I'm off to my doctor. That vaccination list certainly was long. Do hope I don't need so many.

Hey, this blogging is rather fun...............  Enjoy.

Hi everyone,
I challenge you all to post some information about yourself and where you live. Hopefully we can get to know each other before we go on our adventure.   I will give you an idea of what to put.  I live in Campbell River, BC  Canada.  I live on a large island (Vancouver Island)  It is beautiful here in the summer (not so in the winter, wet)  To get to the mainland we have three choices of ferries to take.  This last few days we went to the mainland to visit friends who were camping.  We took our kayaks.  I am attaching a couple of photos from our little kayak journey yesterday.
I have two grown sons and they each have two sons.  They all live on the island.  One is here in Campbell River and the other is about 1 1/2 hrs south of me.  Closer to Victoria.

South of Powell River near Saltry Bay

Welcome from Tour Leader Renee Cansdale

Hello Ladies,

As most of you know my name is Renee Cansdale and I am organising this tour with Penny.
This amazing trip came about after I was first introduced to the 5W South East QLD group by my Mum Penny French last year. In one of our meetings I shared my experiences in Nepal with the group and was encourage to organise a tour especially for 5W members!! It has been a labour of love for Penny and myself to put this tour together, and all the more special because we know how it will help the children of CWC (Childrens Welfare Centre) Nepal.
You can see more about our previous tours and fundraising efforts through our charity's website www.childrensaidinternational.org 
You will also see that we are also organising another tour to Nepal with the Rotaract Club of South Brisbane for younger people in Dec/Jan. So if you know any adventurous 18-40 year olds please forward them our website link and the Rotaract Tour email cwcnepaltour@gmail.com

I look forward to reading all your posts and meeting you all in Nepal very soon!

Namaste!

Renee

A bit of History

This blog has been created to allow a group of women from different parts of the world to be able to communicate with each other and their friends, before, during and after this wonderful exciting upcoming tour of Nepal.
We all belong to Women Welcome Women World Wide (5W) which is a group that enables women to travel the world to further friendship between women and allow us to see how other people live.  We visit each other or host members.  Myself (Bev) have travelled throughout Scotland several years ago for 2 weeks and stayed with some amazing women and couples.  I got to see how the Scottish live and explore where some of my ancestors came from.  I have hosted many women myself as I live in a beautiful area of Canada.
I invite my fellow travellers to add to the blog.  Right now I'm not sure how you will do this but when I have time in the next few days, I will figure it out and let you know.

On the dock at Alert Bay

Sailing last Sept