Home again

Canberra has greeted us with some serious weather - yesterday was a max of 7 deg with light snow. After 35deg+ in Hong Kong last week it's quite a shock. Needless to say we are not having much outdoor activity but the house is always cosy.

Hong Kong was great - just enough time to catch up on some sleep, some early morning walks before it got too hot then ferry and tram rides later in the day to see the sights without getting too hot. One of the best sights was from our 11th floor hotel room which had spectacular views across the harbour.

Spent a great evening with friends from the Chinese Uni where Phil worked some years back - good to catch up with them again and hear about the way things are developing in HK since its return to China.

Homeward bound

It's our last day in Europe - we leave for Hong Kong tonight. We have been in East Sussex for the past week with Christy and Andy and had a great time. During the week Christy heard that she has passed her A & E specialist exams (only 35 of 115 candidates passed) and we were very happy for her - she has worked long and hard to get through them.

We had a couple of exhilarating and wet afternoons on the water sailing their catarmaran - it is lovely to be able to sail outside your front windows!! Also managed 4 long walks this week - mostly along the coast but 1 over the South Downs near Glyndebourne.

Now it's time to say goodbye and head home - always an emotionally mixed up time - nice to return to family and friends in Australia and to home and garden but very hard to leave the girls on this side of the globe. But then there is always next year!!

The day the beach came to paris

Parisians who can’t get to the beach over the summer have no need to fear because last week the beach came to Paris. For a month each summer, a section of road along the Seine – maybe a couple of kilometers – is closed and tons of sand is brought in along with a demountaqble 50 metre swimming pool, palm trees, deck chairs and the like to create a very attractive beach – a great place to sit and relax and watch the activity on the water from huge cargo carrying barges to all sorts of pleasure craft. There are also sections for beach volleyball, boules, art and craft, kayaking, rollerblading and music and performances of all types through the day and late into the night. People of all ages were having agreat time the day we went - it was hot and there were loads of water features to cool you down - from avenues of fine mist to walk through, to trickling fountains.

They use the roads by the river quite imaginatively – every Sunday the road by the river on the south bank is closed to motorized traffic and makes a great path for joggers, cyclists, roller bladers and just people out for a stroll.