China in 2007

Black Dragon Pool

2007-04-14T18:27:00.000+10:00

Our holiday in China is nearly over, tomorrow we all go our separate ways, Ann, Richard, Maureen, Denis and David to the UK; Anne to Perth, Chris to Sydney, Vicki and Charlotte to Melbourne (after a little stay in Hong Kong), Roc to Mt. Tom Price, Lynne and Andrea to Melbourne via Hong Kong, Jo and Glen to Brisbane, Karen and Mick to Mackay and me to Hobart (after a short stay in Melbourne with family). Sarah is back to her family for a week. We are looking forward to Sarah's 'farewell speech' tonight back i n Kunming. It is Sarah's birthday tomorrow so we have prepared a little surprise for her and are going to get her a birthday cake.

This morning we went to a lovely park which has the Black Dragon Pool and also the Dongba Museum. The park was beautiful and we were lucky that the mountain with lots of snow was so clear.

After lunch we flew back to Kunming for our last meal together. Chris organised a beautiful keepsake (a concertina book she bought at the old town) for Sarah that we all wrote a page in and managed to get Sarah to come to one of the rooms where we all surprised her.

Then our last dinner together, we were so sad but Sarah loved her cake and was very touched that we had thought of her. We are all going to miss each other.

Our last party together!
David and Anne tickled the ivories until the hotel decided to blast out their music.

Tibet

2007-04-13T19:20:00.000+10:00

Almost in Tibet today, I felt I could almost reach out and touch it. This picture was taken at Tiger Leaping Gorge on the upper reaches of the Yangtze.

The first stop this morning was at a monastery built for the emporer's son who became a monk. There was a boy monk there who made a fortune from us charging 5 yuan for his photo to be taken. Not sure that I wanted to take it but who could resist. He was very chatty and wanted to tell me something but I couldn't understand him at all. I did point and say Tibet and he agreed but who knows!

A close up of the Tibetan prayer flag.

I thought we were above the clouds, on top of the world!

All the men in our group were excited about this strange vehicle. I have absolutely no idea why they were so interested I think the plants were much more exciting :)

We then had a good walk out to Tiger Leaping Gorge,

this was superb although I was bemused by some who thought they should be carried out in a rickshaw.
There were so many people here, many buses, especially on the other side of the gorge. I am rather glad we just had a 2.6k flat walk out rather than the walk straight down the other side....then back up again!
There were certainly some interesting signs.
We had lunch at a local 'restaurant'. The food was fantastic, so fresh and spicy. Best chili sauce I had tasted, you could imagine that all the ingredients had been freshly cooked. The kitchen was almost 'open air' with one side completely open. The loo a long drop into the Yangtze.
Last stop before we returned to Lijiang was a mountainside market.
Tonight is a free night so most of us are heading out to the old town. We love it there!

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

2007-04-12T18:45:00.000+10:00

Flew to Lijiang early this morning, meant getting up about 5am. Lijiang is about 4000m above sea level and you could certainly feel the difference, puffed climbing stairs etc.

When we arrived we went to the old town, I just loved the old buildings and the crowded narrow streets. It has been made into a market and there were many shops but this morning we just walked around as we didn't have much time before we set out to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

We were very lucky as they had just had a snowfall on the mountain. The Queenslanders in our group were very excited when we arrived and there was light snow falling (sleet first but turned into snow). The visibility wasn't zero until just before we left when I managed to get a couple of photos of the mountain.

On the way back we stopped to look at some yaks that are used to give tourist rides but as the weather was pretty bleak we passed on that.

That night we went back to the old town after dinner for the dongba show. The old (78) dongba (sharman/wiseman) was a real character and played to the audience. The show was very enjoyable with a lot of the local ethnic Naxi (nashee) people performing their ethnic dances. The band also used traditional Chinese instruments. This was a very long day but one that I enjoyed tremendously!

Stone Forest, Kunming

2007-04-11T14:11:00.000+10:00

Long drive by bus to start off this morning as the Stone forest is about 120km south east of Kunming. The forest was very interesting but very much a tourist spot. All the paths were paved, not our idea of a national park.

Once again there were peddlers and photo opportunities if you wanted to dress up in national dress. The Yi minority live in this area.
The stones were quite intriguing with some very strange shapes. The Chinese of course like to 'use imagination' and make the shapes into cats, elephants, etc but I was content to enjoy the strangeness of the landscape.

There was of course the 'legends' and we all sat on this stone bed for 3 seconds for good luck. Not good for the bum!!
The surrounding parklands were superb and I particularly loved the Japanese Maples. There was a pond and as I walked past a lady was feeding the fish which resulted in a boiling of the waters, I couldn't believe the amount of fish.

Lunch was probably our worst meal this trip but the wallpaper was superb, might get some for my bedroom, keep me awake I think :)

Called in at a crystal place, more "shopping opportunities" before having tea and going to a professional ethnic show. The show is going to tour the USA. It was excellent, lots of very loud drum music and dancing. This included a peacock dance by a lady our local guide, Tessie, thought was very old (48).

Reed Flute Caves

2007-04-10T18:44:00.000+10:00

These caves are absolutely magnificent. The cave temperature remains at 20ºC all year round. They were opened in 1962 and managed to escape most of the destruction that occurred during the cultural revolution. I was blown away by the reflecting pools.

After the caves we visited the South China Pearl Exhibition Centre where we had a talk about pearls then a fashion parade of ladies wearing the pearls! After lunch we climbed up Folded Brocade Hill where we could see out over the city. The caves on the way up contained many Buddha images that had the heads knocked off during the cultural revolution, they have all been repaired and are very beautiful. Once at the top we saw, as at the Great Wall, locks chained together that signify wishes for a family or couple. Sarah read one out to me and it was for a family wishing all members health and longevity.

We then boarded our flight to Kunming and dinner was Kunming's famous dish - the 'Across the Bridge Noodles' banquet. Also entertained by a show at the restaurant of local dances and music.

Lijiang River

2007-04-09T18:42:00.000+10:00

Arrived in Guilin late last night after a flight from Chongqing. Today was very relaxing as we cruised on the Li River (Chinese jiang means river - Lijiang is beautiful river/water). There were a million other tourists there on a lot of different boats - traffic jam. The bus took us out of Guilin to the port where we boarded a ferry. We boarded at Mopan Hill Wharf and cruised down the river for 4 hours, then after a wander through another market boarded the bus for the return to Guilin (about 2 hours). The scenery was magnificent, the limestone karsts towered around us everywhere, supposedly 9999 of them.

After dinner I saw the Guilin city lights by boat on the city moat. This was so well done, the lights along the moat are just beautiful, highlighting buildings and the plants. The pagodas look spectacular. There was also a group of musicians playing as we glided past and at the turn around point there were some opera singers and of course the cormorant fisherman. There was a fountain in the moat that was orchestrated to perform with music. Hopefully these videos will give you some idea of the performances.

Of course there was the cormorant fisherman as well!

Panda

2007-04-08T11:28:00.000+10:00

I'm so excited; today I went to the Chongqing Zoo to see the Pandas. They were so cute and there was a 6 month old baby. There are only about 1000 left, so they are facing extinction.
I managed to get this video of the 6 month old panda through the glass.

Our local guide in Chongqing is full of life, she loves telling us jokes.

Why doesn't the fisherman give you fish? Because he sell(s) fish (selfish).

There is a saying in Chongqing "dogs bark when the sun shines". It is so misty in winter that the sun isn't seen so the dogs don't know what it is.

The zoo was well patronised by the Chinese. The first panda we saw were the red pandas, native to the Himalayas in India and Nepal and southern China, they look a bit like racoons, I really like their colour and one posed really well for me. They aren't much bigger than a domestic cat.

The pandas were so cute but of course they really aren't as they are very bad tempered and quite a solitary animal. They don't even particularly like each other. The women are very particular who they mate with and the men are almost impotent, well that is what our guide told us as the excuse for their low numbers. Who knows what the real story is?

We were also lucky to see a South China Tiger, when we first went by his cage there was nothing to be seen but near the end of our visit to the zoo he appeared and what a magnificient beast!

Next stop was a museum commemorating the Flying Tigers, and American Volunteer Group and Chinese Air Force who fought against overwhelming odds and lifted the spirits of both the American and Chinese people during the darknest days of World War II.

After lunch I walked over to a local side walk market, bought some socks for 3 yuan that have massage beads in them, I must take a photo and put up! Also saw an old Chinese guy practicing 'cupping' on a woman. Lynne was very interested as she also does it but not to the extent of this guy who had blood running everywhere!

This is one of the dishes we had for lunch, chilis galore but very nice.

We went for a stroll in the highest park in Chongqing but the visibility wasn't good. I was quite amused to see a whole lot of beach umbrellas along the riverside. Once again the Chinese were out in force, playing mahjong and cards. Enjoying lunch and strolling around Eling park. We went to a tea house and had a tea ceromony where we tasted three different teas, I can only remember lychee tea because of the story of the Lady who ate 300 lychees a day. We also had olives, very strange, they were green and had a sugary coating and very hard, you had to chew them off the pip.

Last stop before catching the plane to Guilin was a local market. It was so good to get a chance to see what the local people did for leisure. They were having such fun, the toffee makers were facinating.

Ghost City

2007-04-07T11:26:00.000+10:00

Today's trip was to Fengdu 'Ghost City'. As you can see it was very wet - thank goodness for my borrowed rain coat, it kept me very dry and I didn't have to bother with an umbrella!

The town is a series of Buddhist temples and would have been flooded by the new dam but the government have built a wall to isolate the buildings. Once the water rises to its highest level the buildings will be on an island.

There were some very gruesome depictions of what will happen to you.

We had an interesting way of getting off the boat, over these planks to a beach of pebbles and then the bus took us to Fengdu.

After the visit we reembarked and started the final leg of the cruise, headed for Chongqing. Along the way we saw more graves decorated for Ancestor Day (5th April).

We managed to get in another practice of our song for Sarah and then off to get ready for the Captain's Farewell banquet and concert.

Good Friday

2007-04-06T11:24:00.000+10:00

Good Friday and another birthday. Richard was the lucky person and, as well as the cake Sarah seems to organise no matter where we are, he received a card from the Captain that we all signed, a fantastic memento of the day.

This morning's trip took us up the Shennong Stream, first in a ferry then on a sampan.

While on the ferry we saw some coffins perched high in the cliffs. Apparently this is the custom of the local minority group, the Zhuang People.

When the sampan reaches the rapids the crew jump out and pull the boat by ropes. Our local guide sang a traditional song while we travelled up the river and then the captain sang. Our local guide told us that there are two captains for the boat one steering and the other at the front of the boat. The other poor guys had to paddle and pull. Here they all are getting ready to pull our sampan over the rapids.

The afternoon brought more fantastic scenery as we travelled closer to Chongqing, the destination of the cruise. We managed to fit in a rehearsal for the farewell concert on the last night, we chose to do a tribute song for Sarah and had to keep it from her.

I recorded a segment of the Captain's song - couldn't embed it here but you should be able to access by clicking the link.

Coal

2007-04-05T11:21:00.000+10:00

This photo is for Nicole. Coal is mined in the mountains along the Yangtze and it is transported by barge. We went to the three gorges dam today before starting our cruise up the river.

The dam project is huge..and the engineers in our group were very excited. I enjoyed looking at the lock and also the elevator that has been built to lift small boats. Useless statistics:

finish in 2009

185 metres high

1.4 miles long

largest hydroelectric river dam in the world

32 generators

total capacity will reach 18,200 MW

In the afternoon we started up the Yangtze River. The scenery was fantastic, farms carved into the side of mountains, misty hills and of course the famous Yangtze itself.

The evening finished with the Captain's welcome drinks, dinner and a caberet.

Wuhan and the Yangtze

2007-04-04T11:19:00.000+10:00

Visited the muslim area first this morning, we finished last night with a quick city lights tour and it was good to see the drum tower and the bell tower in the daytime. The muslim area is accessed through the bell tower and of course surrounded by markets. The mosque is constructed as a series of small pavilions and buildings, with courtyards between them. It was a lovely peaceful place full of trees and sculptured plants. There are areas of the mosque that are cordoned off from non-Islamic visitors however it was an oasis of calm in the midst of the bustling markets and we enjoyed the stroll through the courtyards.

Then off to the airport where we flew to Wuhan and then we took a long trip (four hours) by bus to our cruise boat on the Yangtze. I really enjoyed the bus trip and wish we could have stopped and taken photos. The countryside was fabulous, so fertile. There were plenty of crops and fish ponds, I had never seen them before and I actually saw a farmer plowing his field with an old wooden plough pulled by a water buffalo.

After dinner at Moaping(?) we boarded our home for the next 4 nights, the Sunshine China.

Terracotta warriors

2007-04-03T20:54:00.000+10:00

Today was so exciting, devoted to looking at the terracotta warriors, and no I didn't jump into the pit.

We actually started off looking at the Xi'an city wall. This was constructed in the early Ming Dynasty and has been preserved intact. Around the outside a garden walk has been constructed and we saw a lot of the older people walking around and exercising. A really beautiful area and the local Chinese use it well. Some useless statistics I wrote down:

112 ramparts.

one arrow shot away from each other.

originally 4 city gates - now there are more.

We then went to a factory that churn out souvenir warriors, as I already have one at home I resisted the temptation but bought myself a lovely shawl for night, thanks to Jo who managed to reduce the price significantly. I am starting to learn how to bargain. Came across a very interesting warrior at the factory who had a distinct family resemblance.

The pits where the Terracotta Warriors were found is our next stop and it was awesome. Apparently they were all smashed soon after the death of the emperor that they were made for - they were part of his burial tomb. They have been pieced together by archaeologists. A group of peasants uncovered some pottery while digging a well in 1974 and it was established beyond doubt that these artifacts were associated with the Qin Dynasty (211-206 BC). It has certainly been made into a significant tourist destination and there is a lot of building going on around it to house shops and tourist accommodation.

I just wanted to stand and look, it is unbelievable. How could anyone order such a huge undertaking, the life work of many people.

We returned to our hotel for dinner and then to another highlight, a Chinese foot massage. Probably the best 140 yuan I spent! Feet soaked in an extremely hot herbal bath then massaged and pummelled, exquisite pain. Then moved up the legs, arms and finally flipped over the knee of the masseuse, they were very strong and the girls seemed to have no problem in lifting the men in our group.

Small Goose Pagoda

2007-04-02T18:35:00.000+10:00

We spent the day in Xi'an, first with a visit to the Shaanxi museum. Not as good as the Shanghai museum and a bit dark but very interesting. There were a lot of very interesting relics that told the history of Xi'an. Xi'an is the beginning of the famous 'Silk road', the most well-known trading route of ancient Chinese civilisation. Trade in silk grew under the Han Dynasty ( 202 BC - AD 220). After an hour or so there we went to a session on Chinese painting where I admit I bought a couple, hope I still like them when I get home! One is of horses - symbol of success in Chinese culture and the other of the 'ghost catcher'. Very different so I hope I can find places to hang them.

A bunch of us climbed the small Flying Goose Pagoda, there are two pagodas, one big and one small. Our local guide, Jimmy told us a legend as to why they are called flying goose pagodas. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches of Buddhism, one ate meat and for the other it was taboo. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.' The leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat.

For dinner we had a meal of dumplings, there were about 18 different varieties and they are a speciality of the region. The varieties included duck, pork, fish, vegetable and even walnut and each dumpling had a different shape. The fish shape was so clever but included the duck here. Quite a feat and a feast!

After dinner we went to the Tang Dynasty Show. Loved every minute of it. The sets were fantastic, the music, singing and dancing were something I had never seen before. There was even humour, I have a lot of photos here and don't know which one I want to put up but have to choose one. Sorry about the heads in the foreground.

Xi'an

2007-04-02T11:17:00.000+10:00

Xi'an is a really friendly place and has beautiful wide streets with lots of trees. We went to the Tang Show Spectacular!

Gin

2007-04-01T19:26:00.000+10:00

Rocks are big in China, this one is considered very beautiful because of its wrinkly surface, hope the same applies to women.

On a train in the corridor drinking gin! Of course we weren't noisy.

Off to Xi'an

2007-04-01T12:30:00.000+10:00

Busy day today, we went first to the Summer Palace, no time for too much here but the man made lake is beautiful, the long walk spectacular! The blossoms were just emerging, all the plants are so well looked after.

So many beautiful paintings on the wooden long walk, too many to look at. It certainly is a beautiful place. I think I liked it better than the Forbidden City. The initial construction of the Summer Palace began in 1750, commissioned by Emperor Qinglong as a gift for his mother's birthday. The construction took 15 years to complete. The plundering of foreign troops in 1860 destroyed most of the buildings, but they were renovated in 1888 by Empress Dowager Cixi. The marble boat was beautiful, I wouldn't mind relaxing there on a lovely summer day.

In the afternoon we went to the Hutong, the old area of Beijing where there are the original courtyard dwellings, I went in a rickshaw and will never do that again. I felt very uncomfortable about having someone pull me along, not my type of thing at all. Our Hutong guide explained about the door decorations and how you could tell who lived behind the door. This one is a very important military person - the four knobs across the door describe the importance of the person and the drums indicate that they belonged to the military.

We went into one of the houses where I saw this cat resting on the roof.

Then off to the train to go to Xi'an about 1200k from Beijing. The train trip was mainly at night, we were four to a sleeper. Anne, Chris and I shared our sleeper with a lady lecturer in Mathematics who was going to Xi'an to the University. Our group had a corridor party, then adjourned to the dining car where we rocked till about midnight. Sarah our Chinese guide joined us (as did Kevin from the other group) and thinks we are the happiest group she has had. She is such a hard worker, lovely girl. Met up with some French tourists led by a Belgian girl who had been in China for two years.

The Great Wall

2007-03-31T12:20:00.000+10:00

We had a very early start this morning. We drove out to the Great Wall and I actually walked on it. Never thought I would get to see it let alone walk on it. Ann, Richard and I made it to the top, I was so glad my fitness level was up. You climbed steep stairs and thought you were there but once at the top there was another lot of stairs in front of you. It was so windy at the top, I thought I would be blown over. Here is a photo of Ann and me on the wall, just look at my hair!

We visited a jade factory and the tour was quite fascinating. Some of the jade carvings were spectacular. One piece the size of the wall was over 2,ooo,000 yuan.

We travelled past the 'Bird's Nest' stadium where the Olympics are to be held on the way home. Quite an unusual design.

The meal tonight is Beijing Duck - of course we all know it as Peking Duck but no longer! The duck, once cooked, was brought out on a tray and expertly dissected by the Chinese chef.

Can't say that it was my favourite meal.....but was followed by a very skillful acrobat show.

Seaweed Soup

2007-03-30T17:33:00.000+10:00

Today we had seaweed soup for lunch.

I went for a walk early this morning and met a little old Chinese man jogging along. He said hello and I replied, he then broke out into a torrent of Chinese, which I couldn't understand, all the time pointing to my feet. It finally hit me that he was amused by my bare toes, everyone else was wearing covered shoes, I did say it was cold.

First stop today was Tiananmen Square. It was very welcome as it is very cold here. Vicki was very kind and lent me her coat as I had come without mine, well when I went ealking with bare toes it wasn't too bad. I wasn't sure how I would feel here but it was OK. We had some time to walk around and then met to have a group photo taken. I am happy to be able to have a photo of the whole group to remember them by. I also got Anne from Western Australia to take my picture in the pose that all the Chinese were having theirs taken!

The Forbidden City was incredible although we didn't see much inside the buildings. Our guide Richard told us many stories from ancient times, and believe me I wouldn't last long as a concubine, I would become very badly behaved. Everything here is being done up ready for the Beijing Olympics so the Forbidden City had scaffolding and "photos" of some of the buildings. There is such a lot of building going on, I wonder if it will all be finished by next year. The traffic is pretty horrendous as well. I think there will be restrictions on residents when the Olympics are staged otherwise it will be impossible to get around.

After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven, the Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As the Emperor of China was regarded as the "Son of Heaven", sacrifices to heaven was extremely important. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprised of prayers for good harvests.

Beijing

2007-03-29T21:38:00.000+10:00

Today we are to experience our first internal flight as we go to Beijing the capital of China and the host to the next Olympic games. We had to say goodbye to Peggy, our local guide, who told us so many stories of Shanghai life. I particularly liked the quilt story, I do hope she gets her 88 quilts! I also think the stories of Shanghai men and their hardworking life are great, I think all men should be like the ones in Shanghai and do all the house work and willingly provide their credit cards for our shopping! Peggy was so full of fun, she provided a great introduction to China for us!

Arrived in Beijing today at about 4pm after leaving at 10am. The flight 2 hours, the rest of the time was spent in queues! Our Beijing Hotel is *****. Most places seem to have these lions outside.

I know this will come as a surprise to all my old friends when they see this pic of me drinking beer, won't be a surprise for the tour group...... All I can say is that we get a free beer with each meal, how could I refuse.
We are starting to get to know each other and it looks like a it is going to be a great trip. Dinner tonight was at an Irish pub in Beijing, don't ask me why there is an Irish pub in Beijing but I suppose no different to one in Hobart! The name of the pub was Durty (sic) Nellies.

Maglev Train

2007-03-28T21:35:00.000+10:00

Busy day today. The first stop was at the Shanghai Museum. It is superb and I could have spent hours there. I started on the fourth floor but all too soon the time was nearly up and I had to speed look to finish in time. The costumes were superb, the embroidery breathtaking.

I was very surprised to find that a plant I have at home is all over this city
(note: later on found it all over China)

Next off to the Silk Factory. With the exception of those selected for reproduction of eggs, the cocoons are treated to preserve them intact. The silk worm spins the cocoon with one continuous thread forming a figure eight so the chrysalis must be killed without damaging the cocoon. The end of the cocoon is found and then several are threaded onto a machine to collect the silk. A single thread of silk can measure up to 4,000 feet in length. The quilts made from the cocoons are fabulously light and warm.

Hmmm I think we may have visited the Yu Garden after lunch. Very beautiful, and took 28 years to create then the guy lost it all in one night at a card game. It was built with Feng Shui in mind, man created mountain behind and water in front with some beautiful pavillions.

A bit of a change of plan here as we all wanted to have a ride on the Maglev train. This train travels at 431 K/H for 1 minute, the rest is speeding up and slowing down! It goes from Shanghai to the international airport (approx 30k) and it takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds. A train passed us going the other way and all we knew of it was a whoosh and a bit of a buffeting of air!

We went across the Nangpu bridge (our local guide, Peggy, told us that this bridge was designed by a 7 year old girl who is now an architect student) and up the tallest building (Jin Mao Building) in Shanghai.

Can we keep up this pace!

There was more to come because it was also the birthday of one of our group, Mick. Many happy returns and the cake was shared by all!

Oh and guess what even more as we had a night cruise on the river to see the night lights of Shanghai, the power bill must be horrendous, thank goodness I don't have to pay it!!

Shanghai

2007-03-27T19:41:00.000+10:00

I arrived in Shanghai early morning after a long flight for the first meeting with my fellow travellers. We were all very tired so the first information session seemed very long and we were keen to have a rest.

After lunch we went for a stroll along the Bund, which is on the west shore of the Huangpu River. The river traffic provided us with some entertainment and a boat went by with a huge TV screen.

It seemed to be a very popular spot for Shanghaiese, there were many enjoying the warm weather and refreshments from the many food stalls. One of the more interesting buildings to be seen from here is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the opposite shore.

We ended our first day in China with dinner at a restaurant where we enjoyed a rather strange floor show. The participants didn't seem particularly interested and as soon as they had finished they left, presumably for another restaurant to do it all again!

Up, up and away

2007-03-26T09:10:00.000+10:00

Isobel arrived early this morning as Megan has an early shift. Nonna gave her an early morning bottle and then she went to sleep in bed with Grandpa.

We are going to have breakfast in Brunswich this morning then off to the airport. The adventure begins! I fly to Shanghai via Sinagapore arriving in Shanghai early tomorrow morning Shanghai time (two hours behind Eastern Standard Time).

Down by the riverside

2007-03-25T17:07:00.000+10:00

Daylight savings ended today. I wasn't sure if it did in Tassie so I kept my watch at the same time all day but decided to change it back this afternoon.

Jenny, Richard and I caught the tram down to the city this morning and after a leisurely coffee in 'magnation', where you can drink coffee and read all the latest magazines without buying them, the magazines that is, we walked down to Federation Square. It was packed, there is a food and wine festival on at the moment and the whole of Melbourne were there to sample the delights. Lots of free entertainment to keep us occupied and then we walked over to South Bank for a late Greek lunch.

Melbourne

2007-03-24T17:24:00.000+11:00

Victorians very happy today as there has been rain overnight and more rain today! Jenny has been putting buckets out to collect the runoff as there are more severe water restrictions here than in Hobart. She is wishing she had more buckets but in any case the garden has received a good soaking.

I had a very lazy morning although I woke up early and managed to order quite a few plants online. After a late breakfast I wandered into town and spent quite a bit of time in Katmandu but managed to get out without buying anything. I caught the train out to Merlyston and had a very pleasant visit with Kristen, Keiran and Viv. Viv is so much taller than I last saw him (Richard's 60th).

Back to Brunswick and co-opted to the wedding chain gang, where Jen and I put photos of the bride and groom into the guests' present (coach and horse picture frame). Oh Richard is a wedding photographer - have a look at his website. Then Jen and I had a very well deserved brandy!

Starting off

2007-03-23T21:30:00.000+11:00

Arrived in Melbourne this afternoon to a very hot and humid day. Richard, Jenny, Megan and Isabel picked me up from the airport. It was great to see them again, Isabel has grown since I last saw her in October. She is an absolute delight, such a happy little girl even put up with her great-auntie!

Jenny and Richard took me to the Brunswick Town Hall to listen to FourPlay, a string quartet playing in the Brunswick Music Festival. They were sort of blues/rock I think, not that I am an expert on these things, everyone knows how tuneful I am!

Footnote: A message from my brother Robert (the cryptic leaving door open bit is because we were so excited we didn't latch the door properly and it was wide open when Mike came home):
Not one mention of your best brother, who started the trip by taking you to airport and leaving door open xx

PPS: of course all my brothers are the best...but they only have one best sister :)