G'day and Happy New Year Everybody!

My apologies for not sending New Year's greetings sooner. I got back to Vancouver on Monday 8th Jan and I have been swamped in work since then L. I hope you had a enjoyable Xmas and New Year wherever you spent it. When I started writing this I did not intend it to end up at 9 pages. You can blame it on a very wet Saturday…

Australia was fantastic! It impressed me a lot more than I had expected and that is not because I did not expect it to be interesting and fun. It certainly has many plus points on Canada, warm weather, an outgoing culture and no bears, but it is also somewhat flat, has lots of snakes and other nasties and is very far away…

It was quite a transition to leave a cold grey mid-winter Vancouver and arrive 18 hours later in the heat and bright sunshine of mid-summer Sydney. This was via a brief midnight refuelling stop in a very sultry Honolulu. My first impression of Sydney was of London on its hottest day ever. Unlike that of Canada, Australian architecture is similar to that in England. I guess it is something to do with the availability of brick and stone. I did look round Sydney that day but only in a halfhearted manner due to jet-lag. Later, I met up with Amanda Garland who used to lodge with Wad in Sheffield. She now works for IBM in Sydney and is bubbly as ever. Amanda dragged me out to the trendiest of trendy bars down at the waterfront recently revamped for the Olympics - the area reminded me of the waterfront at Barcelona. It was very nice but my jet-lag over-ruled making the most of it.

Ana and Fabienne flew in from Bangkok early the next morning. I was worried that I would miss them in the crowds of the arrivals hall (Australians are quite tall;) or no longer recognise them with long hair and a well-travelled look. They appeared looking healthy but weary after their overnight flight - and their previous night out in Bangkok's red-light distinct (they never did reveal much about that). Needless to say there were hugs all round, it was February since we had last seen each other. While Ana and Fafa caught up on their sleep I met up with a cousin, Tony, who lives in Sydney. He had done very well for himself as a stockbroker since I saw him last in 1982. His 30th floor office looked straight out at the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge! Tony also proved to be a very informative tour guide, showing me round the old part of town. I was surprised to find an old mill that would not looked the slightest bit strange in the Peak District. You would never find that sort of thing in Vancouver. Later that day I met up with a slightly revived Ana and Fafa to head out to Bondi Beach. It was lovely to lie on the beach and swim in the surf (I had been out in -17 C temps less than two weeks before) but the beachfront at Bondi did not impress us - busy but rather drab. Despite being tired Ana and Fafa were full of stories from Nepal and SE Asia. Some silly, some magical and some best left for them to tell you. They had really got into the swing of travelling and were LOVING it. Although they did admit that travelling did have its downside of always having to say goodbye to people and places and lack of time to relax. It was also obvious that they needed some time to re-acclimatise to an affluent society, Ana especially. On another level I was pleased to see that they had not changed and were still the Ana and Fafa I knew. Although, with longer hair and suntans.

It would have been nice to have a lazy few days in Sydney seeing the sites but it being Dec 23rd and I only having 18 days in Australia we had to get ourselves organised the next day, plan an itinerary, book a hire car, sort out which beach to head to for Xmas (Sorry to break the karma of the east, Ana with fast decisions and rushing around.). We still managed to fit in some site-seeing that day - the Opera House, best seen from afar, and checked out some bars which was a treat for me after having to put up with the N American variety for the last 10 months. Fabienne also indulged herself in her first cider since September. It brought quite a smile to her face. Fabienne has also got her photos from SE Asia developed, all 15+ rolls. With the attendant stories this took that and many other evening to get through. There are a lot of them but they are well worth seeing. The best should be on their web site soon.

Xmas Eve we took the Ferry out to Manly beach to spend Xmas there. On the way we got great views of the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the coastline. After a delightfully lazy day on the beach with the odd plunge into the surf to cool down (yes I am getting soft but what would you recommend in +30 C heat?) we headed along to Shelly beach where Amanda was due to turn up with some of her scuba-diving friends. This they did, straight out of the sea. This provided us the opportunity to borrow gear for snorkelling, which was fascinating. Thankfully we did not encounter any sharks or jellyfish. We shared a picnic Xmas dinner (BC smoked salmon, Xmas crackers and paper hats) with Amanda and friends before they had to head off for various family dos. We stayed on getting progressively merry, discussing the meaning of life with a possum and going skinny dipping (well at least two of us). Later, we headed back to catch last orders in Manly. A shock was in store for us when we returned to the hostel. The British lager drinking junior first fifteen (or was it fifty) were in residence and were set in to sing the night away to a tape of the worst of Noddy Holder. We did make a brief attempt to join in but soon retreated to the beach with a bottle of wine. When we eventually returned the sing-song was still in full flow so there was nothing for it but to get the ear plugs out.

Xmas morning the hostel was rather quiet. From the state of the kitchen it was evident that the party had gone on long and late with a foam fire extinguisher being let off for the grand finale. I pitied the cleaner faced with such a mess but he seemed to accept it as part of the job, maybe it is a regular occurrence. It being sunny and hot again there was nothing for it but to spend Xmas day basking on the beach again - I could get into this. Exchanging presents did seem a bit out of place though. The only evidence of festive decoration was the lifeguards wearing Santa hats. Later I headed over to my cousin's for the evening while A+F headed back to Sydney. I was worried that full Xmas dinner was going to be served up despite the heat, thankfully not. I spent a very pleasant evening getting to know Tony' Greek wife Liz and their three sons who told me all about the local snakes and other nasties. Thankfully the snake in the garage roof refused to show itself. At the end of the evening Tony dropped me back to our hostel. This involved driving across the Harbour Bridge which was quite a treat. It is identical to the Tyne Bridge but a lot lot BIGGER. It is an impressive structure. If you have a spare AU $100 they will let you climb to the top of it.

Continued in Part 2