Like we've always been here.

It's still not two weeks since we landed in Australia but in many ways it seems like we've been here forever. It's amazing how quickly we've 'adapted' - exotic plants, animals and birds become commonplace. You come to expect warm days and are slightly disappointed when it's just 20c. And you become critical of the many fantastic beaches "this one's a bit busy, I much preferred so and so....".

We can't quite get over the cost of living here and a straight conversion from dollars to pounds according to the prevailing conversion rate leaves us feeling short changed. So Ros has come up with a pragmatic solution and has decided a straight two dollars to the pound conversion takes account of the higher salaries .... and certainly helps with the mental arithmetic.

We think we've found the house for us and we're currently filling in the application paperwork. That's another aspect of Australian life we've noticed, everything relies on the completion of long, poorly designed forms... ad infinitum. You come away with the feeling that they, in this case the owner/agent, are doing you a favour allowing you to stay in their house - which would be OK if they weren't charging extortionate sums for the privilege!

We've had a busy weekend seeing the Australian Navy Review in Sydney harbour and then the Jazz festival in Manly. We're beginning to see the city in a more positive light now. The Sydney bridge is far more impressive when crossed on foot or observed from below. Doubly so when it has fireworks and spotlights emanating from it and projections onto it (this during the Naval review on Saturday evening). We also sailed past the Sydney Opera House on the Manly ferry last night and decided it was best seen from the water to appreciate the scale and aesthetics of the building.

Sorry, I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to photos so it's taken me this long to get the Hong Kong images on line. Click to view if you're interested. Early Sydney photo's to follow soon (sooner or later that is!)