Sorry to gloat but a very pleasent sunny 75 deg on out first day in Oz.

What a journey! Not one to do regularly I can tell you. First leg to Hong Kong took 11 hours which did go fairly quick as the films shown were decent and not any we had seen before. Then a 70-minute stop at Hong Kong to board another Cathay Pacific which took us for another 9 hours to Sydney. Trying to sleep was almost impossible not just because I couldn't get comfortable (we had the emergency exit seats) but the loos happened to be situated by us too and every time someone flushed it sounded like a train whooshing along a tunnel. 2 hours was all I had, Ian managing a tad longer so to say we were knackered on arrival was an understatement.

Going through immigration was a doddle. Those E passports could be done at self service desks as one only had to look into the camera for face recognition. Even the bags arrived quickly so by 9pm we were outside and greeting my brother Andre and partner Sally. Then it was a 30-minute drive to their house, a quick coffee and straight to bed.

View from the balcony

Wow, their place is just perfect. On a hill surrounded by trees, full of birds all singing their heads off. At 5am in the morning the air was filled with the bird calls but didn't mind one bit getting woken by their song especially those laughing Kookaburras and couldn't wait to get out to get them photographed. After breakfast a trip to the shops to buy flip flops (they call them thongs over here!) and then after lunch we set off with their dog Ned a Cattle/GSD cross breed for a walk.

Bush Turkey

They call them Water Dragons

Yea... a Kookaburra

Indian Butcher bird

Magpie

Sulphur crested Cockatoo.

Nest of the blue Bower bird.