Another quick update. Back in Sydney - although had planned to be in Newcastle - train journey disrupted by maintenance. Plus ca change, as les francais would peut-etre say.

Had a great day yesterday with Rog and Barb, touring Hunter Valley vineyards. Barb not only drove but also put us all up at her dad's place - apart from an hour or so without water, which was fixed by some quite jolly council chaps, it was a perfect day out. Once Rog and I had heard some pretentious phrases in the first couple of places, the race was on to utilise them wherever possible in subsequent 'bottle shops' and look like we knew what we were talking about.

I'm ashamed to say that I lost - Rog, your BS was impeccable! However, I did attempt to teach Geordie to the most scathing and least customer-friendly person in the world, so I do feel slightly vindicated.

I didn't manage to meet up with Ken from Draeger (again) tonight - unfortunately, he had to stay in Melbourne. Even so, I've had a great time in Sydney and I'm looking forward to reciprocating the hospitality that has been shown to me back in the UK.

And now for something completely different - tomorrow I'm off to Hong Kong. Really looking forward to it. Let's see what I can lose there - so far my loss list includes one notebook, several unreplaceable email addresses, my toothbrush, and a wallet of various pills and potions. In a pre-emptive measure, I sent 3kg of stuff home today - at vast expense, but probably worth it for lighter luggage.

Not sure how often I'll be blogging from hereonin - the Great Firewall of China may prevent me from accessing this site / gmail, and Louise joins me on Friday so I'll have to be more sociable than sitting in internet cafes! Hopefully a few more posts to come though.

Take care all,

John.