Yes, we are back home. We arrived last night having had a really good flight from Hong Kong. We had a great time in Hong Kong in spite of the weather being cold. The hotel was excellent and we had great views from our window of Kowloon Park and across to the waterfront. We really enjoyed the trips we took. On Saturday we went over to Hong Kong Island visiting Victoria Peak, Stanley Market and a trip around Aberdeen Harbour. Monday we spent the day on Lantau...

We arrived here late Friday evening in the middle of the Chinese New Year celebrations. The streets were packed and it took 1.5 hours to get from the airport to our hotel. This journey usually takes 35 - 40 mins. Unfortunately we did not see the firework display that took place at 8pm as it was after 9pm by the time we reached our hotel. Hercie came with us to the airport but unfortunately because of security she could not come inside the airport building with...

Manila, Philippines When we left Hong Kong last Saturday, 2 Feb, it was cold and raining. As you can imagine we were glad to leave that weather behind.Just 2 hours later here in Manila it was 23ºC - lovely and warm. After clearing Immigration, collecting our luggage and Customs we got a taxi to our hotel in the Makati City area of Manila, arriving about 3pm in the afternoon.Hercie (Neil's girlfriend) had gone to meet us at the airport but as I had been una...

Today we have been up to Warkworth to spend the day on Val and Francis's Farm called Possum's Retreat. It took about 1.5 hours to drive up there. The scenery was fabulous and we stopped to take photos on the way. Val and Francis have a beautiful farm just outside Warkworth and they made us very welcome. We had a BBQ for lunch and then later they gave us a tour of the farm. We met the pigs including Basil and Sybil, collected a few eggs from the chickhens and th...

Thought it was about time I updated this blog - we have been very lazy!! We have been helping Sheila and Mike with the packing up of their belongings ready for storage. They were hoping to get a storage unit in the middle of January but unfortunately it will not now be until the beginning of February, after we have left, so at the moment the garage is full of boxes ready to move. Mike finishes work on 15 February - the house is being advertised for rent and th...