We have now discovered the real reason why Frankie came to Australia. Not for the travel. Or to broaden her mind. And escaping dreary old England for a new life? Afraid not. No, Frankie came to Australia so she could cuddle a koala bear. And here she is getting her wish. Holding a koala is not allowed in many states so we've had to come all the way up to Queensland, to the Cairns Tropical Zoo so that she can realise her life's ambition. Most people come here to ...

Sydney is a very photogenic place. With the Bridge, the Opera House and the Harbour as a backdrop, it's not hard to get a good photograph. But the highlight of our first visit here was not the city but joining up with Joce and Frankie. So this week's photo of the week is them having tea with Kate. This took place in the Queen Victoria Building - a resplendent Victorian shopping mall in the centre of the City. The tea was a proper 'high' tea. Thinly sliced cucumb...

Walking round Sydney you get a palpable sense of how the world is changing. A straw poll downtown suggested that a half to two-thirds of the people walking past were Asian. Many people have come here to live from Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and other places over the past few years. People from these countries also come as tourists - increasingly joined by people from mainland China. Even in the Central Business District Asian people make up a significant perc...

It's often a disappointment seeing famous places for real. Photographs in travel brochures or films on television can give a false impression. The sea is not that blue, the mountains not that high, the iconic building not that impressive in the flesh. Sydney is such a familiar sight - especially after the Millennium and the 2000 Olympics - that it might be expected that it would fail to live up to expectations. But if anything it surpasses them. The harbour with...

For my photograph this week I've chosen one of this River Red Gum tree, known locally as 'The Cazneaux Tree'. It has been photographed before. In 1937 Harold Cazneaux took a prize-winning photograph of it which he called 'The Spirit of Endurance'. He wrote: "This giant gum tree stands in solitary grandeur on a lonely plateau in the arid Flinders ranges, South Australia, where it has grown up from a sapling through the years, and long before the shade from its g...