Hello from Oz

I'm just stopping by to say a quick hello from Oz and post a brief report.

To make you jealous, I took this photo this morning - it's the view from my bedroom that I wake up to...



I did the nonstop flight from Dubai to Sydney, which with the extra hour sitting in the aircraft at Dubai was a total of fifteen hours. I chose the flight that gave me the new A380 and it was just about tolerable - I wouldn't like to do it in the smaller aircraft.

The long flight and the seven hour time difference take a good few days to get over, in fact I'm not entirely sure I've adjusted completely even now.

The big and instantly obvious difference is the clean, clear, dust-free air. Unlike Dubai, the air's breatheable. Then there's the very big, very clear, very blue sky.

Second day here I happened to look out of the window and saw a pod of whales blowing. I counted six but the camera's very slow to react and of all the shots I ran off I only managed to get one whale in...

We also have a bush turkey in residence. Here s/he is on the nest-mound s/he's building.

So, yes, it's very different.

And I can't tell you how good it is to be back for the next couple of months.