Tales from China

China may evoke images of crowded cities, smog and taxi drivers who can't understand any English but for us China will now also mean a field of wild flowers, picturesque villages, dramatic limestone cliffs, breath-taking architecture and a culture of tradition and meaning. Just back from 11 days in China and we loved it! An online travel agency helped book everything for us so that in each of the four locations we chose to explore (Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin and Li Jiang) a tour guide and driver would meet us at the airport or train station. This took the stress out of not being able to speak Mandarin and meant we could pack more in because we had our own mini bus to take us directly to places and pick us up the moment we were ready to move on. The tour guides were also a wealth of information about local customs and ancient history.

Highlights included

* the beautifully preserved buildings and grounds of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace in Beijing

* a walk on the Great Wall of China (Mutianyu section) which exceeded our extremely high expectations

* an acrobatics show, a kung-fu show and a most amazing musical "impressions" show in an outdoor theatre with the limestone cliffs and the Li River making an impressive backdrop

* Taking a sleeper train from Beijing to Xi'an

* Busy market streets and haggling with friendly traders

* the girls practicing their Mandarin and adding to their vocab

* The terracotta army in Xi'an guarding an emperor's tomb which were only discovered by a local farmer in 1974

* a river cruise and then cycling through the Li River Countryside

* swapping holiday photos by phone with the Bearsleys on their Aussie road trip at roughly 11am and 7pm each day, including the Bearsleys and their Chinese house guest at the Walls of China (Lake Mungo, NSW) and the Bertrams spotting exotic kangaroos at a zoo in Guilin

* the ancient hilltown of Li Jiang where flowers and lanterns decorated the cobbled streets

* spotting any animal whether they be stray dogs, water buffalo, beetles or Giant Pandas

* chairlift rides up to the top of Mountains and a toboggan ride down again

* trying some new food like bamboo and yak's milk cheese

Birthday, Fathers Day, Visitors and Holidays

Lots to celebrate but not much time to do it in. Thanks for all the lovely people who sent presents and cards and messages, especially appreciated as we are so are so far away. I had a wonderful birthday.

It was Fathers' Day here as well but that was quickly acknowledged and glossed over. We went on a fun run the day before my birthday, and our guests, Paquita and Glenn and their gorgeous kids visiting from KL joined in the activity with enthusiasm. I must say we all went silent at Brunch when our friend Dave asked how we knew each other... then we all chuckled .. meeting over 20 years ago when your twin sister dated Glenn does seem a little bit obscure but we know it's good! We all get along like a house on fire including the kids! and the dog!

School holidays have just started and I am in the midst of organising playdates and craft activities. We visited Arab street for material for the project runway activity but that seems to have occurred while I am at home on the weekend, rather than at work, which was not suppose to happen .... and playdates are also much easier to organise when you can actually repay

them...

School Daze

Well its almost at the end of another term, it's all happening at Avondale and we've been pretty busy trying to keep up with the kids. Matt and I helped with the Dads camp again this year and Matt has also been coaching the boys basketball (which includes Felicity as there is no girls basketball team. She doesn't mind.)

We've also had the family concert where the girls both performed with the recorder club, Felicity did a violin solo and Alice's class did a medley of sings from Oliver. Lots of fun.

Today Felicity took Buckley in for show and tell for Pet Week. He jumped through hoops and basically proved that he's as talented as the rest of the Bertrams. Activities haven't finished either - there's the Father's Day assembly tomorrow and the disco on Friday. Then one more week before the holidays!