On 10 December at about 9am, Dan rang me at work. She needed me to take her to the Family Birth Centre to see the midwife about something. It was possible waters had broken and they passed Dan onto the hospital for further tests. These were inconclusive and they wanted her to stay in hospital overnight for observation. She rang at 4.30am to say contractions had started at midnight. Her father, who had come from China to support us with his grandchild, and we made our way to King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) and spent a long morning and early afternoon [View Full Entry]

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Actually in Albany, Cliff’s apartment room booking fell through last minute and we ended in Grey Street Cottage, which hardly cost any more. This was a real find: fully furnished, well appointed, polished wood floors and a beautiful garden; there great views of Princes Harbour from the front veranda and it was a short walk from the main street of Albany. We enjoyed visiting the Mt Romance Factory (sandalwood and emu oil products), taking a drive to the coast, surveying the mighty wind-farm, seeing the coastal wildflowers and seeing the view from the ANZAC lookout on Mt Clarence above the [View Full Entry]

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We decided to try for a baby when Dan arrived in Australia, imagining it would take some months. It took no time at all, hardly allowing time for Dan to get established in her new life. An Aboriginal cultural tour at King’s Park with Cliff’s colleagues in June provided an opportunity to understand Aboriginal ways of life, connections to land and spiritual beliefs (thanks to Kaye for some of these photos). July saw a party at home with friends both to celebrate our birthdays and to welcome the marvellous Diana back from England. In August, we braved the ferry to stay [View Full Entry]

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As usual, Cliff had some trips away for work during 2008. In June, he had the opportunity to travel to Sydney to present a paper on custodial transport at the Critical Criminology Conference, something he had worked on for his Master’s. In August, he was required to be in Bunbury for five days and at the end of October in Albany for four days. In both cases, in consideration of her condition (advanced pregnancy), Dan was allowed to stay with Cliff in his motel apartment room. At Bunbury, Dan had some driving lessons, and we shared some nice walks on the [View Full Entry]

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A longer trip had to be cut short for work reasons, but we managed a long weekend in Sydney via Melbourne, where we saw Cliff’s all-time favourite Jazz artist Abdullah Ibrahim with his band Ekaya, at the Regent Theatre as part of the Melbourne Jazz Festival. In Sydney, Dan was able to see Cliff’s grand family home in Eastwood, to meet his mother in the nursing home, to meet some close friends of his from University days at a local restaurant and to enjoy a gathering with relatives, including a niece and nephew who had come all the way from Canberra! [View Full Entry]

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The foreshore at Matilda Bay was the venue for a Reception Picnic involving many of Cliff’s friends and colleagues. It was as much to welcome Dan to her new life in Australia, as to celebrate our marriage with our friends in Perth. Dan again looked wonderful in her red wedding dress, and Cliff topped his white shirt, red tie, black pants combo with a black leather hat. We reprised our wedding vows before our friends in English and Chinese, performed the traditional marriage toast through linked arms and cut a Miss Maud’s Princess Cake. Friends had brought food to share as [View Full Entry]

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On 19 March 2008, Dan arrived at Perth Airport, managing to bring much extra luggage, as one does when one emigrates! In the end the immigration authorities were kind to us and processed Dan’s application expeditiously, once we had finally inveigled the necessary Criminal Records check from the UK Constabulary on our third attempt. We celebrated our first night together in Australia at the Fuji Sushi Station in Victoria Park, long Cliff’s favourite restaurant. Some of our initial sightseeing included Fremantle, Cottesloe Beach, the lookout on Reabold Hill, King’s Park, Per [View Full Entry]

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Cliff made it back to Shenzhen two days before the Calendar New Year, but of course celebrations in China are reserved for the Lunar New Year, aka the Spring Festival. Sadly, the 2008 festival in China was marred by unseasonably arctic weather in middle provinces that ruined travel plans for millions of people, and caused the deaths of not a few. Tropical Shenzhen itself was remarkably cold forcing Cliff to buy a fan heater to keep warm in the flat. During this period, we enjoyed visiting more Shenzhen Parks, the Shenzhen Museum and the Zoo. A flower festival in Central Futian [View Full Entry]

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I was privileged to enjoy Christmas with in great company (Diana and her Greek-Australian friend Nancy) in a coastal town on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in Greece. As well as hosting a fine feast for Christmas Day, Nancy managed to show us remarkable amount of Peloponnesia including the ruin of ancient Mycenae, sites associated with Hercules, an ancestral village or hers in the hills and Nafplio on the South side, dominated by the Venetian Palamidi Fortress. We then returned to Athens where Di and I threw ourselves with gusto into seeing archaeological sites and museums while Nancy returne [View Full Entry]

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After a sad farewell to my companions at Heathrow, I went back to the Youth Hostel at St Pauls for another night. Before heading to Bath I had stayed there and enjoyed exploring the surroundings, and a night excursion to Piccadilly where I found a bookshop with a bunch of Dan’s favourite book series: Horrible Histories. This night however, I found myself at a suburban party to catch up with a special friend who I had not seen for some 10 to 15 years: Claire was briefly a house mate in Kununurra back in 1989, and we have been true friends [View Full Entry]

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