SPECIAL EDITION - Dave has gone HOME!

Being back in Australia, it's kind of like we never left. It's a little weird. I know that we've only been gone for 6 weeks, and we could have just been on a long holiday but because we've done so much in that time I somehow expected that something would be different.

One thing that's different is that my sister and her husband had a baby. Lillian Elizabeth Alsopp (or something :) is still only 3 weeks old and very small. Also very prone to crying so she pretty much stayed wrapped up in the stroller/crib. I don't think she really cried the whole time we saw her which is nice, but she's been keeping them up through the whole night. Maybe it settles down a little soon, no idea.

When we were in Canberra we caught up with pretty much everyone, parents, grandparents, some uncles, aunts and cousins, (obviously) nieces and some friends as well. I hadn't seen them for a while and many of them seem to have had some children since I last saw them which is also a little weird. They're still pretty much the same as before though, at least on the surface!

We're in Sydney now, partly to do some work and also partly to catch up with people while we get the chance. I don't think we'll be back in Aus until mid next year at the earliest so it's nice to see people when we can (thanks Angela and Nick for letting us stay at your house!!!)

We're having a pretty whirlwind trip this time, not too much time to mess about. We were going to try and go for a dive this morning but conditions haven't been great so we elected to not worry about it. I'm definitely missing that part of Sydney life! Also being able to cross the road without someone trying to run me down, being able to talk to people in the shops and some food I've been missing (Oporto's and pizza, check).

So drinks tonight in the city, meetings tomorrow and BBQ tomorrow night, then back to Canberra on Friday for a last glimpse of the families, then we're on the plane at 6:45 Saturday morning and back to Beijing.

Time flies, but does it get frequent flier points like we do?