Hong Kong journal 🇭🇰 Day 3

We had breakfast at Green Waffle again. Big iced lattes of various kinds. I had a "blue osmanthus". Walking back we saw two guys take their enormous dogs into the tiny 7-11.

We visited the Man Mo Temple which is just along Hollywood Rd from Marcus's place.Very attractive Chinese temple. Coils of incense like mosquito coils burning everywhere; open at the eaves. Tin trays catch the ashes. One crashed to the ground while we were in there.

From there we went down Ladder Street to catch a ferry over to the HK History Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST). 

Ferry to Kowloon then we walked, through a rougher area. We had lunch at Subway. Even here are small shops selling luxury goods like Hennessy cognac, watches etc. The museum was really well done. Some projected animations onto black & white life-size recreations of rooms and exteriors. 

We popped in for a look at the K11 Musea luxury shopping mall

Back home to ours afterwards for a spell. We run the dehumidifier while we are out. It's pretty warm when we first come in but cools down fairly quickly with ceiling fan + AC.

In the evening back out again back over on a ferry to see the nightly sound & light show from the TST harbour edge "Avenue of Stars". Lasers and screens, massive. All over the harbour, as far up and down as we could see. 

On the way home we grabbed some takeaway snacks at the ferry terminal - rice triangles. Mine had a sautéed clam centre.

On the way back through Central we had an evening peep at the lobby of Marcus’s work; very impressive. He loves this painting.

Hong Kong journal 🇭🇰 Day 2

 Wed 13 Jun

We had our first of many breakfasts at Marcus's local, the Green Waffle in Hollywood Road.

Elf has no clean clothes! We tried shopping for new ones but there was nothing she liked or thought would fit. Undaunted we went across on a ferry to Kowloon for a look at the M+ Museum. Just as we emerged from the ferry terminal the rain hit hard so we jumped in a taxi.

M+ (not my pic)

The M+ was largely closed for renovations so we saw hardly anything of their collections but we had a wonderful roam outside, up the massive steps (a bit like an amphitheatre) and across the roof garden. 

We saw some enormous solitary black birds, we think vultures, circling above. Down below we saw some food trucks in a park, so we went down there for lunch.

This was our early days of dealing with money. None of the trucks were interested in anything but cash. You can actually pay for all sorts of things in Hong Kong with your Octopus card; but they weren't having that either. 

We had dinner (first of many) at another of Marcus's favourites, a Japanese restaurant called Next Shikaku in Gough Street. This is a small street that is all restaurants, and I could probably hit it with a tennis ball from the window of our apartment if it wasn't too hot to open any windows.

We had dinner (first of many) at another of Marcus's favourites, a Japanese restaurant called Next Shikaku in Gough Street. This is a small street that is all restaurants, and I could probably hit it with a tennis ball from the window of our apartment if it wasn't too hot to open any windows.

After dinner we again hung about at Marcus's, waiting for a phone call to tell us that the missing bag was being delivered. About 9 o'clock we got the call!

We watched YouTube (M's antenna doesn't work) and became big fans of a Chinese village man who documents his seasonal life. First he was picking figs, which he cooked up with garlic and chilli into a sort of garlic chilli fig soup. We saw him ride around with jars of it on his motorbike as he gave it to various locals who seemed to rate it about 4/10. Then we saw him do some pig husbandry. Pigs and Figs. I jokingly had been calling this very Chinese man Darren as we watched; at the end it appeared that his name was actually Robert.

Hong Kong journal 🇭🇰 Day 1

We got up at 3 to be at the airport by 4 for our flight at 6. Nothing was open at all until 5. Queued for ages at deserted bag drop, no cafes etc. "Be there two hours ahead for an international flight" has its limitations as advice.

Transfer in Sydney seemed smooth. Our flight to HK was 9 hours with no WiFi and the window shades down the whole way in daytime. Weird. A little turbulence over Indonesia. 

We landed and contacted Marcus, then went to baggage pick up. Elf's bag was missing, still in Sydney and due the next day. Upsetting but we moved on through customs to our joyful reunion with Marcus. He bought us all Octopus cards (public transport). Onto the train to the city

…then taxi to Wellington St in Central, to our Airbnb. It's incredibly basic, even more so than expected. 

We dumped bags then walked one block up the hill to see Marcus's apartment. We gave him the gifts we brought and hung out there yapping until 11ish then home. 

Our apartment has no stove, only a drip filter coffee / toaster oven combo unit.

Kitchen facilities

There's a shower head + hose on the wall in the toilet. Floor is tiled but there's no drain, just a hole chipped in the wall, and floor doesn't slope towards it. Dire.

You just sort of kick the water out that hole?

Just outside our building. This sign reminded me of our cat Coco every time I saw it.

In Hong Kong!

Here we are! This is Marcus's small apartment. Our Airbnb is about half this size! More news soon.

To Hong Kong

Elf, Michael and I are on a plane about to leave Hobart en route to Honkers to see Marcus. We've got an apartment for two weeks just around the corner from his, in Central, the financial district. I expect plenty of down time while we are there so hopefully I can post a few updates here. We are excited to see him, he's been away since March. And he is in Hong Kong long term so it will be really great to have a better feel for life there. Taxiing for take off now. 

Dangerous driving

This is my statement to police about dangerous driving I witnessed near my work last Thursday. A bloke suddenly reversed a ute without looking behind him and nearly cleaned up a pedestrian. I’m still feeling pretty angry about it but having channelled my feelings into this statement, now I can let it go, although there’s every chance the police are too busy to do anything. I do get really worked up when I see dangerous driving, cars just calculatedly running red lights etc. I probably got extra angry in this case because the pedestrian was me.

On Thursday 30 March 2023 between 1.00pm and 1.05pm I was walking in Trafalgar Lane in the Hobart CBD towards Macquarie Street. I walked around a truck from Artfast Removals and continued on the north side footpath towards Macquarie Street. A ute passed me going in the other direction, and I began crossing the lane to the south side.

I then heard and saw the ute reversing towards me at speed. A woman nearby screamed as I scrambled backwards and got far enough out of the way that the ute only ran over my left toe before it halted. I was fortunately not injured. I was wearing workboots and my foot is fine, but it was very close to smashing my knee and /or knocking me down.

The ute was new, metallic purple, with a hard cover over the tray, with Artfast Removals on the side. I think the rego was ARTFST. The driver was early 60s about 175cm with white hair, beard and glasses. He seemed unhappy with the driver of the truck. I have established, from asking colleagues that have dealt with the company, that the driver was almost certainly Peter Clarke, director of Artfast. 

I approached the drivers side expecting the driver to get out and apologise. He made no move to do so, so I smacked his window with my open hand. He then got out and told me not to touch his car. I asked if he had seen me, and did he know he had ran over my toe? He replied I should get my toe looked at and that he would give me a business card. He did not, he gave me a magnet with the Artfast phone number and email address. He did not give me his name. He repeated that I should not touch his car. I was very angry at his priorities so I left immediately to cool down and avoid further confrontation.

I have emailed (30/3 and 31/3) and sent a text message (2/4) to the business asking for a written apology but have had no reply.

He and I are both very fortunate his impulsive driving didn't put me in hospital. As Artfast/Mr Clarke have not responded to me I would like police to check CCTV from the lane at that time. I believe it was dangerous driving that has to be deterred in a city lane with heavy pedestrian traffic. I do not have any video evidence to upload.

I was really angry. Then I calmed down as I went on my way – I was going to Salamanca to buy fruit for the office fruit bowl. I felt lucky to be unhurt, and thought about my family and how fortunate I am; if the worst was to happen I think they are all set up well to get on OK without me. 

I wrote and asked for an apology, because as I was not injured it seems fairly low on the list of incidents police should have to worry about. All it required was for old mate to apologise and, crucially – trust me when I said that would be the end of it, and I would not leverage his apology as an admission of guilt and take it further. It would cost him nothing. I also asked for a statement that he would be more careful driving in future which was cheeky. But why not? He wasn't going to be made to look at pictures of accidents etc which the police do if you they charge you with dangerous driving.

I stayed on the right side of badgering him but wanted to be 100% sure he had this message. Although given abundant time, he did not respond. You can speculate as to his thought process here but he clearly doesn’t have any concerns about me taking it to the police, or about me casting shade on his reputation.

The boys have moved out!

My experience of being dad to Marcus and Michael has just had its biggest ever change, as they have both left home within a few weeks of each other. Which is mostly coincidence, it's not a mutiny because we're mean parents.

Michael is just down the road from us at Jane Franklin Hall. For his 2nd year at uni we wanted him to have a richer and more human experience than he had last year, which was very online and isolated. So far the move has been great for him. He’s met a lot of people, and he seems a bit more focused on his work. He organised a small expedition to the tip shop for about 6 or 8  people, which is a big social undertaking by his standards.

From Jane Franklin it's 20 minutes walk to our house or to the uni in the other direction, and Michael's good friend June is 2 minutes away. This is the view from Michael's room. 

Marcus had gone a little further; to Hong Kong. At the end of his 3-month internship there he was offered a full time job. He started a week ago and it's going very well, getting a little better every day, he says. The financial firm he is working for is called Jane Street, so the boys are both at Janes which is a little confusing. 

Marcus found himself an apartment online before leaving Hobart, and he chose well. It's a good fit for him and about seven minutes walk from the office, in an area called Central. 

Here are some photos he posted to Instagram of his neighbourhood. Around his office all the skyscrapers have luxury stores on the street, like Armani, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton etc.

And this is his building, the grubby light grey one – he walks up 3 flights of stairs and the stairwells are pretty ordinary. But his apartment is clean, new appliances and so on. It's taking him a little time to work out things like where garbage goes, why the washing machine won’t give back his clothes etc.

We have had a few video chats and have been exchanging messages most evenings. It's amazing how nearby he feels at times. He and I watched the footy together a few days after he left, and we will through the winter when we can.

I have to admit I felt pretty down after Marcus left and there was just Elf and I in the house. A lot of people have said to us words to the effect of 'wooo now the party starts right??'. But it just doesn't seem like that to us. 21 years ago we started parenting… and we had only been together less than 2 and a half years. So our time establishing "us" was pretty short and it is now buried pretty deep under years of being mum and dad, co-owners of pets and co-mortgagees. I say well done to anyone who has a clear idea of what they are going to do once the kids are out of their hair.

Meanwhile we see Michael most Sundays for lunch with my mum and dad; and he walks Winston every Thursday. He bought me lunch during the week last week – it's good to see him and he's looking really well.And we had a driving lesson on the weekend too. So life goes on.

A break for a week by a lake

Two years on from our extended-family holiday at Swansea, The four of us and Imp, Ed, Karri and Miah did it again, this time a week at Sisters Beach on the NW coast. Our house was actually at Lake Llewellyn 2km back from Sisters, but very handy to that beach and to Boat Harbour as well – Australia’s Most Beautiful Drive-Up Beach (Wineglass Bay probably has the overall top spot sewn up but you need to walk or sail there).

This was an important family get-together as Marcus’ departure for Hong Kong gets closer, currently booked for March 10. The cousins all get on well, and they spent the week sharing a small bunk room. For various reasons we had four cars between the eight of us, so that meant we could go in a few different directions at once although we did spend most of the week all together. The house is called Platypus Chalet, it’s on Airbnb and we recommend it.

Disclaimer: we understand short term rental operations play a part in the Tasmanian housing crisis. Our host only has one house not ten, and it's a purpose-built holiday house, so I feel like it's kosher.

Our place was one of about 25 at the lake, I think the only one without water frontage. A neighbour suggested to us a good way to get down to the water (but that information is classified). The lake was man-made in the 60s or 70s, it seems mostly for watersports enthusiasts. We swam in it and paddled our wave ski on it every day. One day Elf was paddling while Imp swam alongside and they encountered two platypus! Imp was a bit concerned about the famous poison spur but everyone kept their distance and played nice. I was on the bank as they came back in. Imp had run out of swimming energy so she had hung from the back of the wave ski for a while. Then Elf got a bad cramp so Imp propelled them back to shore. What a pair.

A paddle around Lake Llewellyn

The high side of the lake bank (3rd pic above) looks at first glance like impenetrable virgin bush, but the road to Sisters Beach is right there. So occasionally the Castaway vibe is shattered by very mundane vehicles cruising through on the sealed road. This road has no footpath, and a 100kmh speed limit, but there are ‘Shared Road’ in a few places. If I was in charge of a road and I wanted drivers to share it with pedestrians and horse riders I'd probably make it 60, not 100. Imp and Ed have been here before and walked down this road, so they were happy to do so again. But it scares the pants off me as a pedestrian. One day the rest of us drove to Boat Harbour and Imp and Ed walked this road to Sisters Beach then walked along the coast to meet us. They are quite outward bound compared to us.

Mum and Dad used to own a block on the beachfront at Sisters, with plans to build on it. It was a very fast growing area in the early 00s and then there was a moratorium on new building for a while – they ended up selling the block and moving east to Turners Beach, and then later to Hobart. The house that has been built on the old block is … disappointing.

Around the Sisters Beach township. Middle pic is an amazing place next to Mum & Dad's old block built by a boatbuilder. The pic above is just a classic old shack, before people started proper real solid houses here.

We had a day trip to Stanley to climb The Nut. In a shed at the top there was an interpretative panel with various loose theories about how The Nut got its name. Then it mentions in passing that the palawa name for it is moo-nut-re-ker which seems to me like probably the source. I had never heard this name before. 

The amazing views from The Nut. 

Michael's 19th birthday fell on day 3 of 7, so we took his gifts up with us. We gave him a fairly good metal detector; more news on that once he has taken it for a spin. We had lunch for his birthday in Wynyard at The Vault, a great spot overlooking the river operating in an old bank.

We had heaps of trips to the various beaches. We flopped about the house and did a lot of reading. We got in and out of the lake and the spa tub. We watched old movies and TV shows in the extensive DVD collection. The kids had a Friday night out in Wynyard which was uneventful. I had a day prowling around my old home town of Burnie, and a walk on my own down to Boat Harbour, but I'll do seperate posts for those.

Above is Sisters Beach. A lovely place to swim, I had forgotten the water was so clear.
It’s surrounded by Rocky Cape National Park.
The pics below are Boat Harbour. It was a very calm day so Elf joined us.
I had not forgotten the clear water here; the sand is pure white and
it's just a joy to behold. There were white fish swimming around in the shallows.

At Ed's suggestion we also did a trip to Dip Falls, a spectacular spot 40 mins south of Stanley. It's the middle of nowhere but we all enjoyed it.

The four kids spent most of their time together and had a ball. [As I write a couple of weeks later write the same crew have just come back from a 5 hour walk on Mt Wellington]. They shared a bunk room and they were in the hot tub together every day. They decided to have a night out in Wynyard on our last night at the house. They rang to be picked up fairly early; as there was not all that much happening and they themselves were the main attraction in town.

On our last day we did a big clean up then set off in dribs and drabs in the four cars. The kids had two cars but wanted to travel down all together to enjoy the Hottest 100 on the radio, which is cute. So I took our car and Elf drove Marcus's. She was keen to just get home while I had some diversions planned.

I had another swim at Burnie; this time the beach was pretty grotty, as it as was the day after Australia Day. I did a walk around the CBD and pondered what used to be in various locations back in 1982 or whatever. The closeness of the beach to the town centre is something I mention every time Burnie comes up - but there can't be many places where you could buy a boogie board at K-mart then walk two blocks to the surf club and paddle out.

It was a beaut day for driving. After the swim and walk I drove to Launceston and caught up with Joe who is just back from a soccer camp with William in the UK, which was a big success. William is on course to be soccer professional. 

Lovely old deco Gospel Hall in Launceston next to Du Cane Brewery

Then I went across town and saw Lynn and Scott and heard all their news - they are both teaching at country schools now - Lynn is principal at Westbury and Scott is at Hagley.

Then the drive home from Launceston was mostly uneventful.