Again we did karate this whole year. This included a number of gradings followed by social events.

I treated myself to a new gi (uniform) when I graduated to my 3rd Kyu.

Because he liked it so much we decided to get him (and Aiden) a surfboard for Christmas as well.

Kim had a big birthday this year. All the plans were ruined so it because a low key affair with just a family dinner.

Plan:

A - Europe trip - Covid cancelled

B - New Zealand Ski trip (travel bubble was open) - Cancelled day before we were to leave

C - Staycation in Sydney - Locked down to local council

D - Staycation in same council - Restricted to 5 Km radius

E - Dinner at home

We did however make up for it later with some golf and spa while she wasn't working.

This are from various events of 2021

Lucas Holy Communion

Lunar Esclipse

Swimming at Yarra Bay in the middle of winter

Aidens Learning award

Empty Maroubra Beach during covid lockdown

Seafood dinner with family

Chillies harvested from the garden

Cooking lobster at home during lockdown

Spotted Herbie in our local area

Monkeys in a tree

Playing games at home during Covid lockdown

Enjoying a hot chocolate during Covid lockdown

Boys make a mess and have to clean the house

Dinner at home during Covid lockdown

Conference call with family during Covid lockdown

How many people can you fit into a dinghy?

Pho at the local cafe

Going for a walk after Covid restrictions lifted

On a conference call with Dalai Lama from home

Kim received a Hoodie to keep her warm in the cold winter evenings. I thought it was something else and wrote instructions on the packaging.

Aidens birthday was bowling with his friends and dinner with family

Kim dressed appropriately for walking 20 meters to the car

The boys learning to use a hammer.

Spending time at Yarra bay

Aiden still struggling, although him now having a piano seems to help him.

Lucas got some more awards at the Athletics carnival to add to his swimming awards.

We were looking after a couple of guinea pigs for a couple of weeks while one of Aiden friends was away.

The boys had to do all the work cleaning and feeding them.

We did another Hunter Valley Trip with Sasha and Richards families.

Again we stocked up on a lot of wine.

Lucas has joined the chess club at school, so for fun (and to give him practice) we sometimes play. I was very proud that I one day managed to checkmate him with just two pawns and my king.

KA had some spare tickets for a basketball game between Sydney Kings and Melbourne Phoenix, so we took the boys.

I was struggling a lot this year, through a combination of things ranging from self worth, lack of support, dealing with the boys, work and other things.

Mid-year during the lockdown it hit hard.

Over easter we went to Glenworth Valley for Camping. This location is about an hours drive north of Sydney in an easily accessible but beautiful little valley.

It is private propoerty, so you have to book beforehand and it does get very busy. We were very lucky that we were located down at the end of the property where it was more quiet.

In the evenings there were beautiful sunsets.

In the morning it was a bit more misty in the valley.

The owners also put on a great easter egg hunt for the children. There were hundreds of children with 20,000 chocolate eggs hidden in a field and there was an easter bunny riding a horse.

We also spend time playing some ball sports. I'd brought a baseball bat and ball. Because we were four families, we had plenty of people to form two teams. It got very competitive and the bat took a bit of battering, so I had to go a buy a more solid wooden bat.

In the evenings we had the normal campfire and baked dampers on sticks, marshmellows and baked potatoes in the fire.

There are also lots of walks witin easy driving distance, including some walks with beautiful waterfalls.

Also, people come to the valley for horse riding, so there are lots of horses in the surrounding paddocks.

And wildlife such as Kookaburras!

And going for a short stroll in the mornings was a beautiful experience with the mist and light changing.

Because of lots of rain, the whole area had been flooded just weeks earlier. Where we were camping would have been a meter under water, but because of the river running through the area the water had fortunately receeded.

Guangzhou was our gateway into China — just the four of us: Rene, Kim, Aiden and Lucas.

Arriving into Guangzhou, the sheer size hits you first. This isn’t just a big city — it’s a sprawling megacity built on more than 2,000 years of history, now layered with relentless modern growth. Yet it is super clean everywhere and despite all the traffic it is super quiet due to everyone driving electric bikes and cars.

First stop in the morning was Shamian Island. Walking onto Shamian Island feels like stepping into Europe. Tree-lined streets, colonial mansions, quiet cafés — it couldn’t be more different from the rest of the city.

But this place carries a complicated history. After the Opium Wars in the 19th century, this small island was carved out and divided between British and French control, becoming a foreign enclave in China.

What remains today is a fascinating blend of cultures — European architecture, Chinese life, and a sense of calm that feels almost surreal in a city like this.

For us, it was one of those rare travel moments where everything slows down. The boys could wander, Kim could soak in the atmosphere, and I found myself drawn to the history that I have read about in numerous books.

It’s easy to be distracted by Guangzhou’s scale — the towers, the traffic, the constant movement — but the real character of the city reveals itself when you step off the main roads and into the narrow alleyways.

These laneways are where life compresses.

The streets tighten, the noise softens into something more human, and suddenly you’re walking through someone’s everyday world. Open doorways reveal small kitchens in full swing, laundry hangs overhead like a patchwork sky, and scooters squeeze past with barely enough room to spare.

This is where Guangzhou slows down.

We wandered without much of a plan, turning corners simply because they looked interesting. The boys quickly realised this was a different kind of exploring — not landmarks, but observation. Small moments. A nod from a local, a curious glance, someone going about their day completely unfazed by four outsiders passing through.

For me, this was where the camera came alive. Not because of anything grand, but because of the texture — worn walls, layered history, faces that told stories without words.

Not far from the bustle of the city, we found ourselves wandering into the area around the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Museum — and it turned out to be one of the most unexpectedly fascinating parts of Guangzhou.

The museum itself is beautifully designed, built in the style of traditional Lingnan architecture, with ornate roofs, carved woodwork, and peaceful courtyards. But what really drew us in wasn’t just the building — it was what was happening around it.

Locals were gathering, dressed in elaborate Cantonese opera costumes — vibrant silks, intricate embroidery, and dramatic makeup. Some were performers, others simply enthusiasts, but all of them carried a quiet pride in what they were part of.

What made it so compelling was how natural it all felt.

People were chatting, adjusting costumes, helping each other prepare, and taking photos — not for tourists, but for themselves. It wasn’t staged or curated. It was a living tradition, still very much part of everyday culture.

Cantonese opera has deep roots in southern China, blending music, storytelling, martial arts, and symbolism into a highly stylised art form that dates back hundreds of years. And here, in this small pocket of Guangzhou, it wasn’t something preserved behind glass — it was still alive.

Beyond the main roads, the city unfolds through a rhythm of small shops and daily rituals. Narrow storefronts spill out onto the pavement — fruit stacked in careful pyramids, hardware stores packed floor to ceiling, tiny eateries with a handful of stools and a constant flow of regulars. There’s no clear boundary between business and street; everything blends together into one continuous, living space.

And then, almost quietly, you start to notice them — the bronze statues.

They’re scattered throughout the city, often without fanfare. A fisherman hauling in a net. A street vendor mid-sale. Children playing. Scenes from another time, frozen in metal but placed right in the middle of modern Guangzhou.

They’re easy to walk past if you’re not paying attention.

But once you notice them, they change the way you see the city.

These aren’t grand monuments to emperors or victories — they’re tributes to everyday life. They reflect the trading roots of Guangzhou, once one of China’s most important ports and the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. For centuries, this was a city defined by commerce, movement, and connection to the outside world.

And those stories are still here — just told in quieter ways.

One evening in Guangzhou took a different turn.

Kim had arranged to meet an old colleague, and instead of the street-side eateries and small local restaurants we’d been exploring, we were taken somewhere altogether more elaborate.

From the outside, it didn’t immediately give much away. But once inside, the scale revealed itself.

The restaurant unfolded like a maze — long corridors branching into more corridors, each lined with private dining rooms hidden behind heavy doors. It felt less like a restaurant and more like a series of discreet, self-contained worlds. Every group tucked away in their own space, out of sight, out of earshot.

You couldn’t help but wonder what kinds of conversations these rooms had hosted over time. Business deals, family negotiations, celebrations, quiet discussions — the kind of interactions that are never meant to spill into the public space.

There’s a long tradition of private dining in China, especially in cities like Guangzhou where relationships — guanxi — are central to both business and social life. Meals aren’t just about food; they’re about trust, hierarchy, and connection. And spaces like this are designed for exactly that.

For us, it felt like stepping briefly into that world.

The food itself was exceptional — beautifully presented, carefully paced, and clearly designed to impress. But interestingly, it wasn’t the local Cantonese street-style cuisine we’d been expecting. This was something more refined, more international in influence, almost curated to suit a different kind of audience.

For the boys, the novelty was in the setting — their own private room, the formality of it all. For Kim, it was a chance to reconnect. And for me, it was the atmosphere that lingered — the sense that behind every closed door, a different story was unfolding.

It was a completely different side of Guangzhou.

Not the chaotic, open, street-level city we’d come to know — but something quieter, more controlled, and in its own way, just as revealing.

After dinner, we stepped back out into the night and made our way down to the river, drawn by the glow of the Canton Tower rising in the distance.

If the restaurant had felt enclosed and hidden, this was the complete opposite.

The Pearl River opens everything up. Wide promenades, open air, and a steady flow of people out enjoying the evening — families, couples, groups of friends, all moving at a slower, more relaxed pace than the daytime rush.

And then there’s the tower.

Up close, the Canton Tower doesn’t just dominate the skyline — it feels almost unreal. Its twisting structure is lit in shifting colours, constantly changing, reflecting off the river below. Boats drift past, their own lights adding to the scene, and the whole area takes on a slightly surreal, almost cinematic feel.

The boys were immediately drawn to the energy of it — the lights, the movement, the scale. For them, this was Guangzhou at its most exciting.

The Pearl River has been the lifeblood of Guangzhou for centuries — the reason the city became one of China’s most important trading ports, connecting it to the outside world long before the skyscrapers arrived.

Now, instead of trading ships, it’s light shows and river cruises.

Somewhere in the middle of Guangzhou’s busy streets, we stumbled across something completely unexpected — and for Lucas, it may well have been the highlight of the entire city.

A shop where everything looked like it belonged in a museum… but was made entirely of chocolate.

Not just small displays or decorative pieces, but full-scale creations. Life-sized animals stood frozen mid-step — elephants, giraffes, creatures you’d expect to find on the African savannah, not in a shop in southern China. Alongside them were intricate replicas of local architecture, temples and buildings recreated in astonishing detail, all in chocolate.

At first, it didn’t quite register. The level of craftsmanship made it hard to believe it wasn’t carved wood or painted resin. But the closer you looked, the more surreal it became — every surface, every texture, every tiny detail… chocolate.

Lucas was completely in his element.

You could see the internal conflict playing out — admiration versus appetite. Was this something to photograph, or something to eat? (The answer, unfortunately, was mostly the former.)

We went snorkeling in the lagoon

On a rainy afternoon we went in a longboat. The idiot at the back almost got all of us killed by having no idea how to steer (that was his one job) and landed us on the outer reef.

One day we went snorkeling with the turtles in the lagoon.

I also took some photos of the boys at Black Rock Beach.

This year we decided to travel to Rarotonga in Cook Islands. Some of the immediate family booked at the same time so that we 

had some days together.

The islands have a lot of very friendly dogs. A lot of them are unique that they are large dogs with very short legs.

They are also able to feed themselves by catching and eating fish in the lagoon. There are also a lot of chicken (especially roosters) on the island.

Other times were spent playing games - Dark, Snooker Fuzball, building cairns and chasing crabs.

The west coast of New Zealand is really beautiful.

It is not very populated and there are not a lot of tourists either as it is hard to get to.

We did a lot of walks in the area both around beautiful lakes and also at the beach outside Fox Glacier and Franz Josef villages.

At Queenstown we did 4 days of skiing at the Remarkables.

The boys did two days of lessons and were with me the other two days. Some friends of our joined us in Queenstown, so for the other days I had Tod to go with, who is a very decent snowboarder.

Aiden and Lucas are both becoming good skiers, but especially Lucas is getting really good to the point where I can bring him onto black runs.

Although Kim is still very much a beginner she still did two days of skiing sticking to the beginner slope where there is a 'magic carpet' lift. I did see some improvement to last year, but she is still too scared to go on the proper lifts.

I bought my own ski boots last year and brought them along (my feet are not compatible with rental ski boots).

Kims highlight on the trip was to go up on a real glacier.

She had booked a helicopter tour that would take up up on a section of the glacier between the two major ice falls.

This is a section of the glacier that Andy and I dreaded having to walk through 20 years ago when we were climbing higher up on the glacier. Mind you, back then there was probably another 100 metres of ice on top of where we landed on this day.

At Mount Cook we did a long 10km walk to the start of the Hooker glacier.

It is a beautiful walk where you walk past the Tasman Glacier and Muller Glacier before you eventually come to the Hooker Glacier lake.

The lake was frozen with an iceberg floating around in it.

Driving from Christchurch toward the west coast we passed the Castle Hills boulders.

This is a phenomenal place to go climbing if you are a good boulderer. It is also quite scenic to just go for a walk.

We saw lots of people with their bouldering mats (a soft mat to land on when you are climbing).

At Lake Pukaki there is this little beautiful chapel at the lake.

Again this is a really photographed location and much more busy than I remember it.

A place that I have always found really magical is driving through the Lindis Pass.

Kim doesn't think much of it, but since I visited it the first time, I've alwas found the rolling hills and the colours absolutely stunning.

As usual, we did a family thing at Kims sisters house.

At home I had Aiden make Havregryns Kugler (oat balls).

As per tradition we again did a family Christmas photo this year.

We were running out of time, so it was a bit rushed getting it done.

We also tried to make one with a Karate theme. It is a nice photo, it just wasn't christmassy enough.

Kim had booked a Christmas show in the State Theatre. It was an okay show, but as she said, it was more for the 'dads' than for the kids due to the costumes.