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Peter's left eye in the surgery

Eyes lasered. In July and August, respectively, we both lay down under the laser with our eyes opened. A few drops of anaesthetics, a few minutes of meditation in order to forget about what's going on around, solely concentrating on the yellow flashing light. A few strange however painless moments and then the eye is released again. For the first half day, one should try to keep the eyes closed. After waking up the next morning, the big moment has arrived: Everything is sharp!! Peter suffered from a little imflammation during the first days and had to take medication eye drops every 30 minutes. At least, he didn't feel or see the inflammation. After 10 days, the opthomologist is happy with him and we both enjoy our new freedom with new vision.

Spring telltales in the Botanic Gardens

Spring telltales. Magnolia blossoms in August, Poinsettia in the front yards of the houses, Japanese Cherries on the roundabout. The Southern Hemisphere lags six months behind the Northern Hemisphere. Or is it ahead of it? However, August in Sydney corresponds to February in Germany. Yet if you could expect something similar over there? Dark blue sky and happy 23 degrees Celsius, lunch al fresco and (of course) kayak trips on the week-ends. The verandas are being prepared for summer. Winter (June, July) is over now. See also our special report Winter in Sydney of last year (in German only).

Sushi

Fuyija. Silvia takes us out for dinner as she had long since promised. On a Saturday night we drive into the CBD and dive into the crowds. Looking for a parking spot, many cars, many people, many traffic lights. In the restaurant Fuyija we are taken into Tokyo. Apart from ourselves, there are only Asian faces around, the menu is packed with Kanji symbols. We order cold green beans and sake as an appetizer. The mains are small but plenty — 9 main dishes. The atmosphere is lively as in a youth hostel. We have the best time. Many thanks for this secret in the CBD, Silvia!

Flint and Steel Beach

Werner and the Wallaby. Werner is a colleague of Peter who by chance currently works with Christian, Peter's brother. And: Werner had lived in Australia almost 10 years ago for a period of 3 years and got in love with this country. Now he is on an extended holiday leave for a tour of Australia for a couple of months. How nice is it to finally have a visitor who already knows all the must-sees so that we can skip this part of the visitor program. Instead, we have a picnic at the edge of the Kuring-gai Chase National Park and walk in "for a cuppa coffee" — storm cooker and mugs out of our backpack — to Flint and Steel Beach. A rainbow spans across the horizon, and in order to perfectionise the scene, a wallaby hops exactly into the centre of the rainbow. If Werner didn't already love this country, he would do so now ;-)

Claudia and the python

The Diamond Python. Well, we paddled yet again: Claudia on Saturday 28. August from our house in Birchgrove to Bundeena in Port Hacking, 47 km open ocean into a 15 knots south-east wind (head wind). Both on Sunday 29. August a "Coffee and Muffin Cruise" in Port Hacking. But the highlight of the week-end is an unexpected encounter with a Diamond Python on the camp ground. This incites us to publish a new photo gallery Diamond Python.