Travel
This section details a few of the trips and excursions that I've been on. As I now take photos with a digital camera there will be a lot more photos from now on - so apologies to anyone wanting to see images of earlier trips but I don't have the time to scan the black and white or slide films in to the computer.
I went to China recently to see for myself what all the fuss was about and because a pottery friend I had met in Japan invited me to a ceramic forum there. I love to travel and had never been to China before, I was going with colleague and friend Peter Lange and Creative NZ had generously decided to support my travel grant so there was every incentive to spend a month exploring a slice of Chinese ceramics..... 
We arrived into the cacophony that is Bombay, luckily my good friend Paulomi had jacked us up with some accommodation in a Hari Krishna temple. The daily commute into downtown Bombay via the second-class train carriage was worth the 8 rupees for entertainment value alone. The mad scrummaging to board was followed by the most dignified adjustments during travel and then a brief struggle as exiting people got near the exits before the cycle started over again. We spent a week trying to adjust to the climate, people, noise, everything. We were also jacking up a teaching gig for later in February..... 
We caught the coach to Amsterdam and so started the European leg of the trip. Luckily we moved out of the hostel to the campground or else our budgets would have been crippled in the first week. But it did mean getting used to sleeping on next to nothing on really hard ground. I guess the bruising will go away eventually. We spent the time using the trams and jumping off whenever anything interesting presented itself (usually markets – we discovered three in three days). Didn’t get to any Museums, but saw lots of cool stuff on the streets.....
I'll start with the obvious - it's an awful lot like NZ, with the attitude of the people, the look of the place and the way everything works. So little things jump out at you, for instance, asking for a dooner when you're cold results in a duvet being thrown over you. Sydney is a brilliant town to wander in. It's got a great collection of parks and a stunning harbour - the beaches aren't too shabby either. I was lucky to be able to stay at Anne Hudson's place and used it as a base for daily forays into the city. The Powerhouse Museum is probably the pick of the crop if you want to see an amazing collection of objects - from contemporary ceramics to imported English porcelains......
