At the end of three and a half magical weeks in Australia Suzanne and I spent one last memorable day in the Blue Mountains. We golfed, ate, cleaned our very comfortable ‘off the grid’ Airbnb accommodation and popped in briefly to say goodbye to Pam and John. The following morning we headed for Sydney Airport and headed onwards for the last leg of our trip.

What can I say about Hong Kong and the warmth of Terriea’s welcome? From the lovely and thoughtful gift of traditional sweets and maps waiting at our hotel to spending our days with Terriea friends and family, each day was filled with special sights, food, fun and laughter!!! We had a wonderful time. This first collage shares pictures from our first full day together, everywhere I looked there were spectacular views and inspiration for new work. We started the day with a walk at The Peak to view the iconic Hong Kong skyline, travelled down on the Victoria Tram then met up with Florence and Pauline to catch the ferry to scenic Lamma Island (Pok Liu Chau). This island is where Terriea spent some time as a child, it’s a very special place and I can quite see why she loves it!!! Before heading for a trek around the island we started out with a delicious feast at one of the fish restaurants overlooking the floating village. The food was so fresh and delicious, needless to say I was in culinary heaven!!!!! In the evening Terriea, Florence and I headed to visit the flower market in Kowloon and sample street food in the Ladies Market, the sweet bean filled dumplings were to die for!!!!!!! Here are a few images that capture our time together at The Peak and Lamma.

On the second day, Suzanne and I met up with Terriea and Todd again and Terriea’s son very kindly brought us for a drive up the mountains looking down on Kowloon. We then met up with her brother Cheung On and headed off to explore the New Territories. It was absolutely fascinating, beautiful scenery, great company and food (yet again!) plus the opportunity to take pictures right up at the Chinese border. One little surreal episode was meeting a saxophonist practicing his music right on the edge of the shore in the middle of nowhere, magical!!! I also particularly loved all the red kites caught up in trees and was delighted that the traditional Irish flat cap we brought Cheung On from Cushendale Woollen Mill fitted perfectly! In the late afternoon we headed with Terriea to the fabric district in Kowloon then finished the day having a delicious meal with Loretta back near our hotel in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong island. Thanks Loretta and Terriea for organising our hotel, wonderful comfort and luxury right in the middle of the action! Here’s a collage from day two.

On our final day Terriea and I headed to Stanley while Suzanne initially explored more of Causeway Bay. We checked out the beautiful beach, bustling market and old fishermen’s houses, I gathered some shells and wave washed ceramic pieces on the sand then was lucky enough to visit Terriea’s studio and see her wonderful working space filled with art and textiles. Although I’d already seen pictures of a little up-cycled chair covered with eco printed fabric online, in reality it was just so much more beautiful. Such a cool idea and absolutely perfect!!! If you’re not already following Terriea’s textile adventures online here’s a link to her Facebook page. Thank you for sharing your private space with me Terriea, I really appreciated it and now I can close my eyes and see you there!

The last afternoon holds one of my most precious memories, eating dim sum in a restaurant with hundreds of locals, if it hadn’t been for Terriea I’d never have managed to navigate the Chinese menu and coped with the system of ordering! The food was superb. In case you haven’t already guessed I was absolutely in my element with the freshness of ingredients, the contrast of texture and taste, the whole experience of eating local food in local settings!!! Hong Kong more than exceeded my expectations. The contrast of old versus new, east versus west and towering high rises versus prestige unspoilt landscape, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I’m totally captivated with the beauty and culture, I will return!

The final part of this post is my arrival home to Clasheen, to say the weather was a shock is definitely a bit of an understatement. Having spent approx 4 weeks in temperatures ranging from the low 20s to the early 40s snow at the airport and damp, freezing conditions made our first day back rather cold to say the least! The light over the Backstairs was absolutely gorgeous as I drove through Scullogue Gap and approached Clasheen, here’s one of the pics I stopped to snap.

Thank you so much to kind neighbours Joanne, Brian and James for thinking of lighting my boiler and leaving delicious fish, bread and milk in my larder. Thoughtful friends and a wonderful welcome home!!!

Next time I’ll post about felting and eco printing, Ireland and Portugal, workshop dates and some surprise pictures! Until then….. adieu.