I came to China in July 2005 - and I haven´t been back home to Brisbane since. A lot has happened in the meantime: getting married, having a daughter, travelling around China. My family has been urging us to visit for the past year or more.

We have tried to go twice but each time have been defeated by red tape. Our daughter Allie was born in China (in Dongguan, Guangdong province) but is a naturalised Australian citizen and has an Australian passport.

Getting her an exit visa should be easy, but it hasn´t been.

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On Jan 12th we organised a group from the Haerbinger community to go skiing at Maoershan, at great skiing resort about 2 hours south-east of Harbin.

This is a great spot! Excellent facilities, good slopes, and during the week there are not too many people. I´ve heard that on the weekends it´s jam-packed. It was a great day with a great group of friends...

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Following the show we were fed a lavish Chinese feast then loaded into about 50 buses which were escorted through the streets of Harbin. Roads were closed off for us and fireworks went off all along the 10km route from the Convention center on the east of Harbin all the way to the Ice & Snow World on the north-west side of the city. It was a spectacular ride!

Upon arriving at the Ice & Snow World we roamed the displays for about 2 hours, again with the fireworks exploding every few seconds.

The Harbin Ice & Snow World is one of the coldest places on earth, IMHO. It is colder than cold, but the sights are worth the discomfort!

This is the second time I have visited the Ice and Snow World, the first time was back in 2005. I made the mistake then of not realising the effect of the cold on camera batteries. I didn´t repeat that mistake and took about 200 pictures. I also had on 4 pairs of socks, my thickest boots, 2 pairs of thermal underwear, 2 pairs of gloves and about 3 hats. I was still cold, but I survived.

I hope when you see the pictures you will agree that it was worth the effort...

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I was a guest at the official opening of the 11th Harbin Ice & Snow Festival on Jan 5th, along with a thousand or so other VIP´s and government leaders. It started off with a gala ´5 Continents´ talent show. It was colourful and well produced, with lots of Chinese celebrities, 3 NBA basketballers (???), Mariah Carey´s husband Nick Canon & Michael Bolton!!! Good fun...

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Snow skiing is one of my all-time favorite activities, right up there with golf, photography and travelling. One of the things that appealed to me about living in Harbin was the proximity to the best skiing in China.

Most skiers know all about Yabuli, the world-famous (???) Chinese skiing resort, but Harbin has many smaller skiing fields much closer and much less expensive than the 5-star Yabuli.

In early December my buddy Steve invited me to join him for a day on the slopes at Jihua, about an hour east of Harbin. We had a perfect day, great weather, not many people and all for about $30.

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