Famille Summerbelle News

is heaven! After 4 days of rain and cold weather we really enjoyed some sun for a lovely walk from the famous Bondi Beach to Covelly. The sea had a stunning turquoise colour and big waves attracted lots of surfers. We were also able to enjoy the open air 'Sculpture by the Sea' annual exhibition along the coast.

Thanks to Daily Candy for this wonderful post that appeared today: Even more thanks go to fawn&forest based out of Portland USA, who we are proud to say are selling our products on their wonderful site, and are featuring a great Q&A with Julie at the moment:

We've never been this far away from Europe! Arriving in Sydney was pretty smooth, although along the way we learnt that we aren't big fans of night flights and that the difference between very new planes (like the A380 that we took to Singapore) and very old planes (like the 1970s Jumbo Jet we took to Sydney) is huge -...

We've been in Langkawi for four days now, although this is the bit in our trip where we are struggling to remember which day or even what time of day it is. Heaven. Langkawi is a beautiful tropical island on the west coast of Malaysia and unbelievable close to Thailand (Phuket). It is a reasonably untouched island, with a pretty...

This is where we are staying in Langkawi: Bon Ton is a privately owned resort which we found out about by reading a blog post by Irene from Bloesem. Her favourable post and the evidently unique style of the place really attracted us. On arrival we were not disappointed. Bon Ton is a collection of traditional Malay houses (mostly fishing...

Just 3 nights in Singapore. We arrived from Japan on one of those huge airplanes with two full floors (I think there were 500 people on board!). Ophelia liked the stairs - a great new addition to her flying experience. Singapore is, well, not really us. The weather is nice and we have a big pool at the hotel. Perhaps...

We very happily stumbled across the International Manga Museum in Kyoto and stopped for lunch and a good look around. Both of us are reasonably interested in 'whimsical pictures' as Manga translates, and found it fun to spend an hour or two searching among the work of great Manga stars like Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy and the beautifully...

I don't think our world trip could have got off to a better start than the two weeks we have just spent in Japan. I (this is Simon!) had a trip to Japan just once a couple of years ago, and had always believed that Julie would love the place. But somehow, I think the experience seriously exceeded any expectations...

We rented 2 bikes when we arrived in Kyoto which was a great way to discover all the hidden temples. We went to Gion, the famous Geisha's district, and the oldest part of town. We saw a few of them in the Yasaka Shrine. As it was Saturday we were also lucky to see a traditional wedding. We also came...

As a family we love trains. Actually more precisely, Julie HATES planes so wherever possible we stick to the ground and take trains. We know there are some great train journeys to be had, but as a train experience the Shinkansen (or the Bullet when I was a kid) has got to be amongst the best. I can't think of...

This is how you choose your dish in many restaurants here in Japan...It all looks very real but it's entirely plastic! Ophelia wishes she could have the same to play with! You can get you own plastic food in the UK at Replica.

We woke up at 5am this morning to go to Tokyo Tusukiji Fish Market. It is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the World! The market opens most mornings at 3am with the arrival of the products by ship, truck and plane from all over the world. The market handles more than 400 types of seafood from tiny...

These are some of the many things we bought in Tokyo Hands: Some special rubber to make your own stamps, ink, pencils, mini stickers etc... Tokyu Hands is what I imagine Woolworths (in the UK) USED to be like (so my grandma tells me!) - almost everything that you can imagine for your life and living. They even call Tokyu...

We took the Tokyo Metro to visit the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa on Saturday. Ophelia is enjoying the attention that she receives in Japan - and there's a lot of it, friendly old ladies with big smiles, shop staff wanting to play and random people just wanting to touch her arm or head as she walks by. I guess with...

We went to this great bookstore in Roppongi Hills called Tsutaya. They classify their books by category so it was very easy to replace our way. I could have stayed hours in there just looking at book covers. Just great. Here is some of my selection: These educative books teach you how to draw people, animals and other things... This...

So we have arrived in Tokyo. 11 hours of flying - with just two hours of sleep - the flight was actually quite pleasant. Ophelia enjoyed the attention of most passengers on the plane, our first experience of how friendly and welcoming Japanese people are! After a little sleep to make up the lost night we headed towards Omotesando, the...

Well, I had to show them to you properly... our new A3 paper cut prints in image... This one is the red House where you have fun looking around for things that are hidden under furniture...a little mouse is hiding somewhere... One, Two, Three...keep counting the sweets! Learn the Alphabet having fun looking for the missing 'M'...(won't say more). Our...