I know this title seems a cliche but in our case it was a true experience. We left a grey, cold, and wet Berlin to arrive on the south coast of Spain in a warm, blue skied Matalascanos. We did this via Palma de Mallorca and Seville where Steve and I experienced a plane landing almost sideways and slewing down the runway while everyone grasped the arms of their seat and tried to compose thier faces as if this was a normal landing. Being an experienced flyer I was cool - I just sat their imagining a script for the Worlds Worst Airline Disasters (BY THE WAY WHAT IS WIND SHEER?). In Seville we met my Uni group as this was the beginnings of a six day field trip (yes I am doing some Uni work).

Happy to be out of a city environment for a while - we enjoyed four days at the World Heritage Listed Donana National Park - home of the endangered Iberian Lynx. Steve showed a fabulous capacity for patience as he trooped around with us as we site visited, listened to lectures, bird watched and discussed natural heritage conservation. His innate inquisitiveness was a boon and he fitted in really well with everyone. The Irish lecturers and students were also very relaxed and there consumption of alcohol and tolerance for lack of sleep could rival any Australian on holdiay.

We had an interesting experience in that one of the animals being bred to repopulate Donana National Park is the RABBIT. Yes to all Australians out there who live west of the Rabbit Proof Fence - they are spending thousands of Euros to breed up rabbits so that animals further up the food chain have enough to eat. We actually went rabbit spotting and the ranger from the Park blanched and then continued to look horrified as we explained that in Australia rabbit spotting was simply a prelude to shooting them.

Special moments for me other than sharing the trip with Steve was seeing large stands of eucalypts to remind me of Australia and flocks of flamingos, especially when they took off and created flights of pink clouds.