Austin, Day 3.

Yesterday was a scorcher - 32 degrees and the sun high in the sky; needless to say, the boys have been slathered in sunscreen. The arctic pool has now taken on another dimension and is dreamy in its coldness.

As planned, we enjoyed a lazy day yesterday with a long swim, a boxed lunch and a play in the park. At three, we reconvened at the hotel and were taken to one of Austin’s 7 inter-connected lakes, deep in the countryside. This was for supper with friends of Hunter. And what a house. The building is built on the steep slope running down to the lake, which lies about 100 metres below the gardens. Inside, the rooms are air-conditioned and there was a Wii waiting for the boys, and cooler boxes of bottled beers waiting for the gents. Heaven. But if gets better. The slope down to the lake is jolly steep - the owners have built flights of wooden stairs down, but if you are feeling lazy (or if it is 32 degrees) then you can always ride down on the private funicular. I don't suppose the poor lift has ever been given such a workout.

At the bottom, there is a floating pontoon which houses a speedboat, kayak and plenty of fishing gear. Worms were duly delivered from above and the boys spent hours fishing and, more surprisingly, catching fish. The two biggest were landed by Peter and the largest number were caught by Jason. Not a clue what any of these fish were and we put them all back. If we had caught a large-mouthed bass (the prize catch of the lake) then I'm not entirely sure what we would have done with it. The boys must have pulled out in excess of 50 fish and this, together with the house, the running machine (!), the games console, the multi-room sound system, the two dogs, the funicular, the hammock...are memories that they will never forget.

We are back on the concert trail again tonight, after a couple of days off. The choristers are excited by this; the programme includes the Mozart and they will be singing Copland, Britten and Mendelssohn with various Austin children's choirs in the Festival of Children's Voices. The concert is at 5pm, too, so there will be plenty of time to enjoy the reception and have fun afterwards.