Accustomed to light, open spaces, an Australian-born Macanese banker was wary of urban living until he found his ideal city pad: a spacious 1960s walk-up in Happy Valley ripe for conversion.
There's one couple in Hong Kong who won't be reading this today. Instead, Anthony and Rebecca Correa will be making their wedding vows in the Yarra Valley, near Melbourne, safe in the knowledge that there will be another paradise waiting for them when they return home after their honeymoon.
Their apartment in Happy Valley took several years to perfect - not because it was fraught with problems but because Anthony spent almost three years searching for his ideal abode. The Australian-born, Macanese banker spent some of his childhood in Hong Kong and decided to return 10 years ago.
Having grown up with Australia's open spaces and fresh air, Correa initially adopted Sai Kung rather than the city as his home. When he finally opted to go urban, he was naturally fussy - and not only for want of peaceful surroundings and unrestricted views.
'I'm six-and-a-half feet tall so I had to find somewhere with high ceilings,' he laments, having squeezed his large frame into a village house for too long. Accustomed to an outdoors lifestyle, he also insisted on a large balcony. 'Finding that combination seemed impossible.'
When, in May 2002, Correa was eventually shown a 1,800-square-foot apartment in a three-storey, 1960s walk-up, he jumped at it. It was a done deal in 24 hours although it wasn't until December that the property's title was resolved.