Perth Holiday - Arrival and First Day
We had a pretty late flight booked which didn’t leave Sydney until around 8pm on the Wednesday. The flight itself was a whopping five hours to get from one side of the country to the other and we landed in Perth around 11pm, Perth being two hours behind Sydney.
It was about midnight by the time we were reacquainted with our luggage and finally managed to locate a rather drunk Tom, his friend Skippy (who was kind enough not to be drunk and pick us up from the airport) and his friend Zee. They were all high in spirits, despite the late hour, and took us on a little tour of the coast around Fremantle before heading back to Skippy’s house and a nice warm bed which had previously been made up for us by Skippy’s mum.
Next morning Skippy headed off to work (he was not to be joining us on our road trip) whilst Mat, Tom and I headed off on public transport to pick up our camper van. We used Around Australia Motorhomes who charged us $728 for a week. This was their minimum charge and although we were only going to be using it for six days it was still the cheapest and best value we could find. Although I’ve never experienced a camper van before I was very impressed I must say. It had all the basic equipment we would need, two gas rings, a 55 litre water capacity and a really cool extendable platform in the roof of the van for Tom to sleep on. All pretty standard, I guess, if you used to these things.
We drove back to Skippy’s house where we loaded up our kit and said a farewell to Dave, Skippy’s Dad, before starting our long journey, straight down the Albany highway, to Albany. This was to be our first port of call before heading our way back up the coast, visiting various sites of interest on the way.
Alex on July 25th, 2008 at 8:55 am | Filed under Australia - places & info of interest, Personal, Pictures | Comment now »
Bellies Full of Arms and Legs
It seems to be the time of year at the moment for good news regarding little newcomers on their way. Before I left Plateau one of my colleagues there left to go on maternity leave. I recently also received the good news that another friend of mine, Michelle from my last place of work in the UK, is expecting her second baby in December. A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Michelle and Jim 
It has started me thinking about the whole “starting a family” thing; a very scary thought as I am approaching thirty with great speed. It’s a catch twenty two as far as I’m concerned; I don’t really want to be having children too late in life (ie. preferably not over the age of thirty five) but at the same time I would like to have settled down, at least found a career path to head down (I’m currently still wandering through life aimlessly not knowing what I want to do) and feel like I am mature enough to cope with the responsibility of bringing new life into the world. Hmm, I should really just be grateful for the fact that I am actually in a committed relationship, therefore making motherhood an option. Mat is certainly keen to be father, I am probably just over thinking things as usual.
Once you do decide to start a family I guess it depends how you go about things as to how many pregnancy tests you might require. For some people, a new life developing may come as a pleasant surprise, where as for others, they may plan everything form day one. Part of the reason I would like children before I am thirty five is so that hopefully it will be easier.
If however, you don’t want to plan on leaving things to fate then this website offers some good deals on kits of pregnancy and ovulation tests. I’d never heard of ovulation tests before but apparently they are used to determine when you are going to ovulate, therefore be most fertile and thus when the best times for “trying” are. This could be especially useful if you want to conceive at a particular time of year, have a spring or autumn baby etc, etc.
The products do not claim to be any better or worse than the leading brands on the market but are certainly very much cheaper meaning you don’t have to spend a fortune on what could otherwise be a pretty expensive operation. I like the idea of being more in control, but then that probably says a lot about me!
Back in Sydney, NSW
What an awsome holiday we had. It is with a heavy heart that I return to the hustle and bustle of Sydney and the Northern Beaches and I think Mat feels along similar lines. We also had to say our sad and final goodbye to Tom (for the second time) as we will definately not be seeing him again until our return to the Mother Country.
Still, it’s not all bad as we had some fantastic experiences and get to keep some treasured memories, all of which I will recount here as best I can so you can have a taste of Western Australia as we saw it
To Perth We Go
Hello everyone, a fair bit has happened since my last post (which I haven’t finished yet, I know) so I thought I better give a quick update while I have a spare few seconds.
I am currently unemployed as on Friday morning I was made redundant from Plateau Tree Service. Whilst I was wonderng what I was going to do Mat was extremely supportive, booked a week off work and declared we were going to make the most of my two weeks notice and go on holiday to see a bit of this gurt island we are on.
At first we thought we might go south on a road trip and do the Great Ocean Road. However, on speaking to Tom last night on Skype, who is currently in Perth for a month or so before his return to Yorkshire, we decided why not go there?
I have just booked our tickets so it’s now a definite. I’m so excited, we intend to hire a camper van and go and see some big trees. Apparently Steve and his girlfriend Janine went there. There is one called the Bicentennial Tree which is really tall and has iron pegs all the way round so you can walk up it.
Anyway, that’s it for now. I have to go and get tarted up as Mat, me and Steve are going out for a posh meal in Newport with some peeps from Plateau to celebrate Kat’s new job and her first proper pay packet
Winter Solstice Sunrise at South Curl Curl Headland
Some belated pictures I took whilst watching the sun rise off South Curl Curl Headland with Mat on Sat 21st July.
More to come with better annotations but wanted to get something posted up at least.
Happy Birthday Bro!
Ok, so for the UK this is just over an hour early but here in Australia it is 7.40am and well into the 1st of July so I want to yell a HUGE
to my Bro back in Cheltenham. I hope he knows how much I miss him and that I wish I could be there in person to share today with him.
A lot of people don’t rate birthdays but in my opinion they are very important and should at least be acknowledged in some way, be it big or small. Even if you use it as a time to reflect on the year that has passed and to refocus your vision of the future.
Anyway, enough philosophy for now, all that remains is
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Richie
Happy Birthday to you!
