I was still angry when I finally got up at the real 5.30am alarm. It didn’t help that our pick up, due at 6.10am, didn’t show until 6.45. That did us out of an extra half hour in bed! We got into the minibus a bit annoyed at the lack of apology from the driver. After driving all the way to Patong (and hour round trip) we discovered the people he should have picked up there weren’t there (maybe they’d been tempted to go back to bed!). We drove back towards where we started, picking up another couple before settling into [View Full Entry]

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We both slept like logs (even in the most uncomfortable bed in the world), up until someone beeped their horn right outside our room at about 5.30am. I wasn’t impressed and couldn’t get back to sleep for ages afterwards as once I was awake I realised how noisy it was. We were used to being kept awake by cockerels and pigs but not motorbikes and traffic! Eventually I did drop off and we both woke up at 9am, realising we’d been in bed for a full 12 hours! The bonus of this resort, Boomerang Cottages, was that breakfast was being served [View Full Entry]

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Everyone came to the airport to say goodbye even though we told them to stay in bed as it was so early! It was really sad leaving as we’d had such a great time in Perth. We could happily have spent a few more weeks there! Our flight to Singapore got off on time and we had a horrible airline breakfast on board. We had a few hours layover in Singapore which turned out to be the best airport we’d ever been to. There were so many shops, lots of places to eat, a transit hotel, indoor gardens and even a [View Full Entry]

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We spent the morning doing loads of washing and packing our rucksacks. It wasn’t fun but we felt better knowing it had been done so that we could relax and enjoy our last full day in Perth. Around lunchtime we all went to Quinns Beach. It was really hot so Matt and Nitin jumped straight into the ocean, while I hesitantly paddled around a bit. I made one attempt to go out further to join them but got sploshed by a big wave so decided I was happy in the shallower water watching them get dunked! I kept scouring the ocean [View Full Entry]

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Today was our second to last day in Perth and we knew that on New Years Day everything would be closed so it was our last chance to go into the city. We borrowed Jo and Nitin’s car and drove ourselves to the train station at Clarkson a few minutes away, and did the easy thirty minute train journey into the city centre. Even with the post Christmas sales and during peak summer holidays the city didn’t seem that busy. All of the buildings looked very new and the city centre felt strangley clean and tidy. We found it really easy [View Full Entry]

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We got up late, maybe because of all the red wine we put away last night, or maybe it was just because we could! Nit had offered to take us on a drive around some of the suburbs and the Swan Valley and we were really looking forward to getting out and about and seeing more of the area. It was already very hot when we left the house mid morning and the sun just seemed to get stronger as the day wore on. After stopping at the post office to send home a big box of things we could no [View Full Entry]

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It was a lovely feeling not having to be anywhere today. Matt wasn’t impressed that I wanted to drag him to the beach for the afternoon but I felt we needed to make the most of being in Perth while we could. I finally got him up and about around noon and we took a walk to Quinn’s Beach which was a fifteen minute walk away. It was much quieter than on Christmas Day but there were a few groups out enjoying the sun. There weren’t so many people in the water this time - the recent shark attack seemed to [View Full Entry]

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After a leisurely breakfast, Nitin took Matt, me and Jess to Freemantle - lovingly known as Freo to the locals. It was the trendy part of town that had a bustling indoor market on weekends, a white sandy beach and oodles of cafes and fish and chip bars. We browsed the markets and managed to buy lots of gifts for people back home. Afterwards we had a walk up to the prison and time ball (the ball used to be dropped at 1pm daily so that people on ships could work to the same clock - a cannon still fires but [View Full Entry]

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After breakfast, Nitin and Jo took us to the train station nearby so that we could get the train to a place called Guildford to meet up with Matt’s granddad’s cousin Dave and his wife Barbara. The train journey was easy - everywhere was well sign posted and everything was so clean and new. An hour later we arrived wondering whether we’d be able to spot Dave at the station as we’d never met him - it was actually much easier than we’d expected as he was the only one there! Dave took us back to his house to meet Barbara [View Full Entry]

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I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that it was Christmas Day. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I was so far from home, or whether it was because it was so sunny - either way it felt bizarre! When we were all up, Nitin fired up the bbq to cook us a fried breakfast! After tucking into bacon and eggs it was time for Jo’s mum, Carol, and her husband Roy to come over for the grand present opening. Carol was once married to my Dad’s brother but I hadn’t seen her since I was a baby. [View Full Entry]

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