Blogs from Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 10

Last I left off I think I was just coming back from a relaxing couple days on Rottnest Island. The next week was relatively mundane compared to my usual travels. As part of my requirements for my position in Shark Bay I had to take the Restricted Coxswain (pronounced cox-in) course for Western Australia. They don't like my Canadian boating certifications here apparently. Whitney (other research assistant from San Diego) and I spent the whole week in the classroom proving our first aid pre-requisites, filling out paperwork, tying knots, learning (or re-learning) the boating rules, and filling out more paperwork. Did I mention the paperwork? At least the teacher was entertaining, as most longtime captains are. Not a bad course but some of the days went long. The things I do to study dolphins...woe is me. ... read more

Saturday 8th May - Auckland → Fremantle As we always claim that our trip begins when we leave home, we thought that we'd better begin this trips blog from home too. Not that there is ever a lot to say about packing up and driving down to Auckland and heading out to the airport. The same with flights, this one was average. Our CS host had offered to pick us up from the airport, partly as he was at his girlfriends nearby and partly as he doesn't rate the public transport from the airport back to Perth or Freo. What he didn't mention was the service in the airport! Fair enough, its an old airport and looks it, it obviously wasn't designed for the amount of people coming through these days. But the staff hardly make ... read more

En lille kort opdatering! Vi har nu tilbragt en lille uge i Fremantle naer Perth (West Australia). I morgen tager vi dog afsted nordpaa for at arbejde paa en farm i et par uger - det skal nok blive sjovt! Farmen ligger taet paa Carnavon ... hvad vi skal lave er lidt uvidst endnu, men det finder vi jo nok udaf! Hvad hart vi lavet de seneste par dage? Godt spoergsmaal. Dagene flyder sammen og vi kan ikke huske, hvad vi har lavet udover at sidde paa cafe, diskutere opholdet i Australien og generelt vaeret forvirrede. Fremantle er en by fuld af cafeer, restauranter fuld af charme og meget laid-back! Det har vaeret stor kontrast til vores tur i Japan, der var planlagt ned til naesten enhver detajle. Der er kun 5 minutter tilbge foer tiden ... read more

What a pleasant day we’ve had today. The start was a bit of a shock because the kids were out and playing before 7 am. And they weren’t playing quietly. At 7.30am I gave up and went off to the loo block, planning to have a sneaky look for where the kids belonged on the assumption the parents were still in bed ... not at all - the whole campsite seemed to be up and buzzing! The lady next door says it’s not normally like this and that they’ll all leave tomorrow ... trouble is, so will we! Anyway, we took advantage of the early start and caught the first bus into Freemantle, chatting with some of the other camp’s residents, who luckily had the same feeling about the kids and their parents. After a very ... read more

8-1-10 Today we went grocery shopping & just had an easy day. We rang the kids, Nicky said Mick had done a great job putting in the kitchen cupboards in the horse float, so they sent us some pictures, Well done Mick. Maddy is as funny as ever & is talking well. We tried to talk to Corey, Val & Hayden but had to leave a message. Dad & Ivy are well so that was good, it was nice to talk to them. , I cooked tea & we watched TV. 9-1-10 Sat, Today we applied for a couple of Caravan Park jobs, but did not hear back. We tidied up & decided to go to Fremantle for the day, by the time we got there it was 1 pm, It was very hot 35 deg, ... read more