Blogs from Joondalup, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

After spending 3 days in Australia, I have come to the conclusion that it is a hot country, a dry county, and a very expensive country. Nothing to exciting has happened to me since I got here; well not as exciting as shooting my uncles thumb. It does feel good to be back in a western cultured country after the chaos of Thailand. However the sheer contrast that Thailand offered was much more then what I have experienced In Australia so far. The first day was spent sorting things, like buying shampoo, sunscreen and banana bread. I also got very lost on the way back and ended up finding a very nice park and café, where the women working kindly helped a silly foreigner back home. Being in the part of Perth that I am, unfortunately ... read more

So the decision was made, after promising for 6 years, we would come and visit Perth and our good friends Lisa and Zippy. The first shock was the heat or lack of it. Well, not exactly as it was still in the mid 20's, but having come from 30+c and high humidity we were forced to go invest in a jumper or 2! Picked up from the airport and driven to Woodvale, north of Perth, it was an informative ride having met the new mini Zippy, Cameron. This 3 year old has a vocabulary of a 10 year old and knows everything about everything. We even had time to go through all the bones in our body prior to arriving home. Sleepy after a 5 hour delayed flight we had a warm welcome and a well ... read more

Oh, it must have been some party last night. There is not one bottle of beer left in the house. Well there's about a million empty bottles but none with even a drop in. The only alcohol that appears to remain is Rudi's secret stash of 4 bottles of spirit, only untouched because we ran out of mixers at around 3am. I'm up first - clearly I didn't drink nearly enough as I'm sober as a judge and hangover free, and appear to still be thinking about Kurt Cobain being Jewish....or not... I set to work on a bit of a clear up - first stop washing up the early hours Scottie barbecue, next stop the bottles... Fortunately Dave woke up not long after so he and I managed to fill the recycling bin to the ... read more

Today was no ordinary day. A tale of adventure, laughter and a day trip to Perth airport awaits... take a long deep breath, and enjoy what has got to be the longest and funniest day of my trip so far.... This morning I moved on from Lindsey's house and onto Joondalup, north of the city, to stay with Mel and Dave for a few days. The weather today isn't so bad - about 30 degrees - however it's not necessarily the ideal temperature to lug what has become about 35 kilos of luggage across town via foot over hilly terrain and 2 separate trains. I could have taken the easy option of grabbing a cab - admittedly high luxury on a backpacking trip - and I came mighty close to doing so as the sweat poured ... read more

Well, this is it. For anyone who hasn't been up to date on where we are or where we've been, we've travelled from Cairns to Perth (I've just changed Blog sites because this one is better and will upload all our previous travels soon, more for my benefit than anyone elses) last year and have just spent the last twelve months in Perth. Perth has been great, bit flat, dry and hot for my taste and there is no surf, it tends to get a bit wind blown from time to time as well. On the plus side however we've made the best friends here that you could ever imagine, in fact they're such good friends we almost can't leave. We've decided we can always come back if we want. I won't go into great detail ... read more

Have just had a guided tour of Perth from Steve as it is his day off. It is a very beautiful city and today the weather has really turned it on for us. We fly out to Dubai at 10:30pm. We are all packed (3:30pm). Brickie is like a cat on a hot tin roof and is not sure what to expect. He is afraid of heights and in Dubai we have booked to go up the Tower!!! Trying to convince him it's not really that high!! It will be a big adventure for us all and we are not sure what to expect. However we have had an amazing journey so far in this part of the country so now it's time for the next adventure. Will keep you posted as much as we can. ... read more

We are in Perth. Stopped a night with friends at Cerventes which was great. Took a tour of the maratime museum at Freemantle on Sunday mainly to check out the Batavia wreck. Windy and chilly here in Perth. Arrived at Steve and Juce Silvesters where we are staying for 2 nights!! Lots of catching up as we are all Yarram people. Having a day of cleaning and charging things. Will train into Perth later and check out the big smoke. Hope you all have your heads down and are working hard!!! ... read more

Hi, folks...this is the first entry on the travel blog I have created to keep you informed about what May and I experience on our overseas trip. I haven't used a blog before so bear with me while I find my way around. I'm writing this at 8.45 on the morning of our departure, Thursday, July 8. We'll be leaving for the airport around 12.30 for our flight to Singapore and then on to London. We have applied for upgrades to business using frequent flyer points but we won't know until about 11am if we have been successful. It won't be too much of a disappointment if we don't; we're in premium economy on the new A380 on the long leg anyway.... read more

Our last day in WA today we catch the Red eye to sydney tonight that is the midnight flight its 2000 miles and takes 4hours just to fly across this country. Philip morning run is cut short to three miles due to a niggle in his calf he get round this by purchasing some skins or tights to anyone else! He now will not take them off good grief beyond camp. Jayne,Jane and Louis tke us to mindarie harbour for lunch and drink looking out over the beautiful marina We have been in WA over five weeks and loved every minute off it, we have meet some fantastic people , Philip has done a couple of runs and got fitter than ever and raise some money in the process, The local paper back home hs published ... read more