WE'RE BACK!

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Weeks 1-2 (10th-23rd March 2006)

Greetings from Australia!!! We are finally here for good, after a seemingly endless wait for the house to sell - but it all happened so fast in the end that we didn't have time to stop and take a breath!! Sincere apologies to all the family and friends that we didn't get a chance to say goodbye to. It just wasn't possible to do it all. Still, you can always come and visit us in Oz for a cheapy holiday when we eventually settle somewhere.

So the grand plan for those of you who don't already know - we landed in Perth Friday 10th March after a rather long journey via Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. We have spent the past 2 weeks buying a car (Toyota Landcruiser 80 series, 4.2L Diesel Injection), getting it kitted out with an extra battery and a fridge (yeah I know, but it's been well worth it already!!), buying a shedload of camping gear and generally trying to start a life here (banking stuff, tax numbers, medicare, car insurance etc etc). It's very bizarre because everything is 'state' based and so things are done differently all over the country - for example cars in WA don't ever needed to have been MOT'd during their lifetime, which was a little concerning seeing as we were buying an older 4x4 and planning on travelling all over this vast country!!!! Still, we think that we've done ok - bottled out of attempting a private purchase, went to a dealer and bought a 3 year warranty to make us feel a little better. There are some photos below of us standing proudly next to what feels like a tank to drive!!

We are now coming to the end of our second week and we've still not really relaxed as we've been sooooo busy sorting out our 'mobile home'. But all that will change very soon.The plan after this weekend is to head south for a couple of weeks towards Margaret River, Albany and Esperance. It's 38 degrees Celsius in the north right now, and although we have adjusted to 35 degrees now, that's just a little too hot. We'll then make our way back to Perth and up the west coast to the Exmouth area for snorkelling with the whale sharks and a bit of diving on Ningaloo Reef (while we still have some money). After that we will travel on to Darwin and Kakadu and then who knows - we shall keep you updated on our progress. Here are a few piccies to keep you going - we haven't had a chance to take many yet, but that will all change when we hit the road I'm sure.

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Until next time.......take care.
Cris & Claire X

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Photos

Manchester Snow
Snowing in Manchester a week before we left for Oz. Won't be seeing snow like this for a while.

Kuala Lupur Airport
We flew through Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a 3 hour stop-over. They'd just finished building this airport when we were working in KL but we didn't get a chance to see it completed. This inner courtyard space was worked on by Helen at Scott Wilson!! I thought it was worth a piccy anyway.

Perth - King's Park
Perth is a bit flat but there is a nice hilly parkland area called King's Park where you get some nice views across the city and the Swan River Estuary - there are even bushwalk environments where you can pretend that you're out in the middle of nowhere. We gave that a miss as it was a bit hot and we'll be going to the middle of nowhere for real soon!

Monster Fly
OK - Roly was right! I hate to admit it but the flys are really big here and deserve their ozzy name of 'Dunny Budgie'.

Swanbourne Beach
Since getting here we've done nothing but sort sh*t out! We decided that a nice day on the beach was in order and Swanbourne, about 20 minutes drive out of the city, was just what we needed.

Matilda Bay
As Perth is basically centred around a large lake of water created by the Swan River Estuary, there are lots of nice little beaches within a stones throw of the central business district. This is Matlilda Bay which is near one of the university campuses and is a bit of a mecca for sailing and birdlife.

Monster Truck Madness!!
Here it is.....we've laboured long to get hold of the (hopefully) perfect vehicle for the trip and finally went for a Toyota Landcruiser 4.2 Diesel. Takes about a week to get up to 100kmph but everyone gets out of the way as it's slightly bigger than Claire's old Clio!!

Trucking Hell!!!
Oh yeah - loving it! 2.5 tonnes of throbbing metal.

Wheely good tyres
OK - Mr Winchcombe wanted proof that we'd got the right tyres. Sadly we have. I think that the 'BF' stands for 'Big Freakin' but will have to check.

Vineyard View
We're currently staying in the Swan Valley wine area. There are grapes as far as the eye can see....but not picking season at the moment so we'll do that elsewhere. This is actually the view from our tent!

Comments

[Shilpa Shekar]

I guess you are having a jolly good time!!! Good luck with your landcruiser!!

[richard]

bf goodrich
Nice tyres the truck is ok too but still you cant always find good landrovers like mine!!!! glad to see things are going well with the pair of you all you have to do now is find a huge v8 engine for your truck and you'll be well on your way. take care and have fun. R