Blogs from Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania
May 25th 2012
"You're so lucky" "Do you worry about, you know, only having family to talk to?" "Can you take me with you?" "You won't want to come back!" "Do you think you will still be married by the end?" "It will change you" (said in an upbeat way - one wonders what changes they hope for) "It will change you" (said in a depressed way) Just a few of the reactions from people when I tell them we are soon to take four months' leave and head off around much of Australia in a Patrol, towing a camper trailer. My husband Mike has done masses of things to the car. It's been to all the car servicing or accessories businesses in the local area and some further afield. I think it's likely doubled in value since we ... read more
May 19th 2012
Arriving in Perth, Australia 28/01/2012 After a good old fashioned flight and seeing the grooviest man ever, with his long wavy hair, slick trousers and shoes, smart shirt unbuttoned showing his magical gold medallion on top of his mighty manly hairy chest. I really, really struggled to keep Katie away from that “hunka monka” as Katie would say. We then queued and queued and queued to get through customs which seemed to take longer as I needed a wee really, really badly. We had to queue to get our stamp and then we had to queue to go through quarantine as we had been trekking in Thailand and may have infected boots. 45minutes of queuing and a quick glance from the quarantine guy at our shoes he let us through and we caught the shuttle bus ... read more
May 15th 2012
Today is the fifteenth of May 2012. There is nothing especially significant about today but it is today, and I suppose there are few more important days. I'm sitting in Sydney airport waiting on my flight to Perth and watching the dregs of my laptop battery dwindle. It is nearly five months since I last wrote a blog post. I've been hidden away in small town Australia working night shifts at a winery, slaving away and selling my soul for the dollar. It never ceases to surprise me how, when all is said and done, when you look back on a time in your life, it is usually the good you focus on. I didn't enjoy my work at Casellas – it was dull, mind-numbing and monotonous, but I don't look back on it as a ... read more
May 7th 2012
Perth is een middelgrote stad en heeft slechts 2 miljoen inwoners. Het is de enige stad dat zo ver gelegen is van alle grote andere steden in Australië. Je moet letterlijk een vliegtuig nemen als je naar Melbourne of Sydney wilt. De meeste mensen wonen dicht tegen het vliegveld, alsook T&M (op 15 minuten rijden). Perth heeft wel een leuk centrum maar het is er niet echt 'oud'. Het is slechts 200 jaar en dus redelijk nieuw. Ook zijn er niet zoveel museums, maar ze zijn wel allemaal gratis. De moeite om te zien is het museum over de aboriginals en de geschiedenis van de abo's in Rottnest Island en de vernederingen die ze moesten ondergaan door de blanken. De blanken wilden dat de 'wilden (aboriginals)' uitstierven en wilden de kinderen van hen heropvoeden door de ... read more
May 7th 2012
Er is meer dan 38.000 km kustlijn in de East Coast (Oostkust). De staat West Australië is even groot als alle landen van West-Europa samen. Er wonen slechts 2 miljoen mensen in W/A waarvan 1,5 in Perth. 80% van West Australië is woestijn. Perth is de meest afgelegen stad van Australië en ligt dichter tegen Bali ,dan Sydney of Melbourne. In Mandurrah hebben er heel veel rijke multimillionairs een 'batch' aka een vakantiehuis met zicht op één van de meest spectaculaire stranden van Australië. Australië is wereldwijd gekend voor zijn klassewijnen. Vele Oost-Europeanen kwamen hier 30 jaar geleden naartoe en zijn nu milionairs. Volgens Marcia was het 30 jaar geleden 'not done' om als vrouw wijn te drinken. Er was in Perth maar 1 plaats waar je wijn kon kopen of proeven en niemand werd aangeraden ... read more
Laatste week Perth, Joondalup & Mandurrah
Published: May 11th 2012Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Perth
May 7th 2012
De laatste week verliep een beetje trager dan verwacht. Deels omdat we hier al 2 weken waren in Perth – Lynwood (gemeente dat 15 km voor de stad ligt) en het openbaar vervoer is hier enorm duur. We deden nog wat kunstmuseums en liepen rond in een andere wijk nl Grieks, Turks, Aziatisch enz. We hadden gehoopt om nog wat vintageshops te vinden of iets 'alternatievers' maar dat was helaas het geval niet. Het 'Melbourne' gevoel hadden we niet in deze stad. Op vlak van uitgaan zat er bij ons helaas niet in. Er is geen nachtvervoer (geen bus en geen tram), de laatste bus naar Lynwood is om 22u 's avonds. En in het weekend tot 23 uur. T'is niet zoals in Gent hoor! Jan deed nog een grote wandeling naar Lake Joondalup. Toen hij ... read more
May 4th 2012
4thMay the beginning of our trip: We arrived at the airport at 6 am in the morning only to find that our flight was delayed for 3 hours by bad weather in Guangzhou. So after wandering around and having some brekkie courtesy of the CSA (China Southern Airways) and being bored witless, we left at 11.30am. Flight was uneventful, movies were limited to one English and one Chinese for the whole trip (8 hours). All looked ok until we circled Guangzhou airport for a few times and the pilot announced that due to bad weather we were diverting to Shenzhen. Great! So arriving at Shenzhen airport tarmac ( only a few minutes away – near Hong Kong) we remained there for an hour or so until G airport was clear enough for us to have another ... read more
May 3rd 2012
Plans to head north are on hold just a bit longer as we wait until Friday to get a few running repairs on the van's pop top completed. Still there's plenty to see and do. On Tuesday we decided to go to the flicks to see The Avengers and all in all a pretty entertaining movie to see on the big screen. On Wednesday morning we headed up to John Forrest National Park to have a look at what was on offer. For those needing some motivation to get out in the open doors this Park does have a tavern on-site which is a rarity. It was a lovely drive winding through to the area where we decided to take a hike. We were in the heart of the Park surrounded by bushland but the hiking ... read more
May 2nd 2012
Susan had to fly to Sydney for a couple of days. On Monday I grappled with the bus system and went downtown, or as they say here, to the CBD. I walked around and admired sculptures, saw the old Court House and various other historic buildings and went to the Western Australian Museum- Perth. There was a very powerful display about the Australian military operations in East Timor during WWII. I rode the blue CAT bus, attended evening prayer at St. George's, and then ate delicious mussels wrapped in bacon at 44 King Street. A trip home on the city bus completed my sightseeing for the day. On Wednesday Susan and I had a day out and a out together. First we went to the theatre- a wonderful matinee performance of Mary Poppins, followed by drinks ... read more
