Perth....a little home for 2 months xx

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So we arrived in Perth and headed straight to Fremantle for a few nights where. Brad had already been before. We thought we'd be able to find some accommodation there, we were hoping for an apartment for the 2 months so we would have a base and a bit of a home to be able to cook and not eat out all the time. But it wasn't so easy, everything was either very very expensive or had a lease limit of 3 months so we didn't really get to relax in Fremantle as we were spending the whole time looking for somewhere to stay. Although brad did take me to an amazing mussel restaurant overlooking the harbour which was pretty nice for lunch but it was back to business pretty quickly. We didn't find anywhere in time so ended up going back to stay in the city for 4 nights whilst we kept looking. We eventually got an apartment in a place called Scarborough not too far from Fremantle but had to wait another week so had to check into another hotel across the road from the place before we moved in. In the mean time though Brads family friends Tim and Coleen who love in Perth had invited us to join them at an open air cinema which they go to every week in the summer. Tim had called us so it was a nice surprise for Coleen to see brad! It was lovely to get to meet the as I'd heard a lot about the before we'd arrived. We got to meet Laura too their daughter who helped us a lot through our stay in Perth. It was a great first night and was lovely to meet everyone finally.

We had both planned on working whilst in Perth too and brad got some labouring work pretty quickly but I struggled finding office work as no one was looking for temporary work. I joined some agencies and asked around locally but there wasn't a lot and in the end brad only had one week too so we spent quite a lot of time in the beaches lol. We had a few weeks without a car so was a nit limited in what we could do which I know Tim wasn't impressed with when we went to their house for dinner after about 3 weeks there lol. We soon got a car though and booked a few trips up. Laura and Jacob took us under their wing a bit too and invited us out to places to be able to see different scenes. One night we went to theirs for dinner and had a lovely Thai green curry cooked for us it was our first proper night in Scarborough so was lovely to be in a home for the evening and have a nice home cooked meal. We got to meet their son George too who we both fell in love with such a cheeky character but so loveable! Another night they took us to a restaurant called Kitsch Laura's favourite restaurant in a cool area call Leedervile. It was Thai and was so yummy, a really cool atmosphere too pretty laid back with lights hanging everywhere, a bit like what you'd get at home in places like Shoreditch really. We also met them one afternoon in Cottesloe which I think was one of my favourite places. We met in the beach bar for a drink with them and Coleen and a friend and of course George it was a really nice bar a bit like what I'd expect to see in Ibiza really. Coleen took George for the evening and Laura's and Jacob then took us for some dinner and a drink. Another cool little bar couches everywhere and next door a burger place that you go order your food at and they come and deliver it to your table, quite a cool idea and the vibe in the bar was really cool too. We both definitely loved it in there. Tim also took us to see an Australian football game, which I could say to this day I still don't understand but it was an experience and another thing to tick off our list of things we did. It was such a different atmosphere to a football or rugby game back home, everyone was definitely a lot more well behaved than us lot back home lol.

In between all this we were obviously staying in our apartment and got the chance to do lots of cooking ourselves, brad tried teaching me a few dishes, I've definitely become a good assistant I think the cooking part still has a bit of work though! But like I said, we also had some things booked up to do once we had a car. One of the first things we did was drive to Rockingham where we did a dolphin watching tour and went to visit the mini penguins it was such a good day and we got to see wild dolphins so close up it was amazing, I think one of our favourite days!! At one point they got the dolphins 'surfing' on the water that was becoming waves from the engine of the boat, it was amazing! We got to see them so close and doing lots of jumps and tricks brad took some great pictures too! We saw a trip out at the same time where you got to swim with the dolphins too, so we booked that up as it looked so much fun! The next day we went to Perth Zoo it was a boiling got day but was a fun day too we saw the koalas and devils like the other zoos and of course the kangaroo but we also saw bears, zebras, rhinos and giraffes at this one which was pretty cool as giraffes are mine and mummy Sherms favourite animal :-) it made me want to do a safari even more one day (when we have saved up for another few years lol). The other highlight was the mere cats there were loads of them and just like in the adverts they looked nosy and wanted to come ad see what we wanted when we walked up the their enclosed section, pretty funny to see them after the ads now. So that was another fun day out like school kids lol. Then we went to Swan Valley which is the wine region near where we stayed. It was only about an hour or so drive away and when you first drive there you don't think there could be wineries around but 5 minutes more and we were surrounded by beautiful views. We visited the chocolate factory too and I was in heaven, never had chocolate so good, every!! AND you got FREE tasters so I went back for a few handfuls lol. It was a really nice day and we got to take some goodies home with us,I think our favourite winery was Lancaster it was a little boutique one with stunning views. We made ourself a picnic too and sat out looking at mountains which was pretty nice.

We had a couple of days before the dolphin trip so drove to some different beaches to see different areas and all were as nice as each other. We had an early start the morning of the dolphin trip and it was well worth it. We got to see them so close and had about 2 goes in the sea. Each group had a leader and they would have about 6 people each and you all hold onto each other via a belt tied around your waist and snorkel masks on and you would literally float with the dolphins swimming underneath you! Unfortunately we did feel our group got the least amount of time but it was still amazing to see and be able to say we swam with wild dolphins.

On one of our last weeks Tim and Laura and Jacob also took us out in Perth for the evening. Me and brad headed into the city in the afternoon and it was a gorgeous sunny day we had lunch on a roof too terrace and then headed and had some drinks along the river before meeting them all. Sooo....we were slightly tipsy before meeting them! We were also quite casual and soon realised, too casual once we met up so had a quick dash to the shops to get some shoes more suited to evening wear! They took us to a few bars all small boutique under ground style bars, a. It like Shoreditch but out here that's top what the bars are like in Melbourne so that's what they compare it too. We also went for a tapas style dinner which was so good we went back on out last day in the city for some lunch lol. It was a really good evening finishing off in a whiskey bar with some great deserts! But as you can imagine we were slightly tipsy so were glad to get home to bed, definitely waking up the next day with a couple of sore heads....but worth it!

Our final big trip planned was to visit Margaret River for a few days so after 2 months we left our apartment and headed to Margaret River which I'll write about on another entry. Once we were back from there Laura was lovely enough to out us up for 2 nights before we flew to Cairns. And we as it was out last full evening Tim, Colleen, Laura and Jacob took us out for a meal to another yummy restaurant. The one thing standing out had to be the starter of melted Camembert ahhhh it was to die for!! It was a really lovely evening and a nice way to spend our last full evening and say goodbye to everyone. We had one day left and was flying the next day in the evening so spent the day getting last minute bits together and early evening Laura and George took us for fish and chips at the beach to watch the sunset it was perfect!! Such a nice content evening and a perfect way to say goodbye to Perth and Laura who had really helped us so much on our visit! We had such a good time and she definitely made it better giving us lots of tips and taking us to lots of places, so thanks Laura!

Love B&K xxxxxx

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