Lazy Days!

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Hi all, a quick update on how our stay in Perth is going.....

We arrived on time into Perth's domestic airport where we were met by Stephanie's Aunty Anne. Our first stop was at the indoor football arena in Joondalup to watch the twins play. We headed back to the house for some dinner on the patio and a quick game of soccer in the garden with the boys. On saturday morning we were driven towards the city to Kings Park. This huge expanse of green grass has some amazing views across the city and after having a walk around we stopped for a picnic lunch under the shade of a big tree. We then drove back to Kingsley and went to Hillary's Boat Harbour to meet Anne and the boys who had been at soccer practice, as well as Andrew (Anne's brother), Marion (his wife) and their children, Jack and Laura. In the glorious sunshine we had an ice cream before leaping from the pier into the Indian Ocean and swimming back to shore. Back on the beach Ben and Aaron made sand angels and tried to catch some fish.
On sunday we went to Yanchep national park where we saw kangaroos and koalas before having a picnic in the sunshine. It was then off for a tour of the 'crystal cave'. After this we headed to the beach to try a spot of snorkelling by the reef. Unfortunately the sea was fairly murky so we saw no fish and was also pretty cold. We warmed up with a cup of hot chocolate and headed for a barbeque at Burns Beach with everyone where we played some football and cricket in the afternoon sun.

Our first week can only really be described as lazy. We started our hunt for jobs at the local shopping centres handing in CVs at numerous shops. We had a trip into the city to have a wander around. It is quite a compact city, in a good way, with little in the way of skyscrapers. The river front was very nice with the Swan Bells (we haven't actually been in yet) and a wonderful view. We cycled down to Whitfords beach and Hillary's for some sunbathing and a picnic which was a really nice day, although we both had sore bums from the saddle the next morning. On the friday we caught the train to Freemantle where we looked around the markets before going for a drink in the sail and anchor. We then met one of the girls that we had shared a dorm with in Sydney for some food and a drink before heading back to Kingsley.

On Saturday we headed to Joondalup to continue the search for a job and have a look round before spending the evening chilling out with a bottle of wine and a DVD. On sunday we went out to sea on Andrew's boat. It was a little bit too windy to have a snorkel so we continued on the boat to Mindarie where we stopped for a picnic lunch, coffee and the boys did some fishing off the jetty. The weather started to look ominous and so we returned to Hillary's over much rougher sea than had been anticipated. Stephanie hid in a towel for most the journey trying to protect herself from the spray of water the kept coming over the boat. Safely back on land we had a wander around and returned to the house.

This week has again been pretty relaxed. We spent a day at the zoo where we saw an elephant having a bubble bath and spent ages trying to spot baby tigers, we managed to glimpse one of them (just). Stephanie spent an afternoon down at the beach working on the tan and we went for lunch one afternoon down at Hillary's. The rest of the time has been spent in the garden reading our books and chilling out. Stephanie has fallen in love with a kitten or two at the local pet shop that we go in when we pass, but otherwise nothing too dramatic has been happening.

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