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Published: November 22nd 2007
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We woke up to our first full day in Perth to the news that today was going to be the hottest day so far in Perth this year ... 39 degrees ... great all my t shirts and underwear were in the suitcase that had gone missing at Heathrow! When we left the UK the temperature was a rainy and windy 8 degrees so 39 was a bit of a shock to the old system!
In spite of getting loads of sleep on the plane we were still up at 6 am but at least it meant that we hit the road at 7.30 to explore and try and find where we wanted to live and work. We went to a local mall and bought a street map and directory and look up where Byford where the dogs were.
We worked out how far away the quarantine station in Byford was from where we were staying and realised that was closer to Secret Harbour / Rockingham way so headed up there. As it is quarantine station you have to make appointments to see the dogs so ours was at 2.30. We found it at 11.30 so for once in
our lives we were actually early for an appointment (a first of me and the Dougster!!).
We went to the main reception and the staff explained the procedures of quarantine and then we were led through to where the dogs were. To say that you hear the dogs before you see them is an understatement - the noise of up to 100 dogs barking is deafening and the guide who was taking us to Bisc and Oz wore ear defenders!!
Our dogs were kept in one kennel together as this was something that we insisted on. Oz was the first to see us through the cage door and immediately went ballistic! Oz kept jumping up at us and Bisc was running around!! We are allowed into the cage with the dogs so went through to see what it was like. It felt a bit weird being let into a brick room with a cage at the back and the door closing behind you but it was really clean and Doug checked for spiders etc under the beds and on the ceilings (more for himself rather than the dogs I think!).
We took the dogs through to the
back of the kennels and outside into the pens where you can stay for 1 hour. The dogs were just running round in the sun at first but as it was so hot Biscuit took it upon himself to find the biggest stick he could and go and chew on it under the trees! We played with the dogs for an hour until the heat got too much and then went and sat in there kennels with them to settle them down. It was good to see them and they looked really healthy and quite happy! Biscuit has now lost 6 kilos in the past few months so is looking a very handsome boy again! He put on the weight when he had the operation on his back and couldn’t be exercised for ages and was really poorly (so hopefully the warm weather and the swimming in the ocean out here will be good for him.)
When we got back to the car the temperature had now got up to 43 degrees and it was so hot - thank goodness for air conditioning! We drove up from Byford onto Secret Harbour and immediately liked it. It is a new
estate that has just been built surrounding a golf course and is practically on the beach. It was beautiful. We went to the estate agents and picked up a rental list of houses and not knowing what we were doing just thought we could pick one and move in - how wrong!! For every 1 house that is available to rent there are at least 10 people with the same idea. So everyone has to view the house and then fill in an application form listing things such as if you have pets, how much you are willing to pay, what you earn etc. The house owner then chooses who rents the house - bizarre! This also means that people spend all their days picking up the rental lists in the morning, arranging viewings, applying for them and then waiting 4 days for the decision if they have it or not - it is so competitive and no one wants to help anyone else in case they miss out on house - something both myself and Doug are not like.
So being new to all this I saw a really nice house in Golden Bay next to Secret Harbour and was told that no one else was waiting for it so if we wanted it we would be the only ones to apply - so being the ever naive one - we drove down and found the house which was a beautiful big 3 storey one overlooking the beach with a huge balcony - I loved it! So we drove back to the estate agents and arranged a viewing for the next day.
We were early again (could do with having jet lag all the time!) and waited outside the house for the estate agent to let us in - we waited and waited and still no sign of her so we drove back to the office and she was sat there - she had forgotten - so she said we could follow her round. Something was niggling both myself and Doug as the house seemed like a bit of a bargain so we asked if the house available was the one near to the beach and was told “no, it’s the one nearest to the road - the old fish farm!!” as the estate agent was from Wigan near to where we lived in the UK I thought she was joking with us.
So we followed her round to a house in Golden Bay that definitely wasn’t the one we had seen. This was attached to an old aquarium fish store and I hated it. It was small, dark and not quite the house we had seen on the internet before we came out here! I thought that the best policy was to be honest so I said up front that I didn’t like it and she agreed to rip up our application form!
So on Friday we ventured up north from the city and really like it up there so will start again. I think that Secret Harbour is just too far away from the city and also where Doug’s work (and mine!) will be so I think that a rethink is in order!
On the way back we stopped at Fremantle (Freo!) and ate our tea overlooking the Indian Ocean watching the sun set - It was beautiful and I felt very luck to experience all this. We drove back to the city and it was packed with people and there was some kind of event going on right next to the Swan River so we parked up the car at the hotel and went to explore. As we got closer we could now see that it was a concert and there was music playing.
We found a park bench and sat down to listen. I said to Doug “that sounds like Crowded House” just as they started playing “don’t dream it’s over” one of my favourite songs of all times (Jennie & Sally - I nearly danced around my handbag again!!!). We sat and watched the whole concert for free!!
On the way back to the hotel Doug found a wallet on the grass so he picked up and tried to find a policeman to hand it into to no avail so we wandered back to the hotel and Doug (being ever the good Samaritan) tried to find a phone number in the wallet but could only find a driving licence - so we decided to drive to the house on the Saturday morning to hand it back.
The house was in Joondalup somewhere we hadn’t been to before so in the morning we found the address and handed it in to a very surprised guy who turned out to be the dad of the lad who had lost his wallet! On the way back we found a lovely little suberb called Kallaroo and think we will start looking around this area to rent a house - funny if you believe in fate - as if we hadn’t found the wallet I don’t think we would have found it?
So at the end of our first week in Oz we have experienced many different feelings and situations but definitely think that we have made a good decision as there are so many different opportunities for us out here.
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billy martin
non-member comment
wow
aww the dogs look well cute and it looks hot i been in sun about that hot in florida well anoing you all sweaty and just wanna chill lol. well it looks beautiful u goin have to send me some pics of the day out we had u no the meal well love u loads XxX billy