I haven't been everywhere but it's on my list...: Perth

Okay...so appologies for not posting in my blog in ages. It turns out when you're with family and friends you have some much fun that you end up asleep as soon as you hit the pillow as you've done so much during the day you don't have the energy to write the blog. Or days that you do you end up talking to your sister until 1am!

Day 62 - Day 84

So as I’m not going to give you a day by day account of what we did (which will inevitably involve ‘and then I went for a swim in the pool’ or ‘and then we played Articulate/Settlers of Catan’, I thought I’d do an over view of my time so far in Perth.

The family arrived in the small hours of day 65 and before they got there I spent a lot of the time in the pool (I told you this will be mentioned a lot), lazying about, washing all my clothes (things smelt properly clean for the first time…and my backpack and boot got aired which is a massive bonus) and generally recovering from travelling around for the last two months.

I was able to go and see the 4th day of the ashes in Perth which was such an action packed day. Australia spent the morning session hitting 4 and 6s into the crowd and in the afternoon England were being bowled out left, right and centre. Not what I should want as an English person but it was pretty funny seeing a golden duck go up on the score board.

WACA for the 4th day of the Perth test of the Ashes

Once my family was here we had a few days in Perth which mainly involved shopping for Christmas presents before we went on holiday to the Margret river area. Whilst we were there we visited a really good maze (which gave you water guns – what a good idea), various farms that allowed you to taste the wine/jams/beer/cheese/fudge/nougat that they produce, a lighthouse where we saw a kangaroo and a joey hop out and across the road in front of us, the Lake caves and an underwater observatory at the end of Bussleton jetty.

Lake Caves

Beach

Festive Cow at Cowaramup

Beer tasting

Kangaroo up close

Lighthouse

Yallingup Maze

Busselton Jetty

Santa driving the land train along the 2km jetty to the underwater observatory

One of the observatory windows

It was Dad’s birthday whilst we were away and since it was warm and sunny here he was able to do two things he’s always wanted to on his birthday. 1) Have breakfast on the balcony in shorts and a T-shirt and 2) paddle in the sea.

Birthday boy

On the way home J very kindly got up early on his birthday so we could try and see the dolphins and the Bunbury Dolphin discovery centre. Here the dolphins swim right up into the shallows so you can paddle whilst they swim close past you and as we arrived we found out that we’d missed them by 10 minutes. My heart sank. But luckily we had our lucky charm (Catherine) and after she went for a paddle in the sea we first saw a pod in the bay and then one (Eclipse) swam close to shore and so we were able to paddle as she swam past. It was amazing being that close to a wild dolphin who was completely calm and relaxed around everyone.

Dolphin!!!!

Christmas was lovely. I woke up early and obviously it was me who woke up Catherine and then jumped on K and E's bed at 7am being the big kid that I am. I think everyone thought Catherine wasn't going to be getting many as the Hales had Christmas at home with grandad so overcompensated and she spent ages openning presents once we'd all finished; my 9 presents from the Chiang Mai markets didn't help. We had an Aussie BBQ on boxing day so Christmas definately felt different... It was lovely to jump in the pool and sunbath after openning presents and having a walk to the park and it be hot to walk off all the food.

Christmas tree - so many presents (including the beloved articulate)

Pool on Christmas day

After Christmas we made a trip up to the Pinnicles, an area of rock formations poking up from the sand. Scienists are not quiet sure how they are formed but because of the shifting sands around them they have been only uncovered for about 150 years and within the next 100 years are likely to be covered again.

The Pinnicles

We had a lovely Sunday wandering the markets in Freemantle. The girls got their hair braided like mine and the men enjoyed a pint (whilst the rest of the girls went home) at a local brewery, Little Creatures - I was the designated driver. I nearly didn't get in though as my British driving liscence apparently didn't count as a form of ID and then it turned out we had to queue and get a ticket to sit at a table so we got kicked off!

Enjoying a pint in Little Creatures

We visited Caversham wildlife park for a morning (it was far too hot to stay after lunch). Catherine got to see and stroke the koala that she wanted and we were able to walk through the kangaroo enclosure. There was a kangaroo that was posing with this guy but I think he was being bribed because when I crouched next to him he sniffed my hand, hufffed and then turned his head away!

Mum and a Koala

Catherine and a Kangaroo

For new years eve we celebrated all the different new years across Australia. Sydney fireworks at 9, openned some bubbly at 9.30 for the Adalaide new year, missed queensland at 10, Catherine and I had a cup of tea at 10.30 for the Northern Territories and then we had bubbly at midnight for the West Australia. We decorated the garden with streamers and had sparklers.

New Years Eve

Sparklers

Watching the Sydney Fireworks

We went to the Hyandi Hopman Cup to watch France (Tsonga and Cornet) vs USA (Isner and Stephans). It was really excited as we got to see both a mens game, a womens game and mixed doubles although by the end at 11.30 I was shattered and had a very numb bum.