Diary Date Friday Oct 8th
A VERY early start today, as we had a long journey up the cost with various sights to see on the way. Had to be up at 6am latest to be at the bus stop for the 6.38 bus into Perth. I duly set the alarm on my mobile for 5.45 and woke up at 5.40. Just lie here a bit longer I thought, and decided to get up at 6.am, which I did, wondering if I had cancelled the alarm when I woke at 5.40. NOPE - then it dawned on me - I had set the alarm on my HOME mobile, not my Oz mobile and of course the home one is seven hours slower! Good job someone up there loves me! Anyway I had time for a shower, a short walk to the station and a short wait for the bus. Pete caught the bus from a couple of stops further on and we confessed to feeling a bit tired, but looking forward to the day. Pete also told me that although we had carefully planned our joint trips to avoid weekends, so the family could take Peter out if they wanted to, his aunt had planned a 'Meet the family' barbie for next Tues and we are on a whale watching trip in the arvo! Picking up the lingo, you see
The bus ride into Perth was very pleasant, and considering the time of morning very busy. Just goes to show, if you provide a decent service at a reasonable price, people will use it! It was lovely to ride alongside the Swan river and look over the water in the stillness of the morning. Arriving in Perth we found we had about 100 yards to walk to get to the meeting point and it was early enough for us to grab some breakfast. There was a 'Cheerful Croissant' shop on the corner so we went in for coffee and croissants. I had an almond one and Pete a plain one and we both agreed we hadn't tasted any so nice since we had last been in France. The coffee was very good too (lattes for both of us!).
Buses were appearing at the designated point, so we went over to claim our places, only to find that our bus hadn't yet arrived. It finally did, 5 minutes after our appointed departure time and 50 minutes after Pete and I arrived. I am very rarely early for anything and the one time I was the bus was late! The excuse was that an owl had flown into the windscreen of the original bus so we had to have a substitute and it took time to organise. However as the owl incident had taken place the previous night apparently, it didn't sound quite 'kosher' (l)
We began with a ride out to the Swan Valley and a wildlife park, to meet Kangaroos, Wallabies and Koalas. It was a whistle stop tour around there and we had barely any time to see the animals properly, but I did manage to feed a roo, who held my hand. Unfortunately Peter cut my head off in the photo! I could hardly tell the difference between the Roos and wallabies, but the wombat was different, and I recognised the koalas. They are so cute and there was a family there with mum holding tight to the little one.
After that we all visited the loo (and I must say I am VERY impressed with Oz loos - every one I have been in has been clean and litter free, as are the streets. No chewing gum on the pavement!) then regained our seats for a long drive to Cataby roadhouse, for a coffee stop. During the drive the coach driver gave a commentary about the land we were passing through, but the early start had taken its toll on most of us and many heads were nodding. Reaching the roadhouse, all on its own, miles from anywhere, like the petrol stations you see in american movies, (you wonder where the staff live/come from) we all piled out very happily to stretch our legs and buy ice creams as it was getting very hot. We were also given the opportunity to walk into the bush a little to look for wildflowers. However, this being the driest spring WA has had since about 1977 there were very few flowers to be seen and those that were visible were not next to the path. Most of us were very wary about going off the path because of the snake danger, and it turned out we were right to be wary, as when we regrouped we saw a notice saying look out for snakes!
We were all far more interested in the road train that pulled on to the forecourt than the non-existent wildflowers and many of us took the opportunity to be photographed by it. It was a real stunner. Coffee break over we re-entered the bus and continued north to our lunch time stop. On this part of the journey the driver decided to give us a lecture about fossil fuels and balancing out the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. I'm afraid he went on too long, especially about bio-char and we were thoroughly glad when the lunch stop came into view. It was an incredibly long journey to those of us used to British distances on a day out and we were flagging somewhat. Before lunch however we were taken to the beach for the chance to see/paddle in the Indian Ocean. I took the opportunity to paddle and found the water colder than I expected, especially when a rogue wave broke behind me and soaked my trousers. However it was NOT as cold as the English Channel. We were then taken to what looked like another roadhouse for lunch. Expecting a normal British packed lunch of a couple of manky sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a piece of bruised fruit, we were were delighted to be led inside to some picnic tables and presented with a veritable feast: Fresh buns,pasta salad, rice salad, mixed salad, lobster pieces, chicken drumsticks, beef slices, salami slices, cheese slices, hardboiled eggs, marinated olives, melon slices and a fruit basket full of pears, apples and bananas and not a bruise in sight! It was absolutely delicious and we tucked in with gusto.
After lunch we continued to the Pinnacles desert. This is a really weird place, but fascinating to see. All these sort of stalagmites (except they aren't ) of rock standing up above the sandy desert floor. We had 3/4 hour to wander around and it was long enough, as it was very hot walking out in the desert. Fortunately we had water with us and a waymarked path, so we couldn't get lost. What we didn't have to start with was effective fly screening, but after seeing some people wearing nets over their heads and learning they had bought them from the souvenir shop we backtracked rapidly and bought a couple. Best $8 I ever spent. I could cope with flies buzzing around, but not crawling up my nose and in my mouth! Having spent our time here we turned back towards home, down the new part of the Indian Ocean Highway to Lancelin. There are some beautiful white sand dunes there and it was there that we would have the 4wd experience and the opportunity for sandboarding.
It was somewhat disappointing to be taken over the sand dunes in a 4wd coach instead of the landrover/utility type vehicle we were expecting, as it meant we couldn't motor up very steep slopes. However the trip was still exhilarating, especially for me, as I sat beside the driver for this part of the trip. All our party enjoyed themselves and we then went off to have our turn at sandboarding. The walk up to the top of the dune was exhausting for me, but I was looking forward to my turn. Those of the party who were fitter than me had already had a couple of goes each and done very well by the time my turn came round. I seated myself on the board as instructed, held my fingertips in teh sand behind me to stop the board slewing side ways and pushed off. Five feet later I fell off and managed a world record beating roll down the slope (a heavy object rolls really fast). I saw the funny side immediately and as I naturally adopt a position to minimise injury when something like that happens to me I was enjoying myself until I realised my trousers and knickers were coming down! Fortunately a brave member of our party stood in front of me to stop me, just before I revealed all to the world! She was brave, too, as she was very slight and I wouldn't like to stand in front of an object weighing 16 1/2 stone, moving at speed!!!! The only downside of the event was that no-one had captured my splendid fall from grace on film. That's twice this year I have made a total idiot of myself and not been caught on camera (the first time was sitting on a deckchair and falling though it!)
After this it was time to return home. The sun was setting as we headed south for our 194km return to Perth. However, we managed to see both Emus and Kangaroos in the wild as dusk fell, so that made a fitting end to what had been a very pleasant, if tiring, day.
Friday 28 January 2011
Australian adventure. October 2010 (continued)
Diary date Thursday Oct 7th
Nena and I met at the appointed spot, dead on time, which was a miracle for me, as my timekeeping isn't the best! After I rather surprised Nena with a hug we decided to go for a cup of coffee and quickly established that our sense of humour was very much along the same lines! Heading for 'the strip' or the 'cappuccino strip', THE place to see and be seen in Freo, we looked at all the coffee bars and decided that those with no prices displayed were probably more than either of us wanted to pay. We ended up going to the first one we had passed, in a shady passageway, which was pleasant as the weather was getting rather warm. We went in and ordered, a latte for me and an espresso for Nena. Now, it is some time since Nena has spent a day in a 'big' town, and coffee shops do many more varieties than she is used to, poor love. We sat at a table and waited for our drinks to be served. The very pleasant gent in charge brought our coffees out and Nena's face was a picture! I had a nice tall glass of milky coffee and she had an egg cup full of black coffee. We fell about laughing as we realised she had thought it would be a 'normal' coffee. We have now established that a normal coffee is a 'flat white', which sounds somewhat unappetising, but which was much enjoyed by Nena later in the day. Coffee took some time as we exchanged info about ourselves, in particular odd things that had happened to us or our families. It started to get really spooky, when we realised that we had several; things in common - husbands named Peter, sons named Michael, allergies to Tetanus jabs - both of us discovering this after treading on rusty nails as children! We have a certain facial similarity (colour of hair and eyes), have both been teachers and both worked in libraries (Nena still does). However, Nena has done something I have never done - she has worked on an archaeological dig in Fremantle! We made plans to go to the spot and take a photo of her there, but time ran away with us. We also talked about our writing and I told Nena how my Nano entry last year ended up almost pornographic (and has got worse since I tried to edit it!) My MC was supposed to be a BIT of a 'jack the lad', but he is insatiable!!!!!
After our coffee we decided to go for a walk around Fremantle markets, which are housed in a beautiful old building. First disappointment of the day - they are not open on Thursday, but nothing daunted we decide we could still go around the markets, on the outside, so we did just that, ending up where we had met, by the information office. Spying the free leaflets on various themed walks around Freo, I started picking hem up and suggested to Nena that we do one of them. We looked through and found one that we simply HAD to do, as it was a 'Writers Walk'. It was also the shortest and we had decided to have lunch when we had finished it. It was down the High Street and the first 'totem' was almost outside my lodgings. I had walked past it 3 times and not noticed it before! They are not particularly easy to spot but with the walk leaflet in our hands we found them all, and persuaded various passing strangers to take photos of us two either side of these somewhat 'phallic looking' symbols! Some were even pinky in colour, then we walked past the sex shop, which was tastefully displaying its wares in the window, Including a rather large dildo/vibrator! Amidst much laughter and some admiration of the writing of the authors included on the walk (a short piece of text from one of their works was shown on their 'totem') we managed to get to the end of the road and decided to go into the cafe I had used for brekkie yesterday. We placed our orders, had a discussion about who should pay, took our seats and waited. Our drinks, (OJ) did not arrive and the fact was mentioned, but they still didn't arrive. My meal came out, but not Nena's. We queried this and found that the girl had missed it off the order. The owner/manager came over and apologised profusely and said Nena could have her meal free. Off she trotted with Nena's order and I started my meal, only to find that the lasagne had a strip underneath that was baked hard and inedible. The owner was just coming back to apologise to Nena that they had no hamburger patties left, when she saw me stand up with my plate and her face nearly hit the floor! Nena had already said she looked stressed and we both thought she'd have a breakdown there and then. Luckily, I had had brekkie there the day before and it had been lovely, scrambled eggs on toast and really creamy, not at all rubbery, so I was able to convince the lady (and Nena) that I thought it was a nice cafe. By this time Nena and I had seen the funny side of the situation, but we did feel sorry for the poor lady. She told us that she was having a really bad day: she'd blown up the deep fat fryer; something else had blown up and now two customers (us) were getting really bad service. We sympathised and said that tomorrow would be better and off she trotted. No sooner had she got into the kitchen than someone, either the customer standing by the counter or the young girl behind it, knocked over the straws container. It made a really loud clatter and was almost too much for Nena and me. With a rush our poor, beleaguered hostess came back into the shop and surveyed the damage. Fortunately it was easily solved, the customer helping to clear up the mess. Shortly after this our meals arrived, with no further mishap and we thoroughly enjoyed them. Nena's of course, had the extra spice of being free! We were also told we could have any muffin we liked as a pudding. FREE! Neither of us fancied a muffin when the time came, but we did fancy some of the fruit dishes on offer - mixed wild berries for me and fruit salad for Nena. We asked if we could have them instead of muffins and said we were willing to pay, but we got a resounding 'NO!' and were asked if we'd like some yoghourt with the fruit. We both said yes, enormous portions were served to us and it was absolutely delicious. Just as we were finishing our meals and deciding which, if any other themed walk to do, Pete rang me, so I told him where we were and decamped to the rather lovely settees in the back of the cafe to wait for him. When he arrived, he bought a drink for us and we filled him in on our day. By the time we'd finished it was time for Nena to leave, so we all walked back into town and said our goodbyes, promising to wave to Nena if we went over her farm when we did our balloon trip. It really was a fabulous day and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and I have a lovely souvenir gift from Nena - a Kangaroo pen and a koala card, Of course, being a total dingbat, I never thought to buy anything for Nena, from England!
Nena and I met at the appointed spot, dead on time, which was a miracle for me, as my timekeeping isn't the best! After I rather surprised Nena with a hug we decided to go for a cup of coffee and quickly established that our sense of humour was very much along the same lines! Heading for 'the strip' or the 'cappuccino strip', THE place to see and be seen in Freo, we looked at all the coffee bars and decided that those with no prices displayed were probably more than either of us wanted to pay. We ended up going to the first one we had passed, in a shady passageway, which was pleasant as the weather was getting rather warm. We went in and ordered, a latte for me and an espresso for Nena. Now, it is some time since Nena has spent a day in a 'big' town, and coffee shops do many more varieties than she is used to, poor love. We sat at a table and waited for our drinks to be served. The very pleasant gent in charge brought our coffees out and Nena's face was a picture! I had a nice tall glass of milky coffee and she had an egg cup full of black coffee. We fell about laughing as we realised she had thought it would be a 'normal' coffee. We have now established that a normal coffee is a 'flat white', which sounds somewhat unappetising, but which was much enjoyed by Nena later in the day. Coffee took some time as we exchanged info about ourselves, in particular odd things that had happened to us or our families. It started to get really spooky, when we realised that we had several; things in common - husbands named Peter, sons named Michael, allergies to Tetanus jabs - both of us discovering this after treading on rusty nails as children! We have a certain facial similarity (colour of hair and eyes), have both been teachers and both worked in libraries (Nena still does). However, Nena has done something I have never done - she has worked on an archaeological dig in Fremantle! We made plans to go to the spot and take a photo of her there, but time ran away with us. We also talked about our writing and I told Nena how my Nano entry last year ended up almost pornographic (and has got worse since I tried to edit it!) My MC was supposed to be a BIT of a 'jack the lad', but he is insatiable!!!!!
After our coffee we decided to go for a walk around Fremantle markets, which are housed in a beautiful old building. First disappointment of the day - they are not open on Thursday, but nothing daunted we decide we could still go around the markets, on the outside, so we did just that, ending up where we had met, by the information office. Spying the free leaflets on various themed walks around Freo, I started picking hem up and suggested to Nena that we do one of them. We looked through and found one that we simply HAD to do, as it was a 'Writers Walk'. It was also the shortest and we had decided to have lunch when we had finished it. It was down the High Street and the first 'totem' was almost outside my lodgings. I had walked past it 3 times and not noticed it before! They are not particularly easy to spot but with the walk leaflet in our hands we found them all, and persuaded various passing strangers to take photos of us two either side of these somewhat 'phallic looking' symbols! Some were even pinky in colour, then we walked past the sex shop, which was tastefully displaying its wares in the window, Including a rather large dildo/vibrator! Amidst much laughter and some admiration of the writing of the authors included on the walk (a short piece of text from one of their works was shown on their 'totem') we managed to get to the end of the road and decided to go into the cafe I had used for brekkie yesterday. We placed our orders, had a discussion about who should pay, took our seats and waited. Our drinks, (OJ) did not arrive and the fact was mentioned, but they still didn't arrive. My meal came out, but not Nena's. We queried this and found that the girl had missed it off the order. The owner/manager came over and apologised profusely and said Nena could have her meal free. Off she trotted with Nena's order and I started my meal, only to find that the lasagne had a strip underneath that was baked hard and inedible. The owner was just coming back to apologise to Nena that they had no hamburger patties left, when she saw me stand up with my plate and her face nearly hit the floor! Nena had already said she looked stressed and we both thought she'd have a breakdown there and then. Luckily, I had had brekkie there the day before and it had been lovely, scrambled eggs on toast and really creamy, not at all rubbery, so I was able to convince the lady (and Nena) that I thought it was a nice cafe. By this time Nena and I had seen the funny side of the situation, but we did feel sorry for the poor lady. She told us that she was having a really bad day: she'd blown up the deep fat fryer; something else had blown up and now two customers (us) were getting really bad service. We sympathised and said that tomorrow would be better and off she trotted. No sooner had she got into the kitchen than someone, either the customer standing by the counter or the young girl behind it, knocked over the straws container. It made a really loud clatter and was almost too much for Nena and me. With a rush our poor, beleaguered hostess came back into the shop and surveyed the damage. Fortunately it was easily solved, the customer helping to clear up the mess. Shortly after this our meals arrived, with no further mishap and we thoroughly enjoyed them. Nena's of course, had the extra spice of being free! We were also told we could have any muffin we liked as a pudding. FREE! Neither of us fancied a muffin when the time came, but we did fancy some of the fruit dishes on offer - mixed wild berries for me and fruit salad for Nena. We asked if we could have them instead of muffins and said we were willing to pay, but we got a resounding 'NO!' and were asked if we'd like some yoghourt with the fruit. We both said yes, enormous portions were served to us and it was absolutely delicious. Just as we were finishing our meals and deciding which, if any other themed walk to do, Pete rang me, so I told him where we were and decamped to the rather lovely settees in the back of the cafe to wait for him. When he arrived, he bought a drink for us and we filled him in on our day. By the time we'd finished it was time for Nena to leave, so we all walked back into town and said our goodbyes, promising to wave to Nena if we went over her farm when we did our balloon trip. It really was a fabulous day and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and I have a lovely souvenir gift from Nena - a Kangaroo pen and a koala card, Of course, being a total dingbat, I never thought to buy anything for Nena, from England!
Thursday 27 January 2011
Australian adventure. October 2010
Diary date 3rd October 2010
Well, this time tomorrow I shall be on the plane halfway to Dubai, for a short stopover before catching the 10.05 plane from Dubai to Perth, arriving at 0055, weds am. Help! I'm losing time from my life!! I am really looking forward to it and may just be a *tad* excited. Weds I shall not do much except acclimatise myself. Thurs I am meeting Nena, at 11.30 pm and we shall be 'Ladies wot lunch' There will be photographs of this historic occasion - the first cross pacific TB meet up in the antipodes!
Friday is scheduled to be a 4WD safari. We journey to Yanchep wildlife park and meet Kangas and koalas, then out to the Pinnacles and walk through part of the area. After that we journey to the sand dunes in Lancelin and have a hair raising 4WD up and down them. The fianl experience of the day is trying our hands at sandboarding. Again, photos will be available. Sometime during that day we get lunch and afternoon tea (and possibly coffee in the morning). Anyway, the case is almost packed, just a few last minute items to go in tomorrow am, and I'll be ready to fly!
Day 1 Oct 6th 2010
Hello, folks. Thanks to you all on talkback for the good wishes. I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow, Nena. I have checked out King's Square and found Myers. If pie and sauce is true Oz tucker then, yes I'm up for that. You will have to educate me.
Well, Here I am in OZ, staying at Sundancer Backpackers, in Fremantle. It was formerly a hotel and is very old and quaint. The swimming pool is a bit smaller than I was expecting, but it's there!
Left home at 4.30pm Monday and got to Manchester airport about 6.30pm. It seemed hardly anytime before we were boarding our flight. Emirates is a good airline and I would recommend them. There were the usual sort of flight inconveniences (being herded like cattle to get on, then waiting for 10 years while someone in front had to get their seat absolutely correct, before they could get their fat a*se out of the aisle, etc) The flight left an hour late but the pilot made up time and we were only 15/20 mins late at Dubai. Managed to get a free breakfast at the airport and by the time we had finished it was time to board the next flight, to Perth. This was a very long, boring flight, not helped by the fact that someone in the row behind kept moaning that she was in the wrong seat. It was obvious they weren't going to change it, but she kept moaning. Slept for short periods and there was nothing to see anyway, except sea underneath us. Finally landed at Perth late, at 01.30. By the time we had done customs and quarantine, then met up with Peter's aunty, who met us at the airport it was 0200, then we had to wait for her friend to come back round 'the circuit'. (she kept driving round the airport rather than pay parking fees). They dropped me off just before 2.45 and after checking in I got to bed about 3.30 am (8.30pm English). Woke up at 06.30 (11.30pm) and knew I wouldn't get back to sleep, so sorted out my stuff then got showered and went out for Brekky and a walk around Fremantle. Walking straight down the High street towards the beach I came across a lovely café just below the Round House, the oldest prison in Fremantle (or Freo, as the locals call it) I had a delicious plate of scrambled eggs on toast, the best I have ever had when eating out, and a delicious cup of coffee, before venturing out to explore further. I managed to orient myself fairly well and walked around some beautifully preserved settlers cottages that now are open to the public as arts and craft shops. They had originally been the houses of the Customs Officers and the Round House had been the Customs House for a while. I followed a meandering route back across the green by the Round House, where I watched an aerobics class and a family trying to get a good picture of the eight or so grandkids for Nan's birthday. Unfortunately one child just would not smile! From there I walked along a road which brought me out near the Esplanade and a grand Hotel, one of Freo's oldest and the most prominent in the town. It has recently been refurbished and extended and looks very elegant. One day when I've got pots of money perhaps I'll stay there! As I walked along I kept seeing a wiggly brick path and further research when I got back to the hostel showed that it marks the original shoreline of Fremantle. The whole of the harbour complex, the main road through the harbour area, and the Maritime museum are built on what used to be sea. well ocean if you want to be really exact! From there I made my way back to the hostel via a wonderful shop selling maps.They had some fantastic ones there and I promised my self I would go back and buy an 'upside down' Aussie map. Sadly, I never got round to it. However I did part with a little more of my cash and bought a guide book to Australian flowers, so I could identify some of the lovely plants I saw growing around the area. Meanwhile I am feeling weary, so am going to make some zzzzzs and ensure that i will be wide awake to meet Nena tomorrow. Bye for now.
Well, this time tomorrow I shall be on the plane halfway to Dubai, for a short stopover before catching the 10.05 plane from Dubai to Perth, arriving at 0055, weds am. Help! I'm losing time from my life!! I am really looking forward to it and may just be a *tad* excited. Weds I shall not do much except acclimatise myself. Thurs I am meeting Nena, at 11.30 pm and we shall be 'Ladies wot lunch' There will be photographs of this historic occasion - the first cross pacific TB meet up in the antipodes!
Friday is scheduled to be a 4WD safari. We journey to Yanchep wildlife park and meet Kangas and koalas, then out to the Pinnacles and walk through part of the area. After that we journey to the sand dunes in Lancelin and have a hair raising 4WD up and down them. The fianl experience of the day is trying our hands at sandboarding. Again, photos will be available. Sometime during that day we get lunch and afternoon tea (and possibly coffee in the morning). Anyway, the case is almost packed, just a few last minute items to go in tomorrow am, and I'll be ready to fly!
Day 1 Oct 6th 2010
Hello, folks. Thanks to you all on talkback for the good wishes. I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow, Nena. I have checked out King's Square and found Myers. If pie and sauce is true Oz tucker then, yes I'm up for that. You will have to educate me.
Well, Here I am in OZ, staying at Sundancer Backpackers, in Fremantle. It was formerly a hotel and is very old and quaint. The swimming pool is a bit smaller than I was expecting, but it's there!
Left home at 4.30pm Monday and got to Manchester airport about 6.30pm. It seemed hardly anytime before we were boarding our flight. Emirates is a good airline and I would recommend them. There were the usual sort of flight inconveniences (being herded like cattle to get on, then waiting for 10 years while someone in front had to get their seat absolutely correct, before they could get their fat a*se out of the aisle, etc) The flight left an hour late but the pilot made up time and we were only 15/20 mins late at Dubai. Managed to get a free breakfast at the airport and by the time we had finished it was time to board the next flight, to Perth. This was a very long, boring flight, not helped by the fact that someone in the row behind kept moaning that she was in the wrong seat. It was obvious they weren't going to change it, but she kept moaning. Slept for short periods and there was nothing to see anyway, except sea underneath us. Finally landed at Perth late, at 01.30. By the time we had done customs and quarantine, then met up with Peter's aunty, who met us at the airport it was 0200, then we had to wait for her friend to come back round 'the circuit'. (she kept driving round the airport rather than pay parking fees). They dropped me off just before 2.45 and after checking in I got to bed about 3.30 am (8.30pm English). Woke up at 06.30 (11.30pm) and knew I wouldn't get back to sleep, so sorted out my stuff then got showered and went out for Brekky and a walk around Fremantle. Walking straight down the High street towards the beach I came across a lovely café just below the Round House, the oldest prison in Fremantle (or Freo, as the locals call it) I had a delicious plate of scrambled eggs on toast, the best I have ever had when eating out, and a delicious cup of coffee, before venturing out to explore further. I managed to orient myself fairly well and walked around some beautifully preserved settlers cottages that now are open to the public as arts and craft shops. They had originally been the houses of the Customs Officers and the Round House had been the Customs House for a while. I followed a meandering route back across the green by the Round House, where I watched an aerobics class and a family trying to get a good picture of the eight or so grandkids for Nan's birthday. Unfortunately one child just would not smile! From there I walked along a road which brought me out near the Esplanade and a grand Hotel, one of Freo's oldest and the most prominent in the town. It has recently been refurbished and extended and looks very elegant. One day when I've got pots of money perhaps I'll stay there! As I walked along I kept seeing a wiggly brick path and further research when I got back to the hostel showed that it marks the original shoreline of Fremantle. The whole of the harbour complex, the main road through the harbour area, and the Maritime museum are built on what used to be sea. well ocean if you want to be really exact! From there I made my way back to the hostel via a wonderful shop selling maps.They had some fantastic ones there and I promised my self I would go back and buy an 'upside down' Aussie map. Sadly, I never got round to it. However I did part with a little more of my cash and bought a guide book to Australian flowers, so I could identify some of the lovely plants I saw growing around the area. Meanwhile I am feeling weary, so am going to make some zzzzzs and ensure that i will be wide awake to meet Nena tomorrow. Bye for now.
Thank you to my new followers
A very big thank you to Ceka, Helen and Patsy. Pleased to welcome you on board and I hope you'll recommend me to all your friends. The more the merrier, eh? I shall, of course follow your blogs in return. (thinks: when will I ever have time to write with all this reading. ah well I'm sure I'll fit it in somehow.).
Today I went to look at a house I was thinking of buying. Oh boy! I'm still thinking about buying it, in many ways it would be perfect for me, but it does need a tad and a half of work: New doors all through, interior and exterior; new windows all over; electrics need sorting (they are dangerous at present!);new kitchen; new bathroom; new floor coverings and re-plaster throughout. To be honest, I was expecting to do most of that wherever I went so the house would fit me, rather than me fitting it. I had made some provision in my budget for that sort of thing and this house is so bad it would be much cheaper to buy than most. I fortunately have some temporary accommodation lined up, but I think I'll need it for a longer time than I originally envisaged - that's if I can get my present house sold! They are coming to value it in 3 weeks, top give me time to finish off various bits that need doing (and hopefully chuck the junk - I've been here 17 years and collected so much rubbish, as we hoarders do!). I can't finish until B & Q deliver some bits I need and couldn't carry home and the earliest they can deliver them is 8th Feb! GRRRR.
Any way enough of that. There will be a second post today with the first of my aussie adventures on it, so more people can get jealous. :)
Today I went to look at a house I was thinking of buying. Oh boy! I'm still thinking about buying it, in many ways it would be perfect for me, but it does need a tad and a half of work: New doors all through, interior and exterior; new windows all over; electrics need sorting (they are dangerous at present!);new kitchen; new bathroom; new floor coverings and re-plaster throughout. To be honest, I was expecting to do most of that wherever I went so the house would fit me, rather than me fitting it. I had made some provision in my budget for that sort of thing and this house is so bad it would be much cheaper to buy than most. I fortunately have some temporary accommodation lined up, but I think I'll need it for a longer time than I originally envisaged - that's if I can get my present house sold! They are coming to value it in 3 weeks, top give me time to finish off various bits that need doing (and hopefully chuck the junk - I've been here 17 years and collected so much rubbish, as we hoarders do!). I can't finish until B & Q deliver some bits I need and couldn't carry home and the earliest they can deliver them is 8th Feb! GRRRR.
Any way enough of that. There will be a second post today with the first of my aussie adventures on it, so more people can get jealous. :)
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Hello from me
OK. Well, if ceka can do it, so can I. I am hoping to copy my Aussie adventure thread on here, as I couldn't copy and paste it to the blog on my website, which was a bit of a bummer. Still, it means I shall relive all those lovely days In Australia all over again. Hooray! I can also let all my friends/family read it then, which I was unable to do before as I couldn't 'publish' it. Hopefully that will get me loads of followers. Well I can wish.
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