Thursday, July 31, 2008
Cairns
We had to catch our flight to Cairns via Brisbane at 11pm, if you have visited Aus, the sheer size of the place always amazes. We flew for 3 ½ hours to get from the west to the east coast with the wind behind us. We arrived very early in Brisbane and had an hour before our connecting flight to Cairns left. Another 1 ½ hours on a plane, and we arrived in Cairns. As we got off the plane it was nice to be in the heat, 26C at 9:30 in the morning. We got a free transfer from the airport to our hostel, Koala Beach Resort. It was too early to check in to our rooms, so we left our bags at the hostel and went for a walk round and to grab some brunch. Tj and I had been to Cairns about 4 years ago, and nothing much had changed in that time. We finally got checked into our room and chilled out. Later that evening we went and found a curry house and had a great meal, then we decided what activity we were going to do tomorrow. We had been to a few tourist info places in the morning and got loads of leaflets on what to do. We finally picked a waterfall and tablelands tour which we booked and then headed back to the room as we had another early start.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Perth Week 2
Adam and Bob went to Joondalup Golf Course for a round of golf, it’s the no. 1 golf resort in Australia apparently whilst Lyn and i set off to find a spa for a day of pampering.
Unfortunately they don’t seem to have spa’s like we do in the U.K. All the places we visited were basically just a shop that offered massage, waxing etc they didn’t have a pool or a sauna so we gave up the search and decided to go to the local library to see what else there was to do. By this time it was the afternoon so we went back to the house and chilled out there whilst waiting for the boys. When they had returned we decided to visit the local swimming pool and had a brilliant time there. We had a swim, had fun on the mini rapid ride and cleared our pores in the sauna.
The following day Adam and i went to the local library and set to trying to find a job and somewhere to live when we get to Brisbane. Unfortunately a lot of the companies we phoned look more for 3 month contract rather than just a couple of weeks, however I found a job for Adam which was for 2 weeks only and so he phoned them up and was invited for an interview. Bob and Lyn went looking around the shops and managed to find a friend for Ziggy the zebra called Nici, you may see her in some of the photos on picasa.
Adam had his interview in Freemantle on Thursday so he dropped us all off in Perth city centre. We went to the tourist information and found that there was a free daily orientation walking tour of the city and our guide just so happened to be from Bedworth and had lived in Perth for over 38 years. The tour was excellent and she told us all about the free busses and places of interest. We ended the tour at the
she came from Bedworth !!! We noted a few places of interest and after the tour we sat in the Lucky Shag Bar having a drink, overlooking the Swan River and going through the leaflets we had collected.
We decided that after Adam returned from his interview we would go and see the Australian Mint. The Perth Mint produced the medals for the 2000 Olympics and we watched an ingot of pure gold being made! It was worth around au$ 200,000 – they wouldn’t let us touch it though- can’t think why not ! After the tour we bought a wedding present for Adam and TJ – you will have to wait and see what it is until after the wedding ….
Unfortunately they don’t seem to have spa’s like we do in the U.K. All the places we visited were basically just a shop that offered massage, waxing etc they didn’t have a pool or a sauna so we gave up the search and decided to go to the local library to see what else there was to do. By this time it was the afternoon so we went back to the house and chilled out there whilst waiting for the boys. When they had returned we decided to visit the local swimming pool and had a brilliant time there. We had a swim, had fun on the mini rapid ride and cleared our pores in the sauna.
The following day Adam and i went to the local library and set to trying to find a job and somewhere to live when we get to Brisbane. Unfortunately a lot of the companies we phoned look more for 3 month contract rather than just a couple of weeks, however I found a job for Adam which was for 2 weeks only and so he phoned them up and was invited for an interview. Bob and Lyn went looking around the shops and managed to find a friend for Ziggy the zebra called Nici, you may see her in some of the photos on picasa.
Adam had his interview in Freemantle on Thursday so he dropped us all off in Perth city centre. We went to the tourist information and found that there was a free daily orientation walking tour of the city and our guide just so happened to be from Bedworth and had lived in Perth for over 38 years. The tour was excellent and she told us all about the free busses and places of interest. We ended the tour at the
she came from Bedworth !!! We noted a few places of interest and after the tour we sat in the Lucky Shag Bar having a drink, overlooking the Swan River and going through the leaflets we had collected.
We decided that after Adam returned from his interview we would go and see the Australian Mint. The Perth Mint produced the medals for the 2000 Olympics and we watched an ingot of pure gold being made! It was worth around au$ 200,000 – they wouldn’t let us touch it though- can’t think why not ! After the tour we bought a wedding present for Adam and TJ – you will have to wait and see what it is until after the wedding ….
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Perth Week 1 Cont.
As Adam’s parents hadn’t seen Tom snr for over 20 years the first stop for the day was his house. Tom kindly took us to Hillary’s harbour in his Jaguar limousine.
There are lots of little souvenir shops and cafe’s and restaurants there. We wandered around for a while but then it started to get windy and cold and so Tom took us back to his place. After a lot of catching up we left Tom’s and came back to our place where we had dinner and chilled out with a dodgy copy of Prince Caspian. The following day we woke to warm sunshine and after breakfast on the terrace we drove to the beach and watched the surfers riding the waves which crashed onto the beach.
After spending a small fortune on stocking the cupboards with food we ate lunch and Adam and Bob rigged up the hammock we had bought in Bangkok which we hadn’t yet tried. During the afternoon we went looking for job vacancies in Hillary’s Marina, a couple of possibilities but most said it was the slow time so they didn’t need any extra help. The nights are very cold so we bought some wood and Bob lit the wood burner and we moved the TV into the dining area where the wood burner is so that we would stay warm.
The next day we took Bob and Lyn to Perth City centre. Perth city centre is fairly small. There are 2 main streets Murray street and Hay street which have most of the shops and arcades running off them. The transport system within the city centre is excellent as there are free buses that go all around the city. We had some lunch in one of the many eateries (it seems as though Perth people like to eat out a lot) and spent some time in the internet café updating and checking our emails.
There are lots of little souvenir shops and cafe’s and restaurants there. We wandered around for a while but then it started to get windy and cold and so Tom took us back to his place. After a lot of catching up we left Tom’s and came back to our place where we had dinner and chilled out with a dodgy copy of Prince Caspian. The following day we woke to warm sunshine and after breakfast on the terrace we drove to the beach and watched the surfers riding the waves which crashed onto the beach.
After spending a small fortune on stocking the cupboards with food we ate lunch and Adam and Bob rigged up the hammock we had bought in Bangkok which we hadn’t yet tried. During the afternoon we went looking for job vacancies in Hillary’s Marina, a couple of possibilities but most said it was the slow time so they didn’t need any extra help. The nights are very cold so we bought some wood and Bob lit the wood burner and we moved the TV into the dining area where the wood burner is so that we would stay warm.
The next day we took Bob and Lyn to Perth City centre. Perth city centre is fairly small. There are 2 main streets Murray street and Hay street which have most of the shops and arcades running off them. The transport system within the city centre is excellent as there are free buses that go all around the city. We had some lunch in one of the many eateries (it seems as though Perth people like to eat out a lot) and spent some time in the internet café updating and checking our emails.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Perth Week1
We caught a taxi at 7am to get to the airport as our flight to Perth was at 9:30am, as we entered the airport we saw that our flight had been delayed by an hour. Eventually we got the flight and landed at Perth airport. Perth was quite cold compared to the 30 +c we had been used to so we knew our jackets would come in handy. Many years ago we had some friends who lived opposite me on Nod Rise in Coventry, The Daly’s emigrated to Perth about 20 years ago. Mum and dad were still in touch with Tom Daly snr. We had booked a rented house in the Perth area but not until the 1st July and we had landed on the 29th June, but Tom and his wife Sheila had kindly offered to put us up for a few nights. We grabbed a taxi from the airport to Tom’s house in Woodvale which is about 20km from the centre of Perth. We had a great time at Tom and Sheila’s house, Sheila made us homemade food which is just what we had needed after eating out for the last month. We got the train in to Perth central and started to sort ourselves out with tax numbers, bank accounts, and mobile phones.
Perth centre is not a very big place considering that 1.4 million people live in it and its suburbs, but you really need a car as everything is so spread out. So we hired a little Hyundai Getz, so we could move our stuff from Tom and Sheila’s house to our rented one.
It was about a 5 minute drive from their house to the one we would be staying in, in an area called Mullaloo. The house was nice and comfortable if a little dated. We then found a local shopping centre to get some food in for when mum and dad arrive. We spent the next few days travelling between Perth city centre and Joondalup looking for jobs. We had realised that you really do need a car in Perth so we decided to extend the hire of the car but then we found a cheaper and bigger car just up the road from where we had rented the Getz from. So we got ourselves a Toyota corolla for the next month. That evening we headed over to the airport to meet mum and dad. After mum and dad had sorted themselves out at the house we all went for dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe in Joondalup.
Perth centre is not a very big place considering that 1.4 million people live in it and its suburbs, but you really need a car as everything is so spread out. So we hired a little Hyundai Getz, so we could move our stuff from Tom and Sheila’s house to our rented one.
It was about a 5 minute drive from their house to the one we would be staying in, in an area called Mullaloo. The house was nice and comfortable if a little dated. We then found a local shopping centre to get some food in for when mum and dad arrive. We spent the next few days travelling between Perth city centre and Joondalup looking for jobs. We had realised that you really do need a car in Perth so we decided to extend the hire of the car but then we found a cheaper and bigger car just up the road from where we had rented the Getz from. So we got ourselves a Toyota corolla for the next month. That evening we headed over to the airport to meet mum and dad. After mum and dad had sorted themselves out at the house we all went for dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe in Joondalup.
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