Easter hols

We have a 3 week long Easter holiday here, and we are currently half way through it. Thank heavens the weather is still good and we can get out and about. Over the Easter long weekend we went ten pin bowling, visited Sci-Tech and a camel farm, had an Easter egg hunt and friends over for an Easter Sunday roast. Brian also bought me my (slightly delayed) 40th birthday present which I absolutely love. A take on an eternity ring, a complete circle with 3 rows of v small diamonds instead of one row of bigger ones. 

Last Wednesday night we went to the drive-in movies to see "The Pirates". I had been planning to take the boys to see it during the holidays, but the added adventure of seeing it on a huge screen in our car was enough to sell it to us all. We reversed in to our spot and opened up the boot and all 4 of us climbed in. We re-tuned the car radio to the required frequency to hear the soundtrack and ate popcorn till be were fit to burst. I have to tell you it was a tad squashed and  Ru got tired and fed up about 15 mins before the end because it was way past his bed time, but it was fun, and a new experience for us all.

This weekend was mainly spent at the beach. South beach, Fremantle to be precise. After Brian went out for his early morning bike ride and the boys had their Saturday pancakes we went to a Lego building competition at a local toy store and then didn't really fancy heading straight home. So the beach it was.

Alfie decided reading his Lego magazine was more exciting than a playground...

... while Brian found it all quite hilarious.

We watched a submarine cruise by....

...and then Ru took a ride on a dolphin...

...and had a swing on a hammock...

...till Alfie climbed on too.

Time for an ice cream to give them more energy..

...for climbing trees.

Mummy sat and drank tea at that point (as I do).

When we eventually got to the beach itself the boys couldn't resist a paddle. 

Within seconds they were drenched and we had no towels or dry clothes, so we had to go home fairly quickly.

Sunday began with Brian going out for his second bike ride of the weekend. A leisurely trip round the river with an Irish friend who hadn't been out on his bike for a while. What a beautiful morning it was too. So when he came home we had a full Irish "brunch" in the garden and read the paper for a while before deciding to head out to the beach again. This time we were more organised and took the swim stuff and some buckets and spades.

Father and sons swam...

...built sandcastles...

......lots of sandcastles......

....with moats that needed buckets of water...

Then the boys climbed on the rocks..

...ate ice creams...

....checked the laws of gravity....

...climbed more rocks...

.....ran.....

.....and ran....

.....and ran....

..while lazy Mummy once again sat taking photos (and incidentally also drinking tea).

After all that, a bit of posing was in order by Ru.

And Alfie finally got to kick a ball around with his Dad.

All rounded off with fish and chips at a beachside cafe so hungry boys didn't have to wait till we got home. 

Hope you've had a fun weekend too.x

Alfie wins a prize

The series about a little boy called Alfie by Shirley Hughes has been on our shelves for a year or two now and Alfie is of course delighted to have a book named after himself!
This week, however, the above title really came true. We had the first assembly of the new school year. I was handed a note about a week ago telling me that Alfie would be getting a merit award so I was welcome to attend. "Don't tell him, so it's a surprise" said the note. So I turned up and sneaked in at the back to sit with another Mum I know whose daughter was getting one too. It really was a surprise, and the excitement on the faces of his friends was pretty heartwarming too!

Little man shakes the headmaster's hand.

Standing at the front (trying not to giggle) with his friend Daniel (left)

With a proud Mummy and his certificate.

He got it for "the fantastic focus he is showing in class and for his in depth understanding of his reading books"- Wow! This from a boy who, although not stupid, used to have the attention span of a goldfish and regularly got himself in trouble. I've no idea whether it's his improved diet or if he's just growing up a bit, but something's working and I'm thrilled :0)

A series of firsts.

Our first Australia Day celebration was last Thursday. We arrived at the start of Feb last year, having missed it by not much more than a week. This year it dawned hot and proceeded to get ever hotter. 42 degrees c was the highest that our car thermometer registered in fact. We were going to a party in the afternoon/ evening but, having Daddy home, the boys were keen to get out and about -and we were keen to stay inside in the cool! So in the end we took refuge in a fantastic city centre science museum/ interactive centre called Scitech which had the advantage of air conditioning but still meant we were "out". This place is unlike any museum I've ever seen before. It's totally interactive. You can practise hang-gliding on a simulator, get a robot to take a picture of you and then draw it into a sketch before your eyes, use your body weight to launch canisters along a tube, wind up spirals to push balls to the top of a roller coaster run, climb a climbing wall, Cycle a bike which loops the loop due to centripetal force etc etc...

Alfie loves climbing it seems.

Currently they have a special exhibit all about "Rescue" as well, so the boys got to try out a helicopter 

simulator too. 

How cool is that!! 

After buying a family annual membership, we did eventually leave and head off for the second half of our day, a fabulous party with friends from the school.  A few beers, some sausages on the barbie, good company -what more could you want? They have a view of the city from their first floor balcony so we hoped to see the "Perth Skyworks" firework extravaganza. What we hadn't counted on was the 40-plus-degree weather breaking at almost exactly the same time and the man-made display being given a run for its money by incredible forked lightning. It was truly spectacular, but I'm still twisting Brian's arm to get a camera that might capture such a sight!!

Then today was another first. Alfie's first day in uniform at big school. A year later than at home, and with his same classmates, but still feeling quite nervous. He has practised tying buttons and shoelaces 'till he really is very proficient and was very excited at the prospect of being a "year one".

Getting it right :o)

And not to be outdone, Ru also had his own first day. He has moved from a local 3-year-old kindy to the 4-year-old Kindergarten at Alfie's school. This means he'll actually know many of the other kids as several of Alfies class have siblings in the same group.

They only had a one hour session today, just to get them used to being left, and all seemed to be going well, until I went to collect him. He burst into tears at the door when he saw me, complaining loudly that he hadn't got to eat lunch ( he got a new lunchbox specially so was keen to get cracking) or play outside! Tomorrow is another day, hopefully it will meet his expectations better!

And finally this coming Saturday will be another first. The first anniversary of our arrival in Australia. We will of course be having a barbie, although Brian is only due back from Singapore at about one o'clock that morning. After the trials and tribulations of his last trip, lets hope he gets back in time to attend his own party!

Swimming, golfing and other stuff too.

Another week of holidays begins. Alfie was due to start a 2 week programme called "vac swim" this morning at the beach north of Fremantle, but between oversleeping and a lack of motivation to send my oldest child into waters that have recently proved to be shark infested, we didn't go. In all honesty it's surely very safe. They are keeping all the beaches very well monitored and have closed several recently for a day at a time. But Alfie didn't wake till 8am this morning which is highly unusual for him, and as the lesson was due to start at 8.45 I gave up on any idea of getting there. Tomorrow is another day.


I wrote the above nearly 2 weeks ago and we did indeed manage to get to the swim programme for 7 of the total ten days. It was really good to get into the ocean and for the boys to learn what it's like to be tumbled by the waves.

Taken on a very calm day. There were proper waves some days- honest!

There were regular helicopter fly pasts so we knew we were safe from sharks and Alfie got his certificate yesterday to say he'd be in "level 3" next time we do a vac swim programme.

Last weekend we took a trip out to Fremantle harbour to peruse the market there, have a spot of lunch and a general ogle at the docks. Alfie loves to get hold of the camera and he took a great pic of the other 3 of us having lunch which I thought I'd share.

 Then the boys posed together for a shot of themselves adding to the immigrant population. This sculpture by the harbourside is memorial to the "ten pound Poms" (with additional hats by the Cotter family) :

After lunch we went to a mini golf course as Brian had told Alfie ages ago that he'd take him golfing and it was a promise that was not to be forgotten! It was very quiet so we had great fun and Alfie really got into it:

And he ultimately won the 20cent prize for the winning round.

Whereas Ru was......

how can I put it?

Less inclined to follow the rules of the game!!!

In celebration of Alfie's vac swim ending, and also because we had a terrible thunderstorm yesterday, we went to the movies. I can honestly say I haven't been inside a cinema for years. The last thing I saw that was new out was Black Swan and that was at an open air showing soon after we arrived last year. But one of the other mums had suggested that The Muppets movie was on locally and perhaps it would be a good way to round off the fortnight so off we went. It was lovely I must admit. The boys thoroughly enjoyed it despite never having heard of the Muppets before, and I was taken back to the time when the whole world seemed to watch them. Unfortunately I can't get the muppet theme out of my head now though - it's as infectious as ever.

Temperatures here are in the mid to high 30's just now. In fact I went out for a run this morning (well, more of a run/walk really; 5 mins running, 5 mins walking, 3 mins running, rest of the outing walking- not fit at all). Anyway, I went out before 8am to try to avoid the worst of the heat and it was still easily in the high 20's. I was however rewarded for my efforts with a most gorgeous sight. A pod of dolphins were breakfasting in the river not 50 meters out from the shore. There must have been 6 or 7 of them gracefully arching through the water and then occasionally making a lunge for some unsuspecting fish. At one point 3 of them started circling presumably to round up a whole shoal. There were a number of walkers and cyclists, plus a kayaker, who had stopped to enjoy the sight as it really is rather magical. What a great way to start the day. I might even be inspired to go again tomorrow.

Camping for Christmas. Part 2.

Tuesday 27th December and the beach beckoned once more. We'd been talking to another local chap, Greg, who had a caravan across the road from us. He was a fisherman and said the surf was up so Greens Pool would be packed to the rafters. He recommended that we turn left just before it and head to another beach called Madfish bay further down a dirt track. Always quieter but still great for the kids. So that's what we did. As we passed the car park for Greens Pool we were very glad we'd been chatting to him too, because it was overflowing and there were cars way up the road. Meantime where we went was almost our own and another stunning sight.

B with picnic bag.

The boys get to work on paddling...

...and sandcastles.

 It was windy though so I was grateful of our pop-up beach tent for more than just my usual shade. We all shared it for the picnic of cheese sandwiches and apples we'd brought with us. The only thing missing was "lashings of ginger beer" Famous Five style.

Eventually the wind got the better of us and we packed up and headed back to the site, to be met by wheelie bins everywhere. Well, not everywhere perhaps, but several of them across the tracks on site. Our friend Bob again. He'd got annoyed with some of the newcomers onsite driving too fast (lots of people only came down after Christmas so the place had really filled up). So he had painted signs saying "SLOW DOWN. KIDS" and stuck them to the bins, then put the bins in awkward places so that you really had no choice but pay heed! Gotta hand it to him. Especially as our little darlings (devils) were cycling round in loops constantly. He came out to tell us it was his handiwork and show us the paint stains on his trousers!

That afternoon, determined to make the very most of our trip, and with kids who were never off their bikes anyway, we went for a family cycle. There was a great track straight from the campsite which reminded me slightly of the old railway line near where I used to live in Devon. Totally safe for the kids and coming out near the water a little way along.

My only slight concern was the possibility of snakes, which we'd been assured were resident in the area. There are both Tiger snakes and Dugites in the area, both of which are potentially deadly. We had actually seen the very first snake of our Australian adventure on the trip out to ocean beach the day before, when we ran over it in the car. We're such typical clueless foreigners that both Brian and myself had assumed it was a bit of tyre rubber when we saw this black thing in the road. It was only after we caught it with our own tyre and saw it turn and slither off that we were awakened to the reality. Anyway, that day we saw nothing more interesting in the way of wildlife than a dead gecko (which was enough to entertain the boys for several minutes). Liam's Dad had seen a 3 foot long Racehorse Goanna on his cyle out that way the day before and we had our eyes peeled for anything. The next day I went out again with Ru and this time I saw a snake. A dugite I'm fairly sure having researched them since. It was just slithering out of the bushes to bask when it obviously felt the vibration of my bike. Thankfully it turned right back into the bush and by the time Ru and I flew past all I could see was its tail. Never have I pedalled so fast or encouraged Ru along more. I didn't dare tell him why 'till after in case he wanted to go and have a look!

On the Wedneday we headed inland to a local maze, which I must be honest and say I was rather disappointed by. There seemed to be no real objective in the thing and we ended up just going round in circles till we eventually ended up back at the car! After the superb one down in Yallingup there was really no comparison, so we moved on fairly swiftly and visited a farm instead.
It was billed as an alpaca farm, but in fact had much more to offer, and with a bag of food given out with every ticket you can imagine the fun the boys had.

 There were goats..

..koalas..

...Alpacas....

..Kangaroos....

Mummys with joeys still in the pouch......

..when they're really far too big to be....

..A pony which James particularly took to....

...and a Highland Cow which Alfie didn't take to at all after it tried to headbut him!

 ..Not to mention the chickens, bison, buffalo, and foxes. All in all it more than made up for the maze and we were there for ages.

The next day, Thursday, was our last, as we were due to pack up and move out on the Friday. We decided to head along the coast to Albany, the largest town on that stretch of coast about 50km away. After stopping for coffee we headed to the waterfront to see the historic brig the "Amity". She's a permanent museum on dry land now, but fantastically restored so that you can go round and see the whole thing. The history of her voyage was amazing as she had travelled from Sidney to Albany in the early days to suss out the possibility of a settlement there.

 She had 40 men on board, many of whom were convicts picked for their skills such as carpentry, gardening etc. and the space down below was not big.

Heading down..

The officers quarters, pure luxury compared to..

View through the door into the main "below deck" area. It really is that low and is a living space, not a store cupboard as you might assume.

After lunch we headed out to some blowholes further out on the coast, but they were not doing their thing according to the disappointed people coming back up the steps so we decided not to bother. Then we went to another fab beach where there was tree shade and grass as well as sand. We all got in the water and the 3 boys spent ages making a sandcastle fortress.

On the way home, we stopped at a sea arch for more spectacular views

 and then back to camp to ponder the work ahead of us on Friday.

Packing up went remarkably smoothly really and we almost made it out of the campsite by the allotted hour of 10am. We certainly didn't get hit by the promised rain storm, the first threat of rain all week. After a stop for coffee and pies in town (Denmark's bakery has award winning pies it seems) we were off. Our arrangement to meet up again just over half way home for some lunch worked well too, with only 5 mins between us.

What we weren't so prepared for was that we hadn't entirely avoided the rain. As we headed off up the road again it started to pour and suddenly we were in the middle of a big tropical style thunderstorm. Forked lightning was flashing up ahead and getting ever closer till it was actually forking down in fields to either side of us. What to do? Well given that the only shelter around would be trees, we just had to plough on and hope for the best. Not a comfortable experience though, and I speak as one who quite likes a good thunderstorm - provided I'm safely tucked away inside my house.

Which is rather a good thing really cause there was another one that night when we were.