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.