Metro Hotel Perth

... very cautious because a previous calf got killed when he and it were playing and they collided at full gallop to which the other calf never recovered so Daisy running around apparently puts him on guard a little. But while watching that, we had drinks on the terrace then moved into the sitting room with hot nuts and a fire going before heading into dinner with the other of the managers. He was born and bred in Swakopmund, Namibia and used to do the overland tours so we had a ...

... alone?'...'do you know anyone over here?' the questions were endless!! Whas the bloody problem?? I have been doing axactly the same in Indonesia and they don't even speak my language!!


Anyway then the real drama started when I was queuing up to get through customs!!

We are queuing up to get through security and there is a sniffer dog and people looking at me but I just presume it's cos I have my Arsenal shirt ...

... once again, that no matter how impressive man-made structures can be, there is something often overwhelming about features of nature, and this proved to be one of them. It proved a difficult job for the guide to drag most people away from this lanscape, including yours truly who was having fun following a very recent kangaroo footprint trail, or more accurately, "bound" trail. Move on we did, however, to the coastal/fishing location of ...

Today we had lunch near Cottesloe beach and then visited Fremantle Prison. Fortunately as we had paid the entry fee we were allowed to leave again. We found it both thought provoking and confronting, especially considering that it was only decommissioned in 1991.

Our first day in Perth (Scarborough
Beach), we slept in until 10:30am perth time (12:30pm NSW). We then
spent the day exploring the west coast of Perth, visiting all of the
surf clubs including Hamish's new club City of Perth. They have a
pretty big surf club with no surf to ...

... tasted like beef. We drove back just in time to see a beautiful sunset over the river. On Monday we went to Hillary's Harbour with Sheila & Margaret and looked round the Aqarium there. The best part was an under-water tunnel with huge sharks and sting rays swimming around us. Later, we went to Shiela's brothers for dinner. On the last day we looked round the city and grandad went to an old monastery with Sheila, then we met up for a goodbye ...

Was sad to leave Africa. Had a pleasant experience of being upgraded on the 2 hour flight from Cape Town to Jo'burg and met some interesting people. It all started to go a bit pear shaped in Jo'burg as the carrier is South African Airlines on behalf of Quantas. It took them ages to check me in as they couldn't see the flight and then after waiting an hour for my ...

... red line look good on the map now eh?! Singapore was ok, very pricey, and no funny moments of Sam getting stuck in the MTR system like in Hong Kong. Australia is so hot too, 35+ most days and rarely a cloud in the sky. The sun feels a lot hotter here too, only spent an hour collectively in the sun and still got burned, with SPF 15! Sam was responsible and reapplied and was fine though. Still, lovely beaches even though the water was very cold ...

The first leg of our travels was to Perth, West Australia. After hard goodbyes in Nelson, firstly with friends, then with Crumbs we finally made it to Nelson airport. Over the previous few days both of us had voiced our nervousness at the impending trip which seemed to suddenly have raced up and didn't seem to be happening to us in 'real' time. Anna, Shane and Cohen turned up at the airport along with Cesca's family. Cohen ...

... came to midnight the whole of the harbour was lit up with the most spectacular fireworks we have ever seen (it even topped the display at our wedding - granted Sydney's budget was probably somewhat larger than ours!) All of the colours and the sheer size of the fireworks was stupendous, the whole sky was an explosion of the most beautiful shades of pink, green, red, blue... Then when the fireworks started to cascade like a waterfall from the Harbour Bridge that was ...