Meeting the Aussie Family
Trip Start
Apr 30, 2007
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47
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Trip End
Nov 29, 2008
Wandi,
Australia
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Friday after my birthday (2nd May) all us girls headed off to North Perth for a comedy night. Kimba, A girl Carly works with, is part of a production team called Weeping Spoons (http://www.weepingspoon.com/) and they are currently raising money so that they can head over to Canada on tour. Apparently Canada is well known for its beavers and honey, therefore the tour was dubbed: The Sticky Beaver Tour.
Some of the acts were hilarious, we were all practically crying at some of them. The best act by far was Bruce Shitlock, which was a sponge with eyes and two guys operating him.. one did the face and voice and the other guy had white gloves on and did the hands. It was hilarious. After a while you didn't see the two guys, you just saw the sponge and hands!
Aimee & Hannah
! We managed to go through a million packets of crisps and a few bottles of wine.. of which Katie had a bit too much so we ended up jumping in a taxi and heading home.
On Tuesday Carly's friend Jonny came flew over for 2 weeks so all headed down to the Irish bar in Subiaco to welcome him. As you do in Aus.
On the Wednesday morning, I was quite happily sitting at my desk stalking everyone I know on facebook, munching on a Frooty Tooty when my bloody filling collapsed. I had a huge hole in my tooth and my filling seemed to have logged itself into my gum. I debated on leaving it as I knew the dentist would cost me a fortune but couldn't really get away with never eating again.. although it would help to loose these extra pounds I seem to have gained. After ringing around a million dentists I managed to get booked in and headed into Subiaco to face the damage (excuse the pun).
The consultation started at $60 before she had even looked at my tooth, then I had to have an x-ray so she could see the extent of the damage, and then three injections to numb my whole head and then she went in for the kill
All together
. I had done a lot of damage and practically had to have root canal treatment all over again. I was in there for nearly 2 hours in the end. I came out with a numb mouth, a new tooth and a $450 bill. Oh and I also got a free Colgate toothpaste.On Thursday evening me, Katie and Aimee headed into Subiaco to have a look around the gym to check out joining fees and classes. The manager showed us around and ended up offering us a really good price to join so we booked in for our inductions and got our free backpacks (they're like a fashion statement around here) and made a million and one promises to each other that we will all make the most of it and become slim and sexy gym bunnies, as clearly, thinking ourselves slim just wasn't working.
Friday afternoon I had to go into the city for my Medical and x-ray for my application for my second year visa.. which cost me a further $250. So in total this week I have spent $450 on my tooth $250 on my medical and $120 to join the gym, totalling $820. Good job I am earning good money I guess (more to the point.. it didn't happen on the week I have to pay rent!).
I walked into the city with Carly (kick starting this new healthy lifestyle) which took about 45 mins
And again
. The medical went well, I had a sight test, was weighed and measured and then had to give a urine sample. Then headed in to see the doctor, a nice Chinese man called Henry (very authentic) who fired a million questions at me but failed to question anything I had highlighted on my medical form.. like my fractured spine. He listened to my heart, tested my eyes, looked in my ears (and no the light didn't come out the other side) and felt my tummy. Finally I was allowed to leave and head for my x-ray but not before he started giving me a full run down of what's going on in China at the moment and asked me if I wanted a leaflet explaining the Chinese Government. Apparently it was for his studies. Anyway, headed in for my x-ray, had to put on a sexy blue cloth dress thing which tied out the back. I was squashed flat up against a white screen and then left alone to be scanned.
Needless to say, after my expensive week, we didn't go out on Friday. Instead we sat in, listened to some music and abused some goon. I actually had a migraine so I put myself to bed for a while. I came down at just gone midnight to find the girls drunk and dancing in the lounge. I went back to bed again.
Saturday I dragged Carly and Jonny into the city with me for a wander about, just to get out of the house for a bit
Bilc, Shernon & Moi
. I made them walk.. much to Jonny's disgust. This new health kick thing is great, although it's wearing me out! After a couple of hours of mooching about we got the bus back home. Katie and Hannah were heading off to see Elton John so us girls decided go to the Burswood, the casino for the night for a NON Elton John night. Typically, we all get ready and bundle into the taxi and who's on the radio.. Elton bloody John. So nicely I asked Mr tax man to turn the radio station over.. he turned it up. Thanks. We met up with Joe, Adam and Tommy and eventually Katie and Hannah after the gig. We watched a load of people loose a load of money and then danced to the live band until the lights came on in the Irish Bar; Paddy Hannah's. Hannah and I sat down for a bit in a pile of glass which resulted in us cutting our fingers.. hence the pictures with blood. Aimee and Katie headed back home after the bar shut, the rest of us went back to Joe's. I fell over on my way up the front drive and pulled Hannah and Carly down with me, resulting in a sprained ankle.
We finally got home at 8am so I grabbed a whole two hours sleep and then got up, got washed and headed over to Wandi to meet some of our Australian family!
My Nan's sister's family are all over on this side of the world and live on the outskirts of Perth. Nanny had given me my Aunty Marie's email address so I sent her an email and asked if we could meet her, it was Mother's Day this Sunday just gone (11th May) so she had all the family around for a BBQ and asked us to join them. Her husband came to pick us up and we headed south to Wandi. It's pretty much out in the sticks with literally nothing around for miles.
Bruce Again
They live in a bungalow, which looked pretty big, although I never actually went inside! We sat in the garden, in the sunshine chatting and meeting all this family we didn't even know we had. We had a typical Aussie bbq, no shrimps though! Kangaroo snags instead!! Aimee and I didn't taste them though, I still don't like the idea of eating Kangaroo, it's meant to be life beef but not as chewy! I don't like beef though so can't imagine liking roo. Marie has two horses, three dogs, two cats and an aviary full of canaries. She does horse riding lessons and asked Aimee and I if we would like to have a go.. Aimee's never been on a horse before so went all shy and I had a hugely swollen ankle so we had to turn the offer down. Hopefully next time though, it's been years since I have been horse riding so would love to have a go. We sat and watched the children play.. and the kiddies until late afternoon and then decided to head home.
Marie dropped us back and invited us to come back again soon. She also mentioned a weekend at her sons house.. who I cant remember his name, he lives in Beverley and has a massive house and a load of horses and also a weekend by the sea somewhere as well. So we are hopefully going to get that arranged some time soon. They all seem really lovely though and we had a nice day
Bruce Shitlock
. Completely forgot to take any pictures though which is a shame but we will see them all again soon I hope.At 1am on Monday morning Chloe arrived, all tired and excited after a long flight from England. She's not sure what she wants to do at the moment so hasn't made any plans as yet. She's got her working holiday visa though so she may stay for the whole year or she might head over and do the east coast and then meet us in Darwin ready to do Asia with us. Aimee's been thinking about heading home these last few weeks. She's not been working at all so she spends all day in bed or watching TV. The only interaction she gets is when we all bundle in from a busy day at work and then all we want to do is watch TV or get an early night.. needless to say, Aimee is bored. Now Chloe's here though it's inspiring Aimee to get a job, so she can save up and do the east coast with Chloe. Aimee's uncle lives in Manly, Sydney, so she wants to head over there and see that family whilst Chloe does Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road and then meet in Sydney and do the east coast together.. which will be brilliant if it pulls off. Aimee seriously needs to get some money sorted though, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.
I am still waiting to hear about my second year visa, I still might have to leave the country!! Keep your fingers, arms, legs and eyes crossed for me!!
Katie and I have been busying ourselves working out what we want to do on the west coast and how much it is all going to cost. Ideally we would like to hire a camper and drive it all so we can do it at our leisure but the petrol is going to be too much for us, plus it is 4283 kilometres from Perth to Darwin (straight).
Carly & Jonny
. plus we will want to do some exploring so I dread to think how much we will end up forking out on petrol. So, I think the plan is to get the Premier coach from Perth up to Broom and then hire a camper to drive from Broome, through the Kimberley's to Darwin. Yes, that sounds like a better plan!!We are all heading off to Rottnest Island on Saturday for the day (www.rottnestisland.com/en/default.htm). Rottnest Island is south of Perth, it's 11 kilometres long and has something stupid like 60 beaches!! We will be hiring bikes and spending the day going from beach to beach and stopping every so often for a drink or a bite to eat. The last ferry back is at 4pm which is a shame as we wont get to watch the sun go down but never mind.
Then Sunday we plan to head into Fremantle and go to the markets and to Little Creatures for a few drinks. Little Creatures is a really good bar in Fremantle that my mate Toni (little feet) used to work at. We've all heard loads about it so we all want to go and check it out. It looks like fun: www.littlecreatures.com.au
Anyhoo, that's it for now.
Much love
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