Taking the pith

Today was a more successful day kitting out "the van with no name". We spent what felt like a fortune in Big W getting a water bottle, esky, storage drawers, utensils, chopping board, cutlery, camping chairs, scales, crockery, there is so much ot buy when you have nothing.

I bought a great little citrus peeler to save my teeth, gums and fingers from the perils of peeling oranges. I am eating around four a day, they are so delicious. All fruit and vegetables are delicious here, even M&S fruit was starting to get a bit tasteless in England.

People here are very passionate about buying Australian, preferably West Australian. I think this is wonderful and we have adopted the same attitude. Oly and I diligently check the labels and country of origin for everything we buy, even the toilet roll is from WA. There is nothing like having fresh home growth produce!

Em

We now have a Kombi! Part 1 (OJG)

Hi everyone,

got back from my micro trip late last night, and boy do I have a lot to write!

So I guess start from the beginning...

We decided to go for a bike ride with Danny and Jody on Sunday morning. My flight was leaving at 12:30 so I figured I had plenty of time... (I can hear some of you chuckling already!). We just went to the harbour, had a quick bit of breakfast and then cycled back. Although we are both fairly unfit we managed the 16km round trip (which did have some hills), and we were not too puffed out at the end. I think it was a good introduction. We got back at about 10 which gave me an hour to get ready, an hour to get there, and 30 minutes to go through the terminal.

Everything went as planned, in fact we got there early! So early in fact that we went back out of the airport and filled the rental car with petrol. When we returned to the airport, Emelie and I chatted a little bit in the car, and then I thought I might as well go in. I got to the desk at 11:44, I thought it was a little strange that there was no queue, but did not increase my leisurely pace to the desk. Anyway, you've guessed it, the flight was leaving at 12:00 and they were in the process of closing check-in. Luckily I was let in (I had only hand luggage), and I raced to the Plane. Of course I needn't of worried too much, the plane was delayed by 20 mins due to a runway change.

The flight up north was nice, it took about 90 minutes in this Fokker 100 Jet. I was sitting on the right hand side so all I saw was endless desert with the occasional patch of green. I say endless desert like it is a bad thing, but really some of the patterns in the ground were very impressive. Unfortunately the in-flight meal was nowhere near that mark.

The airport at Learmonth (about 30 mins drive South of Exmouth) was very small. Really small. Which made it all the funnier watching this woman in impossibly long high heels and tight skirt walk out of the airport (not graceful at all) into what must be the only stretched limo for 1000km. The chauffeur was obviously a big surfer dude, and he was doing an impeccable job of trying to get all of this woman's luggage into the back of the limo (and still looking cool)... but in the end they just had to put the remaining half into the back of a pickup truck, and off they went into the distance.

Exmouth is a very small town. But more than that it has the appearance of being fairly new and also remote. Most of the homes are mobile homes of one sort or another, and most of the buildings still look very new and spartan. I did get to see that some of the houses a little further inland are actually quite solid looking and homely. This possibly reflects the difference between the people that are temporary residents and permanent ones. There was not much actual construction going on whilst I was there, but it was plain to see that large plots of land are being prep'd for new homes.

I stayed at the Potshot, otherwise known as the Potty! Incidentally Australians love to abbreviate everything, and I mean everything! Freemantle is reduced to Freo, Afternoon to Arvo, etc. I think the formula is to reduce the word to about 3-4 letters and then add an O or Y to the end. Luckily my name fits right in with that!

So, the Potty, a medium sized complex with rooms of various price, a pool area, a dining area, and of course a bar area. By "area" I actually mean seperate building. My room was very basic, the walls were corrugated sheet steel, a small window, and a bathroom with a shower. It didn't look the prettiest but it did have everything I needed, and everything worked fine. Btw, if Richard is reading this, they had those same wicker chairs all over the place!

After checking in at the Potty, I went to Gracie's, the other bar in the town to meet the owners of Charlie!

Oh and yes, you guessed it, they have emus that openly roam around the town... although they can be a little camera shy.

More in Part 2!

Innaloo

Wow!

We have a van.

It is a bit terrifying to think that we are going to be living in this for six months. Even more terrifying the think that this is going to get us around Australia.

Off we trotted to Ikea where we bought some bits for our new home and for a change we went to the shopping centre in Innaloo (how crazy is that name?) It was not the best idea as we went to Kmart and it was so full of rubbish we got really disheartened. Hopefully we will do better tomorrow.

Em

Pool boy

Danny asked me last night to "supervise" the erecting of the fence going around their pool. The man was coming at 8AM so Danny would wake me up in the morning.

I woke up when I heard Danny and Jody getting ready for work and went back to sleep as I knew he would wake me up when I was needed. I wake up again to a totally silent house, leap out of bed when I realise it is 9AM call Danny in a panic thinking he had tried to wake me and I had not responded, only to find out he had forgotten.

Oly came back with the van around 9:30PM much to my glee, I can't wait for the morning to explore it.

Em

A little behind

No the title isn't anything to do with any weight loss. I wish!

I am staying in today and filling in the missing days from our blog. Ol kindly gave me the job of updating daily and drearily, he comes in a couple of times a week with his input, dazzles and delights, leaving everyone wanting more, including me!

I am having trouble remembering what we have done. Not because we are doing exciting things, it is because there is only so much 'we went to the shopping center' I can write about, and we really have been going to the shopping center a lot.

So if you have been here before, you may want to scroll back and see what you have missed and what I have been able to remember.

Something tells me this is going to take me a while, all this sparkling wit and charm does not come easily, I have to work at it.

Em

The waiting game

I hopped out of bed bright and early today, anyone that knows me knows it takes alot of to get me out of bed in the morning, even Santa doesn't cut it anymore.

My mission of the day was to get to the bank, withdraw the money for the kombi so when Oly calls me at 12:30 with their bank details I can put the cash in and it will show on their account immeadiately, oly can then get on the road and be back here tomorrow.

So thats the plan.

I withdrew the money and waited 30 min, no call from Ol and his phone is switched off. I could sit and wait for him to call me or I could go shopping, after all I am once again in Whitford City Shopping Mall.

When Oly finally calls at 3PM the dent in the money could have been worse, the depsoit went in and Oly started his journey back at 16:30. He called me at 20:00 to say he had reached Coral Bay which is 150km south of Exmouth.

I spent the evening, from about 6pm, at the beach reading my book, they turned the lights out at 21:30 which was my cue to leave.

Em

Road trip

Dropped Ol off at the airport for his flight and I pootled down to Kelmscott to spend the rest of the day at Dad and Rose's.

Rose and I went and had a look at some of the local houses for sale. Australians have a very different taste in decor to Pommies http://www.realestate.com.au/ at least not to my taste.

To view a house here they have open days, I think usually on a weekend, the owners go out and the estate agent stays in the house and people just show up and nose around. In a way its better than the UK, you don't have to keep the house tidy all week or panic when there is a unplanned viewing. One house had so many scented candles burning I could smell them from the bottom of the path and nearly swooned when I walked in, it was very off putting.

I pootled back to Padbury in the dark, rather pleased with myself that I didn't get lost on the way and driving at such a slow speed is quite relaxing really.

Em

Sausage sizzle

Went to lunch at Hilary's Boat Harbour today with Danny and Jody, we were all going to ride there but it seemed easier to drive.

The boys then decided to go to Bunnings Warehouse, which is like a very large B&Q, to get some bits for Danny's shed. I am told one of the main attractions is the "sausage sizzle" which you can buy and eat on your way around looking at big tools, what more could a boy want? I don't really know what this sausage sizzle is, I imagine it is like a hotdog, when Danny wistfully spoke of this legendary snack his hand seemed to naturally fall into a hotdog holding pose.

Ol and I went to Dad's for dinner where we met Zena and her fiancée Dillon. I was allowed to drive the car and only had a few misunderstandings with the overly sensitive brakes. Ol tends to get car sick, which he blames on my driving, so he drives more than I do. Driving 15000 km around Australia is going to be fun!

Em

Be right back (OJG)

Hi everyone,

This will be my last blog for several days as I am flying up to Exmouth tomorrow to see this camper van. The plan is for me to take the flight up Sunday lunchtime, and then see the car in the afternoon. I will then stay there overnight, have a cheeky dive the next morning, and then make my way back that afternoon. The journey back down should take 2 days of leisurely driving. Apparently many people do not travel at night in case of a Roo colission, which in nearly all cases writes off the vehicle. The purpose of a Roo-Bar (Bull-bar) is to protect the people not so much the actual vehicle (I suspect the huge ones on the trucks are a little stronger!).

Speaking of Roos, I have yet to see one, or at least to have had a definite siting. I think I saw a dead one in the middle of the freeway, but 2 minutes later changed my mind when I saw a second lying one on the side of the road and then realised it was just a rolled up beige carpet that had fallen out of a lorry.

In fact I have yet to see any exotic animals at all!!! No spiders, no snakes, no crocs, and no sharks! I have seen some goldfish, a few cats & dogs, seagulls, pigeons.... it's just like home really! Oh I suppose we saw a couple of Pelicans doing their best impression of a WWII bombing run, it was actually quite impressive.

We went to Freo the other day (Freemantle), which was interesting. A sort of small old port / university town with nearly all of its traditional buildings still in tact. It is one of the trendiest places in Perth to be. We saw the first place that Emelie lived in when she came to Perth, and althought the place did not look as good as it does today, the view was as amazing then as it is now.

I think that will have to be it for this blog entry, I have various things I need to get organised before the voyage up North.

<--- Old House. Oly

Friends with Blogs: Cortijo Los Ranos

Our friends Richard and Christine have started their own blog about their adventures in Spain where they emigrated, you can view it here http://cortijolosranos.blogspot.com/ if you drop in say hi!

Laundry

We had a wonderful dinner at friends of Oly's family who live in Mount Lawley. Slight panic initially as we had nothing to wear and it took us around four hours to find a laundrette. A few hours later, washed and dried to a crisp (I had put 30 minutes on the tumble dryer and I was determined to get every last second) we were ready.

I think I have only been to a laundrette once before when Oly and I first shared a flat together. I remember him asking me what a jee'so was, I didn't have a clue what he was talking about until I realised he was reading the "personal" ads in the local paper and was referring ot GSOH, good sense of humour. Now if one of us has a lack of humour we say "where's your jee'so?"

Em

Chocolate dreams

Picked up our bikes today.

Did a little shopping for the van we haven't got yet and sampled the local KFC which was really ropey. It is good that we are not finding the fast food places enjoyable, we do have to try them all though, as Richard would say, it would be rude not too!

Had delicious Thai take-away for dinner. Ol had been dreaming about the bamboo chicken, how come my chocolate dreams don't come true...

Em

Sightseeing

Dad and Rose took us on a sightseeing trip today. It was great to have someone to show you around, tell you stories and give you some background.

We went from Kelmscott over to Rockingham and up to Fremantle where we had to battle with the seagulls with our fish and chips (chicken and chips for oly). The seagulls are a lot cleaner than in the UK, just as cheeky though.

Went to a really nice area on the River, very expensive with beautiful views, can't for the life of me remember what it was called. We then made our way up to Triggs where we had coffee and cake and watched the sunset.

The day we went into Perth we parked at the train station, it is free to park here, and as there where no spaces we parked along a kerb in the parking area as other cars had done so. We did the same today but parked on the grass along with other cars and had a $50 parking fine (GBP20) stuck to our windscreen when we got back. I guess we won't be doing that again.

Em

Bikes

Today we purchased some shiny new bicycles from Georges Bike Shop.

Will post a picture tomorrow.

Not just any bicycles, Giant Comfort/Cross bikes with suspension in the seat for saddle sore free riding, unless of course you are into that.

We didn't do much else, like everything in Australia so far, if you talk to someone you end up getting their life story so even the simplest things take hours.

Em

McCafe (OJG)

Hi everyone, me again.

Well it's been a fun few days since my last blog entry, during which time it has rained tons more (especially when I am walking about in town). Incidentally Perth City center is very small, it literally takes 2 minutes to walk their equivalent of Oxford Street, and about 3 minutes to walk their equivalent of The City. Having said that, they do have 3 tall buildings! No seriously, on the plus side everything is very clean and tidy, and everyone is friendly and offering all sorts of extra advice, which I am sure will come in handy one day.

Ok, now I have taken a picture of this restaurant, or cafe as it likes to be known, which can be seen to the right. Anyone guess the name of the cafe? Starbucks? Nope. Cafe Nero? No again.... I'll tell you the name... McDonald's!!! Yep I couldn't believe it either, hence the picture. Mind you the burgers still tasted below average, and I doubt we would go there again unless we found ourselves desperate for food at 2am... again.

What else, Emelie thought it would be nice to go to Fast Eddys, a burger joint that she used to frequent when she was a teenager. She also thought it would be a nice idea to steal a menu for old times sake. However when we got there, it was clear to see that this burger place was a favourite of the local law enforcement! I told Emelie that she would really have a challenge if she wanted to carry out her mission... But I suspect the thought of appearing on "World's Dumbest Criminals" got the better of her, and we decided to go ahead with plan B, and just ask if we could have one, to which we received two.

We think we have seen our perfect camper van, it has everything we want, well more or less everything, but most importantly it has a new (1 year old) unleaded engine which we have not seen on any other Kombis. The only slight problem is that the van is just up the road a little bit, which in Australia means 2 days drive. The owner is a diving instructor though and assures me that if we do go up we will get to dive with Manta Rays which has been a life-long ambition of mine for.... well life. Well ever since I had this book entitled "Monsters of the Deep" (I was probably 8 years old), which had a picture of a Devil Ray (another name for the Manta Ray) leaping out of the water. So I am doubly excited about that upcoming mini trip... Oh and apparently it is not raining up there!!! Triply excited.

So, in terms of overall trip progress, we have a rental car, we have spoken to a few people about camper vans (our fave is the one up the road), we have bought some bikes, and we are slowly but surely gathering all the bits that we will need for the long journey. In the next couple of days we intend to actually see some of the campers, see some of the tourist spots in Perth (still not done any of that), start to use the bikes, and various other bits.

Well I guess that is enough quiet time for one day, I'd better wake the woman up and get on with the task list. Oh and for those that are interested, I mentioned in my last blog that I needed a massage but had not yet received one! Well Emelie read this and felt all guilty, and said that she would in fact give me a massage, and that I had better write about it when she did... Well I am still waiting!

Oly

Perth

Today, we had our first ride on the train. They don't leave you much time to get on and off and the whole length of the train is open so you can see all the way from the front to the back. This makes the ride a bit surreal as you watch the tail of the train whipping back and forth as you go around corners and everyone is sitting calmly but your screaming inside your head expecting it to break off on the next bend and plummet into an abyss with all the people still inside it.

Ol and I spent as long as you could in a very small city trying to find a decent exchange rate for some English money we had, there is one road where all the banks are. In the end the best rate was found at a little booth tucked away between shops in the main shopping drag which is two roads that run parallel to each other.

Ol was very excited over the hobby shop, some of the stuff in there was so old you could barely work out what was on the boxes as they were so faded.

Fast Eddies was tasty, I had a steak sandwich. It hadn'’t changed much in 20 years. I resisted the urge to steal a menu due to the constant stream of police dining there, they must do good donuts.

Em

Red Rooster

I didn't wake up until 4PM which meant I slept for 16 hours. I managed to staple my eyelids open last night to watch my movie, Melinda and Melinda.

So there goes today.

Went we for a drive and got some Red Rooster which we ate on the beach... well in the car on the beach because it was a bit nippy.

That's pretty much all we managed to do today.

No birds were harmed in the photo and we didn't eat it, now if it were a rooster...

Em

Hi everyone (OJG)

Hi everyone, time for me to add a little bit to this blog!


Well it has been quite a trip so far, I suspect we would be displaying a lot more emotions if it were not for the jetlag. When we arrived Emelie said she wanted to go home, and we realised that we had no home... it hit us both like a ton of bricks.

Anyway, just to go over the last few days a little bit... The flights over were hard work, the BA flight was completely and utterly full and the seats were pretty small even for economy. No damn legroom. So no more BA flights on that route. Quantus was a delight, and they have about 30 videos and several dozen CDs that are all on-demand, so you can pause and play whenever you want.

Security at Heathrow wasn't too much of a problem, however due to the size restriction we both had packed over 12KG of "stuff" into our tiny carry-on bags, and although the Duty Free was interesting it was not interesting enough to numb the pain on the shoulders. I am still suffering, and do you think my masseuse wife does anything about it??!?!?!?

Singapore Duty Free was actually pretty damn good... I bought a couple of bits to add to my body tiltting bag, for at least 50% off the UK price. I would recommend it to anyone... and btw a 60GB video iPod is .... argh no pound sign on this keyboard... ok.... 220 UKP instead of the 300 UKP that it would cost in the UK, in case anyone is interested (we will fly back that route).

Weather-wise, it has been pretty cool at night, but nice and warm when the sun appears. 2 days ago it rained a little bit, which was fine. Apparently they have been waiting for rain all year, so it was lucky we came! Yesterday it rained some more, just whilst we were trying to find our way South of the river, which was also fine. And last night, it positively hurled down rain the whole night with a frightening gale that kept on slamming doors nearby... I knew the house was pretty sturdy, but I was sure something somewhere would give. Luckily it did not. That was also fine, but enough rain now, show us some sun!

Food so far has been pretty good, still waiting for my first Barby! Also, waiting for my first "Chooks" ... Chooks? I hear you cry... yes apprently that is a Chicken take away place... "like KFC, but 100% better and with real chicken"... I will let you know!

Stuff in general has been cheaper than the UK... Food is a lot cheaper, Electronics are about the same, kitchen stuff looks cheaper, cars are cheaper, the real surprise is that books are very expensive... I mean about double the UK cost... which is shocking.... especially as I left so many behind :(

Been spending a lot of time writing lists of stuff to do, oh and try and getting my damn GPS to work... well... it works beautifully, I just want to get the Australia maps on it cheaply as they are too damn expensive in the shops! Anyway, I think I am near to completion on that task, and I should be able to print off a screen grab to show you all where we are :)

Our mission for the next few days (should we chose to accept it), is to find a rental car, get our UK Cash exchanged with a decent rate (the bank wanted to take 5% on top of their commision charge!), look at camper vans, and visit friends and relatives in the Perth area. Oh and sort out remaining stuff that still needs sorting back in the UK... sigh.

Aha! Here is a picture taken from the GPS with all the maps loaded, and if you think this looks like a classic example of the suburbian planning, you'd be right. The road names have been removed to protect the innocent...

Oh and the picture at the top was just a quick and obviously unsmooth panoramic... they will get much better I promise!

Ok, I think that is it for the moment, time to read the book on that GPS.

Oly

Rain

It rained today.

Finally got to sleep around 06:30 and was woken by Oly at 11:30.

We went down to Kelmscott to visit Dad and Rose, its more rural south of the river, a lot more trees, they live in the hills which is nice. We made the mistake of going down the Albany highway which was traffic lights every 5 minutes. Coming back we went on the Tonkin highway, though I keep referring to it as the Tonka, and it was much better.

I really need a decent cup of tea, to get something that remotely resembles builders tea I have to use two teabags, I guess it’s better than nothing.

I fell asleep in the car on the way home but am trying to stay awake as long as I can. I think I will watch a movie on my laptop…

Em

Jet lag

Couldnt get back to sleep after our 3AM Clockwork Orange eyeball experience so we stayed awake until it was time to take Danny and Jody to the airport at 7AM, they are going to Melbourne for four days.

Went to Hillarys Boat Harbour for coffee while we waited for the banks to open. It's a long way to London from here.

So after a day at the Westfield Mall in Whitfield we are proud owners of Australian mobile phone numbers and a bank account. Not bad for a days work.

Oly had his first meat pie (yum) and to finish it off he decided to test the Florentines which were a little firmer than most, it was tasty once you managed to break a bit off.

Made the mistake of having a nap at 6PM as I just could not stay awake any longer, woke up at 8PM ready to get up but Oly decided he needed a nap so who am I to argue? Next thing I know its 10:30PM.

And right now its 5:05AM

Zzzzz

Em

We are here!

Well we are here and its 3am, 8pm in the UK, and we are wide awake!

During the day it is warm in the sun and the sky is so clear, however it is freezing here at night. We huddle together for warmth and we are not used to a double bed, we had a superking, so every time one rolls over in the bed the other one has to as well, good job we are cutting out sweets and crisps, soon there will be more room!

Oly and I went for a walk to the local shop to get a few provisions, I can't believe how clean roads, pavement, shops etc are, it practically gleams. Everyone is so friendly and says g'day to you as you are walking past, we have been practicing as we don't want to look like we are tourists.

Danny took us to Sorrento beach where we experienced our first Australian sunset.

We went out tonight for a great Thai meal which cost $20 (GBP8) per head. We couldn't eat it all as there was so much delicious food. You can bring your own wine to the restaurant which is charged at 40p corkage per person... it was fab, went to bed at 10PM and both woke up at 3AM which is when I started...

Em

Singapore

The flight was really cramped on BA to Singapore. The cabin was so hot, I really thought I was going through the "change", the leg room was terrible, so terrible the guy behind me decided to put his stockinged foot on my arm rest and was touching my arm (you know who you are 58A). The first time he did it I asked him kindly to move it, the second time I moved my arm, I just didn't have the energy to fight.

The picture is of me in Singapore looking crumpled and tired yet somewhat relieved, I am also modeling my beautiful necklace Leah made for me as a going away present.

The service was good, very easy for the cabin crew, hot meal when you get on then lights out go to sleep and 1 1/2 hours before landing hot breakfast... long haul must be so boring for them. Qantas was much roomier and the plane was half empty but the service was really slow.

We landed at 00:30 Thursday 17th and sailed through customs.

We are now Australia residents.

We are now ready for our adventure...

Em

Heathrow

I arrived at LHR with plenty of time to sit outside departures waiting to be allowed into the terminal to check in. We had caught the tail end of the terror plot security scare and the DOT were reintroducing cabin baggage onto flights. Providing you only intended to carry miniature cabin baggage purchased on your last travels to Lilliput.

Oly arrived after I did and had to go through the same incredible shrinking bag trick to get his hand luggage into the bag cage. The secret is to stick all your books under your arms without anyone noticing.

Once inside the terminal it was a dream, we sailed through. There were no queues, and as Sam the wise one had said, in an effort to comfort me, once I hit duty free I would forget I was sad, and she was right

My elation wore off once I boarded the plane and realised it was packed, then I really did miss home.

Em