Australia

The days leading up to Xmas were taken at a leisurely pace. With us not wanting to over spend we tried to spread out the activities, but we knew we would have 2 days work at the Seafresh fishmongers on 23rd and 24th which really helped ease our minds about the time spent financially. The job was working as part of customer service dishing out different types of fish to keen locals who were preparing for their Xmas meals. This concept seemed odd to Sarah and I as we have been used to the butchers being the busiest around Xmas. It was a tough 11 hour labour on your feet all day keeping up with what the customer wanted and dealing with random seafood questions. But at the same time is was quite fun dealing with the madness. Sarah and I certainly know more about fish than we did before and the pay was quite substantial for a temp job.

Xmas day we were ready for a good time spending it with the Broomfields. Having had last Xmas in Cambodia on our own we were glad to be part of a family gathering. Before making our way to Fran and MJ's we decided to head to the beach with our elf hats to soak up the traditional Aussie Xmas day.

It was great to have that experience especially when at home it would normally be a completely different type of weather. We did feel sad for home as the weather was particularly bad this time with freak floods and people loosing water and power, so I'm not sure the Facebook post of us on the beach would have gone down as well.

Sadly time was not on our side and so we left the beach but it wasn't all bad as the by the time we got back to the house the spread for lunch looked incredible. When we arrived we were introduced to some MJ's family who were going to be joining us and it wasn't long before the rest of the gang turned up and we were sitting round the table having drinks and enjoying the feast.

The tradition of opening of the Christmas cracker with crappy joke and kings hats was kept which was great to see.

After the feast Santa joined us and helped us to dish out our secret Santa presents, whilst providing us with our very own elf names.

The idea of the game is that you get to pick your present however the twist is that the person after you can choose to steal yours or try for a new one. The game went down a treat and it was odd to find out just how much a Velcro ball and glove game was so popular as it changed hands three or four times!

After the dessert options , which was almost a big as the main meal the Broomfield's handed out their Xmas presents and we all relaxed taking in some drinks and playing with new presents!

Later that evening a few of us played charades which was quite funny, especially my attempt to explain exotic! For those involved you have that memory now.

It was a really fun day and we just want to say a big thanks to all the Broomfield's for making us feel so welcome. :-)

After Xmas we had 6 days to fill before flying over to the east coast which was mixed with amongst other things, going to the beach of course!

On one of the days we went to the beach we heard our first shark siren warning and a Sarah witnessed the announcement and everyone coming out of the water. It was a sobering thought but it didn't stop people getting back in the water.

Sarah was determined to get a job application out to an opening back home and so I joined Broomy with his family up to the Perth Hills to visit another family connection. The house they lived in was pretty cool, surrounded by woodland. The only downside to the area was that they would be prone to the bush fires that can be devastating to areas like this, luckily nothing like that has happened but it did make me think about the families in NSW who suffered with the fires earlier in the year. Later that day we met up with some of Broomy's friends to have a go at wake boarding. It was so much fun and something I want to look into more when I get home. Broomy aced it on his first go and so was left to try and get it together and to my surprise I managed to get up on my feet. Such a rush!

One of the other afternoons we arranged to meet up with some Perth people for a BBQ by the river. Sadly, not all could make it but we did get a chance to say farewell to Dushsyan who we had met in Melbourne through Broomy.

MJ and Fran offered us to go and check out some tennis which was being played at the new Perth arena.

The competition was called the Hopman Cup and it would be France versus Czech Republic which meant that Jo Wilfried Tsonga, a top 5 player in the world, was representing France which sweetened the deal.

The games were well contested, especially the women's singles match and so the round had to be settled with a mixed doubles match which France won with great ease. This ball boy stole the show though with his unique technique.

Our last outing was to the bowling alley. We went with Broomy and Aggie as they were taking Jasmine and Jake, Broomy's niece and nephew. The games were free which was a bonus and we had a good time knocking down them pins.

We really enjoyed our time with the Broomfield's and it was sad that we had to move on. Leaving on New Years Eve meant we needed to do goodbyes early as everyone was heading off to the city for the New Years parties but in way it made it a little easy as we got to see everyone before we left.

A big thank you in particular to Aggie, Fran and MJ for giving us homes to stay in during this period in Perth and a huge thank you again to everyone for making us feel welcome. As soon as we have somewhere you are more than welcome to stay with us

We will certainly be keeping in touch with this family for sure. Love em!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Stay tuned for more tales

Dan

We'd heard mixed reviews about The Pinnacles and whether they are worth going to or not, with the majority of people we know saying that they weren't. But when would we be in the area again... So we hopped in the car one morning to go see it for ourselves. It is a couple of hours drive north of Perth to the Nambung National Park where the Pinnacles can be found. These are limestone formations which appear to have sprung up out of the sand and there are hundreds of them!

There is a small national park fee of $12 per vehicle which helps to maintain the area and their great visitors centre. Its definately worth going in there first before checking out the Pinnacles as there's lots of information on the area, wildlife and the Pinnacles themselves.

Theories on how they formed can't be agreed upon but the one I liked most was that this used to be a living forest, and each Pinnacle would be a fossilised tree!

The indigenous people of the area were afraid of going to this place due to the sinking sand. Elders warned not to go into the desert but some young men didn't heed these warnings and disappeared in the dunes. Legend has it that the Pinnacles are their fingerstips desperately grasping for something to pull them out of the sand. When you know this story it becomes more of a spooky place.

After walking around for a bit we decided to move on before it got too hot. I definately would say they are worth seeing, we've not seen anything like it our trip so it was quite a novelty to see.

We drove on to the nearest town called Cervantes, stopping off along the way when we saw a tourist sign pointing to Lake Thetris which is one of the few places that you can see Stromomites and Blister mats which are microbial communities, essentially bacteria in the sediment which releases oxygen. This is a living fossil which gives a view into what the Earth would have been like before other living organisms evolved. Not gonna lie, there wasn't much to look at but we can check it off the list as something we ve seen.

Cervantes was a lovely little place to hang out, with a practically deserted beach and only a scattering of houses of the main strip with a cafe it was a perfect places to laze around for the afternoon.

A great day trip out of the city.

Sxx

Built in the 1850s and used as a prison up until 1991, Fremantle Prison is one of Western Australia's most significant heritage sites, so we had to go take a look.

We decided to go for the Great Escapes Tour where we would hear tales of convicts escapes whilst going around the prison.

First we were taken up to one of the guard towers. It was already baking hot in there with the sun shining through the glass so we didn't want to stay up there for long, I can't imagine what it would have been like to have had to sit up there when it was over 40 degrees! As we looked out over the prison we were told how one guy tried to make a dash for it when a ladder had been left unattended against the outer wall by a maintenance worker. As he scaled the ladder the guard in the tower sounded the alarm and fired a warning shot in the air. This didn't stop the convict who continued to climb so the guard shot at him, he wasn't the best aim though and missed. You can still make out where the bullet smashed into the wall.

Our guide told us that most escapees were picked up within a few days nearby. One of the guards that now tours the prison remembers when a colleague went into the pub for after work drinks. He was surprised when the barman gave him a drink with compliments from a gentleman in the corner of the pub. It was a convict who had escaped just days before, needless to say he ended up in a different kind of lock in! What a muppet!

One man had worked out a possible escape point after a lawyer showed a map of the prison during his trial! He managed to get work duty making prison uniforms. When the wardens weren't looking he could make fake guards uniforms and civilian clothes undetected. On the day of his escape him and another prisoner scrambled over the roof and in the second of hesitation where the guard on patrol was not sure if they were fellow guardsman or not, they had got over the wall, discarded the guard clothes and disappeared wearing the civilian clothes they had concealed underneath.

Check out this jailbird! A kestral, one of a mating pair that have chosen the prison as their home.

We were taken into the exercise yard which is overlooked by small cell windows and surrounded by razor wire.

You can still see scraps of prison uniform tangled up in the wire from where prisoners made their desperate attempt to get out. The walls even had shards of glass sticking out of them to deter escapes. Ouch!

It is hard to imagine how you would escape out of here but one man managed to with the aid of dieting and a lot of butter. Now these two things don't normally go hand in hand but it all comes together as his story unfolds. His girlfriend had smuggled in some diamond wire in her shoe laces, wearing similar boots to those worn by prisoners they managed to do a shoe swap under the table so now he had wire to cut through the bars of his cell window.

It was only on returning to his cell that he realised that he was too fat to make his escape so he went on a 5 month diet, and at the same time started to hoard small packets of butter. When he reached his target weight he smothered himself in the now gone off butter and mangaged to squeeze himself through the tiny window and climb up on to the roof. Here he made a leap to the outside wall! Now that's some motivation for losing weight.

Inside the prison it was interesting to see that the cells were now being used for small businesses. Today you can come to the prison to learn guitar or even have a massage. Although I'm not sure how relaxing that would be in an old prison cell!

We were taken through to a section of the prison which had held one of the most notorious escapees, Moondyne Joe, an Englishman who found himself sent to Australia in 1853 as part of a sentence he was serving for burglary. He was given a pardon in 1855 where he then lived in the Darling Ranges as a bushranger earning money from catching and returning escaped livestock. For over 10 years he lived free until he made the mistake of branding an unmarked horse as his own which was considered as horse stealing and so he was locked up. This is where he made his first of many escapes breaking out of his cell and stealing the horse back along with the magistrates saddle and bridle which are very expensive items. He was caught the next day and sent back to prison.

He had 3 years to serve but due to good behaviour he was released early and started to work on a farm. During this time he was accused of a crime he denied committing and found himself back in prison. Outraged at this he decided he no longer was going to play by the rules. He escaped from a work detail and was on the run for a month, he attempted to cut the lock from his cell, when he managed to escape for a third time he made a gang with some other escapees who carried out robberies around Perth but eventually they were all caught again!

Given his reputation Moondyne Joe was put in an escape-proof cell at Fremantle Prison that had been built especially for him. It was tiny and was made out of stone with railway sleepers nailed onto the walls to prevent him from getting out. He was also sentanced to hard labour breaking stones. The authorities didn't trust him to do the job outside the prison so piles of rock were brought into the yard where he would be supervised breaking it up. How ever the pile of stones that he made was not moved regularly and soon he had built up a pile that prevented the guard from seeing him from the waist down. He used this to mask the fact that every other strike of his pick axe was actually into the prison wall! And you guessed it he escaped again, though a hole in the wall! He evaded capture for 2 years and was only caught again due to his love of wine when he was found stealing wine from a cellar!

Check out this amazing artwork which was discovered during restoration. Drawing and writing was banned in the prison but James Walsh, the prisoner that had lived in this cell, had managed to take advantage of the fact that every few weeks they would be given whitewash to paint their walls to help keep their cells clean. So he would draw and then cover up his creations without getting caught! They were undiscovered for nearly 100 years, you can tell that he would have been a good forger which is what he had been imprisoned for.

We were also shown the women's section of the prison which was separate to the mens. They would be tasked with doing all the laundry and other jobs deemed for women. No men were allowed in this section so only female guards worked here.

After exploring the prison we decided to check out some more of Fremantle which would become a favourite place for us to go wander around and grab lunch, I think because it reminds us a bit of the quirky areas of Melbourne with similar architecture and cafes on the street.

Freo is home to the Dockers, who had made it into the AFL final this year so it was good to see where they train.

We continued on the historic theme and headed to check out the Round House which had been the early place to hold prisoners before the prison was built.

Dan felt at home on here...

Sxx

When I discovered that Dan had never seen a full orchestra play live I decided it we should try to find a concert to go to. Originally I thought it would be awesome to see one at the Opera House when we got to Sydney but it was too expensive so that idea quickly went out of the window. So when I saw that there was a free concert happening in Langley Park show casing the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (WASO) season for 2014 we had to go and check it out.

We wanted to get a good spot so went early into the city and managed to get a space close to the front. Blanket laid out and picnic ready we settled down to enjoy the sunshine and watched the crowds gather.

Soon there was no spare grass as rugs and sheets of various colours and sizes quickly materialised turning the front section of the park into a large patchwork blanket. Everyone was in good spirits and further back after the blanket only section the crowds filled from low chairs to normal sized ones to make sure everyone had a good view.

You know you re at a different music festival when someone pulls out the scrabble along with wine and cheese!

A jazz band blended in with the relaxed chatter of a sunny afternoon creating a great atmosphere.

As we idly laid in the sun an ominous shadow caught our eye... It was Darth Vader! Along with the rest of the cast of Star Wars, who had come out for a photo opportunity with kids and adults alike! Can you guess that the Star Wars theme tune would be one of the pieces played!

Love these guys.

The show was opened with the Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare followed by the Star Wars theme. Whilst this was played an epic battle was fought at the front of the stage complete with lightsabers!

This was the programme that was played...

Everyone was captivated by the theme from Schindlers List and even the kids all stopped playing to listen to the tiny violinist who was playing those haunting notes, the crowd was silent for a few moments after she finished before erupting in applause. Definitely the performance of the night.

The Lord of the Rings score was conducted by the appropriately named Christopher Dragon and we were transported to the world of hobbits and elves although I was a bit disappointed that they didn't put on a Hobbit vs Orc battle like they had done for Star Wars.

We learnt that it is tradition to stand during the Hallelujah Chorus as King George II was so impressed by it at the UK premiere that he got to his feet, and of course if the King was standing then the crowd needed to follow suit.

The evening ended with a good old sing along and fireworks! It had been a great way to spend an evening and all this had been FREE! Awesome!

Sxx

In amongst our time living in the Hillary's we had been enjoying the beaches and chilling out and so we felt we needed to have a day out and explore. The nearest main attraction that is listed a must-do around Perth was Rottnest Island which has been marked as a idyllic holiday location for locals and tourist's alike. Known to the locals as "Rotto" the island was apparently named 'Rotte nest' which means rat nest due to large amount of 'rats' that have nested on the island. These weren't rats at all but Quokkas, more on these to come. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water".

The attraction is that no cars are allowed on the island except for maintenance vehicles and so families tend to hire out villas and enjoy the coastal views whilst the kids are allowed to roam free on the bikes. Similarly day trippers like ourselves can boat over and enjoy a ride around stopping off at coral bays to snorkel and soak up the sun. It is also a perfect place for the locals who own boats to sail out and moor in the bays to snorkel, dive or just fire up a BBQ and get the drinks on.

We booked our ferry a few days before going from Hillarys boat harbour and decided to get the earliest one at 7:30am having been advised by Kim on the best plan of action for a day out at Rotto. It was a perfect situation as we were only 10 minutes away from the harbour and the boat trip from Hillarys is shorter than if we were to go from Fremantle. Arriving on the island we weren't alone and already it seemed that the island dwellers were up and about getting ready for the day. We hadn't picked up our bikes from the mainland before getting on the boat and so we visited the tourist information to get our baring's and then visited the bike hire shop.

Before the store opened we encountered one of the resident wildlife milling around. The Quokka was one of the first Australian mammals seen by Europeans when first visiting the continent. The Dutch mariner Samuel Volckertzoon wrote of sighting "a wild cat" on Rottnest Island in 1658 but nowadays it has been labelled as a Kangeroo Rat. They have no fear of humans and it is common for it to approach you and so everyone was quickly getting out the cameras to have a butchers.

Once the bike shop was open we hired our bikes and snorkel gear and headed off making the decision to cycle the whole island and visit the far western end which was about 8.5km from where we were and so it was going to be a fairly long cycle.

Before we left one of the Quokkas came up to Sarah and said hello.

As we started we began to see the draw to staying on the island as the views are stunning.

Even Santa was holidaying on the island!

As we approached our first bay, Henrietta I missed a very large bobtail lizard by a fraction according to Sarah, I didn't see but thank god I didn't run it over. When we stopped peddling the downside was that the bush flies were on you and wouldn't go away. I have no shame in saying….I hate bush flies!!, they are just relentless always aiming for your eyes and mouth! AAAAAAHAHHHHH! . Fair to say it annoyed me incredibly and so I was keen to get back on the bike. It didn't help stop them but you got a break from it as you cycled up and down the hills.

It was quite surprising that the island was very hilly, and so we managed to get a good work out as we traversed the island. It was a beautiful day and we just kept riding and stopping at a bay when we felt like it taking in the views, such a good way to start the day.

As we reached the last two or three kilometres before the most western point of the island we stopped off for a break at a memorial for Roland (Roly) Smith who pioneered safe passages into the northern and western bays and help make Rottnest a more accessible island.

Moving on it wasn't long before we got to the end of the island and being the only two people around we took in the sea breeze and had a stroll out on the purpose built deck which is normally used to sight whales who migrate around the bay. We were unfortunately out of season for the whales however we did spot one of the native Osprey birds. I managed to follow it as it landed on the other side of the bay and with help from our super camera zoom took a snap. It wasn't till later in the day when we could see the picture on a bigger screen that I realised I actually took a snap of two ospreys together!

The wildflowers were out in full as well.

We left the island edge and continued on with the intention of making it to Little Parakeet as it had been recommended by Mel as it is one of her favourites but by the time we got close to it we were getting pretty fed up of cycling and so we diverted off to Armstrong Bay to go snorkelling and catch some rays.

It was a cool spot with only a handful of people.

Feeling like we had had a good amount of time chilling we moved on and found the Parakeet bay and its little partner and to be fair they were pretty good but by that time we were hungry and fancied a drink and so we moved on to the bar.

We got back to the main port and village around 2.30pm and so we had a good couple of hours before we had to get our boat. We opted out of the cultural walk and in true Aussie fashion we hit the hotel bar! It was so cool to just hang out by the islands edge and soak up the atmosphere with a glass of wine and good company, You really got a feel for how the other half lives in Perth and also just how isolated the city looks from across the waters.

Stay tuned for more tales

Dan