Day 15 Tuesday 15th July
Well, once again we woke to rain – this is not what we came for ! So we had a lazy morning, reading and deciding what to do. Our decision was to go to Hillary’s about 10 mins away – this is a marina with a boardwalk and shops, all undercover, and an aquarium. We started at the aquarium and found it very interesting, laid out very well with staff giving you information at all the major places. We went in the longest glass tunnel in Australia and watched sharks and rays glide over our heads. We had a late lunch in the aquarium café as it was throwing it down with rain again and the outside shows by the sea lions had been cancelled due to the weather. I overheard a lady saying that they could not remember it being so bad in Perth before. Adam received a phone call from the agency looking for a job for him to say that he had been accepted for a job in IT in Canningvale (south east of Perth) with a company who deal with energy, oil, petroleum etc. – he starts on Monday next week. To celebrate we drove to the cinema and as Tuesday is “cheap” day we could all see the film “Hancock” for only $9 each but we would have to wait an hour so Bob and Adam raced each other on the game machines in the foyer and TJ and I sat and had an ice cream. When we came out of the film we were all hungry so we tried the Sizzler Restaurant, it was 8.45 as we entered and the notice on the door said they closed at 9pm but the lady took our order and money and we sat down. It was a buffet salad bar and the boys had ordered steak and chicken, by the time we got to the dessert bar the staff had their coats on waiting for us to finish ! Bob and I have noticed this huge difference in lifestyle more than Adam and TJ because when the restaurants are closing here, they would be just opening in Spain.
Day 16 Wednesday July 16th
Another one of those days when the weather looks bad before we left home, but we needed to check emails, send off for info on jobs and apartments and Adam wanted to look up information on public transport to get to his new job, so we set off for the shopping mall to use the internet and intended to spend some time at the library too but Adam wanted to buy a pair of work trousers and a couple of shirts so we had a wander round first. We stopped for lunch and then finally went to the library while Bob did the food shopping. The day just whizzed by and we got thrown out the library at 6pm so we went home for dinner and an early night.
Day 17 Thursday July 17th
This morning we were up at 6am – yes you read it right 6am! Adam wanted to do a dummy run on public transport to Canningvale so we all left at 7am and drove to the railway station and dropped Adam and TJ off. Bob and I drove to Canningvale via the freeway, (using the Tom Tom which has been invaluable) about 45 klms and parked outside the offices, arriving at 7.40am. Adam and TJ arrived, after catching a bus from the nearest railway station at 8.25am – perfect as he has to start at 8.30am. We had been waiting for some time with the heater on in the car and the Tom Tom still plugged in so when we went to start the car, the battery was flat ! Oh dear ! Very luckily we were parked next to a petrol station with a service garage next door so Bob managed to borrow a jump start kit from them to get us going again. The weather this morning was sunny although still cold, none of us had had breakfast so we decided to drive to Mandurah for breakfast. Mandurah is a small Marina but not much more, we found the Sailing Museum Café was open so we had fresh fruit, muesli and pancakes for breakfast and set off to the Marina. We wandered round the few shops that were open, there is a lot of building going on and the apartments overlooking the Marina are up for sale from $525,000 (over £260,000). Suddenly Tj spotted dolphins in the marina – we watched for 5 mins while 3 of them swam past us, turned round and swam back – we also noticed a pelican following a man who was trying to fish along the waters edge. Having seen all there was to see we got back in the car and turned, heading towards home, stopping at Rockingham on the way. This place was the pits, I think they need to rip what’s left down, it was cold, wet and windy, we took a photo of us on the sea front and ran back towards the car. However, Adam was still hungry, having only had fruit and muesli for breakfast so we went in search of a burger which we found in a greasy café – Tj had a kebab and hoped she didn’t get food poisoning , Bob had fish and chips without a knife and fork and my pizza came in a cardboard box – they certainly needed to upgrade their service!!! Leaving Rockingham it was still only 3pm so we headed towards Freemantle, when we visited last week we didn’t get round to visiting their prison so we thought we would see if they were open. The notice outside said they were open til 5.30 and the next tour would begin in a few minutes so we paid our $23 each and set off on the “great escapes tour” which was taken by a guide called Julie who told us about some of the 270 escapes, only 1 of which was ever totally successful. This prison closed in 1991 and was a maximum security prison for the last few years. It was built 150 years ago by convicts sent to Australia and it housed a womens and mens prison although they were always separate. In modern times it was very over crowded and had over 1700 prisoners in the mens side and in 1988 there was a riot and the inmates set fire to the place, which burned most of the roof off. It took 18 months and $2.5 million to replace it with Jarrah wood (a very hard wood equivalent to the English oak) but because the prison was so antiquated everywhere else they closed it only 18 months later ! What a waste ! At the end of the first tour we joined in for the second tour which was about the history of the prison. Brendan a very Irish Australian was very entertaining in his regaling of prison life, telling us about the terrible conditions that they lived in and how the prisoners were locked up for 14 hours or more a day as there was only 83 wardens to watch 1700 prisoners. Apparently Perth is hot for 9 months of the year (obviously not in July though) and in the height of the summer it would be 40+ degrees in the prison and over 50 degrees in the prison yard and prisoners would sleep on the floor of the cell just to get the slightest draught through the air vents in the bottom of the doors. After an excellent tour we finally left the prison at 6.15pm and headed for home, dinner and bed – this was a long day.
Day 18 Friday 18th July
The weather forecast for today was wet windy and cold and that’s exactly what it was. So bad in fact that Bob stayed in bed til 1pm reading his book ! The TV station was reporting a mini hurricane passing thru Freemantle and Perth overnight which uprooted trees, took off roofs and closed roads, one of which was the Freemantle bridge which we had crossed last night ! During the afternoon the rain gave over for a couple of hours so we rushed out to get something in for dinner and returned for a quiet night in with a roaring fire and a game or two of cards.
Day 19 Saturday 19th July
Two shopping trips today, firstly to Lakeside where there is a Blockbusters Video Rental shop, if the weather doesn’t improve we will need a DVD or two ! Bob had a look round a Golf Shop but said it was very expensive and not that interesting. While the rain was holding off we decided to try the Harbour Town which is an outlet shopping park and mostly indoors. However, after an hour we realized that it wasn’t what we were used to, no golf stuff at all !, and the quality of the shops was very poor, in fact some of the prices in the suburban shopping malls were as cheap. Lyn did manage to find a pair of joggers and and long sleeve jumper and a pair of trainers as she has been frozen the past couple of days and none of us have enough warm clothes with us for this extreme weather. We had an invite to Racheal and Damian’s house in the evening for a barbeque to meet Matt, her son, who went to school with Adam, and Matts wife’s parents Ken and Teresa. We arrived an hour early so that Rachael could cut Adams hair (ready for his new job on Monday). Damien cooked a fantastic barbecue of steak, lamb chops and sausages and we had homemade soup for starters which was just what we needed. At the back of their house is a patio, covered with a gazebo with a patio heater, perfect for entertaining winter or summer. We had a very enjoyable evening chatting to Ken and Teresa who are from Rhodesia and have lived in many places, including the UK. Ken is a golfer and kindly offered his clubs on loan to Bob for the duration of our Perth visit – we said we would call Sunday morning and pick them up. After several glasses of wine and lots of laughs we left at sometime after midnight.
Day 20 Sunday 20th July
We woke to a bright sunny morning and after collecting the golf clubs headed for Scitec (a science discovery museum and planetarium in Perth.) Unfortunately this week is holiday for the children so the museum was very busy but we spent some time playing on the many exhibits which explained the basics of sciences for the children (we enjoyed it too) then we went into the planetarium to watch a 40 min “look the stars”. It was very interesting and informative but the behavior of some of the children spoilt the experience as their parents didn’t keep them in check. Then followed another 40 mins “astronaut” talk and film, the young man who introduced us to the constellations was very clever but he did say “real cool” about a hundred times !! Having had enough of the naughty children we left the museum and headed for Kings Park, which is above the harbor of Perth and has the most fantastic views of the city and the Swan River. We walked round the botanical gardens and the water gardens and luckily we were in the right place at the right time and saw the planting of a huge Boab Tree which had been donated by the Aboriginal people to the city. It had been paraded through the streets on its way to the park on Saturday, where it had gotten stuck in one of the suburbs and some of the branches had had to be cut off, so it was planted on Sunday instead. We took photos and clapped the workmen and set off for a walk over the glass bridge, high in the trees, and on through the park. As the light began to fade we headed back to the car and continued through the park by road and on to home. Bob and TJ had chosen the film “Meet the Spartans” from Blockbusters so we sat down to watch it – after 10 mins I retired to my bed with my book and Adam fell asleep – what a terrible film !!! When the film finished we had booked a table at the Hogs Breath Restaurant as last time it was full to overflowing and we only just got a table. This time it was almost empty so we had a lovely meal and went home to bed for an earlyish night as Adam was going to have to get up at 6am to go to work.
Day 21 Monday 21st July
The alarm went off at 6am and Tj drove Adam to the railway station about 10 mins away and then came home and went back to bed. He had to get the train to Canningvale (about 45 mins) then a bus to the job (20 mins) and he was to start at 8.30am, he arrived at 7.45am. Tomorrow he would get the next train he said ! Tj Bob and I set off for the post office to post a parcel back to the uk with some of the souvenirs and wedding reception stuff in it, returned the DVD to blockbusters and checked emails and the blog (thanks to those of you who are reading all this gobbledegook I am writing) it is nice to hear from you. Teresa works at a physiotherapy place 2 mins from the house and she recommended Darren for my continued neck problem so we called in to make appointments to have our backs and necks put right with him tomorrow. Then onto Lakeside shopping to do some food shopping. We stopped for a bit of lunch (healthy I might add) and then Bob left us to go and have a practice with the golf clubs that Ken had loaned him. Teresa’s daughter Mary Ann(that’s Matts wife) is expecting a baby boy this week so we bought a present for the baby and then went to find a shop that sells just maps as we still need one for Brisbane but haven’t up to now been able to find a decent one. The lady in the map shop was very nice and offered to order the ones we needed for the rest of our trip and was telling us how much the price of living had increased in the last 2 years. We said that we thought that Perth was expensive to live in, especially the cost of food, they are retiring in September and are concerned that they won’t be able to survive on their pensions. She said that a house that cost $200,000 (around £100,000) 2 years ago would now be up for sale at $600,000 and a loaf of bread that cost $1.20 was now $3. The problem is that the gold, diamonds etc. that are being mined in the north of Perth has made the state the most wealthy so the cost of living has rocketed. Adam phoned not long after we returned home to come and get him from the railway station, he had had a very good day, working life in Perth was fairly relaxed, the job he had to do was to re-write some of their excel software for forms and information for the company and he said it was not going to be too difficult. The manager who had employed him told him that originally he had only planned to keep him for 3 days to see how he worked but he was so impressed with his skills that he said he would keep him as long as he could as he a lots more projects that he wanted him to finish off or sort out !
Jul 25, 2008
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