is beautiful and I can really see why a lot of expats want to live here. It’s a shame that we haven’t had enough time to explore some of the famous ex-pat locations like rockhampton etc but I get a gist… LOL.

It’s very laid back here. So laid back that on New Years Eve when traditionally people are everywhere, drunk and watching fireworks there was only one place with colours and lights! How strange. LOL We thought it was a little bit crazy that a large city – a very famous city- didn’t have a bigger bang for New Year.

I took Matt to a surf shop where we happily spent hundreds of dollars on new “sunnies”, “boardies” , T-shirts and shorts. In DIFFERENT COLOURS!!!!
As the shop assistant said “Now you’re in the land of sunshine things are different” we bought a pair of cool polarised oakley Sunnies. (We have noticed that most Australian slang ends in the suffix ies… mmm?)

Yesterday I also learnt that an “Eskie” is a big cool box on wheels – check me out – turning into an Aussie already

We paid 32 dollars each to go to Gloucester Park (where the “trots” are) no.. no illness but little horses who pull chariot style carriages round a track. There were bands playing etc. I have to admit I said “LOM would love this…” really missed my mates, held back the tears and realised that all this was pointing out that we weren’t with the people we wanted to be with. After about 2 hours we wandered off and sat next to the river instead. It was much nicer and much more personal and we got to watch the fireworks we’d paid for from a distance anyway.
Soppy sods aren’t we.

I tried to text SPAN last night but LOF’s mobile wouldn’t do it.:( We can’t use his phone anymore because it’s a works one and I’m still waiting for the code to unlock the handset so that I can use the new Aussie Sim. It’s too expensive. I’m not even sure if she’s got a computer at the moment – we kindly donated our PC but Bogus has to set it up for her so she can use her pretty new Ipod.

Thanks to everyone who’s sending us emails. It’s always great to hear from you. Not sure how easy it will be to update this over the next few days as we’re off to the outback. Little scared about the closeness to the wildlife -:\ We’ll see. I haven’t seen a single Kanagroo yet though so maybe I will in Alice Springs? Who Knows. Apologies for the lack of pictures. Current internet point won’t let me upload them I’ve even paid to be apro member of Flickr so that I can put them all into sets. Bummer!

OOh on a soaps note. Haven’t yet seen Home and Away or neighbours but there was strange music video on yesterday which seemed to be dedicated to Sally Fletcher. It showed her failing in love with Rachel’s brother and then i could have sworn that she collapsed and died at the end.!!! I hope that doesn’t mean that she’s left the program. The end of Miss Fletcher where will I get my inspiration from Eh Bradders?

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Love to you all.

Well already I’ve stopped finding time to write everyday. A good sign i think! We arrived in Perth during the small hours of yesterday morning. When we got to the hotel at 2am it was 10 degrees C outside. When we disastrously woke up at 1:30pm (discovering that the hotel alarm clock doesn’t work) it was beautiful outside.

We’re right next to the Swan River. The main one which flows from the sea and through the city of Perth.

I’ve never been in a city that is so green and beautiful. It’s strange. B’ham is a city but it is nothing like Perth. (I mentioned this to a guy in a shop today and he said ” Ah yes Birmingham I parked there once for 3 hours I think it was the M6″) Outside the hotel is a dual carriageway but there are hardly any cars, then between the roads is a mass of green lawn – that kids play on. There are benches so that you can sit an relax. Beyond that is a pavement which is divided into two lanes – bikes and pedestrians. A lot of people seem to use bikes here and I can see why. Despite the hot temperatures there is a cool breeze and the view is beautiful.

I feel much happier here than I did in Dubai. Much more at home. The people are really friendly and welcoming and it’s much more calming and relaxing. This could be partly down to the fact that I’ve had time to wind down a bit. My IBS flared up quite badly so I haven’t been eating too well. The only two options in Dubai seemed to be cheese or spicy! Not helpful. Here it’s back to normal and I had a nice meal and at a nice restaurant yesterday. Can’t wait to eat what I want when I want again!
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We’ve found the shopping centre and I’ve bought an Australian Vodafone Sim. I need to go back to the vodafone shop though as the phone won’t accept because it’s not from vodaphone uk!!! Didn’t expect that one !

We’ve found out where the fireworks are for New Years Eve and so we’re going to get tickets for Gloucester Park later today. It’s right next to the local cricket ground where a certain team played badly so I’ll watch out for spiky objects…

At the other end of the river is Kings Park where they have an outdoor cinema which is playing Monster House tonight. Might see if I can convince Matt to go along and watch that.

can’t believe that it’s Saturday already or that it’s been a week since we left England. So much has been happening in a short space of time!

Once I find an Internet connection without upload restrictions I’ll start putting the picture on Flickr. The Internet in the hotel is free but it won’t let me upload for some reason

Love to all back home.
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