Living in Perth

We have been living in Perth for just over a month now and it has been everything that we expected plus a bit more. Perth as a city is within a great setting, the main central city is located on Swan River and is normally viewable from most places. Within the city there is a park called 'Kings Park' which a lovely place. The views of the city are spectacular from here, especially when the sun is setting. Kings park is one of the largest parks within a city in the world, so we are very lucky to have access to this.


Perth City


View Form Kings Park

So far the weather has been reasonably, varied giving us a taste of what to expect in this corner of the world. Within our first few weeks we had a suprise 40 degree weekend which was pretty hot compared to what we had been used to. The rest of the time has been quite a mix with a few rainy days and a few too many cloudy ones but still the temprature has been about 19-35 degrees. Still warm enough to be out in shorts and enjoy a BBQ in the evening.




We currently live in Victoria Park which is a 5 minute drive into the city centre of Perth. If we choose to walk this takes around 45 minutes, following the river along a palmed cycle track which is a very plesent journt. The coast line is about a 15-20 minute drive which lands us in Freemantle for the cafe strip and bars, along with at least 3 long white sandy beaches. Vic Park (as Victoria Park is known over here) has all the emenities that are needed. There's a Woolworths (Aus's Tesco equivelant), post office and bottle shop (offlicene) at the end of the road, along with lots of resturants, takeaways and a few good pubs all within a couple of minutes stroll.

It's been a busy time since we arrived getting our lives back up and running after the months traveling. This included getting a place to live, furnishing our new house, finding a car as well as all the other odds and ends that need to be done when settling in a new country.

Our New House
We had found that the rental market here wasn't as good as the UK leaving a very low selection of places to choise from. At the time we arrived in Perth we had a holiday rental in Fremantle for the first 2 weeks so we needed to find a more permentant place to live quite quickly. Initaly we liked the idea of living in Freo (local abveviation for Fremantle) but after viewing the few places available that where in the outer suberbs we decided to look else where. It was suggested that Vic Park is a growing and trendy place that might be suitable and that there might be a few more places avaialble to rent. There was one place avialable that met our criteria and luckly it was just what we where looking for and we where able to agree the rental within a few days.



The house is brand new and set in a complex of 3 houses and 9 apartments. We are the first people to live here so everything in the house is clean and new. The complex has a shared spa and a BBQ area and our house has a fancy electronic gate entrance which we're still getitng used to! The house is a 3 bed place with an open plan living room and kitchen area down stairs. Our bedroom has it's own onsuite bathroom and walkin wardrobe as well as a small balcony which is pretty cool. The house has it's own private pattio area which is big enough to fit the esentials of a BBQ and large table, all of which is getting good use at the moment.







Our New Car
Bev had to head back to the UK for a couple of weeks soon after we moved in so I set myself the challange of finding a new car whilst she was away. So far we had been renting a small Toyota hatchback but on the roads around here I was starting to feel a little intimidated. Given this and the need for more carrying space for all the bits we where getting as well as the male need to go off road I started to look at the various 4x4's available.

WA has a large number of this type of vehical avaialble a a lot of people drive them and in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The types of 4x4 over here range from the small Suziki vitara types that just about fit 4 people in and might fall over on a curb, thought to the real off road landcrusiers with 7 seats and enough supply space to launch a moon mission! I thought I'd opt for somthing in the middle that would allow me to happly fit a few people in and allow for a little fun getting to those hard to reach beaches. Having seen a few things that would fit the budget I finaly got talked into buying one from a mate of Tim's over here. I settled on a Mitsubishi Challanger which is an automatic 3 liter V6 with mnual high and low 4 wheel drive. The thing is pretty roomy inside, with the back seats down I can just about layout flat :)



I've not had a chance to take it off road yet but the road driving is pretty smooth and much like a normal auto except you need to climb up to get in it!

Getting Fit
As we'd spent the last few months generaly not very active and eating well, it was time that we joined the rest of the locals and make ourselves a bit fitter then we where. Life over here is a lot more centred around living life and the ausies make good use of the weather for this by doing a lot fitness studd within there normal routine of life. Perth has a lot of parks, dedicated cycle and walk routes and easy access to almost all sports.

A 15 minute walk down the road from our house finds us in a long park area that streatches for about 10k's along the river side, oposite the city. This park has a seprate cycle and walk routes as well as the normal open park land. It also has a set of free to use weight machines, that work off your body weight, dotted along the river side. The park and river are also home to lots of the local wildlife which make the morning run and exercise a little easier. So far we've seen ducks, pelicans, lourakets, cockatils, jumping fish and dolphins. The park also has a perfect kiting area that has almost guaranted wind every day, most of he time this is fairly clean wind as well. The area is easily big enough to buggy or board on and so far I've not seen any other kiters around.





We've still to join the local climbing wall which we are aiming to do very soon now that we're regaining soem sort of finess level! The new year should be fairly active for new sports as we're aiming to do diving, sailing, swimming, cycling, kite surfing and surfing.

Getting Back To Work
So far we've bee fairly busy sorting out settling in and with both or parents now arrive for xmas we've not had so much time to concentrate on arranging work. Plus it's been quite nice having a break for a few months. Bev has been told that she can walk into any nursing job she fancies as they are so desperate for nurses over here. She can start work as soon as her Uni coarse starts next year.

I've been looking into a variety of projects with people here and in the UK that will help to start my own software company over here. As nothing is comming about very quickly I'm going to do some contracting for a little bit whilst other things take off and to help get to know a few more people. Theres a lot of IT work available over here at the moment so arranging a contract shouldn't be too hard once I put my mind to it.

Visitors and Xmas
At the moment we have both sets of parents over with us for the Xmas period. Bev's parents have come out on a permentant basis and are waiting to pick up keys for there house. My parents have been traveling in Oz again and are visiting WA for about 6 weeks. (You can see their blog at: http://www.smithsdownunder.org.uk/)

We also have two new memebers of the family, Bill and Ted:




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Day 30 - A Fun Packed Last Day

Today we awoke to he perfect day, there were no clouds to be seen the sun was shinning and not a breeze to be felt. We rushed down to the sky diving place to check that we were on for our jump which we where! Which was very lucky as this is our last day and opportunity to do the jump in Queestown.

After a briefing we where driven out to the jump zone were we where greeted by another group of tandem jumpers falling out of the sky at great speed. We where all feeling nervous at this stage. As we couldn't all fit into the one plane they divided us up into groups of three, of which we where the third group to go up.



When our turn came, we where geared up with jump suits, harness, goggles, gloves and hats. The jump suit and harness where very uncomfortable mainly due to the extreme wedgie. We where then instructed on the position to adopt whilst falling out the plane and that was about all the instructions needed. There where then nine people, including the instructors, camera men, and us, cramped into a very small plane. The space inside was very basic, with no chairs and no room to stand. We all had to sit between/on our instructors laps whilst securely fastened on to them.




Adrian's Jump Experience:
Once we'd reached 15,000 feet above the ground the see-though door opened next to me and I was shuffled out of the hatch so that my legs where hanging under the plane and my arse was barely on the floor. At the same time the camera man had climbed out the plane and was hanging from the outside of he plane taking pictures. (The mad gits!) Much to Bev's shock I was out the door very quickly and hurtling towards the ground at 150 mph. All I can say is that it was such a buzz and a lot of fun but a very unique experience.





Bev's Jump Experience:
I think my real fear kicked in after i was handed the oxygen mask at 13,000ft which i proceeded to inhale on very deeply. when we reached 15,000ft the see through door of the plane opened and one minute Adrian was there, the next he was gone!! This completely freaked me out but it was to late to turn back as i was then dangled off the edge of the plane by my instructor, rocked a couple of times, told to smile for the camera, then off we went!!! Initially the first few seconds really make your stomach go, i felt like i had left it behind in the plane, but then you get the sensation that you are flying which is an amazing feeling! After 60 seconds of free fall your chute comes out and everything goes completely silent. The view of the mountains were absolutely spectacular. Then after a minute or so my instructor proceeded to spin me all the way down to the ground which was great fun!! I would defiantly recommend doing a sky dive its a fantastic experience.





The reason for the oxygen mask was due to the height of the jump. Any jump higher than 13,000ft is classified as a high altitude jump and therefore oxygen via a mask or nasal specs is required due to the lack of oxygen at that height.




Once safely back on the ground we were taken back to Queenstown. Everyone in our group had a brilliant time and really enjoyed the sky dive. All the adrenaline had given us both an appetite so we headed off to our favourite brunch place for a full English breakfast. This went down very well indeed. We took this time to ponder on what to do for the rest of the afternoon. We decided it would be fun to try out paragliding from a boat. So after a drink at another cafe we boarded the boat and were harnessed up once again. We were both shocked at how high we actually went, and how quick the gear was that launched us up there. It was very breezy up there but the views around Queenstown were fantastic. At one point we were lowered down so much that we thought we were going to fall into the water, this freaked us both out a fair bit and we started waving frantically at the men in the boat, who didn't see us as there backs were turned!!!! After resuming a safe height above the water we headed back to Queenstown.





We then went for a beer after collecting our photos and DVDs of the sky dive.

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Day 29 - Just Another Scary Day

Today was the day we decided to take the plunge and do the Nevis bungy jump!! The Nevis is the highest bungy jump in New Zealand, it is 134metres high with an 8.5 second free fall. This was Adrian's birthday present and i went along for the ride originally as a spectator.

We were picked up from the bungy centre midday along with 16 other extremely nervous looking people, including one guy who was terrified of heights. The trip to the Nevis took 45 minutes most of which was up a steep dirt track. Once we arrived we had to get into our harnesses (even those who were not jumping). We were then transported across to the bungy pod via a open air cable cart.



The bungy pod was larger than expected with part of the floor made of glass so you could see how high up you really were. Through this glass floor you could see everyone that was jumping which did wonders for the nerves of those who hadn't jumped yet.



Adrian was the second up to jump which was good as this meant he could get it over and done with. The only option was to jump head first as though diving (so this meant that Adrian could not stumble off the ledge this time !!) As you can see from the video below all went very well !




After another ten people had jumped i was asked if i fancied a go. Despite what my stomach was telling me i decided to face my fears and jump! So i did and it was brilliant.




All the people in our group except for one took the plunge and jumped and everyone loved it !!



After the drive back we went and had a well deserved pint, which went down extremely well. We spent the rest of the afternoon in Queenstown doing some shopping and ended up sitting on the beach with snapper and chips.



Today was one of the first days with no wind so the lake was very still and crystal clear, with the sun setting behind the mountains.

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Day 28 - A Windy Day

Well the weather for the sky dive seemed to be a lot better today as the sun was shinning and the clouds had all gone some where else for the day. Unfortunately the people at the sky dive centre decided that the wind was too high so it's been rescheduled yet again, this time for Sunday!



Fingers crossed for Sunday everyone.

Day 27 - Milford Sound

We'd booked up late last night to go on a day trip to Milford Sound rather then wait for another let down on the sky diving. We had been told that Milford Sound was a must visit as this fjord (For Jo: Lake supplied by the sea! Help from Bev after explanation to her!) was set in some great scenery.

The coach picked us up early and wet set of on the 4 hour journey to get to Milford where the boat was waiting for us. The weather stayed good for the journey round to the first set of mountains that needed to be crossed. We had stopped off at a few photo points on the way there so that we could stretch our legs.

One of the stops that we where let off the coach for was for a 15 minute walk though the woods to an extremely picturesque waterfall that had carved it's way though the rock in very strange way. We where lucky that it had been raining hard the previous day as this and many other waterfalls along the way where running well as they depended on rain water for there existence. As you can see from the pictures the forest in this area was made up mainly from beech trees and ferns all covered by moss. Some of the trees here where as old as 600 years.

We also encountered the Kea parrot which is a very friendly and funny bird that seemed to inhabit all the tourist stop off points. These birds are very inquisitive to the point of coming right up to you and nibbling your camera (Good job mine is parrot proof!) Bev found it very amusing that they have a knack of side stepping with a hop like a cross between a penguin and a crab!

Once we had crossed through Homer tunnel under one of the mountains for the final run into Milford the cloud descended to a low level and the rain started to drizzle. We reached the boat wharf and set off on our pleasure cruise though the sunny picturesque scenery, except the cloud was low and the rain was getting worse so we could just make out the mountains on one side!!!!

The trip was very wet but entertaining as we got to try out our special Peruvian hats. We did see lots of waterfalls although to be honest we'd seen a lot of water falls by this point!!

We did have one small treat on the return journey which was a small penguin that was spotted on the shore line. You can play spot the penguin in the picture below:

After the boat trip we all jumped back on the coach and had a long 4 hour trip back to Queenstown where the weather had been nice all day!! Once back, and as we had been driving past fields and fields of new born lambs (or new born sheep as Adrian calls them!!) we decided that tonight was the night to sample the lamb shank :) (It was very tasty)

We then fell asleep and hoped that the weather would be nice in the morning for our sky dive !! (wishful thinking)

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Day 26 - A really chilled day

The weather here today has been awful, we awoke to torrential rain and strong winds so needless to say the skydive has been cancelled for a second time. We have rescheduled it for Friday at midday so fingers crossed that it is a nice clear day with little wind.




The rest of the day was spent relaxing and sorting out some arrangements ready for Australia.

Day 25 - Chilling Around Queenstown

We awoke this morning to a lot of rain and wind which wasn’t a good thing considering we due to be doing a sky dive midday! As it was early we decided to wait and see if the weather improved. Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out so we headed into town to go and do our sky dive. Unfortunately due to strong winds the skydive had been cancelled so we had to reschedule for the following morning (weather dependant).



So we headed off for a walk in the botanic gardens instead. This was a nice short walk through some nice gardens with lots of flowers and small wooded areas. We managed to track down the bouldering rock which Adrian enjoyed a climb on. Otherwise it’s generally been a chilled out day sampling further restaurants and local beer (doing what we do best!).





We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the weather is nice in the morning for the sky dive.

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