Margaret’s River.

We booked 3 nights in a house in Margaret river about 300 km south of Perth. Not knowing much about Aus we didn’t know what to expect, but boy were we surprised. The drive down was amazing, watching the scenery change from mostly sandy soil and bushy trees to rocky area's with tall beautiful tree's definitely got us in the mood for holiday. Many times on the trip I could have sworn we where back in SA, the scenery is very similar.

We first got to a town called Busselton. And one thing Busselton has is a long jetty, kind of their tourist attraction. So off we went to walk down this jetty, when we got there the first thing we noticed were the beaches WOW, they're unbelievably beautiful, bright blue and crystal clear, and they go on for ever.
The jetty is long and you have to pay to walk down it (I thing $2) but it looks well worth it, so we started walking down to the end......and we walked.......and walked.......and walked.....and when we felt that we could walk no more! We walked some more. Eventually we reached the end crawling on our hands and knees, pushing a pram and carrying a very ungrateful kid on our shoulders only to find a little shop that have guided tours down to the sea floor with a windowed concrete pillar about 18m in diameter. We couldn’t go on the tour because we had to book, but we where allowed to walk back :) the jetty they say is 1.841km long, but they lie, its spans 2 time zones and you will need your passport at least once.

I would compare Margaret’s river to a little Afrikaans Paarl mixed in with English Knysna, it has a very beautiful vineyards and AMAZING beaches. The whole place has a holiday town feel to it, and allot of rich Aussies buy property there to holiday in or rent out.

The house we stayed in was awesome, a 2 bedroom place with a fire place and wooden floors, the property is surrounded by tall tree's so dense you cant see the road next to you. We used this bunker as our base of operations while we explored the area. The first beach we went to was directly west of the town and WOW, the water is crystal clear with this shallow rock out cropping that lies about 10 cm under water and expands out for about 100m. The surfers use it to launch into the sea. The sand is soft and
We were also able to snorkel just of the beach and surroundings looked just like the Capes "fynbos".

We also went and visited some wine farms but not before we went to a brewery. They make a beer there that is 7.1% and called the Raging bull. What’s nice about all these places is they catered for the kids, and almost all of them have quite elaborate jungle gyms to entertain them.
The wine farms are all very scenic and the wine is very tasty, and it got more tasty the more vineyards we visited.

The 4 days we spent in Margaret’s river went so quickly but they were worth it and I’d go back anytime.

Fremantle

The next morning (Wednesday 7 Jan) we spent walking around in Fremantle, Ryan also had his first (unplanned) swim in the sea.

Fremantle was established in 1829 as a port for the fledgling Swan River Colony and was the major city in Western Australia for much of its early history.
It was the first port of call in Australia for many migrants and visitors and today Fremantle sustains a rich mixture of cultures and nationalities.
Fremantle is Western Australia's major commercial port and handles the majority of the State's imports and exports.

This is the round house:

The Round House is the oldest remaining building in Western Australia. It was built as a gaol and was the first permanent building in the colony.
It was designed by HW Reveley, the colony's first civil engineer, and built in 1830 - 1831. The Round House had eight cells and a gaolers residence which all opened up into a central courtyard.
Bay whaling was carried out from Bathers beach below the Round House. As part of the whaling operations a tunnel was constructed under the Round House to provide whalers with access to the town from the jetty and bathers beach.
When the first convicts arrived in 1850 the Round House was inadequate to house them so the convicts built a new goal which was completed in the 1850's and continued to be used as Fremantle prison through until 1991.
The Round House was not used as a prison when, in 1886, convict establishment became the responsibility of the colonial government. Instead, the Round House was used as a police lock-up through until 1900. It then became the living quarters for the chief constable, his wife, and their ten children.
The Fremantle City Council took over responsibility for the Round House from 1982 when the headland was vested in the city. The building was opened to the public soon afterwards and can now be viewed seven days a week.
A team of volunteer guides who are on duty at the Round House during opening hours.

Round house punishment:

Perth - day 3

Okay, so it's been a while since I've made a post, so here's a summary of what we did in Perth on day 3.

To pick up from my last post, the next day we went back into the city, just me, Brett and the kids this time (the previous time we were accompanied by Collin's parents), caught the bus, then the train and walked to the bank to activate our new bank account.


This is Ryan playing in the park close to the bus station:



Brett and the kids in the train (or the bus??? They look the same inside ...)

Ryan in the bus/train:

Brett and Jess:




After we went to the bank, Collin phoned and told us to meet him on the south so that we could go to the zoo together. To get there, we had to go over the Swan river with a ferry.

Here's Brett showing Ryan jellyfish from the jetty while waiting for the ferry:




Remarkable the mom's and babes on the ferry, and the space provided for us!)




On the other side of the river Ryan played on this jungle gym. There are a lot of parks in Perth, all with wonderful jungle gyms, but all different.





This is the view back to the city, lovely isn't it!




The zoo was lovey, I was really impressed with the exhibits. It is much smaller than Pretoria zoo, but worth going, especially to pet the cangaroos. The following photos were taken at the zoo...

We've arrived!

The flight:

The flight was good and comfortable, or as comfortable as you can expect with two kids ...
Jessica slept most of the time, I gave her something to sleep and am I glad I did! Ryan was so impressed with the in-flight entertainment, he watched movies and played games until we told him to sleep, after about 4 hours.

Perth - day 1:

Arriving at Perth was a bit hectic, going through customs, passport control. It was nice to be bumped to the front of the queue because we had two kids (that happened at OR Tambo as well, we went through the assisted passengers queue at passport control!) Customs was fine, they didn't ask to see the medicine that we declared, were concerned about food but we didn't have any. Asked to see a wooden box carved out of wood by Brett's great grandfather, but didn't have a problem with it.

Collin fetched us with his Prado and thank goodness ... it had enough space for all our stuff!! 9 pieces of checked-in luggage and 5 pieces of hand luggage!

Perth is beautiful, but hot and there are flies. Little flies that are quite lazy! A couple of times a waved my hand around my face to get rid of them and managed to smack it!

Yesterday afternoon after a nice swim in Collin's pool, we went to the city and walked around. Unfortunately we forgot to take the camera.

Last night was okay, Jessica went to sleep around 9 (the sun sets around 20:30!), but woke up around 11, happy and chatty after her "afternoon nap". Ryan is a bit rattled, I think he expected to see his friend Christiaan, but we're only going to Brisbane next week. But when we fell asleep we slept until 9 this morning when Collin's mom woke us up.

Perth - day 2:

Today we explored Perth city, got there with the bus and the train. Collin had to work, but his mom and dad were kind enough to show us around. We were supposed to go to the Commonwealth bank to activate our account by going there in person with our passports, but I was clever enough to leave our passports at home ... oops! So we'll go again tomorrow!

The bus service is great! Nice, new and well maintained busses with air-con, what a pleasure! There is a bus stop a short walk from Collin's house and a bus runs past every 15 minutes. The train was also excellent, clean, fast. Always space to put a pram or for a wheelchair. We walked around in Perth central, I'll post photos later. Had lunch in the food court, it's got chairs and tables in middle and lost of fast food places around, so you order what you want, get your food and sit in the communial area to eat. Very nice! When I went to the bathrooms to change Jessica's nappy I found a stunning changing room with a comfy couch, microwave, changing station. Very nice! They really do cater for kids! There are lovely parks with jungle gyms everywhere! (Not in the city, but in the suburbs)

Tomorrow we'll have to go back to the bank, and afterwards we'll meet up with Collin and his parent to go to the zoo! Can't wait!

We're enjoying it here, I'm really relaxed ... we're on holiday! Miss my friends and family though.

Countdown ....

Can't believe it, one month and then we're flying to Perth!

Last week was hectic, Biddulphs packed our stuff and the container on Tuesday and Wednesday, luckily they were able to fit more into the container than we thought. It should be on the ship by Friday 5 December and might arrive as soon as 5 January in Brisbane! We're only arriving on 13 January in Brisbane, so we must find a house as soon as possible.

At the moment we're staying in a guest house, nice little self catering place with 2 bedrooms. Minah comes in every day to look after Jessica, we must enjoy her while we can! Soon we'll have to do our own laundry! This weekend we're going to visit Jaco and Naudine on the farm and on Sunday we can move into a friend's house where we'll stay until the 3rd of January.

The kids seem okay, Ryan is fine with everything and very happy that the guest house have got a swimming pool! Jessica just struggles a bit to fall asleep, but other than that she's also fine.

Brett and I are both working until 12 December. After that we can spend time with friends and family to say the goodbyes ...

Jessica

We went to the cardiologist about a month ago and finally got some good news with regards to Jessica's heart defect. There was a slight improvement! She will still need a heart operation to correct the ASD, but it's not urgent. Initially the cardiologist said that we should operate between 12 and 18 months, but we can now wait until she's about 4 years old. At that time it might be possible to do the operation with a catheter and not open heart surgery!!! Excellent news!

She is really doing fine, walking now ... full of energy. Thankfully no symptoms of the hole in her heart.

We'll see a pediatric cardiologist when we get to Aus ... they're building a brand new children's hospital in Brisbane!!!

Big plans

We've booked our plain tickets ... we're leaving on 3 January 2009, going to Perth. There we'll spend some time with our friend Collin. On 13 January we're flying to Brisbane. That's when the work will start ... finding a house, a car and jobs. Schools for the kids, so many things to do!

Our container will probably be packed end of November so that we won't be without furniture for too long in Australia. In December we'll be staying in someone's house who will be on holiday for the whole month. So that should work out fine.

We're really stressing about the whole decision and the big move at the moment, I think because everything is happening so slowly we've got too much time to thing about the big move. That makes it more difficult ... it's like pulling a plaster of painfully slow!

We are going to miss our friends and family so much, and the kids their grandparents. Sometimes I really wonder if we're doing the right thing. It was so much easier to talk about it before it became a reality.