Hi, The next trip from The Alice was to Perth on the west coast to see my old friend Marlyse. Funnily enough I used to work with Marls many moons ago at Hoskyns which later became Capgemini a couple of years after I joined the company. I think the only person in the company that would possibly remember her would be Paul Hocking. Marls had been nagging me for years to come and see her and frankly it was getting a little tiresome saying maybe next year so on my \'big trip\' one of the must do\'s was to see my old mucka Marls and her lovely family. Seeing Marls was an absolute delight and she was now married to Goff and had a wonderful little 2.5 year old Dillon and another one on the way so no reliving old times having a few too many shandies for Marls. Saying that though that didn\'t stop me, Goff very kindly offered to take me out with the boys which consisted of a few of his brothers and some friends and Monica who arrived later. I had a great time and the boys were such fun even got in a little bit of dancing and even, can you believe it, remembered it the next day!! There was however photographic evidence just in case I hadn't!! Getting back to time with Marls she took me out and showed me the sights of Perth but sadly I didn't have my camera with me. From what I can recall, there were 3 maybe 4 big buildings (downtown Perth), the Swann River runs through it, complete with black swans, with nice restaurants around the jetties, a very nice park overlooking the river, nice pubs/bars and some interesting clubs. It's a fairly quiet city about the size of Leeds perhaps though obviously a lot more chilled out and has some great beaches so I'm told. I arrived in Perth in true Bal fashion with a cyclone having just hit northern WA so it poured down with rain and was overcast the next, it's usually 35-40degC in the summer so it was actually a bit of a relief for me. I had a lovely time, spent most of it relaxing with Marls, did some girlie shopping, had nice lunches and even cooked dinner one evening (Indian of course). I have heard from them since so at least they survived! Was even taken out to the park for a lovely barbie with more of the Manuel clan and some other friends, had a great time playing on the slide with Dillon - makes you want to be a child again! Nearly forgot I met Marls' mum and dad at long last, have spoken to them briefly in the past, such lovely people and so friendly. It was really lovely spending time with Marls and the family catching up on what's been happening in our lives. It really was too long so I will have to make a special trip out to Perth again soon. Message to Dillon - 'Hair's sticking up Dillon!!!' These were his first words to me - wouldn't mind but my hair wasn't sticking up either - his parents were bewildered - go figure!! xxxx