Hey Everyone

Well here is my first Australian Entry - Perth was fantastico! After the slight drama at Singapore Airport of Anna being told that she had no Australian Visa (lots of curse words were said of STA!) we managed to survive the flight (luckily no lightning storm this time) and were allowed in to Australia (phew!)

Stayed with family friends whilst in Perth in the lap of complete luxury - in a picture perfect suburb of the beautiful city. Spent the first day washing our clothes - in a real life washing machine! And also checked out Kings Park - where you get fab views of the city. Checked out Sorrento Quay and Beach the following day - and yes the beaches really do look like the picture - beautiful turqoise water and white sand! Altho there was a few too many seagulls for my liking! Also spent a day checking out the city centre, including the Swan Bells, spent a day in Freemantle - altho we ended up in a Catholic Italian Mafia Parade (dad - i reckon that definately counted as going to church!) Also spent an afternoon on a river cruise round Perth city and Freemantle, spent a day at Scarborough Beach - the waves and surfers were awesome to watch! managed to catch a beautiful sunset one evening too. Apart from that (and shopping, ironing, washing and making the most of having a house) we goobered around with the 3 kids. Think Anna and I enjoyed being part of a family again, and the 3 kids kept us entertained and uptodate with all things aussie! Also managed to get a bit ill so spent a couple of days recovering!

Think the highlight of our trip was a day on Rottnest Island - even tho it involved catching a ferry, it was well worth it. The island itself was out of this world, the beaches were the most amaaazing beaches ive ever seen - had the sea been warmer i would have been in there snorkelling - as the coral was fab. Bit breezy tho but we visited all the beaches and had some sunbathing time! Unfortuantely the day was marred by an unexpected trauma at the end of the afternoon! Anna and I had visited the Restrooms (im catching on to the lingo!), and upon my exit i came across the horror of a real life SNAKE! It was rather inconvienently blocking our exit and moving around rather fast! Anna went into hysteria - laughing and jumping up on to the bench, where as i almost cried! I don't think i have ever seen a snake move quite so fast - it was climbing up the walls! Luckily after what seemed like hours rather than minutes the snake found its way out of the toilet and back in to the bush. Thank god - i needed a vodka after that one! Honestly - wheres an aussie when you need one - think it was the only time there was not a soul about so screaming didnt even help!

 Next stop - Adelaide, SA!

Cat x