So here we are back in Perth! Again. We successfully shifted from Perth Hills via the reverse journey back to the city centre, where we rendezvous-ed with Tommy, yet another Irish worker living in Perth who came to pick us up and take us to the next hostel! His driving was atrocious and we only just got to the hostel alive - only for Claire to find a giant, upsidedown cockroach in the middle of our room. It was a really unsafe location - right on the front of the carpark and with no door, just lockable french glass windows. We weren't happy with the setup (or the unprofessionalism of the staff on reception) but we still insisted on moving rooms to another round the back. Coming from Witch's a week or so ago I think our expectations and standards had increased, so now we're at a more average hostel which is perfectly fine, but at first we were a little unsure as to whether we'd booked into a good one or not.

Yesterday brought the meeting of Liam's family. We'd rung them a week or so ago to make sure we'd be welcome, and they were more than happy to pick us up from the nearest train station, and we were greeted with hugs and "Welcome to the family." Liam's Aunt Susan introduced us to some of the family, and we apologised for intruding on their Mothers' Day (in Oz it was this Sunday) but they replied with, "you MADE our Mothers' Day!" They put on a huge delicious BBQ with 3 courses, and they'd put up a Happy Birthday banner for Liam and had bought a cake which was lovely, everyone sung happy birthday and ate far too much. Everyone was lovely and really eager to chat to us about our trip and things back home. We were offered a place to stay about 3 times, aswell as the use of their washing machine, and on return we were given a box full of leftover food from the BBQ which we reckon will last us the rest of the week!

We got on really well with everyone - we weren't expecting such a welcome and we were so grateful for the help they offered. Susan and Paddy haven't lost their Irish accents despite living in Oz for 44 years or so, but the rest of the family is obviously Australian (apart from their son-in-law Tony, who was originally from Italy). They were really keen to keep in touch and opened their houses to us any time we wanted - even to Liam's family if they ever wanted a holiday in Oz!!

Today the plan is to hire some bikes and cycle around King's Park in the city centre. This morning we looked through the phone book in the hostel, as Claire has also been given the details of some family out here, and we found a telephone number of her Grandma's Aunt, so we gave it a ring and have arranged to go fishing on Wednesday and to meet her family! Watch this space!