Yesterday morning, approximately 7.20am, our flight QF068 landed in sunny Perth airport. We were totally unprepared for Australia (dare we say we were already homesick for China...?) and the fact that it feels like some sort of skewed British normality. Liam found it very unnerving to be picked up by Ness - Claire's Dad's friend, taken back to her GOREOUS house with a pool and a speedboat and a snooker table, ad surrounded by Lincolnshire/Notts accents with her husband Paul and her parents Dave & Teresa. Needless to say it didn't feel much like Oz yet.

Nothing much to report of the past couple of days to be honest. Secret Harbour is a fairly new complex of houses and amenities, which is apparently 70% brits. We slept massive amounts - who knew travelling could be so exhausting? And wandered down to the glorious beach and watched the surfers and sunbathed a bit. The waves here are absolutely brilliant! :D we got knocked over loads (but stories of shark attacks didn't put us off one bit) and managed to get sand everywhere, but it felt bizarre to finally be under some sunshine! Last night Ness & Paul took us to Mandurah for some locally caught fish and chips - Aussie style. We had barramundi and snapper and shared both - though Claire didn't take well to barramundi as its freshwater and tasted liked how her fishtank at home smelt.

It's been so brilliant to hang out with some familiar faces (and a gorgeous 2 year old golden retriever aswell - who's scared of the swimming pool, and the inflatable shark) and have a lovely home to chill out in. Today some more friends from Newark - and more people who knew Claire's Dad, which was weird - have arrived to stay too, so it's our turn to run off into the unknown tomorrow. Our first hostel is in the residential end of the main pub/bar scene in Perth, Northbridge. We'll give you an update when we get there!