Friday 19th Dec

So we left Singapore early on Friday, easy, straightforward flight (nearly 5 hrs) to Perth!!! Ahhhhh, the biggest part of our trip has finally arrived!!! It was sad to leave Asia behind but exciting to finally reach Oz!!!

We landed in Perth and our bags were litterally the last off the plane...not good as the queues for exiting quarintine were huge and we had a mini bus waiting for us!!!! It also didnt help that we were asked to take a different root and security questioned us and swabbed our small bags (phones/wallets). As soon as we said we were on honeymoon he lightened up! I think he thought we were headbangers who come from Thailand and were smuggling some illegal substances!!! Ah well...we eventually made it outside, where the sun was shining, and it felt beautiful!!!

I booked our accomodation back in the summer as its high season so we headed to Scarborough, a beachside suburb of Perth, only 15 mins from the heart of the city. Our hostel was a small Oz style house (one level) which had great social areas, decent kitchen and BBQ area. We had a great private en suite room - it was perfect!

On our first day we took a stroll to the beach (10 min walk) to it out and raided the supermarket as we could finally cook and eat in, something we were unable to do through out the entire asia part of our trip!

The beach was absolutely amazing.....the colour of the Indian Ocean crashing upon the shoreline was just something Daz and I have never seen before. The beach goes on and on without a break of rocks north and south and you can just make out the Freemantle Docks one way and nothing but sand and sea the other way. Truly an amazing beach, kind of puts the length of Oxwich or Rhosilli to shame (but not their beauty obviously!)

Over the course of our week we did quite a few sights and of course celebrated Xmas 'Auzzie Style'. We got to know loads of people in the hostel as it was small and we all felt like a big family. There were two young Welsh girls from Cwmbran and a few other English and Irish. And we also got friendly with Simon and Nicole from Holland. It was fun.

So..what did we get up to in Perth?? On our first day we headed to the beach in the morning (of course) and just soaked up the sun...Perth gets a really strong on shore breeze at this time of year so it was pretty windy! It looks amazing though, as the ocean waves are big and there are lots of surfers! Everyone will be glad to hear that Austrailia has'nt had the best spring and start to summer!....only temps in the mid 20's!!!! (haha, better then at home i guess!) Most xmas's in Perth reach mid 30's and last year Perth was the hottest place in the world for Xmas with temps reaching 43 degrees! Ouch!!! But still mid 20's is lovely for us at moment as it is refreshing to leave the hot and humid climate within Asia.
We took the bus to town in afternoon (as bit cloudy) and tried to take it all in. If any of you can picture the Perth skyline, its very picturesque with some high rises and the Swan River.....we didnt realise that Perth CBD is very compact....we walked around a few shops (lots of surf ones!) and took a stroll along the Espanade, very pretty. Its not a busy city either....road crossing was easy (horraah!) and with it being 5 days till Xmas, the city centre wasnt massively overcrowded with shoppers (I guess the current economic climate has reached every corner of the globe).
In the evening we headed out with a few of the people from the house to some bars is Subiaco! Warning: Do go there on Saturday nights....actually dont go out in Perth ever! Its so expensive!!! We paid $16 for 2 drinks, thats about 8 quid (ouch!).....luckily Darren and Simon were refused entry into the nightclub (drunk and disordarly)....only joking.....their footwear wasnt up to scratch apparently so the 4 of us headed back to the hostel!
Yeah we're finding Austrailia pretty expensive....the supermarkets are not cheap...meat, fruit and veg, alcohol, even snacks like biscuits and chocolate are nearly double the price! $2 for chocolate, 4 apples cost us $5...madness!!!! However the only thing we can say is job hourly rates are much better than at home....working in a bar or as a waitress and you earn $20.....so once we're working maybe we'll be treating ourselves alot more!!!

We spent quite a few mornings or afternoons down the beach....on one day we walked about 45 mins north to Trigg beach and had a little picnic. The coastline is spectacular...I can see how so many Brits move out here even if its just for the ocean views!
By 22nd Dec i had a full on head cold, the whole works and felt like poo leading up to Xmas...it didnt stop us getting stuff done. We went to Kings Park, which has fantastic skyline views of Perth.....beautiful! With the pleasant temperatures we have been able to sit out in the sun and not feel overheated. We admired the views with another picnic and thought 'this is so much better than Swansea!'

On Xmas eve many of you might know we headed to the most touristy beach in Perth at Cotteslow. Very pretty but water wasnt as clear. The GMTV Xmas hello was there and Darren and I tried to get on the telly! There were hundreds of Brits with Welsg, Irish, English, Scotish flags all over the beach, it was really hard work! We stayed for an hour (6-7am your time) and did get close to the camera but its literally a nano second view of Darrens hat and my head!! It was on the website, not sure if its still there but it was in part3 with the baby on the front photo!!! I was standing behind the baby in pink.....see if u can spot us!!!!!!

We headed to Fremantle a few days before Xmas, Freo to the locals, we really liked this little, laidback, quaint town. Lots of original 19th century buildingd still line the main streets and the harbour with its boats and restuarants was lovely. A little bit like Cardiff Bay, but much more spread out! We sat and had some good old English fish n chips on the waterfront and then strolled around the botiques in the town centre. It's only about 40 mins by bus to get there, so atleast Perth has a little bit more to offer as it literally is the only big place in Western Oz!
In the evening of Xmas Eve our hostel held a BBQ with free food and drinks! Excellent!!!!! We had such a good night. Exchanged secret santas and was lucky enough to get a visit from the man himself (and his saucy little helper!) We stayed up quite late and enjoyed the company of everyone!
Xmas day was surreal. Did not feel like Xmas at all...but we didnt feel like we were missing out either...we were on the beach in Perth, Western Australia for goodness sake! Went bodyboarding in the morning but the wind was so strong we didnt last in the water long!!!!! We chilled out all day, had another BBQ in evening and really just had another day in Perth....couldnt fault it really!!!!!
Went to the beach and cinema on Boxing Day as we checked out and planned to sleep at airport in night as flight to Sydney was at 5am. So we kept ourselves busy! cinema cost us $33!!!! Ouch!!!
We loved our time in Perth, was so nice to unpack our bags for a week and settle in to a place for longer than 48hrs! Couldnt of asked for a better crowd of people to spend Xmas with...we really have enjoyed. Its definatetly a beautiful city with great beachside suburbs!

Sydney here we come! x