Hi All

We left Singapore in the early hours of Monday morning after another late night. When we got to the airport the man at the check in desk enquired whether we checked our visa's or not - slightly confused at his question we weren't sure what he meant, turned out that the our travel agent had put Pete's DOB on both visa's, AGH! It wasn't what Hol wanted to hear at 6am but the kind man realised it wasn't totally our fault and made a phone call to Oz. A few hours later we arrived in Perth and were met by Susan and Trevor - Hol's aunt and uncle. We headed back to their house (where we were staying) and soon made ourselves at home... ahhh, how nice to have free run on a house! Susan cooked us, Trevor and Sandy (Hol's uncle) a beautiful roast chook dinner - as they call chicken here! We all had a good catch up and a natter, it was great to see them again for Hol and lovely for Pete to meet them! After dinner Mel (Hol's cousin) popped round to say hi before we hit the hay for an early night.

On Tuesday Susan and Trevor took us for a drive around the local area. We went to a nearby beach with a lookout which was beautiful, the weather was lovely too - bright blue skies and sunshine (a little nippy compared to Singapore mind, probably early 20's). In the afternoon we went to the hospital to see Sarah (Hol's cousin) who'd given birth to baby Lilah the day before! They both looked really well and we got to meet Wayne too- Lilah's daddy! In the evening we went back to Susan & Trevor's' where Trevor cooked us a proper Aussie BBQ, yum!

On Wednesday Mel picked us up and we caught the train to Perth Royal Show; a big agricultural show with a fairground, loads of stalls and demo's and various activities. We watched a cow milking demo, a sheepdog trials, a motor-cross performance, a lumberjack demo and various other bits n bobs! We had the biggest baked spud for dinner and had a mooch around the stalls in the afternoon. Mel and Hol had a good catch up too which was ace. We went home for another of Susan's lovely home cooked meals... Susan and Trevor's home that is, but we'd made a damn good effort to make it look like it was ours!

On Thursday Susan and Trevor took us to Cervantes - a coastal town about 3 hours drive north of Perth. It was a long drive but it was beautiful scenery on the way so Pete said - Hol has a habit of sleeping in the car. We couldn't get our heads around the scale of Oz, Cervantes looked like a neighbouring town on the map! We stopped en route at a little town called Gin Gin for a cup of tea and a biccy then Pete got to drive the 4WD for the remainder of the journey... boys and their toys! We arrived and made ourselves at home in the house we were staying at, then went for a walk by the local beach (The beach at the end of the road!) The water was bright blue and the sand was a beautiful white again! The sky is so blue here, its just seems bigger. In the afternoon we jumped back in the car headed for the Pinnacles 20km 'round the corner'. There was a discovery centre about the pinnacles as we arrived so we did caught up with the local info there before heading out to see them. We were greeted by a huge sandy desert full of 'stone' like structures. We had a good poke and pondered what they actually were then hopped in the 4WD and Pete enjoyed driving around the dirt track between the pinnacles stopping for piccies. We had a lovely afternoon out with Susan and Trevor then we headed back to our new home for dinner - ah how nice to be back on 3 meals a day!

On Friday we headed North to Geraldton another 3hrs north along the coast. We stopped at Dongarra for a cake in the park. It was a lovely sunny day again! We visited the HMAS Sydney war memorial then on to the Museum of Western Australia. The museum was pretty cool, there was a huge stuffed Kangaroo (about 6 feet high) and various other Aussie animals. There was loads of info and artefacts on Aboriginal life, shipwrecks and general WA history. Hol had a guided tour from Susan (who works at another museum) while Pete had a mooch around - he reads too quick for anyone to keep up with him! It was a lovely day out rounded off with fish 'n' chips in the evening!

On Saturday we packed up and headed home. Trevor drove until we were ushered off the road for an 'oversized load' and when it passed it was definitely that! It was about 3 lanes wide for a 2 lane road, apparently it was mining machinery. We got back on the road after a few photo's and drove for a while before stopping for a picnic in New Norcia next to the Monastery built by Benedictine Monks in 1854. We had a look around the town and popped into the Museums shop to grab some goodies. Pete drove back to Perth (he likes Trevor;s car!) where we unpacked and had another lovely dinner. Trevor got the BBQ on while Susan made accompaniments - we truly have been spoilt with lovely meals cooked for us.

On Sunday we caught up with Mel, she took us to Mandurah for the day. It's a pretty seaside town south of Perth. We had a mooch around and a coffee, then went for a snoop around the posh mansions nearby on the river! It was another day of beautiful weather too which was nice. We headed back to Mel and her husband Dave's for a BBQ dinner with some more family!

On Monday Mel took us to Perth. We went to Kings Park - a beautiful huge park overlooking Perth city. There were some amazing views and it was another clear day which made it even better. We looked at the huge Boab tree which was transported from the Kimberley to Perth - 1600km! It's a young tree apparently, at only 750 years old...! We walked through the very well kept park amongst the mini waterfalls and pathways. In the afternoon we visited the bell tower on Perth waterfront and had a mooch around the city. We caught up with Dave for lunch then on to Fremantle. Perth is a pretty city with big clean picturesque buildings and nicely organised streets! Fremantle had older quaint buildings but was much more 'homely'. We visited the roundhouse which was used as a prison on the beach! We had a walk around town and grabbed an ice cream (with added 'lolly's' as they call sweets over here) and gaped at the pretty buildings then headed home for dinner and a chill.

On Tuesday Susan and Trevor took us to Serpentine Dam, a huge reservoir nestled amongst the mountains. We had a walk round and onto the dam before grabbing a coffee where we sat with lots of bright green birds on a terraced area before heading to Serpentine falls. The waterfall was very pretty but we opted not to get in like a lot of people were! We sat on some picnic tables and watched the kangaroo's play for a bit. Susan bounced up a hill to get a picture of a mummy-roo and when Hol tried to follow she went sliding back down the hill nose down, only to be rescued by Susan while Pete took photo's! Bad times. We resided back to the picnic tables and the roo's got really close, we saw some birds mating about two feet from our table too - a very educational day all round! We went round to Mel's for dinner in the evening then home to bed!

On Wednesday we had a (needed) lazy day. We caught up on some errands, did a little shopping then went out for a meal in the evening with Sandy, it was lovely to catch up with him again and hear his stories from his travels!

On Thursday we headed north to Hillary's beach - a beautiful marina full of yachts! We had lunch by the waterfront and a mooch at the shops then moved on to Cottesloe beach for a walk. The beaches here are beautiful and very well kept! In the evening we headed up to Julie's (Hol's aunt) who lives up in the hills (with kangaroo's hopping around the garden!) Eric (Hol's cousin) took us for a ride on his quad bike around the land which was strange for Hol as the last time I saw him he could only just walk!! How time flies eh?! It was lovely to catch up with everyone - and meet Andy, Julies partner (although it was a little odd hearing a Mancunian accent this far from home!) and good to see Sandy again. We had stew for dinner which was lovely, washed down with a couple of glasses of wine then home to bed!

Friday was mostly a rubbish day, Hol was too sad to get anything productive done and Pete had to pack for the two of us! Susan did all of our laundry and ironed it for us (thanks Susan!) then cooked us a yummy roast beef dinner - the last supper. Trevor wasn't feeling great so we said our goodbye to him then Mel drove us to the airport, Sandy and Susan came too which was nice. The airport was rubbish, despite online check in we still had to queue in the check in queue! Then security were complete plonkers because Hol had left a camera mono-pod in her bag but they took forever to figure it out. The plane was late by about an hour so by the time we left Perth it was a very prolonged and sad farewell. It was horrible to leave but we had an amazing time in Perth and can't wait to go back! Thanks Susan, Trevor and Mel for being our guides and looking after us so well, it was lovely to catch up with you and all the family again too.

See you in Queensland.

Hol and Pete

xXx