I can't believe we are nearly leaving Perth. It has just sunk in and so we have been busy doing all the things we said we would do!

We visited Leaf cafe at Cottosloe which does lovely little cakes and mini gingerbread babies and chilled at the beach for a bit. We also bought an underwater case for Mel's digital camera which can go to 40m so we can take this one diving! in the evening mel cooked shepherds pie for everyone.

On Sunday, we walked around the University of Western Australia (Kerry - they have built another outdoor swimming pool next to the old one so now they have two!) and along the banks of the river. We also visited Mel's old school and the little park on Melvista Avenue.

We visited Nan Mary on Monday and met her great grandson mckay and took him for a walk around lake monger- which was quite exhausting! we saw lots of pelicans and black swans though.

On Tuesday we dressed up and went to Burswood casino - we spent an hour on the slot machines and made a profit of $8 - probably a bit lower then the minimum wage!

We then grabbed a subway sandwich and headed to the cheap cinema - we watched marie Antionette (which was boring and slow) and stayed on to see the Holiday which was a lot better. On the way home we went to the captain Stirling for dinner. Stu had mussels (bargain at $12) while Mel had kangaroo pie!

Wednesday saw us get up early, wash grandmo's hair and then run to the catch the bus. We did reach the ferry on time to get over to Rottnest. We had some lovely snorkelling at The basin altho it was freezing cold! We then went on a free tour to see some quokkas and then went on the history tour learning about the island of rat's nest, the early pilot boats, buckingham palace (a one roomed white building), the quod (prison) and the old colonial buildings before taking a much rougher ride home again.

Today we drove around the swan valley and visited the nougat factory, chocolate factory, olive factory and most importantly lots of wineries and a feral brewery. We had lunch in Whiteman Park where some kangaroos came to say hello as did lots of annoying magpies! We managed to get chilli cheese for grandpa and find only one wine we actually liked!

Tomorrow is Australia Day - which is predicated to be 39 degrees!

Love from the place which when they say bad weather means too hot!

Mel and stu x