Hello.

Carrying on from the last post, that night Mary-Ann found another cockroach when she went to make a cup of tea, and successfully took it outside. We then watched Hot Fuzz for the evening.

The next day (Tuesday) we went for a swim in our pool, but we couldn't stay in very long as it was only the mid 20s and we got cold. To warm up, and because we had been dying to try it out, we had a spa bath in our bathers, with lots and lots of bubbles. Unfortunately the jets didn't work, so it was just kind of a big huge bubble bath. We had been planning to go out to dinner with people that night, but it got cancelled last minute so instead Amy Skyped home and we did loads of Guitar Hero competitions. We then watched 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', and had the movie rudely interupted by ANOTHER cockroach! Mary-Ann trapped it in a bowl, and we both went outside in our pyjamas across to the park, but managed to drop the bowl and didn't want to go back and get it in the dark, so left it outside overnight in the park.

Wednesday was our month anniversary of leaving home. We went to Sci-Tech which is like a hands on science museum learning centre. We had fun doing stuff like lying on a bed of nails, and learning about constellations and planets and the universe. Mary-Ann got in touch with her Aunt and Uncle in Melbourne to organise our trip there. We made pizza and watched Superbad. Amy woke up at 5am the next day and couldn't get back to sleep, so to make use of time she called home and her and her dad booked the flights to Melbourne. We fly out on the 19th of January.

On Thursday we went into town and did some shopping, including buying a present for Ellen's 19th birthday the next day. Later on Ellen picked us up and we all went to the cinema with Chuey and Louise, to see 'Where the Wild Things Are.' Mary-Ann quite liked the film but it was a bit weirdly set out, and Amy found it quite odd and lacking in storyline. It was lovely to get out of the house and see people though.

We had planned to go to Rockingham on Friday, but realised we left the Rough Guide at Manning and didn't want to go to Rockingham and not do it justice because we didn't know where we should go. So instead we went to Fremantle. We had lunch in the park and explored the markets. They were really interesting and we found it extremely hard not having money to spend in them, especially in this cake soap store, which sold soaps that looked so much like cake you wanted to eat them. We also saw the first street performer who actually was performing something. He jumped off a ladder and did a backflip through a hoop which was on fire on his way down. It was very hot that day and this didn't help Amy at all who was feeling quite ill. We went to Baskin and Robins after the markets, and shared a cup of ice cream before we took the train back home. Once again we met an interesting character on public transport. This dad and son were travelling on the carriage sitting opposite us, and the dad was clearly drunk. He was being very loud and nosey, and was obsessed with this Sri Lanken family, especially the son who was wearing an Aussie Rules shirt. The son was majorly embarrassed, and we were glad to get off the train when we finally arrived at our stop. That evening, Amy skyped home again, and we got a phone call from Chuey asking if we wanted to go out. We weren't really in the mood, so instead him and Gareth came round, with a bag full of Ginger beer and other drinks and chocolate. They got here about half 9, we made cookies and decorated them and had lots of drinks and laughs. The funniest thing was when Chuey locked us out of the garage with the light still on. So in an attempt to climb through the window, Gareth trod on what he thought was a pot plant, but was in fact a water fountain and soaked his whole leg. This had us laughing uncontrollably for ages. The boys kipped in the guest room, after doing the washing up (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

When we woke up the next morning they were gone. We woke up to possibly the best thing ever - Anna's incredible virtual christmas present on Facebook. It must have been like 40 degree heat that day, which killed us when we walked to the shop to buy one tomato and some butter. After the shop we were aching to get into the pool to cool down, it was bliss. Amy made gingerbread and we got ready for Ellens birthday celebrations. Heather picked us up with Ellen in the evening, and we met some others at the station as well as James and Louise. We went to The Moon Cafe in Northbridge which was quite dark and loud, but the food was really good. Then we headed to the Belgian Beer Cafe and met up with Chuey and another guy. After a while there, Ellen decided that she wanted to go to the beach, so Chuey drove us and Louise, on the way Amy mentioned how she had wanted to show Mary-Ann the view of Perth from Kings Park, and we had time to kill so we drove there. Amy made Mary-Ann keep her eyes shut the whole way until we were at the perfect spot for taking in the beautiful view. We stayed for a while before heading to meet the others at the beach. We had to go to the one at Trigg so that Chuey could pick up his very drunk sister. It was us, Chuey, Ellen, James, Gareth, Louise and Heather at the beach for about an hour, star gazing and chatting. The others left before us, Chuey and Gareth, so we stayed for about another half hour. When we got back in the car we decided to go for a Maccas run (more like a Maccas trek) when the ice cream machine was turned off in Warwick. When we got back at about half 2 we had another cockroach attack, which we successfully removed and actually managed to keep the bowl this time.

Today it's absolutley roasting hot again, literally too hot to even think (not complaining though!) We hope you're all enjoying the snow and feeling festive.

Lots of love,

Us xxx