Back in Perth now a few days, back to the beach in Cottesloe for swims, its good to be back but its count down now until we head to South East Asia. The two miner boys Regina went to college with came back the day before and we went out in Leederville, good night out, not too messy and only one Irish Pub and that was at closing time. Nice little spot Leederville and I am probably getting the name wrong. Lots of pubs and cafes and things, very trendy I'd say, full of young people

Anyway, today we decided to go to another trendy little suburb of Perth called Subiaco. Prior to European settlement the area was home to the Noongar Indigenous people. The area was settled in 1851 by Italian Benedictine monks. The monks named the area after Subiaco in Italy, the location where Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict, had begun his work. The area was transformed over the last half of the 20th century from an older working class area to one of Perth's most fashionable suburbs. It has a long street.

The previous paragraph was for the benefit of my Mam, hopefully she gets it. If not, it has something to do with swallows. Anyway, Subiaco is meant to have lots of offices and companies but also some great shopping. We however didnt really know where any of these shops were so we just took a walk up the main street and then went to the local market. We then got the train on in to town to go to Perths Museum, much more interesting than the Art Gallery we were meant to finish looking at, which is also next door. It is very much natural history type stuff, lots of skulls and stuffed taxiderms and the like. They also have a large section of rocks, I like rocks, Regina doesnt. Crystaline formations and meteor fragments and all sorts of cool looking things, various elements in their natural state. They also have lots of Australian butterflies on display, not good for Mammy, but the colours and patterns on them are unbelievable... the display was too dark to photograph though.

After the museum we had some lunch in Northbridge and headed back to Mosman Park for a swim on what we have affectionatly renamed as Dog Beach. I might have explained this already, the nearest beach to the house is where everyone takes their dogs, its grand for swimming in though, lots of people down there. The worst thing about this beach is the little squishy things on the sea floor, not sure what they are, we call them poos but they are the wrong colour. I stood on one, it feels like eeeeew on your foot. They are probably just some sort of sea cucumber or something like that, we are fairly sure its not actual poo. Well, after I stood on one, my first time, I had had enough of that beach and got out. The best thing we had seen in Perth was then to happen. This dog was running around in the break of the waves and chasing the white of the crests. Every time a wave started to break he leaped into it, he chased the break up along the wave with a sprinters speed and then again leaped into the break. It looked like he was getting properly hopped off the waves but he kept going, only stopping to spit out some of the salt water. We bought thought that he must surely be the happiest and sleepiest dog in the world when he gets home. We stood watching him for about ten minutes, leaping into pretty much every breaking wave that came in.... good times. Thats that then, not much else planned for Perth, another night out or a meal maybe witht he lads before we head off again on our next stage..... stay tuned for the excitement of South East Asia and our penultimate country, Thailand.....

By the way, we have hit 5000 in our photo counter, we reckon we should top the 6000 mark by the 22nd of April... one way or another