Perth July 2008 - Ready to roll... almost

As we have now made at least a million of Australia's finest dollars, well enough to actually think about getting back on the road, we decided it was about time to let you know what we have been up to and what the plans are.

At the last update we had arrived safe and sound in Perth, installed ourselves at Steve's place and just started working in our jobs at Fremantle and Armadale. Essentially we are pretty much still at that point, however, we have accumulated an additional items and experiences of the true Aussie culture over the last 12 weeks or so.

Firstly, here are the material accumulations;

·We decided it was time to come out of the quick dry generation and purchased a pair of jeans each. This probably doesn't sound like much of an achievement but, when you have been wearing the same 2 pairs of trousers for the last 7 months, it was nice to have a pair of trousers (or Pants to the Aussies), that were not designed to be packed up in to the smallest section of a rucksack. We have also picked up a few more t-shirts, including a West Coast Eagles top, my adopted Australian Rules Football Team. That, combined with the work gear is one of the things that have helped us feel so settled here.

·We made an automobile purchase. At the point of writing we own a shiny and, not so new, Toyota Camry. By not so new it's approaching its 20th birthday soon!! When Steve got back and we didn't have use of a car any more we needed to get something reasonably quick but we were still in travelling mode. Combine that with the fact that we didn't have any real amount of Aussie dollars at that point we did go with the cheaper option. The car has been ok but after a few issues, and the fact we have a bit more cash behind us, we have decided to swap it. If you don't think that a fuel gauge, a working speedometer, an engine that doesn't top 1,000,000 degrees and the ability to continue running whenever it stopped at a junction, are not essential, then this car is probably the one for you. Unfortunately, we decided that the 16,000km journey ahead is not the best way to test the remaining working parts of the car or our 'mechanical genius'.It may sound strange that we bought a car with this many somewhat obvious flaws but in our defence all the above items appeared to be working fine and did work fine for the first couple of weeks. Since then there appears to have been a continuous failure of what we all agree are pretty major parts and this has been linked directly to a drain on the slowly accumulating funds. So hopefully by the next blog we should be the owners of a slightly more reliable motor.

An update to this is that we have now bought a, hopefully, more reliable car. We have purchased a 1999 Ford Falcon Sedan which, apart from being the size of a small house and having an engine that would possibly power an average sized European country, is very tidy and will hopefully be a lot more reliable. It also has the added features of Roo Bars. My experience of Roo Bars (or Bull Bars back home) are the on the large 4 x 4's that are essential for the school run in large cities. Unless it is just that I have never noticed the herd of wild bulls roaming around West Bridgford, but I never really got the point of them. Now it appears that they are pretty much an essential for interstate driving over here and not the ugly metal pointless things I have always thought! Anyway, we now have our very own Roo bars so I should be able to let you know if they are actually useful after about 15000km's or so. And just to give you a laugh, we ended up getting completely lost on the test drive and inadvertently took it for a 45 minute test drive. At least we gave it a good run!!

·We also have an alarming amount of Camping gear in readiness for the off. I can't remember exactly when this decision was made or exactly who said it would be a good idea, (I hold Caroline and Flemming responsible!!!) but somewhere over the last few weeks we decided it would be a great idea to camp rather than use the hostels. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that we will be mincing our way around the continent, but we will be living under canvas for the next 6 months or so. In readiness for this we now are the proud owners of about $500 worth of camping gear. We did have to forgo the kitchen sink (you think I am joking!!!) but we do have just about everything. Some of it is second hand as this saved us some cash but most of it new, albeit on the budget side. Obviously we have the main requirements; tent, air bed, chairs, table etc. We also have some of the not so obvious things like a door mat and an $80 lamp. The lamp is not that unusual for a camping trip but when the $20 ones were pretty good I felt that it was especially unusual that we had gone for that one. In Jemma's defence it was red and shiny!! So that makes it all ok. Steve does find the amount of gear we have amusing and doesn't seem worried that a 4litre engine car (average size over here) may not handle the load so well but if this will be our life for the next 6 months or so then I think we have the basics pretty much covered.We did have a lot of fun trying to put up a large tent in a small back yard.

·Not only do we have our own car but I have managed to acquire a works car. Obviously I can't keep this but it has been very handy as all the petrol is paid for getting to work and back so this again saves us a little bit. The positives of this are that I get to look the complete Aussie by driving around in a Ute (car size pick up/ van for those of you who have never watched neighbours). On the negative side Steve's place is only has parking for 2 small cars. The Ute being the size of a small train and the Camry being about the size of an average canal barge, the parking situation is fun. Luckily Steve's cereal box size Hyundai Getz makes it just about possible.

·Jemma has increased her shoe count beyond all recognition. Apart from a pair of work shoes (well 2 pairs if you include the pair I have already worn out... what do you expect for $20?!), I have managed to cope perfectly well. Jemma, on the other hand, feels it is essential to have a pair of work shoes, a pair of going out shoes, and a pair of flip flops. Incidentally flip flops are known as thongs here which can lead to interesting discussions at work. I am working on persuading her that we will need to reduce our luggage, if not for the Australia tour, but definitely when we finish here and head to New Zealand. By that time we will be back to the 'whatever you can carry' rule.Unfortunately this rule may well include the laptop I bought in Hong Kong but I am sure we can discuss this closer to the time.

So, we are not exactly travelling light any more. It is probably more frustrating that most of the things we have bought will have to be sold again in 6 months or so but we also need gear that will be comfortable for that time. We have heard stories of people spending $1000's but we are happy that we have found the balance between used/cheap and quality. I will let you know if that balance was as good as we hoped in a few weeks.

Apart from amassing a small truck load of stuff we have really got to know Perth and what it is like to live and work here. In doing that we have learned a lot about the true Aussie mentality. I am sure this may prove to be not so normal out of Western Australia and even though we were only in Sydney for 3 weeks there are a few differences in attitude, but here are a few of our favourite indications of how things go over here.

1, apparently it is a good idea to have a drive through off licence. Nobody appears to see the irony of that one. They are called Bottle O's and are just what I said, a drive through off license. Brilliant.Next door is the drive through chemist...

2, It's not just a stereotype, People greet each other with "g'day mate" and usually end a sentence with the common Neighbours (other bad Australian soaps are available) phrases of 'No Worries' or 'no dramas'

3, Fast Food chicken restaurants are everywhere. There are at least 5 different types of the same thing with the likes of KFC, Red Rooster, Chooks, Nando's & Chicken Treats to choose from.We can genuinely say that we have not been into any of them as we have got a weekly pizza night thing going with Steve but I didn't realise that there was enough room for so many chicken fast food outlets but obviously in Perth, there is plenty of choice

4, The Language here is a lot more 'colourful' than back in the UK. I won't go in to the actual words but they are pretty much the same as you would expect. The difference here is the way the words are not just common language for the 'builders' of Perth but seem to appear on the radio at all times of the day and even TV commercials.The fact that the watershed is 7.30pm doesn't seem to have any effect on the word b*ll*cks being part of everyday Aussie language

5, Australia is an English speaking country... this said, even with the Thongs conversation mentioned earlier, when you are asking for sellotape and get offered durex things can get badly confused. Jemma seemed upset when other people in her office didn't know what 'Bost Up' meant but being realistic about this, unless you come from the Wolverhampton area then anyone would be a touch confused.It's all ok because when she starts talking about getting the Buzz it's all downhill.

6, The British fascination with the weather has definitely been adopted over here. In fact it is possibly a bigger talking point than back home. I think that maybe because we are over here in winter, the conversation is possibly more weather orientated. This is fair enough as for 8 months a year it's hot and sunny, so during October to March the only possible conversation about the weather would be something like... 'What's the weather like today? .... hot and sunny again'. It seems that during winter the bitterly cold 2 degree morning (!!!) and the 'constant' rain lasting 15 minutes become a talking point.It was the talking point of the morning last week when someone saw some ice! Well it is the middle of winter.

7, Woolworths over here is a proper supermarket and not just somewhere selling Pick & Mix and cheap bad toys. Unfortunately its only competitor is a Group called Coles. Because of the two of them having a pretty solid monopoly the food prices are kept considerably higher that we were used to back home. We accept that our love of Asda Smart Price has affected our perception of price (there are no 8p Beans over here); even the branded stuff the same as at home is considerably more expensive. Luckily we have discovered that we can in fact live off a daily a combination of Breakfast cereal and 2 minute noodles so we are still the bargain food connoisseurs you will all remember.

8, if you listen to the locals the traffic over here is awful. In realistic terms the traffic over here is nothing like the joys of the M6 between Birmingham and Wolverhampton or the wonderful stretch of the M1 between Derby and Nottingham. Both stretches of road me and Jemma spent far too much time on over the previous few years. In fact the thing that slows me down the most on the way to work is the traffic lights. It's not that there are more than any other city or anything but Perth is a very relaxed city and this seems to have stretched as far as the lights. They stay on red for so long that it just forces you to stop, take the car out of gear, have a look round, watch the other huge (2 car) queue form next to you and smile at the driver next door. Then with no warning they go green again and everybody accelerates up to the 60km (36mph) speed limit in their 4 litre engined cars! The low km speed limits have also taken a bit of getting used to. I am now on my 2nd speeding ticket in Australia, both times doing the grand total of 9 and 10 km over the speed limit (about 6mph). I do want to point out that the 60kph speed limits is on roads that I would be used to a 50 or 60 mph speed limit so both times I felt like I was well within the law. Unfortunately I wasn't but luckily I have not collected any points.

Another common thing over here that was new to both me and Jemma was the Ute. The Ute is a 2 seater car size and height pickup truck. It appears to be every 18 Year old Hoon (Aussie word for bad driver), and every builder/trades persons' ambition to own a Ute. Special kudos is given to the lowered, alloy wheeled, loud stereo variety. Alternatively points can be gained for having a large tool box in the back and more often than not, a dog. When I collected the work Ute I felt as close as I have to the Australian way of life.

We have been out and about a little bit in between all the working and shopping. We have met up with Angela, Kevin and the family a few times. We went to a town called Lancelin with Kevin a few weeks ago. Lancelin is about 100km North of Perth. There is not much in between Perth and Lancelin and to be honest not a lot in Lancelin... apart from the huge sand dunes that you can drive on. It was really good fun driving up and down the dunes and apart from a few 'oh sh*t' moments, as the drop the other side was slightly steeper than we thought, we managed to head back in one piece. At the beginning of the day Kevin had promised us our first wild kangaroo sighting at some point of the day. By mid afternoon this has slid to at least a 'dead one at the side of the road' By the time we reached Yanchep Park for a BBQ on the way home the only Kangaroo sighting was an un-verified road kill suspiciously only seen by Kevin and the he was starting to feel the pressure. A Koala in a special enclosure was not relieving the situation and even the wild long necked turtles in the lake and parrots eating off the BBQ were not living up to the wild Kangaroo promise. But as the sun went down and the park emptied out a bit out hopped the Kangaroos just as Mr Kangaroo himself had predicted.All in all it was a really good day out. Thanks again to Kevin and Angela for the day and for putting up with us dropping in for coffee from time to time.

We have also had a run out to Mandurah, a suburb about one and a half hours south. Not too many years ago it was a town in its own right but as Perth has boomed over the last few years Mandurah has been taken into the city. We parked up just next to the marina and walked around a new development of posh flats. Mostly a building site unfortunately but it will be an impressive place to live in a couple of years.

We headed over to the Marina and after walking past a couple of bars on the front we stood by the water's edge for a while when all of a sudden a dolphin took a breath right in front of us. Jemma will often see dolphins in the harbour at Fremantle but I had not seen them until then. For a minute we thought it would be just one glimpse but then another one took a breath. As we stood and watched at least four dolphins started swimming around and taking breaths in front of us. They must have known that they had drawn a crowd as at that point they began showing off and jumping out of the water and messing around swimming right up at the edge of the marina. Then as quickly as they had arrived they disappeared again, probably to put on a show somewhere else on the other side of the marina. As this is Australia and wildlife like dolphins are relatively common, when I was excitedly telling people at work about seeing dolphins they didn't seem to be overly impressed. I would even go as far as to say there was a distinct 'yes and...' look from more than a couple of people. I suppose if you live there it is difficult to understand that a pigeon, dog and a cat is about the most wildlife you get in Acocks Green.

So now we are all ready for the long road trip. At this point we have the ingenious plan of heading north and keeping the coast on our left. In theory we should hit Perth again after about 6 months. What happens in between in yet to be decided. We have both really enjoyed stopping for a while and getting to know a place well enough to feel at home, helped a lot by the hospitality (& humour) of Steve and the company of Angela & Kevin and of course Flemming and Caroline until they headed over east. Not only did we earn a bit of cash but more importantly we made some good contacts and it has made it possible for us to pre book a few flights. We have now booked up to Auckland and then on to Chile for May next year, oh and a fortnight in Japan in November!

Perth is a relaxed but interesting city and I can really see the reason why people don't leave. For us though, it's time to move on leaving hard work, fond memories and some good friends all behind. Will we come back?Well, yes because we have Caroline and Flemming's wedding in October and then back here in February but I am sure we will be back here a few times over the next few years.