Perth

We arrived in Perth late in the afternoon and were suddenly surrounded by PEAK hour! What a shock to the system after 5 months of no cities (sorry but Darwin does not count with its population of only 150,000). We limped through to a caravan park in North Perth with one flat tyre and a few car issues as well. (Going to be an expensive month to repair vehicles :( ) We met up with quite a few families we’ve journeyed with along the road which was great for kids & adults alike! The jumpy pillow certainly got a workout on this stay! And the ducks & Swans kept the kids entertained.

The first few days we chilled in the pool (making the most of Jesse’s waterproof cast as he wasn’t allowed to swim in the ocean), enjoyed evenings chatting with friends (thanks Lynch Family!) and caught up on some school work. We resorted to “reading eggs” for Tessa now we had internet service again to give me a break from intensive schooling.

Father’s Day we celebrated by visiting a local church where we met people we’d known in Brisbane! Small world! We then drove along the beach front but it was SO busy we turned around and used the caravan park pools again. That afternoon we invited our grey nomad neighbours over for a special afternoon tea – he’d mentioned to us that morning that he wasn’t even expecting a call from any of his 8 children. The kids thought that was terrible so they made him Father’s Day cards & invited him to afternoon tea. I think he was pretty chaffed that kids could be that thoughtful. It really doesn’t take a lot to make someone’s day.

The next day we dropped into King’s Park (not so busy on weekdays J) and while the kids played on the playgrounds we enjoyed the beautiful gardens. The kids raced us up the DNA lookout tower, we walked through the wildflower displays, saw the Boab tree that had been transported from Derby and played with the baby ducklings. For lunch we ventured into Perth city and had SUSHI (Mmmmm) – the first in a while! After that we browsed through arcades & shops and after a few purchases we headed home. I bought Miss T “Are We There Yet?” by Alison Lester so we read that and had fun remembering all the cool places we’ve seen and all the ones we’ve yet to see!

The next day was my birthday so we took a drive to a lovely Hilary’s Boat Harbour for lunch then later to Scarborough Beach – I wanted to swim but it was still too windy & cool AND the no swimming due to sharks kind of put me off a lot! That evening we had a great BBQ dinner with the Lynch Family in the camp Kitchen and finished off with cake & candles J. Never too old for that!

On Wednesday we put our car in for a service with a family friend (neighbours from when I was a kid in Blackburn) and walked to the Perth Mint. What a fantastic experience! We watched a gold bullion bar being poured and learnt lots about the making of gold coins. They were also able to try and lift a gold bullion bar – only Kieren could physically lift it. The biggest gold coin in the world was also on display – it was huge! The kids were lucky enough to “tag” onto the back of a school excursion and get a coin “struck” for them.

After a quick look through the cathedral we headed back to the car and spent a lovely evening with Don in Northbridge for dinner. It was so great to catch up as it had been 15 years since I’d last seen him and he hadn't met Kieren or the children. He shouted the children a night out at Timezone after dinner (I remember him doing the same for us 15 years ago!) and we had a lot of fun playing all sorts of crazy games J. Thanks Don for an awesome night out – the kids will remember your generosity for a lifetime!

To cap off the most social week of our entire trip, we were invited to The Rutland Family’s house for a dinner of Lasagne (thanks sooooo much Kim – we’re still talking about it!). The Dad’s watched footy while the kids played like long-lost friends (it had only been a few weeks since our Dongara meeting) and we all enjoyed being in a house (although strange at first). We are really most thankful to friends we’ve met on the road – hospitality is amazing!

Rainy day learning to play "Settlers of Catan" (Kelly you'll be impressed!)

After such an eventful week, all the girls came down with colds – our first in 5 months! With a week left till Mr J’s hospital appointment, we filled the time in with home days alternated with more outings to Fremantle to see the markets, Gaol, Roundhouse (original gaol) and submarine. Our tour guide at the Goal we think may have been a former prison warden! It was certainly an eye-opener for us all as this gaol operated up until 1991. We also went to Scitech (much like scienceworks) for a great interactive day filled with scientific learning!

Old Fremantle Gaol

Solitary confinement for you lot - together!

In the stocks for you lad!

Making a run for it!

 Perth Mint

Trying out the gold nuggets

Scitech - Miss E & T doing the infra-red dance

Scitech - Miss T driving a flight simulator

Finally the day of Mr J’s appointment came and the boys trundled off to the old Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (our 5^th hospital visit in WA). He was given the all clear by the Ortho regs after more x-rays!! WOOHOO! They were fairly happy that the tendon hadn't pulled the fracture out of line so it was off with the cast and Mr J came out beaming like a moon! And so we can leave the big city behind ;-)