Fun with Water.

Well, this week children, we have been exploring ways to have fun on the water. It started with the boat on Sunday.......

It was the first time we took it out on our own and after driving at 5kmh all the way to the boat ramp, we managed the twenty minute journey in about an hour! It was full of "mind that roundabout!", "slow down" and "is the boat still behind the car, Sam?"'s. We thought getting the boat hitched to the car and getting to the ramp was an ordeal......... good grief, that was only the beginning!

Behind you! It's huge! Should they be driving THAT close?

Getting the boat off the trailer and into the water involved a team of five (us), three other boat owners (one to reverse the trailer, one to help us launch the boat and one to hold onto the boat while we went to park the car!). It was a like a scene out of 'Chucklevision'. To you - to me...... Eventually, we were waterbound and heading for the open sea with a few provisions and a wet-version of the 'highway code'. Fun? Relaxing? I'd never felt so tense!

We all calmed down once we'd managed to navigate our way out of the marina (Paul never was very good in car parks - he'll follow an arrow to the death, even if it adds another three miles to his exit route - imagine how he coped with NO arrows. He was like a rabbit in headlights - 'which way, Ju. Which way IS out?' How good would that have looked. 'Yeah, we went out on the boat. Couldn't actually find our way out of the marina and just chugged around looking at the arse-end of people's boats for an hour!' We never would have told you anyway!

We actually started to enjoy the experience. Sam however, left teethmarks in the upholstery! Yes, Sam Delaney, speed freak, tough guy and general hard nut was screaming at Paul to 'SLOW DOWN' as soon as the speedo hit 10mph. He did get used to it after a while and started to enjoy crossing the wake and hopping over the waves at speed. It toook a long while for him to loosen up though. He's too much like Paul, the older he gets, the more information he retains about things that can harm, bite, maime or kill and he dwells on them for a great deal longer than is healthy.

At the back of my mind, I was still worried about how we were going to get the bloody boat back on the trailer, so after a good scoot up and dowm the estuary we decided to head back for the boat ramp to give the locals another laugh at our totally inadequate boatmanship. As we scooted along, we noticed a dolphin, feeding and playing in the shallows. Then another. Then another. There must have been about 12 in all. They love playing with the boats and swim along side them if the mood takes them. One surfaced about 6 feet from the side of our boat - it was absolutely magical. We must have spent about three quarters of a hour watching these beautiful mammals at close range.

We headed back and it took another three boat-loads of people to get us back into the jetty. A bent boat hook and a lot of wet rope later and the boat was actually back on the trailer. I've decided that I need an intensive 'how to lassoo course' so I am actually able to throw a rope more than two inches in front of my face with miminal effort and without launching myself off the boat with the rope!

It was a huge sigh of relief that was heaved when we had the boat safely (well, safely-ish - we knocked the arial off!), back on the drive. We haven't been able to face the humilation of a repeat performance just yet. We might have to wait until next weekend when there are lots of boaters around. If there hadn't been anyone there to help us, we could still be there now, floating around the marina, on our 2000th attempt to get the boat alongside the jetty!

More fun on the water is to be had in the shape of swimming lessons for Sam and Darcie this week (and next week - but I haven't told them about that bit yet!). It's very different from swimming lessons with Tony. No singing and no floatation aids are allowed. They seem to be enjoying it though. The lessons are held at a public pool, which has 'open sides' that can be rolled up so that you can take your towel and sit in the grass after your swim.

Darcie practises her 'Madge with the Badge' impression

Sam's under there somewhere. "Breathe and blow"

The funniest thing is; all the lifeguards are young (teenage) Aussies. Very fit and athletic and very helpful. I was watching Sam in his class today (honest), when one of the

young male lifeguards stood directly in my line of sight and bent over to talk to a colleague in the pool. Printed on the back of his shorts was the slogan "Shouldn't you be watching your kids?" How priceless is that? I HAD to take a photo after that. I pretended to take a picture of Sam (yes, you are still allowed to take photos of you own children in a public place in Australia - how novel!), and then quickly move the aim of the camera onto the lifeguard's rear! The picture isn't that clear though - couldn't really ask him to bend over. I will endeavour to obtain a better photograph tomorrow - all in the name of journalism, you understand.

Well - it would be rude not to look!

More house viewing on the cards for tomorrow. We still can't decide between single/double storey house, so we made an appointment with someone else to confuse us a little bit more. Ho hum!

TTFN

Photo Album

Sam rides the waves

Darcie relaxes with a Pims on board

Adam grins as he circum-navigates the Indian Ocean

Sam poses with our "baby". Any suggestions for a name?

Cool dude!

WOOHOO!!!!

At King's Park overlooking Perth

This is the house we like - currently waiting for the builder to give us a final costing, which could take weeks - W.A. = Wait Awhile!

We've got our boat!!

We took delivery of our boat today - hooray!! After an embarrassing hic-cup at the dealers when Lloyds stopped the credit card transaction for "security" reasons, the purchase was made and the sales guy took us out for a tutorial on the water.

Bouy (see what I did there?), can this thing shift? Even Adam had a smile spread over his entire face when we accelerated. We hit 50mph, which when you're on water, really feels fast.

We stopped off on the way to pick up the boat and got the kids fitted out with life jackets - Sam's has extra weight sewn into the seams (little sod!). Paul was reversing back to hook the boat trailer up to the car when Sam commented to the sales guy, "I don't think this is going to go well at all - Dad can't even get my baby brother in his car seat without Mum's help!" even the sales guy laughed and asked me where I found him. I said I couldn't remember, but if I had a receipt, believe me, he would have been returned MORE than once!

Cheesey feels the wind blow through his barnet

January 2006. Happy New Year!

The New Year has got off to a flying start and we are as busy as ever starting to get our lives organised! We have now enlisted the help of an accountant who can register our Australian business and assist with tax and all those lovely details. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our broadband this week, along with our boat :-) which should hopefully arrive on Thursday - see the picture below. Paul will obviously be using it to travel at great speed and deliver boxes of "Black Magic".


We've got to phone around and get ourselves booked on a BoatSmart course so we are aware of the basics.......

Our shipment arrived on 4th January safe and sound as you can see. Chaos reigned and even now there are about 30 boxes that we haven't even looked in! Customs confiscated three boxes; our tent (£50 from Tescos, used twice) and two boxes of Xmas decs.

Sam is booked on a "Learn to Surf" course on Thursday/Friday and Saturday this week for an hour each day. They provide the wetsuits and the board, so it should be fun to watch him practise his "Dude moves". I've also got the kids swimming lessons booked for next week - we want them to be confident in the water with the boat and everything... we can also pick up Sam's stationary for school this week - as you have to provide their writing materials, you can pre-order it before term starts and pick it up at the equivalent of W H Smiths without having to shop around. We've also got to visit the school uniform shop the day before term starts and get Sam's uniform sorted (hope they've got his size in stock, or he'll be in a dress!!). Darcie is on the waiting list at the moment for pre-primary, but there's a montesorri in a nearby town that we might consider enrolling her in as I think she needs a bit more of a challenge.

So, all in all, the first weeks in January are busy ones. Add to this visits to show houses to see builders and try and move forward with what sort of house to put on our lot and visits to A&E with Adam who decides to headbutt concrete whilst in one of the show houses..... it's busy, busy, busy.

Take care and will update soon.

Us xXx

We're here, we've landed and we've arrived!

"Our house - in the middle of our street!"

Well, we've officially been in Australia a month now! We arrived on November 26th and Boxing Day marked our one month anniversary. Another eleven and we've done a whole year!

The above shows our house in Secret Harbour. We moved on on 21st December 2005 and after a frantic couple of days assembling garden furniture (to use until our container of belongings is delivered on 4th January '06), beds and variouls electrical equipment, christmas arrived and was enjoyed by all (if somewhat different to what we've been used to in previous years!).

We visited the beach on christmas afternoon (you have to - it's the LAW!!) and had a BBQ for breakfast. Sam finally got to play with his PSP after the torture of buying it in Hong Kong and waiting those four agonising weeks. He also got a BMX bike and a motorised scooter that he whizzes round the streets on, giving Darcie a lift back from the beach when he's feeling generous!

Darcie got a Nintendo DS and a virtual reality dog game that she loves, a bike and lots of dolls and girlie toys. Adam got a motorised car which he scoots about in, abusing ankles as he goes!

For New Year we went down to the foreshore at Mandurah which is about 20 minutes from us. They had free face painting and airbrush tattoos for the kids as well as pony rides and other entertainment. They offer two fireworks displays - one at 9pm for all those with little kids, and then the die-hard party-ers carry on until midnight. We watched the 9pm display, had a yummy fish and chip dinner overlooking the bay and then came home to have sparklers in the garden and ring the UK and wish everyone "Happy New Year" at 4pm in the afternoon!

December 2005 - Oz!!





We are currently living in Ocean Reef which is a very nice suburb to the North of Perth. The house we are renting has a lovely view of the ocean to the back and we sat in the garden to open our Advent Calendars on Dec 1st!

We had really good views of the sea rescue helicopter practise exercise one day (well in truth, we all paniced as we thought the damn thing was going to land on our roof!). It was there for about two hours, going out to sea, winching people up and dropping them back to shore (not literally!).



We have found a long-term rental in Secret Harbour (about a 45 minute drive to the south of Perth) which is where we have our plot of land and where we want to settle. We can't move in though until 21st December, which is obviously cutting it a bit fine for christmas. What we are having to do is buy essential stuff that we will need (as the rental is unfurnished. This includes beds, TV, kitchenware, etc) and store it in the garage at Ocean Reef. We've hired a 'man with a van' to help us move it all down to SH. We just can't afford to leave it until we get down there.



We've bought a car. A silver Toyota Prado. Very nice with lots of mod cons. We looked round a few garages and were convinced we were going to buy a Ford - we just thought we'd have a look in the Toyota garage to explore every avenue and came out having bought a Toyota (after Darcie threw up on the forecourt - but that's a different story!).


So, that's a few things to tick off the list; car - check; house - check; christmas - getting check. There are still hundreds of things left on our list though! It doesn't help that there's no telephone line at the house. For us, with no internet is a bit like losing a limb. Oh well, not for much longer!

We've still had some fun in between the 'work' stuff of getting houses and cars sorted.

November 2005 - Hong Kong!

Well, for all those who never thought we would do it "read it and weap!". We have arrived in Hong Kong. Very strange to think we have visited HK three times now in the space of nine months. This time, however we are going to do slightly different things......

Like DISNEY!! We were so excited about visiting HK Disney, but it did prove to be a bit of a disappointment. For one thing, it's TINY. We thought it would be bigger than Paris, but even Sleeping Beauty's castle in the centre of the park is a mini fun-size one. We went on a Sunday - thinking that although it may be slightly busier than a weekday, the park was open longer hours than a weekday and that would compensate for the increase in customers; however this wasn't the case and when it got to 2pm and Darcie had only been on one ride, we got a bit cheesed off! So we all traipsed down to the Town Hall and complained (not like us really!) and after some haggling and negotiation got three lots of fast passes. So, we all hit Space Mountain and smiles were restored to the kids faces (and mine;-)

Adam LOVES Pooh Bear. He is his new Best Friend. I honestly thought he was going to pop with excitement on the Winnie the Pooh ride - I've never seen him go quite so rigid with glee. Adam also had his picture taken with Pooh (OK - you and I both know it's a very sweaty man in a big suit), and Adam wouldn't let him go. I think if Adam had held onto Pooh's leg for much longer, a Disney worker would have to surgically remove him. Mind you, the locals wouldn't have minded - we were queuing to have our photo taken with Pooh and they were taking photos of Adam in the queue. I thought we'd seen it all when we visited Madame Tussards in HK and people were taking photos of Addy rather than Jackie Chan, but no, even in Disney our son had a bigger photographic pull than Tigger and Pooh!

Paul and I had some clothes made. It was hilarious - like the Emporer's New Clothes, but fascinating too. We went in the first day and after the guy had tied two tape measures together ;-) he took all our measurements, picked out material and discussed styles. We went back in the day after that and the clothes were held together with pins and running stitches (well, the half that we had - Paul's suit only had one sleeve). He looked at me in all honesty and said, "well, what do you think?" I should have been honest and said "how do you think it looks, you've only got one sleeve and that's held on with a safety pin and running stitch in contrasting thread - you hardly look like David Beckham!" But, of course, I didn't. I just smiled and said "looks fab". Two days after that, they were finished and delivered to our hotel room - complete with our names and unique number (for ease of re-ordering!) embroidered into the lining. Paul went completly OTT and ordered two suits (very nice, with the really LOUD satin lining in purple and hot pink!), with extra trousers for each, twelve (yes, twelve!) shirts and three ties and I had a suit made with matching skirt and trousers for 'work'.

















As christmas was descending onto HK, the decorations looked magical. There was something very strange about seeing the 'Santa village' next to the huge skyscrapers. A real mixture of the old fashioned, chocolate box christmas and the brand new hi-tech buildings. It was great to experience. We took a nightime cruise round the harbour and it was warm, the light show was great (as always), the stereo on board was playing Dean Martin chrsitmas songs and the Xmas lights twinkled. It was a lovely moment. The start of our adventure and a whole new chapter in Australia. We all just couldn't wait to get there.