August: not sure, think it rained? Most likely went surfing a bit until it got too grotty, so booked a holiday! The good (but sad) news is that we sold our van, the beloved Nelly the elephant. Hopefully she went to a good home, and good luck to them trying to work out Phil's wiring system!
September: went to Bali for a week. It was beautiful. We stayed in Canggu which is a bit out of the way (from Kuta, which is the Aussie equivalent of costa del sol), took our surf boards, and stayed in a hotel right on the beach so tried to surf there every day. We signed up to a couple of trips too, so one day we got up at about 3am to travel to the north east of the island to climb Mt batur (a volcano) before sunrise. Totally stunning, and well worth the trip. Quite a moment too as the sun came up. We also joined a cycling trip that was mostly downhill from Ubud (the 'cultural capital' of Bali) through some villages and rice paddies. I tried my hand at rice threshing, and we ate delicious food. All in all, a lovely place, albeit hectic where the touristy areas are with a million scooters everywhere and open sewers etc, reminding us of Morocco. Interesting spiritual side too, with temples absolutely everywhere, some of the 'gargoyles' were particularly vulgar but fun. Unfortunately we both got ill at the end of the trip, so came back and had the best part of a week off from work feeling pretty terrible.
On our return, I picked up my new thermomix. It's a German invention, but only seems to be popular here in Australia. Anyway, needless to say I love it - certainly more than any other kitchen gadget I've owned before. Have been pretty busy of late, so am still a bit slow in getting used to making the most of it, but (for me) it has been a pretty exciting addition to the family!
Mum and Dad (Hazel) came out in the last week of September. Mum was sick from their trip to Malaysia, and it was still fairly wet in Perth so a quiet first week, but lovely to have them out here.
October: Mum and Dad based in Stirling, but visited every art gallery and museum Perth and Fremantle had to offer whilst the weather wasn't great. Even persuaded them to come and watch the AFL grand final in Freo (as they were playing). They lost, but it was fun being part of the sea of purple lining the 'cappuccino strip'. Over the past couple of weekends things have perked up though weather wise and have been spending more time at the beach. We went up into the hills where we had a lovely lunch overlooking some vineyards. We visited Rottnest too, where we managed to tick off a number of boxes - whales whilst we were on our way over to the island, dolphins swimming in the bay around us in the water, fantastic weather, and of course quokkas. God this place is so beautiful when the sun shines! All is suddenly right with the world.
Phil managed to sneak in a trip up to lancelin whilst us mere mortals had to work, and got the first decent windsurf of the season - a new spot (for him) at south passage with head high waves. Apparently enough to have fun without being "brown trouser waves" (Phil's words). Unfortunately the reason he was there was a farewell windsurf for the booths who are heading back to the uk. The reality of life as an expat! Oli and Vicki were kind enough to lend us their house/van/life when we first got here, so really helped us out, so will be sad to lose them, but guess these things are somewhat inevitable, and they're going back to continue the fun in Bristol.
I also had a very brief work trip to Sydney. Knowing that we'd be stuck in a conference centre all day I forced myself out of bed at a silly hour to run to the opera house to see the touristy sights. Done now, no need to go back! It's just a city after all - give me Perth's beaches any day. (Yes, I know Sydney has Bondi, but Bondi Schmondi, I reckon Perth is waaaaaaay better. Biased? Maybe.)
We also completed our first tough mudder last weekend. In summary, a 20km run with about 20 obstacles, including electric wires, muddy troughs, high walls, ice baths, and others. We ran it (well, for me it was more like a stumble once we got to 14km) in about 3hrs and ran with Liss and Dom, whilst dressed as pirates, and I think we all actually enjoyed it.... A really good atmosphere, with a sense of cameraderie and a fun spirit. We'll be doing it again next year (but may run more than 6km in training...). We've been doing a fair bit of crossfit which definitely helped, but didn't quite give us the endurance ability we needed.
I've been working like a bit of a maniac, and it has been fairly stressful at work with a lot of changes etc, with more to come over the next couple of months, but will sit tight and see what happens there. Most importantly, I'm trying not to let it stop me from going windsurfing when it's windy!!
Phil's job seems to be getting more interesting as his role expands both in responsibility and geographically, so we'll see how that goes. So far so good though (and he gets to go windsurfing in Lancelin on a Monday afternoon, so not a bad life)!
We're off for a week down in Augusta next week to stay with my parents who have a holiday home down there as part of their house swap. Apparently you can see migrating whales from their balcony! Either way we're looking forwards to a break, and one in Australia at that! We keep considering places we feel like we should visit abroad, and then realise there is so much to see here that it seems silly not too, especially as we don't know how long we'll be here for.
Anyway, it definitely seems like spring is here. Or maybe even summer - apparently it hit 37 degrees in Perth yesterday! Can't wait for a long hot windy summer. Phil even has a new custom windsurf board with which to enjoy all that the Fremantle doctor brings...
