Sunny Saturday in April

Quite an eventful day really. It started early in Fremantle with a didgeridoo lesson, thanks to Amanda for the Christmas present.

We then borrowed a bicycle and cycled over to East Fremantle and along the Swan River up to Point Walter. Here there were a bunch of kids jumping off rocks about 10m high into the river. A very refreshing way to cool off after the bike ride.

We then followed this up by going to our first roller derby event. This is basically a race around an indoor loop where two teams of about 5 girls race and block each other. It's quite full on and there were a lot of crashes and collisions and they're all padded up with knee and elbow pads etc. it was a Star Wars theme so there were a few storm troopers around, including one very overweight one.

March

Just a quick post to pop some photos up. Mostly from the Blues and Roots festival we went to in Fremantle last weekend, where we saw Graveyard Train (an Australian band, really good), Ben Harper, Rufus Wainwright, Paul Simon, Steve Miller Band, Jimmy Cliff, Santana. We had such a good time, and didn't stop dancing from the minute we got there. It was definitely the most civilised festival we've ever been to though - especially as it all ended at 10pm, and everyone politely made their way home, rather than camping out!

In other news, we actually had a day of bad weather during the week. I mean grey skies, over 40mph winds, and fairly torrential rain. But not to worry, we're back to clear sunny skies again... (although it is starting to get noticeably cooler - perhaps 'winter' is on its way?!). We're off to Esperance for the easter weekend, and the forecast there is much chillier - max 22 degrees, min 11 degrees (Perth is set to be around 27), so will need to pack a few jumpers etc. Not quite the snow boots that seem to be required back home though...

Sunset over the 'big top'

Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite

Rufus Wainwright, glowing

A misty morning on North Cottesloe beach (whilst waiting for my bus)

Sunset at Lancelin (having watched some dolphins feeding in the bay) 

A still from a rather unexciting video clip of the dolphin at Lancelin - it was far more exciting in person, honest!

Surfers out at North Cott - it's getting to be surf season!



River trip

We took the SUP boards out onto the Swan River this afternoon, after the wind had dropped right off so it was ideal - much easier than the open sea first time trip yesterday. We even saw a dolphin, and were on the water at the time, however it was too far away to take a decent photo. Was great to be able to see the jellyfish too, from the perspective of being above the water rather than in it - some of them are the size of footballs, but they're not stingers so nothing really to worry about. As you can see from the pictures, today was actually cloudy. Fancy that.

Van racking

Whilst Becks was away in Tasmania over the long weekend, I kept myself busy in manly fashion and built a racking system in the back of the van, and then put a stereo in. And then went to see Metallica at the Soundwave festival.

Tasmania

Bit out of sync date wise, but I just came back from a work sponsored trip to Tasmania. Arrived late Saturday (after a casual 7 hrs flying time via Melbourne) so had most of Sunday to myself. Total bliss! Hiked up mount Wellington in inappropriate footwear, but was very lucky with the weather. In fact, the whole time we were there it was pretty hot, which is apparently unlike Tasmania.

Here's a few photos mostly from my walk up the mountain, but also featuring my first sighting of a cork-hatted local. Pretty exciting find!

SUP

So money burnt a hole in our pockets and we went and bought 2 identical SUPs. We found a very enthusiastic shop who loved our van and were very keen to help us find a way of fitting two enormous boards inside it.

With a tape measure, spare roof rack strap and removal of some glass we somehow managed to fit 2 9'6" boards in the back of the van reasonably comfortably.

An added bonus is that we can stick windsurf sails on the boards if we like.

For our first session we walked the boards down to our local beach and ended up heading out at the worst time of day when the wind had picked up. Even so it was pretty good fun and a good workout.

Now off to an open air cinema for the evening.

Just in time

Phew, posted within one month of the last post... only just... standards are slipping and we've only been here 3 months!

Good job I've waited a couple of days to write a post, as last week I was feeling pretty rubbish about how much work I had on, and felt a bit swamped by it all. This week, however, it has dramatically calmed down, I've worked from home for one day so far (and Phil is working from home at the moment to due to office renos), and we've been windsurfing (on Monday), swimming (Tuesday) and once again I feel like Cottesloe is the best place to live on earth! Post-swim on Tuesday we indulged in some local fish and chips, and enjoyed this sunset (with a glass of white on the beach, naturally):

So, since the van purhase, we are yet to build a racking system - but crucially we now have all the ingredients. Just no tools. Fortunately we have friends with tools. Phil has also just pointed out that this will be considerably simpler in build style than motorhome #1 (which is going up for sale at some point soon, unless we can persuade someone to rent it from us).

Phil has also purchased the most high-tech radio I've ever seen - it incorporates a reversing camera, ipod connector, sat nav, mp3, DVD player... it pretty much is amazing. But we can't quite connect it yet (wrong parts/tools/some other excuse on Phil's part).

Bertie (the van) has been on a couple of road trips. One, down to Margaret River for a Windsurfing WA event, which was fantastic - for the windsurfing (we discovered Avalon for the first time, a great spot 1hr south of Perth) but also for the social scene. We've also just come back from a weekend trip to Lancelin again where I even braved the waves for the first time, and Phil had fun too.

I've been getting more into yoga - plenty of rooftop yoga (at 6am, requiring a 4.50am get up), so I get views such as this:

We're saving up for stand up paddle boards - next on our list of toys. We also need to find boards short enough that they'll fit in the van. Also need to pay speeding fines and the like, so this purchase may be a way off!

We're slowly but surely meeting some lovely people and making friends. There's a great bunch of mostly windsurfers from the UK, and some are out here permanently, some on a short to long term basis. Either way, it has meant that we generally always have people to windsurf with, and recognise people at the beach, which is great.

I'm trying to persuade Phil that we should get a dog. Fortunately for me, he is far more sensible than I am, and has pointed out that perhaps he should get past his 6 month probationary period first... so we will reconsider in June (unless I happen to stumble across one before then... or steal one from our local dog beach).

Otherwise think that pretty much sums up our past month. I'm off to Tasmania this weekend for a work away 'day' (it's 3 days long), and Phil is home alone on a bank holiday weekend, so is trying to find some friends to accompany him to see Metallica at the Soundwave festival on the Monday.

Lots of love to you all xxx