After running around like headless chickens for most of October and November, Phil and I squeezed in our last bit of work for the year, polished off the final spec of dust from our house ready for visitors, packed our stuff-sacs, said goodbye to our pot plant Basil (I think that's the last we'll see of him) and scrambled out the door ready for 5 weeks of sun, sand and surf in Oz.
We flew from London to Singapore on the new(ish) A380 Airbus plane, which was amazingly better than the long-haul planes we're used to flying on. A friend recommended we choose an upstairs seat and she was so right - we got to board with the first and business class passengers, we sat in a two seat section and had plenty of room to spread out due to some extra locker space under the windows. It really made a huge difference, although it is still a very long flight!
It was absolute bliss to come out of Perth airport and actually feel the sunshine on our faces. The UK has had an early cold snap this year, so we'd come from snow and the "Arctic Blaster" (as the north easterlies are known). Apologies to those around us who are now recovering from blindness due to the reflection of the sun off our pale English skin - we're working on remedying that while we are here!
I'm sure everyone here will laugh at me for posting a picture of the beach at sunset, but you have to understand this is a big event for people who live miles from the sea and who don't regularly see the sunset due to the clouds and lack of visible horizon.
Phil's parents are keen surfers, so we were all up, bathered and sunscreened on Saturday morning and down at the beach near where they live. If the weather had been like this in England and they had access to a sand beach (as opposed to the wierd pebble beaches), the place would have been absolutely packed with lobster red bodies. It was miraculous to find we had a whole stretch of beach to ourselves and there was a pleasant set of regular waves coming through for Phil to practise his lapsed surfing skills on.
Refreshed and relaxed, we had to suit up and make our way out to the Swan Valley for the wedding of my school friend Tiffany - one of the main reasons for this trip. The ceremony was held in a large natural garden area alongside the Swan River. Most people would cringe at the thought of hot pink bridesmaids dresses, but they looked fantastic - although of course they couldn't outdo the bride and groom! The ceremony was short and sweet and was followed by a group photo, the wedding cake (which was so good that I want one for my next birthday!) and the reception in the main house. We had a great time as we were regaled with tales of being a Kalgoorlie cop by my other school friend Megan, who had also made the trip to Perth for the big event.
By Sunday morning when we had to get up early for our 9am flight to Albany, both Phil and I were feeling seriously sleep deprived. I think we calculated that we had averaged 4 hours sleep per night in the past 8 days and I'm definitely an 8 hour a night gal! Luckily, Phil's parents were there to get us to the airport on time, and my parents were eagerly waiting to collect us at the other end.
My parents have just built a magnificent waterfront house in Albany. It overlooks the harbour across to the main street in town from around near the Princess Royal Sailing club. The front of the house is floor to ceiling windows, so the view is spectacular, and despite their plans to have a "small tin shed" it turned out much larger than they were expecting so it feels extremely spacious compared to our small London apartment.
Phil only had a couple of days with us down here, so we fit in some of the best parts of an Albany visit first off - we dined in style at the scrumptious Wild Duck with my rellies, Phil earned himself a mug from my parents favourite coffee shop Dylans, we picnicked at the beach and lunched at the Lake House. To wear all that off we cycled around the harbour and braved the kangaroos and snakes at the local golf course. We were sorry to see Phil go back to Perth, but his family had plans for the weekend at Rottnest Island - something to do with a swim through which Phil agreed to. I haven't heard from him since and he's a bit out of swimming practice, so I hope he's okay!
Somewhat surprisingly, Albany hosts a large number of cultural events. My family joined 250 other patrons in the Town Hall on Friday night to see the art movie The Counterfeiters - a film about the Jewish people in the Nazi concentration camps who were forced to print British pounds and US dollars during the war. It was a dark gritty movie, but well worth seeing.
The Albany farmers market on Saturday morning is quite a social event too. This week they had a string band, a dance/accordian act and an a cappella group entertaining the crowds while we shopped for the lushest strawberries, the best-ever lemon curd and a selection of fresh vegetables. On our way home we stopped in at the Albany museum to see the
ANZANG photographic exhibition. My favourite photo was of a group of red coloured ants lying flat along a leaf holding it in place while other ants sealed it from the inside. (And that previous sentence proves that "a picture is worth a thousand words"!)
That's all for now. It's time to go and soak up some more sunshine...
Labels: australia
