Monday, January 26, 2009

Some pics eventually of Australia

Well eventually I have been to download some of my pictures that I have taken so far in Aus. I went for a train trip to Freemantle on Saturday the 17th. Really easy to work out the train system as there are only 4 main lines so as long as you know which line you need to be on all is very easy. The staff in the station were also very friendly helping me to purchase the correct ticket and letting me know which line I need to go on. The trains were very clean so all in all a very pleasant ride. I then wondered around Freemantle for a couple of hours.
There is plenty in the city to keep you busy for the day and it is best do it on foot otherwise I think you will miss alot. I went down one street that had all these old quaint shops so that kept me busy for a while. There was a tour at the Freemantle prison but I did not go through it as I would prefer to go when Heath and the kids are here and besides there were plenty of little shops I still needed to wonder around. Around the harbour there is an area where quite a few restaurants are based around the water and cute little beach. As you can see from the pics below it is very clean. The markets was my favourite of the day. There is a fresh fruit and veggie market to buy all your fresh goods including various spices, jams etc. Then around the market there are small stalls dotted everywhere. I did not buy anything but it was great just to browse. A great days outing all in all! It was a bit overcast that day so the photos are not the best.
Freemantle prison
Streets of Freemantle

Harbour area at Freemantle


One of the many church's in Freemantle

One of the entrances to the markets @ Freemantle
Another entrance to the Freemantle markets

Maritime Museum @ Freemantle
Below are the pics I took just after I got to Perth when I was taken for a trip around the city. These pics were all taken in Kings Park which is a huge park that also includes the botanical gardens. There are some amazing views of the city from the park. Once again the park is a great days out and it is free, so you can pick a spot on the grass anywhere in the park and have a picnic.
Perth Skyline from the Botanical gardens

Nicky in Perth

Botantical gardens
These pics were taken when I went for a trip out to the beach i.e. Scarborough. It was quite windy on the day so all of the windsurfers and kite surfers were out and about having a good time. All of the beaches I have seen so far have always got a grass area as well so you do not always have to sit on the beach and eat sand if it is windy! Plus as in the picture below again all the beaches I have seen so far have had play areas for the kids as well. Very organised in this regard.
Scarborough Beach

Kids play area @ beach

Scarborough Beach
The pictures of the park below is one of the many parks that is close to the apartment that I am staying in currently. I think I have counted about 6 parks that I could walk to from the apartment so I don't even have to visit the same one each time. Some of them are small with just a grass area and jungle area for the kids and some are bigger with a dam and larger grass areas.
Dam in one of the parks

Play area @ park
So now at least you have seen some of the pics that I have taken so far. Today is Australia day so we have a public holiday. I have seen plenty of Aussies with flags flying on their cars and homes celebrating the day. Plenty people get dressed up in their Aussie gear and just have a good time. Tonight there is a big celebration in the city with fireworks. I have just got back from Singapore this morning at 3:30am so very tired at this time and when I left Singapore everyone was about to start celebrating Chinese New Year. So I been very privileged in the last couple of days to experience both Chinese New Year and Australia day.
Have a great day!
Cheers
Nicky

Monday, January 19, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!

To my wonderful loving handsome husband HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Hope that you have a fantastic day. Missing you stax but we will celebrate when we are together sooooonnnnn.

Love
Nicky, Reece and Bryce
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sunday, January 11, 2009

One Week that has dragged!

Happy Birthday to Deanne for yesterday and to Ced for Friday! Hope that you both had a great birthday and were spoilt rotten!

This is the first week that I am back in Aus and the time has dragged. It does not help that it is the first week back at work after holidays, first week of the year without the family and the first week in a long time that I cannot sleep. The jetlag seems to have hit me this time around as I just cannot get to sleep at night anymore. At 11:00pm I am still very much awake and even reading does not put me to sleep. So hopefully next week will get better.

Work is a bit slow at the moment which also makes me think that I could have taken another week off and been at home for one extra week but now that I am here I just have to make the most of it. Nothing really exciting has happened this week other than it has been really hot this week and they say that the temp today will reach 38 degrees.

I am now tasked with looking for a place to stay and a car, but I have decided that I will more than likely wait for Heath to come over before looking for a car as I have never been the master at buying cars. So if I desperately need one I will hire one every now and again. I am also not really in the mood to look for a place to stay but I think this is all due to the lack of sleep I have had. So hopefully next week I will get my a.. into gear and start contacting some agents. I have also heard that the agents really take there time here so it could take a while before I find something.

Heath and the kids are doing well. I think Heath is happy that he has Joyce back to help a bit with the kids. I am now calling the kids every day as the other day one of my friends phoned the house and once Reece realised that it was not me he was very upset. Strange but sometimes he is so engrossed in what he is doing that he just says hello and bye mom but other days I get a little more out of him. Bryce I think does most of the talking though. They are both going back to play school next week and so should help a bit with the boredom, even though Heath takes them out everyday to play somewhere.

It takes a little getting used to the fact that the shops are not always open here in Perth as we are very spoilt in SA that most days the shops are open until 7:00pm and all day Saturday and Sunday. So I am having to plan a little better with regards to shopping. In the area that I am in the shops close at 5:00pm each day (except Thursday 9:00pm), Saturdays at 5:00pm and then Sundays nothing is open. I have since determined that the two food shops close to me i.e. Woolworths and Coles are open until 6:00pm on week nights. Often with me I realise on Sunday what I do not have and then it is too late. There are certain shops in some of the areas that are open on Sunday but a bit of a pain to get to with public transport from where I am staying. Anyway just a little adjusting and all will be fine.

Keep Well.

Cheers
N

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!


Well happy New Year to everyone wherever you are and we hope that you all had a great start to your New Year and that you all have the best year ahead!

I cannot believe how time has flown by but it is time again for me to catch a plane back to Aus tomorrow night. Hopefully Heath and the kids will be over very soon. I still have lots to do before they get over and that is firstly to find a place to stay in, start organising schools for the boys and getting a car. So all of this should keep me busy for a bit. Heath has his hands full as well sorting out everything here in SA so that they can get to Aus as soon as possible. So a busy start to our year already - hopefully this means that the rest of the year will be peaceful.

Thanks to all of those that I have been able to catch up with in the short time I was back and sorry to those where we were not able to make it - next time when we are back for a holiday we will make a plan :)
My mom and dad have settled in nicely in the freezing cold but are looking forward to finding a place to stay so that they can really get settled. They have organised themselves pensioners bus passes (he he he), medical and bought a car so they have done very well for themselves.


We had a small celebration at home for my birthday and also any excuse to catch up with some mates is always good. Heath had sorted out some jumping castles for the kids and some ponies to come around for an hour. Well Reece was in his element he could not believe that he had real ponies in his own garden and he could ride them for as long as he wanted! It was just great to see the surprised look when they arrived.
Bryce had loads of fun in the jumping castle throwing balls and butt naked - just up his alley! All in all it was a great day and even better that we were given the chance to catch up with everyone.
At the end of the evening Reece decided that he did not only want xmas decorations on the tree but his favourite giraffe alos had to be decorated so after attacking the tree for the decorations he was then able to complete the exercise of decorating his giraffe. The giraffe stayed like that until this morning when he then decided that xmas was over and his giraffe was allowed to return to normal.New Year has been a quite one for us as we have just spent it at home as a family which has been great and I have been given the opportunity to go through each room and sort out the stuff we will be taking with us to Aus. The kids are a bit confused on why I would be removing some of their toys - It is amazing that half of them they have not played with in years but now that I want to send them off to charity they now suddenly want to play with them. Anyway they have now played with the toys again and are happy for them to go to less fortunate children. So now that I have been through each room my dustbins are overflowing with rubbish and my guest room looks like a bomb has hit it with all of the bags lying around. We have only been in this house for 5 1/2 yrs and I cannot believe how much rubbish we have collected over that time!

Anyway have a great New Year and I will catch up with you all again through email, facebook and will do my best to blog as often as possible.

Keep in touch.
Cheers
N