Some more Perth Pics

Here are a few photos of Perth taken from the banks of the Swan river on Monday night.

Some Photographs from the Past Few Days

Here's just a few extra pics taken over the last few days. We'll update the Blog again soon, but for now................. see you later!

Love Ben and Clarie (and Digger) x x x x x

Boxing Day, down to Freo

Well that's it for another year, Christmas has come and gone, though I don't think will be forgetting this one for some time.

We took the Beetle down to Freemantle for the day on Boxing Day. We drove by the Swan River along Riverside Drive and pootled into Freo.

We parked up in a car park by the water front and walked up to the Little Creatures bar ready for our Christmas Aspall's Cider. Couldn't believe it, they'd only bloody sold out of the stuff! Rubbish! We had to make do with a Pip Squeak instead.

Sitting out by the water, in the sun, with an ice cold cider was pretty special, even if it wasn't the Aspall's we were after! We sat and watched the world go by while sipping our cider's and constantly topping up the world's smallest drinking glasses with water. It was a really hot day and we soon moved tables to find a cooler spot in the shade, we refused to give in and go inside to the air conditioning.

After enjoying our ciders we were feeling peckish so we walked back towards the car to Wagamama's. Wagamama's is a Thai/noodle restaurant. The food was nice, though we both struggled a bit with the chop sticks, Claire opted for the stab approach, which was pretty effective!

After lunch we decided to head back home, but not before sitting by the beach to get a few pics. We took the same route back, plus a minor detour around the city because I (Ben) missed the turning.

(Yes, that is a fly on Ben's Face)

We spent the afternoon at home and headed out with Digger to Burswood Park to give him a bit of a run.

So that was our Boxing Day, hope you all had a good Christmas time. Speak again soon.

Christmas Day in Perth

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

What a christmas morning it's been !! Well it all started last night actually when we got to talk to the gorgeous Noah and his mam and dad. Can't believe how much Noah can talk now, so cute! It was really nice speaking to Natalie and Jon, wish they were here to toast in Christmas with a ice cold Aspall's, but we'll save that thought for the summer (the British Summer, not the scorching Australia summer we're having right now!).

We woke up this morning and he'd been! Santa had dropped our presents under our twig, err, I mean tree! Lots of chocolate! Mmmmmmm chocolate. We'll be fat pigs next time you see us! Digger was also spoilt rotten with treats and things that squeak!

We went out this morning to meet the Calvin's. They're friends of Claire's Auntie Brenda and they really are the most lovely people. They invited us in and we got chatting straight away, there was lots of people there and I think every single one was from Whitehaven! It was strange hearing so many Cumbrian accents all this way away in Perth! (Nice though!) They were all interested in what we were doing and where we'd been. It came up in conversation that we didn't have a car anymore, next thing we know Mike jumps up and disappears for 10 minutes! He then returns with and calls me Claire out to the front of the house. As he hands us a set of keys and says "she's all yours, just return her before you leave for New Zealand!", we couldn't believe it when on the garden is an immaculate 1961 VW Beetle, completely original and in perfect condition.

I (Ben) thought he was joking, but oh no, he was deadly serious. "Just enjoy her and treat her as your own" were his words. We were speechless! Merry bloody Christmas indeed!

We're going to cruise down to Freemantle tomorrow in her and hang out on the Esplanade beach front looking cool ............... actually, looking super cool!

This afternoon will be spent mainly indulging in chocolate and Corona's, and probably popping out to the driveway to admire the Bug! Honestly, I'm still gob smacked!

Well, happy Christmas everyone, hope the big guy in the red suit brings you everything you wanted! Have a great day, especially you younger ones! Miss you all loads, lots of hugs and Christmas kisses coming to you from down under.

Love to you all, Ben and Claire x x x x

(Isn't she gorgeous!)

Merry Christmas to all from Down Under

Hello and Merry Christmas from Perth !! We write this at 7pm on Christmas Eve and whilst eating Milo and ice cream. Yippee, he's on his way guys and girls !! So exciting !!

Well, it's been a great short week for both of us this week !! We had our christmas dinner/tea on Tuesday night, as Emma was going away to her mam's for christmas. We bought everything in and I (Claire) started off the cooking until Ben was able to assist (I say

assist but I left him to it !!). Well I say I started off cooking, Emma did most of it cos I didn't

know what to do with the veg !! Thanks Emma .... It was a great dinner ... well done Ben !! His Yorkshires were delicious, as always .... taught by the good old boy Geoffrey Pops ! I would have had to ring my pops if Emma wasn't in, cos I didn't have a clue with the pumpkin !! We had a great night, exchanging our christmas gifts and even had some christmas crackers or bon bons (as Emma calls them). We were all at work the next day so we didn't enjoy too many festivities. Wednesday we all finished work until next year..... woo woo !

Emma left for the airport at 9pm on the Wendnesday ready for her flight home. Now it's just me, Ben and Digger ! Diggers even has his own christmas stocking to put out ready for

Santa coming. We're all very excited.

Today we took Emma's car (thanks again!) to Cottesloe Beach near Fremantle. GMTV were

filming there. We got there just after 2.30pm and the beach was filled with Poms all over the place, all wearing Christmassy things. It was awesome. We managed to squeeze into a place on the beach and got our sign all ready. The presenter guy said that they were starting off filming in the water and the best chance to be

seen would be there. We'd already put on our Boardies, so we set off to the water! Our first proper dip since we've been in Perth, it was bloody freezing ! We managed to find a good place down by the rocks and stood ...... and waited ......... and waited !! For ages, it was quite cold standing there after a while. The presenter kept giving us all updates, then it was the 5 minute countdown ! Then everybody just went crazy, massive signs popping up everywhere .... right in front of us .... great !! Move out of the way Dawn and Peter from Hull or whatever their crappy sign said !

We were jumping about and Ben was waving the sign all over the place. Then it panned away.

We decided to go onto the beach to see if we stood a chance there .... nope ! We just didn't seem to get to the right place for the camera, there was kids flying about everywhere. It was a great atmosphere, we just didn't expect all those people there !

We're just in for the evening now .. early night cos it's a big day tomorrow !! We've got the tree all sorted and even Digs wanted in the christmas spirit too .... ha ha sorry Emma !!

Merry Christmas to you all and we'll speak to you at some point and see if you've been good boys and girls this year !

Night then ! x

Christmas Carols by Candle Light

This week we've been trying to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit. Because it's so hot here it doesn't feel very festive, well, not to us anyway!

As Claire mentioned before, we started off by going out on Saturday night to look at the Christmas lights people have put up outside their houses. See the video at the bottom of this blog to see what we mean!

Then Claire and I decided to go down to the local park on Sunday night for the Carols by Candlelight.

Essentially, it's a little show put on by a local performing arts group. One of the local news readers narrates the story of Christmas and then throughout the show there's music by different groups and Carols which everyone sings along to. It was really good.

The park is situated on top of a hill and through the trees you can see the Perth city skyline, all the skyscrapers lit up at night. It had been a stonking hot day, about 40'C, so the evening was really warm. Felt strange sitting out at 9:30 at night in just shorts and T-Shirt singing Christmas Carols by candle light. Most people have a candle to hold throughout the night so it looks really cool when there's a few hundred candles flickering away. They even included some animals in the show, a horse, a donkey and a few camels, as well as some bagpipers who played Waltzing Matilda towards the end.

And finally, if we weren't feeling Christmassy enough, we put up some decorations on Monday night. We didn't have a tree so we all took Digger for a walk and managed to find a few branches to use as our tree. It's not a conventional tree but it looks pretty in the corner of our living room! (and it was free!)

After all that you'd think we'd be feeling pretty festive, but we're still not really. I think it just feels wrong because it's summer!?

So, that was last week. We're both doing fine, still going to work during the week. Enjoying ourselves here in Perth.

Thanks for reading, we'll blog again soon.

x x x

A little video of some of the Christmas lights in action!

Sunday 13th December ... nearly christmas !!

Morning everyone, I'm (Claire) just sitting typing this on a sunday morning. Just got up and sitting with a brew and decided to let you know how we are. We'll still busy with work, Ben's been all over the place .... although he can never remember where he's going or been .... "something beginning with a B", he said ...... it was Subiaco !! He's loving it though, which is awesome. Me on the other hand ... well it's a job !

We haven't really been anywhere much, Emma went away for 10 days to her mam's. It was her mam's 60th and they had a big party. We dropped her at Perth Airport which is about 10 mins drive away. Then it was just the 3 of us, Ben, me and Digger ! We loved it, he really is a star ! He just loves coming and sitting with you when your watching telly, he follows you everywhere. We're going to try and clone him before we go so we can have one exactly like him when we get home.

Last weekend we decided to go the pictures, so we went into the city and bought loads of sweets and then headed out to Osbourne Park. It was a mahoosive cinema with about 10 screens in. We decided on watching Paranormal Activity. It was ok, we weren't as scared as what everyone was saying it would be.

This week Ben was working on a street festival at Subiaco and he was working from 8.30 to 11pm. It was all street entertainers and stages with different stuff on and he loved it. Long day though, but they've given him monday off for it and payed him his hours so he's pleased ! Another boys days for him on monday !

Friday was an awesome day for us, I arrived in from work to find a massive box labelled to Claire and Ben. On opening said box it contained ...... Socks, XL Cheese Crisps, Milky Bar Button, Milky Bars, Galaxy Ripples, Curly Wurly's and Vinegar ...... what a package !! British chocolate ....... mmmmmmm mmmmmmmmm, it's been so long ! It was a hamper from my mam .... I love my Mam ! We immediately put them in the fridge cos they were a wee bit soggy but boy they tasted good that evening ! Although I much say that the Boosts over here in OZ are so much better than the ones in the UK .... sorry but it's true !

Saturday we went into the city, 37 degrees !! It was hot !! We didn't stay long really and unfortunately the trains were off so we had to catch the replacement bus back .... now that's an experience ! It was worse than any ride at Disney..... Oz drivers are nutters !

We decided to treat ourselves to a pizza for tea and Em new a nice little italian (Avanti) just down the road. We stuffed our faces with Pizza and I had Lasagne and lots of Lift to drink and then filled our pockets with loose change and hit the road looking for christmas lights. We even had a 'Christmas with the Stars' cd to listen to in the car. We headed to High Wycombe first and saw the house on Teddington Avenue. Wow, it's worth looking on You Tube at this house ..... loads of LED Lights that move to the music ..... awesome! Just opposite was another house all with loads of christmas ornaments and stuff kids could touch ... bubble machines. It was all for charity and they're both in the final for this years competition. We even got a lollie each ... a chubba chub. Next we went onto North Perth and there was another house, they were really awesome ... made us feel right christmassy ! Tonight (Sunday) we're going to the Carols by Candlelight service thats on in the park. We did something similar last time when we in Oz and it's lovely.

Just to let you's know GMTV are going to be at Cotterlsoe Beach 24th December and we're going to try and get there. I know I'm working but we're not sure about Ben .... if Ben's not then I'm not and Emma said that she's want us to have the car and to go there for the day. We'll keep you posted nearer the time but hopefully we'll be there to give you all a wave !

Hope everyone's ok at home ! Ben had some great news on Wednesday that he's a proud Uncle again. Little Rosie Anne made an appearance early morning weighing 4lb 14oz. A nice little sister for Charlie and Harry to look after. Congrats Em, Marc, Charlie and Harry ! ! We're going to have a British Chocolate Bar to celebrate !!

Merry Christmas everyone !! xx