HOT-HOT-HOT Boxing day

In case you had not noticed it, this year's boxing day looks to become a hot one ... We will probably stay indoors today :-).

Currently at 11am it was almost 40 degrees already..

We still think this is better than being out there on the ice (brrrr ... ;-).

Christmas present ;-)

Hoi Adri, ook heel leuk om reactie(s) te krijgen van (tot op heden) onbekende mensen. Stuur gerust een mailtje naar... als je wat meer wilt vertellen (is er een kans dat we je dochter kennen, of iemand die haar kent, etc, etc ..). Ben je via haar op onze site terecht gekomen? Alvast veel plezier met het voorbereiden van de bruiloft!!

Hi All, we can not believe another month has gone by again... Did anything interesting happen? Not really. The pool is now completed with the installation of the solar heating two weeks ago. The weather in the last few days is a bit non-typical for Perth (grey skies and a bit of rain). But the forecast for the next days) including Christmas are looking just fine... Have a look at the weather link on the left side.

Regarding the present: Most of you will be aware that we are not very X-mas spirited people (that is trying not to get trapped in the yearly commercial frenzy ;-). But we did get a (sort of) very nice Christmas present. As of yesterday Ellen started her first day as a permanent employee (working as project manager) in Australia.

The process to get Peter's contract converted to a permanent position has been intiated as well, so if the people in the US are not being stupid (;-) he should be starting his first day as permanent employee somewhere in January as well...

Anyway, that is it for now. If we do not speak or mail to you before, then a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of you!!

Red Bull Air Race 2007

Frank: Dank je wel!! Even voor de zekerheid... welke Frank, we kennen er nl een paar ... ;-)
Ineke: Of we een echte pool party gaan organiseren is niet zeker, maar laat maar horen wanneer je een keer wilt komen zwemmen...

A good two weeks ago the Red Bull Air Race event was back in Perth. The November walk was planned for that weekend, so we all (well, the few that were interested ;-) gathered at an elevated location in Kings Park. From there we had a nice view on the whole show, allbeit maybe a bit too far away. For me as photographer it definitely was a bit too far (but then they will be back next year, so will go to a different spot then).

An impression (all photos can be found here or on the left side of the weblog under perth walks, 200711):

New on our weblog

Now that our pool starts to be functional we are of course always very interested in the weather forecast. A site that seems to be pretty good is weatherzone. We have added a link to that site, if you are interested in our weather as well, see under 'worthwhile links'.

Swimming Pool - Update 11

The machine that regulates the chlorine level in our pool (Chemigem) is now installed so finally the moment is there for the first dive :-). It is still a little bit cold, because the solarheating needs to be installed. But knowing how a pool of about 20 degrees will feel (outdoor pools in The Netherlands are like that) Ellen could not wait any longer to jump in.....



Yes, it feels good on a hot day like today (36 degrees)!


Here is the overview of the pool. We have placed some plants already on the border to give the pool a bit more colour. As soon as the patio arrives in January (the pool will be covered to protect the house and the pool against the hot sun)we can add some hanging baskets as well.

Swimming Pool - Update 10

Ewald: geen probleem, buurt heeft nog volop druk gehad. Althans we hebben geen klachten gehoord. Maar misschien is dat omdat ze allemaal nog een keer willen komen zwemmen ;-)
David: Misschien kun je de volgende keer dat je die vader die Didde kent vragen om ons weblog-adres aan hem doorgeven. Uiteindelijk wonen we nu een stukkie dichter bij LOTR grounds!! (Nou ja, nog 8 uur vliegen van hier, maar toch een stuk dichter dan vroeger ;-)
Ineke: Dank je! Was leuk, alhoewel geen wandeling. Alleen maar een flink aantal uren zitten en hangen in Kings Park met af en toe wat vliegtuigen.. Volgende wandeling wordt als het goed is weer meer een echt (Coogee, georganiseerd door Hinke)


Last Sunday night at 19:00 after 50 hours we finally could close the tap. The water level was just over the middle of the top line tiles (about 1.45m). Can we now swim? No, not yet. Now the pool company needs to organize the 'handover' of the pool (today Ellen called and they were going to arrange that). This handover is the final setup of the pump and chemicals, test everything, and tell us (teach us ;-) how to clean and maintain the pool. Then the solar heating company also needs to be arranged to get the solar heating organized (needs to be measured first then installed).

We are now hoping to be able to swim in maybe 2 weeks or so, albeit in water what will probably be pretty cold... ;-)

SATURDAY, 13:00


SUNDAY, 08:30


SUNDAY, 19:00 Destination reached, tap closed ;-)

The Dutch Tax –return, a never ending story……..

Didn’t we tell you before that the Australian tax office is very quick (money paid on your account within 2 weeks after sending the tax return through internet!)?

Well, the Dutch tax office is a very different story. So, for all the guys who still are planning to migrate, make sure you owe the tax office money and not the other way around :-)!

We are (unluckily) in the position that the tax office owes us and we will never know when we will get it. From other migrants we heard many of them also are waiting for the final tax return, some even already a couple of years!!!

We sent our M- form (2006) to the tax office in February 2007 and called several times -since August- asking when we could expect any response. Finally two weeks ago we were called back by the tax- office in Tilburg. It seemed that our forms were split up in two parts, during scanning and now it was not possible to make a judgement about the tax return? I asked where the originals were. Is it not possible to scan them again? The guy from the helpdesk answered that this might be possible, but it might take months before the forms would be taken out of the archive from Apeldoorn and available for scanning again………………..What are they doing the whole day????
He was so kind to ask another department to send us the new forms again. No, sending a copy was not allowed. I was only possible to write everything down again on the original form. Can you believe it? This is red tape all over the place!
But, what can you do, when you are on the other side of the planet…. Nothing at all.
So we just had a big laugh about it, thanked the guy for his help and drank our wine and cola and switched on the patient button.
This is now 1,5 week ago, and we are still waiting for these forms to come…..

The Big Walk.

Once a year The big walk is organised by a sponsor (this year John Hughes, a large car dealer). With this activity they are trying to collect money for young cancer patients. The walk is not as big as the name would suggest. It is a walk of about 18 km.
We started from the North shore of the Swan river in Perth CBD and walked from there to Fremantle. I (Ellen) planned to do the walk together with Hinke (one of our friends from the Dutch walking group) but a couple of days before the big day, Eric (my cousin) called us to say that he would be happy to join us :-).
The weather was very good. It was a bit cloudy and sometimes even a little bit fresh, but that is very good when you are walking. So at least we had the chance to cool down a bit.
Here you will see some of the pictures taken during the walk.

Here at the start with Eric:




And some impressions during the walk.



Along the Swan river.



Isn't he sweet? While his boss was waiting for the red traffic light, I was just able to take his picture :-). He was sitting at the back of a little pick up truck.



Of course also one of the finish to prove we made it! Here together with Hinke.




At the end we took our well deserved food. Eric could not resist the sizzling sausages with onions. Sauces enough to choose from. I must say, the sausages smelled terrific!



We did the walk in about 3 hours. Peter would pick us up at the end and while Peter was driving to Fremantle, Eric and I tried the Little Creatures brewery :-).

Canoeing at Point Perron.

A couple of weeks ago it sure was time for me (Ellen) to do some canoeing again. This time Eric (my cousin) took me to Point Perron near Rockingham (about 38 km South of Perth).
It was beautiful again. It was a pity we did not encounter the dolphins that are living in these waters. Next time we probably will try the Swan river from Fremantle to Point Walter.
Here are some photo's.

All ready to go....





Eric took the lead:


Beautiful rockformations:

Swimming Pool - Update 9

Finally we are getting somewhere. Last Wednesday morning two ladies rang the doorbell. They were here to clean the pool as a preparation for the plastering. Although we were not informed, we had no objections of course. On the question what they would have done if no one would have been home (Ellen was, luckily), they said they just would have gone to the next pool... That's the way it works here in WA ;-).



The pool company had told us last week (after we called them to ask!) that the plastering was planned for next Friday, weather permitting. We asked if they could confirm (like the day before) so we would be prepared....
Law and behold: Friday morning at 5.50 am Peter's alarm clock went off AND the doorbell rang, exactly at the same time... The plastering guys were there.
Asked why they were this early, they said they always need to be on location before sunrise (later we learned that could not have been true, since from next week they would be doing 2 pools a day in stead of one ;-):



And then finally, Friday at 17:00 we could start filling the pool. They told us that once starting, the tap should NOT be closed till the water is at the top-level-tiles to prevent markings on the side of the pool. Here is an impression of how fast (slow!) you can fill up a pool:

FRIDAY, 17:07

FRIDAY, 18:00

FRIDAY, 19:00

SATURDAY, 09:00 (28 hours to fill up to about 50 cm)


Our current estimation is that the pool should be filled by Sunday afternoon....

New on our weblog

As of today there will be a new 'item' on our weblog (left side, under "Perth walks"). As most of you will know, we have a sort of walking group (started with some co-Xpditers) doing a walk once a month in or around Perth. Usually I do take my camera and make some shots.

Have a look and let us know what you think .....

Swimming Pool - Update 8

Erna / Ineke: Inderdaad, langzaam maar zeker komt er voortgang. De laatste weken gaat het eindelijk vrij snel. Het zwembadhek, de schutting (einde uitzicht ;-), de bestrating om de pool heen etc... Je ziet het wel aan de fotos hieronder ;-)
Kathleen: Dank je! Jullie gaan toch ook nog wel een weblog opzetten, zodat we ook jullie ervaringen kunnen volgen daar in het oosten des lands...

The progress on the pool is good, the pool fence, the colorbond fence (end of the view :-( ), the pump and the paving have al been done. The council has been around to inspect the fencing. Also they have put some screws in some windows that would open up into the pool area. They can no no longer be opened further than 10 cm. Two more things to do: The plastering of the inside of the pool and the solar heating. Sometime yesterday or the day before 2 pallets of cement have been dropped of in our front garden. We would think that means the plastering might be planned coming week ..... Our hopes are still up to swim by Christmas time...

Some photos:

Swimming Pool - Update 7 - and TAX

Time flies when you're having fun is what they say ... So we must have lots and lots of fun then, since the last post is more than 2 months ago. Was it all fun then?? Hmmm, no.. definitely a lot of very, very busy times at work as well ;-).

One of the things we have done in the last months is the Tax return. Like in Holland, through a downloadable program. One of the features is that a lot of information (like interest on you bankaccounts, medicare expenses, etc) can be downloaded through that program as well. That saves a lot of time in looking through all your papers, adding numbers etc ;-).

Another great thing about the tax office is that your receive your tax-return money in your bankaccount in only two weeks!

Also we have been calling the Dutch tax office as well. We have completed and sent in the 'M'-form (migration tax form) on paper (unfortunately, that can not be done electronically) back in February.

So, as instructed on all tax-documents we called the 'abroad tax department' in Heerlen. Asking about the status of our returns the officer had to check some things and came back telling that since it is about the time we were still living in Holland, it is not their department looking after it but the national department. He was able to connect us through. So the next officer got the same story by us. She had to look some things up as well. She told us that the forms had been received, but had not been processed. She made a remark that if that would stay like that too long, they might 'fell off the system' and we would have a risk of having to fill in new forms from scratch..... (can you believe that?). She also told that the local tax office in Den Bosch are the ones that would need to be handling this. She was going to organize for colleagues in the Den Bosch office to call us the next day .......

Now, almost two months later... still no news. So, of course we will have to try again to get in contact with the right people.... to be continued.

Well, back to our pool project. Here are a few more recent photos: