The Blessies

Canal Cruise (Houses and Dolphins)

2011-12-31T10:57:00.006+08:00

Besides 'celebrating' Christmas, which for us means going to the video-shop, rent 6 movies and watch them in 2 days time:-) :-) we also went on a canal cruise in Mandurah with friends. Madurah is a town about an hours drive South of Perth. In a specific area in Mandurah (the Mandurah Estuary. Zoomed in a bit closer: Estuary). The two main features of such a cruise (which takes about an hour) are houses (some of them rather estates than houses:-)) and if you're lucky dolphins. We were lucky .....

Here is a selection of some photos I took (a link to all photos at the end:-)). Do note there are quite a few of those mansions that are up for sale... Oh and can you imagine that also quite a few of those are 'only' holiday homes ... :

(War memorial, this is where the yearly Dawn Service (Anac Day) is held in Mandurah (Dawn Service for remembering all war-victims):

SO, if you want to see all photos, have a look here and click on slide show

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2011-12-24T19:58:00.006+08:00

Our patio furniture (ordered in August, with promises to deliver in 3 - 4 weeks, thanks Harvey Norman!) arrived only today .. Very late, but lets stay positive and say just in time for the Christmas patio makeover .. :-).

Our pation BEFORE:

The unpacking:

Our patio After:

2011 Holiday - Part 4

2011-09-29T20:09:00.011+08:00

Right .. Getting closer to the end of our holdiay photos... Hope you all still like them:-).

So we ended 'part 3' when we reached the Giglachsee Hutte:

Time for a bit of rest and some drinks. And some balancing tricks by the youngest participant in the walk:

Instead of skis, it' all canes waiting for their owners to start walking again:

Time to walk back, here's an impression:

When we returned at the little rest houses at the start of the walk there were some different type of 'guests':

So that ended another very nice day:

THE NEXT DAY (last full day before driving back to the Netherlands) we decided to go up to the Dachstein mountain to have a look at the Dachstein Gletscher.
We were advised (thanks Dave!!) that we should either drive to the lift very early (be there by 08:00am) OR wait till late morning. This being holiday we obviously decided to do the latter ... While driving up (and yes again loads of hairpin turns) we saw the side of the roads already packed with cars from a few kilometers before the destination. We thought these must have been from early arrivals and decided to drive on and hope for a place closer at the lift. Indeed that was a good choice. Still busy, but places available (see the little restaurant at the top left?):

Before going up to the gletscher we obviously had to have a bit of food (nearing lunch time after all):

Here's a view from the restaurant's terrace were we were sitting:

So then it was time to make the trip up to the gletscher. The top side of the gletscher is at about 2600 m high. The 'lift' up is to somewhere up there:

Some shots from the way up:

And there the top of the gletscher:

Oh, and on the way up we noted someone that seems to have taken a slightly different route:

A few more shots from up there, do have a look at the whole set though (go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perthpete/sets/72157627792983932/ and then click on the slideshow button, you'll get all shots of this Dachstein trip)... I just couldn't stop shooting to be honest ...

And a final one for here, a panoramic photo (combination of about 6 photos):

2011 Holiday - Part 3

2011-09-19T18:08:00.009+08:00

Ok, next batch of holiday pictures have been processed and uploaded. I think the most beautiful picture of the whole holiday (photographically that is:-)) is in this batch. I'll put the link to it at the end of this post (so do keep on reading till the end!!) ....

Obviously being in the mountains in summer means going up to do some walking. With a so called 'Summer Karte' (summer card?) provided for free by Haus Lanka (In case you'd want to go and have a look yourself where these photos were made: HAUS LANKA, SCHLADMING).

With that summer card all cable trollies are free:

First day we went up the Planais mountain (1800m above sea level). Some nice views (and flowers):

Some people go back down to the valley differently (again, not us:-)):

The first half of the way down, from:

to:

we did 'the hard' way (:-):

Back down in the valley (second half down we did take the cable trolley:-)), they were still working hard on the building project for the World Championship of Skiing. To be noted, we have been told actual building work is basically only possible for 6 months (as soon as the winter starts getting near, it gets too cold to do concrete works):

Back in time to relax a bit on the balcony with this view:

THE NEXT DAY
The next day we met up with friends (Peter, Inge and Matthijs) who happened to be on holiday in the same valley (not knowing from each other we would...:-)). We went out on another nice walk to the Giglachsee. First had to drive a bit (with some hearpin turns) to get to the starting point:

Here is an impression of the walk:

Did I say it was mostly UPHILL on the way to the see?:

To end up at the Giglachseehuutte:

with a view of the see:

Oh and on the way we also noted some local (?) 'wildlife':

And on this bombshell we end this part of the holiday story... More soon!!
CLICK HERE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS BATCH

Oh wait.. I was going to put the best photo of the holiday here ... well, here it is:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Wild Flowers - Kings Park

2011-09-17T08:52:00.005+08:00

Although not a holiday title for this post, it was still sort of holiday. One of the last days before going back to work we went to Kings Park to see if we could shoot some nice pictures of some flowers. Given it was the start of the wild flower season (ever heard of the flower Kangaroo paw??).
In the more outback area's you would find millions (or more) wildflowers this time of the year. But for a nice peak at some you can have a look at Kings Park....

For example, the Kangaroo Paw:

Although not millions in Kings Park, in the wild you'd see something like this in millions:

One of those flowers in more detail (including some local wild life:-)):

For more photos, LOOK HERE.

Oh, and more holiday photos will follow soon:-))
______

Floorshow Jack & Joanne

2011-09-13T19:35:00.004+08:00

In between processing the holiday pictures, I also made some pictures of Jack & Joanne. They are one of the most talented young dancers in WA (if not Australia):

Find all photos HERE.

________

2011 Holiday - Part 2

2011-09-10T08:28:00.014+08:00

(As always, some photos are linked in this post, but if you want to see all photos LOOK HERE)

A coupe other highlights were meeting up with Ellen's old rowing group whilst enjoying a pancake in Lage Vuursche:

Catching up with old friends (and their cat:-))

And then it was time to get in the car and drive to Austria (almost 1000km away):

Nearing the end of the drive, finally the Austrian mountains start showing up:

And then finally:

View from our room:

Some people go to Austria in summer to do some walking (like us), some go there do some stuff like this (NOT US:-)):

And finally a 'full view' from our room:

(As always, some photos are linked in this post, but if you want to see all photos LOOK HERE)
...

2011 Holiday - Part 1

2011-09-05T16:31:00.003+08:00

And yes, here is the first photo-report of our little (or not so little:-)) trip to Holland and Austria. The first night we stayed at a hotel in Noordwijk (reasonably close to Schiphol, to 'recover' from the trip.

This was the view from our room:

Besides obvious highlights of catching up with family and friends, there were two special highlights...

One the 'Blessen' reunion, were we caught up with not only known family (like cousins), but also with a number of family members never seen before (great uncles). See the previous post for some info on that (although that is in Dutch!).

Then another highlight (especially for Ellen:-), was learning how to make a 'chipolata' cake herself. At our friends place where we stayed, Peter (the friend, not me:-)) used to be a 'banketbakker' (confectioner). Oh and not only chipolata, lots of other trade secrets were disclosed!

Besides the hightlights it was also great to visit Den Bosch:

More photos to be found here. Of course when more photos become available they will be added to that set, but also will I add new posts here .....

Reunie (sorry, Dutch only:-))

2011-09-02T22:19:00.003+08:00

En ja hoor, eindelijk heeft ie dan zijn fotos van de reunie klaar ... Ze zijn te vinden op mijn gebruikelijke fotosite, als een aparte set fotos. Ik hoop dat je (sommige van) de fotos leuk vindt:-).

Ondertussen begin ik ook aan de (andere) vakantie foto's, dus die zou je binnen niet al te veel tijd ook op onze weblog moeten kunnen verwachten .....

'Zie' je binnenkort weer!!

Star Championships

2011-06-15T20:09:00.003+08:00

And another competition. This time all 4 events we participated in were recorded (Again, great thanks to Martin van der Poel):

New Vogue, L2 (we were 2nd of 5, but we could say shared 1st):

Standaard, L2 (We won, 1st out of 5):

New Vogue, L3 (Yes, this time we beat them:-), we were 1st of 2):

Standaard, L3 (we were 2nd of 3):

Great Western Championship 2011

2011-06-12T19:49:00.017+08:00

Another competition back in March. Not all our events were recorded, but two were.

New Vogue L2 (we were 2nd of 3, but only by one vote):

Standard L3 (we were second of 2, but working on it:-)):

Pinnaroo Valley

2011-01-25T17:27:00.004+08:00

Realised this weekend that I still hadsome photos from our visit to Pinnaroo Valley early December. Here is one:

And here they are all:-)

....

Lake Monger

2011-01-21T19:40:00.003+08:00

Time for another photo update of our last outing, Lake Monger. Very nice enviroment to watch (or shoot :-)) birdies ...

Unfortunately we do not know all the names of them, feel free to respond with the names for us!!

This one is easy:

But what about this one:

Or this one:

Anyway, some more photos ... Have fun...

...........................

Unwanted guest ....

2011-01-04T20:08:00.003+08:00

Yesterday (after a sweltering hot day) we were ready to take a dive in the pool. Just when walking out we saw something crawling to a small place between the side of the pool and the fence. After some initial identification we called the police first (to ask whom to call:-)). They advised some volunteers (working for CALM, the department for conservation). One of them (George) was the one that was at our house in 10 minutes.

Have a look at the photos here to see the whole story:

After that (if you like) find some more information on these 'guests' here.

_____________________________________________________

Mandurah

2011-01-02T12:35:00.001+08:00

Our little outing to Mandurah, enjoy:

look here for more photos

Yanchep Park

2010-12-25T16:59:00.004+08:00

Yesterday a nice little walk in Yanchep Park. We found an amazing new type of tree we had never seen before;

the Australian Tap Tree:

For some more photos look here! (browse through them 1 by 1 OR choose slideshow)

Mundaring Weir Dam

2010-12-21T13:08:00.002+08:00

Just a quick photo - update of an enjoyable day (yes, we have a bit of holiday now!) with Peter's dad and stepmom...

For the rest of the photos, look here:-)

Action photos

2010-11-17T19:24:00.013+08:00

Ok guys, hundreds of phots have been shot at the competition. A few of us... what do you think? :

Quickstep, Charmaine, Carousel and La Bomba:

Second of 7:

Back ...

2010-11-04T18:19:00.005+08:00

Well ... another 10 months without any news. I guess that is what happens, the longer you're here the rarer something new or interesting happens. And you dont take time to update the blog anymore:-).

Anyway, last weekend we entered the WA Open Championship. Being at level 2 we entered de level 2 and level 3 for ballroom and new vogue. ALthough this was the second time we competed in our formal dancing outfit, it was the first time that Martin van der Poel made some recordings again. So for all of you who have been waiting to see us without having to go to Perth .. have a look at below recordings.

Oh before you look, the results were:

L2 Standaard: 2nd of 7 competitors (unfortunately no recordings of this one)
L3 Standaard: 3rd of 6
L2 New Vogue: 2nd of 4
L3 New Vogue: 5th of 5 (clearly not quite at that level, although we think we are not far away:-)).

L3 Standaard:

L2 New Vogue:

L3 New Vogue:

Time Flies, 2 ;-)

2010-02-01T03:53:00.006+08:00

Good morning again, another early morning for me, 03:53. Ready for the 'Main Event' of the WBCOOP. Lets hope I actually get through to at least the last 153 today, so I have not been getting up in the middle of the night twice for nothing... ;-).

04:55. The first break coming up. Not very succesfull so far. But as they say, a chip and chair .. ;-). Currently 1029th of 1448. The tourney started with 2062 players.

05:59. Second break. Going a bit better, currently 383rd out of 785.

06:26. Well, that was it. Ended 495th position. Pretty unlucky with the last hand: I got KK as hole cards. One player raised, I called. Flop came up 2 6 8. So I go all in. Other players calls (I think, oh oh, would he have AA?). Cards shown, does he have 6 8 ... No further good cards on turn or river, so his two pair (66 88) beats my KK.
Anyway, as they say, that is poker...

very early :-)

2010-01-31T03:52:00.004+08:00

Well, the first tourney yesterday did not go too well, ended up in 1356th position (of 1533 entries:-). Of course being an 8-game, it was a bit too challenging. I probably should have played only the Texas Holdem hands to get a bit further... but anyway, for that tourney I did not have to get up in the middle of the night.

Today's one I did have to do just that... It is 03.55 AM now. The 6th WBCOOP event will start in 5 minutes. At the moment there are 1908 players that entered the tourney. Let's see if I can improve the score. Aim is to get at least to the 153rd place (which gives a SCOOP 11 USD entry ticket). Of course, winning would be all the more interesting (SCOOP 1050 USD entry icket) ......

05:00.
Well, Survived the first hour. Made 2 bad calls early in the tourney which cost me a lot of chips. I have been able to win some back later on, so still hanging in there :-), Currenty in position 467 of 1165...

05:38.
Well, that's it, I'm out (364 th). Not too bad, but empty handed all the same. Give it another try tomorrow morning. For now time to go back to bed an get a few more hours sleep :-)

Check check double check

2010-01-29T16:32:00.002+08:00

Just found out that I did not read the description of the tourney for tomorrow morning (Saturday) very well yesterday. Tomorrows tourney is a so called 8-game tourney. This means that every few minutes (when the blinds are being raised) the type of poker game played is changeed as well! Since I usually only play Hold'em (and 98% no limit only) that is going to be a very interesting challenge, having no idea how the other types really work...

Maybe if I find some time tonight I can play some of the other types (playmoney) to try and get a hold of it. And of course tomorrow try to mainly play the Hold'em ones!! And hope that luck is on my side ....

Early morning game(s)

2010-01-27T16:53:00.003+08:00

Well, my blog was accepted so I did get the ticket for the WBCOOP tournaments. Hooray!! The confirmation of getting that ticket was sent at 03.20 AM. Funny thing was that there was also a reminder in there that the first tournament will be starting in 40 minutes .... :-). So missed that one of course!

Basically one of those tourneys starts everyday at 4 AM (this is WST time), so it is out of the question for me to play in today's, tomorrows and Friday's one. But the Sunday one (and probably the Monday one I have registered for). So, keep tuned for my results (if any ... :-)).

Edit:
Good that I checked once more, I found one more WBCOOP tourney that I can play at a more normal time: Saturday morning 08:00AM. So that is a better time to play:-).

Also what I have learned is that the prizes to be won at these WBCOOP tourneys are tickets for the upcoming SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker). These tickets are worth from 11 dollars up to even more than 3000 dollar. These tickets can then be used to enter in one of the preliminary SCOOP tournaments. As you would expect the more value your entry ticket has, the higher prize you can win (or the lesser steps you need to take to get to real, real money). The total prize money for last years SCOOP was up to 30 million dollars, so interesting to know what it will be this year ..... (Did I say before: "keep on dreaming, Pete" ? :-))

Time flies - Poker

2010-01-25T16:48:00.005+08:00

Wow, I almost cannot believe it myself, the previous post is from May last year! I guess it is actually time to catch up a bit on all the time past since then!

As you may know the financial crisis has had a bit of an impact on us aswell. From December 08 till September last year Peter was out of a job. Luckily Ellen was working all the time so, no real financial problems for us.

Of course being at home for a long time means you have time 'on your sleeve' available to pursue other interests. One day in June I was looking at the Windows games availabe under Vista and played some Texas Hold'Em games. Of course it took some time to have an idea of the game, because other than seeing poker in movies, I had no idea what the game was about really.

A few weeks later I discovered there was (actualy are more, but this would probably the biggest one) an online poker site (pokerstars.com) where you can actually play (for free as well as for money) against people all over the world. Now I have always been enjoying playing card games since I was a child, and after years of hardly playing any at all, I now had an opportunity to catch up on some card game time:-).

By now (a good half year after 'discovering' Texas Hold'Em BY chance), I have become a fairly regular (online-) player. Of course, somewhere in the back of my mind always the idea that it would be very nice to get to a professional level and who knows in time being able to earn an income playing poker (keep on dreaming Pete ;-) ;-))

Except playing against other people (at sit&go tables as well as playing tourneys) pokerstars also organize all kind of freeroll tourneys that give you options to get into the major tournaments. Not easy of course, but possible...

The latest initiative is the online championship for bloggers. Another opportunity to play some serious (freeroll) poker and have a chance to earn something nice ;-).

A condition for entering into this is that you have an active blog which is older than 2 months (easy for this blog!) and updated regularly. For the rest it would be appreciated to keep update on the progress for these tournaments...
So, a long introduction, but expect to read some poker stuff in the next days ... I am going to enter this blog tonight, and hope they will process it with speed since the tourneys start today ... :-)

Finally, in case your interested as well HERE is some information on this particular tournament. Hope to see you there:-)

Dutch Remembrance Day 2009 / Friends visit

2009-05-05T10:57:00.016+08:00

Last Sunday (May 2nd) the Dutch club in Perth (Neerlandia) organised the Dutch Remembrance Day. This is in effect the Perth version of the 'dodenherdenking' in the Netherlands which takes place every year on the 4th of May.

The Australian War Cemetery (in Karakatta/Nedlands) has a Dutch Annex were 28 (Dutch) victims have been buried. These 28 people were refugees that fled the Japanese army from Indonesia to Broome (in the North of WA) only to be killed in the air raid on Broome.
(the Dutch Annex at the Australian War Cemetery in Nedlands, WA):

This is the story as per a government website:
In February 1942, Broome in Western Australia was used as the Australian end of an air shuttle service from Java. Hundreds of evacuees were ferried to Broome in Dutch, American and Australian military and civil aircraft, including flying boats of Qantas Empire Airways.

By the end of that month, the town was overflowing with military personnel and refugees. People slept wherever they could while waiting for a flight to continue their journey south. During the last weeks of February 1942 over 7000 people, including the former commander of the 8th Australian Division, Major-General H Gordon Bennett, who had escaped from Singapore, passed through Broome. On one single day, 57 aircraft landed there.

On 3 March 1942, without warning, Japanese fighters attacked. The attack lasted no more than 20 minutes, during which time 25 Allied aircraft were destroyed and dozens of people were killed or wounded. Many victims were Dutch women and children packed into flying boats on the harbour either waiting to be unloaded and ferried ashore or waiting to depart for the southern states. Another 30 crew and passengers, mostly military personnel, were lost when an American Liberator bomber was shot down shortly after taking off. Precisely how many people died in the raid, and who they were, will never be known.

Correspondence, coins and trinkets that were recovered from the wreckage of the sunken flying boats can be seen in the Broome museum. Dozens of people lost their lives during the attack on Broome on 3 March 1942. Many of the Dutch women and children were trapped in flying boats in the harbour. Others were incinerated, drowned or taken by sharks as they attempted to swim ashore. The Dutch bodies recovered were first buried in the Broome War Cemetery but were later removed and reburied in a special area in the Karrakatta cemetery in Perth. Many were not identified and they lie in unmarked graves.

Although it felt a bit uneasy (for me as photographer) to take photos, I have done so and I believe it is actually good to make (more) people aware of this.

For more photos have a look here

On a bit lighter note:
After the ceremony Neerlandia had opened their clubhouse for coffee and lunch. We enjoyed that so much that we actually decided to keep our membership of Neerlandia going (we had just send an email the week before to cancel ours!!)

Then at the Easter weekend we had (Dutch) friends over who are living in Sydney. They have family in Perth and stayed a few days at our place as well. They have a weblog of their own, feel free to have a look there to see how they liked their stay (please note, their website is published in Dutch!)

Dancing: Metropolitan Championship (part 2)

2009-04-20T15:31:00.005+08:00

Ok, the videos have been uploaded by Martin (Thanks again Martin!!). The specific videos where we have 'performed' (;-) are the ons embedded below. If you are interested in ALL videos of the championship have a look at the link under 'Dancing in WA' at the left of this blog....

Also inetrestign was the fact that one of the guest judges at this competition was none other than the Director of the Australian Dancing with the Stars shows, Paul Green. He also presented some of the trophies to winners, and yes, one of them to us too ;-). In case you are not sure who paul Green is, look at this page. He is the guy with the nice suit and the big smile!

Meanwhile we are preparing for our next competition where we plan to enter all dances and all levels again...

Dancing: Metropolitan Championship

2009-04-06T20:08:00.008+08:00

Well, we have done it again. We competed in another dancing competition, the Metropolitan Championship. Again it was very successful for us ;-). On our own level (L1) we won all three styles (Standard, Latin and New Vogue). Winning the standard and latin is not too surprising (since we have done some competition back in the Netherlands as well and should not be called beginners really, but everyone needs to start at the first step anyway). Winning the New Vogue competition was something we were very happy with! Do not forget that we are definitely beginners in regards to that style, last year August was the first time that we actually did our first New Vogue step anyway...
We also competed in the standard and latin competition in level 2 (the level above ours) and got second places there as well).

The same guy (Martin van der Poel) that took some videos last time was there again this time (with his new camera, good on ya, Martin!!). We have not seen any uploads of his videos yet, but we are giving him some time, after all it is all just voluntary work by him ;-) ;-).

When winning a style in your own level you get a 'perpetual' trophy that you can keep for about a year at your home. If you like you can have your name(s) engraved on that, you just need to organize that yourself. Besides those trophies you also get something for keeps. At the Blue Riband competition (by AID) this was a certificate, at this competition it were medals (gold, silver,...).

We have created an online display cabinet so not only we can show off (.... ;-) to everyone, but also these perpetual trophies will be kept in this cabinet even after bringing them back!. (see the link under Dancing in WA on the left)

Now before showing off all these trophies and medalds for this competition, please be aware that there were (as usual) not too many competitors. In two of the styles we were competing against one other couple, in all other ones against two other couples. So, do not be too impressed with all the shine and glitz and glamour ...... ;-) ;-)

Also this (few number of competitiors) means we should now think of ways to get more people (in our age-group!) involved in competition dancing, because the rule is you only get elevation points (for promotion to the next leve) if you win a final with AT LEAST 4 couples. Hence our little 'wanted' call at the start ;-)

Oh, and when the video's are available, we will of course put them on this weblog as well.

Right, if you look here you will find all the medals and trophies that we won this time ...

My old piano....

2009-03-28T17:13:00.002+09:00

About 11 years ago, while still living in The Netherlands, an old wish came through. I bought an electrical baby Grand Piano and started to take piano lessons. We found a piano teacher with the same love for music as we did and Peter and I had a lot of fun during our piano lessons for about a year. But then her father suddenly and unexpectedly died and we never saw her again!
A replacement teacher took over, but she was like a school teacher for juniors and treated us that way! A second replacement teacher (Peter already had stopped playing) expected far too much, so the piano lesson became a stressful event and the fun was completely gone. So I stopped as well.
Meanwhile our life was busy and without us noticing it, the years flew by without touching the piano.

Before we migrated to Australia I still wanted the piano to join us, because you would never know, I might want to start taking lessons again? So, it migrated with us and took the long journey in the sea container.
We are in Australia for 3 years now and we noticed a music tuition school about 1.5 year ago and gathered some information. Again we were very busy and still I took no action to actually start taking lessons.

But then we rearranged part of our home which triggered the move of the piano. Again the question popped up…………. should I sell it?
In the same period we had visitors who saw the piano and they asked how it sounded. Peter showed a demo song played by the piano (it is electrical) and I was completely hooked again. No, of course I should not sell the piano, but in stead I should start taking piano lessons!
So ………three weeks ago (it was about time!) I started taking piano lessons and really enjoy it. They are using here the same type of learning books as we did in Europe and I am actually using my old Dutch piano book again to catch up the lost knowledge. It is amazing how much your hands still seem to remember after so many years!

Dancing: Blue Riband Championship

2009-03-13T16:51:00.015+09:00

"Well, well, well, there is life after all ..." some of you might think. And you would be sort of right as well. It has actually been more than half a year since our last post. Now that does not mean nothing happened of course, but from our perspective it was all probably not worth while [considering the time involved] mentioning here. But now that I am also not working at the moment (hmmm, one thing worth mentioning is it not? ;-)) one should say I have enough time now.

So, to basically just continue with our most recent 'new' item: we have entered our first dancing competition here in WA, the Blue Riband Championships which is a yearly event (organised by the Australian Institue of Dancing, AID). Because this was our first competition over here we had to start (as anyone else) at the bottom. We were happy with that since we think that the competition here seems to be a bit more serious than what we were used to back in the Netherlands.

Now with the (current) system here you dance 1 dance in each type (Standard, Latin and/or New Vogue) in Level 1, 2 dances in level 2, up till the highest level (Open) where you dance all 5 standard, all 5 latin en usually 5 (out of 15 accepted!) New Vogue dances. Now you can compete in your own level but are also allowed to compete in one level up.
(Getting bored already? Hang in there, almost ready for the viewing stuff ;-))

So all of this together, we decided to enter not only in level 1 (which was our own level) but also in level 2 because otherwise we would only have 3 dances for the whole day. Oh yeah, one more thing: in our age group called Masters (as in: above 35) there are usually not too many competitors. So most of the competitions are straight finals. Hence our choice to compete one level up as well.

Now at these dancing competitions there is (luckily) a guy called Martin van der Poel who (besides competing himself ;-)) records the majority of the dances as well. So therefore we can now give you a very good impression of our (first) dancing competition.

So to start with an example (and I will start with the best examples to keep your attention up ;-)) have a look at the following highest level (open). Please note, if you can try to watch the videos in High Quality)
Standard:

Latin:

New Vogue:

Hope you're enjoying that!!
Now before (for those of you that are interested ;-) specifically showing the videos where we are to be seen in, some start competition dancing at a very young age, this girl would have been 4 at the most:

Now, 4 of the dances we competed in were video-ed as well:

Level 1 Latin:

Level 1 New Vogue:

Level 2 Standard:

Level 2 New Vogue:

Did you see that at level 2 all our competitors were actually wearing full suits and dresses? We are not there yet ;-).

Oh yes, and of course our results:
L1 Standard => 1st of 2
L1 Latin => 1st of 3
L1 New Vogue => 5th of 5
L2 Standard => 2nd of 5
L2 Latin => 3rd of 4
L2 New Vogue => 5th of 5

Then finally, if you are interested in even more movies of this competition, have a look under 'Dancing in WA' ;-)

Ellen's column took off ..

2008-07-20T20:51:00.003+08:00

The first post on Ellen's column has been published... Let us know what you think!!!

4WD in Wilbinga

2008-07-16T18:34:00.006+08:00

Ja, Ineke en Luus: het is inderdaad stil rondom de Blessies... Geen bijzondere reden voor hoor. Gewoon het dagelijkse leven dat lekker doorgaat. De dagen schieten voorbij.... :-)

Oh en Lucia, of course we did not trade Ellen's car in.. That is our work horse

Ok, a few weeks ago we have been invited by XPditer Wilco to go along on a little 4WD trip. We have been asking around a couple of times for opportunities to come along on one of these trips. Wilco actually organized one more or less especially for us, let's call it a introduction to 4WD trip. The location we went to was Wilbinga, an area just north of Perth (about the height of Yanchep Park), and then adjacent to the ocean. This means that you can get to a few very nice 'remote' beaches that you will not be able to reach with a regular car... Of course we were not alone, Frank and Menno (with their respective cars) joined as well, because any smart 4WD-er will never go out on his/her own!!.

To get there took about an hour from Wilco's place (probably it would take us an hour and a hal to get to the entrance road. The entrance road by itself is just a gravle road, not too bad just a bit bumpy. After about 15 minutes drive we were at the end of the entrance road and about to get on the soft sand roads. This means the tyre pressure has to be decreased (from 40 to 20 psi). That way the tyres are reasonably soft and will be giving beter grip on the sand roads.

This is of course a matter of simply pressing the tyre-valves untill the right pressure level has been reached. Then we were ready to get on the sand roads:

And no it what not all just flat sandy tracks:

The final destination (although of course it is not so much about the destination as it is about the road there :-))... Can you spot Ellen?:

After this trip when we were driving home we agreed that it was a very exciting activity. Would we not have 2 cars already, we may have been tempted to look for an (older) 4WD car ... (un?)fortunately we have the two so that is something for later..
Feel free to have a good look around at some more photos here.

C-Day

2008-04-14T18:34:00.005+08:00

Well, well, just in time to prevent a full 3 months gap between the posts.. Time really is flying when you're having fun!

Anyway, now that we are back (sort of ;-) I (Pete) need to tell you about C-Day. Although it may sound a bit like another one of those Ozzie holidays (like Anzac-day or Labour day) it is not. In a way it is a much more interesting day. The exact day of C-Day is Friday, April the 4th. Almost exactly 3 years ago we were in Canada visiting my dad. During that day I actually fell in love with ... C. C actually being his last name. First name 300.... Can you guess by now? No?

Ok, the family name is Chrysler. In that family there are a few members with a normal heart (3 and 3.5 liter and 6 'chambers') and two with a big heart. The biggest heart (6.1 liter, 8 chambers) is a real race monster. The one just below that one is the one that I actually started a relationship with... His name: Chrysler 300C Hemi... Hence the C-Day, the day our relationship started!

Now, just in case you still do not have the picture, HERE is a picture of his face:

Memory lane ;-)

2008-01-16T18:55:00.000+09:00

Last week we were cleaning up the harddisk of our desktop. We more or less stumbled into the holiday reports that we had made during our (3) holidays to Australia. It reminded us a bit of the ´prequel´ fashion that goes on in the film industrie, when they bring out movies for succesfull series about how it all began (Star Wars, Batman begins, etc). So, we thought it was a good idea to bring out our own prequel.

Now, unfortunately for some of you, these holiday reports were all written in Dutch. We have decided not to start translating them because that would really take too much time. So, if you do not read Dutch, you may consider skipping the next part (although some photos are there as well...).

Dus ga ik nu in het Hollands verder. We hebben voor onze prequel gewoon een 2e blogje gemaakt. Als je het leuk vind om dat eens door te lezen (hoe ervaarden wij Australie voordat wij er woonden), neem dan de tijd (of deel het in stukken) en begin te lezen bij het verlsag van de 1e vakantie.... Deze prequel is te vinden op: http://www.blessiesprequel.blogspot.com/. Mocht je comments willen plaatsen dan kan dat daar ook gewoon.....

HOT-HOT-HOT Boxing day

2007-12-26T11:28:00.000+09:00

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 ;-)

2007-12-18T21:12:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-19T17:35:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-14T18:42:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-14T08:59:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-06T20:10:00.000+09:00

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……..

2007-11-06T13:48:00.000+09:00

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.

2007-11-06T13:32:00.000+09:00

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.

2007-11-06T13:15:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-03T11:45:00.000+09:00

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

2007-10-21T11:39:00.000+08:00

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

2007-10-20T19:50:00.000+08:00

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

2007-10-07T10:03:00.000+08:00

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:

Swimming Pool - Update 6 & another winner

2007-07-25T19:38:00.000+08:00

[Newsflash: My Blue Eyed photo (see previous post) has won the (Flickr online) 2nd half of July Australian Photographers, WA competition]

For anyone (besides mom :-) wondering if they do bull fighting in Perth: They don't. The bull shot was taken at a Rodeo at El caballo, half an hour drive east of Perth.

The backfilling has taken place and also the pencil compacting (compacting the 15 cm of sand directly around the pool) has been done. We are now waiting till the fence will be put back. Some photos (we are then up to date till today, July 25th :-):

NEPG July Competition

2007-07-13T21:05:00.000+08:00

After skipping the last two competitions (too busy, too busy :-( ) I finally entered some entries in the July one again. Two prints did not win a price (in Prints, Subject 'Creative Nature'), but the entry in the slide got 1st price!

The entries that did not win anything (but, I think, are still nice photos ;-) are:

Blue Eyed:

Melting Bird:

And the winner is:

Swimming Pool - Update 5

2007-06-23T12:10:00.000+08:00

We love all the comments from you guys. Please keep them coming. From now on we will try to respond to them if we think that is appropiate / needed / ... ;-)

Ewald: Ondertussen hebben we hier ook aardig wat regen. Zij het dan in de verste verte niet in NSW-hoeveelheden! Wel een klein beetje reden tot zorg, zolang de 'backfill' van het zand nog niet gedaan is.
Anonymous (van het Toetanchamon comment): Wie ben je ???
Eutrice:Dank je wel. Wij zijn ook aardig benieuwd. Het is wel een periode van laat ik maar zeggen 'gematigde zorg' tot in ieder geval de grond weer dicht is...
Ineke: Ongeveer 11 bij 2.8m, maar eerst maar eens zien wanneer het allemaal af is ;-)

The concrete has been sprayed last Wednesday. Some photos (this time a bit smaller size, click on them if you want to see the medium sizes ;-)

Swimming Pool - Update 4

2007-06-17T19:00:00.000+08:00

The 13th (last Wednesday) the metal boundary which will confine the concrete is being built :

Can you see where the 'entry steps' of the pool will be?

The next day (Thursday) the steel enforcement is being laid:

And also they have now placed a few stencils to help preventing the pillar from caving in. We are still a bit worried, and are really hoping we will not have rain any time soon ....

Well, with this photo you are up to date to where we are right now ;-)

Swimming Pool - Update (photos ;-)

2007-06-16T14:45:00.000+08:00

Ok, finally some photos of the pool building process. Of course the pavers had to go first. This was done at the end of March, while waiting for the final council approvals:

Two blocks on the right the building preparation are starting too:

Then a good two months later, the day for digging finally was there:

And from this moment on we were a bit worried. Look at how close the digging has gone to the pillar ...

Swimming Pool - Update 2

2007-06-12T18:38:00.002+08:00

Overtaken by events ;-) Last week the pool company called to 'set out' the markings for the pool, and after that would plan us in for digging. Although he would call last Friday, he did not. Monday (yesterday) they called us and said they planned us in for today. We gladly accepted that of course ;-). Now, at night, with the digger gone, we are not too relaxed in a way, since the digging has been done till pretty close to the house, especially the outmost pillar in the Alfresco area. They have said the guy who builds the shell for the pool will be here tomorrow morning to start building it.
We are of course hoping to worry for nothing ;-)

(Photos will follow shortly ;-)

Swimming Pool - Update

2007-05-11T19:24:00.000+08:00

After deciding some weeks (well, really months ;-) ago that we wanted to have a pool behind our house we now (today) finally received the council approval. The story so far:

Somewhere at the end of last year we decided to have a pool. We were 'in the market' for a so called lap pool (long pool) so we will be able to do laps. After visiting a few swimming pool companies we found that there was really only one polyester pool available (and only available at one company) with as good as the right size. For polyester pools you are basically buying from pre-defined sizes. The salesguy from this company visited us at home twice to have a look at the situation, and told that he thought it should be possible to place the pool. Now since he did not sound completely convinced, we went to another office (of the same company really, but South of the River). The sales guy studies the plans very carefully and then told us he would not take the order, since he though it would give a lot of problems. As you will understand we were very happy that we checked with another office...

So we had to go for option 2, a concrete pool. Unfortunately concrete is a bit more expensive, but there are far better options since the pool is basically being built on the spot. After some more visits to pool companies we finally decided (and signed the order) in February. At that moment the company told us that (on the condition that the council would approve) the digging should start half April. Of course as usual with such projects, the timing changes a bit when you go. As said above we recieved the council approval today. The pool company told us that they expect to start digging somewhere in the beginning op June.
We have asked them if there was a way to start earlier, since we think that building activities on the direct right side of our house could start any day. We are not sure, but since that is the only side from which the bobcat (small bulldozer) can come in to dig, we'ld rather not take a change here. If it is going to be done earlier we do not know of course, but we'll keep you all updated of course.
Interesting to see in the approval is that at the moment that the pool is built but BEFORE water goes in, the council officer has to be informed, so they can come and inspect. The will be checking the genral coonditions and (very important) that the fences are present and the pool is fully closed off from the house ;-)

Some preliminary work (removing the pavers where the pool will be dug out and moving a retaining wall a bit) has been done. We'll upload some photos soon......

Down South Cappuccino (7/7), Monday

2007-04-16T19:24:00.000+08:00

FINALLY, 8 and half weeks after returning home I (Peter) processed and uploaded the last photos. Next holiday we'll really have to try and choose a lot less photos to publish ;-). So, here's the report of the final day Down South:

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

Today it was time for one of the definitely TO DO destinations: The Busselton jetty. Length: 2 km! Here is a photo report:

Ready for the "do or dare" jump:

(Note: These 3 photos are panorama shots, can take a bit longer to load)

Life guard who is getting bored:

After the jetty, we drove to Bunbury. We had already decided not to stay any other nights from home, so it had to be a short visit. After a nice lunch (yes eating again ;-) we went to the (best?) viewpoint in Bunbury. We have to say we really like the atmosphere in Bunbury, and will definitely go back for a longer visit there.

(Note: These 2 photos are panorama shots, can take a bit longer to load)

On the way back we took a side turn to Preston Beach. Just before entering the town you pass Lake Preston. The dry winter of this year has had as result that the lake is more like a sand-lake:
(Note: This photos is a panorama shot, can take a bit longer to load)

Then last stop on the way home, for an ice cream and some views at Rockingham (at the beach at Cape Peron). And no, we did not make those skid marks …

Oh, we almost forgot: this was a good cappuccino day, because we were home at 9pm ;-)

NEPG April competition

2007-04-14T17:04:00.000+08:00

At our club's (Northern Exposure Photographers Group: www.nepg.com.au) last competition in April two (out of my three) entries won a 'Merit' (like a recommendation, just missing the top-3) in the Print, Open, Color.
These were the two photos:

Life Cycle

Between the capes

That's the spirit

2007-04-07T10:19:00.000+08:00

As usual in WA/Perth a holiday weekend (Easter ;-) is a so called 'double demerit points' weekend. From the day before the weekend to the day after (!) you get double demerit points if you do anything in traffic you should not (speeding, red light, ...).
This weekend there is even an extra big fine for not having your seat belt on. Research had shown that a quarter of the fatalities in traffic this year were not wearing a seat belt. So to try and improve that, they have made the fine for not wearing your seat belt extra big: AUD 500,= and 8 demerit points !!

We have to say that we do like this type of 'no nonsense' en forcement. We think this is a typical example of (good!) Ozzie mentality....

Down South Cappuccino (6/7), Sunday

2007-04-03T18:53:00.000+08:00

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

On to the next destination, Augusta and Cape Leeuwin:

(Note: These 2 photos are panorama shots, can take a bit longer to load)

Some birds:

What was this ??

And who is living here??

Then back in the car and on our way to Margaret River. Driving in (the main street of) Margaret we found that it is a very busy town, loads and loads of tourists:

We parked and got out of the car, and saw someone had lost his or her keys. The finder was friendly enough to put them in a visible spot:

We had lunch (BLT sandwich, burger and fries) which were below average. Also no cappuccino available. It did not spoil our holiday pleasure, but no recommendation for the restaurant.

We wanted to spend the night somewhere around (or in) Dunsborough. In the RAC book accommodation guide we had with us we had a choice between either one of the 3-star motels or a 5 star resort. Since we were on holiday we thought it was ok to spoil us for one night and we decided to book at the resort.
But first we drove to Cape Naturaliste, so we can (in a way) say we have done the cape-to-cape ;-).

And again the same bird:

Looking down we saw one of these again (remember the first one?). We looked it up, and it appears to be the so called spider-wasp. Although the sound it makes when flying by your head is a bit scary, it seems to be pretty harmless for people (far more than the normal wasp). It feeds on spiders, and is constantly digging in the sand to try and find spiders. When caught it will (after poisoning it) drag the spider to its nest to act as food:

By the end of the afternoon we arrived in our resort-hotel. Well, it was indeed a bit more expensive, but it was worth it..

I forgot to take photos of the studio itself, but it was a very nice room. Very comfy beds, a shower and a 2-person spa. Unfortunately the restaurant was not open (closed on Sundays) so we drove to Dunsborough where we had a nice (outside) dinner at an Italian café. Back in the resort we thought it might be worth while to test the cappuccino in the bar downstairs. They did have a cappuccino machine, but the guy operating it was not able to create a decent one for us :-(. So, some points were lost here (final result for the resort still far above average ;-).

Down South Cappuccino (5/7), Saturday

2007-03-28T18:56:00.000+08:00

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

This morning the sky was absolutely grey and it was raining a little bit. So we decided to do a little walk first. Yesterday in the visitors centre they told us there is a nice little walk around the Big Brook dam. So that’s what we did first:

(Note: This photo is a panorama shot, can take a bit longer to load)

For some parts along the track we were accompanied by a number of these little birdies:

Then from a small bird-hut we were able to snap this Kookaburra.

Some more from this track:

Look at the length of these trees:

After this walk we were ready to have a nice cappuccino. We had seen on the map that there was a local art-gallery annex coffee shop, so tried our luck there. Unfortunately the cappuccino was a bit disappointing again.

and again the little bird that can be found all around WA

While we were having lunch at a hotel along the main road through the town, some travellers were having lunch in there own camper across the street:

After lunch (by the way: again no cappuccino points ;-) the weather got a little better so we decided to go to the Gloucester Tree. The preparation and way up:

People waiting for the courageous climbers:

Some views from the tree (58 m. high), and yes, the sneakers are Peters!.

(Note: These 3 photos are panorama shots, can take a bit longer to load)

DONE IT!

Ok, done it, but paid for it ;-). After driving back to the motel I almost could not get out of the car. My leg muscles were pretty crampy! So, just a bit of reading for the rest of the afternoon (and some photos from the motel veranda:

Who's afraid of 4 eyes?

2007-03-19T20:10:00.000+09:00

Some weeks ago we had a typical Ozzie 'pet' in our house for a couple of days. Usually in one corner (of the ceiling) for a whole day, and then in another corner the next day.
Only when it decided to sit on the bedroom wall we decided it was time to relocate outside (nicely with a big bowl, brave Ellen!).

Who we are talking about? Well, here is a photo not too close. In reality our pet was about 15 cm's from left to right:

And then for the ones that can handle a 'closer up' click on this:

And for the really curious ones, this 'pet' is called a Huntsman spider.
Want to know a bit more? Look here.

Down South Cappuccino (4/7), Friday

2007-03-17T16:14:00.000+09:00

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

The destination for today is Pemberton, goal there (for Peter) to climb the Gloucester Tree. On the way there we passed Denmark (coffee stop) and did the Tree Top Walk (yes, even Ellen). Some shots from the drive to Denmark and then Denmark itself:

Then the Tree Top Walk:

Of course there is more to see since the TTW is in a park:

Would you be brave enough to enter:

They really are very high:

And what about this very rare specimen of a megaphone-tree?

Fairy tail tree:

Bigger than life:

On the way to Pemberton a little stop for a short rest with another nice view, and a call to find a motel room in Pemberton:

By the end of the day we arrived at the motel. After some driving around the town, we could not find any nice restaurants, so we decided to have dinner at the motel’s restaurant. When entering the restaurant we saw a real cappuccino machine, so we already planned to have one after dinner… What a disappointment, the manager (who was waiting herself this night) did not really know how to operate the machine. So we ended up with a sort of weak flat white and a cup of hot milk. At least (or of course ;-) she did not put them on the bill…..

Down South Cappuccino (3/7), Thursday

2007-03-10T18:18:00.000+09:00

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

Some of the others places we visited in Albany on Thursday were the whale station, and other view points along the coast and bays of Albany:

This little fellow seems to be present all around WA (at least the parts that we have been so far). Looking in the birds of Australia book we found this is called the New Holland Honeyeater (yes, new HOLLAND):

And of course we went to see the Gap and the Natural Bridge in Albany. This photo-text explains:

Some of the shots Peter took there:

At this photo you’ll get an idea of the scale (can you see the couple on the rocks halfway?):

Some more shots

In the afternoon of that day (still Thursday ;-) we walked the Bird Walk around lake Seppings:
Can you find us both on the first picture? ;-)

This night we went to Restaurant Venice. We have to tell you, if we were allowed to assign a Michelin star to a restaurant, this would be the one. Between the two of us we had pizza, chicken schnitzel, chips, sunday-ice cream and cappuccino. There was really nothing that was not perfect!! This restaurant really is THE place to go for dinner in Albany.

Some final shots from Albany:

Down South Cappuccino (2/7), Wednesday

2007-03-05T20:49:00.000+09:00

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

Next morning we drove further along the highway, and did go to the Dutch Lily Mill. Unfortunately the Mill and restaurant are closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays! So much for our ‘broodje kroket’ and good coffee!!
Nothing to show here except a photo of the Mill:

Next stop the Stirling Ranges. From the Mill you can already see the ranges at the horizon:

Originally we thought to maybe do a walk trail in (on?) the ranges, but when looking at the sign at the ‘park’ entrance we realised we were not prepared enough (warm clothing, water and available time). We decided to save the ranges for another time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and then spending a few days there to do several of the walking tracks. We did stop for a coffee. Unfortunately there was again no decent cappuccino to be found here:
The closest we came to the ranges was this:

By this time we decided to stay for two nights in Albany. The first two motels we called told us they were fully booked. Luckily enough the 3rd motel still had some rooms left. The big bushfire in Porongurup National Park which was burning for a few days already was being fought by lots and lots of firemen. A lot of them needing places to sleep.

(Note: This next photo is a pretty big panorama shot, can take a bit longer to load ;-)

On our way to Mount Barker we made another little detour, to have lunch in Mount Barker. This town looks a bit more modern and lively than Katanning did:

They even had guards at the Public Toilets:

Finally we arrived at the motel in Albany

One of the first places we visited was the viewpoint on Mount Clarence, the highest in Albany (186m). There is a ANZAC memorial on there. Some photos:

This last photo also shows a man that used to live in Albany for the first part in his life. He told us a lot about what to do and what to see in Albany ;-)

On top of the hill Peter’s phone rang. Cousin Eric had also arrived in Albany with his dad (Eric Sr.). We agreed to have dinner together that night in a Chinese Restaurant. Only by the end of the evening we found out they were in exactly the same motel as we were ;-)

On the way back down from the hill we saw this not so friendly looking fly (?) on the side of the stairs:

Down South Cappuccino (1/7), Tuesday

2007-03-02T22:14:00.000+09:00

If you want to see the bigger version of any photo, simply click on it

As most of you know we have been on a holiday. Below is a report of this holiday. Because of the number of photos we will publish only one day at a time, giving us the time to process and upload the photos and (more importantly ;-) giving you the time to read it all without having to sit for hours and hours behind your pc….

In the morning (February the 13th) we started our big (;-) trip down South. We started following the Albany Highway (from Perth more or less straight to Albany).
Most part of this highway is just two lanes, with some overtaking lanes every 5 kilometers. Those overtaking lanes are necessary, since some big trucks with wide loads travel along these roads too. Unfortunately we had to stay a long while behind a specific pair of ‘wide-load’ trucks, because even on the overtaking lanes they took too much space to be able to overtake safely. Only at the 4th overtaking lane we were able to pass them all.

Around lunch time we stopped in the first little town on the map called North Bannister. At least according to the map it is a little town, but it really looks like just a roadhouse along the road. No other houses or anything to be seen ;-). At this roadhouse we stopped for a quick lunch (meat pies, wedges and a drink). Unfortunately they did not serve cappuccino.

A good hour later (on the road again) we had to wait a few minutes for ‘work in progress’. Peter decided to make a photo of the work, but at the moment he pointed the camera to the cherry picker the roadman turned the STOP-sign to SLOWLY. So, he had to snap quickly and then get the car moving ;-)

Our first overnight stop was in a motel in Katanning

After putting all our stuff in the room we drove around the town, but we found it to be a very, very quit little town. So we decided to have diner at the motel’s restaurant. Tomorrow we will drive to Albany, and were planning on the way there to have a coffee break at the Dutch Lily Mill and have a ‘broodje kroket’ (a Dutch snack). Also we were hoping they might have some good coffee there, since as of this morning we have not had any decent cappuccino (yes, we are a bit picky when it comes to coffee ;-)).

Seal Island

2007-02-12T21:49:00.000+09:00

On Saturday the 3rd of February I (Ellen) went canoeing to seal island together with cousin Eric and one of his friends (Tim). Seal island is a very small island before the coast of Hillary’s (14 km North of Perth city) and about 5 km out of the shore. You can park very close to the shore and we carried the canoes to the waterline and filled them with all the gears we wanted to bring. Eric and Tim brought their light diving gear and took my snorkel gear.
After only a few minutes on the sea Tim’s rudder at once didn’t function anymore. He and Eric first tried to repair it on the water, but then saw that a metal pin was broken and the rudder was beyond repair on the water.

Eric and Tim went back with his boat and changed it over to another boat Tim had at home (about 10 minutes drive from the shore). When they came back the trip could start to seal island.
It is a very small island and we saw one seal laying on the beach.

We went snorkeling and diving and one seal looked regularly what we were doing. When I was struggling with my flippers, one of the seals was looking very close by to see what I was doing. I think he didn’t understood why my feet and flippers were separated :-). One seal was curious about our boats and approached me when I was eating my bread.

A lot of motorboats had anchored in the neighbourhood and people were swimming and fishing.

After a while we back to the shore were Eric and Tim stopped for some snorkeling at some rocks close to the shore. I went back to the shore to paddle back a long the shore in a slow manner. I passed doggy beach where dogs were playing around and some horses with their riders took a see bath.
When I came back on our leaving point Peter was waiting for us and took some pictures of our arrival.
Here you can see some more photos…..

Bells rapid walk

2007-02-12T21:48:00.000+09:00

The fourth of February we had another walk, this time organized by Sandra and Xander. The route is called the Bells Rapid walk. As you can see clearly in the pictures, it definitely does not look like any rapid ;-)

Reason for this is the lack of rain (well, maybe not total lack, but clearly not enough of it). The yearly kayak / canoe event (The Avon Descent) almost did not go through because this Bells Rapid is part of the track...

More photos here.

Hot Australia day

2007-01-26T21:40:00.000+09:00

Hi all, today is Australia day, meaning that everyone has a day off! So do we ;-). We do not go to the fireworks display tonight downtown because we like a day of rest, it is going to be very busy there and last but not least... it is very, very hot! Close to 40 degrees during the day. For tomorrow 41 degrees is expected. We are very, very happy that we have our (evaporative) airconditioning, we manage to keep the inhouse temperature at 26.

As far as news: the only news we have is that we have signed a contract to get a (concrete) lap-pool built! We are looking forward to that. The building should start in April and be ready about July. Then about 2 months later the paving around it should be done. So, next summer we will be swimming...

Beginning of January we had another walk with the walking group:

More walking photos here.

Then there was McNaughts comet that comes by every 40 years or so. I have been able to make some photos:

More comet photos here.

Finally Ellen went out on another kayak trip. Cousin Eric has bought a boat of his own and they went on a river trip with Tim and his girlfriend.

More kayak photos here.

Merry Christmas & a happy New Year

2006-12-24T09:07:00.000+09:00

Hello everyone, the day before Christmas, time to give you all the best of wishes from us. Although it is a little bit funny to have this weather (29-33 degrees) at Christmas, we think it is a lot better than the cold, foggy weather back in Europe ;-)

As you will all know there have been and still are a lot of bushfires in Australia. Luckily not so much around Perth. One house has burnt, which was situated in 'the Hills' which is about 15km east of CBD. On the news they told that the main reason why the house burned down to the ground was that the evaporative air-conditioning was on, which was 'inhaling' burning bits and pieces from outside.

So far about 500.000ha have been burned in Australia, which is about 1/10 of Holland. To give you an idea, this is whole of NoordBrabant or so.

Anyway, over to us:
Next week we have the whole week off. We realised that this is our first Australian holiday!!

Talking about bushfires, in the bushfire season people are supposed to be very careful, and there are rules (laws) in place that should help to prevent fires from extending. The block of land on the right and the left of our house is not built up yet. The owners have to make sure that at the beginning of the fire-danger season (half of October) they cut all the weeds on their block, so if a fire starts, it will not easily expand. The owners of those blocks had not done that (by the end of November) so we called the county to ask what is supposed to be done. The county then told us that they had already been given fines (AUS 750,=) for not doing it, and given one week to prevent the county having to do it (and than paying far bigger fines).
As of last week they both have done that.

Two weeks ago the photoclub had their end-of-year function. Again a photo competition, but this time with food and drinks. Entries for the competition had to be photos that have been entered before (in one of the monthly competitions). Of course Peter has entered some photos. And one of his photos won the 2nd price (aud 20 voucher) in the 'slide'-competition.
The photo that won was this one:

And one other photo that we would like you to see is one Peter took a week ago, just in our backyard. The photo is named "David & Goliath":

Kayaks and Planes

2006-11-26T20:32:00.000+08:00

Another mointh has gone by. Fortunately this last month was (again) not all work and no play ;-). After a test paddle Ellen has chosen a kayak to buy. And today she joined a group-paddle and had a ball...

Some more pictures here.

Peter's boss has extended his contract for another 4 months (last week requested 3 months and made 4 months of it this week). We will be taking a few days off between Christmas and New Year, and we have planned a holiday for 3 weeks in February. We are not going to plan anything for the holiday, we just want to get in the car and drive in a generally south direction.

Another one of Peter's pictures 'won' a competition. The photo won the 2-weekly 1st half of November competition with this photo:

For the next weeks competition I have entered this one (a view from our backyard ;-):

Last week we have enjoyed the Red Bull air race in Perth. I made lots of pictures and it took me most of my spare time in the last days to sort them out and present some of the better ones on the photo site. I know there are people out there (Jan !!) who might have wanted to see all that.. Good news for them (again, Jan !!): The Red Bull air race will be back in Perth in 2007 and 2008. Nice to see was that the Black Swans were not all worried about the big number of people (> 200.000) and not frightened of the noisy planes.

More photos of the Air Race

Well, as said last week, pictures say more than a thousand words. I hope you're enjoying them.

A picture says more than a 1000 words ;-)

2006-10-22T21:33:00.000+08:00

Hi All,

We can not believe it has been this long since the last post (a whole month). Don't worry, we did not forget you! It has just been pretty busy the last weeks. That happens when you're both working full time ;-) ;-)

In a nutshell the latest news, followed (where appropiate) by pictures (in the spirit ot the title of this topic ;-):

Two weeks ago we went on another walk with the walking group. This time we went to Yanchep Park, about 30 mins driving north of us. Here is one picture, a wildflower called kangaroo paw:

If you ant to see more, have a look HERE.

Last week we went whale watching with our friends Sandra and Xander. Very nice to do, just be carefull if you're easily seasick. I managed to take some reasonable photos. Not all as sharp as tehy should be, but that is a challenge when you're out on a boat on the ocean! One picture again:

And if you want to see more, look HERE.

And last but not least, we have bought a second car. We wanted a little bit more 'space to move'. With a second car we can go our own way when necessary. BTW, we bought another Ford, this time a Falcon, 1,5 year old. Photos of that car will follow when we have made some ;-)

Anyway, we think you are now a up-to-date about our life! Just one last thing to say: We still love it here, more and more every day........

First work week / Correction of mistake last week ;-)

2006-09-17T15:29:00.000+08:00

To start with, I said that the monkey photo had won a 3rd price in the club competition, but that was a mistake... It was the Mountain Goat photo!! The judge did spend some time talking about the monkey photo too, that's what caused the mix up.. Anyway it is now corrected, have another look at the prior post.

Last week was my first week of work. Not only has it been 5 months or so since I have been working, but also I am now working 5 days a week in stead of 4. The days are not as long though as they were back in Holland and because we are back home early enough, we can still enjoy other activities in the evening (like photoclub, dancing, bowling). So, more days to work in a week, but shorter days.
How did I like this first week? Well, I think it went all pretty good. I am taking over the work of someone who had his last working day last Friday. Starting next Wednes day the second person who knows about 'my' customers will be on a holiday for 2 weeks, so from Wednesday I'll be on my own.
I will probably make some mistakes in that time, but my confidence is growing really fast. All together I like my new work (BTW I am working as change-coördinator, which does have some overlap with my last role in Holland).

Although I did not feel too tired through the week, and we were out literally each evening, I was pretty tired yesterday (Saturday), and only after sleeping in a bit more this morning (Sunday) I felt rested! While getting more used to the work next weeks that will probably get better. Also we will not be doing something every evening which will help too!!

Triple top 3's !!

2006-09-14T21:16:00.000+08:00

Last Monday I entered some photos in our monthly competition again. I was hoping I would at least get a same result as last month (a merit). To my surprise, three out of my six entries became 3rd in their respective category. Especially for the Mountain Goat photo that was a very good result, since there were about 30 entries in that category (and good ones too!).

It will be very difficult to improve this result the next time, since I am now working full time. But I'll try anyway ;-)

Here they are:

Category: Mono/B&W, subject (Windows)

Category: Slides, Open

Category: Prints, Open, Colour

Done with the fun !

2006-09-06T16:56:00.000+08:00

Good news and bad news... I was not called from Sydney last Monday, also not after leaving a message the next day at the voicemail of that manager. But... this morning I was called by the recruitment office through which I have had an interview at a IT-support company for a role as change manager (and for which I did not get the contract because of budget problems).
They were urgently looking for a change-cöordinator (to start on a 3 months contract), and they asked if I would be available on short notice. Of course my answer was yes, and after the recruitment agency contacted the company again, I have signed the contract this morning. I am expected to start coming Monday, and I will be visiting them tomorrow morning to meet some people and get some reading material.

So, suddenly the fun has come to an end. Only 4 days of freedom left and then I will have to work too. Although nice to get back in a work situation (meeting new people etc) and being able to contribute to our bread and butter (;-) too, I will be missing my freedom of the last weeks (hmmmm, months really). I will now have a lot less hours to 'play' with my photography...

BTW: The company where I am going to work is the same where Ellen works, only in a different building (closer to a trainstation too ;-). So, from now on we will be again working for the same company just like we did back in Holland for the last 3 years.

Update

2006-09-01T18:20:00.000+08:00

After receiving the 'golden pineapple' award Ellen received a giftvoucher last week as an appraisal for her work. That has been a very nice gesture!
Peter is expecting to be called coming Monday from Sydney for a job interview (on contract base). The responsible manager is stationed in Sydney, but the application is for a job in Perth.

What Ellen likes very much (the most ?) about working in Perth is that when she goes out for lunch to get a nice Italian sandwich, she is always seeing and hearing parrots flying around. As well the typical rosella's (grey and pink) as the 28's (green/blue with a yellow band around their neck).

One of the things we have found is that the signs stating that speed camera's are used in WA is very true in Perth. So far we have not been 'catched' (as far as we know at least ;-), but we are spotting a (mobile) speedcamera at least once a week on average. So for anyone wondering about that... Perth is really a risky place to speed!

Last Wednesday we (finally !!!) took up dancing again. We found a nice dancing school about 15 minutes driving from home. So for all ballroom dancers that are thinking about coming over to Perth for a holiday (;-) do take your dancing gear with you (Peter and Lia). BTW the owner of the dancing school recognized the name of the sister of our damcing teacher in Holland.

Three weeks ago at the monthly competition Peter entered some photographs. Although none ended in the top 3, one of them got a 'merit' (see below ;-). Next Monday (September 11th) he will enter some pictures in the competition again. If any results are worth mentioning, you'll read about it!

Finally, pictures of our new home ;-)

2006-08-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

At last we have been able to put some decent photos of our house on our photo site. Have a look at the most recent ´link´ at the right of this page. (Or if you can not find it, look here ;-)

Further not a lot of new news. As you can see in the pictures we now do have our (red) lounge suit and (as mentioned before) our (snowwhite) couches. Yesterday we have been able to find a couple of nice rugs. To complete the furniture inside the house we are now waiting for the coffee table (has been ordered, a coffe table version of the dining table) to be delivered and we have to find some nice lamp tables to put beside the couches and along the lounge suit.

Ellen is still the only one working (;-) and enjoying it very much. Peter isn´t (yet) working and to be honest is enjoying his freedom very much too ;-). He has of course not given up looking for a job...

Two weeks :-(

2006-08-13T21:49:00.000+08:00

Hi all… it is really unbelievable but the last post is dated August 1. So that’s another two weeks gone just like that. Time to get you updated:

Ellen has had her first full week of work. She really enjoys it. Of course she is pretty tired every night when she comes home. It is a new job in a new environment in a new country. But after this first week she is already starting to get a grip on the work. Since she has been asked to fill in for someone who is on holidays now (managing 5 projects). The biggest challenge here is not the 5 projects themselves, but the fact that the person going on holiday first had another contractor to hand over his work temporarily, but then after a few days this contractor did not come back. So Ellen had to take over while the colleague was already on holiday.

In the last two weeks Peter is contemplating (thinking about somewhere in the back of his mind ;-) to maybe start doing something more with photography. Not so much changing career at once, but besides working in his current field, also put a bit more time into photography (try to get it a bit from hobby into amateur level ;-). And then see if maybe opportunities will arise in time to change careers.

Yesterday we have been at Marina and Mikes wedding. It was a ‘home’ wedding. In Australia it is very usual to choose your own location (which can be anywhere, like simply at home). The marriage consultant will marry you where you want.

Today we have said goodbye to Eddy, Elly, Lieke and Imke. We have met them in Tilburg last year (they were also at a xpdite meeting). They have been living here since November, but have now decided to go back (for a couple of years at least). To a certain extend we have now experienced the same as what our friends and family in Holland must have experienced when we left…

This Wednesday our sofa (the red one) will be delivered. So another piece of our home will be added. Step by step the house is now turning into a perfect home ;-)

We have made some photos of the house, we expect to publish some of them in the next few days!

ADSL (continued), flat tyre and work ...

2006-08-01T16:24:00.000+08:00

Well, as usual (by now ;-) another week has gone by. Do we have anything new to tell ??? Yes, we have.
Our (snow-white) couches have been delivered last Wednesday. They´re beautiful! And before you are all going to put comments about the pictures: .. Finally the last problem with Telstra/ADSL seems to have been solved. We did have adsl for 2 days last week.
But guess what, the 3rd day (Friday) suddenly we did not have any connection to the internet anymore. So, again it was time to ´climb in the telephone´. To cut a long story short: The day after buying a DIY package (see two posts ago) ourselves at the Telstra shop, there was a little note from Australia Post in the letterbox. It said: ´Final Notice´… Or in other words, the ´lost´ package from Telstra was at the Post Office now. We went there, explained that we had bought one ourselves now, and sent the package back. The same day we installed the DIY package, and everything went perfect. But then as said last Friday suddenly our connection with internet was gone. First checking everything (all cables connected, all lights on the modem on green etc…), but the only thing that was not ok was the actual ´internet´ light. Anyway, after calling Telstra it appeared that they had received the returned package. And then someone thought that we did not want adsl anymore, so simply cut off the adsl definition for our telephone number. If he or she would have had a good look, he or she should have seen that the returned package was connected to a cancelled order-number, and that there was a new order-number. Anyway, it was all possible to correct but it would take 3 working days max to get the connection back. Since we are pretty dependant on internet I told them I did not like that, but was reassured that we should still be able to use our old dialup account in the mean time. Of course, the first attempt did not go right, and indeed after calling (again) another colleague said that is was not possible to go back from adsl to dialup with an account. But she could mend it by simply creating a temporary account for us to use. And that is what we have done since Friday. Then the day before yesterday (Sunday) I tested the adsl modem (just in case ;-), and what do you know… we seemed to be back online through adsl.
So, we only have to call Telstra again (promised to do that) to let them know that we do not need the temporary account any more. We have not done that yet but will do that today or tomorrow. Of course you can imagine that we will do so with a bit of fear… What else will go wrong when we tell them to shut down the temp dialup account… ;-)

After this not so short story after all (;-), yesterday morning Peter drove back after doing a little shopping, and from a certain moment he heard a funny sound every time he made a turn to the left. Even when doing it slowly it did not sound good. Arriving home he had a good look at the car and found that the rear right wheel was flat (or at least pretty empty, wheels don´t actually run flat these days). So, he had to replace the wheel with the spare one. Now by itself this is not so special, but for him it was the first time in his life that he run a flat tyre! He is am hoping this is just coincidence, but it could be that the change of running flats over here are a lot bigger than in Holland, since there is a lot more rubbish on the road. We´ll have to wait and see what the reality will be ;-). Today we brought the punctured wheel to the dealer to get it repaired. They repaired it, put it back on the car (and put the spare one back under the rear of the car where it belonged, they checked the pressure on all tyres and finally cleaned them all). The total cost of this all was ….. 40 dollars ! A lot less then we were actually expecting.

Now then finally some good news about the work situation. Ellen was called last Thursday by the recruitment office. The company that Ellen had had an interview with 2 weeks ago, and that had said to look out for a more senior role for her, has asked the recruiters if she would still be available. They do not have the more senior role available just yet, but (the recruiter and us think) they just did not want to let the change to get Ellen go. So they have now offered her a 6 months contract as a project manager. Starting with small projects for now. We expect they will probably offer her a permanent job after that ;-). She is asked to start next Monday (August 7th), which is pretty fast! Ellen is on one hand very happy to start working of course, but on the other hand it will be the end of the freedom of the last 4 months for her. The best part of this contract is that she will earn (before tax) even more than in Holland. Knowing that the tax is a lot less than in Holland, Peter almost doesn´t have to work anymore ;-) ;-)

In the mean time Peter has done another interview and (only just) got a result of an interview back that he did three weeks ago. Unfortunately they have found someone coming from another oil & gas company, so have chosen that candidate. They did state he was a close 2nd, and would like to keep him in their database for when other opportunities will arise. So, although being rejected, still not a bad result by itself.

Ikea2 and walking

2006-07-23T23:17:00.000+08:00

Last week we have been busy (amongst other things) to assemble the cupboards we bought at Ikea. It took a day and a half in total, but we like them a lot. We have ordered two more ;-). Unfortunately there was one set of doors that was NOT the right colour (birch in stead of white), so the idea that Ikea was a bit better organised here (concerning orderpicking and delivery) than in Holland wasn't the right one.

Since last week there seems to be someone who is making comments on our posts (one comment on each post!) with a stupid sentence like 'I found information here' with the word 'here' hiding a link. We had to decide to try and stop that kind of rubbish, so we are going to turn on the option that you have to sign in at blogger to be able to make a comment. We hope it is not too uncomfortable for you. To give you some time to react we will change that setting in a week from now. Please let us know if you would have a problem with that.

Then a special message to Frank R.: Frank, we know you are about to start your sabbatical trip (biking to Turkey) soon. We hope you have a nice trip!! If possible let us know how the trip goes.

Ikea and Telstra

2006-07-19T09:22:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday we had some friends over (Dutch immigrants and some partners). It was very nice, and we made some plans for starting up a 'walking'group'. A date for the first walk is set.

Last Monday we have been to Ikea (again ;-) and ordered some more cupboards, so we can start organising the last two 'to be organised' rooms, the office and the hobby-room. They just called that they would be here in half an hour to deliver them. We are also planning to have a look at Caversham Wildlife park in Whiteman Park. The idea is to organise the (1st) walk there, so we want to have a look first, and make some nice pictures.

Peter has joined a Bowling league (10-pin bowling). Last Thursday evening he played for the first time (in years ;-).

Yesterday we contacted Telstra (since they had not contacted us). There was no news concerning the sent package. First they agreed to just send a new package, but a few minutes later told us we could also go to any Telstra shop and simply buy the DIY package. The money for that will then be refunded on the invoices. So, that is one of the main items on the shoppinglist for today!

End of the week

2006-07-14T21:22:00.000+08:00

On the job front only one new thing to mention, Ellen has made a very good impression at her interview and they are now looking into possibilities to put her in a more fitting job somewhere in the next few weeks. Exciting!
Peter did not hear anything yet about a result of his interview, so hopefully that will come next week (but as mentioned in previous post, time does tend to go faster then expected, for everyone ;-).

Today we called Telstra (the phonecompany) because we expected the DIY (do it yourself) kit for the adsl connection somewhere at the beginning of this week. Telstra has called Australia Post (that they hire to deliver these packages) and they have not been able to tell where that package is at the moment. It has been delivered by Telstra to Australia Post at the 5th of July, so should have been here. In 48 hours (that is working hours, so next Tuesday) they should have more news ... :-( We'll wait and see!

Time flies when ...

2006-07-12T21:46:00.000+08:00

Unbelievable….another two weeks passed without us publishing anything on the blog. Sorry for that! On one hand we just are very busy, and then when we do have some time left we are very much enjoying being able to see our dvd-movies again. We have been missing them for almost 3 months, so we are trying to catch up with the missed fun ;-)

Anyway…we are now living in our house for 2 weeks, and we really, really, really love it! All the boxes have been upacked by now, the bedroom, kitchen and dining room are in order (all the stuff is in the right place). The other bedrooms are not too bad: Most of our stuff is now in the right room. We just have to arrange it all within the rooms. This Friday a cabinet will be delivered that we can use in the office-room (bedroom 4) to put all the files away. We are also looking round (for example at Ikea, which, although a very big one, is present in Perth) for cupboards for the study and the hobby room (bedroom 3).

As most of you will know, when moving in a house the first 80% of the work gets done in about 20% of the time, but the last 20% always seems to be taking far more time (usually small stuff but a lot of it). Ellen has done a magnificent job by washing every clothing that we have (since most of it has been in the container for 2 months). It took her about a full week to get through it. And we are very fortunate that the washer we have here is a top loader. Although being a bit less water-efficient as the one we had in Holland, it is a lot faster. A full wash cycle takes only 30 or 40 minutes.

In the last weeks we have also met some other Dutch emigrants that we got to know through the xpdite website. This Saturday we have invited some Dutchies to meet at our home and exchange some experiences.

About the work: Last Friday Ellen has had an interview for a 6-month contract job as project manager. She should hear something by the end of this week. Peter has had an interview last Monday for a (permanent) position as change & release manager (this was the job mentioned in the ‘blue to the bone’ post on our weblog). That company has also said to inform by the end of this week if he is the preferred candidate or not. Now we both already found a couple of times that saying ´by the end of this week´ can easily mean in a week or two… So we are also looking for other opportunities at the same time. By the way, we are very happy that we did not have to work the last couple of weeks, because that would hardly be compatible with moving in a new house!

Talking about the new house, we are also waiting for a package by Telstra with the material to install (wireless) adsl at home. Once we have that we will finally be able to upload more photos than we used to do the last 3 months. We will be making some photos of our new house (inside and outside) in the next few days, and upload these anyway.

Last week we were changing a lamp on the ceiling (replacing one of them with one of our halogen lamps). We found that the ceiling is (if we name it correctly) completely made of plasterboard (´gips´ in Dutch). That means that you have to use a bit different methods to attach a lamp to the ceiling. For this one Ellen went up the ceiling which meant she had to climb above the ceiling (through an access panel in the hallway) and there walk from one wooden rafter (or beam) to the next. Because it is not wise to step on the (plasterboard!) ceiling which is attached to the bottom of these rafters (;-), and there are also conduits laying on the ceiling for the ducted air conditioning, this was an adventure in itself!

Fortunately in the mean time we have found other material that can be used to attach stuff to plasterboard ceilings, so any other things we want to attach to the ceiling will be pretty easy to get done.

And as a last remark: winter is slowly starting to creep in. Night temperatures of about 4 degrees, day temperatures around 15 or 16 degrees. Compared to where we are coming from not too bad for winter, but a warm sweater is needed. Only the normal winter rain(s) have not really started yet, but should be getting here.

Blue to the Bone

2006-06-25T11:50:00.000+08:00

Again the last week has passed almost without noticing it. No news (yet) on the interview for the contract job. But since I (Peter) have also applied for a permanent job where the application period has closed last Friday and where they will contact candidates coming Tuesday or Wednesday, it is not a problem.

Last week Wednesday we went for a walk in the Kalamunda Shire (Perth Hills). Not too long a walk (5 km), but some very steep climbs and descents. Then also taking some time to take photos so we still needed 3 hours. You really have to be carefull when thinking about distances here, they do tend to be a lot longer then back in Holland ;-). A few pictures can be FOUND HERE.

Yesterday evening we went out with Paul and Ileana (the owners of our current holiday home). We went to Northbridge to enjoy nice Italian food, and after that we went to a blues-club (Blue to the Bone). In that club they have live (blues!) music. It was very nice!

Coming week will be a pretty week for us, since we will start moving in our (own! new!) house in Darch. Several deliveries will be made in that week. Wednesday the big day when the moving company will bring all our stuff from our container. We are very curious to see if everything is still in good order. If so, Wednesday night will probably be the first night that we will be sleeping there! One of the important things that should be arranged from Tuesday is our landline. We hope that that will go as planned. We can of course still make calls through our mobiles, but our connection to the internet (so in fact to all of you!) is depending on that.
Then about 2 to 3 weeks after the connection of the phoneline we should receive the DIY (do it yourself) package for a ADSL connection. After that is installed we will finaly be able to upload loads of pictures (we will be making lots of pictures of the house) again.

Coldest & Dryest start of winter ever!

2006-06-18T20:27:00.000+08:00

Very interesting, the day after describing a 'typical' winterday, we heard on the news that on Friday morning the temperature in Perth (downtown) had broken a record. The lowest temperature EVER MEASURED (for the start of the winter anyway) of -0.7 degrees... At the same time it is also the dryest start ever. So our description of the winterday probably was not vey typical. But even so, you can understand we are still saying to each other every day: "...and this is what they call winter...". We are curious what we will experience in the next two months, which are the real winter months ;-)

Winter, Interview en Photoclub

2006-06-14T17:15:00.000+08:00

We know that the weather in Holland is very summer-like at the moment (32 degrees). We think that that aslo means that it is very sticky (humid). Is that correct?
Here in Perth it is of course winter. I will describe a typical (?) winter day for you, as it has been today: At night the temperature goes down to about 4 or 5 degrees. So when you wake up it is pretty fresh. When going out at abolut 9 or 10 am, the outside temperature is somewhere around 12 to 14 degrees, which is (with a bit of wind) still pretty fresh. But then around noon the temperatures are back to about 20 till 24 degrees. So in other words, put on a jumper or cardigan in the morning, and leave that at home in the afternoon ;-)

This Friday I (Peter) will be having an interview at a company to see if they will hire me as a contractor for 6 months. This opportunity has been arranged by a recruitment buro! As you will understand, pretty exciting for me (us), and at the same time also a bit funny to think about having to go to work again ;-)

Last Monday evening we went to a club evening of a photoclub. This club arranges 2 club meetings per month. The first of the month is usually a competition evening, the second is reserved for topics like workshops, lecture, etc.. It was very interesting, and both of us are thinking of joining a photoclub. Next Monday we will have a look at antoher one, and after that we will choose one of these.

Container ready for delivery

2006-06-12T18:17:00.000+08:00

Today we got a phonecall from the moving company. Our container is now through quarantine and ready for delivery. This is even a week or 2 faster than we expected ;-) .
Also today we learned that settlement on June 26th does not neccesarily mean that you can actually move in on that date... Legally the sellers have untill noon the next day (the 27th) to deliver the (keys of the) empty house.
Of course not a real problem, but we will probably be actually moving in a day later than we thought. And of course reschedule some deliveries....

Two more photos

2006-06-08T19:19:00.000+08:00

On our biking trip (Munda Biddi trail) cousin Eric was with us also. He also took some photos. Two of them we have added to our photoset. One of Ellen and me together, and one very special macro photo of a very agressive animal.... Take another LOOK HERE!

Also last Tuesday we have been at a short (dry ;-) introduction of the Swan Canoe Club. We are now thinking about joining the club and take up Kayaking. In a couple of weeks our stuff furniture and other stuff should have arrived and we should be moved into our house. After that we want to start with the (wet) introduction course, learning some basics. When we have done that course, then we can use the club boats any time we like ....

Munda Biddi trail

2006-06-07T10:24:00.000+08:00

Last weekend we have of course watched the (friendly) soccer match Holland-Australia. Friends invited us for that. They are real 'Oranje'-fans, while we were somewhere in between ;-).

Besides that we have done a part of the Munda Bidda mountainbike trail. When this trail will be ready it will run from Mundaring (north of Perth) to Albany, which is 900 km to the south! At the moment the first 300 km are ready. Since this was also our first experience with mountainbiking (or maybe we should call it bush-biking?) we decided to do an easy part of it, and not too long a part either. We choose a 10km part, to do that both ways. The trail mainly runs along (or through) the hills. You just park your car at a road close to where the trail crosses the road. Then get up your bikes and ride! It was a lot of fun to do this type of biking. Although it was an easy part, it still had some reasonably steep climbes and descents. Especially the descents were a bit challenging for since they are (or course, it is bush!) covered with loose sand.
I did take my camera with me, so here's a SHORT IMPRESSION

Container arrived in harbour

2006-06-03T17:15:00.000+08:00

Today (that is 4.00 am) we received a (automatic generated) email that our container has arrived in Fremantle (which is exactly the date that has been planned 2 months ago), and is now on its way to the licensed bond of the Australian Customs. So, next week after the long weekend we expect to be contacted by the moving company about further steps and details.
We are of course very happy that there have been no delays! The house will (assuming no unexpected surprises will occur of course ;-) be transferred to us on June the 26th. So that's 3 weeks after coming Monday.

Last week we have againg been busy shopping for furniture. Meanwhile we have bought a couch set (3-2-2) for the 'games' room where the audio/video set up will be placed. You may think we're not right in the head, but the color we ordered it in is: snow-white!
Also last week we bought some appliancies (fridge, washer, dryer, microwave/oven combination) and a coffee machine (espresso/cappuncino).

Finally today we have bought a sofa for in the family room. This one in red. For those of you who can remember, 2 months ago (in Holland) we were saying that we would most likely NOT buy anything leather to sit on.... Well, we have been wrong ;-) As well the couch set as the sofa is leather... Since we have evaporative airconditioning in the house, we expect we should not regret that in summer ... !

About the work, as mentioned last week the bigger firms (where we have apllied for job(s)) do take their time to make decisions, so no news there yet. The only new information is that I (Peter) will be having a meeting with two consultants at the same recruitment office that Ellen has been last week.

All of you have a nice long weekend, enjoy the soccer game (Holland - Australia) if you can ;-)

Dining table

2006-05-29T21:56:00.000+08:00

Today we went looking for a dining table (and chairs). And although we had thought about looking for a square table before and decided not to go for that, we did walk into a set (table with 8 chairs) that we just couldn't resist. The table is 1.50 * 1.50 m, Light Oak. The chairs are leather with light oak legs.

Also we had another look at washers, dryers and refrigerators. We are almost clear on whoch ones we want, but we first have to have another look into the house and take some measurements to be sure.

On the bike to Freo (Fremantle)

2006-05-27T21:44:00.000+08:00

Today we did another nice bike ride from Scarborough Beach Road (=Perth) to Fremantle. This time we rode 47 km. Again some more than last week. Unfortunately the Fremantle Doctor (the seabreeze from the south west) did not show up today, and we even had a bit of head wind all the way (and back).

Last week has (as usual by now) gone by in an instant. Ellen had an interview at a big recruitment firm to talk about possibilities. It was a very good interview, and possibly an interview with a company will follow somewhere next week.

Since it was a week ago that I had sent in my application for a job that I would absolutely like, I (Peter) called the contact at that firm to ask if there would be any news. The reaction was: "hopefully in the next couple of weeks will be decided which applicants will be invited for an interview". Now I thought I did not understand correctly, so I checked: "Did you say the next days or the next weeks?"... You'll guess, the answer was: "In the next couple of weeks". I do understand that they want to be sure to find the right person, but I was wondering if this is the typical 'laid back' way of life .. ;-) Of course, I do not mind not having to work for another couple of weeks (almost like a sabattical ;-) but I will of course keep on pursuing other job opportunities too..

This week we also got the plans of the house, so we are now also (on paper) trying to decide which furniture goes where, and what furniture we need besides what is on its way.. This will probably consume a fair part of our thoughts for the next weeks ;-).

Then tomorrow we will go to Gosnells where a 'Dutch cultural community day' will be. Having looked at the website, we expect we will see a lot of old fashioned Dutch activities (like dancing on clomps ;-), but it might be fun to just have a look anyway.

Another week

2006-05-20T19:01:00.000+08:00

Unbelievable, another week has just gone by.. What have we done last week? Well, mainly looking round a bit in several stores. Since we have bought a house now, we know that we will have to buy some furniture to complement the stuff that is coming over on the container. Of corse, anything more than looking is not possible. First we want to be certain that the settlement date is sure. And of course we also want to be sure that the container has arrived in time. By the way, we have actually gotten the approval for the finance subject to valuation. This valuation should take place in the next few days.

What we have been looking for in the shops is: a couch (needed for the livingroom/theatre-room), a dinner table, a fridge (yes, a big one like they usually are over here ;-). And (almost) last but not least we will also have to buy a new dvd-player (region free) to be able to play our own dvd's as well as the new ones we will buy here in the future. And than the very last: a big plasma screen.... To be honest we think that will be our most improtant new item for the house.
We are pretty certain which one we'ld like to have, but if anyone has ideas, do's or dont's etc in this field, please let us know. (We are looking for a 50 inch screen;-).

Today we did a nice bike ride along (a part of) the Swan river (or rather a side-arm of the river). With 38 km we are making progress!

The next stage

2006-05-13T17:30:00.000+08:00

Last Monday we have learned we would be able to get a mortgage before actually having a job. So, last Tuesday we started house-hunting! In the current market in Perth you have to be very fast. As soon as you see a nice house in the paper or internet, don't hesitate and have a look. There are a lot more buyers than sellers. So after driving by 40 or 50 houses (we lost count ;-), we found a house that absolutely appealed to us. We called the agent to arrange an inspection (have a look inside) to see if the inside was as good as the outside. Well, it did. So yesterday evening we started negotiations. After a counter offer or two this the agent called us this morning that our last offer was accepted by the buyers. So, since this morning we are the proud owners of a new house (not even one year old). Of course all of this subject to finance, but that should not be a problem.
To give you an impression of the house, have a LOOK HERE (Getting greener again, Ronald ??).
In time this link will probably disappear, but by then we should have pictures of our own, and replace the link.

Thanks Jan Roza ;-)

2006-05-09T08:22:00.000+08:00

Jan, you were absolutely right... Netherlands was still mentioned in our profile as being our location. But that silly mistake has now been corrrected!

Living in a holiday

2006-05-08T22:11:00.000+08:00

We realised we had not posted any news on our log for almost a week now. Partly because the days are just flying by, partly because we also wanted to post a few photo's, and not until today could we find the time to do that. The 4 photo's that we uploaded today took more than an hour (patience is a virtue ;-).

What have we done last week:

After further research for job opportunties we both have now applied for 2 jobs, sent our resume's to a big recruiter and sent our resume to a contact through a mutual friend. No reactions yet, but that is to be expected ;-).

Last Tuesday we got on the bikes again to have a nice ride. But we did not realise that the Fremantle doctor gets stronger when the day gets older ;-). Since we started to bike at 15.30 and southward, we had to bike against a pretty strong wind. Not to mention the hilly character of the bikepath... Oh, for those of you that don't know that, the Fremantle Docter is the sea brease that usually comes in everyday. We have been told that how earlier it starts, the stronger it will get by the end of the day. Now that we know that, we will try to take it in account when going for a ride (leave early, and if possible leave against the wind so we can return with the wind in the back).

A few days ago we also went for a walk. In fact we walked to the (same) bikepath. Only 10 minutes walk from our current rental house, and we are on that bikepath, with nice views to the ocean. Since we were walking I (Peter) could now take my camera with me and take some photos. A few of these have now been uploaded, and you can find them HERE.

Also last week we booked some theater performances in Perth. One orchestra performance (Dvorak & Grieg) in the Perth Concert Hall, one cabaret performance (Take-Two) in a night-club-like set up in Subiaco (with 4 or 6 people seated at round tables) and a musical performance (Motown, again in the Perth Concert Hall)

Last Saturday we had friends over from Secret Harbour (Marina and Mike) who stayed for dinner. Next Saturday we will have other friends for dinner.

By the way, everyone thanks for your reactions / comments on the weblog. We really enjoy that. Some of you have said that all the pictures so far are just looking like we are on holiday. We'll, although that is how it seems, but we are actually living here now ;-). And indeed everyday we are saying to each other how lucky we are that we are indeed living here. Besides the small detail of not having a job yet, we are realy living in a holiday-like environment, and we love it !!! If any of you is doubting if it would be nice for you... Don't hesitate, and try to get over here ;-)

The Dutch TAX department has found us...

2006-05-02T17:38:00.000+08:00

What we were expecting, but not this soon happend last week. The Dutch TAX department has found us! Aunt Sjaan received two blue (A5) envelopes in here mailbox for (each of) us. The envelopes contained a multipage question sheet with lots of questions to answer. The accompanying letter states that they had received information from Waalwijk (the county) that we have left the country. And they need us to answer the questions to be able to determine if we own them money... We have filled in the documents and put them in the mail this morning.

This was of course another milestone: our first post ;-)

Since today we are also working on finalising our resumé's, because we found some interesting job-ads on the internet. The next couple of days we will be studying on the application-procedures and performing them. Some of these jobs are with the WA-government, and they have a very extensive (but very good organised) internet based application system.

We'll keep you posted on any progress....

All our stuff / our bikes

2006-04-29T00:13:00.000+08:00

When moving from Louises place to our rental in Ocean Reef, the car was very able to carry everything we are currently having with us.. (except for the bikes that is). Look HERE.

Although just a regular dialup connection, we are now reconnected to internet through our own laptop. Look HERE.

As promised, here are the photos of our bikes. Including the 'shockies' under the saddle and at the front ;-). Look HERE.

Coastal bike ride / Anzac day

2006-04-25T16:22:00.000+08:00

Today we made the bike ride (as planned yesterday) to Hillarys and back. Only 21 km's, but the bike path mainly runs through the dunes along the coast, so it does go up and down all the time.

Our bikes have shock absorbers on the front and under the saddle. We can tell we would never have anything else anymore! Riding our bikes reminded us of the test drive we did a couple of months ago with a Jeep Grand Cherokee (that was in Holland). That car took every speedbump without any problem whatsoever. Our bikes do the same with all kind of irregularities in the road (and bumping up sidewalks is no problem at all).

The weather (yep, again ;-) was oke during the first part of the trip (lots of big, black clouds), but just 5 minutes before we arrived in Hillarys the rain started to fall. On the way back there were still lots of clouds, but no rain. Temperatures just above 20, so couldn't be better for bikerides.

Today is also a national holiday in Australia, Anzac day. On this day people remember the fallen soldiers of the wars. Originally started as a remembrance day for fallen Australian and New Zealand soldiers during a war against the Turks in 1904/05 at Gallipileo. It was too early for us to have a look there, but in Kings Park in the centre of Perth people gather before 05.00 am, and than at sun rise start marches through the street.

Moved to Ocean Reef

2006-04-24T21:57:00.000+08:00

Last Friday we moved to our second 'home' in Perth, Sunset Cottage in Ocean Reef. The first day and night we had to get used a little bit. Although very silent (in a little cul-de-sac), at night there are thousands of crickets (krekels in Dutch). Also the first night was pretty humid.

Yesterday we have (for the first time since we're Down Under) taken the time to just sit outside and read our books. The weather was great, 23 degrees and a nice warm sun (Please, if you are getting bored with the good weather news, just let us know ;-).

As of today we have transferred the telephone (landline) into our name, so now we are having our own phonenumber and more importantly we are re-connected to internet through our own laptop. Although it is a bit slow (normal modem connection), we are now able to surf without having to bother anyone else.

Today we have bought some (new) pillows, because although the beds are not too bad, it is of course not as good as our own beds (which are under way in the container ;-). Also today we picked up our bikes, which are now complete with accessoiries like mud-spats, bagage-racks and lots more. Tomorrow or the day after we'll take some pictures and post them here. Plan for tomorrow is to have a nice bike ride to Hillarys (visit Louise) and back.

Photos of our car

2006-04-19T19:52:00.000+08:00

Today we (I ;-) found some time to put photos of our car on the internet so you can have a look at them HERE.

Tomorrow we will have a look around the south of Perth (Secret Harbour, maybe Port Kennedy), and also visit a co-immigrant that we know from the emigration forum.

Point of no return

2006-04-17T15:52:00.000+08:00

The day before yesterday we got our bikes. We have been riding them a bit today to check for any neccesary detail adjustments. Some parts like mud spats were not in yet (that is, they only had one set in the shop) so had to be ordered. These final parts are expected in 2 weeks. Meanwhile we can test the bikes further.

This afternoon we made a little walk on the beach followed by cappucino's on a terras. Being a bank holiday there were lots of people on the terrasses, though nog on the beach. Temperatures of 22 degrees, but a fresh wind from the sea did make it a bit cool to sit on the beach.

When walking on the beach we came to an important (albeit quick) decision, we are here to stay! We used to say that we would not be able to live in Holland anymore after probably living here for half a year or a year, but we (both) find that this ' point of no return' has already arrived.

Tomorrow we will visit a Medicare office to formalize our healthcare, and at the same time let them tell the options (and costs) of extra ' private' healthcare.

Driver's licenses arrived

2006-04-14T10:49:00.000+08:00

Yesterday (Thursday) we went to Ellen's aunt (Sjaan), and much to our surprise our WA-driver's licenses had already arrived. Also the bank cards (handy-cards), a bank statement from Holland (so the address change has worked ;-) and my (Peter's) first phone bill.

Also yesterday we picked up our car, and it is really a wonderful car. In the evening we drove Michael and Oscar (his son) to the airport for their short holiday (2 weeks) in the UK! Loads and loads of space in the back of our car.

We have no specific plans for today (being Good Friday's, all shops will be closed) but are now working on our resumees. Later today we will have a walk on the beach and/or throguh the dunes. Forecast for today and tomorrow is 29 degrees and lots of sun. For Sunday and Monday the temperature is expected to be 23, lots of clouds and some rain is expected.