Sunday. 19/10/2008

We woke early from the truck noise around us. It was a popular truck stopping spot, and most of them went through during the night. It was a quick trip to the edge of the city, and we dialed a caravan park near Midland into the GPS and followed the voice. It turned out that they only had sites that were too small for us. The next one didn't accept animals, but they told us about the visitor centre.

The lady in the visitor center went through her list and said there was only one place left that accepted pets, but it was $38 per night. Rather than dragging our rig around the city all day, we let her book us for two nights.

It turned out to be a very nice park. They quoted $250 per week, but did say that it was possible to get a permanent site cheaper, but that might be a couple of weeks wait.

In the afternoon, we went for a drive into Perth. It was a very nice City. Well kept. No grafetti, and the gardens were full of colourful flowers. There were roses in bloom everywhere Lyn was impressed.

The people we have met so far in the park are great. There is possibly work for me just up the road, and part time work that might suit Lyn too.

Monday. 20/10/2008

Lyn started early with the washing. The line was just outside our site, and this photo was taken through the lounge window.

I set off about 7.30am armed with a list of places to visit for work, and by 8.30 was filling out the paperwork for a job, starting tomorrow morning.

My first call was to the Perth depot of Shaws transport. Found that they had a worker leave last week, leaving a vacancy that I could take over immediately. The job involves handling incoming freight, and sorting out the paperwork and the items. Also have to help with the loading of road trains. It will be interesting working at the other end of the Darwin freight link.

It turned of to be a very hot day for this time of year in Perth. It got to 33 degrees. That did not bother us too much, as without the Darwin humidity it was just warm. Later in the day I went to find some shops, and found a very big shopping centre in Midland. It was huge. Also went to a couple of other caravan parks, but found nothing that would take us, so paid rent till next weekend, when we will try again to find a cheaper park.

Saturday. 25/10/2008

Yesterday it was very wet and windy, and in the evening there were storms with plenty of lightning. I was working through it all, and finally got home about 10.00pm.

It was windy but fine early this morning, so Lyn did some washing while I went to get a bit of shopping, then we both went looking for other places to stay. We found nothing really great. Very hard to find a place for our size van with the cat. Ended up going right across the city and came to North Beach.

The photo shows the view over the water toward Perth. The people on the beach were all rugged up against the wind.

Gave up the search for the day and found a large Bunnings to get some work gloves.

It got cool quite early in the evening. This photo is of Zebbie the cat resting under a rug by Lyn's feet. Like us, she misses the tropical heat too. We know which direction we are heading from here once we build up the bank!

Sunday. 26/10/2008

Last night it was COLD!. We had the heater set to come on, and it kept switching on all night. At least we were warm, but when I was heating the water for breakfast, the gas bottle finally gave out. By the condensation on the bottle, we had used about a quarter of the contents last night. That gave one of our tasks for the day.

We loaded the empty bottle in the truck and went into Midland to get it filled. One problem - everything was shut! One place was going to open later in the day, so we took the bottle back home, and decided to check out Advent Park for our van.

Advent Park is run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and they have some strict restrictions - no alcohol and smoking, but nothing that would be a problem for us. The site is nice and quiet, and a more realistic price. We decided to move there next weekend and give it a try. It is closer to work too.

We went on searching for open shops. We had been told they were open in Rockingham, about 50km away, so we set off there. At Kiwinana we found a local festival, and had a look around. Lyn found some cat window decorations, then found the cat balloon in the photo. Finally in Rockingham, the shops were shut too. It was another ghost town.

Back home, we collected the gas bottle again, and got it filled. On the way we called into a garage sale and got another cat ornament Lyn didn't have already. It is the start of daylight saving today, so we rested ready for the early start in the morning.

Saturday. 1/11/2008

It has been a rough week at work. Too many immature and unconcerned workers. By Friday I had decided to leave and get another job, but the boss persuaded me to stay for a while. Today we did some shopping in the mad rush that is caused by the very short shopping hours here, and then had a look for some markets. There was one art and craft one up in the ranges, but it was cold and expensive. Lyn did however find a cat doll thing for the bed.

In the afternoon we found a permanent market in a disused railway shed. Just the usual tee shirts and stuff. Nothing to grab us, and by the look of the stall holders, they weren't too excited either.

Sunday. 2/11/2008

Big day today. Moving to another park. We started packing, and then about 8.30 went to book into the Advent Park. It's about 2 km closer to work, and just down the road from where we are now. Picked a site, paid our rent, and headed back to hook up the Sundance and move on out.

The Advent Park is much better. We are back on grass, not paving. Have a big site in quiet surroundings. Close to a dump point for our holding tank. Even room for Lyn's own clothes line. So far we are pretty happy we moved here.

One section of the grounds has the caravans from Ashtons Circus. We had a look at the animals in their yards. I think they are setting up on a large block nearby - ready for the school holidays.

Last Sunday we ordered SelecTV from their web site. The receiver came on Tuesday, but did not have time to set it all up with the dish. Have got it all going now, and the dish on the right satellite, only can't activate the smart card automatically. Very annoyed that they don't have 7 day phone service, so they will be getting an early morning call tomorrow. The content of TV here is just so poor, and the add breaks are longer than the program segments. At least Lyn should have something better to watch rather than add filled soapies, and it will be OK anywhere in the country.

Sunday. 9/11/2008

We've not had a good weekend. Yesterday we joined the multitude in the Saturday shopping rush. By the end of the day we had got nearly all we wanted, but had spent the whole day doing it.

Today we went looking at some markets we had been told about. First few we could not park anywhere near, like most places around Perth. Next had parking, but not much else. Finaly found a reasonable one, with parking, but the people were so unpleasant, we just decided to call it a day and go home.

So far, our whole Perth experience has been bad. Just counting the days till we can get out of here.

Saturday. 15/11/2008

There has been one positive during the week - the Selec TV has been good. At least we can watch movies without adds. Thursday morning, the one mature, civil person on the floor at work was found dead in bed, so the work environment is not too great now.

We met up with our friends from Darwin today, and set off on an expedition to Fremantle to see the sites there.

The markets were an easy walk from the Fremantle station. Situated in a large building near the port. There was live music, and plenty of food stalls.

Lyn found a pink coloured jacket she had been looking for.

We walked along the water. There were a couple of navy boats near.

We went to go to the museum, but when we found it was $10 each, we thought better of the idea. It was a bit annoying to have to pay to see something we had paid for with our many taxes.

We all caught the train back to the City. It was a good day out.

Sunday. 23/11/2008

We headed up the range to Kalamunda to take some pictures since it was such a nice day.

This is one of the gum tree fountains in the Kalamunda shire. We have seen two others. There are roses all around. It is a very pretty area.

A view of Perth city from the ranges.

Saturday. 6/12/2008

First thing this morning we set off for Kings Park near the city. We had been there before, but it was packed, so we thought that if we went early, we might get a car park.

It was a lovely day, and there were not too many people about yet. This photo is of the Queen Victoria area.

A view of Perth city from the park.

One of the flower displays.

The famous floral clock without flowers!.

The park did look great, and it was great weather today, but there were so many people around it just made you yearn for the outback.

Sunday. 14/12/2008

It was another lovely weekend. It was also our last weekend in Perth, to we decided to go to Bunbury for a look around.

We went the inland way, through Pinjarra, where we found a market by the rail station. Had a good look around, but nothing caught our eyes. There was plenty for dog collectors though.

Bunbury itself was quite a dissapointment. Just another place like so many others. Was really dissapointed to find units everywhere. It was hard to take a photo of anything without some development blocking it. The photo here is of the harbour.

Bunbury has the distinction of having a 'Collingwood' coloured lighthouse.

Spent quite a while trying to get a picture of it without some units in the way.

We set off back earlier than originally expected, planning on stopping at a couple of places on the way back. One of these stops was a gift shop in a small town. It was a really great shop. They had many unusual things, and Lyn came away with a metal cat mobile to add to our collection.

Lyn has put up christmas decorations, even buying some more new ones. There is not a huge amount of room and places to put them.

We had bought the tree and lights with us in the van from last year.

It's nearly time to pack up and head off again. We have been counting the days till we leave.

We leave Perth for Mount Gambier - click here to follow.

Return to previous page - click here for our time in Geraldton.