Day 3 - Hillarys Boat Harbour & AQWA

The forecast promised another overcast day, and with the workmen due at Hotel Anscombe to do the paving around the pool we took the opportunity to go North to Hillarys boat harbour and take a trip around the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA)

Only 15,680 km to London

AQWA fish

Get a polaroid of that girls

Hilarys Harbour

Lunch featured Burrito's, Bratwurst followed by Ice cream and "fro yo"- yummy.

Back at base it was time for walkies with Porter and a quick photo shoot.

Porter doing his horse jumping impression

Hay hay we're the .....

and there goes Porter

Smile

Let's see if I can spin Jenny off...

Biz prepared doritos with accompanying sauces, cheese and biscuits for tea which was washed down with lashings of red wine and beer, and we played rummy, cheat and snakes and ladders late into the night with much hilarity and cheating.......  We knew it was time for bed when Biz accidentally knocked Paul's glass of wine all over him!!!

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Day 1 & 2 - Kings Park & Karrinyup

After waking up at lunchtime on Saturday we took a trip to Kings Park which is the largest city park in the world. From here we could see the fabulous landscape of the River Swan against the backdrop of Perth city.

The weather was most pleasant but did look a bit black over Bill's mothers! Simon was on a mission to purchase a new camera so we moved onto to Leederville where Paul & Biz used to reside. Whilst Simon & Paul tootled off for their shopping expedition Biz, the girls & I had a stroll through Leederville and then we all met up at 'The Garden' for some dinner & of course Beer. The heavens then opened and it rained for the first time in Perth since before Christmas, I think the weather had followed us from the UK!

We followed the coastal road back to the Anscombe Hotel, the sea looked lovely although we made do with seeing through the window as it was still chucking it down. We were desperately trying to stay awake until after 8.00pm to help with the jet lag and had a lazy evening watching TV and having a sociable beer or two for Simon, Biz & Paul.

The next day was Sunday - Mothers Day :) I had two lovely cards and a selection of thoughtful presents and  Aunty Biz also got a card! It began lazily before taking a trip to the shopping mall at Karrinyup, Simon thought there may be a camera shop so again he went without protest. We had lunch at a lovely cafe and surprisingly it didn't involve any alcohol! The weather turned out quite nice and the girls, Uncle Paul & Porter all enjoyed a dip in the pool with Jodie 'helping' Jenny in, Uncle Paul 'helping' Jodie in and Jodie 'helping' Uncle Paul in who I have to say whinged like a baby because it was a little on the cold side! After a few laps running around the edge of the pool getting excited Porter eventually plucked up the courage to join them all.

We finished the day with a fabulous roast dinner cooked by Biz which was delicious :)

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And we are off

With the fights booked on 29 July 2013 this day seemed a long way off, but the 27 March 2014 arrived in a hurry towards the end. The run up to the to the trip was the usual chaotic time with the last minute panics etc, however we set off at 4.26 p.m. from Glendo and Andy's 4 minutes early.

Good day for a trip to Oz!!

The journey to Birmingham airport featured driving rain, sleet and busy M1 & M42. Andy stated he knew exactly where to park but a last minute distraction from the sat nav meant we found ourselves in a car park a good walk from the departure terminal, still we had plenty of time.... Check-in was the easiest ever - Trudy having skilfully accomplished the on-line check-in process. With the bags dumped it was time for a coffee (Fosters for Simon) then through to security for departures. Glenbo tried to be brave for our final farewell's but wasn't convincing anyone!! 

In front of us in the security queue was a family with a screaming brat and we all said under our breaths that we hoped they weren't sitting anywhere near us.  We flew by Emirates on a Boeing 777-300ER which has 49 rows of seats, so not much chance of hearing the brat again... guess what....... they were on the row behind us!!!! 

Trudy was her usual nervous flyer wreck, which the steward on the gate immediately recognised and ushered us through the business class entry into the plane - hopes of an upgrade were quickly dashed as we were lead through business class to our pre-booked seats in economy but there was the consolation of a bottle of water and some peanuts which were dispensed. 

During the flight Trudy was very brave and only passed out once, but the stewards administered some oxygen and checked her blood pressure and her sats were 99% so she was fit to carry on.... Jodie on the other hand announced she was about to be sick, and before an appropriate receptacle could be found she was unable to hold it any longer and was sick over Jenny and Simon. For the next 18 hours Jodie hugged her sick bags, in anticipation for the next episode. 

Despite the health issues the flights, Birmingham to Dubai (6hrs 45mins) and Dubai to Perth (10hrs 45 mins), with Emirates were great, with good food, service and entertainment. During the fights we saw a sunset and a sunrise which was a first.

We finally landed in Perth at 1.30 local time, and after a lengthy immigration we finally found Biz with a Trafford sign and arrived at "Hotel Anscombe" at 3.00 a.m. a door to door trip of 26hrs 34mins

We were found

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