Sunday, 24 September, 2017

We are home - yay!  Perth was cold and it's great to be back in the warmth of Hervey Bay - we are back in our shorts, t-shirts and sandals and it feels great!!! 😄

Dad finished up his course on Friday and everyone passed!  He is tired out, though, and is happy to be able to have some time off for a bit.  He hasn't heard when his next course will be yet, so we are a bit up in the air with regards to that.  It would be nice to know what's happening next so that we can make plans, so hopefully, Dad will get a call this week.

My cold is still holding on and I am quite annoyed about that - I don't do sick well.  But, I didn't let it hold me back too much.  I couldn't go to the gym for the first two days this week as I just didn't have the energy.  Dawn and I did walk to the mall on Tuesday as I really needed to get out of the house after resting for three days.  It was nice to get out in the fresh air and also to go out for lunch.  I did go to my Body Balance class on Wednesday, but by the time I did that, I had no energy for anything else, so didn't go to the gym or to the Aquafit class that evening.  Dawn and I went into Perth a couple of days this week for what she calls 'Retail Therapy'. 😂 She said that I didn't do too well the first day, but I passed the second day (barely).  I actually spent $20. on a new purse.  I wanted a beige one that could be used with a variety of outfits and this one was really nice.  Dawn loves to shop and even though I am not fussed on it, it's nice to hang out with her and I enjoy having 'morning tea' (iced chocolate) and eating out for lunch, too. 

 Dawn with her 'morning tea' cappucino

 My 'morning tea' iced chocolate

 Beautiful church in downtown Perth

 Our second day in downtown Perth - my 'morning tea' iced chocolate

 Statue of man doing handstand in pedestrian mall in downtown Perth

 'Spring Has Sprung' display in pedestrian mall in downtown Perth

 Entrance to a cute little street of shops in downtown Perth

My new purse

It is school holidays here, so we weren't able to fly back to HB yesterday (which we prefer to do) as the flights were full from Brisbane to Hervey Bay.  So, we flew in today and arrived at 9:15pm.  We are weary from the long flight, but happy to be home and be able to sleep in our own bed tonight.

Sunday, 17 September, 2017

This was the first week of practical application for Dad's course.  They got to go to the airplanes a ton of times which isn't the norm, so everyone was happy about that.  The guys asked why they couldn't have more days at the airplane compared to in the classroom - Dad told them that you can only fit in three guys in the cockpit where they do a lot of their training, so it would take too long to cycle everybody through to do the exercises, so it's easier and quicker to do a lot of it in the classroom where they can discuss things as a full group.

The first two thirds of this week went really well for me.  I went to my gym workouts and exercise classes at the leisure centre and also had another meeting with Brendon, the fitness instructor at the gym, where we talked about eating habits.  He told me that I knew most of the stuff he wanted to talk with me about - the only things he mentioned that I need to look into were Omega 3 and the sugar content of things which I buy.  So, I have some research to do about those.  I also went to my knitting group again and had a nice time chatting with the ladies there.

On Wednesday, my friend, Rosalea, picked me up from the leisure centre and, after having lunch out at the mall, we drove to her house.  Her husband, Rob, was away working for the week, so it was just us girls.  She is having a really hard time physically and mentally, so it was good for me to be there to keep her mind off her troubles for a bit and just be able to relax and laugh a bit.  Dad came out to Rosalea's to pick me up on Friday after work and we took Rosalea out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant she likes to go to.  The food was delicious and Rosalea was grateful to have a night out as she doesn't get them very often.

Then, Saturday came and I came down with a really bad cold - I rarely get sick , so it has really thrown me for a loop.  I hate being sick and am hopeful that I will get over it quickly.  Today, I couldn't even go to church which I was not happy about, but I am sure that no-one would have wanted me to be sniffling and coughing around them.  Dad's boss, Harry, and his wife, Dawn, came into town today.  Harry needs to do some of the teaching this coming week and Dawn decided to accompany him - she and I get along really well and she just needed some time away from Brisbane.  I feel really bad that I am sick with her here, so hopefully I will get over this nastiness quickly.

Sunday, 10 September 2017

The theory part of Dad's course finished up this week and everyone passed the final two exams - phew!  Dad was tired by the end of the week - I told him that he was lucky that he was never a primary school teacher and had to teach for thirteen weeks in a row and not just three. 😂  For the next two weeks, Dad will be leading the students in the hands-on portion of the course - this will mean many trips to the airplane to perform a variety of hands-on tasks.  Dad feels that this part of the course is more practical and useful for the students when they return to their jobs.

I continued on with my exercise classes and gym workouts.  I met with Brendon, the personal trainer at the gym, again and he reviewed how I was doing the gym exercises with me.  He fine-tuned how I was performing each exercise and gave me some tips on how to work more effectively - it was very helpful.  

On Wednesday, I met with the book club at the local library.  The book for this month, 'The Little Paris Bookshop', was the book we discussed.  I actually didn't finish the book - I did get about two thirds the way through it - but, it just didn't grab me and I wouldn't have even read that much if I wasn't going to be discussing it with the group.  There were ten people in attendance which is a good amount for a book club, I think.  More than a couple of the group hadn't finished book for the same reason I hadn't.  We went around the table and gave our thoughts on the book, but there was very little discussion other than that.  I knew that each person had been given a set of questions which could be discussed at the meeting, but for some reason the leader didn't use these questions to generate discussion.  I was disappointed at that as there were some really good questions we could have talked about.  The interesting thing, too, was the wide range of ratings this book received from the members of the club - most were in my range (2.5/5), but there were a couple of 3s and a couple of 4s.  

Yesterday, Dad and I went geocaching again - it was a beautiful day - warm and sunny - and we were out for 5 hours walking/hiking to try and find three caches.  The first cache was at the top of this huge hill and we had to walk up some very steep sections covered with rocks and dirt to get there.  We found the cache under a pile of rocks.  Finding the second cache was quite an adventure!  We parked in one spot and started along the path.  As we walked along the path, however, it became evident that we were not in the right place to get to the cache.  We decided to continue on, however, as the path led to a waterfall and we wanted to see it.  After coming back to the car, we drove to a second spot where we thought we would have a better chance of finding the location of the cache.  No luck there, either.  We then thought we would go back to the first location and try a different path than the first one we took thinking that maybe we hadn't gone far enough along the path the first time.  Still no luck.  Dad then thought that maybe our starting point needed to be at the top of the falls, so we jumped in the car and drove there.  FINALLY, we were successful!!!  By this time, we were hungry and tired and so decided to leave the third cache for next weekend.  Even though it took us ages to find these two caches, we loved being outside and hanging out with each other.  Geocaching is fun! 😊

Pretty stream on our way up to our first geocache

Very steep hill we had to climb up - it really was way steeper than it looks!

Me on the top of the hill where we found the first geocache (that's Perth in the background)

Monastery we could see from the top of the hill

Dad sitting on a bench on the way to the second geocache

Waterfall on the way to try to find the second geocache

Dad at the place where the second geocache was located - we had to walk through a ton of scrub to get to the geocache, but there was no way we weren't going to find this cache after all we had been through to get there 😓

Dad on the path on the way back to our car after finding the second geocache

A bandicoot we saw coming out from under the bridge at the end of the path on the way back from the second geocache - bandicoots are small hopping Australian marsupials about the size of a rabbit.  They have pointy snouts, humped backs, thin tails and large hind feet

After we found the second geocache, we walked another 300 metres to view the waterfall from the top - there were two viewing platforms: one right over the top of the waterfall and one more to the side of the waterfall

Looking down the valley from the top of the waterfall

Sunday, 3 September, 2017

It's been a very busy week - and that's a good thing.  😃

Dad's course continues to go well and all the students passed the two exams Dad gave this week.

On Monday, I went for my second appointment at the gym with the personal trainer assigned to help me with the workout which had been planned for me by Brendon.  The routine, which is a warm-up, weight machines and then a cool-down, only takes about 20 minutes.  The personal trainer, Jesse, showed me how to do each of the parts of the workout and then I did the moves.  None of them are difficult, but it all depends on how much weight I put on the machines.  The goal is to work up to a weight that I either push up with my hands or out with my feet that I can do between 8 and 16 reps and I have to do 2 sets of each right now.  I have to do this 2 - 3 tines a week and hopefully my arms will get stronger during the month we are going to be here in Perth.

I continued on with my exercise classes for Monday and Tuesday.  I also attended a knitting class which I found meets at the library every second Tuesday.  It was fun meeting with the ladies in the group and they were very welcoming.  One lady told me not to bring any knitting which I had to concentrate on when I come to the next meeting as it's hard to concentrate when we are all talking so much. 😊

Tuesday afternoon, Dad and I picked up Robyn from the airport - she is here for a week to meet up with some American friends she served with when she and Geoff were on their mission in Sydney.  It was nice to have Robyn staying here with us during the first part of the week.  On Wednesday, Robyn and I met up with our friends, Rosalea and Rob (we met them when we first moved to Hervey Bay - they are originally from Perth, moved to Hervey Bay, Rob couldn't find work, so they moved back to Perth).  We had a lovely day with them driving from Perth south to Rockingham - stopping at Cottesloe Beach and Fremantle on the way.  We had lunch in Fremantle at a fish and chip place (of course, I didn't have fish and chips, I had a chicken roll 😃), but everyone else enjoyed their fresh fish.  It's interesting as there are three fish and chip places close to each other in that area and each one has a sign saying they are either the best or the favourite or the number one fish and chip place there.

Cottesloe Beach

Me, Rosalea and Rob at Cottesloe Beach

Robyn, Rosalea and Rob walking down to Cottesloe Beach

Fishing off the rocks by the pier at Cottesloe Beach

Looking back to the Cottesloe Beach from the pier

Lighthouse in Fremantle

Me with my iced chocolate at lunch - Kailis' Fishmarket Cafe, Fremantle

Seagull waiting for scraps at Kailis'

Me sitting beside statue of fisherman - Fremantle

Robyn, Rosalea and Rob in the foreground with ferris wheel in the background

Fabulous architecture in Fremantle

Such a great idea - books are covered in brown paper with a short summary of the book on the front of the brown paper (seen while walking down the streets of Fremantle)

Tram on the street in Fremantle

Beach at Rockingham

Robyn looking out to the water at the beach in Rockingham

My Malteser/Caramel/Chocolate ice-cream I totally enjoyed from the Eye Scream Cafe in Rockingham

Thursday, Robyn and I spent time with our friend, Thea - she had also come from Perth to Hervey Bay, but her husband couldn't find work and so they returned to Perth.  Thea drove us up the Swan Valley stopping at various places along the way.  Our first stop was at a photography gallery after which we stopped for lunch at this really cute restaurant (Taylor's Cafe) which Thea's sister had recommended.  I tried the beef massaman which was delicious.  After lunch, we visited a non-alcoholic grape juice vineyard (Kafarela's) and then stopped at Whistler's Chocolate Company where they gave out free chocolate samples - yummy!  We made this our 'afternoon tea' spot and I had my usual iced chocolate - and it was sooo good!  I bought Dad some chocolate since he wasn't able to come with us - and I even shared it with him. 😉  Our last stop for the day was at Kings Park which is a large beautiful park with great views of Perth.  It was a great couple of days with my friends.

 The photography art gallery, Paul Dowe Galleries - some amazing photographs

 The outside area of Taylor's Cafe

 The garden outside the cafe

 The craft shop at Kafarela's

 Kafarela's vineyards

 Humongous freckle at the Whistler's Chocolate Company

 Chocolate koalas for sale

 Large aquarium-like glass display all made of chocolate

Me and Robyn with our iced chocolates - Robyn didn't want any cream on top of hers, so I told the girl to put hers on mine 😆 

 Flowers at Kings Park - Robyn loved it there as she is a real gardener and can appreciate all the different flowers which are growing there

Robyn and me standing in Kings Park

 Views of Perth from Kings Park

On Friday, Robyn, Dad and I went to the airport to pick up Robyn's friends from the States.  They had arranged a place to stay with another friend's parents, but they lived 2 hours away and Robyn's friends had no way of getting there.  Poor Robyn didn't know what to do, so I suggested we call Rosalea (who had offered her place earlier) to see if the offer still stood - thankfully, it did.  Everyone came to our place for dinner which gave us a chance to get to know Robyn's friends, Jim and Marie McKell, a little bit.

On Saturday, Dad and I went geocaching and we were able to find three out of three.  We love being outside in nature and having some treasure hunting to do just adds to it.

One of the geocaches we found - the 'treasure' was under a log which had been hollowed out and the container put into the hole of the log - the log had then been placed by a tree and it looked like it totally belonged there - very clever cache!

Views from the geocache - beautiful

On Sunday, after church, we went over to Rosalea's to have dinner with Robyn and her friends.  Rosalea is a great cook and the roast lamb dinner she made was so delicious.

Jim and Marie McKell, me, Rosalea and Robyn sitting down to our sumptuous feast of lamb, etc.