Sunday, 28 September, 2014

It was a very busy week this week - no more resting and relaxing for me.  Dawn (Dad's boss's wife) likes to get out every day and so that's what we did.  The train station is about a ten minute walk from the unit where we are staying and the city of Perth is only three stops from us.  Dawn likes to shop and so we spent a couple of days stickybeaking in stores.  I didn't buy much - just a purse and some stuff from the Body Shop - but we did a lot of walking and talking.  We also ate lunch out every day we went downtown (so much for my eating plan this week :-)  I did get to have a couple of curries which was nice - I don't usually buy it when Dad is with me cuz we usually share meals and his tummy doesn't like curries.  I have also become 'addicted' to iced chocolates - they are so yummy - milk with chocolate syrup streaming down the sides of the glass with a scoop of ice cream and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings - I had a few of them this week. :-)  One day, we went to a museum which was really interesting and another day we rode the four free buses which cover the downtown area of Perth just to see what there was to see.

My new purse

Skull of a great killer whale

Jaws of a white pointer shark

Dinosaur skeletons

Examples of beautiful Perth architecture

Cranes are EVERYWHERE (Perth is a growing city)

More architecture

Perth Arena (used for sports games and concerts)

Check out the street sign - it's COLIN Street :-)

Perth Arena (another view)

More architecture

Dawn and I - taking a selfie on the bus (yeah, I know, I need some practice )

A beautiful park in Perth

Everyone is allowed to cross at the same time, even kitty corner

Beautiful church in Perth

Eating a meat pie for lunch - how Aussie, eh? :-) - and it was soooooooo delicious!

Another beautiful church in Perth

We also made another wonderful purchase this week.  I was talking with Nana about how I wanted to learn to play the piano and she suggested that I found out how much it would cost to take an electric piano with me whenever we are travelling with Dad's work.  I talked with Dad about it and he said it would cost a lot to do that as it couldn't just go as a piece of extra luggage.  So, we decided that we would go onto the internet to a site in Australia which people list things for sale on and see how much it would cost to get one in each of the cities we travel to.  We ended up getting an AMAZING deal on one right here in Perth - it's a Casio 61 key electronic piano which comes with a stand, a seat, a plug and a book stand AND it was only $30.  We were so excited to find such a great deal!  I also was given a second hand beginner piano book to practice with here (I have an adult beginner book at home from when Terri-Ann started teaching me years ago), so I have been practicing this week.  It's a tough slog sometimes (I can see why you had a hard time sitting at the piano to practice for half an hour a day, Jennifer :-)  But, I am determined to keep going and it's great having something else to spend my time doing during the day.

Our new electric piano

Dad had another test this week and it was quite a difficult one to study for.  Dad spent a lot of time going over his notes and he was a little stressed while studying as there was so much information to go over and to commit to memory.  He received 100% on the test - yay!  He has two more to go in this coming week - he will be happy when they are all over with.

Dawn and Harry took us on another road trip this weekend - it was a very full couple of days.  We walked around the mall, went to a used book sale (where I bought tons of books), went to a craft store (where I bought wool to make Dad some toques - he needs them when he  is teaching practical training on the planes at night in the winter in Melbourne and Perth), ate lunch at a British style pub, went for a walk through a historical village (what life was like in the town of Kalamunda in the early 1900s) and had an iced chocolate at a cute cafe.

British pub for lunch (Best Drop Tavern) in Kalamunda

Dad (as the engineer) of the train at the Kalamunda History Village

Early 1900s bicycle

Used to travel up and down the railway tracks to fix things 

Tricycle from the early 1900s

Transportation for the grocery store to deliver groceries to customers

Laundry room from the early 1900s

Lawn mowers through the early 1900s

Where they put their prams when they had to travel on the bus 

Standing on a stump of a large jarrah tree

Sitting on a seat in a one room school of the early 1900s

Enjoying an iced chocolate (the one on the right was Dad's - just so you didn't think I was having two )

Sunday, 21 September, 2014

This week, during the week, was pretty much the same as last week for me - at least from Monday to Thursday.  On Thursday, Harry's wife, Dawn, joined us at the unit.

Dad had two exams this week and got 97% on both of them.  He was disappointed to get one question wrong on each of them, but I reminded him that he got 97% of the questions correct. :-)  Dad found the information this week to be pretty similar to what he already knew.

On Friday, Dawn and I went to downtown Perth.  I didn't realize how close we were to the centre of the city.  We took the train and it was only three stops ($2.90 each way).  Two of the major streets downtown are for pedestrians only (they're called 'pedestrian malls') which is great cuz you never have to worry about cars, etc.  We had a lovely time sticky beaking in the various shops there.  Then, we stopped at a cute cafe called 'Miss Maud' where we had a hamburger before heading back home.

On Saturday, it was such a lovely day - 33C, sun shining, blue skies - a perfect day for touring.  Dawn and Harry took us on a day out - with lots of food along the way.  We stopped at two chocolate factories where we HAD to do some taste testing. :-)  We also stopped at a nut factory, a nougat factory and a farm where they made non-alcoholic wine (grape juice) where we HAD to do some more taste testing.  It was a beautiful drive along the way, too.

My very first trifle - Harry supervised me making it

On our day out with Dawn and Harry, we went to the Swan Valley and stopped at Guildford - this is the post office - I love the architecture

An old hotel we saw along the way - beautiful architecture

A vineyard - the Swan Valley is full of wineries

Margaret River Chocolate Company - Dad tasting the free chocolate - yummy!

A chocolate factory worker - he was putting chocolates on the conveyor belt and spreading them out - they then went under a chocolate waterfall to get more chocolate coating

Harry, Dawn and Dad eating lunch - Dad and I shared a ham, cheese and tomato panini and chips - delicious - Dad and I also shared an ice chocolate - chocolate milk with ice-cream and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings - yum, yum!

Dad checking out the grapes on the vine

Grapes on the vine - can you see them - they are so so tiny!

The farmhouse where we tasted the non-alcoholic wine - Kafarela's Vineyard

The owner of the vineyard pouring us some red grape juice (we taste tested five varieties)

Taste testing the grape juice - we preferred the white grape juice over the red grape juice

A flagon of Medium White grape juice we bought at the vineyard

Dad and I at the Mondo Nougat factory and the Morish Nut factory

Krystal, how would you like us to buy this freckle chocolate 

for you? :-)

A huge fish tank filled with chocolate fish, chocolate seaweed and other chocolate sea creatures

Sunday, 14 September, 2014

Dad and I went to a doctor's on Monday to get his stitches out.  Everything went smoothly although the nurse who took them out said that they were a bit stuck in the skin.  Dad now has a nice scar on his back. :-)

The rest of the week was pretty much the same as last week with me knitting, reading, watching tv, and exercising and Dad going to 'school'.  Dad had another test on Friday and he got 100% again - he wasn't as excited about the mark this time, though, as 6 other guys also got 100%.

Yesterday, we went out to lunch with Harry (Dad's boss) - he chose to go to a pub where we had a delicious lunch.  I had chicken parma (parmigiana) and Dad and Harry had ribs.  The ribs were so tender - just fell off the bone - but, no-one liked the barbecue sauce - it tasted nothing like the yummy bbq sauce we get in Canada.  I think we are going to have to teach these Aussies how to make good barbecue sauce. :-)  We rarely see ribs on a menu here, though, so that's why Dad chose to get it.  After lunch, Harry took us on a short drive to an area not far from where we live.  We took a short walk in a park and along the river.

                                   
Me, Dad and Harry with our lunch

Today, after church, Dad and I went for a walk - it turned out to be an 8km walk.  It was such a beautiful day today - the sun was shining, the sky was blue and there was a light breeze blowing.   The walking trail we went on goes through two parks and over two bridges.   There were tons of people on the trail we walked along - some walking, some running, some riding bikes, some skating.  There were also lots of people having picnic lunches along the way.  Dad and I were good and tired when we got back, but it was a good 'good and tired'.  :-)

                                     
Welcome to Perth

Pelican we saw along the way

View of some expensive homes built along the Swan River

Ducks and ducklings we saw on our walk

Sunday, 7 September, 2014

Not much has been happening this week, so there is not much to report about what we have been doing this week.

Dad started school this week.  Dad's boss, Harry, is teaching the course about the Fokker 100 airplane.  It's a smaller, older jet which is widely used in Australia for flying mine workers in and out of the mine sites.  Dad says that it's a lot of work learning about a new plane, but it's also very interesting.  He has been spending a couple of hours each night making notes - he has been doing double duty as he makes notes as a student so he is ready for the tests he will take during the course, and he is taking notes as a teacher for when he teaches this course in the future.  Dad had his first test this past Friday and he was the only one in the class to get 100% (yay, Dad :-)  

I have been spending my days knitting, reading, watching tv and doing stuff on the computer.  I have also been able to get in some exercise every day.  We brought two dvds with us from home - one is for resistance bands exercises and a pilates one.  I have been alternating between these two and also have been going downstairs to the gym and walking on the treadmill and riding on the stationary bike every day as well.  It's great having the gym so accessible - especially since it's been quite rainy since we've been here. 

Today, we went to church at a local chapel, but were only able to go to Sacrament meeting.  Since Harry is here and he owns the car, we didn't want to ask him if we could have the car for 3 1/2 hours to go to church.  The people in the ward were very welcoming and made me wish we could have stayed longer.  I love that wherever we have gone in the world, we have been able to go to church and worship with other saints.  I love the gospel! :-)

Sunday, 31 August, 2014

Dad got home from Newcastle on Monday and it was good to have him home.  He said that the course went well.

On Tuesday, Dad had two doctor's appointments to go to - the GP and a Specialist.  He had to go to the GP to get a couple of skin things taken out.  The doctor said that he is 99% sure they are nothing, but his motto is 'when in doubt, take it out'.  Dad had to get stitches afterwards and so they will have to be taken out next week here in Perth.  The specialist visit was to get the results  of the 'top and tail' test he had done a couple of weeks ago.  The results of the colonoscopy were perfect which was great to hear.  From the endoscopy, they learned that he does have some evidence of long term acid reflux.  Dad told the doctor that he takes Tums when he gets indigestion and the doctor said that that was fine, but that Dad should also take another pill which will lower the acid in his stomach.  He doesn't need to take it regularly, just when he feels the indigestion happening.  So, we were happy with all of the results today.

On Wednesday, my friend, Denise and her husband, Robert, came over to our house.  I had asked Denise if she could ask Robert to come over and check out our lawn and tell us  what to do with it.  It looks really awful right now - so many weeds and so much dried grass.  Everyone else's lawn on the street looks green and ours is mostly brown.  It's a bit embarrassing, actually, but right now, there's not much we can do about it.  We will have to do the fix-up when we are home for a few weeks.  Robert was so helpful - he knows so much about lawns and was able to tell Dad what he needs to do to get the lawn back to healthy.

I spent Thursday up at my friend, Haidi's, to help her clean her house since their move-in.  Haidi has a bad back and so cannot clean for any length of time before it starts hurting her.  As well as cleaning, we also managed to get in a nice walk and talk.  Dad spent the day spreading 'weed and feed' on the lawn to try and kill the weeds.  Hopefully, that will help the lawn to not look too too bad while we are gone.  We are thinking about getting an underground sprinkler system which our neighbour said he will put on for us when we are away.  I think that fake grass would be even better. :-)

Dad went back to the doctor's on Friday so that they could check his stitches.  All looks well so far.  We also got our hair cut that day - I asked Christa (our hairdresser) to make mine really short so that I don't have to get it cut again before we get back to HB.  I have had my hair cut twice by other hairdressers in the past year and I have not been completely happy with either of them.  I have had to come back to Christa each time and tell her to 'fix it'.  She always knows what to do. :-)

                                     my new haircut

                                     Dad's new haircut

We had to get up really early yesterday so that we could catch a 6:45am flight to Perth.  If we had gone any later in the day, we would have landed really late in the evening in Perth.  As it was, we landed in Perth around lunch time.  After dropping our stuff off at the unit, we went grocery shopping and then spent the rest of the day relaxing.

We are glad that we also have had today to relax before Dad starts his stint as a student tomorrow.  Dad's boss, Harry, arrived at the unit today - he's the instructor for the course.  We decided to let him stay in the master bedroom with the ensuite since he is Dad's boss and the instructor for the course. :-)