Winter is here, but not for much longer!

Winter, well not really the winter that we knew from the UK. I am told that it hasn't snowed in Perth for 300 years or so. In fact the temperature here, during the day time, always stays above 14 degrees C. In the evening it occasionally drops to single figures, but never the minus numbers.







Anyway, 3 months from our lst blog, so here is an update:







I did go back to the UK to watch Millwall play at Wembley. It was nice to see Mum, Dad and Matt, and to catch up with as many friends as is possible. I was in the UK for four days! In those four days, I managed to get to Bluewater twice, celebrate Macca's birthday, have a drink at 8am on Sunday morning, eat a decent curry (you don't get decent ones here) and still not have time for the jet lag to kick in.







June was a quiet month, mid winter and it was a time to do some home decorating. Luckily, this only meant that we needed to put some pictures on the wall, to make the place more homely.







July started off with a short break to Albany. Albany is a 4.5 hour drive away and famous for whale watching. Unfortunately, the weather got the better of us, and we couldn't go out on a boat to spot the whales, but we did go to the whale museum and the wildlife park.






Harry stroking a Wombat and we were giving the Kangaroo's their tea.




July also meant that Clare got a part time job at Harry's school She now teaches various year groups on Tuesday's and Thursday's. Along with this, she also does supply work at the school. At the end of the month, we had our first visitor, Clare's friend Jeannette came to stay for a week. She survived our hospitality, so what's your excuse for not visiting!!!!!!!!!!

August is the last month of winter, Harry has just returned from cub camp. He has also been in the school cross country team and has entered a state wide Maths competition, in which we are expecting the results in the next few weeks. The best scores then go forward to a national competition.

Anyway, that's all really. Its been a quiet 3 months. My mum and dad arrive in 10 days time, so there will be plenty of photos and good times ahead!

Six Months!

Yes, it really is almost 6 months since we moved here. Some good news and sad news since the last blog. I'll start with the sad news, our eldest cat Millie had to be put to sleep just after easter. She really hasn't been well for over a year now and with a heavy heart, the decision was made to stop her suffering anymore.















But, we have good news as well!





Since the last post, we have moved out of the rental, and have bought a house! When I mean bought, I really do mean bought as we are mortgage free, so it really is our house! It is a 4 bedroom house, still in Halls Head. It is a brand new house, only just built in December.





Intead of putting loads of pictures of the inside of the house, I have created a video, giving you a guided tour!! ( I will apologise for the poor quality, I am no good at video's and also sorry for the bad weather, but the sun hasn't come out just yet!)

Apart from buying the house, Clare has started doing part time work at Harry's school. Luckily, she has not had the pleasure of teaching his class yet! She has also found a good horse riding school and rides a couple of times a week.

Harry has started playing football for his school team. Their first game resulted in a 3-1 defeat, but he played well and had a smile on his face. He has gone up a level in his swimming class, to level 4. When we arrived he was at level 1! Harry has also been away with the cubs and has another 2 cub camps to look forward to in the next few weeks.

I have been playing for Mandurah City masters football team. After weeks of training the season got under way and I scored the forst goal in a 5-2 victory. My reward for scoring???? I had to take the kits home to wash them! We won our second game 1-0, so a good early season start is under way!

At the time of writing this, Millwall have just beaten Leeds 1-0 in the 1st leg of the play offs. If they can avoid defeat in the second game, then Millwall are Wembley bound and I will be returning back to the UK for a weekend!! Keep your fingers crossed!

Thats all for now, more updates to follow in due course. If anyone wants our address and home telephone number, just send me an email and I'll send it to you!

3 Months in!

I write this on a Sunday afternoon, in the middle of February, with the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, about 30 degrees C and with a cold drink next to me!

I was informed that the blog had not been updated in a while and although it seems the whole world is on face book, a fair few are not, so here is an update from the last blog to now.

Christmas came and went. Clare’s parents arrived on Christmas day and spent nearly 4 weeks here, looking around, and helping us move into our new house. Before they arrived, the 3 of us settled down to a traditional Christmas dinner. Clare and Harry then went off to the airport to pick them up.

We spent New Years Eve down on the foreshore at Mandurah. We watched the fireworks at 9pm, before we decided to enjoy the rest of the evening at home with a glass or two.

In the first week of the New Year, we were allowed to pick up the cats, which had been in quarantine for the previous 4 weeks. Despite a scare from Millie, the older cat, who was not very well and had to have surgery, they arrived at our home in Halls Head happy to see us all. Then, we received out furniture that we had packed from the UK, so the house we are in feels like home!

Clare, Harry and her parents then went away for a few days down south, leaving me to read up on my technical knowledge as I had an interview for a job. Luckily, I passed the interview and now work as a senior technician with a company called Kordia. Clare is still looking for work, as for the first time in years, there is not a teacher shortage in Perth. Additionally, there is so much paper work to be completed to become a teacher here, she is still sending forms off and waiting for a response from the government agency that looks after teaching.

We have also been trying out the various sporting activities that are here. These include:

Watching a 20/20 cricket match between the Western Warriors and Tasmania
http://www.waca.com.au/

Seeing the Western Force in the Rugby Union.
http://www.rugbywa.com.au/

Watching the Perth Glory in the A league Football (I will not call it soccer!)
http://www.perthglory.com.au/

We have seen the Perth Heat win the Claxton Shield in the Baseball
http://www.wa.baseball.com.au/

Watching the Perth Wild Cats qualify for the Basketball play off finals.
http://www.wildcats.com.au/

Snorkelling at the seaside at Rottnest Island.
http://www.rottnestisland.com/en/default.htm

We have yet to see an AFL game, but that’s next on the list!!
http://westcoasteagles.com.au/

Finally for now, my mum and dad have booked up their flights to come over in September, which we are looking forward to. Now starts the process of working out what to do with them while they are here! (That really won’t be difficult!).

I promise to update this soon, when we have some new photos of the area. In the mean time, hope you’re all well and maybe some of you will be out to visit before to long!