Where have 15 weeks gone?

Well, today marks our 15th week here. You could not imagine how fast the time has gone since we first arrived. I thought I would be updating this blog much more frequently than I have been doing but I always seem so busy!

Anyway, enough of my excuses, I thought I should share with you some of the local ways that are a bit different from here.

Well to start with, the lingo is a bit different. Obviously it's English but common words we've encountered are:
Manchester - all forms of linen. Why "Manchester" I have no idea. Oh, and a duvet is called a "doona"
Snags - sausages
Eggplant - aubergine
Zuchini - courgette
Capsicum - pepper
Router - Rich has discovered that this is pronouced "rowter", as "router" means to shag :oD (Cause of embarressment at his office!)

I'm sure Isabel knows more (she's determined to learn them all) but she's in bed so I can't ask her to fill me in on the ones I've forgotten. If you really want to know, then let me know :oD

So, what else can I tell you. Well, postie does his round on a motorbike. Houses over here don't have letterboxes in their doors, but letterboxes at the front of their garden. Newspaper delivery people do the American thing of throwing the paper on the lawn.

Customer service is great in the shops. You are greeted with a genuine smile and even on the phone people greet you with "How's it going?" and always end with "Have a nice day". I still find it amusing.

Driving.. Hmm, this is an experience. It's left hand driving as in the UK BUT you can overtake on the inside as well as the outside. Lorries can drive in any lane. As a generalisation most Australians will automatically zoom up to the car in front if you indicate that you would like to move over to their lane. This means that you have to negotiate changing lanes a good few minutes before you need to in order to guarantee you can swap lanes in order to turn off. Supermarket bumps on car doors is common. We have already been scraped twice. Grrrr.

However, despite the 4 weeks of almost continuous rain, we are not complaining. We've filled our weekends without any effort and staying in the house to "get on with stuff" is a rarity despite wanting to make lots of changes to put our stamp on our new home. Going out is always so much more appealing.

I have got through the first school holidays which loomed upon me without too much thinking about. I have become network queen and met lots of great people :o) Isabel even went on Guide Camp in the holidays (yes, aged 6!) for 4 (blissful days). Harsh you may think but it meant there was no rush for getting to school and she loved it anyway!

Last week I went to see Gwen Stefani on her only night in Perth. She was fantastic. It was my first concert in nearly 10 years so to make up for lost time I'm already planning my next one to see Justin Timberlake in November.

We're off on our first minibreak in a couple of weeks to a place called "Billingup". I have learnt this week that any place that ends in "up" means that it is an Aboriginal place name that means close to water.

Photos - we have taken some, just been useless at checking them out. But I can assure you that there are some beautiful spots here and Iz and Katie are growing fast. In fact, Katie is 3 in less than 4 weeks (gasp!) and Rich is another year older a couple of days earlier. So birthday celebrations are being planned.

Anyway, I hope the sun is at last shining in the UK and that you mums are managing to do more than soft play in the school holidays.

Take care. We miss you all. Drop us a line when you get time.

Jennyxxxxxx (and co)