We have sweltered in 40+ degree temperatures on Christmas Day and yesterday. It's been as hot as the only other time we came here at Christmas 8 years ago but we coped! Christmas Day Isabel and Katie woke us very early to tell us Santa had been so we all got up to find out what goodies he had left! They were so excited over everything they received (and thanks to all who sent them gifts). Unbelievably we still managed to leave the house at 9am to go to the beach and just as well we did because Cottesloe Beach was heaving. We've never seen it so busy. As we arrived and walked down to the sand we passed loads of families sitting down and toasting the morning with Champagne, it was a great atmosphere.
The weather was on top form and not trying to rub it in to all of you readers in the UK but the beach was gorgeous..... turquoise blue sea and golden soft sand :o) Well as soon as we'd set our shade up the girls were in the water on their body boards. Both of them have got very confident in water thanks to their weekly swimming lessons which they've had from the very first week we arrived in Perth. We all had a great time in the water and more or less had to drag ourselves out so that we could drink our champagne with Jane and Tony when they arrived.
We finally left Cottesloe at 1pm when it really was feeling pretty hot. When we got in the car the temperature reading was 41 degrees (so thank goodness for air con!)
The rest of the day was divided between eating a traditional turkey roast (at Isabel's request) and more swimming in Jane and Tony's pool before we all collapsed into bed on Christmas night. All in all a fab day.
Yesterday was much the same although being mad we went out for a picnic so that we weren't in the house all day! When we arrived at the park (one which neither Jane and Tony or us had been to before) it was 45 degrees. It was like stepping into a furnace when you got out of the car. We couldn't stop there anyway because we discovered that dogs aren't allowed and we had their dog Red with us, so we went to another park close by which was about 2 degrees cooler. Well, we managed to sit in the shade for about 40 mins before we packed up, shot back to Jane and Tony's and literally (for me) jumped back into their pool. It was bliss.
The air con has stayed on all night as even at 10pm the temperature was 32 degrees outside. It's certainly a test to see how well we can cope. We've definitely acclimatised to the weather here as although it's extremely hot we're not wilting in the corners and obviously air con in the houses and cars makes a HUGE difference :o) According to the Western Australian newspaper we've had the hottest 3 days on record for 95 years.
Today (27th) it's going to be slightly cooler but we're spending time inside one way or another. The news yesterday said that $6 billion is predicted to be spent in the next 3 weeks in the Australia sales. I think our contribution will be a couple of hundred! We're hoping to decorate our family room in the next few days before Rich goes to work and I'm sure another visit to the beach will be on the agenda at some point too.
So, life continues as normal. Rich is watching "Have I Got News for You", the girls are busy drawing with their new colouring pencils and I've just spent an hour on the computer.
We hope you've all had a fab Christmas too. Thank you for our Christmas cards and for those of you who have sent emails in the last week or two you will hear from us soon!
Take care all,
Love The Ramshaws xx
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