More Photos

Thought I'd post up a few more photos of the Bull Air Race for you to see. (I did try to add more when I posted last time but Blogger stopped working.) Anyhow, here they are.....

Can't claim credit for this one but it's a great shot...

Or this one but it gives you an idea of the day. By the way, these planes were flying at over 400 kms an hour!

The best day!

We've had the most fantastic day - Perth is host to the finale of the Red Bull Air Race. This is a free event over the weekend. The contestants, 13 pilots today, tested their skills along the Swan River, flying as fast as possible around a course of inflated pylons. It was absolutely FANTASTIC. We were some of many thousands on the river banks, watching the event right in front of us and on the huge tv screens. The weather was perfect, 30 degrees C, blue, blue sky (not a cloud to be seen just to rub it in) and everyone there was out to have a good time so it was a great atmosphere.

We moseyed on down by bike - 15 mins from our house to almost the city centre - and finished our day drinking wine on Richard's parent's balcony watching more stunt flying (they live a stone's throw from the foreshore) and Iz and Katie cooled off in their pool. I'm sitting at home now looking through our 198 photos, the best of which I'll post for you to see along with some from the official site so you can get an idea of what it's all about.

Before I finish, if any of you fancy coming over for a holiday, this time next year would be a good date for your diary as the Race returns to Perth for its third year. Now onto the photos.....

Countdown to the race.....

Watching the action

It's been a while....

Okay, okay we're very overdue for an update on here (aside from posting up news). Well, in 4 days we'll hit the 6 months mark. Rich has been at work for 3 and a half months, I'm doing some web site work again (for my old UK company) and for those of you who don't know, I'm also a Tupperware demonstrator! Yes, you really have read that right, and no, I'm not pulling your leg. Tupperware is BIG business over here like you would not believe. Even single guys order the stuff and Rich has realised that the money I earn is quite useful.... Enough said about that.

So, what have we been up to? Well, with the warm Spring weather (30 degrees C this week - just to rub it in), we've been to the beach a couple of times, visited Rottnest Island with it's 63 beaches (not that we managed all of those in 1 day!), Rich has had a go at kite surfing and decided he wants to take it up as a hobby. Katie had her 3rd birthday back in September. The photo above is of Katie and her friend Imogen at her birthday party. Our first birthday party at home, great fun but exhausting!

We're all seriously into our coffee which we've probably mentioned before. I took this photo of Katie when she had her first baby cino (it's actually hot chocolate but she thinks she's drinking coffee!) Cafe culture is very much part of our life here and the girls have totally taken it for granted that that's what we do. I was told by Tony last week that when Katie spent the morning with them, not only did she dictate exactly what they were going to do but it included a trip to their local cafe for lunch :o)

One of our favourite things to do here is to go out on our bikes as there are cycle paths everywhere. We've bought trail-gators which attach the girls' bikes to ours so that we can move along at a sensible speed. Rich took this photo of me and Katie weeks ago, probably to show you that I do do a bit of exerise....

And in case you're worried that the rest of the family don't exist, here's one of them at Mandurah beach...

So, reading back that's not a lot of news but it's really hard to remember what we've been doing! Anyway, I hope this gives you a bit more of an insight.

Hope you're all well and aren't thinking too much about Christmas. I was told today that it's only 8 weeks away, I don't think that we'll ever be ready for it as it's soooo not like Christmas time over here. Even the shops having Christmas departments haven't convinced me, although I think Isabel and Katie would complain very loudly if Father Christmas missed them out!

Take care all and when you get chance, please get in touch!

Love

The Ramshaws in Oz xxxxx

They're a rough lot here.....

We've laughed out loud at one of today's news stories and felt we had to share it with you....

"CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian barmaid has been fined for crushing beer cans between her bare breasts while an off-duty colleague has been fined for hanging spoons from her friend's nipples, police said Wednesday.
Police in Western Australia said the 31-year old barmaid pleaded guilty in the local magistrate's court to twice exposing her breasts to patrons at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of the state capital, Perth.
The woman "is alleged to have also crushed beer cans between her breasts during one of the offences," in breach of hotel licensing laws, police from the Peel district of Western Australia said in a statement.
The barmaid and the hotel manager were both fined A$1,000 ($900), while an off-duty barmaid was fined A$500 for helping to hang spoons from the woman's nipples, police said.
"It sends a clear message to all licensees in Peel that we will not tolerate this type of behavior in our licensed premises," local police superintendent David Parkinson said."

We'd just like to point out we don't know them, honest!

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)

No longer unemployed!

Yep, you read that right. Rich has joined the ranks of the Perth employed and is now an IT Consultant for DSC-IT. He's valiantly opted to commute by bike but rain has thwarted his attempts this week (well that's his excuse for getting me to drive him in!) So a second car is on the cards....

Off to bed now as it's late but will post more soon.

Recent photos

Katie enjoying herself at the Ivy Watson playground

Isabel in her school uniform