The Rottnest Monster

First and foremost we’ve set up a blog instead of the emails so we’ll just send you a link when we’ve updated it and you can read all about what we’ve been up to and we can post pictures on this blog also. I had always meant to do a blog at some stage and then I was talking to a guy who was selling a van and he was saying about a guy called Earls Eyes who has one of all his travels around the world and he’s even got sponsorship!

This next section is brought to you by Chutney Marys Indian Restaurant, Subiaco – mmmm Indian food.

Easter was nice, we went to the beach on Good Friday, not much surf this last while. On Easter Monday after staying up late to watch Liverpool humiliated by United we got the 9.30am Rottnest Express to Rottnest Island www.rottnestisland.com <http://www.rottnestisland.com/> and spent the day there cycling around the island (well some of it ) and checking out the many beaches. By the time we had breakfast on the island and queued for the bikes it was midday and they had to be back for 5pm. We cycled around to Parrakeet Bay and I had a go at some snorkelling but there wasn’t much to see, although the water was crystal clear I was afraid to go out too far in case I drowned and so didn’t see any reef. Emma got badly bitten again my mozzies just sitting in the house but she got on the bike anyway. We headed back round to Pinky bay and sunbathed there for a while before we got back to the bike place for 5. It’s a beautiful island but the flies are incessant and really docile they will just land on your face and stay there until you swat them off. Where can you get a cork hat when you need one? After we got something to eat we went searching for the Rottnest Monsters or Quokkas. They are marsupials but they just look like big rats and they are only found on Rotto. We didn’t have to go too far to find one as they just hang around the populated areas in the evenings looking for scraps. Apparently when whoever discovered this island first landed there he found thousands of these things and he though they were rats hence Rats nest or Rottnest. The express back was beautiful, we sat at the back and watched the island disappear in the sunset.

On the Thursday we went to see a band called Air who some of you will know. It was in the Botanic Gardens in Kings Park in Perth and it was a brilliant night. The stage was set up over a pond and there was a natural sort of amphitheatre with the banks sloping down to the pond and everyone had their picnics and blankets on the ground, having something to eat and watching the show. It was really idyllic and if you know Airs music, electronic ambient sort of stuff, it all fitted together perfectly. Our flat mates were there and Dilly and his brother Ronan also were there, thankfully as we didn’t think to bring any blankets or anything to sit on. We were straight out of work anyway. We walked back to the train station from the gig and found the most amazing views of Perth at night along the way.

Work is great. I’m still at ECU (Edith Cowan University) working in the FMO (Facilities Management Office). It’s kind of a glorified care takers role. I work with another guy called Lance who moved here from England 35 years ago, we have an email system and we receive jobs from all over the campus to move furniture in offices, set up rooms for functions, take stuff to storage and that sort of thing. It’s good because I get to be out in the sun a lot and when I was working in the last job I wished I was working outside more. The FMO is also responsible for booking a fleet of cars out to members of staff to go wherever they have to go. We have a wee van as well to scoot about the campus which is a square km approx. There’s a lot of photocopying that I don’t really get involved with I’m happy just to deliver it so I can get to be outside. There are 4,000 students here and roughly 70.6% of them are female, many of them look like they’re straight off the set of Home and Away and for all I know they could end up there. ECU is famous for WAAPA (Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts). They run courses in everything from dance to set design, sound and lighting, acting and music. There are free concerts every Tuesday and Wednesday at lunch time and I went to one the other week and it was really good. A band with a drummer, 2 guitarists, a bassist, a singer and 3 backing singers doing a song by the police, a version of papa was a rolling stone, some instrumental jazz number and two others I can’t remember. They try and do something from different genres. The ones in the office prefer the classical concerts they put on here, so they let me go to this one. Hugh Jackman studied at the screen academy here and he was back some time ago top open a new building. The office manager Karen has a picture of him and her behind her desk. I was asking her did Heath Ledger go here as well but he didn’t. He was from Perth though and his funeral was in Karrakatta which is on my route home. I introduced myself to an Irish girl I discovered works in the screen academy and left her round my films to pass onto her bosses to see what they think of them. I was talking to one of them today, he said he’d watch them in the next week. He better we’re leaving here in less than a month.

We bought a van at the weekend. She’s a 1983 L300 Mitsubishi Starwagon the previous owner called Betty. We’ve had trouble starting her yesterday and had to jump start her last night but I got her to the garage this morning and she got a tune up. She needs the radio installed and may need some other electrical work if the starting problems persist but we’ll see how she goes over the weekend. The plan is still to drive to Darwin over a couple of weeks stopping in different places along the west coast on the way. We’ll see how the van goes in the mean time but whatever happens we’ll be leaving Perth/Fremantle at the end of the month.

We’ve had a great time here but we’re looking forward to seeing the rest of it. We’ve eaten in almost every restaurant in Freo and we’ve been to almost every bar. The fashion here ranges from the hippy types to kids who can only be described as looking like Timmy Mallett with ridiculously fluorescent clothing, sideways hats and big silly sunglasses. There was a guy on the telly the other night who tried to save his mate from a fatal shark attack and he was dressed like this, I tried to explain it to Emma and she said “maybe he was in shock”. I’ve both loved and hated getting up at all hours to watch Liverpool in the champions league. I’ve loved watching the games with Chris trying to make as little noise as possible, it’s like a silent disco when Liverpool score. It’s been great getting the train back from work and going past the ocean from Victoria St to North Freo and past the sheds at the docks, over the bridge at the harbour where the dolphins sometimes frolic in the sun. We’d highly recommend Western Australia to everyone. Perth is the most remote city on the planet and the locals want to keep it a secret, they try to tell you it’s boring and when you protest they look at you like you know and say “don’t tell anyone”