Given just how hopelessly unexcitable the locals appeared to be about Christmas (we saw only two houses with Christmas lights in and around Perth/Freo), we hoped that something might be going-off for New Year’s instead. After all, Sydney has one of the best fireworks displays in the world on this day, so maybe Perth will […]

With access to both a beautiful river and the Indian Ocean, I’m not suprised by the number of sailing clubs, nor the plethora of boats that abound in Perth and Fremantle. Getting to go on one of these boats however, is surprisingly difficult. As we’ve toured the world I’ve taken any opportunity to get out […]

We want to come home. It’s too hot and we just had our first scary spider moment. As we were getting ready for bed, I came across this hairy monster clinging to the wall next to my side of the bed. Squiffy flipped out and passed me her flip-flip with which to pick a fight […]

Fear not dear reader, your feelings of deja-vu relate to the fact that this blog trails reality by a week or two. Your Christmas Day 2008 celebrations were indeed carried-out last year… After exchanging cards and presents from under our super whizzbang miniature Chinese-made LED Christmas tree, we set about today’s mission: to cook a […]

Flush with our recent successes of renting an apartment and buying a car, we rewarded ourselves by spending Christmas Eve on Cottesloe Beach. Our waterside relaxation didn’t last too long though, for little did I remember that the GMTV crew would be at the other end of the beach broadcasting live video messages from sunburnt […]

Now that we’ve moved into our lovely swanky studio apartment, it’s time to turn our attention towards buying a car to take us more than ten thousand kilometres around Australia, to infinity and beyond. We’ve got to be careful what we buy. We want something ultra-reliable, well known by mechanics, spacious (enough to sleep in, […]

More or less straight after we arrived in Australia, we began looking for a place to stay for a couple of weeks over Christmas (don’t worry readers, you’re not going mad — this blog trails reality by a week or two, remember?). A short-term let should work out a good deal cheaper than staying at […]

The closest coastal town to Perth is Fremantle, or “Freo” if you’re Australian (they’ll abbreviate and add o’s to the end of any word), and the two are commonly intertwined in tourist guidebooks; you don’t go to one without going to the other. Freo is a port town so there’s not much of a beach […]

I couldn’t help myself here. The Aussie’s take their barbecues very seriously indeed. Even the dog gets a steak! “Bruce, throw another steak on tha barbie for ‘ere Rover. Ya mangral!” (Sorry, told you I couldn’t help myself.)

G’day Bruce! We’ve arrived in Australia! Squiffy’s favourite country and my biggest waypoint since our world tour began! Hoorah! We’re in Perth, Western Australia and I’m in the mood to share some eyebrow-raising factoids about the place with you. Western Australia (WA), one of Australia’s eight states is also easily the largest, covering a third […]