The beach, near Swanbourne, Perth

Pelican

Perth's sky line

view of CBD

View of the City from Kings Park

Tamar

It's fantastic to be so close to my friend Tamar again!

Kings Park

A fabulous dinosaur adventure playground in this huge park in the city..the boys love it!

Scarborough

This is Australia... green, beach, sea, playgrounds, sunny!

Scarborough Beach

Small discovery

Yesterday I had one of those moments. I was on the phone with Georgi, our relocation agent to sort the last couple of things out for the application and in the meantime the boys were going mad. They really needed to get out so that's what we did. We just walked to something that looks like a little park opposite the apartments. You cross a busy road and then we were so surprised! Suddenly so green, a huge pond and soooo many birds! Ducks, a black swan, moorhens, coots, herons and many more. They were not scared at all, in fact they followed us which caused great hilarity with the boys. We crossed a little bridge and there was a big waterfall with so many beautiful, different trees around it with parakeets in them. We will definitely go there more often. Great to have something like that to explore just in the middle of a big city!

In the evening we had drinks at the Dutch club but it was a little bit disappointing as it was full of old people. Someone explained it was set up for Dutch people who came over by boat in the 60's and obviously the they are still going!

Today we went into the city centre to buy some presents for my friend and her baby. It's great to wonder round in such a big city with musicians everywhere.
Then Willem and Frank wanted to show Jamie Kings Park and the dinosaur footprints. The rest of the afternoon we spent in Scarborough, north of the city on the coast. Lovely place, a bit more commercial and built up than other parts of the coast but just a beautiful beach with dunes and a park with a playground, cafe's etc. It was warm and Jamie and Frank went for a paddle! Willem was scared of the waves. It's so weird.. they call this winter but we were in shorts and t-shirts in the ocean!

decision made for now...

We are going to put in an application for a house in City Beach. It's 12 km away from CBD (central business district, jamie's work) so it should be a good cycle. The bus stop and primary school are right around the corner. Big house with double garage with storage and a carport. You live upstairs and from the balconies you can see the ocean and Rottnest Island! It's breezy, which is chilly now but welcome in the summer. 4 bedrooms and a study, dining area etc, 2 bathrooms, and a small lawn area and a vegetable patch! Big drawback is the lack of "life" around the house. It's a residential area (with very, very posh houses around) and so we would always have to drive to shops/restaurants etc. Guess Perth is more of a city you have to drive than Aberdeen.

Also enrolled Willem in a Kindergarten at Wembley Downs Primary, a suburb north of City Beach. He will start on Monday and Wednesday, 2 full days. His teacher is called Mrs White and she seems lovely. The whole school was friendly, open with great activities for the children. Haven't enrolled Frank for Kindergarten and Willem for Pre-primary yet as they advised me to wait until we have a house (even though the closing date was today). City Beach Primary is full (has waiting lists) so maybe they both will have to attend Wembley Downs anyway but it seems a great wee school.

Putting in an application doesn't mean you will get the house. We also offered less than they asked (as it is above our budget, but the present tenants pay less so we might as well try as well..)
Unfortunately there are no photos of the house on the website yet, otherwise I could send you a link.

So nearly the weekend. Tonight there are drinks at the Dutch Club Neerlandica. Tomorrow we will go to my friend Tamar who just had a baby girl called Esther and on Sunday we are going for an early dinner at Gareth and Sue's. So all good (apart from the rain this afternoon.. luckily it was sunny this morning and we had a run round in Kings Park again. the boys really like this playground with dinosaur footprints and sculptures you can climb)

Decisions, decisions...

Guess we are quite spoilt... was just thinking of all the choices we have. I mean, having choice is already fantastic, right? Do we want Ocean views or a swimming pool? Do we want space or do we want to be close to the shops and restaurants. Hopefully I will view one more property today and then it's decision time... Will try and post some photos soon!

Met up with my friend Urmila and her gorgeous baby Lukas in Cottesloe. A bit breezy on the coast, but the ocean looked beautiful. Then back home to see some more houses. Jamie liked the one in City Beach as well. We drove around the neighbourhood a bit and gosh, the houses there! Huge mansions with roman pillars and archways. Multi millionaires I'd say. Biggest drawback of the house would be the lack of shops and restaurants around. We saw another nice house in Mosman Park, a suburb north of Fremantle, between the river and the sea, but it's a bit too far from Jamie's work. And now another one has come on the market today which I will have a look at in Wembley. We will keep you posted.

Today I am going to try and find a space for Willem and Frank in Kindergarten and a space for Willem to start pre primary in February. Difficult if you don't know where you live....but closing date is today...

possibilities

We have been looking at more houses yesterday and some of them were more promising. There was only one in our price range which was looking good but it's in the area that I least like, Wembley. It''s between the City and the Beach and hasn't really got the nice feel other suburbs have and also it's in the catchment area of a huge Primary school (over 500 pupils). It's supposed to be a good one but gosh, so big! The other one was in City Beach with Ocean views! But more expensive.. Jamie hasn't seen it yet...
The one is Cottesloe (prestigious neighbourhood) was nice but only 1 bathroom and extremely high doorhandles. But it had a pool. Decisions, decisions....
But my first impression of the city itself? Fabulous! So much space and so green! Beautiful river, lots of parks and very easy to find your way. The beach looks fantastic too. And the weather so far has been fine. Showery but around a 20 degrees and mostly sunny! If this is winter, bring it on!

Poor Willem

I think Willem is struggling a little bit with the change. He was so excited about going to Australia and it might still be the jetlag, but this is the 3rd night now he does not want to go to sleep and cries. He coughs as well and is hot and cold but during the day he is fine. He woke up dreaming one time as well, his little heart beating like crazy! In the end he fell asleep last night around 10.30 and woke up at 8.30. Frank is coping well, I think. He still asks:" are we now in Australia? is this Australia?" etc. He slept through again last night. Kind of expected this so I am not worried. Just feel a bit sorry for them, especially as being dragged round the city looking for houses isn't much fun....

School and Kings Park

Today I drove the boys to their Dutch nursery class in Mount Claremont. A small group with a nice young teacher called Anneke. They only rent the room in a community centre so she has to carry in the toys. Today the talked about fruit. The boys were happy for me to leave so I could concentrate on grocery shopping. Beautiful fruit and vegetables, big and green. It's all very expensive though, but we knew that already. Still 20 degrees and showery today but only saw 2 showers so mostly a warm sun. Sat outside waiting for the boys and met some of the other parents. All seemed really nice. Juf Anneke told me they were fine but a bit wild. Guess Willem wasn't impressed with the toys (duplo, a jigsaw, colouring and some building blocks). He needs a bit more challenge. And they're not used to being in one group together. Luckily she did some nice activities with them so it wasn't all bad...Told juf Anneke to bring something with numbers for next time! The boys are still a bit jet lagged. Last night Frank slept through for the 1st time but Willem was still up between 10.30 and midnight (that's already better than between 10 and 3 am!). No naps during the day so I hope they're back to normal tonight. This afternoon we drove to Kings Park, a huge park and bushland in the centre of Perth, right behind our apartments. Playgrounds, stunning views of the city and lots of beautiful plants and trees. We saw Banksias, Gumtrees, a  green Parakeet and a Kookaburra! Tomorrow afternoon Georgi, the relocation agent is going to drive me round to view some more properties but there is just not much on the market and lots of people looking for a house...

We're here!!!

A long but easy flight! The boys were very happy with their new suitcases and Frank cried when he had leave his one behind at Schiphol. Luckily the girl who checked us in understood his frustration and let him help press the button. The boys slept well on the plane which on the 1st part had really good entertainment (didn't get to see any of it as the boys were asleep most of the time but not at the same time) They ran riot at Singapore Airport but I just let them without getting frustrated. Next flight was on a budget airline called Jetstar which unfortunately didn't have any television but luckily I had bought giant lollies which kept them occupied for 6 hours. Jamie picked us up. I tried to detect a smell (like I did in Oman, smelled the Oleander then..) but here a talking car parking meter welcomed us. It was dark byt we saw palm trees and the first impression was very American with subways Everywhere. The apartments are locationwise very handy but otherewise nothing special but it does the job. The boys slept well (till 11.30!) and are happy with their airfreight toys which already arrived. we spent the afternoon driving round the western suburds and we visited my friend Tamar. A pleasant 19 degrees, lots of green and parks and playgrounds everywhere. The sea and beach at Cottelsoe looked beautiful, not to mention the sunset. So far all good. Just looks like finding a house might be difficult as the market is tense.. lots of people want the same thing.. On Monday a girl called Georgia is going to show me round sone properties....Wish us luck!!!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will join Jamie in Oz. Jamie started work on July 5th. He seems to enjoy it although his boss was on holiday the first two weeks. He works together with an old friend from Oman so that's nice of course. Jamie has been staying in a hotel and the air freight arrived even before he did so he has his bike and cycles everywhere. Temperature has been fine, 18 degrees sometimes but when it rains it's extremely heavy rain. He has been meeting up with our old friends from Oman and Aberdeen and that certainly makes it easier! When we arrive we will go to the Mount Bayswater apartments in the city centre of Perth and we can stay there till the 20th of August and hopefully we will have found a nice house by then. Not looking forward to the flight and the good bye part of this adventure but I am very much looking forward to being there! My weeks here in Vlissingen have been wonderful. Gorgeous summer weather, lovely friends and the best parents you can have. I am sure going to miss it all!