Sunday, 29 January 2012

Tasmania

The summer holiday is coming to an end and I have lots to write. We just got back from the most fabulous holiday in Tasmania. First we visited Jamie's sister in Sydney and we flew on to Tassie, an island I totally fell in love with. So wild, so beautiful: mountains, beaches, full of wild life (wallibies, wombats, echidnas, possums).. we were very lucky with the weather. Mostly sunny and we missed the massive heat wave here in Perth (3 days of 40+ degrees!) Tasmania has lovely wee towns and nice pubs. And everyone is so friendly. The boys were (again) amazing little walkers and we tackled quite a few mountains. Jamie more than us, but even so. Will post some photos soon.
Now watching the tennis. Exciting match.. Hope Nadal wins..

Saturday, 7 January 2012

Long time

Happy 2012!

Busy but fantastic month with my parents and Maarten and Shonda. Had a lovely time in Albany. What a beautiful coastline! Here are some photos...

https://picasaweb.google.com/118153332706348543500/Christmas2011

Still 3 weeks holiday left. Am looking forward to catching up with friends next week and then we are going to Sydney and on to Tasmania!

XXX

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Camping again...

Last weekend we went camping with Corinne and her family. Willem and Frank get on well with her daughters and Ed, her husband is also very nice.
We went to the Collie River about 2 and a half hours south east from here. A beautiful place. It was really relaxing and there were some lovely breweries too! Here are some photos. We also saw a possum!!!


https://picasaweb.google.com/118153332706348543500/CampingInFergusonValley

Concerts

Hello hello
Finally some time to post again. November has been a month of many concerts.
It started with James Morrisson and Deni Hines in The Quarry. He's a famous Aussie Jazz Trumpet Player and the Quarry is a wonderful venue 10 minutes from our house. You bring your own drink and pic nic and sit under the stars overlooking the city lights. I went there with a bunch of girlfriends and had a great night




Then it was Portishead in the Swan Valley at the Belvoir amphitheatre. Also a fantastic venue. It was a nice evening with Jamie, some of his colleagues and 2 friends of mine. Just didn't like the band so much as they didn't interact with the audience..

19th of November I went to Band of Horses and Kings of Leon with Elleke and Katja (and their partners). Two bands I really wanted to see and thet did not dissappoint. It was also great to be in a stadium again.

And a week later I was back in the same stadium for one of the best concerts I've ever been to, with Jamie. It was totally full and the Foofighters played with so much enthusiam and energy! Dave Grohl was funny and the drummer, Taylor Hawkins,  was amazing. They played all my favourite songs and gave 7 encores!



Next week we'll go the the Quarry again to see Ross Wilson, an old Aussie Rocker and we've got many concerts lined up like Seasick Steve, Icehouse and Lenny Karvitz. Just heard Duran Duran are coming as well to a lovely winery...

It's so easy in Perth.. never too far away and almost always great weather!

Sunday, 6 November 2011

Whale Watching and Rottnest Island

https://picasaweb.google.com/118153332706348543500/WhaleWatchingAndRottnest#5671811780702521106

We had a busy, lovely weekend. Saturday we had Lukas' 2nd birthday party (Urmila's son) and then we had a yummy BBQ at my friend Corinne's house.  Corinne is married to Ed, an Aussie en also Bart was there with his Aussie wife Heidi. 4 girls and our 2 boys and they got on so well! We are hoping to go camping all together the end of November.
It was a rainy day, but they had a fire so it was nice and cosy still outside.

 Ed and the fire.. time for whisky..

 Bart, Ed and Jamie
 The kids
Around the fire..

Later that night I had invited a girl called Inge over. I've met her once and really liked her. She's a dancer and has just finished her teaching degree here (masters of education) and needed help with her CV. Her husband came along and that was really nice too. I have just registered for her African dance class with Michelle, the sculptress from Willem's school and another girl called Anje. I actually met her in the Panta Rhei in Vlissingen this summer and she lives here now with her husband. Think it'll be fun and a good work out and so I will get to know Inge better too!

On Friday I went to a place called the Jazz Cellar with Anje and Peronne (she's leaving for Singapore in January, boohoo) which was fantastic! It's only open on a Friday and you have to be there before 6pm other wise it'll be full. Only a 100 people are allowed in. You go down steps in a (fake) telephone box and then we were met by some 70+ old men. He gave us 3 wine glasses. The rest (food and drink) you need to bring yourself. You find yourself a small table and around 7 pm the band comes on. Also 65+ year olds with their trumpets and trombones. Within no time everyone is dancig. Us included. King Louie from Junglebook, Oh when the Saints.. etc. Great and around 10.30pm they kick you out!
Totally loved it, so quirky. Full of young and old people having a great time!

And today we went whale watching, organised by Jamie's work woodside. We saw sooo many! Jumping out of the water and quite close to the boat. You can see the photos on Picasa. The boat then dropped us at Rottnest Island where we met the Quokkas again and played on the beach. It was a cool day, but it didn't rain. Another great memory!

Hope you had a good weekend too!
Some photos of the jazz cellar:





Sunday, 30 October 2011

Prevelly

https://picasaweb.google.com/118153332706348543500/PrevellyMargaretRiver


What a lovely relaxing weekend it was. The boys don't really realise how lucky they are to live in a country so beautiful as this. All that space, warm ocean, whales just swimming past. It is just spectacular.
Especially as there were no flies (they can really ruin places like this). And of course it was good to have my friend Katja there too!