The Bibbulmun Track

As the weather is starting to cool down now, we decided that come Sunday we'd go for a little hike. We were welcomed on Sunday morning with glorious total cloud cover. Something which we haven't seen often in the last 4 months, so we were even more keen to get out and about, without the inconvenience of soaring heat.

We wanted to walk part (a very small part) of the Bibbulmun track, which stretches 604 miles from Kalamunda in the Perth Hills near where we live, to Albany on the south coast. We only did a few miles, as we didn't want to push ourselves too much. Emma is 5 months pregnant don't forget, and neither of us are as fit as we were when we were travelling the UK. To walk the track end-to-end takes about 6-8 weeks, so probably something we'll never do unfortunately.

We're guessing Angelique was someone's pet.

An unusual but likable memorial; we presume to someone who liked the Bibbulmun track, rather than who perished trying to conquer it (I hope so anyway).

These steps were built by prisoners from a nearby prison. I know if I were serving time, I'd rather be outside building steps than stuck inside four walls.

Emma sporting a rather nice bump here.

We hope to do a lot more exploring now the weather is cooler. So we'll hopefully have more blog posts coming soon.

Frank Turner, Busselton and a Halfway Bump

We've had a pretty awesome weekend, starting on Thursday night when we saw Frank Turner in a small club in Perth.

Frank is a folk/punk singer from a village near Winchester in Hampshire, not far from where we used to live (about 6 miles from where Nick grew up in fact). Although he has never had much mainstream success, he has a pretty big following in the UK. We saw him last April in Wembley Arena, where tickets sold out.

He tours world-wide non-stop so I knew it wouldn't be long before he came to Perth.....

Seeing him at Wembley was great, but I really wanted to see him at a smaller venue. This is practically impossible in the UK as tickets sell out in minutes. But in Australia he is not so well known and so we got to see him play at this tiny little venue in Perth. We were stood right at the back were still only 8-10 metres away.

Then on Friday we both had the day off because it was our 20-week scan. Nick couldn't make the 12-week scan so it was the first time he had seen the little bambino moving about. We didn't get many clear pictures as it was being naughty and curling it's arms and legs up in front of it's face!

After the scan we set off with our new bell tent down to Busselton, about 3 hours drive south of Perth. Lovely rain greeted us on our arrival!

We love our new tent - brings back good memories of our old one that we took around the UK. We have upgraded from a 3m to a 4m and it makes so much difference - much more space inside and Nick can actually walk around in this one.

We then spent the rest of Friday, Saturday and Sunday exploring the area, drinking tea, going paddling, shopping and sampling restaurants.

Busselton and the surrounding area was lovely, lots of cafés and galleries, and gorgeous beaches. Plus, several degrees cooler than Perth at about 26-27 degrees, very pleasant indeed.

We stopped off quickly for lunch at a marina in Mundarah on the way home, about an hour from Perth on the coast. Lots of big yachts and restaurants on the quay.

And finally, for the keen-eyed amongst you, a cheeky halfway bump photo.

Much love to you all. Hope our friends in the UK are finally starting to warm up.

Emma & Nick xx

Weekend Exploration

With April starting, we were amazed to realise we have now been here in Perth, Australia for four months. It both seems like we have been here forever as well as only feeling like yesterday we were shivering in a tent in the UK.

Here's some pic's  from around Perth showing what we've been up to the past couple of weeks.

And here's our little veg garden coming along. We have already harvested beans, lettuce and radishes.

And please meet the newest members of our household, two ex-battery hens called Agnes and Agetha. The poor things were a bit traumatised but hopefully some fresh air, grass and space should get them back on track and feeling more like chickens should.

Our new tent arrived last week which we are very excited about taking out for the first time this weekend, down in Busselton (south of Perth). Lots of photos to follow next week!