Birthdays

Who could of missed the arrival of the royal baby this week! I'm not normally interested in other people's babies or following the monarchy around like celebrities, but being only four weeks away from my due date I couldn't help but smile when I saw the pictures of William and Kate holding their new son George. William was born one month before I was, and now his child has been born one month before mine is due.

It's starting to feel like I've been pregnant A LONG TIME! We are both ready and raring to go, hospital bag packed, car seat installed, cot set up in our room. Tiny babygrows folded in our drawers. Watching 'One born very minute' on Youtube and thinking all these women are making a right meal of it (#naivemuch).

This week I celebrated my 31st birthday, normally I get excited about birthdays but I've been kind of pre-occupied counting down to my baby's birthday instead this year.

Never the less we still went out for a few excursions, making the most of the few weekends left where it is still just the two of us.

Last weekend we headed over to Hilary's Boat Harbour, a marina north of Perth where there are lots of restaurants and shops. We had lunch in the Breakwater bar with our friends Louise and Nathan.

While there we paid a visit to the Aquarium of Western Australia, which is just next to the harbour and features all marine life from up and down the coast of Western Australia. Good to see because Nick refuses to go snorkelling because of all the shark attacks we get here!

Since we don't get to go to the coast much, after visiting the aquarium we decided to stick around to watch the Sun set over the ocean, a beautiful sight we haven't witnessed yet since we have been here. We drove down to Scarborough beach, a popular one with surfers and got some fish and chips.

This weekend we visited Claisebrook Cove, a small inlet of the Swan River near the city where there are a few bars and restaurants. We ate at a restaurant called Blackbird, a small cosy little place where the food was excellent and I was able to order a non-alcoholic Mohito cocktail.

Baby shower

A baby shower was one of those events, like a wedding day, that I was sure I could live without.

However, my Mum and her friend Jo had other ideas.

Last Sunday we spent the morning at Maddison Cottage tearooms in Guildford (WA, not Hampshire) celebrating the impending arrival of this little wriggler inside me, with some of the lovely ladies I have met since arriving in Australia.

Cake and tea are pretty much my favourite things right now so it was actually a perfect way for me to spend a morning! The tearooms had a huge tea selection, homemade sandwiches and cakes and everything served in pretty teapots and cups.

We played a couple of games including guessing the circumference of my belly (I think everyone overestimated - thanks) and everyone brought baby books as gifts. All in all a lovely morning and I am indebted to Mum and Jo for all they did.

(I love this picture Jo took of me reaching to grab the first sandwich while everyone else is still ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the spread and taking photos. Food has become a serious matter to me!)

My due date is a mere six weeks away now so we are getting pretty excited around here!

A Christmas in June

We have been spending a lot of time sitting outside in the sun drinking tea.

The days may be short and the sun low in the sky, but other than that you would not know we are currently in the depths of winter. Daytime temperatures are a blissful 20-23 degrees, and overnight it barely drops below 10. 

Apart from tea drinking we have mostly been taking things easy, as I am finding my extra weight increasingly hard on my legs and feet. (I've put on about 2.5 stone so far. Crumbs.)

We found a really quirky little restaurant called Cafe Mueller, not far from where we live the other day, run by two German guys from their house and serving a set menu of German fare. Not only was the food great but it almost felt like we were in an Austrian ski restaurant half way up a mountain. 

We also had a little winter solstice celebration to mark the passing of the shortest day. Some Australians like to celebrate Christmas in July (I'm not sure why July rather than June) - it's a chance to have a log fire, cook a roast and drink mulled wine without the scorching summer temperatures of December. In fact December Christmas celebrations here are decidly un-Christmassy - barbeques on the beach for example. 

We cooked a ham, had cheese and biscuits, mulled wine and chocolates all with the fire going and some decorations around the place.

Although it really wasn't a cold night and we ended up opening the window at one point to cool the room down.