Sunday, February 27, 2011

February 23rd, 2011: McWilliam's Wine Dinner



The Wine Professor (Stephen Satchell) took us to a superb evening of wine tasting. We went on Wednesday evening, the day Tiiu and Peter flew to Sydney. We hired a babysitter for the first time since we left Canada. We were taken to Dear Friends, one of Perth's most prestigious restaurants, where we were greeted at the door by a young and dashing waiter holding a tray of Taittinger Brut. We enjoyed this with an appetizer as outlined on the menu above. The wines featured were all owned by McWilliam Wines ( an Australian wine we are familiar with in Canada). Stephen McWilliam was there to speak at the event and describe the wines chosen for the evening. Tom, of course, managed to get his autograph on our menu. It was fantastic - the foods paired with the wines were wonderful. I don't remember much after the fifth glass of wine (apparently, you don't have to drain the glass every time like I did- it is a tasting). Luckily, it was not a repeat of the last halloween party I attended.... Thank you so much, Stephen, for sharing this experience with us! 

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Enjoying some local seafood....

We have now enjoyed two meals of local crayfish (lobster without claws) that were generously passed on to us by one of Tom's colleagues at Mount Lawley High School, Greg Baker. He is a skin diver and regularly dives for crayfish in the mornings before heading off to work.
Tom bikes home with them still alive in his backpack - I know, it seems a bit cruel - and immediately prepares a pot of boiling water to put them out of their misery. They are fresh and juicy - a true pleasure to eat. We just wish we could convince the kids to take a nibble - maybe before the year is out.

February 17th - February 23rd, 2011: Vanaema and Peter's Visit!

Playing backyard cricket with Peter
 On Thursday evening, February
17th, our first family visitors
from Canada arrived - Vanaema
(Tiiu) and Peter. We were so
excited for their arrival. We are
settling in well in Perth but it was
so nice to see some familiar faces
in the flesh! They flew the same
flight we did from Christchurch,
New Zealand (the second
devastating earthquake hit 4 days
later), and they were feeling pretty
jet-lagged. That didn't seem to stop
Peter from playing a bit of
Us with Vanaema and Peter at our rented house in Dunsborough



backyard cricket with Tom and
the kids. We kept them up as late
as we could that night otherwise they
were going to be up at three in the
morning - they made it until 10 p.m.
The next morning, Tiiu and I walked
the kids to the walking school bus
drop-off (kids meet up at one of the
parent's houses and a couple of
parents walk the kids to school
from there) and then I drove Tiiu
and Peter to Freemantle where I
take my Friday morning art class.
They toured around while I painted
Back at Injidup Beach again...
- it was another stinking hot day.
                 They looked a bit wilted when
                         I met them in front of the gift shop. We headed back to
downtown Perth where we
picked up the rental van for our weekend trip to Dunsborough
and Margaret River. We walked
to the school to pick up the kids
and then waited for Tom - waited
and waited....He got held up by
having to fill out police and insur-
ance reports for a student's iPhone
that was stolen by another student
while under Tom's care. Needless
to say, we were cursing that kid
Tom with ema (mom)
while we sat in traffic for an hour and a half while trying to "get outta Dodge". We finally got past the 
crawl, stopped for a quick bite and arrived at our rented house for the weekend at around 9:30 p.m. We were all in bed not long after that.


We woke up Saturday morning feeling fairly refreshed. I went for a run along the coastal walkway and onto the Cape to Cape trail. Rein and I then walked to town to get some breakfast goodies and the paper. We enjoyed some chocolate croissants and began to pack for our visit to Injidup beach. When we arrived the scene that greeted us as we got out of the van took Tiiu and Peter's breath away (like it did our
first time there). We headed down to the beach and set up a picnic spot between
A stop at the Wind Dance Winery
some of the monolithic rocks that lined the beach as far as you could see. We all got our bathing suits on, slathered the
sunscreen on and headed for the surf. After getting
bandied about by the waves for a bit we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the little bit of shade we could find. After a beach walk (I took a nap), we headed
Peter and Silka - Surfer's Point
back to Dunsborough. We stopped at a couple
of wineries on our way back - Swings &
Roundabouts and Wind Dance Winery - for
a couple of tastings. We ended up buying a
couple bottles of wine between us which we
enjoyed with our steak and prawn dinner that
night - delicious!












Surfing Tribal Law
Sunday we went and checked out the town of  Margaret River and ate a late lunch at the Duckstein Brewery. When we arrived at Margaret River, we walked around and perused many of the shops. We then drove out to Prevelly Park and Surfer's Point - one of the most popular destinations for surfing in South Western Australia. They hold a big surfing competition there in April every year. We were starting to feel pretty peckish so we headed
Duckstein Brewery
off to the Duckstein brewery. It was quite a place and we had a pretty good meal there. I ate the 
Rein putting his feet up at the
Duckstein Brewery
vegetable stack, Tiiu
               had their chicken ceasar salad, Peter had their steak sandwich and Tom had their grill plate. It was a substantial sampling of all things German - sausage, sauerkraut, and a smoked porkchop. The kids weren't so adventurous - sausage and chicken nuggets. On the way back to Dunsborough we kept our eye out for Kangaroos because Peter hadn't seen any yet. No luck. We stopped at Simmo's Creamery for an ice cream. Tom and the kids went and said hello to their ice-cream eating Emu - they managed to hold onto their ice cream although there were a couple of close calls. 


Eating a late lunch at the Duckstein Brewery
Kangaroo Paw at Duckstein Brewery
A stop for ice cream at Simmo's Creamery

Entering Mammoth Caves
When we got back, I napped (yes, again) while the rest of the gang went swimming. We enjoyed a few nibblies for dinner - we were still pretty full from our late lunch.







Monday morning we got going fairly early, checked out of Halcyon Bay and headed to Margaret River for breakfast at the Margaret River Bakery. Again, we enjoyed fantastic and reasonably priced morning fare. We then headed south about twenty minutes to Mammoth Caves.
Vanaema had been looking forward to treating us
with this experience. The caves were located under a beautiful forest of Karri and Marri trees.

Stalactites

Stalagmites
The Karri tree grows to 90 metres, making it one of the tallest species in the world. It has white to cream bark that changes to brown as it matures and is shed. As the bark is shed the predominantly white trunk takes
Exiting the Caves
on a patina of colours from white to grey to deep brown. The botanical name “diversicolor” means “separate colours” and refers to the difference between the top of the leaf and its under-side while the common name is derived from the aboriginal name for the tree. The Marri tree grows to 30m in height with rough grey bark. It produces white to pink flowers from summer to autumn. A reddish brown gum can often be seen exuding from the trunk. Large fruit,
Stalactite and Stalagmite that have joined at end of the caves
commonly referred to as “honkey nuts” can be readily seen hanging from the tree. We decided to take the self-guided tour through the caves with headsets and recorded explanations of what we were seeing. This way we could accommodate the kids if they needed to go to the bathroom or saw something so exciting we had to deviate from course then we would have the freedom to do so without missing anything. Well, the caves were pretty spectacular. My pictures really don't do them any justice (check out the link above for better pictures) but we walked through them just filled with 
awe. You could strongly sense the age of the caves -

thousands of years that have dripped down and built up through stalactites and stalagmites. We saw many of them that have even connected. It would have been something else to have been the first one to hack through the bush and discovering them. When we started climbing the long, steep stairs out of the caves, we were concerned for an 
Tom and a Karri Tree
older women that was behind us. However, she did emerge still standing despite looking a bit dazed. The trek through is definitely not for the feint-hearted. We trekked through the Karri/Marri forest back to the entrance, handed in our headphone sets, and headed for the beach. This time we headed across the road and past Lake Caves to Contos Beach - another fantastic find. We would put it right up there with Injidup Beach. There was something there for everyone. Great waves for body-surfing, and these fantastic "wave pools" for Silka to play in and the adults to just float and cool off in. Occasionally, a big wave would come along and
A swim, after the caves, at Contos Beach
freshen up the water for us. It was HOT and sunny so we didn't stay too long and we had to head back to Perth. We will definitely be back!
We took a round about way back and stopped in Nannup for some lunch. We eventually arrived back at 36 Eton. We ordered Indian food that night and headed off to bed early. We were all knackered
Cooling off in the "wading pools" at Contos Beach
from travelling and the sun. The next morning it was back to the daily routine. I dropped the kids off, went grocery shopping and then took Tiiu and Peter on a tour of Perth. We dropped the rental van off and then headed to King's Park. I took them for walk through the botanical gardens - I had to show them the Boab tree that travelled 3000 km (see previous post). We ate some egg salad sand-
wiches as we looked out onto downtown Perth
and the Swan River. We then drove to Cottlesloe
and Swanborne Beach where they got to see
where we go for swimming and our beach barbecues. We then picked up the kids and
headed for Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park (a cemetery). Our new friend, Stephen Satchell,
A barbecue dinner at Harvey and Kaye Tipping's place - fantastic!
introduced us to this special place. Peter had
never seen a kangaroo in the flesh and this was
the place to go. When we arrived, it wasn't long before we sighted our first 'mob' of Kangaroos.
Once again, the kids walked up to only a few
feet away from them. We drove to a second
spot where there was a mother with a joey in
her pouch. The joey did come out for a short
while. We then drove a little further and came
upon a group of people gathered around the
grounds keeper who was feeding some of the



kangaroos. He let the kids feed a few of them as well.... couldn't have been a better first experience with kangaroos for Peter. Thank you, Steven!
We headed home, picked up Tom and drove to Harvey and Kaye Tipping's place for a barbecue dinner. They were wonderful hosts - the dinner was delicious and we had a fantastic time. It was a great way to wrap up our visit with Tiiu and Peter.
It was a sad and quick good-bye the next morning as Steven pulled away with them in his cab. We had a wonderful time with you vanaema and Peter - Thank You! We miss you already!

Friday, February 25, 2011

February 15th, 2011 - More Beach and barbecue: Rein and Silka's Version

On the 15th, we had
our first visitor
from Canada -
Laura Barkley, a
teacher who coached
volleyball with Tom
back at home. She
was near the end
of her trip in
Australia and Perth
was one of her last
stops. We thought the
best way to
introduce her to
Perth is to
introduce her to
their beach barbecue
culture. I remembered
the camera this time
and got a bunch of
shots of Rein body-
surfing and Silka
playing and performing
pirouettes in the sand.
Rein is getting pretty good
at reading the waves and
knowing when to catch
one for a ride or dive
under if he decides not to.
He still thinks that any
surf is safe to swim in
so we still have him on
a "leash". We are think-
ing of getting both of
them into the "Little
Nippers" program that
they offer here through
the Life-Saving and Surf
Rescue Clubs here. Silka
is still happy to just play
on the beach and race the
waves coming in.
Tom has slipped into the
barbecue culture with
enthusiasm. For those
of you who come visit, you
can be sure that you will
enjoy at least one while
you are here. Did I already
mention that you are
allowed to drink openly
here? Makes the
barbecue that much better.....







Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lots of love to our friends and family.....

February 11 - 13th, 2011: Establishing routines....

As we head into our fourth week in Perth, the reality of our holiday being over is starting to sink in. As they get to know their teachers and new school friends, the kids seem to be enjoying school a little more. We had a "Meet the Creature" interview with Rein's teacher Last Thursday night. She said that Rein is well liked by his classmates but very quiet in class. Also, she showed us a sample test that she gave the kids. She wanted to know where the class was at because they do the International testing in Year 3 here. He did OK - he just needs to slow down a bit - she said knowing that Rein is coming from Grade 2 in Canada she thinks he is doing really well. Tom seems to be making some headway with his new students and is being "tested" less often this week by the more challenging students.

Body-surfing at Swanborne Beach
Some of our highlights this past week.....
One evening last week, we enjoyed a delicious meal of Crayfish (lobster without claws) and beef kabobs courtesy of one of Tom's colleagues, Greg Baker, who is an Outdoor Ed. teacher and a skin diver. Tom may be joining him on an Outdoor Ed. Skin Diving trip to Rottnest Island in a few weeks.

I started an Abstract Expressionism" acrylic painting course on Friday morning at the Freemantle Art Centre - loved it. The course is 9 weeks long. i have become a member of the Art Centre and plan on taking courses throughout the year.
Sunset at Swanborne Beach
We continued our new end of the week tradition of a swim and beach barbecue. This past Friday night we met up with two other Canadian exchange families at Swanborne Beach - great body-surfing waves and another fantastic sunset.
Silka "playing piano" -
loves it!
On Saturday night, we enjoyed our first dinner and evening of guitar jamming at Judy, Tony, Dacre (16 yrs old) and Saskia's (Silka's age) place. Tony presented us with a delicious dish of Chicken baked with olives and preserved lemon on a a bed of couscous. Tom and I brought frozen grapes, dark chocolate and Grappa for desert. We were there until about 1:30 a.m. We left Silka behind enveloped in Saskia's arms and weaved home full of wine and Grappa with Rein in our arms. Thank goodness we were only 3 houses away. We immediately fell asleep. At 4 a.m. Judy knocked on our door and passed Silka off who woke up scared and wanting Daddy.
My first attempt at
"Abstract Expressionism"
Silka and Mom's collaborative painting -
Saskia's birthday present 
Silka and other fairies at Saskia's birthday
Party at the Pickled Fairy in Freemantle
The birthday invitations have started rolling in and Sunday Tom and I divided and conquered. Tom took Rein to Joe's birthday party in the morning and I took Silka to Saskia's birthday party in the afternoon. Saskia's party was a fairy party at the 'Pickled Fairy' in Freemantle. Silka had a wonderful time and Saskia kept close to her because she was the only friend she invited that wasn't from her class. The parents sat at the 'Raw Kitchen' nearby and enjoyed (?) Green Mint and Spirulina Smoothies. There were some grumbling about having just a regular coffee. Silka has decided she also wants to have a fairy party for her birthday. After the party, Silka and I headed of to the Fisherman's Wharf and picked up some fish & chips for dinner and then headed home.

 When we arrived back, Steven Satchell (we haved dubbed him the Wine Professor) was there and giving Tom another lesson on Australia's wines. He had brought 3 white wines and they were enjoying a tasting of the second one when I joined in. We had a lovely time sipping and listening to his stories.

Diana,Trish and I overlooking the Swan River at
Kings Park





750 year old Boab Tree in Kings Park

Kings Park looking towards downtown

Yesterday, I walked the kids to school and then headed off to Kings Park to go for a walk and have a picnic lunch with Diana and Trish, the partners of the other two Canadian exchange teachers that joined us at the beach on Friday night. The park is absolutely beautiful and it was a gorgeous day. There is a Boab Tree there that is about 750 years old and was transported about 3200 km to the park to save it from destruction during a road widening project. It was brought to the park on a transport truck with a police escort. It was in its dormant stage during the tropical dry season so it faired the trip rather well and is continuing to thrive in Kings Park. It played a significant role in the traditions of the local Gija people hence the huge effort to save it - it is spectacular and they hope it will live at least another 750 years.
Stand of Eucalyptus Trees in Kings Park

Sunday, February 6, 2011

February 2 - 6th, 2011: First week at School and More Beach Time....

Fisherman's Wharf, Freemantle
Well, I am happy to report that the kids' and Tom's first week back at school and work went fairly well. The kids were excited about school the first day and then reality set in a bit. It is all new to them. Rein thinks his new teacher is quite strict but by the end of the week he seemed happy with his new classmates and feels that his new teacher will be alright. Rein still rates you # 1, Mr. Lloyd! AND he still misses his buddies back home.
Silka enjoyed her first few days with just a minor hiccup on Friday morning. She didn't want mom to go and I carefully extracted myself from her vise grip arms and shed a few tears walking home. I had a moment of wondering what we were doing here but that quickly faded as I went about my day. Apparently, Silka was fine within 5 minutes of my departure. She made her own "rest-time" pillow with her class that I helped her finish sewing on Friday evening.
Kaili's Fish Market
We headed to Floreat beach on Friday evening after Tom got home and the kids and I got back from the neighbourhood park. I had prepared everything for a picnic dinner earlier in the day. Tom and the kids enjoyed a swim while I read the paper - I still wasn't feeling all that well recovering from a flu I had a few days before. Some Aussies were barbecuing and told Tom to "jump right in" with his steaks. We enjoyed a great meal as the sun went down with a bottle of wine (yes, Canadian friends and family, you can bring beer and wine to the beach barbecues here!). The kids played soccer and ate ice cream while Tom and I talked with an Australian teacher and his buddy. We left that night with an offer to go fishing with them one weekend. We have decided to make the beach barbecue a Friday night ritual.




Little Creatures Brewery, Fisherman's
Wharf, Freemantle

We enjoyed a quiet day Saturday and then met up with two other Canadian families on exchange at South Beach for a swim and a picnic. The water was quiet and we all swam out to a pontoon together and sat and talked while the kids jumped off and swam around us. We hit the Freemantle markets just before they closed to stock up on our fruit supplies and share a delicious organic donut. We then headed to the fisherman's wharf and picked up 2 kilos of Mussels for dinner which we enjoyed on our back patio. Cheers everyone!