Easter report... just a bit late

Easter came and went here in Perth and the kids had a great time. Unlike in the states, Easter is almost as big as Christmas here. The grocery stores are LOADED with tons of Cadbury and Lindt chocolate eggs. And instead of just having 1 day for a holiday, they take 4! Everything shut down on Friday for the obscervence of good Friday. Obviously no seperation of Church and State going on here... And most places did not get rolling again until The Tuesday following Easter. They take off Easter Monday which totally confused Rob for some reason. He kept thinking Easter was on Monday until I told him it was just another reason for the Ozzies to take off to recover from all the BBQ's on Sunday.

They also have the Easter Bilby here. And in our house, the Bilby came on Friday night and left lollies. The kids thought that was grand. I have more to say but not enough time right now. Enjoy!

A little general Information

I was just reading an email from a friend of mine back in Virginia and she said something that really struck and I feel I need to just take a minute to inform some of my readers a little bit about my new hometown of Perth. She said she was not sure how big it was. I think this is the general consensus. This is not bad at all but many people think Perth is like the bush country. They know Sydney and Melbourne and many cities on the East Coast but know very little about the West coast so, time to have a little tutorial on what I know about Perth.


First off, It sits on the Indian Ocean in the southwest of the coast. The population of Western Australia, the state in which Perth is located roughly 2 million and 1.5 million of these folks live in the metropolis of Perth. 1.5 million. This makes it the third largest city in Australia and about the size as Philedelphia. It is spread over 752 sq miles. People here speak English as the primary language but there are over 250 nationalities that call Perth their home. Perth has some of the most beautiful beaches in all of Australia and Scarborough Beach has the best white sand surfing in the world. It was also voted the cleanest beach in Australia. It is home to the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University,University of Notre Dame and Curtain University of Technology to mention a few. Fremantle Harbor is the port city of WA and is located 19 km south of Perth. It is the largest port in WA and second only to Sydney Harbor.


Although we live in a drought, the average rainfall in Perth is greater than London England.


The number one industry in WA is mining. Since 2000 the population of Perth has grown by almost 50%. This is due to the influx of migrants working in the mining industry. With this influx of migrants, the economy has boomed as well.


There are a large number of national parks here, zoos and a huge aquarium.

If you want to learn more about Perth, here are a few good links.

City Of Perth

Today is my Birthday!!!

I know, who cares really but I DO! It is my first birthday in Australia and I am totally enjoying it. One of my girlfriends brought me a yummy strawberry torte to eat and we are having spaghetti for dinner. The real celebration will be this weekend with a tru Ozzie BBQ with me mates.
It has been a while since I have blogged and I do apologize but since S. has started school, I have been flat out like a lizard drinking. She goes to school 5 days a week full time and is taking intramural sports in the afternoon one day a week to see if she likes cricket or footie best. My daughter the Ozzie. She even came home and corrected me on how to properly say her teachers name ( No Mom, her name is not Ms. Barnes, it is Ms "Baah-nz".) Pardon me.
We have also started furnishing our home all thanks to the new Ikea here in Perth. And this is a HUGE deal around here. Not only is it the largest Ikea in the Southern Hemisphere, it has totally changed traffic patterns around where we live. The community paper has had nothing but negative things in it about the new Ikea BEFORE it was open like how large the sign is, how much dust they have been stirring up, etc. I can't wait to see what the locals have to say about all the un wanted traffic it has brought into the area. Bloody Hell people.
Anyway, we now have a new bed, a new "cot" for R. (crib for American readers) and soon 2 new beds for S and Z. We also have a new fridge and Table and chair thanks to the Quokka (local paper). But the big thing is the Weber kettle grill that we rescued from curb day. Curb day is when all the people around here put out their large items for what we use to call the junk pick up but here it is far from junk. This grill is fine. Hardly any rust. It helps to hit the really rich neighborhoods too. We have also found a shop vac, an industrial grade grill for a kitchen that even came with a tutorial from the nice mate that lived in the house that was disposing of this item. We are going to convert it into an outside grill. We also found a large eveporative cooling fan for inside too that we use in the bedroom. I love curb day but I have usually have 2 things going through my mind as we ride around looking at the "junk". 1) The theme song from "Sanford and Son" and 2) Monty Python. "Bring out your dead" "I'm not dead yet. I'm feeling much better".
Well, I am off to enjoy my spaghetti dinner. Yummm.

Edit*

After dinner, we loaded up the kids and took a trip to Trigg beach to catch the final voyage of the QE2 as she was leaving Fremantle boat harbor. What a sight. This was a wonderful birthday!