Up North

So life in Perth is rather slow, but really relaxing. Anni has just finished her exams for the semester so Anni, myself, and four other crazy friends travelled the five hours north from Perth to Geraldton, a city of just under 40,000 people and where another one her friend lives.  

On the way up to Geraldton we stopped off at some pretty amazing locations...

Lancelin - Sandboarding anyone?

Woo! Um, hope I don't crash!

The Pinnacles - eerily quite and weird but spectacular...

The park ranger said "no touching" but surely he didn't mean I couldn't sleep on it?

At one point Anni and Kara were sitting in the boot of Anni's car as the other friends drove it round and the view was amazing. 

From Geraldton we travelled even further north to Kalbarri, and walked around the Kalbarri National Park (well, we drove into a large proportion of it and then got out and walked). For being in winter it was rather warm and Anni almost got sunburnt with the endless blue skies.

This is Nature's Window

The Australian bushland is kinda weird looking and unfortunately we saw no Kangaroos. 

The next trip is home to Melbourne for Anni's Oma's 70th Birthday. Hopefully we can go see a footy game at the MCG, Collingwood is playing!

Anzac Day in Perth

Whilst the east coast of Australia is all cold and gloomy, Perth is still glorious and sunny. Today it was 28C with incredible blue skies. So why not have a picnic in Kings Park!

If Anni wasn't working, we would have gone to the dawn service, but it just wasn't feasible with public transport and getting to work on time. But we still went to the State War Memorial to pay our respects, being so thankful for all that the servicemen and women have given up for our country.

The view from Kings Park never disappoints, so here's another photo:

Kings Park

Kings Park is 400.6 hectares of green grasslands, botanical gardens gardens and native bushlands, with two-thirds of the area being covered by native bushlands (the Australian bush is kinda weird looking). It was the first parkland designed for public use in 1872, with the purchase of more land in 1890 bringing it up to it's current size. The name was changed from "Perth Park" to "Kings Park" in 1901 in reference to King Edward VII.

Anni and her friend Kara went on the free guided walking tours offered by the Kings Park Volunteers. The walk on offer that day took us around the Botanic Gardens, pointing out and describing all the interesting plants and flowers from the different regions of Western Australia.

At the end they went and visited the State War Memorial, which has incredible views of the Swan and Canning rivers. It was constructed in 1928-29 and designed in a obelisk shape, similar to that of the ANZAC memorials erected in France and Belgium. Whilst it was built to commemorate those who had served in WWI, it has since become a place of reflection for those who have served in the Armed Forces in all of Australia's deployments.

One of the best parts of Kings Park are the views over the city. Love coming here at night and seeing all the sparkly lights.

Kings Park is a great place to visit any time of the year. We're going to do another tour in the wintertime when all the wildflowers come out in the bushlands.

Happy Australia Day!

Australia Day is celebrated on the 26th of January, and to celebrate, Anni and I with her housemates Laura and James and her school friend Annette went down to Cottesloe Beach (only 5 mins from our new home in Perth!) to join in the fun of the Havaianas Thong Challenge.

P.S A "Thong" (normally "thongs" as they come in a pair) are what you may call flip flops, jandals, or sandals.

Movies

On Friday, Anni and I, along with her housemates James and Laura went to see "New Years Eve" at the Moonlight Cinemas. It's been really hot in Perth this week, and so being outside once it had cooled down, drinking champagne and eating crisps was exactly what a Friday night called for.

Perth

Hola Amigos!

Sorry about the lack of postings, there are no excuses other than laziness and lack of excitement (sad but true).

But welcome to Perth, Western Australia, where Anni and I now live!

It's hot and sunny and lovely, we live near the beach, and have great housemates. Anni is studying full-time at UWA (doing her Masters in Infectious Diseases... how cool?!), so our adventures have been rather quiet, but there are plans in the pipeworks, and so despite our lack of posts in the past, we promise to go out and explore Perth, the rest of Western Australia, and if miracles happen, the world!