Freemantle visit 29th July 2007

Another weekend. 5 weeks since the whole family arrived in Perth. Our container has arrived in Freemantle but it will still be 2 weeks before we see it. Customs and probably more importantly quarantine are very strict and check everything. Any untreated wood or animal products is a big no-no here.

Anyway, back to the weekend. Saturday was spent driving around looking for buildings of a particular era for Chloe's Architecture course. In fact half of Sunday was spent doing the same. We also had lunch at Mussel bar (http://www.musselbar.com.au/) then went to the Maritime museum and the roundhouse, which is the oldest remaining building in Western Australia. It used to be a jail (www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/things2c/html/roundhouse.cfm).

The Mussel bar is very nice. Not particularly cheap but good quality. We will book and pre-order next time as it was quite a wait to get served.

The Maritime museum was very interesting with many historical items recovered from wrecks along the Australian coast. See below pictures and captions from the visit.

Dad, Chloe and Kaitlyn outside the Maritime Museum

Kaitlyn with a model sailing ship

Chloe wasn't too impressed with the human remains but Kaitlyn doesn't seem to be bothered. This poor guy was 38 years old when he died, was missing a foot, had a broken right collar bone and an axe wound in his head. Didn't say what he died of !!!

Boom Boom

Where are the rotten tomatoes when you need them?

An example of the buildings Chloe had to photograph for her course

Car photos and update

Hi Folks,

We've got the car and I've remembered to take some photos in daylight at the weekend. See pics below. It's great. Plenty of power and loads of space for people and luggage.

This weekend we visited friends living near Fremantle and spent the afternoon with them. This particular friend, who Michael used to work with offshore, has now retrained as a Scenar therapist. Google it and see - quite interesting and some of his success stories were really amazing.

What else have we done since the last update? Oh yes, found the local swimming pool and tried it out. Only 5 minutes from the house so quite handy.

Chloe has started her course at the TAFE college and seems to be quite enthused about it. Sounds like a good course and in line with what she was expecting. She's alos been distributing CVs in the hope of picking up some part time work so hopefully that will have a positive result soon and give her some extra spending money.

Kaitlyn's first day back after winter break is on Tuesday but she's already been for 4 days before the holidays and is really keen to get back into it.

Spoke to Michael's brother and family last night. They're on Skype now so that will be good. This computer is a bit slow and kept dropping out but hopefully it will be better once our container arrives and we have our PC back.

Guess that's about it for now. We'll have to remember and take the camera as we've gone out a few times and missed out on some photo opportunities.

More later,

The Watts in Oz

15th July update

Howdy-diddly-doody.
Another action packed update..........erm, maybe not then!
I've got the car but I haven't had a chance to get any photos in daylight yet.

Here's the lastest for this week:

Friday night Delia and Chloe went to see MacBeth at His Majecsty's Theatre and enjoyed it very much, while Kaitlyn and I stayed at home and watched "Click". Oh...forgot to mention the tumble dryer died and belched smoke all over the place but we caught it before it burst into flames.

On Saturday we went to Retrovision to take advantage of a tumble dryer sale :)
Then we went to Scarborough beach for lunch at Jimmy Deans and watch the surfers for a while ending up at Perth zoo for a couple of hours. In the evening we joined the DVD hire shop at the end of the street and got a Thai carry out from Bibik Chan's (not recommended).

On Sunday we went for a walk round the river then headed south, visited an old friend in Rockingham and saw her 5 month old baby for the first time then down to Mandurrah for a stroll along the front. A bit late by the time we got there so didn't have long before the light was fading and the temperature fell.

Here's a few pics to give you a taste.
Cheeriebye the noo.
The Watts


Kaitlyn's picture comments: This is the mum orangtutan.


Kaitlyn's picture commets: This is the baby Orangutan.


Kaitlyn's picture comments: Racing Stripes Live

Kaitlyn's picture comments: Mmmm Yummy.

Kaitlyn's picture commnets: The lion resting in his enclosure.


Kaitlyn's picture comments: The Wallaby looking out through the mesh.

Kaitlyn's picture comments: Fluffy and cuddly with his meal.

Kaitlyn's picture comments: Kaitlyn on a bridge at King's Park.

Kaitlyn's comments: King's Park fountain with 2 ducks splashing.

Kaitlyn's picture comments: Before the zoo Chloe and Mum were photographed in front of orange flowers.

Kaitlyn's picture comments: Kaitlyn and Chloe sitting on plastic tortoises.

Kaitlyn's picture comments: After the zoo I decided to get a picture with the gorilla and her baby.

Week 2

Getting settled in now. Collecting the new car next Tuesday 10th July. A Ford Fairmont, 4.0Ltr, 6 cylinder automatic. Oh yeah! Look out for the pics; It will have a posting all of its own.

Kaitlyn starts school tomorrow and will attend for a few days before the mid term break so she's familiar with the routine and off to a good start after the holidays. The uniform is yellow and black but is more a dress code than a strict uniform. A hat is compulsory when playing or working outdoors to keep the sun's rays off (although we haven't seen the sun for the last 2 days).


Update since first listing this post:
Well Kaitlyn has settled in very quickly and is enjoying school. It is early days but she loves it and the kids are great. Kaitlyn has made some new friends already. The schools are on holiday now and don't return until 23rd July so it's walks round the river and getting in Mum's way for the next 2 weeks.

Chloe has enrolled in her course and will be starting on 23rd July. It's at one of the central TAFE Campuses so not far from the city centre and an easy commute from the house.