Adventure World

First weekend back in Perth. Adventure World is now open and we decided to pay a visit. Various activities, rides, etc. For the most part it's a water park http://www.adventureworld.net.au


Crazy Mirrors. Chloe always wanted to have longer legs.


Mam. Why do I look strange?

Mono rail fun

Leaving on a Jet Plane

LHR Lounge -
On my left you'll see the Boeing 777-300. Only 22 hours and two flights to go before we land in Perth.

Departure London 5°C at 12:00h. Thank goodness it was mild.
Arrival Perth 39°C at 19:00h. Crikey Mate!
Glad we missed Perth on Christmas Day; hottest on record at 44°C.

New Year Celebrations

New Year celebrations started off with the simplest of things. A wind-up reindeer race, courtesy of the Christmas crackers. I'm not a bad looser and rarely complain but Malcolm's a cheat! Bethany tried using scream power to speed her reindeer along.


Leonardo (blue), Raphael (Red), Michelangelo (Orange), Donatello (Purple). Not sure who these imposters are but I'm not going to mess with them.


Bertie, Andra and buddies. A braw day for a walk wi' the band on 2nd January 2008.

Christmas in Scotland

Home in Scotland. The debate about whether to bother with the tree or not didn't last too long. Michael was out-numbered 3 to 1 so tree it was. Kaitlyn did the needful organising decorations into groups and spreading them around the tree.


The big "lighting-up ceremony". Christmas wouldn't be the same without a tree..............What's that burning smell?


Christmas at Kintore. Thanks for the hospitality Kintore Watts.
The Broons family photo below; as evidence we really can get together without a punch-up! Good to see the four loons together at the same time. Sorry Dad, Jonathan, Lewis make that seven of us!


Kaitlyn sandwich. Good to see the boys running to K's rescue.


Chocolate cake doesn't get us excited. Honest! Can we have some more?

Penguin Island, Rockingham

On Sunday we went to Rockingham and visited Penguin Island. It's only half an hour from where we live so easy to get to. The penguins are the smallest of the penguin species. They are sometimes called "Little Penguins" or "Fairy Penguins". They are native to Australia and tiny when compared to the likes of giant Emperor Penguins which are over a metre tall. They have an unusual life cycle due to the temperatures. Penguins are normally associated with cold climates but these penguins actually molt and lose their winter feathers and body fat when the temperature rises.

In Rockingham they also have dolphin trips and one of the tour operators gets you in snorkelling with dolphins. Billy Connoly did it with the same operator on his Australian tour. We may do that in January but gave it a miss this time.

Getting on the ferry was easy. The Island isn't far away. You can swim or paddle a kayak across if you want. Some people even walked across (at low tide the sand bar is no more than waist deep).



On the Island there's an opportunity to see the penguins during feeding time.



I'm being a statue.



A colony of Pelicans have settled on the Island but access is restricted to avoid scaring them off, hence the distant photo. These are big birds but you already knew that from "Finding Nemo".

Another picture from the Island.

It's that good lookin' guy again!

Christmas Pageant

Unfortunately the photos were taken in the dark and are mostly blurred or poorly lit. Shame really it was an excellent night. They showed it on TV's Channel 7 on Sunday evening. Not as good as being there but still good. The parade is around 2km long and the route is 2.4km so there's plenty to see. Over 3000 people were expected to line the route and despite getting there an hour and a half early we were still 3 rows from the front. Some people set up deck chairs and tables and had eskys (big ice boxes full of food and drink) with them. I expect they had been there since about 6pm (the event started at 8.30pm). We'll know next year!

There were some pre event displays. This is a pic from the Ford Club cars that passed through. There were also Porsche Club cars but the pics don't do justice so not included.

Brum, Fully lit although he looks a bit dull with the quick shutter speed (to avoid blur). Wish I knew a bit more about photography!! This display was about the size of an artic lorry (to give you an idea of size).

Good lookin' guy with two parade kids lookin' for a photo opportunity.

Super Fast Fins

Saturday afternoon before the Christmas Pageant. See below view from the front garden/pool area. Sailing lessons start in January. Never done it before but we have all been out on the local sailing club open day trip and are keen to learn a bit more. Power boats are better (see earlier post if you missed it).



Kaitlyn did a bit of a brainiac experiment comparing fins and feet. Fins win hands down.