End of an Era

So a bit "after the fact", I'm writing the final post of this blog as our time living in Perth has come to an end.

For more reasons than can be written here (and understood without context) we have moved our life back to Canada to enter a new and exciting stage, that I'm sure will hold many highlights and traumatic times that makes life worth living.

And if anyone is considering moving countries and hasn't heard the many trials and tribulations of that saga then I am happy to chat about it at length, preferably with a drink or two. And so it is time to say farewell to this blog.

But like all serial communicators and with the vague hope at least someone finds these posts interesting/informative/entertaining I have of course have created a new blog (http://philmduffy.blogspot.ca/) to carry on the stories of our times in Canada.

So please follow me over there and don't forget to bookmark/favourite it for next time.

See you all there :)

Dive Trip - Similan and Surin Islands

After many years of trying to organise a dive trip I finally pulled my finger out and booked a trip to an area I had wanted to go for many years, the Similan Islands. Tony has some good recommendations as he used to work out in that part of the world and agreed with a dive company I was looking at called Similan Diving Safaris, especially as they did an extended trip up to some more islands called the Surin islands that weren't visited by many other dive operators.

I didn't want to spend more time away and days off work so I organised to fly straight to the dive shop that day and then the boat steamed overnight to start diving bright and early at 7am. Was a well run trip and crew were all very good and after the initial weirdness of being on a liveaboard and NOT having to work, I got into the groove of things.

The diving was superb overall, 30 degrees in the water, lots of life and good visibility and could go on for a long time about all the different things we saw...

But the most amazing dives happened on day 2 when we saw not one, but two of the "big ticket" critters that all divers hope to see but know its very rare. Manta rays and Whale Sharks!

Will upload some more photos (have about 500) when I've finished editing but have uploaded the vids (see side panel) which show these gentle giants more effectively anyway. And even if you're not an underwater person, I challenge you not to be impressed by them :)

OK, more photos now on picasa album.

p.s. The 12 year old girl screaming with excitement in the videos must have been one of my dive buddies.....

Re-invigorating my photography

For years I've talked about getting an external flash for my SLR as it provides better light coverage and the ability to "bounce" the light to provide a more natural and less harsh effect, especially for portraits.

But hadn't really had the justification to spend the money on it as never took many portrait shots before as I typically prefer landscapes and outdoor shots to capture a scene or moment in time, and to remind me I was there with my terrible memory....

But like many other things in life the Logan-monster has changed that, as he is great fun and a joy to try and capture doing the many fun and crazy things he does, often indoors, hence the need now for the flash. My son deserves to be captured properly "on film" :)

And thanks to some generous Christmas money and some surprisingly quick (but effective) research I arrived at the decision to buy the Nikon SB-400.

The stripey hooded family

And I'm sure you'll agree even with little practise I am very pleased with the initial results and at how quick and easy it is to use and will be yield many more good shots as I experiment more over time.

Notice the soft lighting against the bright background

The Ashes in "The Furnace"

For David's 70th birthday present we all clubbed together to get some tickets and pay for day at the Ashes as they were playing in the WACA for the 3rd test whilst Mum and David were visiting.

Unfortunately there were two things conspiring against us on the day:

1. The heat as it was about 38 degrees and of course we weren't in the shade
2. David was very sick/tired at the time with a weird virus that had been going round Perth so was on about 20% energy

A great view of England's downfall...

But besides those potential setbacks and England playing terribly it was a great day out to see the cricket live in such a small ground so you are never far from the action.

David looking surprisingly human...

I was forced to have a beer for the team as David wasn't really up for it and Janice is a girl.....

Yep, long sleeves and big hats were required

Christmas and New Year 2013. Where did that go?

Been a while for any posts, as life has been a bit busy with Mum and David over with us and Christmas/New Year taking over, especially with me working through Christmas for the first time in many years.

And we've just returned from a great week down in Albany (another post to come soon about that).

So Christmas as always came and went faster than you imagine, but was made special having Mum and David here with us so we didn't have a lonely Christmas on this side of the world. And we went with our "reasonably real fake" Christmas tree for ease and not wanting to spend 100 dollars on a real one we started the decorations with Logan "assisting" in his own special way. And were pleasantly surprised by how much he didn't try and pull everything off the tree and we kept the presents away until the last few days to reduce the temptation (for him and Janice!).

Finished and loaded with presents

Christmas morning was a fun time with Logan into present opening much more this year until he found something more interesting to occupy him or helping us open ours too :) It was really funny as he opened his "digger" present as one of the first and was a tad obsessed with that for most of the day!

We could actually enjoy Christmas dinner outside as it was a reasonable temperature for this time of year (e.g. under 35) and we decided to go with a huge and delicious ham (and just some turkey slices) rather than a big turkey this year. With my little Charlie brown tree being our centre piece (thanks Louise and Bob).

Tree with extra decorations and being guarded by Logan's Gnome

Then for the afternoon we headed over to the house of Taylor to see them and the Rowlands clan and enjoy their pool for an afternoon swim and play.

New Year was a quiet one (being old and parents now we obviously don't go out for new year!) and no-one was having a house party this year. So we had a good evening in watching the build up and fireworks over in Sydney whilst being semi-tortured with some games ;) And popped outside to see the fireworks from Perth in the distance as everyone lasted to Midnight!

Have also added more photos to Picasa.

Halloween Party

As we hadn't hosted a party in a while and with Halloween being a fun time (although not really celebrated here in Perth much) we decided to go for the party at our house.

After several change of plans we settled on costumes of a black widow spider and the fly caught in the web, with Logan going from a spider to a superhero in a realisation that he wouldn't probably wear a costume that was too elaborate!

The Black widow and Zombie woman

And Yes I am wearing tights (they told me I had to...)

We had a really turn out as everyone got very dressed up and the ladies did a very good job of lots of ghoul-tastic food, especially the cup cakes and dead mans hand punch.

Romping around Rotto

After a lot of planning we took a few days break over on Rottnest Island (rotto) with the "crew" which coincided with Ollies birthday and was coincidentally 4 years since we had last spent a night on the island.

So after packing the car with more biking gear than Hoppys(an old reference) we got the ferry from Hillary's on Friday morning and got over there around midday. Wandered round the main area for a while and I took Logan on his first island ride in his trailer, where he prompted fell asleep, so first brownie points for Phil!

Just back from a swim

Then our accommodation was available so we got things sorted and were pleasantly surprised by the old style wooden house compared to the brick building we had stayed in last time.

Was great staying there for a few days so we could really get into the swing of things and take some rides round the island, with some sucker(yours truly) pulling the trailer for about 2 hours up and down the hills :)

Chilling out at some beaches (with some snorkelling of course) and having some good evenings with everyone, especially down at the bar right at the beach!

And I think Logan found his first girlfriend, Harriet.

And some of the best moments where when Logan met the Quokkas, including one morning when a particularly inquisitive Quokka came visiting one morning.

Are you after my breakfast?

As usual more photos on picasa.

Do you like my Wonky haircut

Dear all,

I'm in training for the next Jim Carey film... "The funny haircut" crew"!

Mummy especially liked the cut this time and the way I went a bit crazy with the sound of the scissors. Not sure why she said "next time your Dadda is taking you"?!

Logan

The Smashing Builder

Enjoy Logan working on his block building one afternoon going from concentration and perserverance and then tipping over the edge to crazy smash mode. Can you guess at what point I managed to catch him on video....

Not sure what he is saying exactly when he has had enough building, but am sure you can add a few words of your own :)

The Perth Show

We hadn't been to the Perth Show yet which is on around September every year, mainly as I thought it was more for kids and not a very big show/fair because it's at the Claremont showgrounds. Which I'd mistakenly thought was just the obvious grassy area but actually has lots of buildings and other grounds around the edge, where the majority of the show is located.

So mainly for Logan and due to not being able to go next year we decided to give it a go. Knowing it was going to be busy being a public holiday we headed there for the start around 9am, to beat the crowds and Logan is like us and generally better in the mornings.

So where's the dive tanks Dad?

And was pleasantly surprised to see how much was there, from shows tailored to certain interests, various stalls and several animal enclosures. Obvious you might think with it being a "show" but I hadn't figured the whole animal thing was going to be so prominent, pretty similar to the Royal Show in Toronto. But that was good as Logan has definitely picked up on our interest in animals and one of the best areas was a huge Aviary with a lot of  loud and crazy birds!

And Yes, that was a Giant Pigeon (no really it says it on the cage)

So overall a good morning and Logan loved seeing all the different animals (although doesn't look it in this photo) and did well with the crowds too. Then as he was having enough around 1pm it was the right time to head off as the hoards were heading in and we had sampled Donuts and Candy Floss too, so job done!

More photos on Picasa and Janice was really there, but for a change I ended up in all the photos :)