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 :)

Its a crazy world where "dog eats dog"

Or if Logan is involved it might be more the vegetables that eat the animals.... and to make it more entertaining he has this great eating sound effect (not sure where that would come from!) which sounds like "num e num e num" and trust me its tough to replicate, I've tried!

And as one of his other latest crazes is to love things that have double P's in their names with "pom pom" being a prime example. If you've got a "Purple Pom Pom" then he's your friend for life (or until he gets bored and moves on in about 30 seconds).

Kings Park Flower Festival

Every year around September, Kings Park does a great job of showcasing the many flowers and flowering plants from across Australia and some fun extras. So we decided to take a wander around there a few weeks ago and had a good afternoon exploring.

And of course a lot more photos on picasa.

City to Surf 2013

From a couple of days before the race I was feeling like a dead dog, thanks to the many colds Logan has been bringing home from childcare. Janice had sensibly decided not to do it as she was still recovering, but call it stubbornness, stupidity or commitment, I wanted to do the run.

 

After the first hill at the start and telling myself I was a bit crazy due to my 30% capacity, so was very happy to finish with a time of 1:01:08. A couple of mins slower than last year but I was expecting around 1:10 with my lack of energy, so was pleasantly surprised.

 

A big thanks to everyone who sponsored me and helped make sure I went through with it :)

Waiting to start off with the 40,000 others...

Western Mudd Rush

A few weeks ago we finally got to do the Western Mudd Rush, after months of waiting and some last minute training, mostly on Jacobs ladder. We have Glynn to thank for getting us involved as he was in a team from work and asked if we wanted to join. So in my head the conversation went something like "a chance to run round in the mud and jump over lots of crazy obstacles", who wouldn't want to?" - so said Yes. Then I managed to convince Janice to do it with the help of a small misguided fact as I thought it was 5km, when in fact turned out to be 9km :)

So the big day came along (and happened to be the week before City to Surf, but that's another for another post). And luckily Sue, Marc and Claire were there with the kids to look after Logan for us as they were coming along to support (laugh at) us and take some photos.

So all decked up in our subtle yellow gear and we were ready for the off! We were in a team of 9 and most of us managed to stay together, which was part of the fun really.

Glynn and I failed the first test, getting the number tattoo to work. So we improvised...

Worked out well as we were they first wave to go off the weekend so got to the obstacles before they were smashed up by thousands of people going through. There were 26 in all and they ranged from crawling under barbed wire and heavy rope nets (with mud pools inches from your face), to climbing over huge hay and wooden/container constructions and definitely NOT the favourite, the ice plunge!

Wonder why it was cold?

And Yes we are screaming like girls in case you didn't see the video!

Was impressed with Janice's running as she hadn't run that distance in a long time. And we tried to keep together as a team so we could help each other out with some wall climbs and other interesting experiences. My favourite was the final obstacle as it was a run up the big wall and use a rope to get up the rest. And one of our team was a bit short of stature and struggled getting to the rope, so I had the excuse to head down and do it again to help her with Glynn at the top to get her over the edge - go team "2 Legit 2 Quit"!

So we started off all yellow, but definitely ended up a lovely shade of brown. Oh, and in case you're thinking it's all mud the event was held at the State Equestrian centre, so we smelled great at the end of it too! With the after event showers being basically a pathetic dribble of water so the outside hoses worked better...

More fun photos on the picasa album.

Check out my new ride

We had been looking to get Logan a bike trailer for a while so we can all start to go on some rides around the city and surrounds, and looking especially to get it before we go over to Rottnest Island in November for a few days.

After looking at some we decided on the Pacific model, which is a two seater (just more room for Logan!) and can be converted to a stroller/jogger as well as bike trailer.

All ready to go

Making sure Logan has his snacks for the ride, as he's like his parents

And of course as nothing is ever that simple, we had to get a bike carrier for the car too so we could get to some more interesting start locations. A bit awkward as most of the models over here are designed to go on a towbar which we don't have but found one that fits all models of cars and is actually pretty simple and sturdy and can take 3 bikes.

Checking that Dad has done it properly...

We headed off to Herdsman Lake which is close by and a 8km round trip to test it out, although had forgotten that a good chunk of it is a bit of a gravel track too, so got to test the suspension for Logan as well :)

Stopping for a drinks break

Officially a dadda

Was a momentous day on Friday as Logan decided that he could say "dadda" properly and made me a very happy Dad  :)

Flying trip to Exmouth

We had wanted to get up to Exmouth for some time and decided to take a flight up there as didn't facny subjecting Logan (and us) to the 2 day drive just to get there and back. If we had a few weeks and campervan then maybe a different story to stop off more and enjoy the journey, but not this time.

We had organised a "villa" as we wanted the flexibility of the house and more than one room in a hotel, as who actually sleeps in the same room as their kids, crazy idea :) And it turned out well, if not a bit stark as it is was a set of about 12 buildings newly built in a "compound" just outside of the town.

Logan and Janice having breakfast

Not sure what I expected as such after talking about going here for so long but was a bit odd to fly for 2 hours and still end up in a small town still in WA! Kind of felt like we had just popped up the road to Jurien Bay or somewhere much closer as although we were a good way north it wasn't tropical like Cairns or the east coast.

Anyway, that weird observation over with. And the holiday was very good, as we did some good exploring around the Cape as you have to drive up and over the top of it to get to the West side as Exmouth is actually on the east side of the cape (see the link above to maps if that's confusing...). And over on the west side are the better beaches with some great snorkel spots, with the most famous and the best we found was Turquoise bay.

Another lovely WA beach, but the good stuff was the fringing reef

I had booked one day out on a boat dive trip which actually turned out the be the grey day of the holiday, which was fine for diving as calm winds so good conditions. Did 2 good dives with some highlights being some very curious olive sea snakes, big rays hiding in the sand, several green turtles and a first for me was you could actually hear the whale song of the humpback whales during some moments of the first dive - pretty amazing!

It was snake vs ray and the ray did a runner!

Then the cape has a range of valleys and dried out (most of the year) river beds that you can do some good walks in and around. So armed with Logan's backpack we did a very pleasant wander through Mandu Mandu gorge, although decided not to do the scramble up the gorge part as didn't want to risk it with the little monster on my back! Was the perfect time of year to do it in approx 25 degrees, as would have been hard going in the 35-40 degrees of summer.

Then it wouldn't be a holiday without playing with my camera and the last night showed some good sunset and light reflections that begged for some slow shutter speed shots (trying same that 5 times...)

Lots more photos on the picasa album.

Wandering around Mundaring

Being the best time of the year to go for days wandering around, as its usually a balmy 20 degrees, we decided to take Logan into the hills to explore Mundaring weir and maybe drop in at the local pub.

Its so funny now trying to get somewhere with him with his new found walking ability, as it is very dependant on his mood and how many things distract him on the way, like dancing!

Eventually we made it down to the dam wall where unfortunately you can see just how low the water levels are with another record low rainfall this winter so far, sounds like Perth will need that other desalination plant they are talking about.

Logan was generally in good spirits, but as you can tell from this photo he wasn't feeling his usual chirpy self and little did we know the week of fever, blisters and leaking fluids that was to follow.

I'm just going to sit here for a bit Daddy

But he soldiered on and after wandering most of the way over, was glad of a lift from his old dad on the way back.

So after that tiring and thirsty work we were forced to relax for a while at the local hotel (pub) for some food and good sunday avo live music.

Out and about

Although have been quiet on the blog front over the last few weeks we have been busy out and about and around the garden. And of course that typically means lots of Logan photos, so thought it was about time to put some more up on the picasa album.

And because of he multicultural heritage we are trying to introduce him to all the relevant sports and activities and thanks to Grandpa he is starting to practise with his hockey stick.

Perths Alien Invasion

A couple of weeks ago we headed into the city on the Sunday as it was a lovely warm winter afternoon and there was a whole bunch of "artsy" things happening, mostly around the Art Gallery and Museum.

They had some areas where the kids could build fun "things" from different kinds of cloth and mangled bike parts.

Which Logan and I watched to get some good ideas for our next project....

Then as he wasn't quite up to that level of construction yet, he decided to run off chasing pigeons instead, and why not!

The main reason we decided to go, was to see some giant puppets that had been created by Shaun Tan who Janice had seen and met at a conference which had made us aware of him. Initially they were just hanging out in one area and then the puppets (with some help perhaps) took to a stroll around the streets much to the delight of little kids and big-kids :)

And half on hour later they had made it about 30ft further down the street!

Janice got her coffee while L and I stalked them and then we headed for a last play around the museum play area before heading home.