Post by *Di* on Nov 21, 2015 22:59:37 GMT
Due to popular demand.. (well, maybe 2 people lol) here is my report on my trip of a lifetime so far... Never did I think I would make it to Aus, though Ive always dreamed I could go, but my darling youngest daughter breaking my heart by emigrating there necessitated we go if we wanted to see her, so back in January, I booked our flights to coincide with us celebrating our Ruby anniversary in October... Early drive to Manchester to park in an airport parking site.. (last 2 hols to Skiathos we have used an airport hotel for the stay/park facility but leaving the car for a couple of days over 3 weeks was way too expensive.. £188 as opposed to £86 to drive on the day and park... Anyway, car parked, bus to airport, easy check in as I had booked in online... I was a bit apprehensive over one thing, my son in law has started fishing since going to Aus and his old neighbour/friend wanted to send him two good quality sea-fishing reels and asked if we could take them, apart from the weight, I was worried that they wouldn't allow them into the country as they obviously had been used a fair bit and strict controls re anything that has been soil/dirt contaminated just is a no no... So we waited to see what the declaration form said on the plane... I meanwhile worried do we declare, do we need to declare, what happens if we should but don't?? Anyway back to the flight... departed on time on the biggest passenger plane, Emirates A300-800, seats in the first compartment at the front of the plane, begrudgingly watched the select few go upstairs to Business/first class... my daughter said she imagined none of our 4 flights would be full and we would probably be able to spread about, use 2 seats for each of us... WRONG, all 4 flights there and back were full... Anyway, settled down to watch a film/listen to music onwards to Dubai... about 8/9 hours, had a nice meal (choice of 2) wriggling about as I couldn't sleep sat up.. then finally landed in Dubai... only had time to stretch our legs and visit the loos before boarding for the next (LONG) flight of about 10 hours, this time we were in the middle very big compartment and I didn't enjoy this one at all... so, so busy then when everyone was trying to sleep, I just couldn't, yet another packed flight... Finally we started our descent into the Western part of Aus, down into Perth, now I expected it to be as large as Manchester airport, but it was more like Leeds/Bradford?.. I also expected somehow the customs area to be stricter than it was, no sooner had we lined to up hand over our filled in cards that we had spotted our daughter as doors were sliding open and shut, then wham, she was there!! Oh my word, I cant tell you how I felt, the sheer relief of no customs bother, the end of long flights and there we were hugging our girl! Straight out, into her car then about 50 mins drive which was a nice not too busy drive as the sun was setting.. I said to her, are we nearly there and she said, it's here, this is my street!! Straight down a long drive to park up at the front of a massive garage which houses their small boat, up back into their lovely home, where her hubby had cooked us chicken but we couldn't eat a full dinner as we seemed to have eaten so much on the last flight... we were so tired so went to bed about 2 hours after getting there and unpacking, but I couldn't sleep, so at 3am I was creeping into the living room and making a cuppa... I peeped outside and spotted Venus/Jupiter and Mars in the dark sky..So, day 1 we went down to the end of their road with the boat and travelled up river passing beautiful waterfront properties, right out to the estuary where the dolphins joined us, oh my Gosh what a treat...after a couple of hours, back to theirs then I went with daughter to a brilliant farm shop called the Spud shop, top quality produce, fresh and frozen meats and we stocked up for a bbq that night which was wonderful, this was my hubby's birthday too, what a day... Next day was our anniversary and they took us on a steam train ride in a really quaint place called Dwellingup... we then went to a winery and had a lovely lunch and even lovelier wine, I bought some to bring back for our other daughter and son in law... the owner who was in her 80's but was so 
had us in stitches with her banter with us, Im sure she was trying to get me tipsy... try this one, try that one lol.. so funny, I loved her. We found everyone to a man and woman to be so friendly/helpful and cheerful, we really did. The next day was a trip North of Perth and onto a big boat to go Whale watching and what an experience! Humpback Whales a plenty, I will never forget those sights.. lunch afterwards in a nearby restaurant followed by a bit of souvenir shopping for us, we found the prices in general to be pretty fair, some a bit expensive but mostly not?...a few days on our own whilst our hosts were at work, we used their car to drive to various (beautiful and quiet) beaches, then each afternoon spent in Mandurah, 10 mins from them, a beautiful waterfront little town, where the dolphins/pelicans/black swans were as common as our garden birds are... we saw hundreds of Kangaroos..and oddly for me, Camels.. (though Dennis appeared to think this was hilarious when I posted in FB Boomerang site about them) 
So many beautiful birds/parrots and the sounds they made was something of an experience too lol. We went down to Margaret River for a few days staying in a beach resort, fished off the beach and ate our catch, which was delicious.. called at various beaches on the way home to watch the surfers, at this point I wasn't feeling too good and to cut a story short, I called a local surgery (Sun morning) come straight down, wonderful happy receptionist, great doctor, anti biotics prescribed and picked up almost next door, I was happy to pay a total of $70 in all, I should have gone a day earlier, but hoped it would go away.. We visited an animal sanctuary with Koala bears/kangaroos/wallabies/deer all walking around amongst the visitors... but there were also the most beautiful (noisy) peacocks and I was filming one with my camera when it came at me at great speed... my life flashed before my eyes, I tell you!! I almost knocked myself out on hubby's camera trying to get away, all my party did was howl with laughter, especially when daughter rsaw the video I had captured of the attack lol... The next day was fantastic, we went to Fremantle, which is a wonderful town with great olde architecture buildings, but the market?!? Oh my word, it was jaw dropping....an indoor area with the most amazing produce of every description, smelling amazing, food stalls, clothes/shoes/gift stores, authentic Australian art and all manner of things to purchase, this is one place I will definatley go back to, I spent a fortune but worth every cent...we ate in a lovely Italian restaurant here and the food was delicious. In the 3 weeks we were there, we had rain one morning, about 4 cloudy days but the rest was lovely warm and some very hot days, we were careful and used factor 50 sunscreen, which is well recommended over there... so many quaint cafe's and the service was brilliant, everything is *no worries* and enjoy your day, with genuine meaning and smiles, it really was. With what daughter and hubby tell us, if you work hard you are treated well by employers by and large and I know that's true for them two as so many things have been done for them, my daughter is in her second job since going there, the first one was too much travelling for her and she needed to be more office based, to gain more friends and she now works for a pharmaceuticals company and they are very good to her, she was made to take an extra day off by her boss as she had held the fort one day when he was on leave and 2 ppl were off sick, so to show appreciation, she had an extra day with us, her hubby's boss and his family are good friends now and have helped them so much it's nice for me that they have someone to help them in our place.. The boys went crabbing one eve whilst we drank wine on the river side, first time Ive eaten crab and it was delicious.. Beach sunsets were amazing and we got some wonderful photo's, we have yet to sort them from camera so we can print a bunch off... This is just a tiny part of what we did, where we went and I cant say how much I enjoyed every minute, so many memories.. The last day was spent with daughter and we went back to the first winery for lunch (we visited 3 wineries, a fabulous olive growing place too, where we bought some amazing products/oils to bring home) Late afternoon was spent packing then the drive back to the airport which was awful for me especially as I had a constant lump in my throat at the thought of leaving her there, yes theyre enjoying a better lifestyle, still working hard and it's long days as they both as do a massive amount of workers have to travel quite a way for work, but the summer evenings and the weekends are all spent out and about, which was more than they did back here, especially when its cold and dismal weather. Ps, we took the local train into Perth (about 50 mins ride) on a train which there is one every 15 minutes from Mandurah to Perth, sparkling clean, loads of carriages, which cost us $24 to take us both there and back £12 what a bargain... anyway, a tearful goodbye, a very long 11 hour flight, most of which I cried throughout..changed planes again in Dubai for another 8 hrs to Manchester... when we got off the plane, I said to hubby, Oh my word someone turned the lights off! It was so dark lol.. I had a wonderful time/experience, Ive seen theyre ok and Ive accepted their decision they made to go, I feel our/my life has changed in so many ways and Im still struggling with it, but there you go, I cant change how I feel and as long as she/they are happy, I am ok...I miss her so much, I miss the things we did over there, I miss their local town and surrounding places and beautiful sights, but Im sure we will be back, but not for awhile as so many other family and friends need to go first... so.... our thoughts now are on Skiathos... today we got some euro's as we were happy with the rate... I hope I haven't bored you lot here, Ive only scratched the surface of 3 weeks there...
Di xx
