This Perth Life

More Routes Please!

Jetstar Airbus A320-200 front, SIN
Originally uploaded by StarvingFox.

Good news this morning from both Jetstar and Virgin Blue who are putting on a (sort of in the case of Jetstar) direct route between Perth and Phuket.

Listen to me! I'm writing as if I'm hopping on and off a plane every other week!

Well I can assure you that I'm not but after searching for flights for husband last October to get him to Phuket from Perth I'm pleased to say that at least these two airlines have joined Tiger Airlines in realising that we Perthites do actually want to go OUT of WA for our holidays on occasion. This has made it that little bit easier.

Although it would be much easier if they weren't just twice weekly flights but daily flights.

At least it's a start.

Driving Rain

Rain, rain, go away...
Originally uploaded by Ian Crowfeather.

I'm used to driving in rain. Coming from Manchester, the alleged rain capital of the UK, you had to get used to it. It never bothered me.

I'd go up and down the motorway, along A roads and through back country roads in my quest to get to and from work and never got fazed.

Which is why it doesn't faze me here when it rains.

But it seems to faze an awful lot of other people.

Not sure what it is. Could be that rain doesn't happen much outside of Winter so maybe people forget how to drive in it in between. Maybe it's because when it does rain we don't get the drizzly type, we get the "full blown massive drops coming down very fast" variety. 

Whatever it is, everyone slows down to a virtual halt as if they don't trust their tyres to keep on the road or their brakes to work when required. I'm all for slowing down in the rain but not to ridiculously slow speeds where it's positively dangerous. You run the risk of being that slow that people have difficulty judging your speed and/or the people behind you getting that fed up of going at 20km an hour that they overtake you at any opportunity whether or not it's safe. Because, let's face it, 20km an hour is not a speed at all, it's a crawl.

So to the people of Perth who don't like driving in the rain, please try to keep your speed up to a decent level (obviously within the speed limit!) and let the rest of us have a chance of getting past you without getting frustrated! 

There's no rhyme or reason to it.

National Public Toilet Map

In planning our holiday for this year, we decided to break the journey of 16 hours drive with a stop in the middle. But where's the middle? Looking at the map didn't give us much of a clue and anyway the middle looked to be about the middle of nowhere too.

We're going up north from Perth and basically once you're past Geraldton, there's not much until you get where you're going.

Anyway, we made the decision and then proceeded to try to find a phone number. So I did what anyone else would do, I googled it.

The place that we're going to be staying at don't have their own website but I managed to get the telephone number for them off, would you believe it, the National Public Toilet Map site.

Yes, there is a website dedicated to the public toilets of Australia. And, get this, the strap line on the site is "A project of the National Continence Management Strategy". Yes, there is a federal project on the continence or incontinence of the nation. I'm pleased that my toilet habits are being taken so seriously.

Hi to New Zealand!

Another blog has joined the "This Life" family.

Hello to www.thisnewzealandlife.com!

William Knight is a British freelance writer and journalist who is currently living in Wellington. I say currently as he seems to have been living in both NZ and the UK for the past 10 years but, as he says, now he has two small children, NZ may now have them for good.

I certainly hope so, there's nothing quite like the outdoor life for raising young children. We've found that and I hope that William can see the difference and the benefits of that this time around.

It's going to be good catching up on the NZ life. We have yet to visit there but I'm hoping his blog will inspire us and hopefully you?

Holiday Booking Time

I kind of dread the holiday booking time, not because I don't like holidays because I do, I positively love them in fact.

No, it's because of husband.

Husband, who can't make up his mind what he would like to do, but knows for sure what he doesn't want to do.

Has anyone else got one of these?

What about this or that or t'other I say. Mmmmmmm is the response I get. Mmmmmmm means maybe, maybe not, I'm watching the TV and haven't really heard what you're saying but I'll give a response anyway. Well what about that or this I say. Mmmmmm again.

BUT if I say something that he definitely doesn't want to do he'll turn away from the TV (shock, horror) and give me a 5 minute run down on why he doesn't want to do that, why we shouldn't do that and then at the end give me a glare as if to say I should have known this all along.

Husbands and holidays don't really go together at the planning stage and I'm not completely convinced that they go together at the going on holiday stage either. Two weeks all together with him and two bouncy sons? All I can say is, the weather had better be good!

Jealous? Moi?

.
Husband has to go away on business next week for 6 peaceful nights in a nice hotel.

He's going to a country that neither of us have been to and has a day off to be able to sightsee.

He has no housework, ironing, cooking or children to look after.

He's flying business class

He's flying on the new Airbus A380.

Am I jealous?

Nah!!!!!

Bits and Bhats

The colour of money
Originally uploaded by tomroyal.

Husband is going on an "end of season soccer trip". In previous years they have been to Margaret River (in WA) and Geraldton (in WA) for a weekend, this year they decided to go further afield and they're off on Monday to Phuket in Thailand for a whole week!

Hmmm.

Anyway, I was despatched by said husband to get the foreign currency. In I pop to my local bank and say that I'd like to get some Thai bhats please. We don't keep them in stock they say. OK I say, how long to order them? 5 working days they say.

5 working days?!!!

To say I was shocked was an understatement. Coming from the UK where there's a travel agent on every corner of the high street, all selling currency, never mind the banks on all the other street corners, this was a bit of a wake up call.

Luckily the nice lady in the bank recommended the local Travelex shop in Joondalup. I hadn't realised it was there as it's a little tiny shop next to KMart but off I toddled and got it all sorted within 10 minutes, no 5 day waiting period there thank you very much!

A Question for You, Dear Readers

A wonderful sticker!
Originally uploaded by Nicolai Bangsgaard.

My sister came out to visit us in May 2005 only about 3 months after we'd arrived here and since then she's been badgering her husband for them to move here.

The good news is that all the badgering (she's very good at it) worked in the end and after a holiday here earlier this year they are now in the process of the dreaded VISA FORMS!

The question that I have for you (as I have no answer and thought that maybe one of you out there had the same problem) dear dear readers, is this;

If you have been to Australia before on an ETA (Electronic Transfer Authority not, as many people think, Estimated Time of Arrival (confusing I know)) how do you find out the number that you had previously? My sis, as I mentioned before, came out on her own 3 years ago and they want to know the number that she had on that trip!

If anyone has the answer on how to find out, then please can you share it with us all? I'm sure we're not the only ones scratching our heads over this one!

Rail Closures

Perth Train Station
Originally uploaded by thisperthlife.

As part of the Southern Suburbs Rail project the Northern Rail Line will be closed between Perth and Leederville for a period of eight days, commencing 8 October. The Fremantle Rail Line will also be closed for the same period.

Transperth has arranged rail replacement buses and alternative routes for this period.

For more details, download Transperth’s Guide to the Shutdown.

Singapore gets the A380

A380...
Originally uploaded by sunnypluto.

In October 2007, the Singapore Airlines A380 will take off on its first ever commercial flight.

To mark the special occasion, seats for this history making flight between Singapore and Sydney will be auctioned and all proceeds will be donated to charity.

For more information on the inaugural A380 flight, see the Singapore Airlines website.