The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
#1
The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
As we were driving home from our little adventure today, I thought that we were having so many new experiences, that I would attempt adding to a thread... because we are doing so many new things here, which we wouldn't have done in the UK. (Thanks Jill for the inspiration!)
This arvo we rang our friend in Muchea (North East of Perth), as we were at a bit of a loose end and wanted to get out of the house. We arranged to meet and woke our grumpy toddler, got in the car and headed out of Joondalup and away from the suburbs.
When we got to Muchea, we had a good drive around first, to check out the surrounding area. There's a real community feel to the place, but I won't go on about it too long incase the place gets inundated with Poms over the next few months.
We then came to our mates house and followed her car as she drove a further 20 minutes into the foothills. As we wove through the country roads, I spotted my first Cookaburra, perched on a gate by the side of the road. We drove past homesteads and farms, then came to a stop outside our friend's gate to her property. The road was bumpy and hard to negotiate, but we climbed up onto her hill, where she had a beautiful homestead with the most breathtaking views that I've seen in Aus so far.
We sat down on the veranda and dreamt in the scenary. The fields and hills rolled on for miles and it felt strangely like English countryside, as you could see bales of hay gleaming in the distance, amongst a patchwork of hedges and trees.
We didn't get to sit down for long as our toddler seized the opportunity to run and explore the gardens, finding two tree swings and running between them. Our friend took the children (2 and 7) to feed the chooks and our daughter came back with two fresh eggs and a grin like the chesire cat, as she had collected them herself.
I took loads of photos, since I'm aware I haven't sent many to the folks back home. Then our mate went into her shed... where we soon spotted a gleaming red quad bike. I couldn't believe it when she offered to take our daughter on the quad. At first I read the warning stickers and worried about the safety aspect... but soon I realised that she would be really careful and that our daughter would be in safe hands.
About 20 minutes later, our daughter arrived back on the quadbike with the biggest grin... I can honestly say I've never seen her looking as exhilarated. Hubby then had his turn. He went off for a while, then we saw him coming down a side track, chugging along like he had been driving a milkfloat. Anyway, it turns out that he went the wrong way and had got stuck doing a 3 point turn alongside one of the huge watertanks which service the property. He hadn't been able to reverse the quadbike and had to manouvere it by hand, while it butted against the tank. He nearly $hat himself thinking he would break through and get deluged with water. We went to check out the damage, but fortunately those tanks are pretty thick and he'd only really scratched the surface.
Next was my turn and I sat on the back, feeling like some Romanian peasant woman getting a hitch on a truck. We went up further on the hill, through native bushland, which had seen fire about 10 years earlier - you could see the blackened tree trunks. I was so busy taking it in, that I hadn't realised that my 7 year old was doing all the steering, breaking and gear changes... supervised closely by our friend I should add. She was having the time of her life and we had to stop her from racing down some very steep slopes. Larissa the peasant woman clung on for dear life, pretending she wasn't at all bothered. Meanwhile we saw wild roos by the waterhole and a huge spider fell out of the trees on us.
It was such a wonderful experience for our whole family. While I realise it may not be practical to live this far out in the country, we enjoyed our time there and must now seriously consider our housing options once hubby has work. It seems absurd to come this far and not live life to the full, but there are so many factors to investigate.
I honestly feel that even if we had to return to the UK tomorrow (eek!), we have certainly had a brilliant time here already.
Apologies for the ramble, but I'll try and keep my Aus adventures in this thread!
Larissa
Please Santa, put a quad bike in my stocking!!!
This arvo we rang our friend in Muchea (North East of Perth), as we were at a bit of a loose end and wanted to get out of the house. We arranged to meet and woke our grumpy toddler, got in the car and headed out of Joondalup and away from the suburbs.
When we got to Muchea, we had a good drive around first, to check out the surrounding area. There's a real community feel to the place, but I won't go on about it too long incase the place gets inundated with Poms over the next few months.
We then came to our mates house and followed her car as she drove a further 20 minutes into the foothills. As we wove through the country roads, I spotted my first Cookaburra, perched on a gate by the side of the road. We drove past homesteads and farms, then came to a stop outside our friend's gate to her property. The road was bumpy and hard to negotiate, but we climbed up onto her hill, where she had a beautiful homestead with the most breathtaking views that I've seen in Aus so far.
We sat down on the veranda and dreamt in the scenary. The fields and hills rolled on for miles and it felt strangely like English countryside, as you could see bales of hay gleaming in the distance, amongst a patchwork of hedges and trees.
We didn't get to sit down for long as our toddler seized the opportunity to run and explore the gardens, finding two tree swings and running between them. Our friend took the children (2 and 7) to feed the chooks and our daughter came back with two fresh eggs and a grin like the chesire cat, as she had collected them herself.
I took loads of photos, since I'm aware I haven't sent many to the folks back home. Then our mate went into her shed... where we soon spotted a gleaming red quad bike. I couldn't believe it when she offered to take our daughter on the quad. At first I read the warning stickers and worried about the safety aspect... but soon I realised that she would be really careful and that our daughter would be in safe hands.
About 20 minutes later, our daughter arrived back on the quadbike with the biggest grin... I can honestly say I've never seen her looking as exhilarated. Hubby then had his turn. He went off for a while, then we saw him coming down a side track, chugging along like he had been driving a milkfloat. Anyway, it turns out that he went the wrong way and had got stuck doing a 3 point turn alongside one of the huge watertanks which service the property. He hadn't been able to reverse the quadbike and had to manouvere it by hand, while it butted against the tank. He nearly $hat himself thinking he would break through and get deluged with water. We went to check out the damage, but fortunately those tanks are pretty thick and he'd only really scratched the surface.
Next was my turn and I sat on the back, feeling like some Romanian peasant woman getting a hitch on a truck. We went up further on the hill, through native bushland, which had seen fire about 10 years earlier - you could see the blackened tree trunks. I was so busy taking it in, that I hadn't realised that my 7 year old was doing all the steering, breaking and gear changes... supervised closely by our friend I should add. She was having the time of her life and we had to stop her from racing down some very steep slopes. Larissa the peasant woman clung on for dear life, pretending she wasn't at all bothered. Meanwhile we saw wild roos by the waterhole and a huge spider fell out of the trees on us.
It was such a wonderful experience for our whole family. While I realise it may not be practical to live this far out in the country, we enjoyed our time there and must now seriously consider our housing options once hubby has work. It seems absurd to come this far and not live life to the full, but there are so many factors to investigate.
I honestly feel that even if we had to return to the UK tomorrow (eek!), we have certainly had a brilliant time here already.
Apologies for the ramble, but I'll try and keep my Aus adventures in this thread!
Larissa
Please Santa, put a quad bike in my stocking!!!
#2
Re: The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
Wow, Larissa, cool!
Now, was this last Sunday, or today?? (I'm guessing last from what I've heard..)
Quad bikes are so cool. When I was about 13 I went to help at this farm of friends of ours(down in Bridgetown). They had a big property, and goats(like heaps, it was a farm, I think they milked them).
I was going to go more often and learn to drive the quad, but I didn't end up going back(I think because we moved soon after, though not sure).
Btw, will post xmas pageant pics tomorrow or something. Just got home now, went to see Ocean's Twelve.
Now, was this last Sunday, or today?? (I'm guessing last from what I've heard..)
Quad bikes are so cool. When I was about 13 I went to help at this farm of friends of ours(down in Bridgetown). They had a big property, and goats(like heaps, it was a farm, I think they milked them).
I was going to go more often and learn to drive the quad, but I didn't end up going back(I think because we moved soon after, though not sure).
Btw, will post xmas pageant pics tomorrow or something. Just got home now, went to see Ocean's Twelve.
#3
Re: The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
Glad to hear you didnt do an 'ozzy' and end up in hospital!
how is your 2 year old adjusting to the heat? does it bother her? does it affect her sleeping habits?
keep it coming!!
sue
how is your 2 year old adjusting to the heat? does it bother her? does it affect her sleeping habits?
keep it coming!!
sue
#4
Re: The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
Originally Posted by Simone
Wow, Larissa, cool!
Now, was this last Sunday, or today?? (I'm guessing last from what I've heard..)
Btw, will post xmas pageant pics tomorrow or something. Just got home now, went to see Ocean's Twelve.
Now, was this last Sunday, or today?? (I'm guessing last from what I've heard..)
Btw, will post xmas pageant pics tomorrow or something. Just got home now, went to see Ocean's Twelve.
Would be great to see the pagent pics, some of mine turned out alright, but wish I'd taken more of us!
#5
Re: The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
Originally Posted by tiredwithtwins
Glad to hear you didnt do an 'ozzy' and end up in hospital!
how is your 2 year old adjusting to the heat? does it bother her? does it affect her sleeping habits?
keep it coming!!
sue
how is your 2 year old adjusting to the heat? does it bother her? does it affect her sleeping habits?
keep it coming!!
sue
The 2 year old is a boy (7 year old is a girl) and he is adjusting pretty well to the heat, despite the fact we don't have aircon. He has a fan in his room and we've been turning that on at night, but you need to turn it off sometimes incase they get too cold! I let him play outside in the early morning and after about 4pm; our garden is a bit of a suntrap and our efforts to provide shade have been pretty futile (the shadecloth kept coming down as we have a rental and can't do that much to the house). We had a rellie send calpol as he was hot and ill when we first arrived; I think that's the only time we've really been concerned about the heat. (He just spits out the Aus equivalent of calpol.) Basically we have an active little boy in the arvo and evening & he sleeps a few hours in the day.
Our 7 year old is doing fine, she's adapted really well.
Larissa
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: The Larrikin life (What we've been up too!)
Originally Posted by Larissa
As we were driving home from our little adventure today, I thought that we were having so many new experiences, that I would attempt adding to a thread... because we are doing so many new things here, which we wouldn't have done in the UK. (Thanks Jill for the inspiration!)
This arvo we rang our friend in Muchea (North East of Perth), as we were at a bit of a loose end and wanted to get out of the house. We arranged to meet and woke our grumpy toddler, got in the car and headed out of Joondalup and away from the suburbs.
When we got to Muchea, we had a good drive around first, to check out the surrounding area. There's a real community feel to the place, but I won't go on about it too long incase the place gets inundated with Poms over the next few months.
We then came to our mates house and followed her car as she drove a further 20 minutes into the foothills. As we wove through the country roads, I spotted my first Cookaburra, perched on a gate by the side of the road. We drove past homesteads and farms, then came to a stop outside our friend's gate to her property. The road was bumpy and hard to negotiate, but we climbed up onto her hill, where she had a beautiful homestead with the most breathtaking views that I've seen in Aus so far.
We sat down on the veranda and dreamt in the scenary. The fields and hills rolled on for miles and it felt strangely like English countryside, as you could see bales of hay gleaming in the distance, amongst a patchwork of hedges and trees.
We didn't get to sit down for long as our toddler seized the opportunity to run and explore the gardens, finding two tree swings and running between them. Our friend took the children (2 and 7) to feed the chooks and our daughter came back with two fresh eggs and a grin like the chesire cat, as she had collected them herself.
I took loads of photos, since I'm aware I haven't sent many to the folks back home. Then our mate went into her shed... where we soon spotted a gleaming red quad bike. I couldn't believe it when she offered to take our daughter on the quad. At first I read the warning stickers and worried about the safety aspect... but soon I realised that she would be really careful and that our daughter would be in safe hands.
About 20 minutes later, our daughter arrived back on the quadbike with the biggest grin... I can honestly say I've never seen her looking as exhilarated. Hubby then had his turn. He went off for a while, then we saw him coming down a side track, chugging along like he had been driving a milkfloat. Anyway, it turns out that he went the wrong way and had got stuck doing a 3 point turn alongside one of the huge watertanks which service the property. He hadn't been able to reverse the quadbike and had to manouvere it by hand, while it butted against the tank. He nearly $hat himself thinking he would break through and get deluged with water. We went to check out the damage, but fortunately those tanks are pretty thick and he'd only really scratched the surface.
Next was my turn and I sat on the back, feeling like some Romanian peasant woman getting a hitch on a truck. We went up further on the hill, through native bushland, which had seen fire about 10 years earlier - you could see the blackened tree trunks. I was so busy taking it in, that I hadn't realised that my 7 year old was doing all the steering, breaking and gear changes... supervised closely by our friend I should add. She was having the time of her life and we had to stop her from racing down some very steep slopes. Larissa the peasant woman clung on for dear life, pretending she wasn't at all bothered. Meanwhile we saw wild roos by the waterhole and a huge spider fell out of the trees on us.
It was such a wonderful experience for our whole family. While I realise it may not be practical to live this far out in the country, we enjoyed our time there and must now seriously consider our housing options once hubby has work. It seems absurd to come this far and not live life to the full, but there are so many factors to investigate.
I honestly feel that even if we had to return to the UK tomorrow (eek!), we have certainly had a brilliant time here already.
Apologies for the ramble, but I'll try and keep my Aus adventures in this thread!
Larissa
Please Santa, put a quad bike in my stocking!!!
This arvo we rang our friend in Muchea (North East of Perth), as we were at a bit of a loose end and wanted to get out of the house. We arranged to meet and woke our grumpy toddler, got in the car and headed out of Joondalup and away from the suburbs.
When we got to Muchea, we had a good drive around first, to check out the surrounding area. There's a real community feel to the place, but I won't go on about it too long incase the place gets inundated with Poms over the next few months.
We then came to our mates house and followed her car as she drove a further 20 minutes into the foothills. As we wove through the country roads, I spotted my first Cookaburra, perched on a gate by the side of the road. We drove past homesteads and farms, then came to a stop outside our friend's gate to her property. The road was bumpy and hard to negotiate, but we climbed up onto her hill, where she had a beautiful homestead with the most breathtaking views that I've seen in Aus so far.
We sat down on the veranda and dreamt in the scenary. The fields and hills rolled on for miles and it felt strangely like English countryside, as you could see bales of hay gleaming in the distance, amongst a patchwork of hedges and trees.
We didn't get to sit down for long as our toddler seized the opportunity to run and explore the gardens, finding two tree swings and running between them. Our friend took the children (2 and 7) to feed the chooks and our daughter came back with two fresh eggs and a grin like the chesire cat, as she had collected them herself.
I took loads of photos, since I'm aware I haven't sent many to the folks back home. Then our mate went into her shed... where we soon spotted a gleaming red quad bike. I couldn't believe it when she offered to take our daughter on the quad. At first I read the warning stickers and worried about the safety aspect... but soon I realised that she would be really careful and that our daughter would be in safe hands.
About 20 minutes later, our daughter arrived back on the quadbike with the biggest grin... I can honestly say I've never seen her looking as exhilarated. Hubby then had his turn. He went off for a while, then we saw him coming down a side track, chugging along like he had been driving a milkfloat. Anyway, it turns out that he went the wrong way and had got stuck doing a 3 point turn alongside one of the huge watertanks which service the property. He hadn't been able to reverse the quadbike and had to manouvere it by hand, while it butted against the tank. He nearly $hat himself thinking he would break through and get deluged with water. We went to check out the damage, but fortunately those tanks are pretty thick and he'd only really scratched the surface.
Next was my turn and I sat on the back, feeling like some Romanian peasant woman getting a hitch on a truck. We went up further on the hill, through native bushland, which had seen fire about 10 years earlier - you could see the blackened tree trunks. I was so busy taking it in, that I hadn't realised that my 7 year old was doing all the steering, breaking and gear changes... supervised closely by our friend I should add. She was having the time of her life and we had to stop her from racing down some very steep slopes. Larissa the peasant woman clung on for dear life, pretending she wasn't at all bothered. Meanwhile we saw wild roos by the waterhole and a huge spider fell out of the trees on us.
It was such a wonderful experience for our whole family. While I realise it may not be practical to live this far out in the country, we enjoyed our time there and must now seriously consider our housing options once hubby has work. It seems absurd to come this far and not live life to the full, but there are so many factors to investigate.
I honestly feel that even if we had to return to the UK tomorrow (eek!), we have certainly had a brilliant time here already.
Apologies for the ramble, but I'll try and keep my Aus adventures in this thread!
Larissa
Please Santa, put a quad bike in my stocking!!!
Lovely jubbly to hear you're enjoying your new life downunder and living life to the full. Good on ya