Der Sommer WAR hier!

Ich korrigiere meinen letzten Eintrag, der Sommer WAR hier.

Es ist Bank Holiday weekend (und das hat nichts mit Pfingsten zu tun) und das Wetter scheint einen Packt mit wem auch immer geschlossen zu haben, dass es an einem freien langen Wochenende nur regnet und die Temperaturen maximal auf 10 Grad klettern.

Der einzige der das Wetter scheinbar mag ist Moritz. Man denkt Katzen mögen kein Wasser und keinen Regen, aber nix da. Moritz ist mehr draußen als drinnen. Wenn er dann mal durch die Katzenklappe hereinkommt, schlittert er mit den pitschnassen Pfotenauf dem Laminat herum und muß erstmal abgetrocknet werden.....

Aber wir trotzem dem Wetter und haben gestern mit unserem Ex-Nachbarn Daniel (Würzburg - St Neots- Coventry) gegrillt. Dank unserer tollen Jurtenseitenbahnüberdachungskonstruktion (Mark liebt lange deutsche Worte...) konnten wir die Party retten und wirklich grillen und draussen sitzen (bei 6 Grad...)

Übrigens, unsere website is jetzt live, schaut doch mal rein: www.tortugatents.co.uk

Ist der Sommer hier?

An einem sonnigen Sonntag im Mai (an dem der britische Wind einen nicht vollkommen wegweht und selbst Drei-Wetter-Taft die Frisur NICHT halten kann) haben wir doch glatt unser erstes outdoor Frühstück genossen!

Die Vögel zwitschern, die Katzen sind faul und wir genießen unser Frühstück mit Tee, was gibt es schöneres?

Zum Beweis habe ich Fotos von uns und der faulen Katze beigefügt.

Ach, ürbigens, das Hotel Royal Tautorat hat jetzt wieder geöffnet und Gäste sind herzlich willkommen. Für Buchungen und Verfügbarkeit, schreibt mir doch einfach eine mail :-)

Oh, the confusion!

ok, here's the thing - thing! - (if that went over your head then don't worry too much, it's an English thing). It appears you can actually state what date you want your blog entry to have so all entries should appear in proper backwards order or thereabouts even though we're doing the postings after we have arrived back home in rainy grimy England. The race is now on to see if the blog will fill up with English or German over the next few days. On your marks, get set, go! (maybe I should tell Inga she's in a race to post? Nah, far more fun to let her find out after she's lost hee hee)

Wieder daheim!

Hallo ihr Lieben,

wir sind wieder daheim im grauen, trüben, windigen und regenerischen England....
Vorbei ist unser kleiner Urlaub und verheiratet ist der Bruder und ich habe jetzt eine "sister-in-law-to-be" (ist mein neuer Titel).

Sobald wir unsere Fotos sortiert haben werden wir ein paar blogs über unseren Urlaub schreiben, aber erstmal ist Wäsche waschen angesagt....

Gruß,
Inga

Preparing for the big day

And finally we reach the real reason for our small excursion down under. It's the big day! Little bro' is getting hitched! The last of the family to get married and the only one left with a chance not to screw up and end up divorced :-) The day dawned and we looked out, fully expecting to see rain or snow or something but instead the skies were clear and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day (re-mortgaging my soul obviously worked). Now, I'm going to split the blog in to probably 3 entries as it was a long action packed day. We'll go with the family getting ready, the wedding and the reception. And probably in that order too - a wedding is a traditional affair and there are some things you really shouldn't mess about with.

We'd spent the night before up the road with the new rels-to-be, having pizza and beer and generally relaxing. We were introduced to the Kiwi side of the family (come on down, you're more than welcome to stay - love those kiwi's!) and made fun of Jason and Dani but very sensibly we didn't drink a great deal which made it easier to cope with getting up and getting ready.

Now, let me tell you, being a bloke in a house full of women who are getting ready for a wedding is no fun. Especially when I was supposed to be doing a reading at the wedding and hadn't rehearsed. I also needed to compose and write a story in the wedding card. Eventually we were all milling about, pretty much ready so it became photo time. This is all the girlies: Mum, Rachael, Inga, Sam, Caitlin and Karen. All done up in their finery, made up like Indian's going off to war and all looking very pretty. Just to spoil things, here's one of me and Inga, posing on the balcony - actually most of the pics are of everyone posing on the balcony, I mean, why wouldn't you? We were scheduled to get a bus to the wedding. No, not a normal bus, a rented bus, just for us and some of the other guests who were staying in Gracetown. It would be a bit mean to make us take public transport to the wedding, to make us sit next to the great unwashed on a stinky bus. Ewww! (as they say in California). This is going to be a photo heavy blog entry btw, if you hadn't already guessed but, hey!, it's a wedding, what did you expect? We took alot of pics and were even all ready before the pickup time (c'mon, six women, be impressed at that). I finished writing my card in my neatest handwriting (which isn't saying much) and sealed it up. If you want to know what was written you'll need to ask Dani - it's called The Perfect Gift.
The coach turned up (just to remove all thoughts that we took a normal bus), the other passengers turned up and we set off. Next stop, Clairault Winery, where we would meet up with everyone else prior to the big event. Wonder if Jason will turn up or if he's done a runner? (Wonder if Dani had him tagged just in case?) More pics to finish with!

Waving at the waves

We're in Gracetown! Yippee!! I love Gracetown (which is really the size of a village but GraceVillage sounds dumb). It's a small community in a dead end cove facing the Indian Ocean. Our house is high up on the hill, overlooking the town and the bay with a direct view of the sun as it sets over the ocean. You fully expect there to be steam and the sound of boiling water as it sinks away. It's an amazing sight and one we didn't see the night before due to bad weather. Sulk. Never mind. Today we were off playing tourists again and going to see some of the sights. Some had been seen before (by Rach and I), but some would be new to us all. No matter, the thing was to get out and see them despite the weather and lurking rain clouds. Our first stop was unplanned (bearing in mind that we never really plan anything). As we drove even further Southwards (we wanted to know if it was possible to fall off the edge), the trees soared up into the sky. Amazing. So we stopped and took some pictures. The trees are amazing. They go up and up and up and up, thrusting their way into the sky with a complete disregard for gravity. It's one of those things that you really do have to experience and it leaves you speechless (novelty for me!). Nature really is magnificent. After the trees we headed down to Augusta which is a pretty little town with not much going on (tourist season was over) but it does have, nearby, a lighthouse. Not just any lighthouse, either - would I bring you to a normal lighthouse? p-lease! - This is the lighthouse that stands on the rocks at the point where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. They say hello, sometimes they mingle, sometimes they fight, sometimes they gang up on passing ships or hassle the migrating whales. And all the time they try and batter the land into submission (which i think is something to do with what someone's dad said about someone's mum quite a long time ago but they never really explain, even if you ask nicely). It's a very elemental place. We drove out along the coast, paid our fee to get in to the compound in a nice new building that hadn't been there two years before, and then got blown away by the wind. There's not a lot between you and the Antarctic and the wind is kinda bored by the time it hits land, so having some humans to play with makes it very excited and enthusiastic. The girlies posed by the sign and then we went down to play with the waves. Ok, I went to take photo's, you should know me well enough by now. You can climb down from the lighthouse on to the rocks below and walk right up to the Ocean's edge. The waves crash into the rocks, flinging spray high into the air before it splatters down all around you. There's something about waves hurling themselves against rocks that I find fascinating. Very relaxing and contemplative. Unfortunately for me it was cold and not really the right weather to be hanging about on the rocks for hours on end, nor were the waves that good to photo - far too grey. Instead Inga gazed wistfully in the direction of Antartica doing an excellent penguin impression (I think she thought it was Africa she was staring towards while she was trying to have warm thoughts). We took photo's of us by the ocean and in front of the lighthouse (purely as evidence in case someone tried to frame us later on for a bank job or something) and left the windswept promontory. Just down the road was an old water wheel which, over the years, had become fossilised. It looked really weird and quite pretty in its own way, but I'd hate to think what sort of state the people who used to drink the water ended up in! Having played with air and water, we decided that the next stop should be a close encounter with earth (actually, we went to the Tourist Information and then I did my "I'm hungry and going to die" act in order to get some food and then we decided what to do next but those are trivial details...). This area of SW Australia has some amazing cave systems and we went to see one (earth, geddit?) called Jewel Cave. Inga had high hopes for a matching set of ear-rings, necklace and bracelet but it turns out not to be that sort of Jewels. It was a big hole in the ground and, when the time came, down we went. And down. And down. And down. Until we met our guide. then we went down some more. Jewel cave is spectacular. There is no other word for it. Massive stalactites and stalagmites hanging down and pointing up ('tites go down btw. Just a hint for the ladies...after which the men mite go up... hee hee, even in cave I can lower the tone) I will say that it is hard to do decent low light photography with a normal digital camera. This is one of those occasions that I wish I'd had my trusty film SLR, but I did my best. Jewel cave is famous for a formation called "the table". This is a huge stalactite that 'hovers' above the water. It weighs a couple of tons. And there it is, just hanging in the air, like it belongs there! I'm telling you, that bit of rock sold someone's soul to the devil so that gravity wouldn't take an interest! We went on our tour and were careful not to touch anything - they take years and years to form and seconds to break off. Some had black spots which was where they had been touched by people; the oils on our skin causing irreparable damage. Bloody tourists. And one small one had been snapped off earlier that day. VANDALS!!! We emerged into the daylight and climbed our weary way up to the top. There were alot of stairs to climb
and we were greeted by lovely blue skies. We trundled home in good spirits via a chocolate factory (which made my spirits even better, especially after I'd bought some chocolates) anticipating sitting on the balcony watching the sun set - this was to be the fire of our elemental day. Then it got dark, gloomy and the sun skulked off unseen leaving a cold night behind. Oh well, 3 out of 4 wasn't bad (2 out of 3 would have put us in Meatloaf territory, which was to be avoided). Wedding tomorrow. Little bro' is finally getting hitched and we all get to dress up and pass for normal people. Could be interesting..

Driving South for the winter

The time has come to depart our luxurious home from home and head South. Birds fly, Aborigines walk, but we, being lazy white people, drive. There are two routes to get down South from Perth (no expense spared with roads round here!). The highway - mile after mile of straight quick road, or the coast road - mile after mile of not so straight road. We chose the coastal route. It was prettier (apart from the bits that were industrial, retail or as ugly as hell on a bad day) and we had all day to meander down to Gracetown. With Inga in the driving seat, Rachael making sure teddy didn't get over excited or out of control in the back, and yours truly in charge of the non-existent map, we were all set for the open road. We waved goodbye to the others (who were taking the quick route) and set off into the great unknown. Okay, known to Rachael and I, but not to Inga; this was her adventure with us along for the ride. The coast road isn't that spectacular but you do get a glimpse of life for the average Aussie. The drive was uneventful (in terms of accidents, close misses, road rage or hitting kangeroos) and we arrived in Busselton, a pretty town on the coast with a massive long pier. We stopped for lunch and to be tourists for a while. The pier stretches out over a km into the bay and, if you cross an old lady's palm with pieces of strange runic paper, she allows you to walk up to the end. Once you get there, a young lady demands more runic paper if you want to descend below the waves and look at fishes. We chose not to and I'll swear she was trying to give us the evil eye as we hung about looking scruffy and taking pics. There were some people fishing at the end and they'd caught a squid - such a weird looking creature. It lay basking in the sun and the attention of passer-by's wondering why it couldn't breathe and not knowing that is was destined for the supper table. Yum. We strolled back in the wind, managing to stay out of the water - no barrier on one side and it's not that wide a pier - and continued on our way. We got lost. Well, not so much lost, as missed the turning to Gracetown due to a lack of signage. Inga executed a nifty handbrake turn (something Hyundai deny their cars are capable of) and we retraced our steps. We drove into Gracetown - which is beautiful - and found the house. It was still perched high up on the hill, so erosion hadn't got to it quite yet. I'll end with pictures of Inga and Rachael on the pier; you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the fantastic views. Love the hair, Rach. You look just like a coconut that's escaped from a carnival sideshow!

Doin' Time

Another day dawns with the sun leaping energetically into the sky to bake everyone to a crisp. Well, that's what should have happened but instead it was a dull, overcast day that made you think you were in England. With parrots. There were no plans for the day so we decided to make use of the fact that we were armed with a car and do some more touristy stuff. In fact, we would head off back down to Freemantle and do some hard time. Oh yeah, into Jail we were going to go; banged up behind bars, chained to the wall - no, hang on, that's something else entirely, forget I even mentioned it. Freemantle prison is a strange tourist attraction in that you can only go in if you're on a tour. It's set on the hill, perched above Freemantle - quite a nice position - and used to hold everything from transported convicts to drunks to Aboriginies to really bad criminals or lawyers as they're now known. We opted for the standard tour of the prison block. The other thing we discovered is that all the tour guides are either ex-wardens or ex-prisoners, but you don't know which is which. My theory is that if the tour party comes back minus a member and there's suspicious blood stains on the guide, then it was probably an ex-warder who took you round (if you came back having had all your credit cards stolen and your wife sold into slavery, it was probably a lawyer).
We entered through the gates and went where we were told, following the guide and asking questions, absorbing facts (and probably some fiction too) as we went around. Our guide, Max the murderer, took us through the kitchens and some exercise yards - inmates would spend the whole day in the yard, in the blazing sun - and along the rows of cells. A number of inmates had painted their cell walls and these cells had been preserved. The colours (no real sunlight to make them fade, see?) and details were amazing. Alot of the cells were laid out like they would have been during different periods of the prison's history and it was fascinating to see how much things hadn't changed over the decades it had been open. The prison also carried out executions in a room too small for many spectators (I think they missed a trick there, a great money making opportunity slipped through their fingers) and we saw the chair and rope that would have been used (they'd taken the body away). All in all it was a fascinating insight into the justice system. Luckily, Max the murderer, decided we'd all been good enough to get parole and he let us back out the gate before going off for lunch with Chris the cannibal.

Coming out of the prison it rained. Alot. We got wet running for the car and Inga ended up looking like a drowned rat. That said, I wasn't much better. When the rain stopped we wandered into town for lunch and then headed back towards Perth, doing our best to stick to the coast rather than the highway. Perth has some wonderful beaches and some equally wonderful houses facing them. What is good is the way that very little is built right up to the beach which means that it's open and available to everyone. We drove along, stopped and looked at views and generally enjoyed ourselves as we headed homewards. We even went and stood by the sea at one point and Inga did her Jamaica Inn impression, looking wistfully out across the ocean, wondering where her true love had gotten to. Not getting any answers she decided to stick with me instead. Tonight we had to pack and clean the house, for tomorrow we were off to Gracetown for the rest of the week, culminating in the reason we were here: Jason & Dani's pissup, sorry, wedding!

Quaint and picturesque

is probably how most people would describe the township of Guildford. No, not the one squatting near the M3 but the lovely settlement just up the river from Perth. In fact, it was the first settlement outside of Perth. Now, however, it is a collection of beautiful old buildings under the flight path for the airport...well, can't have everything in life, can you?

We started the day by trekking into Perth City to rent a little car to get around in - mainly for going down to Gracetown, but there's no harm in doing a little sightseeing too - We dutifully took our little Hyundai back and announced we were going to Guildford to look about and did anyone else want to come? A resounding wave of apathy flooded over us, so we went alone (not quite alone as we had each other but you know what I mean). We found the town and went for a stroll about, cleverly calling in to the tourist information and collecting a map of the town walks. The buildings were old colonial style and the entire town had that laid back Sunday feeling. I wouldn't have been surprised to see people in horse and carts plodding by, but it was the ubiquitous Toyota pickups we saw instead. We followed the town trail and slowly made our way along, picking up snippets of history and taking photo's of old buildings. It was very restful. Down by the river (where the original landing stage would have been) we watched parrots fighting and playing amongst the trees. Making our way back into town we spotted a cat, dozing on the boot of an old car and looking like it'd been there forever. There was a huge square park with massive old houses lining the street facing it; a church sat serenely in the middle waiting patiently for Sunday to come round again. It was that sort of place, where everyone seems to be waiting for something to happen and will carry on waiting, patiently, until it does. We relaxed and wandered along the route laid out by our map, peering into people's houses and their lives, commenting and discussing (as you do) as we meandered ever on. (Luckily the walk was circular so we meandered back again). We headed back feeling relaxed and refreshed, ready to face our next challenge as tourists.

If I ever move to Australia then I am going to be a one man sign stealing crime wave as they have some great signs! I know, I could buy cheap plastic souvenier ones, but it's not just the same. I want originals, not copies! This one of a duck and her babies is so cool. If only I'd had a spanner and a ladder handy...