The Birgitte and Rob show!

At noon I went to Ikea with Eva. We tested chairs. Not that we need any but since we were there anyway...

We weren't the only chair testers.

In the evening I had dinner at Jon's house in the honour of Birgitte and Rob who visited from Melbourne, Aus.

John Baker, Phil, Jon, SG and Paddy.

Later that night, at an undisclosed house at an undisclosed location I found this and thought it was very funny.

Birgitte and Rob

Matar paneer.

No sun today. Just grey clouds. It actually started raining when I took this photo. I had to go back to the office early...

But not before another fire truck raced to another false alarm!

The leaves have beautiful colours now.

In the evening we met up with Birgitte and Rob. We went to dinner and later we went to the Belgian Beer Bar.

Nicole, Birgitte and Rob.

It was really very nice to see Birgitte again and to meet Rob. Thanks to both of you for an evening very well spent :-)

When I came home there was a postcard from Ilse and Cassie, thanks guys :-)

2007 wrap-up: Perth (B&M)

About 2 years ago our almost neighbours (they lived around the corner) Birgitte and Maurice moved to Australia as well. They live in Perth now and have managed really well. They have a cute little house and a car and both work nice jobs.

Perth is a nice city with lovely beaches and Birgitte and Maurice showed us around everywhere. It was fantastic to see them again and we enjoyed our stay very much.

The byebye

Our bedroom at the Murphy-Thoelen residence. We are very thankfull that they were able to accomodate for us so well. It's not easy having your house invaded by 2 people.

It was really nice seeing Birgitte and Maurice again after almost 3 years. We now live in the same country again but unfortunately 2200 kilometres apart so hopping over for coffee is not really an option...

Birgitte and Maurice had a final drink with us at the airport. When you fly domestic (staying within the country) you have so much less stress and hassle. Also Nicole printed our boarding passes from the internet so there was no checking in and we only had hand luggage. Easy going is what I say then.

This big beast landed while waiting. We flew a little 737 ourselves and we had a good flight back. The aircraft was only 60% full so we could sit a bit more comfortable and we were all the way in the back. Prime seats.

The bee sting

A new day, a new plate: "BANNIES". I have no clue.

Breakfast was outside today. As you can see by me wearing the sweater it was somewhat cool outside. It does cool down a fair bit in Perth, more than in Adelaide.

The dreamteam behind their house.

The dreamteam infront of their house.

After breakfast we took a walk to another view spot.

Birgitte under the shade of a tree. it makes a very nice picture I think.

When the water is low you can walk a fair bit into he river in Perth. As you can see I was walking barefoot, until I stepped on a poor little bee that had washed ashore. This was not a pleasant experience, both for me and mr. bee. Luckily the stinger wasn't stuck in my foot but for about 5 minutes it felt like a firecracker had exploded right underneath my foot. (You wonder how I know what that feels like? ;-P )

Nicole posing pretty.

In town on Sunday there were a lot of hot rods and custom cars driving around. This was the coolest one.

This one ain't bad either though...

Earlier that day I had bought myself a proper hat. I look like an explorer now but it's very nice. At least it keeps the sun off my neck, ears and nose.

Nicole now has my old hat ;-)

Ladies and gentlemen: The hatties!

Birgitte posing all pretty. I reckon she found a kilo of sand in her ear that night as it was very windy.

Later on we had drinks at a cafe just behind the dunes. it was wonderfull there with a beautifull view.

The wagamama

Today starts with a plate-winner: "Porker". A porker would be a person that sounds like a pig more or less. Charming, innit?

And we saw "Lewis 5".

"Donelle" was also there.

We visited a little town called Kalamunda today. The girls went to a market and Maurice and I tested the local pub. That pub was fantastic. No pictures unfortunately but they brew a lot of their own beers with imported ingredients from Germany. Their beers get brewed according to the german "reinheits-gebot" which is an old rule instatiated by King Wilhelm IV that says that beer can only be brewed with certain "pure" ingredients. This was to protect the german people from nasty immitations or dangerous substances. The "Dark ale" served here was the best beer I have ever tasted. Unfortunately not for sale anywhere else...

The huge cart is called a Whim it seems. used to carry big tree trunks.

Like the Whim, an old locomotive including the station and many other old buildings from the town of Kalamunda have been kept and moved into their little town museum. Maurice and I went here to have a look how these people lived here about 30-100 years ago.

The locomotive was build in Glasgow in the year 1897. It was in remarkably good shape.

This little cottage belonged to one of the first settlers of Kalamunda.

Back in Perth we visited the local Wagamama noodle restaurant. Being big fans of this world-wide chain we had to eat there once we found out there was one in Perth. There's none in Adelaide unfortunately.

As should be clear by this picture and the previous, you can eat with chopsticks if you like.... Or you can entertain the people around you with them.

I was happy with number 71 of the menu: Chicken katsu curry. De-li-cious.

This photo was made especially for Placido, our favourite waiter at Waga's Amsterdam.
"KNIGHTSY" was at the scene. Bit of a funny name if you ask me.

In the evening Maurice and I played some poker. First Texas Hold'm no limit and later some kind of Irish poker or more like "Murphy" poker as it was often played in the Murphy family on many social occasions.

The height check

In the morning we went for a walk through a big park in Perth. It was hot. The sweater around my neck is there only the keep the sun off of me. You see, I got a bit sun burned the day before at the beach...

"KREEPY" was driving around. Aparantly Western Australia also allows custom plates.

We drove through the city (the centre of a city is called the "city" in Australia) of perth.

Windowswashers are actually mountaineers here it seems. This looks like more fun than being in a stupid box hanging of the roof in The Netherlands.

I wasn't aware Dolce & Gabana is also into bloody big cranes...

More of the city.

Santa is not the only one busy around Christmas...

Here you can see a shot from the park we walked in. Looking down shows a mix of parkland mixed with big motorways around the city.

This was the most bizarre parking entry/exit I have ever seen. In Australia, cars drive on the left side. The entrance to this parking garage was on the right though because it's on a one way street. So inside, you had to change sides. I see plenty of opportunity for accidents there.

Birgitte posing infront of the juicebar she works at. They are very popular.

Height check!

There is just no getting away from cake here. There are so many and they're huge too. Sometimes there will be 3 metres of cakes displayed like this. Unreal.