I went to lunch with mum and my brother, Paul, today. We went to the Subiaco Hotel (where the food is fantabulous) and I have discovered where all of Perth's beautiful people have been hiding. Out in force were Gucci sunglasses, black leather and overpriced Nokia mobile phones. But oh, were they cute! I can see more Friday lunches at the Subi for me!I have to work tomorrow. Urgh. Every cloud, however, has a silver lining and I've been given a fleet car to use over the weekend. This means I can take the pearly green Camry out on the town all weekend! Within reason, of course. Of course!
I think I might chuff off and check out that new Cube Apple now.
Jane
posted by Jane Rigby 4:37:16 PM
Have the United States been bitten by the Naked Chef bug? He's the absolute latest in hip and happening down here, and english lad who cooks some damn fine food and listens to cool britpop. http://www.jamieoliver.net/ is his website, but I've never quite made it there. Anyway, last night was Naked Chef night and we all plan the week around being able to sit down and profess about how cool he is. He got married a couple of weeks ago, which has broken the heart of many a local lass. I do, however, question his attire: a blue corduroy suit with pink shirt and snakeskin shoes.
In any case, I'm sure we'll get over him in a while, but last nights sea bream, potato and wild mushroom dish looked extremely tasty. Now I'm just making myself hungry.Kitchen news:
Appliances delivered! New fridge, new oven, new cooktop, new super spanky mini drawer dishwasher! Took the mama shopping for what tiles to use on the walls and around the back of the oven and we found these cool chrome feature tiles that will do the trick nicely. I'm really bonding with the kitchen. The floors get their final polishing over the weekend and will be ready for my dancing shoes by Tuesday. Then we start moving furniture in. Last night (before Naked Chef time) my brother and I did a quick dash to all the backpackers in Perth - of which there are a suprisingly large amount - to stick up notices about the flat we're about to vacate. The estate agents, in typical barstard fashion, will continue to charge us rent until the place is filled with new tennants and won't be responsible for actually filling the property. Previous experience has demonstrated that if you want to sell something, sell it to a backpacker! Cross your fingers and hope I get the place rented pronto!Yep, i'm really hungry now!
posted by Jane Rigby 12:09:43 PM
Greetings blog friends!
I love vacation. Of course, in Australia we don't really use the term "vacation". Instead we just refer to all time off as "holidays". So Christmas, Australia Day, school holiday, time off in summer, spring break, Easter... (and so on) are all referred to as "HOLIDAYS" And holidays are bliss. Last week - indeed, shortly after my last blog - the mama and I jumped in the Camry (with electric windows, power steering and cruise control) and hooned off in a southerly direction for a winter break. Yes! Its winter here! No snow, though - just lots of wind and rain, and of course that is relative to how far down the south-west coast you wish to venture. Our destination is about as south as you get on this side of the country, so it was bloody windy and bloody rainy. We pushed off with a car load of blankets, overcoats and jumpers (Australian for "sweater") to keep ourselves warm. In the long run, there wasn't really a dire need for those, because we were booked in for some swank accomodation in a resort called Karri Mia, Denmark. Karri Mia is five star, in a low key kind of way (my kind of five star - unless we're talking about getting swept off your feet by celbrities in New York, then you might as well go the whole hog and do the top gear five star variety). This means: lots of day trips to wineries and other scenic locales, a breathtaking winter's view over the undulating farmland of the Denmark valley(not to mention the calm waters of the town's inlet beyond the paddocks, then the roaring surf of the ocean behind that) and even spotting the end of the rainbow on several occasions ("Its just over the hill, I swear! There's a pot of gold in it for us, Mum!"). It also means a roaring log fire that is eternally stoked, dining out every night on deluxe local produce, port after dinner, ambling down country roads, massages at the resort, and endless supply of magazines and the kind of breakfasts you'd get dewy about. Yeah, bliss...
One of our side trips was to a place called Walpole. Just nearby is a place called the Valley of the Giants, which refers to the trees that have peacefully making their home there for the last couple of centuries. In a display of uncanny sensitivity, the West Australian government has created an ideal way for the Vally of the Giants to be a decent tourist attraction, without letting the very thing(s) that are the attraction being destroyed. Around the forest floor of the Tingle trees, they have created a kind of forrest boardwalk where you can inspect the strange nature of the Tingle species and the peculiarities of their trunks. You see, the Tingle's trunks turn into caves at some point in their growth pattern and then expand until you have enough room to swing at least a couple of cats in there. I have estimated that I can have a decent sized tea party in one of the Tingles, but I'm not so sure if the conservationalists would be too happy about that.Me in a Tingle
But the Tingles aren't the star of the show down at the Valley of the Giants...
Climb the ramp to the Tree Top Walk - which, even though its fairly self explainitory - is a loop of supported walkway that winds though the "giants" up to a height of 40 meters. Its completely surreal to be wandering among the tree tops, instead of their trunks. Adding to the experience is the structure that lets you do this - the walkway is mesh on the bottom, and although completely safe, solid and supportive, has the capacity to swing and sway in the breeze (or in our case, with the motion that comes with feet tramping down the gangways) so not only are you wandering through the bush at completely unnatural heights, but you're not entirely stationery eitherMama in the Tree Top Walk.
On the way home from our pamper week down south, we dropped in for some chatting with Sharen, my cousin in Bridgetown. She's always a treat, because she's a right country chick, and they don't bullshit about anything. Her kids, Daniel and Taylor, had been to the natropath earlier in the day and had come home with special "ear candles" to clean the wax out of their ears. Generally a gross out, but they were cute because they were having competitions to see who could produce the most ear wax. My kind of kids.
Anyway, its gotta be time I thought about going home!
Love you, blog ;)
posted by Jane Rigby 6:02:29 PM
I'm working on a Saturday!
Eeek!
But the good news is that after work today, I'll be on holidays for one whole week (plus 3 weekend days as well). Mum and I are heading down to the southern corner of our state for a bit of R and R. You may not hear from me for the rest of the week, but rest assured i'll be having a great time!.
posted by Jane Rigby 4:32:20 PM
Woohoo!I went to the hairdresser last night and now i'm a red head (again)
I'll try to get a photo for my blogs :)
posted by Jane Rigby 8:55:17 AM
How!
I'm a little cheesed off that my sound card is still not functioning correctly. Why should this be? It loves to play my audio cds, but never my downloaded stuff from the net. I came to this conclusion when I tried to listen to Chip's sound byte from a few days ago, but alas, I heard only the constant hum of my computer's internal fan.Oh well
I went to the movies with the mama last night. It was a matter of
Jane: "Would you like to see East is East?"
The Mama: "Yes! What time is it on?"
Jane: "6:40"
The Mama: "What time is it now?"
Jane: "6:30"
and then the dash was on. The Mama had something of a parking drama, but after we bay-ed the car, got to the cinema and purchased drinks & tickets, we'd only missed the previews and opening credits. In all it was a very funny filum - with a few sad/angry bits. A good comment about culture clash/mesh.
posted by Jane Rigby 9:48:03 AM
Lunch is Satay vegies today, with green lettuce leaves and balsamic vinegar dressing on da side. Glass of milk too.
posted by Jane Rigby 1:30:05 PM
