Hi Everyone!
Well, we just got back home from our trip to Perth.  We actually got in last
night, but ended up staying the night with our friends in Bangkok because
they told us that a guy from the company the guy works for got killed on the
highway to our house one night last week.  So we figured that driving at
night (and on a Saturday night at that) might not be such a good idea.  It
was a hard decision to make though, because we were more than anxious to get
back to our furry little buddy, Vino.
Vino welcomed us back this morning with loud meows and a huge poof of fur
which exploded from his body upon first contact.  His maid comes in twice a
day to feed him, but I swear she doesn't pet him.  He always sheds about 50%
of his hair.  So I immediately took him outside on the lawn and gave him a
good brushing while he happily munched on some grass and purred non stop.
Later on, he helped us unpack and looked cute sitting on all our bags.  Now
he is already back to his usual self, bugging me for his dinner 2 hours
early.
I'm happy to report that even though the trip to Perth was super stressful,
we got everything accomplished that we went for and things with our
Australian visa should be moving ahead nicely.  Dennis passed both of his
exams and now has an Australian pilot licence.  YAY!  Actually, the booking
of these tests proved to be more of a hassle than writing them.  Our stress
level was right up when there were only 3 slots left to write the 2nd exam
but we couldn't even book it until the guy in Australia got email
confirmation of Dennis' Canadian licences from Transport Canada.  Turns out
that the guy in charge in Canada is off on vacation and he left another guy
in charge who was also on vacation.  How typical!  Anyway, we finally got it
settled after staying up till 1 am, shivering in a phone booth, making calls
to Vancouver.  Ugh.
Dennis also had an aviation medical, ECG, audiogram, eye test, etc.  Getting
appointments with all these doctors on short notice was hard but we called
so many that eventually we got appointments at the times we needed.
We're also happy that we were able to apply for and obtain 1 year visas for
Thailand at the Thai consulate in Perth.  So now we don't have to drive to
the Cambodia border every month :-)
On the Sunday after we arrived there, we got together with Helen Wheels
again.  We met her last year when we were there and naturally were looking
forward to seeing her again.  So we headed out to her house where we were
able to meet Simon and Arthur out in the yard.  The other cats were a bit
shy, but Simon was just looking to curl up in a sunny spot, and Arthur
turned out to be quite a love slut after some initial shyness.  We drove to
a really nice park and went for a bit of a hike.  It was a beautiful day out
and I got a few pictures.  Afterwards, we had lunch at a local pub.  A great
time was had by all, but unfortunately we had to go after lunch so that
Dennis could get back to his books and study some more for his last exam.
After Dennis passed his final exam, we were really happy so we bought a case
of beer and a huge box of cookies for the guys at Jandakot Helicopters in
Perth who had let him study and use their computer in their briefing room
for the previous week.  After that we headed off to meet with the migration
agency that we're hiring to take care of our visa process for us.  Things
went well with them and it turns out that there are actually several
different options of applying.  So they will apply for every avenue that is
open to us and things look good that at least one of them will work out.
I'm going to make another posting in a separate thread because I need some
help and advice from the Australians of this NG.
Anyway, so after all that business was done, we were completely elated and
proceeded to have a late night at the pub.  Unfortunately, our heads didn't
feel so great the next morning, when we were heading out to Margaret River.
Oh well, we should have known that would happen.  We got to Margaret River
mid-day on Wednesday and it was even more beautiful than we'd remembered.  I
don't know what it is about that place, but we just love it sooooo much
there.  It is picture perfect, like a child's story book.  We saw huge herds
of kangaroos grazing on fields, and these small black cows with long fuzzy
fur that I found just adorable.  Saw lots of sheep too of course and even a
few emus.  I got a ton of pictures that I'm going to have to go through in
the next week, I'll put some up in our Yahoo album and post a notice here.
On Thursday, we proceeded to tour some wineries in the area and did a bunch
of wine tastings, that was great :-)  We even bought 6 bottles of wine that
we managed to sneak back to Thailand in our suitcases with no problems.  The
only unfortunate thing was that it seems like real estate prices have risen
since last year and are pretty much going to continue to rise steadily
there.  Which isn't so good since we really won't be ready to buy anything
until we have our visa in a year or so.
On Friday we went to the beach and walked around.  There were a lot of shark
hazard signs on the beaches because a guy got killed by a great white just a
few days before we got there.  But there were already a few brave souls back
out surfing.  It seemed cold but the waves were humungous.
The weather was really great while we were there, crisp days, quite warm in
the sun, and cold at night.  It was nice not to be sweaty all the time and
to actually be able to wear clothes.  I did get a nasty cold as soon as we
arrived, but I guess that was to be expected.  We ended up investing $20 in
a space heater (a brilliant idea by yours truly, which is why Dennis pays me
the big bucks ;-) and that really warmed our hostel room up and was
definitely worthwhile.  Especially since it made getting out of bed in the
morning actually feasible.  Now we are back in the heat, pants, long sleeved
shirts, jackets and socks already packed away until our next foray into
colder climes.
--
Britta
Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's covered
in fur!
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album