Fishing

Today we decided to go fishing - so we started - with no knowledge and no equipment - Good place to start!

We went to a tackle and bait shop on Rockingham foreshore and admitted our ignorance, they were great -we got rods, reels, hooks, weights, little bits that go between the weights and hooks (for some reason), bait, and loads of leaflets showing what fish we could catch and how to do it and a DVD on fishing basics, all for about $80.00 (about £32.00). So now we're all set - we didn't look at the DVD but took our books, rods etc to Palm Beach Jetty and fished of there this evening - after several helpful spectators giving us advice, we thought we knew what we were doing. Anyway to cut a long story short I caught a tiddler which I threw back and John caght 4 tiddlers which he threw back AND a Leatherjacket - We were told this is what it was and our books confirmed it - which we kept and took home to eat (Well it did us a starter!) So now as an educated fisherperson I can tell you that the Leatherjacket is so named because it doesn't have any scales - when you fillet it, you take off the head as normal, then peel the skin back like a 'leather jacket'.

We did get a surprise with this one - when I was trying to cut its head off I had to apply a bit of pressure and its stomach split (yuk) and out came its most recent meal - live with legs still moving - I think it was some sort of yabbi or bug (crayfish type of thing), and then another one again still moving - I bet they thought they'd been saved - till I killed them and threw them in the bin (well what else was I supposed to do with them?).

So now we're going to try again to get a proper meal! We'll watch the DVD first...... and let you know how we go on.

Kyotmunga winery

For John's Birthday I bought him a row of vines in Kyotmunga winery in the Chittering Valley (about an hour north of Perth). Today we went to see them, and to pick up his 12 bottles of Shiraz produced from them. Lynette and Trevor welcomed us and gave us some tastings of their wine and olive oils, then Trevor showed us around, showing us his sheep, vines, olives and citronella fruit trees. Whilst looking at the sheep I felt something crawl on my leg, then I felt a nip higher up my thigh - ANTS - I had to make a hasty exit to the loo and evict it from my jeans! We'll visit them later this year and get the remainder of John's birthday present - a lunch platter and Devonshire tea for 6 - we may even stay over somewhere near there and make a weekend of it. See the photo album for some more pictures of the winery.

This week we've both passed the theory test of our Skippers ticket, we were due to go out and do the practical on Saturday, but the weather has changed (you can see the dark clouds in the photo), and we have had to postpone going out until the weather clears. Tonight we are due storms, but from Tuesday it should be up to 25C again.

Huntsman

After posting the sleeping spider yesterday, we were going to bed, and noticed this guy on the window. Fortunately he is on the outside of the glass, we checked this out by tapping the glass (then running). This is a Huntsman spider and will eat smaller spiders so I guess he's OK - as long as he stays outside! He won't kill you but can give you a nasty nip. Again click on the pic to see the full screen scary version.

John got a job!

John's going to be a Real Estate agent - he takes a course at the beginning of June and then starts with a Real Estate company after that. We met the guy today and had coffee with him at a local cafe and that was the interview. I've taken some photos of a home for sale for them, and hope this will expand. Going to see Hays agency in Perth on Wednesday, but now don't think I want to travel that far - but we'll see how it goes.

We went for a walk along the beach this evening at sunset and realise how lucky we really are, then we stopped into the pub for a quick drink to celebrate John's new job.

Now back at home - going to watch 'Desperate Housewives' some things are the same over here!

Spiders and wildlife

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO GET THE FULL SCREEN VERSION

We've not had too much trouble with spiders- this one was dead (or asleep) when we found him, so we hoovered him up - now we're fighting over who empties the hoover! There's 3 in there so far.


We have seen some other more pleasant wildlife, a stingray in the shallows at Point Peron (just up the road), and a dolphin in Safety Bay (again just up the road). We've bought a bird feeder to try to attract the parrots to the garden, but think we need to do some research on what they eat, as we haven't seen any feeding yet.

What a life

I'm now sat outside updating this by the pool, what a hard life. We've been very busy organising life out here. After a few knock backs on houses we finally think we've found one - we've put in an offer and it has been accepted, we're now waiting for the building inspection to be done, and if that's all clear we could be in by 25th June, when we know it's definitely going ahead I'll post some pictures, but it is wonderful!





We've signed up to take our Recreational Skippers ticket, and should start the training next Wednesday, that will allow us both to get our own boat to go fishing on and enjoying the sea.





John's looking into selling Real Estate and is looking at courses now, he's found an agent that will take him on when he gets his licence. I've just started looking for work and will let you know how I get on in the next few weeks.


SAFETY BAY


We went out on our bikes yesterday, cycling around Safety Bay, it's lovely to be able to get out and see the beaches and ocean.

A couple of days ago we took some snags (sausages) down to this same stretch of beach and BBQ'd them for lunch. The council provide free electric BBQ's in nearly every park and stretch of park near the ocean, you just push a button to heat it up, cook your food and clean it off afterwards - Great!

Broadband at last!!!

We've finally got online! Not broadband but ASDL, seems to work OK. So now I'll have to update this thing. We've done loads more shopping for furniture, pots, pans etc, you can see some of our furniture on this web site http://www.realestate.com.au/realestate/agent/summit+realty+waikiki/sunwai/103349221 The house we are renting is on the market and the Real estate agent wanted some more pictures, so took these. The down side to that is that our furniture looks that good, that they have now sold the house, so we desperately need to find one that we can buy, as we will be homeless in 6 weeks.

We've found a couple but been pipped to the post, but still have lots more to view, so will be kept busy doing that.

Will continue to update now we have internet access