Perth & Rotto

We all (16 of us) just got back today from 4 nights on Rottnest Island, a tiny island with a population of 300, about 8km long just off the Perth coast. It's kept strictly for tourists, with very little private property ownership and it's almost impossible to find accommodation , people book a full year in advance! We had a house, an 8 bed dorm, and a room at the lodge for G&G. We spent our time lying on the beach, biking around the island, snorkeling, jetty jumping, eating icecreams, etc. etc... I won't detail every day, but here are some highlights: 

--An amazing day of snorkeling on the west side of the island around Cathedral Rocks. It started with a very rough boat ride in Clare & Tim's boat along the North side of the island during which we had about four dolphins swimming around the boat and in the wake, AMAZING. Then as we were putting the anchor down and I was dangling my feet into the water, the most humongous sting ray swam right underneath us, as wide as my arm! I was so surprised I fell backwards into the boat to the entertainment of everyone else. We set up base on a secluded beach then swam out and walked across the reef to a lagoon where there were literally a million fish. There were about 15 seals all lying on their backs, flippers up, quite far away from us but one of them decided to come and investigate us and got within about a meter it was amazing! He was twirling around and you could see his whiskers and everything!! The seal then swam out to the edge of a lagoon and flopped himself up onto a rock to observe and sunbathe. A little later, two males got into a very loud and aggressive fight close by, likely over food or a girl...

--Lots of incredible sunsets and nights sitting out in front of the house after all 16 of us had dinner (usually delicious food off the barbie), playing charades, listening to music, watching the 7 year old twins (Katie & Maddie) doing various dances and gymnastics routines... The stars were so clear it was amazing and the Haggett children pointed out the various constellations to us.

--Christmas Day on the island was very different from any other Christmas I've had. No ferries run on Christmas Day, so the only people on the island were those that had accommodation... literally everyone that we passed on the roads & beaches said "merry christmas!" and people had christmas lights decorating their rental houses, stockings hanging up, christmas trees etc. We had 2 "trees". One was a dead branch from a tree with a piece of ribbon wound around it like tinsel, and everyone's hats hanging on it instead of ornaments. The other tree was a tiny inflatable tree that became our table centerpiece. It was also great being around little kids (i.e. 7 year old K&M) and seeing their excitement leading up to Santa Claus's arrival. We had a great gift exchange mid-morning and it felt amazing being able to physically give people gifts and see their reactions in person. We then headed down to the nearest beach (2 minute walk) and hung out there for a while with various extended family members & friends of the Haggetts who were also on the island. Then after getting all 16 of us through the one shower in the house (done through a series of sprints and a line of people, all clutching towels ready to dive in, and trying to finish quicker than the person before them), we had a traditional Christmas dinner, turkey, sausages, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas, bread sauce, cranberry sauce etc. etc. with flaming brandy christmas pudding for dessert. We had to abandon the tradition of letting everyone light the brandy and pour it over the pudding because Tim did not want his best brandy split around 16 people, haha! 

--Delicious jam doughnuts from the Rottnest bakery, made fresh daily! Truly the best I have ever had. 

Overall it was just incredibly relaxing and stress-free and really nice to spend time with all the aunts, uncles & cousins that I haven't seen for over 3 years! 

We have three more days in Perth before heading to Sydney on Tuesday for New Year's Eve! I hope everyone has a fantastic last few days of 2008 and you'll hear from me again in 2009! In the meantime check out the slideshow of pics from Australia so far & the picasa photos page (www.picasaweb.google.com/rachtait).

G'day!

G'day from Perth!

once again I've lost track of time and 3 weeks have apparently passed...

the first two weeks of December involved lots of babysitting and preparations for my best friends' visit and my four months in Aus/NZ...

Two of my best friends, Des & Doodle, came for a week and it was absolutely AMAZING! It was rewarding for all of us to see each other in person instead of just on Skye! It was amazing how quickly we settled right back into each other's company :) They got a great look at my life in the Netherlands, the house, my family, the climate, differences in transportation and food and prices (!). It was the first time in Europe for one of them so that was especially exciting... We took a fantastic private biking tour of Amsterdam which is by far the best way to see the city, went back a second time to visit the Anne Frank house which was very moving, and the Van Gogh museum, we had lots of hot chocolate stops in tiny little cafes that were centuries old, visited old windmills and cathedrals in Leiden, shopped in Den Haag, and rode around to the beach, main street, and pancake houses around little Wassenaar. They are both really enjoying uni and I will be visiting them there in April! The pictures are of our christmas spirit, heading off on our bicycles, and the beautiful christmas lights in Amsterdam's Dam Square:

We all went off to AMS airport last Saturday and my friends flew back to Virginia while my family headed for Singapore. 12 hours later we landed (7am Singapore time, midnight in Holland) and spent the whole day with 2 of Dad's old friends from work and their families. First of all, the temperature change only added to our extreme exhaustion and jetlag... we went from freezing cold and rainy in Holland to 30 degrees and incredibly humid and sunny in Singapore. We started at the Botanical Gardens which was amazing, so many different plants and birds and fish, then we went on the Singapore Flyer (their version of the London Eye but bigger), built this year which was also very cool. Fantastic views of the port and city skyline... then it was off to lunch/dinner which made me a little queasy because jetlag + no appetite + completely different foods wasn't a great combination haha. Then we wandered around a HUGE shopping mall and half of us fell asleep in a cafe before heading back to Singapore airport.

We all fell asleep in the airport's fantastic lounge with fully reclining chairs (!) then boarded our 5 hour flight to Perth, arriving at 2am Perth time (midnight in Holland)... so essentially we skipped one and a half nights of sleep which certainly took its toll on us.

However, it is wonderful seeing my grandparents, 4 aunts & uncles, and five cousins... the last time we were all together was in 2005 in Italy, and we've all changed a lot since then! The weather here is beautiful, low humidity, not a cloud in the sky, glorious sunshine and a breeze every single day. I had forgotten that you could spend a whole day without putting socks or a sweatshirt on...

The next post will be about what we've been up to so far! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, wherever you are!

snow!

Hello everyone!
Yesterday, we had (drum roll please).... SNOW! Of course we all rushed outside and spent a couple of hours building a snow man and jumping on the trampoline and playing frisbee over the tennis net and eating snowflakes etc. etc. Dad also came out (brave brave man) and decided it was the perfect opportunity to clean the gutters instead of helping us with our fantastic creations. And then about 2 hours later, just as we were putting the hat, scarf, eyes, arms, and mouth on our snowman, it started to rain and it all turned to sludge... Holland.

Happy December! We have our huge advent calendar up and our individual chocolate advent calendars (FINALLY this year we can buy decent ones here and G&G don't have to send them to us) and our advent candles!

I babysat this morning for the three year old twin girls and their 9 month old brother again... i have SO MUCH respect for their mother, it was truly one of my biggest life challenges. Trying to keep my eyes on all three of them at once while preparing snacks and changing diapers and pretending to be a horse and stopping the baby from swallowing everything in sight and settling arguments with the girls over who the pink princess cup belongs to... EXHAUSTION. But, at the end of the day, they're absolutely adorable and you just can't stay frustrated for long because then they giggle or mess up the pronounciation of "spaghetti" and your heart melts and you just want to squeeze them :)

Fairly non-eventful week ahead... mum & dad are working, boys have school, I have various babysitting jobs, doctors appointments, and trips to the post office (christmas presents!) planned.

--Rach