As I take a break from the mundane everyday life I’m taking a step back in time to a few weeks for our visit to Rottnest Island in Western Australia.

We spent a day there and we were extremely lucky with the weather. It was the perfect winter’s day, blue sky and not too cold. In fact I wish I hadn’t taken my coat as I ended up lugging it around all day.

Rottnest Island is unique in that there are no cars allowed. The main mode of transport is bicycles and it makes for a very peaceful place and the perfect family holiday destination. As we were there during school holidays it was fairly busy and the ferry was pretty full.

The first thing we did upon arrival was find the bike hire place to hire a couple of bikes for the day. They sure don’t make bike seats that comfortable, or maybe it’s just because I don’t ride bikes very often. My bum was pretty sore by the end of the day. I also found out that I’d worn my bike helmet the wrong way around all day as towards the end of the day I was riding past a group of kids and one of them said, ‘You’ve got your helmet on back to front.’ After I stopped and put it on the right way I realised it was a lot more comfortable. And here’s me thinking I was doing okay riding around the island.

Actually, we didn’t ride all the way around the island. The smallest hill becomes the largest mountain when you’re riding up it and you’re not used to it. JJ did really well and I was always looking at him in front of me. And we were constrained by time. We probably did about one third of it.

Rottnest is named after these little creatures who slightly resemble rats. They are called Quokkas. After our bike ride I was sitting outside after I’d finished an icy cold beer, watching JJ on the playground and I felt something at my feet. I tried to move it out of my way and realised that it was moving. When I looked down it was this creature looking for food. They’re obviously quite tame.

In the main settlement area near the shops, there are also lots of peacocks. The supermarket had little swinging plastic doors which I realised were to keep out hungry animals.

All in all it was a really good day and I’d love to go back some time to stay for a while. I think it was our best day in Western Australia.

Two weekends ago we were in Fremantle and one of the things we did was to visit the Fremantle prison. The only way to have a good look around is to pay to join a tour - an hour and a half tour. Keeping JJ interested crossed my mind, but I paid for both of us to do it and I’m glad I did as I like finding out this kind of stuff. I did a similar tour around Alcatraz when in San Francisco.

The tour guide knew his stuff that’s for sure and the hour and a half for me went quickly. Probably not quite so quickly for JJ but he coped admirably well and didn’t tell me too many times he was bored.

The above image is the original sized cell that prisoners slept in. Prisoners being convicts in the first instance before it became a prison for non-convicts also.

A day in the life of a prisoner.

Of course the walls have barbed wire at the top of the walls to help prevent escape.

Some of the walls had broken glass instead.

I couldn’t believe that prisoners were inhabitants until 1991. The prison certainly isn’t luxurious and it wouldn’t have been very comfortable.

Before the prisoners had to be moved to another prison because of its closure they were allowed to paint on walls, both inside their cells and outside.

This painting was done by an indigenous inmate, and you can see JJ looking a bit bored!

There was a church inside the prison which the male inmates used to go to fairly regularly, especially when women prisoners were going too. Once they stopped going many of the men stopped too.

One prisoner painted the ten commandments on a church wall. If you’re familiar with your commandments you’ll notice that the sixth one is slightly different.

I would have liked to do a tunnels tour but the youngest you can be is 12 so JJ wouldn’t have been able to come. Perhaps I could have put him in a cell for a couple of hours?

So we’re back from Perth and it was great to go away on holiday and be away from work for one week. Today was a bit of a shock being back at work and I found out that my voicemail said I’d be back on 21 January, not 21 July. Talk about wishful thinking!

I’ve mentioned earlier that I’d never been to Perth before. It’s hard not to go past all the construction that’s happening in Perth - the parts of it I saw anyway. I have a photo somewhere of the CBD and we counted about eight cranes scattered across the city. The mining boom is having repercussions in the building industry that’s for sure.

We stayed in a backpackers for a few nights and a couple of people staying there worked in the mines. Why you’d want to stay in a backpackers during your one or two weeks off escapes me as they’re not really restful places. We had a double room with an ensuite and unfortunately it was right in the middle of the backpackers (an old house) and not far from the kitchen so we got the kitchen noise at night and from people getting up at 5am for work. As it was only for a short time I put up with it and there were benefits.

JJ made friends with nearly everyone, provided entertainment, and annoyed them with requests to play Uno with him. We were lucky that I found a clean and family friendly place (family friendly was on my criteria list and this backpackers was about the only one I could find).

We were also fortunate that it was near the free bus that Perth Transit puts on. Their free bus system is fantastic. Apart from our time in Fremantle at the beginning and one other public transport trip, we didn’t pay for public transport at all. I was also really impressed with the trains. They’re frequent and they’re clean. So unlike the Adelaide trains.

Unfortunately it rained a fair bit which put a dampener (pardon the awful pun) on our holiday a little bit and I had to buy JJ a pair of waterproof shoes because the sneakers I took for him got wet really easily and were quite uncomfortable for him.

I took heaps of photos while away and will be posting them over the next little while along with our travel tales.

I’m already thinking about the next holiday we can take together.

As JJ is a bit older now I want to start taking him on holidays. This is a bit daunting because it will be just him and me ALL the time with no break from each other which puts me off a bit but I want to do it nevertheless.

So, I’d been thinking of going to Queensland as it will be warm when I want to go there. Then I realised I’d never been to Perth so I thought I’d go there instead. I looked up airfares and realised that it would turn into an expensive holiday after paying for airfares and accommodation. This is why some of my friends go to Asia for their holidays because it’s not much more expensive to fly there and it’s cheap once you’re there.

I put my holiday plans on hold for a bit to think some more. Then at work recently I nearly had a chance to go to the States for a conference in July. Unfortunately that was kyboshed so my manager could go but as a ‘consolation’ prize I get to go to Perth for a one day workshop which happens to be during the school holidays. Therefore I get a free flight to Perth.

My brain immediately started ticking when I realised that I could take JJ but I’ll have to get him babysat for the one day of my workshop.

I’ve got some feelers out but if anyone from Perth reads this blog and knows of childcare options please let me know. I don’t know if I’m able to put him in vacation care for a day at a school there as it will be school holidays there also. I’ll have to find out.

My other option is to put him on a plane back to Adelaide and have someone pick him up and look after him until I get back. I’m hesitant to do this as it’s a fairly lengthy flight from Perth to Adelaide.

So it appears as though I’m going to Perth folks. I can’t wait.

It hit me one day - winter was coming and I did not want to be around for another cold, grey, and miserable winter so I decided to escape back home, and back to a warm summer.

As well as the cold, grey and miserable winters, it was that place where it doesn’t really snow yet there can be ice on the roads in the morning making it hazardous to walk down the street to get to work. That place where there’s plenty of your country men and women, and your ancestors came from there, and it costs a fortune to do just about everything. Have you guessed yet? Yes, I’m talking about London, England.

I’d already been living there for nearly a year longer than I planned, the plan being one year. I’d done some travelling but it was time to leave. Winters in London are really depressing. It’s not so much the cold weather, but the continual grey sky. If the sky was just blue for a while it might be a lot more bearable. It was also the short days which meant travelling to and from work in the dark. Maybe I was too used to mild Australian winters and was spoilt and just couldn’t handle a different winter climate, I’m not sure.

I really wanted to go home and have an Australian summer but it was going to be hard to leave England. I’d finally made some good friends there - it had taken a while. I’d made friends with people I lived with and I’m still in touch with one of them now. My upstairs neighbours in the last flat I lived in were fantastic. They invited us to their regular Tuesday night food and video sessions and I did other stuff socially with them also. I’d made friends with people I worked with as I’d worked in the same place for nearly one year. In fact I could have got a good job with British Airways who were associated with my work which probably would have meant cheap flights home but even that did not entice me to stay.

I still wanted to go home. I went on one final trip to Israel and Egypt and organised a travelling partner for a trip through India on the way home. I also organised a couple of tea chests for the goods I’d collected and didn’t want to part with. I found a person to replace me in the flat and realised that finally I wouldn’t get hassled to pay for that TV licence. I still don’t get why you have to pay to watch a television in England after you’ve already paid to buy a television.

For my last few days in London I stayed with a couple of friends and said my goodbyes to everyone and finally the morning came where I caught the tube to Heathrow for the flight to New Delhi.

It took two months to get back to Australia via India but it was worth it, and I knew I was home as I left the Melbourne airport and the money collector at the car park gate said, ‘No worries mate’ in that unmistakable Australian accent.

This is for the Scribbit Write-Away contest

I’m a bit behind on writing about activities we’ve done in the last couple of weeks. Somehow going back to work and now school has taken over.

Two weeks ago today we went to Port Adelaide to the Maritime Museum and then did some real touristy stuff afterwards. It’s kind of comforting being a tourist in your own town. You know that your car is parked not far away and you’re not too far from home where there is a comfortable bed.

After the Maritime Museum, and watching the pirate show (I also took photos of this but it warrants its own post), we decided to climb this lighthouse. The lighthouse is quite small and there’s a small set of narrow spiral stairs going up through the middle. Somehow the up and down traffic sorts itself out and waits where necessary. I was wearing a swirly skirt which was fine until I climbed the ladder bit at the end and the wind blew my skirt up. This was okay going up, but coming down I found out there was a group of people waiting to go up so goodness knows what sort of view they got.

We had a good view up the top of the lighthouse and we also had a good view of the dinosaur sand sculptures. I had planned on paying to go in and see this but after seeing it from the lighthouse decided not to. Instead we did the Port River dolphin cruise which cost half the price and occupied us for one and a half hours. We even saw a couple of dolphins. JJ also got talking to and playing with a couple of boys.

I love it how kids usually don’t have inhibitions to meet other kids, although for some reason this doesn’t seem to happen at school. I’ve noticed a couple of times JJ go up to kids he doesn’t know and start talking to them when we’re out and about. He gets on fine with them but at school I think because of his sometimes being silly he’s earned himself a reputation as a kid that others just don’t want to play with. Just to digress slightly from being a tourist in our own town JJ was very excited this week because he and another boy who’ve been in the same class since they started school 18 months ago have started playing together. This other boy has realised that JJ is not a bully and is okay to play with. He’s even said he’d invite JJ to his birthday, which probably won’t be for another few months as they are very close in age I imagine and by then might be back to non-friends.

Back to the cruise. I love being out on boats. I love the different view you get than from a car or from walking and I just love the peacefulness of the water, despite being on a boat run by an engine.

I’m going to be in Sydney in two weeks time - yee hah! I’ll be busy at the Web Directions conference for two days but will have Saturday all to myself. I’m staying near Darling Harbour so will undoubtedly do some touristy things but I’m wondering what else there is to do and/or see.

I like shopping, and because I’ll be somewhere other than Adelaide will be looking for the types of things that can’t be found in Adelaide. Last time I was in Sydney I went to the Glebe markets, so are there any other types of cool markets that I should know about?

Are there any other Sydney things to do that aren’t in touristy websites? I’d love word of mouth recommendations please.