BMX Day!

The kids got to practice their bike riding today at the Southside BMX Club! The BMX track had quite a few kids already there- from Joey's age through late teens - some were really good riders, easily clearing triples and fun to watch. Thankfully, they all slowed down around the little guys on the track.

Joey started straight away without any help. He peddled his way right up the first jump and didn't stop until we told him it was time to go. Well, except for when his front wheel slid out from underneath him and down he went... The track was a pretty big for a 4 and 6 year old - the jumps were taller than them.

Ryan needed some confidence building. Hey, he just came off trainers about 7 months ago and had the smallest bike on the track. The "regulars" didn't think Ryan could make it at all, but he proved them wrong. He was determined. He had no issues with pride in taking some help from Daddy getting some pushes up the steep hills, but after about 4-5 tries, he was able to make it around the whole track mostly on his own. Yeah Ryan!!!

Joey was having a blast. He even got up enough courage to start getting some air off of one of the whoops.

Ryan had managed to figure out if he peddled hard enough, he could make it around the track with a Daddy push for only three of the steepest hills. This was good, because I was getting pretty tired running around the track with him.

I got to take a few laps on my mountain bike and was duly impressed by my little guys when I saw just how big the jumps and valleys were. They must have seemed REALLY big for Ryan and Joey.

We will definitely be back to the BMX track for more laps. And, we might just become a BMX family next spring.

Ryan and Joey impressed the locals for their first time out and Joey has the scars to prove it!

Soklich Trading Company and The Gemstone Factory

The family visited two gem stores today, about 20 minutes southeast of Perth in Orange Grove. From what we gathered, it was a family business that had a falling out and they split the store into two separate businesses, located right next door to each other. Kind of strange...



Both stores are on Dale Rd. Soklich is the first one that you will come to and it has the largest, biggest, most impressive rocks I've seen. When we visited, there was a $100,000 amethyst piece that was really impressive to look at.





The store was loaded with amethyst cathedrals of varying shapes and sizes, one looking very much like a hand reaching up out of the floor.

Soklich had many pieces of WA mined tiger iron, from small chunks to massive 1m wide slabs perfect for hanging in the entrance way to Rio Tinto or BHP offices. Of course, the $10,000+ price tags and the unimaginable shipping costs meant none of these items would be coming back home to NY with us.


The Gemstone Factory was a pleasant surprise as well. The store has many different type of gems, crystals, and the like. The prices at Gemstone Factory were much lower than Soklich - it was obvious that the businesses, although co-located, served different clientele. Nothing was as big as Soklich, but we picked up about $150 of pieces so we could bring back a piece of Australia. Several Tiger Iron slabs, some Jasper and quartz.


The stores are a nice stop if you're hiking in the Armadale/Hills area. Take a look!

Rottnest Island- Day 2

Day two at Rotto was all about enjoying the day. Beautiful sunny skies and low wind made for a great day to explore, although it was a bit chilly. We were hoping to get some snorkeling and biking in. Our friend, Jenn offered to watch Joey and Ryan for the afternoon, so we hopped on our bikes and took off!

Snorkeling didn't happen.. Blue Bottles (aka Portoguese man-of-war) were floating in. Yep, we really didn't need stings to change our day. So, biking to the West End was a must do and we are glad we did. It's one of the most beautiful places in Western Australia. Almost no people. Dolphins, whales, seals.

Great colors of green, blue, torquoise, matched with the tan sands and colorful wildflowers. Needless to say, we just spent some time munching on lunch and looking.

We found several sea urchins, crabs and other fish in the waters around the rocks and beaches. On our bike ride back, we only saw two people.

After this, we've decided that we need to celebrate our 10th anniversary next year somewhere in the Carribean to see snorkeling and islands a bit closer to home. Or, maybe we should just stay here...

Rottnest Island- Day 1

The family headed to Rottnest Island for some more relaxation time and a wedding! We've been in Australia long enough to make some great friends, see some great sights and be a part of an Australian beach wedding. Life is pretty good.

Our friends got married on the beach at Salmon Bay. It really doesn't matter where you are on "Rotto" - postcard pictures are easy to come by.

Bonnie and I also renewed our vows after the wedding on this same beach. It really is a special place and it close proximity to Perth makes very accessible. A 25 minute ferry ride and you're there. Pop the luggage tags on your stuff and it's all delivered right to your door. Can't be easier.

After the wedding, we enjoyed beer, wine, and nibbles with the wedding guests, bride and groom. The kids were having far too much fun on the playground for us to even worry about them. Ahh.

Lake Poorarecup Easter Camping

Hi!! We're back from our Easter Vacation to Lake Poorarecup. The lake is a 5 hour drive south of Perth, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We started with a freeway that turned into a 4-lane rural road to 2-lanes, to 2-lanes, but only the middle was paved to gravel to sand... It was a good thing our car is 4WD.

We found out about the camping through a local water ski club, "Starski Waterski Club". From what I can gather, the name does descend from Starsky and Hutch - it's corny, but the people in the club were terrific and friendly. Our kids probably had the most fun out of everyone in meeting new "mates" and playing endlessly on the beach. Joey even went out tubing in his own tube- the water was rough, but he held on for the fastest ride of his life!

Our camping gear was begged and borrowed from friends here- Thanks Collette & Kerry!!! It's too bad we didn't hook up with this club earlier- summer is an end and the club will be slowing down after this past weekend. It is warm enough through the winter to ski, so hopefully a few more pulls will show up.

If you are visiting Perth, check out the Starski club at Deep Water Point most weekends. They will be happy to accommodate you with a pull for a small bill.

Lake Poorarecup Skiing

Easter Weekend is a 4-day holiday in Australia - Good Friday + Monday off so people can recover from sugar highs on Sunday. We headed south to Lake Poorrarecup for a weekend of skiing and playing in the sun with a local water ski club.

We set up camp at Lake Poorrarecup in Western Australia last night. We were welcomed by a work crew ready to help with the tent pitching rather than sit around in chairs and jeer, which they had admitted to doing in many other instances.

Skiing was ok- the hangover from drinking and campfire songs was not helpful to get up early for the flat water.



Lake Poorrarecup is about three times the area of Snyder's Lake. This encourages up to 10 boats running around making wakes, so it made me miss home, but it was still fun to get out of the house/office and just enjoy the outside. Joey even went tubing! It was a bit rough for him to kneeboard, but he had lots of fun playing in the water pushing Ryan around.

Pilbara

The Pilbara is Aussie for "no cell phone coverage". It's in the Northwest corner of Australia and, if it weren't for mining, the only thing living here would be snakes, kangaroos, and whatever else lives in the bush of Australia. So, me and two other colleagues board the plane in Perth accompanied by about 100 other miners and 4 ecoresort tourists and head to Paraburdoo, Western Australia. A pretty full Boeing 717 (2 x 3 seats x 25 rows) landed on a runway just long enough for the plane. There's not even a taxiway- the plane did a U-turn at the end of the runway, motored back and pulled up to an airport that held less people than the plane.. It was definitely the smallest airport I've seen. Yes, that white shack of a building is the airport terminal. The whole thing.

We headed to the rental car office and got our 4x4 ute, fully equiped with mining safety lights, flags, radios, and the works. Yes, the only reason these people are here is for iron ore mining. You can thank them for all of the steel that goes into your cars, buildings and appliances.

Turns out you really need this truck just to get to the mine. I expected the mine roads to be dirt with rocks in them and all, but it turns out of our 3 hour drive from the airport to the mine, at least 1 hour of it was on a dirt access road from the highway to the mine. Thankfully, no flat tires.

For Joey and Ryan, I got to take a picture of a loaded ore train heading to the port. Three locomotives were pulling 230 cars loaded with ore from the Tom Price mine. It used to be Mount Tom Price, but 40 years of digging and now it's just Tom Price...

It was a long day, but interesting, nonetheless. It felt the opposite of the Christmas season - 41°C (106°F) of "dry heat" - dry, it's still bloody hot.

Cheers,

Tim