I've found it, at last, after looking for months.
A pub which serves drinkable Guinness.
God Bless ya Durty Nelly's, Perth
AHHHHHHHHHHHH
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Just Stuff
It’s all happening back in the UK/Europe eh? Villa, Baggies and Wolves survive, Houllier steps down, Blues relegated, McLeish resigns and joins the Villa (what a shock that was?), Paul Skerritt winning his second major in Aberdovey, Matt Morris wins 34k euro at Wentworth and Rocky has his first tour win in Italy, pocketing 250k euro, watched it all, fantastic, I was smiling more than he was? Plus Yours Truly comes second in the Make a Difference charity golf day out at Kennedy Links, with a staggering 13 under par GROSS, 53.5 nett (it was Texas scramble, me 4 partners were 7, 12 & 12 handicap), only to be pipped at the post with an incredible 12 under par GROSS, 42.5 nett, by three 18 and one 16 handicapper!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, they have cheating bastards down here as well. In fact I think they have more. At a recent Pro Am, they gave a prize for individual scores would you believe. A guy off 5, supposedly had a 5 under 67, they announced his points as 49!!! How do they work that out? I know the guy who did the score, so went to congratulate / verify, he said he did 5 OVER!!!!!! LEVEL HANDICAP 36 as long as I have been playing!!!!!
Been a member at The Vines just over a month now, and have not managed to get myself booked into the Saturday comps once. The only time I played was when some member invited me to play with him and he did it. You gotta go online 8 days before and book a time, which is all alien to me, hey ho, so end up playing on the other course (Ellenbrook) instead, always takes 5 hours, but at least it’s in the sunshine.
Generally play with Scottie and Darren, we have heart starters at 11.30, set off about midday, buggies, I sometimes walk, ‘Esky’ full of ice cold beer. Scottie likes his pop, he generally works Saturday mornings, pops into the local boozer on the way to the club, has he 50 cent roll up at the bookies. Yeah, the bookies are actually in the bar of the pubs over here, Trevor Roberts and Roachy would be made up, they would think they have died and gone to heaven. We then has at least 10/12 stubbies of beer whilst we are going around. Its hard work golfing here!!!! I'm knackered for the whole weekend after an afternoons golf with those boys. Almost like being at home!
As far as the chippy is concerned (The Slippery Eel was its name) its got away! Seems as though there was an issue that we have no retail experience. What a waste of 3 months that was. Hey ho, what will be will be eh? Just have to do bugger all for a little while longer!!!
Wendie and the kids are still all good, Wend is hitting the gym every day and goes with Niamh to Zumba on a Wednesday. She is getting so thin I have trouble finding her!! Not a massive problem 'cuz I can always hear her.
Peter has decided he wants to play football (the English version, or soccer as they call it here), let’s just see how long that lasts. He really wants to do fencing, but he is a bit young to go out to work, anyway he’s got to go to school and he can't do both. Took him to the driving range the other day, he whinged like mad, but he went. Had a small bucket of balls for him, only about 30 in it, he hit his first sixish balls, 125ish yards, slight draw, beautiful, ‘I’m bored now Dad’. Didn't hit him that hard Your Honour and it is only a small black eye, it’s nearly gone now, you can hardly see it. Kids eh?
Had John Pritchett and his wife Barb over at the weekend, he is Rosie's pal who has been here for about 35 years. Had a cracking night, Our Wend excelled with the scram, it was superb. Turns out JP used to play football, many years ago with Dave Dangerfield. Bloody Hell just can't get over sometimes how small the world really is.
Last night, I went to the pub for 'early doors' with Scottie and Daz. After about an hour they went to the golf club, as they live on The Vines and they can safely have a couple and get home safely, but its a 10 minute drive from where we live and did not want to risk it, already having had a couple. I know I know, it doesn't sound like me, but you just can't take the risk with the booze bus about. Anyway I stayed and got chatting to this big black guy, I mean big & I mean black, he was originally from Zimbabwe, smashing guy and really interesting. Well he has only be here 1 month, having come from the UK, where he had been working for Carillion as a electrical engineer, living right by The Scott Arms, Great Barr, drinking in the Horse & Jockey, Sutton Coldfield and the Half Way House Mere Green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You couldn't make it up could you?
Played Cottesloe early June, fantastic course, in superb nick. When I went to Cottesloe to redeem the voucher that Steve Hall bought me ( had to redeem it 'cuz nobody could afford or was willing to pay $160 per round to come with me and I didn't want to play on my own, so the pro said he would reimburse me), the pro first of all said it was not one of their vouchers! Luckily, there was a women in the shop there who remembered her conversation with Steve and verified it. They then had a conversation, between themselves and asked me did I want to play if they could fix me up with some other members. That was definitely what I wanted to do. So they then had the conversation about who they could put me with on the members Tuesday comp day. They then asked if I had a handicap, did I know the etiquette of golf, where was I a member, did I have all the gear, did I have proper golf clothing etc etc. I thought, oh no they are gonna put me with Greg Norman!!!
All the relevant tests past and questions answered correctly, they told me that was fixed and I would be playing with three other members, teeing off Tuesday 7th June @ 11.15am. One was an immediate past Captain, the other two were his regular partners. I reminded him that I was a member of Little Aston Golf Club, which is one of the finest 50 courses in the UK, very, very upmarket not to mention exclusive, with numerous R&A members, past amateur champions, England selectors and said " I hope your not think of putting me with three f*****g hackers" .
Well, what can I tell you, but the one guy played only using one arm. Honest, he has two but one is badly damaged from a fall he had whilst playing tennis, so he just plays using his right arm, although he does use two for putting. He is off 13!. He is about 60 and it was amazing. He got in a bunker, a deep one too, the face must have been about 10 feet high. I thought, he ain't never gonna get out of there, but bugger me he just turned around and walked out the back. No seriously, he got out first time to about 10 feet, proper shot, brilliant. At the 9th, he was about 5 yards short of the green, there was a bunker between him and the flag, which was about 3 yards on, he played a flop shot that Mickelson would have been proud of to about a foot!!! I ended up with 33 points, with a blob at the last, not bad having not played there before, yep and you guessed it the 'one arm bandit did 34 pigging, spunking, flipping, twatting points. I have now been beaten at golf by a one armed man in Cottesloe and a one legged man that I played in a County match at Robin Hood. Do you think The Lord is telling me something? Great day out though, so glad that I got to play, stopped off a Scarborough beach on the way home had a bag of chips whilst watching the sun go down over the Indian Ocean, marvellous, bloody marvellous..
Went to Perth Zoo recently, what a great place, its more like a park that's got a zoo in it. Loads of open spaces, the customary free bbq, really brilliant. We took the train and the bus, more relaxing for me than driving and you get to see more. We had 6 train rides, four bus rides all for $9 for the lot of us, beat that. We shall definitely be going back soon for the full picnic and bbq.
She also won the school cross country race and has now been picked for the team.
Must just mention the on off relationship that Name has with her boyfriend Sean Murphy, he is Irish would you believe, a lovely Cork lad, who incidentally has 'I love NS' written on his hand. Its generally OFF 'cuts Name wants to go out with loads of lads, little floozie but just at the moment its Shepherd Shabombi, a Somalian. I Know, I keep telling her, 'people have enough trouble spelling your first name Niamh', well that's my excuse and the only one I am prepared to say in writing!!!!! Its ON 'cuts Mom's best mate is Ashling who is Sean's Mom and Sean is broken hearted every time Niamh tries to call it off. Can't tell you the amount of time they spend on line at Mushy Monsters, and that's not rude ok?
We are still enjoying the lifestyle, its so much more laid back here, feels really safe for Peter & Name, they have far more independence than they would have in the UK. Peter cycles back and forth to school now on his own, he loves that, we do to. It took us a while before we would let him, but that was more us than him or here.
Last Sunday we went to Fremantle prison, it only actually stopped housing criminals in 1991, bloody place is positively archaic, all very interesting though.
Peter had his 12th Birthday last week, his first not in the UK. He has asked me to thank all those who sent presents and tell those who didn't its still not too late!!!!!!
Missing you all back home, hope you are getting some summer weather.
The Skerritts in Oz
Been a member at The Vines just over a month now, and have not managed to get myself booked into the Saturday comps once. The only time I played was when some member invited me to play with him and he did it. You gotta go online 8 days before and book a time, which is all alien to me, hey ho, so end up playing on the other course (Ellenbrook) instead, always takes 5 hours, but at least it’s in the sunshine.
Generally play with Scottie and Darren, we have heart starters at 11.30, set off about midday, buggies, I sometimes walk, ‘Esky’ full of ice cold beer. Scottie likes his pop, he generally works Saturday mornings, pops into the local boozer on the way to the club, has he 50 cent roll up at the bookies. Yeah, the bookies are actually in the bar of the pubs over here, Trevor Roberts and Roachy would be made up, they would think they have died and gone to heaven. We then has at least 10/12 stubbies of beer whilst we are going around. Its hard work golfing here!!!! I'm knackered for the whole weekend after an afternoons golf with those boys. Almost like being at home!
Getting colder over here now and raining quite a bit, most mornings it’s only about 8/12, rises during the day to about 20/24, then can get as low as 4/8 in the evening. Lucky I have kept all me sweaters and won that brolly!!
I think we have finally found a decent curry house, yippee. It’s in a place called Carrimar, which is about 40 minutes from here, and called The Glasgow Curry House, would you believe. This place is over run with flaming Sweeties. Definitely the best one we have had and it’s a BYO (bring your own booze place), so nice and affordable. Had a Rogan Josh, and it actually tasted like one. Although, Wendie’s chicken tandoori starter caught me out, I broke a bloody tooth chomping the remains! Couldn't get an appointment for the dentist until the Wednesday to get the rest took out. Most expensive curry I have ever had, $150 for the scram, $300 to get me tooth out. It took the dentist 45 minutes to get it out. Its been bloody painful since, 2 weeks. OUCH!!!!!!!!As far as the chippy is concerned (The Slippery Eel was its name) its got away! Seems as though there was an issue that we have no retail experience. What a waste of 3 months that was. Hey ho, what will be will be eh? Just have to do bugger all for a little while longer!!!
Wendie and the kids are still all good, Wend is hitting the gym every day and goes with Niamh to Zumba on a Wednesday. She is getting so thin I have trouble finding her!! Not a massive problem 'cuz I can always hear her.
Peter has decided he wants to play football (the English version, or soccer as they call it here), let’s just see how long that lasts. He really wants to do fencing, but he is a bit young to go out to work, anyway he’s got to go to school and he can't do both. Took him to the driving range the other day, he whinged like mad, but he went. Had a small bucket of balls for him, only about 30 in it, he hit his first sixish balls, 125ish yards, slight draw, beautiful, ‘I’m bored now Dad’. Didn't hit him that hard Your Honour and it is only a small black eye, it’s nearly gone now, you can hardly see it. Kids eh?
Had John Pritchett and his wife Barb over at the weekend, he is Rosie's pal who has been here for about 35 years. Had a cracking night, Our Wend excelled with the scram, it was superb. Turns out JP used to play football, many years ago with Dave Dangerfield. Bloody Hell just can't get over sometimes how small the world really is.
Last night, I went to the pub for 'early doors' with Scottie and Daz. After about an hour they went to the golf club, as they live on The Vines and they can safely have a couple and get home safely, but its a 10 minute drive from where we live and did not want to risk it, already having had a couple. I know I know, it doesn't sound like me, but you just can't take the risk with the booze bus about. Anyway I stayed and got chatting to this big black guy, I mean big & I mean black, he was originally from Zimbabwe, smashing guy and really interesting. Well he has only be here 1 month, having come from the UK, where he had been working for Carillion as a electrical engineer, living right by The Scott Arms, Great Barr, drinking in the Horse & Jockey, Sutton Coldfield and the Half Way House Mere Green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You couldn't make it up could you?
Played Cottesloe early June, fantastic course, in superb nick. When I went to Cottesloe to redeem the voucher that Steve Hall bought me ( had to redeem it 'cuz nobody could afford or was willing to pay $160 per round to come with me and I didn't want to play on my own, so the pro said he would reimburse me), the pro first of all said it was not one of their vouchers! Luckily, there was a women in the shop there who remembered her conversation with Steve and verified it. They then had a conversation, between themselves and asked me did I want to play if they could fix me up with some other members. That was definitely what I wanted to do. So they then had the conversation about who they could put me with on the members Tuesday comp day. They then asked if I had a handicap, did I know the etiquette of golf, where was I a member, did I have all the gear, did I have proper golf clothing etc etc. I thought, oh no they are gonna put me with Greg Norman!!!
All the relevant tests past and questions answered correctly, they told me that was fixed and I would be playing with three other members, teeing off Tuesday 7th June @ 11.15am. One was an immediate past Captain, the other two were his regular partners. I reminded him that I was a member of Little Aston Golf Club, which is one of the finest 50 courses in the UK, very, very upmarket not to mention exclusive, with numerous R&A members, past amateur champions, England selectors and said " I hope your not think of putting me with three f*****g hackers" .
Well, what can I tell you, but the one guy played only using one arm. Honest, he has two but one is badly damaged from a fall he had whilst playing tennis, so he just plays using his right arm, although he does use two for putting. He is off 13!. He is about 60 and it was amazing. He got in a bunker, a deep one too, the face must have been about 10 feet high. I thought, he ain't never gonna get out of there, but bugger me he just turned around and walked out the back. No seriously, he got out first time to about 10 feet, proper shot, brilliant. At the 9th, he was about 5 yards short of the green, there was a bunker between him and the flag, which was about 3 yards on, he played a flop shot that Mickelson would have been proud of to about a foot!!! I ended up with 33 points, with a blob at the last, not bad having not played there before, yep and you guessed it the 'one arm bandit did 34 pigging, spunking, flipping, twatting points. I have now been beaten at golf by a one armed man in Cottesloe and a one legged man that I played in a County match at Robin Hood. Do you think The Lord is telling me something? Great day out though, so glad that I got to play, stopped off a Scarborough beach on the way home had a bag of chips whilst watching the sun go down over the Indian Ocean, marvellous, bloody marvellous..
Went to Perth Zoo recently, what a great place, its more like a park that's got a zoo in it. Loads of open spaces, the customary free bbq, really brilliant. We took the train and the bus, more relaxing for me than driving and you get to see more. We had 6 train rides, four bus rides all for $9 for the lot of us, beat that. We shall definitely be going back soon for the full picnic and bbq.
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| A tree climbing Kangaroo |
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| These were the scariest animals we saw!!!! |
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| Trev, you never said you were coming to visit!!! You should be staying with us. Nice coat, from Ted Williams? |
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| Only a few weeks old |
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| Now go and wash your hands. I mean the lizard!! |
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| Whatever they buried, it was big |
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| Everyone loves the elephants |
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| It got Otter as the day went on. |
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| Can't bear to see animals locked up |
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| Peter Williams of Ted Williams, Rhino (he charges a lot) |
Went to Fremantle for tea, had fish and chips at Cicerello's (remember Sean?), fantastic, right on the dock amongst all them squillion dollars worth of yachts, happy days.
Niamh got an award at school recently for, and I quote, 'For her collaboration skills within the class and willingness to help those around her'. They hand them out once a term, think its to encourage all the kids and give them something to aim for. As you can imagine, we were made up, so was she. (Anyone know what collaboration means?)She also won the school cross country race and has now been picked for the team.
Must just mention the on off relationship that Name has with her boyfriend Sean Murphy, he is Irish would you believe, a lovely Cork lad, who incidentally has 'I love NS' written on his hand. Its generally OFF 'cuts Name wants to go out with loads of lads, little floozie but just at the moment its Shepherd Shabombi, a Somalian. I Know, I keep telling her, 'people have enough trouble spelling your first name Niamh', well that's my excuse and the only one I am prepared to say in writing!!!!! Its ON 'cuts Mom's best mate is Ashling who is Sean's Mom and Sean is broken hearted every time Niamh tries to call it off. Can't tell you the amount of time they spend on line at Mushy Monsters, and that's not rude ok?
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| Ain't she tall? |
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| Sean Murphy, Niamh News current beau!! |
Last Sunday we went to Fremantle prison, it only actually stopped housing criminals in 1991, bloody place is positively archaic, all very interesting though.
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| Very Covent Garden |
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| Main entrance to Peters new accommodation, if he is not very careful!! |
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| Peters room top right! |
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| View from Peters room, if he is not very careful!!! |
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| I know its only just closed, but you would think they would have toilets that were a little more private. |
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| When you gotta go you just gotta go. |
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| Peters room if he is not very very careful. |
Peter had his 12th Birthday last week, his first not in the UK. He has asked me to thank all those who sent presents and tell those who didn't its still not too late!!!!!!
Missing you all back home, hope you are getting some summer weather.
The Skerritts in Oz
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Where We Live
Well, believe it or not we have now been here 6 months, time really does seem to go so quickly.
, the little gem we found that is The Vines Resort,
all the folks we can now call our new friends, the house we have bought in Aveley,
all the shopping for the furniture and décor, (You can imagine how Our Wend loved that bit!), the new sparkling pool,
my new golf club, our first weekend away at a place called Moore River
and the final piece of the jigsaw is the fish and chip shop we are in the process of buying (just waiting for confirmation that they will assign the lease to us, no guarantees yet though). Yep, just call me Pete the Greek peoples!!
We can all honestly say that where we are living really suits us at the moment and ticks all the boxes (with the exception of not being right on the beach, although it’s only half an hour away) so we are battening down the hatches and gonna settle in and work towards our permanent residency, which will take 2/3 years.
We now live in Aveley which is a suburb in the wine growing region known as The Swan Valley, about 40 minutes northeast of Perth CBD, its sits alongside Ellenbrook, which is tipped for big things, and just 5/10 minutes away is The Vines, very up market, most homes are on 1 acre blocks and in the $1m bracket.
Ellenbrook has an enormous shopping area, which has just been extended and there is talk of a phase 3. This is the main shopping centre it is only 2 minutes in the car.
The area also has 3 ovals (Coolamon, Ellenbrook and Charlottes Vineyard) all within 5 minutes of the house), these are basically very large open spaces which have Aussie rules football pitches, cricket nets, basketball courts, tennis courts, skate parks and running tracks, kids play areas, all accessible any time to any one and completely free,
a bowling club with a 8 greens (costs $15 per annum membership, has a bar and coffee shop), loads of open spaces with lakes,
running tracks, kiddies play areas (there are dozens of these, there are five within a 5 minute walk of where we live) a water park,
swimming baths, mountain bike park, free library, snooker club, only one pub would you believe but it is huge,
3 high schools, 4 primary schools plus a new one being built at the moment, 4 kindergartens and two new churches being built at this time, plus a new smaller shopping area in Aveley itself. All the above, including all the houses would occupy an area about the size of Sutton Coldfield. There is really no reason to go further than a 5/10 minute drive for anything. Never see a traffic jam, driving is a pleasure again.
There is a massive emphasis on providing open, free access recreational space, these all have drinking water fountains, free gas barbecue’s, benches, structures or sails to keep you out of the sun.
They even provide the poo bags free of charge for you to dispose of your dog’s mess!! You are not allowed to have your dog off the leash, so they provide large purpose built fenced areas that you can take your dog to and let them run around freely. These have a double gate system, so there is now way that your dog can accidentally get out.
Peter and his pal had an incident recently at the local skate park. We had dropped him and Joel off with a view to picking them up later, but no sooner had we left them that Peter had called to say that Joel had been hit by this aboriginal kid.
Well, about a week before hand I took Peter to the same skate park and witnessed this same kid, who is about 11/12, round on some bigger boys, they would have been about 15/16, and nick $20 off them. He then skedaddled on his bike which prompted these lads to let him know he was going be in trouble if he did not come straight back with the dosh. He made it pretty clear he had no intention of coming back or giving the dosh back, the language he came out with was just incredible for a kid of his age, for that matter a kid of any age! He also told them that if they even tried to get the money, he would bring his Dad and his brothers down to sort them all out. The bigger lads at that pretty much told him he could keep the money it’s was ok, they were only joking!!
I know he is only a kid, but he is probably thee most disgusting specimen that I have ever seen in my whole life, (he epitomises what people have told me about aboriginals), his future isn’t looking too Rosey.
Anyway, Our Wend went back there, poor Joel, who is no small kid, was completely distraught; I was quite surprised he had not defended himself. So Our Wend, good as gold, gave the abbo the full ‘Northfield Roar’, right up close and personal. She then called the Police. As you might expect, he and his family are well known, he denied doing anything, but the Police made it very clear that he was in serious trouble if there is a report again. His Mother also couldn’t believe her little boy would do anything like that!! It then came out that he goes to the same school as Ella and Marley and he is a nightmare there, totally uncontrollable. We passed him in the car the other day, PJ begged me to run him over, gotta say I was tempted!!
What the little s**t did not know is that Joel’s Dad, Serg, is a ‘rigger’ (a steel frame building erector), sizeable and looks really useful and not to be messed with, his brother Aiden, 14, is a very fit looking lad, hairier than anyone I know looks about 16 , and also looks a mean as hell. They were going to pay the skate park a visit and Aiden is going to put the fear of God up this little lad and Serg is going along in case he wants to bring his brothers and or his Dad down. Serg was not too complimentary about our aboriginal friends I can tell you. Elvira, Serg’s missus said would Aiden really hit him, Serg said, ‘Yeah, if I tell him to!’
What was I doing whilst all this was going on I hear you ask, on the golf course where else, thank goodness!!!!
Other than our abbo, all the kids are so polite and friendly, they just have the best time and spend hours in the skate park.
Main benefits of being in Aveley are that the kid’s schools are so close by, we cycle every morning, but they are so close you could even walk. The kids are also so close to all their school pals, they have regular sleepovers at their house or they come to ours, they are all so nearby. It’s such a difference not having to take them in the car and pick them up afterwards, a real treat. They are on the verge of coming and going on their own soon, it’s very safe here, although the locals don’t think so, it is really.
We had a first weekend away recently, seems funny being in this sort of climate and going away for a break!
We went just north of here, with Daren, Jackie, Scott & Tammy, their two kids Alex & Brook, to a place called Moore River, about an hour’s drive, aptly named as it’s the point where the Moore River meets the sea. We rented a beautiful home and went beach fishing Saturday and river fishing Sunday. None of us caught anything Saturday, (did get through a large quantity of beer though), but on Sunday, Daren caught 4, Brook, Scottie and Alex caught 2 each, Niamh caught 3, she can now cast herself and reels ‘em in on her own, the big girls didn’t fish and caught the same amount as the Peter’s, precisely nowt!!!
The scenery was terrific, there were buzzards flying overhead, and stingrays swimming literally 2mtrs from the shore, pelicans the size of sheep,
parrots, just amazing. I should have bashed the stingray it on the head when I had the chance, ‘cus I was never going to catch a fish any other way!!!!
We have had one or two encounters with these
But we have also seen one or two of these
The Skerritts in Oz
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| Front view of Pete's school |
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| Niamh's school |
, the little gem we found that is The Vines Resort,
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| Practice Area at The Vines |
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| Spend a nice few hours here every week. Lovely!!! |
all the folks we can now call our new friends, the house we have bought in Aveley,
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| Looking down Pirianda Way, our house on the corner on the right |
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| Looking towards our nearest park, just beyond the red car |
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| Looking opposite way, house is on my right elbow. |
all the shopping for the furniture and décor, (You can imagine how Our Wend loved that bit!), the new sparkling pool,
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| You've heard of The Committments, well these are The Lunatics |
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| Champion Fisherwoman |
and the final piece of the jigsaw is the fish and chip shop we are in the process of buying (just waiting for confirmation that they will assign the lease to us, no guarantees yet though). Yep, just call me Pete the Greek peoples!!
We can all honestly say that where we are living really suits us at the moment and ticks all the boxes (with the exception of not being right on the beach, although it’s only half an hour away) so we are battening down the hatches and gonna settle in and work towards our permanent residency, which will take 2/3 years.
We now live in Aveley which is a suburb in the wine growing region known as The Swan Valley, about 40 minutes northeast of Perth CBD, its sits alongside Ellenbrook, which is tipped for big things, and just 5/10 minutes away is The Vines, very up market, most homes are on 1 acre blocks and in the $1m bracket.
Ellenbrook has an enormous shopping area, which has just been extended and there is talk of a phase 3. This is the main shopping centre it is only 2 minutes in the car.
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| The Shops at Ellenbrook |
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| Yep Woollies is alive and trading over here. |
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| And BIG W |
The area also has 3 ovals (Coolamon, Ellenbrook and Charlottes Vineyard) all within 5 minutes of the house), these are basically very large open spaces which have Aussie rules football pitches, cricket nets, basketball courts, tennis courts, skate parks and running tracks, kids play areas, all accessible any time to any one and completely free,
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| Coolamon Oval, tennis, basketball and skate park are to the right of the Clubhouse |
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| Rear view of Peters school on top of the hill. Dogs secure running area is on the right, you can just see the fence. |
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| Charlottes Vineyard Oval |
a bowling club with a 8 greens (costs $15 per annum membership, has a bar and coffee shop), loads of open spaces with lakes,
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| This is Woodlake, its situated right by Niamhs school. Directly over the top of the ducks head is the amphitheatre, which they use for outdoor plays and movie shows. They used it recently for the ANZAC day celebrations. |
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| Taken from the other side of the lake. |
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| Another view of Woodlake. |
running tracks, kiddies play areas (there are dozens of these, there are five within a 5 minute walk of where we live) a water park,
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| Ellenbrook town centre lake. The area with the sails over the top is a kids free water park |
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| Another view of the water park, changing rooms on the left, free barbecues in foreground |
swimming baths, mountain bike park, free library, snooker club, only one pub would you believe but it is huge,
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| Ellenbrook High Street, the pub is on the opposite side of the square, just to the right of the fountains. All of the building is the pub!! |
3 high schools, 4 primary schools plus a new one being built at the moment, 4 kindergartens and two new churches being built at this time, plus a new smaller shopping area in Aveley itself. All the above, including all the houses would occupy an area about the size of Sutton Coldfield. There is really no reason to go further than a 5/10 minute drive for anything. Never see a traffic jam, driving is a pleasure again.
There is a massive emphasis on providing open, free access recreational space, these all have drinking water fountains, free gas barbecue’s, benches, structures or sails to keep you out of the sun.
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| These are some of our neighbours. They live in a scrub area just next to us. They are totally wild. The next set of pictures, the lakes, are just beyond the fence that keeps these fellas in. |
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| One of the many lakes/water features of the Aveley estate. All have lawned picnic areas. |
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| This is a chill out area situated between the two lakes. The barbecues in the foreground are gas and free to use. |
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| Same set of lakes from bridge between the two. The barbecues previously mentioned are situated just over the top of the jetty on the right. |
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| Yet another lake, two minutes walk from the previous one. They are popular for boating and messing about with model boats. The mulicoloured roof construction is another kiddies play area. |
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| This is our nearest park, its a 2 minute walk. Our house is just over the top of the gazebo. The track I am standing on is a running track, with workout stations positioned around it at intervals. |
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| This is the kiddies play area. You can just make it out on the previous picture on the right hand side. Thats Niamh Peter Jodie and Sean in view. |
Peter and his pal had an incident recently at the local skate park. We had dropped him and Joel off with a view to picking them up later, but no sooner had we left them that Peter had called to say that Joel had been hit by this aboriginal kid.
Well, about a week before hand I took Peter to the same skate park and witnessed this same kid, who is about 11/12, round on some bigger boys, they would have been about 15/16, and nick $20 off them. He then skedaddled on his bike which prompted these lads to let him know he was going be in trouble if he did not come straight back with the dosh. He made it pretty clear he had no intention of coming back or giving the dosh back, the language he came out with was just incredible for a kid of his age, for that matter a kid of any age! He also told them that if they even tried to get the money, he would bring his Dad and his brothers down to sort them all out. The bigger lads at that pretty much told him he could keep the money it’s was ok, they were only joking!!
I know he is only a kid, but he is probably thee most disgusting specimen that I have ever seen in my whole life, (he epitomises what people have told me about aboriginals), his future isn’t looking too Rosey.
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| Took a bit of getting but managed to snap him going to school with his Mom. Pretty ain't he?!!! |
Anyway, Our Wend went back there, poor Joel, who is no small kid, was completely distraught; I was quite surprised he had not defended himself. So Our Wend, good as gold, gave the abbo the full ‘Northfield Roar’, right up close and personal. She then called the Police. As you might expect, he and his family are well known, he denied doing anything, but the Police made it very clear that he was in serious trouble if there is a report again. His Mother also couldn’t believe her little boy would do anything like that!! It then came out that he goes to the same school as Ella and Marley and he is a nightmare there, totally uncontrollable. We passed him in the car the other day, PJ begged me to run him over, gotta say I was tempted!!
What the little s**t did not know is that Joel’s Dad, Serg, is a ‘rigger’ (a steel frame building erector), sizeable and looks really useful and not to be messed with, his brother Aiden, 14, is a very fit looking lad, hairier than anyone I know looks about 16 , and also looks a mean as hell. They were going to pay the skate park a visit and Aiden is going to put the fear of God up this little lad and Serg is going along in case he wants to bring his brothers and or his Dad down. Serg was not too complimentary about our aboriginal friends I can tell you. Elvira, Serg’s missus said would Aiden really hit him, Serg said, ‘Yeah, if I tell him to!’
What was I doing whilst all this was going on I hear you ask, on the golf course where else, thank goodness!!!!
Other than our abbo, all the kids are so polite and friendly, they just have the best time and spend hours in the skate park.
Main benefits of being in Aveley are that the kid’s schools are so close by, we cycle every morning, but they are so close you could even walk. The kids are also so close to all their school pals, they have regular sleepovers at their house or they come to ours, they are all so nearby. It’s such a difference not having to take them in the car and pick them up afterwards, a real treat. They are on the verge of coming and going on their own soon, it’s very safe here, although the locals don’t think so, it is really.
We had a first weekend away recently, seems funny being in this sort of climate and going away for a break!
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| Tammy & Jackie, lazy Gits!! |
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| See any fish yet? |
We went just north of here, with Daren, Jackie, Scott & Tammy, their two kids Alex & Brook, to a place called Moore River, about an hour’s drive, aptly named as it’s the point where the Moore River meets the sea. We rented a beautiful home and went beach fishing Saturday and river fishing Sunday. None of us caught anything Saturday, (did get through a large quantity of beer though), but on Sunday, Daren caught 4, Brook, Scottie and Alex caught 2 each, Niamh caught 3, she can now cast herself and reels ‘em in on her own, the big girls didn’t fish and caught the same amount as the Peter’s, precisely nowt!!!
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| All aboard |
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| It needed 3 to get me in and 5 to get me out!!!!! Didn't realise I still had a black bit on the back of me 'ed. |
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| Scottie & Niamh. Beat that. No we didn't buy it in the bag, you use the bag to get a firm hold on the fish. Novices!!!!! |
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| Not another one Noo Ni? |
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| Dazza at work |
The scenery was terrific, there were buzzards flying overhead, and stingrays swimming literally 2mtrs from the shore, pelicans the size of sheep,
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| He was big!! |
parrots, just amazing. I should have bashed the stingray it on the head when I had the chance, ‘cus I was never going to catch a fish any other way!!!!
We have had one or two encounters with these
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| AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGg |
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| aaaaahhhhhhh |
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| aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh |
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