tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5870730496734358612024-03-14T15:02:17.930+08:00The expat chapter: PerthThe adventures of a Canadian Family in Perth, Western Australia Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-89600344924144221172015-11-29T21:49:00.000+08:002015-11-29T22:38:52.612+08:00A data guy's analysis of the Perth Housing market - Nov 2015As a renter in Australia who lived nearly 10 years in a Canadian house that we built, cared for and loved it's nearly (no, it's fully) impossible to ignore the property market in Perth. <br />
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If you've read any of my posts you know that Perth in 2012 was absolutely booming. Ex-pats and their companies were paying extreme sums per week for rental properties and at the lower end you could have up to 30 family's bidding for a single rental property the day it came on the market. The rental housing market was on fire period with the number of vacant homes (units and houses) said to have hit a low of ~1200 September of 2012.</div>
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Things have changed. A lot.</div>
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There are a lot of stories of the declines in real estate with examples of huge rent cuts, as well as significant discounting of homes to sell them. The problem is these are a sample of one. </div>
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So, that said, I've started to pull data. I've started with 3 key metrics which are readily available and get reported weekly - Sales of Houses, Number of houses on the market, and total vacant rental properties.</div>
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Note that I've selected just houses for sales data and properties on the market, not including units or land. At this point I've not been able to do this with rentals, so it's total vacancies including units.</div>
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So here's the first chart:</div>
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The index on left is houses for sale on the market - reported weekly (on the blue line). The index on the right is number of houses sold per week (on the red line). The green line is a moving average of houses sold using an average of 12 weeks. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EVYbVY50WdM/VlryHkV7ChI/AAAAAAAAAqc/MR-Ioy2Ysdw/s1600/2015-11-29_20-02-56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="419" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EVYbVY50WdM/VlryHkV7ChI/AAAAAAAAAqc/MR-Ioy2Ysdw/s640/2015-11-29_20-02-56.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's some quick first thoughts:</div>
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The sales trend is down per the moving average line, BUT, I'm unsure about the seasonality and I'm interested to see if sales come up in summer and show some of the big peaks that were shown last summer. So far when you compare November 2015 vs 2014 sales are down ~21% or 130 houses per week.</div>
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The other thing is there is a significant change in the trend of houses on the market that starts on the 25th of August 2015 and really hasn't stopped since. On average during the period from August 25th to Nov 26th - 180 houses have been added to the market. (That's 180 more houses listed than sold per week for 12 weeks straight - 2200 houses) </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XdxcaW0pnko/VlryFdY5hRI/AAAAAAAAAqU/9fRPyOs04KI/s1600/2015-11-29_20-07-38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XdxcaW0pnko/VlryFdY5hRI/AAAAAAAAAqU/9fRPyOs04KI/s640/2015-11-29_20-07-38.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Next is a simple chart of rental vacancies. Unfortunately I don't have data going back to 2012 but I do have reports that the low was Sept 2012 at 1200. The week of Nov 26 hit 9400.</div>
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There's not much to say either than the trend is good for renters and bad for property investors trying to rent their properties. </div>
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If anyone knows where I can get the rest of the data going back to, well as far back as I can go I'd love to hear it. I'd also like to hear whether you find this data valuable / interesting. </div>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9535132 115.85704710000005-33.6775717 113.27526010000004 -30.229454699999998 118.43883410000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-25465724208364331822015-11-11T23:13:00.000+08:002015-11-15T10:41:47.893+08:00Getting a permanent residence visa in Australia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been away from the blog for a long time....and funny enough people keep reading so I thought I'd write about the topic that I get the most questions about: getting that coveted visa for Permanent residence in Australia.<br />
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My disclaimer, I'm nowhere near an expert on the topic, I'm not an migration lawyer and this is purely my experience so yours may be different. The other thing to mention is that Australia are extremely serious about immigration and as such their approach to immigration is subject to change rapidly in some ways and is constantly being debated in the media and in federal politics.<br />
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<i><b>The Backstory</b></i><br />
In early 2014 when we made the decision to leave the cosy cotton blankets of "Big Red" I negotiated with my new company "MediumYellow" to pay for me and my family to get our permanent residence visas. This would take away some of the risk and cost of being on the 457 long stay visa. <br />
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To explain the risks / costs:<br />
1) 457 visa holders do not get medicare/public health (with the exception of some countries with reciprocal agreements). <br />
2) Laws in Western Australia had just changed and we were about to have to pay 4000 AUD per family for our kids to attend public school.<br />
3) 457 visa holder have only 90 days to find a job with a company willing to sponsor their existing visa if they are laid off. <br />
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"Medium Yellow" hired a migration agent / lawyer we will call BlueLaw to manage the effort and so the process began.<br />
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I'm going to try to tell this story in terms of timing so you can get a sense of how long it took and I'll also share the costs that were incurred which are not for the faint of heart.<br />
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<b><i>July 7 2014</i></b> -<br />
Medium Yellow engages BlueLaw to handle our transfer from 457 visa to Permanent residence. This begins a long discussion on which visa we will apply for. I had not yet worked for MediumYellow for 2 years, the standard required transition time for the temporary resident transition stream which took away the easy route.<br />
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The discussion becomes whether to apply for RSMS (regional sponsored migration scheme) 187 subclass or ENS (Employer nominated scheme) 186 subclass through the direct entry stream. <br />
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MediumYellow with guidance from BlueLaw chose to go the RSMS route which reduced the cost slightly. (Around 500 less)<br />
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<b><i>July 23 2014 </i></b><br />
BlueLaw send me the questionnaire of the century. This thing was a beast. Questions like, name every trip you've made to every country ever, with dates. And....every job you've held since birth. It took me about a week and a half to gather all of the information and then longer to gather some of the requested reference letters. <br />
BlueLaw's questionnaire required that we provide passport style photos with the application. We didn't do this originally and though I expected this to cause a problem at some point they never did come back to request it.<br />
My suspicion was that the form was one that BlueLaw used for all migration schemes and was potentially overkill. This became evident further in the process but ultimately worked fine.<br />
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<b><i>August 31 2014</i></b><br />
I finally send all of the information back to BlueLaw.<br />
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<b><i>September 17 2014</i></b><br />
After two weeks of not hearing anything I send an email to BlueLaw asking for status and if they got my submission. They claim yes and that they are liaising with the business on something.<br />
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<i><b>September 25 2014</b></i><br />
BlueLaw and MediumYellow advise that they have to change which visa they are applying to from the RSMS to the ENS 186 direct stream because the RSMS required that my job was posted for 3 months prior to the application. Given that I was already employed, this option was out. An extra 500 bucks and some time lost but not a huge deal.<br />
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<i><b>October 21 2014 </b></i><br />
Yes, nearly a month went past and finally BlueLaw sends a letter telling us to go and get a medical clearance and security clearances from any countries we have lived in (in our case Australia and Canada). <br />
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The problem is we're headed to New Zealand on holidays and I'm working on budgets at work so the whole thing sits for a while.<br />
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<b><i>Nov 19 2014 and Nov 21 2014</i></b><br />
We set up online accounts with immi which gives us a number we can use and then book the health clearances and subsequently go to the BUPA Visa health centre in Perth for the health checks. For me and the Mrs this consists of a chest x-ray, peeing in a cup and a few questions about a questionnaire we filled out. For the kids, the 6 year old peed in a cup and the 4 year old had the doctor touch his belly for approximately 5 seconds and ask me if he was healthy.<br />
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This cost around $1000 AUD. Yep $1000. It was a joke but a requirement. <br />
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Also...please note the part about peeing in a cup. I did not realize this would be a requirement and went the the bathroom approximately 30 seconds before they told me about said requirement. I'll let you do the math.<br />
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It takes 5 days to get the results which in our case were all good.<br />
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<b><i>Nov 27 2014</i></b><br />
Me an the Mrs go online to the website of the Australia Federal Police and order police clearances for Australia. The whole process takes only seconds, is completely online and costs only $42 AUD per person. We receive an email the next day saying the clearance has been completed and will be mailed out. The letters showed up within a few days. EASY!<br />
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The same day I research how to get cour Canadian clearances. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are not quite so easy. The website details that we need to be fingerprinted and then we have 2 choices. <br />
1- Send those fingerprints and wait 6 months (yes 6 months) or<br />
2- Engage a third party in Canada to digitize the fingerprints and then send them to the RCMP for an almost immediate turnaround.<br />
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<b><i>Dec 2 2014</i></b><br />
We head down to the Australian Federal Police offices in West Perth to have our fingerprints scanned. We brought multiple copies printed forms that the scanning company in Canada had provided. They suggested getting multiple copies to prevent any issues which the security guard at the AFP tasked with the prints is not super happy with and initially wants to charge extra for.<br />
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Cost: ~$50 AUD<br />
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<i><b>Mid December 2014</b></i><br />
We select Morpho Canada (also known as L1) to do the scanning and courier the fingerprint sheets to Canada. ....and wait and hope that these guys are who they say they are....<br />
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<i><b>Jan 7 2015</b></i><br />
The fine folks at Morpho send us the completed Canadian Security clearances. The last major piece of the puzzle.<br />
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Cost ~250 CAD which is about the same in AUD.<br />
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BlueLaw send us the completed visa forms for our approval. The mistakes are many but are easy to fix and go back the same day.<br />
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<i><b>Jan 20 2015</b></i><br />
BlueLaw make it official that visa application has been lodged. They mention that we should now be eligible for Medicare (public health) - which we were and applied for quickly. They also mention that there is no way to expedite the process, we need to just wait it out,<br />
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<i><b>March 9 2015 </b></i><br />
Done right....nope....BlueLaw need us to sign forms transferring the agent to a new person. Ok easy enough.<br />
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<b><i>April 30 2015</i></b><br />
Visa approved. It becomes much harder to get kicked out of the country.<br />
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The total costs in Aussie dollars (somewhat updated as I am putting an employee through this right now)<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Professional Fee (for
primary applicant):
$4000.00 + 10% GST</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Professional Fee (per
additional over-18 dependent): $500.00 + 10% GST</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Professional Fee (per
additional under-18 dependent): $350.00 + 10% GST</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Government Lodgement
Fees (nomination): $540</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Government Lodgement
Fees (for primary applicant): $3,600</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Government Lodgement
Fee (per over-18 dependent): $1,800</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Government Lodgement
Fee (per under-18 dependent): $900</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Credit Card Surcharge
(1.99%) </span></i><br />
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<i>Bupa Health clearances - Approximately $1100 </i><br />
<i>Police Clearances - Approximately $500</i><br />
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So for my family of 4 (2 adults 2kids) Gov't fee's of $7740 + $1600 for clearances and then $5720 for BlueLaw's services. <br />
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So here is the part where you say, is it really necessary for BlueLaw to be involved. MediumYellow use this mob exclusively and they do seem to get the job done. That said, besides the original selection of which visa to apply for, it's not clear to me that they added much value. The forms they filled out were pretty basic and as you can see from the process they added quite a bit of time to the process in their lack of responsiveness. It could also be argued that they also saved time by knowing what they were doing. <br />
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My final take would be, if the company is paying use them, if you're doing it on your own, just pay an agent for some initial guidance.<br />
<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-86651733943779877862015-03-07T11:32:00.000+08:002015-03-10T21:54:43.326+08:00Ant killing time - Dealing with our ant problemExpats come to Australia with the worry of spiders, snakes, sharks, jelly fish and other animals / pests that will mess you up. In Perth my experience is that you need to worry about ants. Ants are everywhere in Perth...I might go so far as to say that Perth is one gigantic ant hill.<br />
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The last house we were in, a company provided McMansion that was only 3-5 years old really never had any issues on the inside. They were brutal at times outside (mostly in the Summer) but could be controlled by dropping Ant Killa down the hole of the nest.<br />
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Our current abode is different. <br />
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We noticed them as soon as we moved in. Mostly in our master bathroom and in areas near the kitchen. They were bad the first summer but manageable. When winter came around they disappeared giving us a truly false sense of victory.<br />
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The other problem is children.<br />
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My lovely children (who we've decided we're going to keep despite this problem) leave food bits all over the house. 30 minutes after the food bit is left, a trail of ants (somewhere in the range of hundreds to thousands) move in for the extraction. They are seriously impressive how they work as a team to move fairly large bits of food.<br />
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The ants are now everywhere. They're on the counters, the kitchen table, all of the hardwood and tile surfaces and even some of the rugs. The seem to come in through holes in the brick and baseboards and the second there is food present the numbers climb exponentially.<br />
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I've had enough...it's ant killing time.<br />
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Today I'm going to Bunnings. My plan is to use several possible methods, in a disciplined and routine manner until their under control.<br />
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Here we go....<br />
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Day 1, a Saturday, I spend $25 on Ant Killa see image above in a big bulk 5Kg bag. $9 on indoor Ant traps from 2 different brands and $18 on Bayer Advanced Ant and Wasp dust.<br />
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The strategy is going to be this...<br />
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1) Indoors where there is a steady trail of Ants I'm going to put Ant traps.<br />
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2) Outdoors where there are noticeable ant hills I'm going to lay down Ant Killa (a sand like compound) directly into the holes.<br />
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3) The Ant and Wasp dust is going to be put in spots where the Ants seem to be penetrating wood and concrete to get into / out of the house and any areas where they seem to be congregating.<br />
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So on the Saturday I put down 5 traps and a healthy amount of Ant Killa outside on the ant hills. The dust would have to wait for another day.<br />
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Day 3 progress. <br />
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The ants are still around but the numbers have dropped significantly. The ant traps do seem to attract the ants but I can't say for sure what affect they're having. A couple of areas that had massive numbers of ants have very few now which honestly surprises me. In a few days I'll check back and then may add the dust.<br />
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com1Perth WA, Australia-31.9535132 115.85704710000005-33.6775717 113.27526010000004 -30.229454699999998 118.43883410000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-27740676660381886452014-12-14T11:15:00.000+08:002014-12-14T11:16:06.394+08:00WASO's Symphony in the City (photos and mini review)Last night we went down for the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra's Symphony in the City. The annual event held outdoors in Langley Park is a free event and had an attendance over 20,000. I've seen a number of WASO concerts of late (including a concert with the brilliant Ben Folds) and continue to be blown away by the quality and this event was no exception. In fact, given the setting, the inclusion of the entire WASO choir this is right up there as one of my favorites.<br />
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Well done WASO....see you soon!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lM5TI1pRbZM/VIz-hgVpSCI/AAAAAAAAAn0/3tDHwrKbytU/s1600/20141213_183621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lM5TI1pRbZM/VIz-hgVpSCI/AAAAAAAAAn0/3tDHwrKbytU/s1600/20141213_183621.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balloon animals....and helicopters</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Langley Park is an awesome setting for any event</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tight Security :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finale with fireworks</td></tr>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9535132 115.85704710000005-33.6775717 113.27526010000004 -30.229454699999998 118.43883410000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-28279734393145443612014-11-22T13:47:00.000+08:002014-11-22T13:48:02.251+08:00Getting stranded on Rottnest IslandBack in early September we decided to take a short 4 day trip to Rottnest Island. Rottnest for those who don't know is an Island off the coast of Western Australia which takes approximately 30-45 minutes by ferry.<br />
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A couple of key points about Rottnest:<br />
There are essentially no cars on the Island outside of support vehicals and a bus that runs the length of the Island. The main method of transport is bicycle which you can rent or bring across on the ferry. This made a perfect place for Owen who wasn't yet 4 to practice his cycling skills and charm the locals doing it.<br />
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Rottnest is one of two islands in Western Australia where you can find the Quokka. A cute agreeable marsupial which is everywhere on the Island.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hello Quokka</td></tr>
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Rottnest was once a military installation and still has some of the original equipment (A massive gun that was installed to protect the Submarines that were stationed at Fremantle - the second largest installation in the world only to Pearl Harbour during the second world war) as well as some of the tunnels that were built to support the installation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gun from World War II....it had a ~30km range</td></tr>
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September meant we had the Island nearly to ourselves AND that the weather may not be the model of consistency that Western Australia was normally known for. On the third evening the Wind exceeded 100km's an hour. The following day, which was supposed to include our journey out the Ferrys were cancelled providing another day (at no cost) on the Island. I can't say that we didn't enjoy being stranded an extra day. :)<br />
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I highly recommend the trip to Rottnest!<br />
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A couple of other notes:<br />
We stayed at the Geordie Bay Cabins on the Island which are self contained with kitchens and bbq's and all have a view of the Indian Ocean over Geordie Bay. They are basic, rustic and everything worked. The cabins are about a 10-15 minute bike ride from the main town. Luggage service was provided with the ferry ticket.<br />
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We brought an esky / cooler with food for the trip. Food is quite expensive on the Island. <br />
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com2Rottnest Island WA 6161, Australia-31.9969253 115.54004409999993-32.4279828 114.89459709999993 -31.5658678 116.18549109999994tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-13715183090542491882014-09-26T16:33:00.000+08:002014-09-26T16:33:45.789+08:00My ongoing list of favorite Perth cheap restaurants<div dir="ltr">
We quickly found out, after being in Perth for a day or so that it's not an inexpensive place to eat out. Let me rephrase that: it's mind numbingly awestrikingly outrageously expensive. But... there are exceptions to the rule. </div>
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Here are my faves. I'm going to keep adding to this list it as I find more. I'll only add restaurants that I have tried and would appreciate any suggestions in the comments. <br />
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Sept 26 additions:<br />
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Trangs Cafe (Vietnamese/Pho): Girrawheen<br />
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This is a new find and I've now been 3 times as the food is cheap, fresh, high quality and with decent portion sizes. Dishes run between 10-13 dollars. So far I've tried a Spicy Noodle Soup, Fried rice noodles, Vermicelli Noodle bowl with spring roll and pork and the Rice paper rolls with prawn and pork. Trangs has just renovated and looks great in the small premise. It has been busy each time I've been in there.<br />
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I should mention that in the area of Trang's there are 6 or more Vietnamese restaurants, 2 of which are producing BMT (Banh mi thit) sandwhiches for ridiculously low prices (5 dollars cash at the one I went in to try) It's not a destination area for scenery but it should be for great food. </div>
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EB's Cafe: Wangara<br />
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Wangara is apparently known for having great lunch bars and I now know why. Every day EB's has a different offering of Chinese food served with their standard tasty fried rice (you can also ask for steamed rice but you'd be missing out). I believe the rotation is Monday: Chicken and Veg in Black been sauce, Tuesday Egg Noodles and a separate chinese omelette, Wednesday: Chinese Curry with chicken and potato, Thursday: A spicey thin noodle dish and separately a Chicken satay dish that seems more like a green curry and is my personal favorite, Friday: Some sort of stew that I've yet to try. They always have a pile of sweet honey chicken balls that you can add on. A medium order of chinese with fried rice is $6.....$7.50 for a large.<br />
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The other thing EB's is doing daily is a $6.50 Pork Gravy Roll. Take roast pork chopped up, add some of the cracklin, put it on a fresh toasted bun and pour tasty gravy all over it. It's consistently really good and my go to when I'm not feeling like having Chinese. They do a number of other dishes but I just haven't got to them yet.<br />
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Ali Baba's takeaway (Turkish / Kebabs): Rivervale </div>
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There are a lot of kebab shops in Perth and most are reasonably priced. Ali Baba's is by far my favorite and by far beats any Kebab shop (we called them donairs) back home in Edmonton. They have a massive wood oven turning out fresh awesome turkish bread which you can buy. This same fresh bread makes up the bread component of the kebabs. Everyone I've brought here agrees the food is excellent and the family that runs it is very friendly. </div>
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When we first arrived in Perth we would go out for an evening drive until both kids fell asleep, then pull up right in front of Ali Baba's and have a cheap date at one of the small tables arms length from the car while keeping a watchfully eye on the kids. </div>
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The Red Chair (Breakfast / Vietnamese) : Crossways Mall, Subiaco</div>
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I'm not sure how we found this place but it has quickly become a goto for a cheap healthy lunch. They're open until mid afternoon every day and serve baked items, good coffee, and nice breakfasts. The reason I go though is the fantastic Vietnamese vermicelli bowls which are so fresh tasting, good portions and around 12 dollars. I also find the ambiance of eating in the middle of Crossways Mall quite enjoyable. </div>
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Ten Ten (chinese) : Albany Highway Victoria Park</div>
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My buddy Adam turned me on to this place a few months ago and it's become a weekly favorite. For 9 dollars you get a healthy portion of killer good fried rice with your selection of protein and sauce. All served to you at bullet train speed that would make Mcdonalds envious. See below my Curried Beef with Fried Rice. The curry has a nice spice and the beef is tender. </div>
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Sparrow (Indonesian): Lord Street, Mount Lawly</div>
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I fell in love with the flavors of Indonesian food on my first and only trip to Jakarta back in September. Unfortunately my body wasn't nearly as fond of the food for a good week after the visit. </div>
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Then I found Sparrow in Mount Lawly. Sparrow encorporates the flavors of Indonesia with the MUCH higher quality ingredients of Australia, fast service, and no need to deal with Jakarta traffic. The owner is a total character and offers 10% discount for first time customers. Three mains, rice and 2 ice teas came to $30 AUD. That's seriously cheap here.</div>
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Any suggestions for what else should make this list???</div>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-71222842690778825202014-09-10T22:44:00.002+08:002014-09-10T22:44:29.931+08:00Great mobile apps for Expats - Part 1 the basicsI spend a serious amount of time using my three mobile devices. My current setup is a Samsung Note3, a 4th generation full size Ipad, and a reasonably new Dell Lattitude laptop. I also have a trusty Windows PC I built around 5 years ago which still gets a tonne of use. At this point I'm going to focus on the apps for the phone and tablet but you'll see that many are also available via webapp (usually via the Chrome Web Store).<br />
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This first batch is the basics....these are useful for all expats regardless of what country you're headed to or already at. I personally think these are excellent for anyone.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1) World time buddy - Basic (free) - Pro $4.00</b></span><br />
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One of the major downsides of working in the Asia Pac region for a US company is dealing with the difference in time zones. We're never at work when they are at work and vise versa. Add to this many don't take the time to figure out time zones so I end up with meeting invitations at 3 in the morning or just comments like "What is the time there?"<br />
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World time buddy takes world clocks to a new level in that it shows you on a clever grid format up to 4 time zones for the free version and up to 10 per group (I haven't run out of groups yet) for the pro version. The tool allows you to select a time in your zone (or any zone for that matter) and see immediately what time it is in the rest of the world. I personally think it's an indispensable tool.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-es5USO2TCx0/U_m04Piq3lI/AAAAAAAAAjc/iUt0O89XFWI/s1600/Screenshots_2014-08-24-17-43-58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-es5USO2TCx0/U_m04Piq3lI/AAAAAAAAAjc/iUt0O89XFWI/s1600/Screenshots_2014-08-24-17-43-58.png" height="400" width="225" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2) XE Currency converter (Free) - Pro $2.00.</span></b><br />
<img alt="Cover art" height="200" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/pA0yy39qG6kTONrhPu8nZAgCG79NPQ6j8wcFMgeC_-WgAeKQ4uZgWlvET2fnGYCKUg=w300-rw" width="200" /><br />
If you're changing countries, you're dealing with multiple currencies and need to be able to convert them. This, besides being by a Canadian company is the best I've found. I spent the whopping 2 bucks for the pro version which eliminates the adds and allows more currencies to be tracked.<br />
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On this point I suggest read about converting currency <a href="http://expatchapter.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-to-save-money-on-currency-exchange.html" target="_blank">here</a> if you don't have a plan or you plan to use your bank<br />
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<img alt="XE Currency Pro - screenshot" height="400" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/kp1AnZOHToknfoTM_wdxASM6EvxMHZC-HtPFHIZDDJdKUfGCL3Z0d7DbR12bHC56IP0=h900-rw" width="240" /> <img alt="XE Currency Pro - screenshot" height="400" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/TJHL7U1EIr-JDIRhLluInZShcVf60H1GVYJaE6GOtu0JpMASwIPMTvIkqxb7S6GSXus=h900-rw" width="240" /><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3) Lastpass - requires 12 dollar per year subscription for mobile use (free if you don't want it on your phone)</b></span><br />
<img alt="Cover art" height="200" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/baD4XkhDV6F6qzrCQhY-UES1IDlEUaqTwhfL7xC7PQQJb3XeYhMbvKRDgpn6fyo5vA=w300-rw" width="200" /><br />
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Lastpass is my soapbox app. That is I get on my soapbox and tell everyone I can about it. Lastpass handles every single password I have on every device I have extremely securely. At current count I have 233 passwords - every one is different, and intensely secure (Lastpass will create them for you if you choose). The only one password you have to remember is your Lastpass master password. The ones you want extra secure can be set so Lastpass asks again for the Master password.<br />
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Lastpass is actually free if you just want to use it on browsers on a PC, Laptop or IPad and then you pay $12 per year to have access on your mobile phone (as well as other helpful features).<br />
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Lastpass also has Secure Notes. These are password protected notes you can save within your Lastpass vault. You're an expat now, and as such have new country tax numbers and other funky data. Create a Secure Note for them and they are always at your disposal with your master password. You can even add attachments to your secure notes.<br />
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In Android Lastpass is also now filling in username and password in Apps. In both Android and iOS they have created their own browser which works well and auto populates user names and passwords into your websites.<br />
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In Windows - Lastpass has browser extensions for Chrome, Explorer and Firefox which work flawlessly. This is one of my can't live without applications.<br />
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<img height="400" src="https://helpdesk.lastpass.com/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot_2013-10-31-11-47-581.png" width="223" /><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4) Any decent cloud storage app - Dropbox is my favorite (free)</span></b><br />
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You're moving. That means you have more documents to fill out and sign and send than you can shake a stick at. You also have travel documents and it's a really really good idea to have scans of them available to you at all time. Enter the cloud storage app. I choose Dropbox as my favorite but Google Drive, Microsoft Onedrive, and Box.net are all good solutions and there are many more.<br />
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When we were moving I created a folder in dropbox to contain all of the many many documents. Real estate, moving, visa submission, job contracts, expenses, taxes, policies, insurance, and much more. I have dropbox installed on my PC, my laptop, my Android mobile and my iPad. When I put any file into a dropbox folder on any one device it synchronizes to all of the devices and can be accessed by any computer anywhere in the world at the dropbox website with the correct user name and password.<br />
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When you're doing one of these moves this accessibility is unbelievably convenient. <br />
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I personally like dropbox because it can natively read all of the major file types without needed other applications in both Android and iOS. Dropbox give you up to 2GB free and then you can buy additional space or earn it through a number of methods. Lately buying a Samsung android device has provided around 50GB for two years.<br />
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<img alt="Dropbox - screenshot" height="400" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/WnJFCXAjTd0WkkGDDLbV034oHpSCXItckaDDeGMImTKoVgIMkB_XVTPezByGsMhQ1zs=h900-rw" width="222" /> Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-89530208187307520822014-08-02T21:23:00.001+08:002014-08-02T21:24:06.644+08:00My get ready for Australian power / Will my TV, computer, device or appliance work in Australia?? guideAustralian power is 230 Volts and 50 Hz. A medium sized plug is used that looks like you took a three prong US / Canadian plug and bent two of the flat blades of the plug out...as per below. The wall plugs are also always switched like you see in England.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qI41Mb4vEIE/U9yx4XCxs4I/AAAAAAAAAh4/stpLpRe4EgI/s1600/plug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qI41Mb4vEIE/U9yx4XCxs4I/AAAAAAAAAh4/stpLpRe4EgI/s1600/plug.jpg" height="154" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is not a voltage change if you are coming from most of the world with 220-240Volt power. In that case you either use a plug adapter (see a paragraph below) or cut the plugs off and buy a rewireable Australian plug at your local Bunnings, Masters or electrical wholesaler. Wire it up (or hire an electrician to do it) and you're good to go.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w_vpnIegzUQ/U9yz32TnsDI/AAAAAAAAAiE/P_OdhjvkLJM/s1600/rewireable-plug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w_vpnIegzUQ/U9yz32TnsDI/AAAAAAAAAiE/P_OdhjvkLJM/s1600/rewireable-plug.jpg" height="212" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rewireable plugs are easy to buy at Bunnings, Masters or many other shops</td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b7_oRD2hqRo/U9y_roUggjI/AAAAAAAAAjI/l9d4mzyDEY8/s1600/plug-ninetydegree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b7_oRD2hqRo/U9y_roUggjI/AAAAAAAAAjI/l9d4mzyDEY8/s1600/plug-ninetydegree.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a></div>
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North American electrical items are a bigger problem. Our kitchen appliances, stereo receivers and most TV's (more on TV's later) are 120 V - 60 Hz. Unless you plan to plug in a big step down transformer rated to handle the power requirement they're not going to work in Australia. For this reason, we have a whole pile of really nice small kitchen appliances sitting in a big wooden box in Canada. I regret not bringing our stereo receiver and speakers as they're pretty expensive here but otherwise that seems like it was a good decision. I also don't like the idea of big step down transformers sitting around the house.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9qGTSm-lTfc/U9y0p229KWI/AAAAAAAAAiM/CEApXtiqIIk/s1600/200W-US+Step+Down+Voltage+Converter+AC+240V-120V.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9qGTSm-lTfc/U9y0p229KWI/AAAAAAAAAiM/CEApXtiqIIk/s1600/200W-US+Step+Down+Voltage+Converter+AC+240V-120V.jpg" height="310" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A relatively small step down transformer with US / Canada / European outputs.</td></tr>
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Computer / tech gear is a different scenario. Most computers*, laptops, monitors, cellular/mobile phones and other computer peripherals in general have auto switching / universal power packs. My electric razor was also fine. You can tell by looking at the power pack which should say something like 100-240V AC 50/60Hz. If you see this range you are good to go and just need the plug adapter. We did have a couple of computer items that were a problem including the printer and pc speakers but everything else was fine. One small technicality to note is that electrical items "should" have the Australian "check mark" as shown below in order to be used here. I have found that most electronic gear has it, but some may not.<br />
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*Be a little careful with desktop computers which may require you flick a switch to enter 230V mode.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CEVGJxSc5tU/U9ytRBJJejI/AAAAAAAAAhs/kMi7pDanNtw/s1600/universal-power.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CEVGJxSc5tU/U9ytRBJJejI/AAAAAAAAAhs/kMi7pDanNtw/s1600/universal-power.jpg" height="270" width="640" /></a></div>
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Quickly on Australian plug adapters....we originally bought a 10 pack of US/Canada to Australian plug adapters on eBay. While these have filled a gap, the quality is really suspect (honestly, they're terrible!) and some of them either don't stay plugged in or don't hold the plug you are trying to adapt. They will move electrons across but consider yourself warned. The more expensive ones such as Korjo (readily available at airports and Dick Smiths) definitely work a LOT better.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aQGGIzn298M/U9yqZd8eYoI/AAAAAAAAAhg/2tlD56Z1DXI/s1600/2014-08-02+16_36_28-australian+plug+adapter+_+eBay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aQGGIzn298M/U9yqZd8eYoI/AAAAAAAAAhg/2tlD56Z1DXI/s1600/2014-08-02+16_36_28-australian+plug+adapter+_+eBay.jpg" height="127" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the "High Quality" comment. Buyer beware on these eBay Australian plug adapters.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C30yKdaLfPw/U9y2WdZnsXI/AAAAAAAAAiY/duw3ztnXeIc/s1600/Korjo+-+Adaptor+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C30yKdaLfPw/U9y2WdZnsXI/AAAAAAAAAiY/duw3ztnXeIc/s1600/Korjo+-+Adaptor+2.jpg" height="178" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These adapters from Korjo are readily available and work excellent at a price.</td></tr>
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The even better solution has been (where possible) buying the correct IEC power cords (some people call these kettle leads or cords). I always knew that computers seemed to use the same style of cables but I didn't realize that they were part of global standards, easily available with any countries plug end and relatively inexpensive. As per the chart below which I shortened to focus only on some of the more common cords, the ones you likely have are the C5-which is usually your laptop, the C7-this was on one of my scanners and apparently is used for for some appliances and the most common C13-which is used on TV's, monitors, printers, desktop computers and more. For some reason when you buy the cables they refer to the female end even though you're buying the male end.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMgROAHLggQ/U9ymgr2M_HI/AAAAAAAAAhU/TX65bIcEBm8/s1600/IEC+60320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMgROAHLggQ/U9ymgr2M_HI/AAAAAAAAAhU/TX65bIcEBm8/s1600/IEC+60320.jpg" height="280" width="640" /></a></div>
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I did a quick survey of all of my tech gear and found that I was easily able to create a shopping list of all of the cables I needed. I used website <a href="http://www.4cabling.com.au/" target="_blank">www.4cabling.com.au </a> which has all of the cables with Australian plug ends for approx $5.00 per piece and ridiculously good service. The cables themselves are perfect. For the 10 dollar shipping fee I had my plugs in Perth the next day. There were a number of options with the cheapest being eBay but I decided I didn't want to chance it on these.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yz5yo-Z8_HM/U9y4Gmy7MhI/AAAAAAAAAik/kwa-Az0vazs/s1600/IEC_C13_Power_Cord_10A_1m.pdf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yz5yo-Z8_HM/U9y4Gmy7MhI/AAAAAAAAAik/kwa-Az0vazs/s1600/IEC_C13_Power_Cord_10A_1m.pdf.jpg" height="284" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An example of an IEC power cord for my PC.</td></tr>
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The result is we're down to just 3 US / Canada plugs-my electric shaver which will cost almost as much to buy a new plug as a new razor (note to self, buy a new razor, you never get a decent shave anymore), a Bose stereo plug which has an interchangeable plug but I can't find them, and one iPad charger which could easily be replaced from the Apple monsters. Don't ask me why, but these projects make me smile. (Note to self, get help)<br />
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** Exceptions you need to know about: <br />
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Wireless home phones (not cellular / mobile phones) from the US / Canada cannot be used here as they use a different frequency which is causes a conflict in Australia. I never tried and don't suggest it. See my post on my awesome voip phone for what I use <a href="http://expatchapter.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-voip-phone-how-i-get-nearly.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Television broadcasts have different standards in different parts of the world. That said will always work as monitors from computers or same standard DVD players (assuming they have universal power or you buy a large enough step down transformer) but US/Canadian TV's will very likely not be able to play broadcast television. We ended up leaving 2 big plasma TV's in that big wooden box. For other countries see below the current digital standards around the world.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-63oGCobvfx8/U9y9jfL8b2I/AAAAAAAAAi8/Hh6bNsuZgnQ/s1600/Digital_broadcast_standards.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-63oGCobvfx8/U9y9jfL8b2I/AAAAAAAAAi8/Hh6bNsuZgnQ/s1600/Digital_broadcast_standards.svg.png" height="202" width="400" /></a></div>
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Some helpful links:<br />
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Want to know what power your country or any country has... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country</a><br />
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More on IEC standard cables.... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320</a><br />
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A good discussion on bringing a US / Canadian TV to Australia (the summary-don't bother) <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtv-technical/1390270-possible-bring-us-cdn-tv-australia-atsc-dvb-t.html" target="_blank">http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtv-technical/1390270-possible-bring-us-cdn-tv-australia-atsc-dvb-t.html</a><br />
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About the digital television standard DVB-T that Australia uses: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T#Countries_and_territories_using_DVB-T" target="_blank">DVB-T and Countries using it</a>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-52970623244373547322014-07-20T19:30:00.001+08:002014-07-20T19:34:35.601+08:00Kalbarri is worth a trip<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We did this trip up to Kalbarri in early January. It is about 5-6 hours straight north of Perth on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The trip was a 5 day, very necessary stress reliever during the events that lead to the bleepedy bleep post <a href="http://expatchapter.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/expat-life-can-be-bleepedy-bleep.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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I think during my time in Australia, this trip stands out as my favorite. Margaret River will continue to get awards for it's trendy wine country, sea side surf, fancy cave, lots to do, tourist possibilities which may or may not be deserved. Mostly this depends on perspective but I can see what they love down there. </div>
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That said, I couldn't help but love the Kalbarri Region. Hope you enjoy...</div>
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On the way up we started off back at the Pinnacles. See my original post on the Pinnacles <a href="http://expatchapter.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/the-very-eery-very-cool-pinnacles-desert.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This visit solidified a couple of things. 1 - You should visit the Pinnacles during sun up or sunset as the lighting gives them a totally different feel which can't be truly described. 2 - Heavy wind and sand don't really mix. It was seriously windy that day and rather unpleasant to be walking out among the pinnacles.</div>
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A quick stop in Geralton where there is a great park for the kids to play on the waterfront while coal freighters get filled in the background. A quick stop at Dome for a standard mediocre meal and back in the car to try to hit Kalbarri before sundown. I'll let you decide if Owen liked his and Olivia's room.... </div>
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One of the big attractions in Kalbarri is the Kalbarri National Park which includes several nature trails. Many are very short 500 metres to 2 kms while others are in the 8km + range. We were sternly warned before we headed up that the temperature can be 5-10C hotter than in town and that these tours should be done early in the morning in Summer. How bad could it be right? We got in the car and headed up. <br />
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The drive is around 35-50 minutes from town to the major visitor areas with nature walks. After about 15km the road turns into the washboard you see below and we were forced to slow right down to prevent the car from shaking fillings loose or loosing control. It isn't that bad, just requires some patients. <br />
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We were warned about heat....and oh yes it was scorch your face off hot, but we were not warned about the flies. The flies were really really bad and apparently this is a well known fact. There were a few people with mosquito nets and I think this is the way to do it. Don't let what I'm telling you scare you off, it was worth it.<br />
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River gorge to me meant I was going to see a river. It becomes clear very early that there hasn't been water flowing for some time. Apparently it can come fast and furious when the Pilbarra region to the north gets Cyclones and heavy rain but that clearly hadn't happened for some time.<br />
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Natures window itself...probably the most photographed feature in the region is only a 500 meter walk from the car park. It's not a difficult hike but there were certainly sections I made absolutely sure I had a good grip on whichever child I happened to be walking with. It was so hot that at one point Olivia and I were switching hands about every 30 seconds as my hands were so sweaty.<br />
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The views were simply brilliant and awe inspiring and forced us to spend a lot of time soaking it in despite the heat and flies. <br />
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After a much needed siesta, swim in the pool and dinner we decided it was time to see the coastline. Just outside of Kalbarri are a significant number of lookouts, some require short walks and some you can drive right up to. The wind was really howling but it didn't spoil the great views of the coastline and Indian Ocean.<br />
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The next morning we headed back up to Kalbarri National Park and this time went to the Z Bend trail. This trail is about the same 500meters from the car park and this time there is a small amount of water to see...though not flowing. We went earlier this time which meant the heat was more bearable. <br />
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After we got back to town it was time for another Siesta, swim and then we found some Pizza at Kalbarri Pizza and let the kids burn off some energy. <br />
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One of the real highlights for me in this sleepy little tourist town is where the Indian Ocean meets the Murchison River. Not 500 meters away you have the strong surf of the Indian Ocean but the water in town is almost perfectly still and perfect for swimming. That is not to mention a great spot to catch the sunset.<br />
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This was a really great mini vacation that I would highly recommend to anyone willing to make the trip up.<br />
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Kalbarri WA 6536, Australia-27.7110529 114.16453580000007-27.9360349 113.84181230000007 -27.486070899999998 114.48725930000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-53317262097547147812014-05-04T18:04:00.000+08:002014-05-04T18:04:14.514+08:00Preparing for an Australian winterWhen you've lived over 35 years in 2 of the coldest cities on the planet the idea of feeling cold in Perth seems mad. Outdoors is never an issue...it never goes below zero celsius and most days will still reach a high in the teens. That said, after 2 winters here and approaching a third I have never felt so cold inside a house as I have in Perth.<br />
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The majority of houses here are built with an extremely simple form of insulation: air. Houses have two layers of brick with an air gap in between. Unless the house was build in the last 5 or so years it will have no insulation in the attic. Regardless of build date it will have single pane / glazed windows. This makes for a structure that gets cold fast and stays cold without significant heat input.</div>
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Heat can be provided in a number of ways: </div>
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1) Centrally via either natural gas (I've never actually seen a house with this but I'm told it exists) or reverse cycle air conditioning (electricity). Vents tend only to be in major areas. You don't see them in bathrooms, closets or laundry rooms typically. Ducted reverse cycle is the most comfortable year round solution in Australia.<br />
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2) Split unit reverse cycle air conditioners (electrically run) which will only heat or cool in the room their in. If sized properly these work well and make for one of the most energy efficient solutions as the idea is you only turn them on when needed.<br />
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3) A gas point is provided in multiple places in the house for you to connect a gas heater which can be purchased for 900 to 1200 dollars each new. A note of caution, these units are self contained and have no mechanism to exhaust gases such as carbon monoxide. Houses are never equipped with carbon monoxide sensors. I'm told that state governments have run campaigns in the past to try to get people to get rid of their old dangerous gas heaters in exchange for newer safer ones. It is suggested when running these units that you have windows or doors open a bit to ensure ventilation. One could suggest that the less than modern aussie construction techniques leave houses so loose in terms of air movement that this isn't a real problem.<br />
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4) A wood burning stove (Jarrah hard wood seems to be the fuel of choice and number of companies offer bulk home delivery starting around $150 per 1/2 tonne). The heat is uber nice but of course you have very little control and they are not exactly low maintenance.<br />
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5) Bathrooms often have heat lamps which feel nice and would keep a roast turkey warm in a pinch.<br />
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I should mention that thermostats are also very rudimentary when compared to North America. Those used to smart thermostats that set the temperature based on when you're home or awake might be disappointed. By contrast, split units allow you to set the temperature of the air coming out, and have timers. Central ducted units allow you to set the room temperature and have timers. Many systems are purely on or off.</div>
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So that all said, this year we've got a combination of available heat. One split unit in the master bedroom. A wood stove in the living room. A gas point in the same room, and a gas point in the main kitchen / living area. Kids rooms have...well...blankets.<br />
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I've ordered 500 kg of jarrah which showed up next day. A lot of it is little tiny pieces so I'm not sure how long it'll last but it's dry and it definitely burns. The reverse cycle in the master works really well. I'm thinking we may add a gas heater to the house as a last resort if we get to a point that we can't get the majority of the house above 17 C. </div>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-33505787617731127322014-04-17T11:05:00.001+08:002014-04-21T21:18:35.755+08:00The australian public school vs private school dillema<br />
I can't name a private school in Edmonton. If we still lived there today Olivia would be in a public school and it's very likely that we would rave about it as we did the program she was in run by the Edmonton Catholic School board before we left.<br />
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Schooling in Australia is very different. You have 4 (that I know of there might be more) types of schools. Private, Catholic Private, Independant Public and Public schools. Mention to the right person an intention of sending your kids to public school and you will get a gasp akin to the announcement that you have decided to have your children raised by wolves.</div>
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So my question became: Is this reaction valid? Are the public schools that bad? Is it really necessary to spend 14 - 25K per child per year for private school?</div>
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Our first decision was made easier by the fact that the company that brought us to Perth would pay the cost of Private School. Why take the risk? We had a suspect discussion at a public school where we were living and were able to find a spot at the closest private school: Wesley College. Wesley is an old boys school that have begun introducing girls. A family one time initiation fee of around 6K plus 13K in annual dues would get Olivia into the kindy program (4-5 years of age). </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mural displayed at Wesley College in South Perth</td></tr>
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This year things are different. We do not have the warm cotton blanket expat package to fall back on. Olivia would cost 14-15K and Owen would start pre-kindy at 7-9K. Take into account the Australian taxes and I have to earn nearly 40K just for their private schooling and this number would rise quickly as they grow up.</div>
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And so after much debate (Angie is a teacher by profession), research, reading, discussion with other parents we decided to try public schools. Two months ago Olivia started at a Independant public school in the area we're living in.</div>
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I plan to continue to update my observations on this little experiment but here are my initial observations:</div>
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Facilities: The facilities at Wesley and many of the expensive private schools are over the top impressive. They are in pristine condition, contantly being added to, well landscaped and remind me of small universities or Harry Potter's Hogwarts rather than children's schools. The public school we have Olivia at has seen better days in terms of condition. Maybe much better days. That's not to say that it is a dump, it just has a need for maintenance in certain areas and is not nearly as grand. </div>
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Private schools are marketing machines catering to parents emotions: Every piece of literature, every communication at Wesley was "prettied up", had gone through a marketing agency, was printed on thick paper stock and drove the message that you were in an elite, storied place that created elite leaders of tomorrow. You feel special there. You get to say "My kids go to Wesley" You rub elbows with other elite parents (doctors, lawyers, bank executives etc). They send countless e-mails, massive newsletters printed like high end annual reports from forture 500 companies reinforcing the greatness that is the Wesley experience.</div>
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Private schools are never done asking for money: You've paid nearly 20K for tuition, so you're done right? Yeah, right! Fund raising events at 50-100 bucks a head, emails asking for donations to keep the storied history alive, 400 / term for violin lessons, mandated uniforms double the price of public school uniforms the same quality. It never stops.</div>
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Public schools are for students: You will not get big fancy propoganda books. I haven't been invited for a champagne charity event overlooking the city. We have however already had an assessment of Olivia's reading skills and the areas the teacher will be focused on. Want to send the teacher an e-mail. You can but she only reads them once per week. She'll be happy to talk to you when you come in though. So far I see a focus on the accademics that I didn't see at Wesley. (Keep in mind Olivia is very young.)<br />
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The base curriculum is the same: I think this often gets lost. Private schools like public schools are bound by Australian laws as to what they must teach. They can add, but they can't subtract. Private schools and independant schools appear to have some flexibility in how they present certain materials vs the pure public schools. For example the pure public schools are still teaching the font, Victorian modern cursive which I'm not sure I had even seen before. I'm sure as we get on there will be elements of the Aussie curriculum that will drive us crazy but nothing that we can't top up at home.</div>
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Teachers appear more strict at the public schools: This is an observation shared by other friends of mine in discussion. The private school would have us believe their more carefree approach is their method of driving leadership characteristics. Time will tell....I think Olivia can use a little more authority as seen in her new school.</div>
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Either way, good teachers matter: I liked Olivia's teacher at Wesley. She was relatively new to teaching but had a gentle way about her and I think Olivia learned some life skills from her. Her new public school teacher is clearly experienced and very strong. Watching her assess students is quite impressive. She is a no nosense, get the job done kind of person that I think we will reflect on fondly in years to come. </div>
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We're two months in and only comparing one young student across two schools. I'm going to continue to share my observations on this as we're talking about the two most prized things in Angie and my life: Olivia and Owen. </div>
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My friend Alan said something that has stuck with me: "No matter what school you put your child in, one thing remains true. The bright ones always rise to the top."</div>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com1Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-29312110468894764692014-03-09T09:32:00.001+08:002014-03-09T20:30:02.091+08:00Taking back control - An Update<div>
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This is an update to the post Expat life can be a bleepedy bleep. It can be read here: <a href="http://expatchapter.blogspot.com/2014/01/expat-life-can-be-bleepedy-bleep.html">http://expatchapter.blogspot.com/2014/01/expat-life-can-be-bleepedy-bleep.html</a><br />
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Uncertainty with a family in tow is beyond stress. In this case that uncertainty which began on the first of November had almost become paralysing. In the span of 3+ months we were preparing for a move to Norway, pushed to move to the dirtiest city in the US (which was never going to happen), talking seriously about Oman, decided to move to Houston... and then not to move to Houston.</div>
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The one thing that was certain was on January 31, the lease on our company provided house would expire. In early January I was told that jobs at my level were scarce due to current cost reviews and if I did not accept the dirty California city job and/or find something else, the family would be sent back to Canada and my employment terminated. </div>
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Mid January, I was told the family would be moved into temporary accomodation and our things moved into storage. At that point I felt the need to push back. "Ummm no sorry, that's not going to happen. Find me a job, tell me where we're going, then we will move. Get a plan together." Amazingly it bought some time.</div>
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In late January a decent offer for a 20 month role was made in Houston. Ok...lets get our questions together and get them answered...looks like we're moving to Houston. There are worse places in the world. </div>
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Thoughts of what this new life would look like became impossible to suppress. I'm going to move to Houston and sit in traffic. The car will be nice but it will be parked on a freeway. Days will go by where I come home after the kids are in bed. Another 6 months of transition coming for the family, and then in 20 months we'll do this all over again.</div>
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Time to take control of the situation.</div>
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The questions about Houston would never really be answered. I suppose a combination of expectation that I would just take what was offered and lovely HR people strangled by processes preventing them from doing what mattered.</div>
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"Show me the termination package. Make it so we can stay in Perth. We're not getting on an airplane."</div>
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After 3 weeks of back and forth I signed a termination package. In the middle we were moved to temporary accommodation and had our stuff moved to storage.</div>
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Uncertainty OVER, time to act!</div>
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In 2 weeks we:</div>
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F<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">ound an awesome house North of the CBD at a reasonable rental.</span></div>
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Found a job with another US company in the middle of an aquisition integration in Perth</div>
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Had the visa transfered to new company</div>
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Bought a second car </div>
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Got Olivia into a new school.</div>
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Moved into the new house.</div>
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Started to relax.</div>
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In all I would work for "The big red machine" for just under 9 years. It's a company filled with talented wonderful people who I will miss dearly. As much as this process made the company seem evil, it's hardly the case. More-so a case of bad timing and a few bad apples in the mix. </div>
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Time to go back to enjoying life and putting the focus back to the family.<br />
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-12686861087213811622014-02-22T21:07:00.001+08:002014-05-04T18:18:15.988+08:00The newest celebrity in Perth: The Sorrento Seal<div dir="ltr">
This guy, a 2000kg elephant seal showed up way off course on Sorrento beach. He's departed a few times now and then come back to hang out again on the beach. Thankfully wildlife officers have stepped in and roped off an area to keep the thousands of people coming to get a look back.</div>
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Update: The Sorrento Seal would leave Perth about a week after he landed and has not been back to the beaches since.</div>
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Check out hash tag #sorrentoseal on Twitter and you get a sense of what news he has become. </div>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-73300772457413187342014-02-12T22:14:00.001+08:002014-02-12T22:34:20.588+08:00A few thoughts on international hockey commentatorsWhen I was growing up I thought the world only had Canadian Hockey commentators. Everyone would have the pleasure of listening to the great Bob Cole, Don Whitman or Jim Hughson calling the game while equally great color commentators, studio analysts like the polarizing Don Cherry provided additional detail with a passion and enthusiasm that couldn't help but make you smile.<div><br></div><div>And here I sit, POSITIVE 31 degrees outside on a late Perth evening with Olympic Hockey on TV and the classic US vs Canada womens match on TV. And yet, I just can't help but thinking something is missing. Snow, well sure, but we can't live without that now can't we? Beer? Nope, Aussie's produce a pretty fine brew, perhaps a Molson Canadian, or Labatt Blue would be nice, but we're ok here.</div><div><br></div><div>The issue so very clearly is there is a brit and an aussie commentating the game. I'm sure they're lovely blokes, and they even seem to have a decent handle on the game. But COME ON, just buy the Canadian audio so I can get the true feel of the game! Oh no the aussie lady host just announced we were coming back to the third period like she was talking about a unique fish dish she had while in Bali. Ahhhh make it stop. </div><div><br></div><div>Seriously Canada, sell the audio to all other nations for these internationally broadcast games, even non english speakers could gain something...</div><div><br></div><div>Ok, enough of that back to the game....hoping the Canadian ladies can pull this one out?</div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-upz5v6n23Y0/UvuGVR1qWMI/AAAAAAAAAWs/Xt9MCRHonds/s640/blogger-image-1476687482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-upz5v6n23Y0/UvuGVR1qWMI/AAAAAAAAAWs/Xt9MCRHonds/s640/blogger-image-1476687482.jpg"></a></div>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-48009573521069584452014-02-06T14:22:00.000+08:002014-02-15T12:17:28.992+08:00Renting a house in Perth: Prices are dropping<div dir="ltr">
The topic of real estate in Perth is a common one. The rental market in particular is like no other that I've ever experienced. We're getting ready for a move to a different property and I cannot get over the difference in the market. </div>
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Two years ago when we arrived, property rentals went something like this:</div>
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Find a property on realestate.com.au or reiwa.com.au (both have the same properties, realestate.com.au has a better site and great apps.) <br />
Figure out when the next inspection will be. <br />
Arrive on time or just before the inspection time. <br />
Have your application pre-filled out. <br />
Watch as 10-40 other families show up. Apparently because of the way I look and dress, many will think I am the rental agent.<br />
Offer full value or higher on the spot<br />
Wait 2 days for an email that states that you have been unsuccessful. <br />
All that on a property that was 1500 / week or more. It was apparently extreme on properties under $700 per week.</div>
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Fast forward to today. Newspapers are stating that rental vacancies are up 60+ percent from year ago levels and that unit rentals prices are down 2 percent. My experience tells me that rentals rates are dropping much more quickly. Many agencies have confided that rentals on properties in 1000 per week range are seeing drops of up to 200 dollars per week. </div>
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One of the agents the other night said to us "Houses $650 and under per week, no problem....$700 and over are getting really difficult to move"</div>
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Some examples of the funky and not so funky houses we've seen in our short experience lately:</div>
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A mansion in South Perth with a pretty much unusable kitchen that the owner wants someone to pay $900 a week for and will not commit to fixing anything....but wow what a cool building and amazing views. I have to say, whoever the photographer on this was, good job mate, the inside did not look this good to us.</div>
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A property in Sorrento walking distance to the Beach / Ocean that was ultra modern but above what we wanted to pay at $1100 per week (the agent claims the last tenant was paying $1350) This place had a very cool roof top balcony with ocean views and an oddly shaped pool. </div>
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A good bones house in Gwelup that has been fit out as cheaply as absolutely possible and getting lots of noise from Karrinyup Road. 700 / week I want to like it, I want to like it, I want to like it.....ummmmm NO.</div>
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And finally a nice house in South Perth. I think this would have easily fetched 1300+ / week 2 years ago and they are struggling to get 980 / week. ** Update - 8 days later this one came off the real estate boards and I thought, hmmm they did get that much. A day later it's back on at 930/ week.</div>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-76572256026322308612014-01-27T11:53:00.000+08:002014-01-27T11:53:49.527+08:00Expat life can be a bleepedy bleepI originally wrote this a little over a month ago and wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to post it. I will post an update in the next little while.... <br />
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Expat life on a foreign service package with an oil and gas company is perfect, right? Nearly everything is paid for. Good housing, private schools for the kids, cost of living adjustments if the country you move to is more expensive than your home country, great heath insurance, hardship bonuses, a good car and the fuel for it, tax equalization, trips home to see family and more.<br />
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Yep, perfect....until....<br />
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You begin to realize early on. Holy ****, they've got me locked. In my case I signed a document that said I couldn't leave until 18 months into the position. The penalty, repayment of the relocation cost from Edmonton to Perth. A likely 100K-150K+ touch when you add in all of the flights, air and sea transport, real estate fees, temporary housing, rental cars etc etc etc.<br />
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And to be perfectly honest, 2 months in....a part of me wanted out. I loved Perth but the role was filled with conflict and unnecessary politics and had I been sat in Edmonton I would have walked into a senior HR persons office and said, "find something else or I'm gone". Ok, it probably would have been stated in a more gentle tone, but you get the idea. You simply can't do that on these packages. You suck it up and in some cases you and your families (assuming you bring it home) suffer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Originally posted on twitter by @thinkingip</td></tr>
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The work environment over time would improve and my family would grow increasingly attached to Perth and the Western Australia lifestyle and weather. We would make wonderful friends and then often have to say good-bye to them as their expat terms would come to an end, or their companies realized just how outrageously expensive it is to keep expats in Perth on these packages.<br />
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The biggest question I had coming in to the process of becoming an expat was this: What happens when it's over. I once asked someone "When the two years is up, does something explode and then I'm magically transported to my new assignment?" "How does it work, does the company have a process?"<br />
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I began to worry more about the next step about 4 months ago. In my role, I see the costs, I see the profits and I always understood this was a 2 year (3 year max) get in, do your thing, train train train as many people as possible and then get out, situation (though not less than 2 years as promised). I sought visibility but none came. A mentor suggested I begin the networking process then but I struggled with how it would be productive while keeping it under the radar.<br />
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And then 2 months ago, I was told, "It's time" My biggest project and the most critical reason for having me sat here was complete, the costs were too high, the global business was suffering. "Start your networking, we'll help, we don't think it will be too hard"<br />
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Notice was given on our expat home which set the timer ticking, we had 3 months.<br />
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I walked around like a zombie that day thinking how I would break the news to my family. No way to put a positive spin on this one. Just need to network like crazy and find the right role and fast.<br />
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Uncertainty = Stress<br />
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Phone calls, emails, txt messages at all times of the day, to all parts of the world. "How do you feel about _____?" would come. In many cases even my fairly well travelled self would need to to pull up a map of the world and say "Where is that?" followed by "Oh my....ummmm no, that's not happening, I'm not taking my family there"<br />
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And then....like magic:<br />
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"How do you feel about ______?"<br />
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"Holy ****, what could be better? The European experience. Yes, we're on board....let's do this."<br />
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Interview, Interview, "Congratulations we'll get the paperwork going, glad to have you on board".........and then<br />
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Sorry, just got some changes from corporate, we can't afford to do it.<br />
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And now here we sit....XX days left on the lease of the house, offices around the world closed for holidays.<br />
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Expat life can be a bleepedy bleep.<br />
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-54539453272496446572014-01-19T19:03:00.001+08:002014-01-19T19:03:27.807+08:00My VOIP phone - How I get nearly unlimited worldwide calling for $5 a month <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm a bit of a tech head. I get right into computers, mobile phones, software etc.<br />
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I can't imagine what it would have been like being an expat years ago (ie Pre-Internet) Now we've got skype, facetime, viber, bbm, whatsapp, facebook....the list of good applications is truly endless.<br />
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One site you need to get on if you're going to research technology in Perth is whirlpool.net.au It is one of best technology forums in any country, and there are answers to pretty much any technology question you have in Australia.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">whirlpool.net.au is the best source of tech info in Australia</td></tr>
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I started doing research on phone plans shortly before coming over. While mobile phone plans are very reasonable, fixed line / residential phones in my opinion are expensive. They either charge high per minute rates (outrageous when calling mobile phones) or have high monthly rates. As high as 90 dollars per month and still having to pay 36 cents per minute when calling mobile phones. <br />
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Have I mentioned my favourite money is the money in my pocket?<br />
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This brought me to start investigating VOIP? Most people think of Skype, but for standard calling Skype is in my opinion not practical. VOIP or voice over internet protocol involves a special phone connected to your internet service which works almost exactly like your standard phone. <br />
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I had used a VOIP service in Canada with fairly spotty results. There are many many services in Australia but the fine folks on the whirlpool forums pointed me to mynetfone. Website: www.mynetfone.com.au<br />
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The way it works is this:<br />
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You buy a device. Either an adapter which will work with a standard phone or a special IP phone. You can bring your own or if you buy it through the VOIP service provider they often preconfigure them.<br />
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You plug the device into your internet router (it tends to be important that you don't have a really old crappy router) You go ahead and start making calls. I purchased the Gigaset IP610 wireless unit with 3 handsets and have been very happy with the call quality. People I'm speaking with have not been able to tell I'm using a VOIP service.<br />
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On mynetfone they offer a package to whirlpool members (membership to whirlpool is free) called Neosaver which for 5 bucks givies you 100 untimed calls to 30 different countries (This includes my key US, Canada, Italy, Singapore and Malaysia) I get a local Perth / Western Australia phone number which people can call us on and the phone works exactly as a standard land line.<br />
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It is not unusual for us to rack up over 20 hours of calls in a month a get the whopping $5 invoice at the end of the month.<br />
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Mynetfone has many competitors in this space including <span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Maxotel , Siptalk, Faktortel, Didlogic, Clickandcallnow, Worlddialpoint, Freshtel, Telecube, etc. Combined with a good internet service this has been a fantastic service for us which we use daily.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If I've missed something or you have questions...leave a comment...I do reply :)</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-6512572686554684372014-01-08T19:31:00.000+08:002014-01-09T14:53:33.573+08:00Cricket...hot dog with potato salad....sure!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My buddy and all around good dude Alpesh asked me if I wanted to join him for the Twenty20 cricket match last night at the wacker. I've never been and really don't understand the game but near the end was getting the jist of it.</div>
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Twenty20's are nice because they're 3 hours long rather than the standard decade long butt destroying cricket test.</div>
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And take a look at the sausage with potato salad on it. It was seriously good and quite unlike the normally plain jane food I'd expect at such a venue.</div>
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I'm pretty impressed with the images as shot from my Samsung Note 2....there were some pretty funky skies going on and those light stands are really imposing.</div>
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The Perth Scorchers finished off the Hobart Hurricanes (just barely) in what was a pretty exciting game for a guy who didn't understand the game at the start. </div>
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Wow the grammar in this post is shocking... Enjoy the pics! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting out</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That sky was pretty epic. If you look closely we're winning.</td></tr>
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Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-38411273403366332712014-01-04T21:48:00.002+08:002014-01-04T22:08:12.170+08:00Learning Aussie Rules football One of the true surprises of the journey abroad has been how much I've enjoyed Australian Rules Football or Footy as it's affectionately known. Footy is like a religion here and as soon as you can talk the game, striking a conversation with men (and often women) gets a whole lot easier.<br />
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NAB Bank was playing the below commercials this year which I love. In very simple terms, it explains the game. I think it's pretty cute.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/TwbNDh82Qko?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Scoring:<br />
There are 4 posts. Kick it through the middle two posts: A goal - 6 Points. Kick it between the outside posts: A behind: 1 Point Hit one of the two middle posts: A behind - 1 Point. Hit an outside post - No points Ok now you know how to score....got that?<br />
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Marks:<br />
Then you've got the mark. Kick the ball at least 10 meters and if a player catches it he is awarded a mark. A mark is basically a free kick that the opposing team cannot go beyond where the mark was taken.<br />
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There are lots of other rules...but if you can get the scoring and the mark, then you can watch and enjoy quite easily.<br />
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When moving to Perth, there will be charlatans who will try to convince you to cheer for the West Coast Eagles. Don't fall for this nonsense. When in Perth, cheer for the Fremantle Dockers and all will be well with the world. (No bias to see here folks - move along)<br />
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Joking aside, we have two teams in WA, West Coast and Fremantle. The rivalry is not as strong as hockey's Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers that I grew up with, but it does show up. West Coast has won grand finals and has overshadowed Fremantle for a long time. That is, until this year. This year Fremantle was a dominating team and went to the Grand Final only to beaten by the very strong Hawthorn Hawks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Showing Dockers pride during the finals</td></tr>
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Angie and I got to go to a game in a company box which was a truly awesome experience. The field is massive, different at each stadium, and holds a huge number of people. The Subiaco Oval, where Fremantle and West Coast play, holds 43,500. The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds) where the Grand Final is played each year holds 100,018 (yes, 100,018)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first game at the Subiaco Oval - Fremantle Won!</td></tr>
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Every regular season game (1 per week as a general rule, played Friday, Saturday or Sunday) for both Fremantle and West Coast is on Freeview television. (it's normally got a minor time delay, which you can avoid by lining Rupert Murdoch's pockets with money and getting Foxtel) I've added a few good videos below for your viewing pleasure. <br />
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I've you've made the journey to Australia, or are intending to and enjoy sports, I highly suggest giving the game a shot.<br />
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Best goals and marks of the year</div>
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-69175815362469312652014-01-02T15:11:00.001+08:002014-01-02T15:11:05.207+08:00Coffee Culture in Australia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love my coffee. See my ever evolving latte art above. Regardless of the region and the way the local culture drinks their coffee, I get engaged and enjoy it. One of my favourite experiences is breakfast while staying in Italian hotels. Not because of what I traditionally think of breakfast, but because of the cappuccino and espresso that is served with near perfect consistency, and all included in the ridiculously low room rate. Even outside the hotels that perfect coffee is just 1 euro.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappuccino and Brioche on one of my trips to Milan</td></tr>
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Fast forward to Perth, and we are fully enveloped by a coffee culture with it's own lingo that will certainly trip up those new to it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Epic Espresso in West Perth - My personal favourite cafe</td></tr>
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Perth, like Italy is an espresso based coffee culture. Drip coffee is nearly unheard of though you are starting to see some shops serve a "pour over" like it is some sort of special alchemy to be tried by true coffee aficionados. Coffee here is also often very milk based.<br />
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If you order a coffee in North America you will receive a drip coffee and usually the standard "Do you take cream or sugar?".<br />
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In Italy the simple "un cafe per favor" will garner you one shot of espresso. <br />
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In Australia...."coffee please" will likely get you a blank stare followed by "so....Flat White?"<br />
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Ok lets go through the options and what they mean:<br />
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Short Black = 1 shot of espresso. You certainly can ask for a double short black as well. It should be served in a small ceramic cup and drank immediately.<br />
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Long Black = An americano. Take a shot of espresso and add boiling water. Generally 1/3 coffee to 2/3 water.<br />
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Flat White = It's supposed to be a stronger version of a latte where the milk is not as frothed. In my experience it is just a latte with less foam but some may disagree.<br />
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Latte = Latte I think we're ok here. The only difference in Australia is it's often served in a clear picardie glass.<br />
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Cappuccino = No real change here. It's often served with chocolate powder on top and I find them to be much less strong than what I would get in Italy.<br />
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Short Macchiatto - If you frequent Starbucks, forget what Starbucks told the world a macchiatto was. A proper macchiatto is a shot of espresso with small "stain" of steamed milk foam. <br />
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Long Macchiatto (usually topped up) - Bring on the marching angry barrista's. This is consistently made differently so you are best to tell someone how you want it made if you are going to order it but generally it is 2 shots of espresso with steamed milk topped up to an 8 oz glass. Often if served to "dine in" it comes in a clear glass. Many barristas will argue that this is a piccolo latte. The problem I have with this is that ordering a piccolo latte often gets me a stare, follow by "Flat white-then?".<br />
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One of my frustrations with many coffee shops is that they offer different sizes and if you go for a larger size you get more milk. I'm told there are barristas that know better but I've yet to find them. My solution: order a small only. This has the benefit of keeping the Italian coffee gods happy as well. This is of course assuming you don't order a milk based drink like a cappuccino after 11am. <br />
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I should mention to be prepared to pay for that coffee. Perth ranks as having the most expensive cup of coffee in Australia with an average price above 4 dollars. <br />
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Love coffee....please share...How do you take it?<br />
<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com2Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-59318290420101231962013-12-30T21:52:00.002+08:002013-12-30T21:52:55.540+08:00The very eery, very cool, Pinnacles Desert<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Pinnacles Desert in Namburg National Park is just over 2 hours straight north along the coast on highway 60. We had heard mixed emotions from friends anywhere from "Meh, it's alright" to "You gotta see it".<br />
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I am firmly 100% in the "You gotta see it" camp.</div>
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The drive is pretty typically driving in Western Australia with a mix of terrain. There are signs OFTEN warning of wildlife wandering on to the road which can be an issue in general in these parts especially with kangaroos. This is a real risk and requires you keep your wits about you. </div>
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As you get closer you will start to notice the most amazing white sand dunes. This Canadian started to think he was seeing snow. It's that white. Come to learn after the trip that a popular activity near the town of Lancelin is Sandboarding. Sounds fun.</div>
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Other than the sand dunes there is no real geographical indication that you are close to the site. The signs however are pretty good and we arrive at the gate. We had been to Yanchep National Park (another post to come) the same day so our $12 dollar ticket was good for entry. The nice attendant handed us a map and asked that we please keep our vehicle on the road / trail. Hmmm...ok....that will make sense soon.<br />
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We follow the signs, still surprised we can drive through, come around a corner and WOW!. I think we all said it at the same time. The area is truly awe inspiring and goes on for as far as the eye can see. We quickly find a place to park the car and start to walk through the pinnacles.<br />
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I think only the pictures can really show just how cool this place is. It's like being on another planet. The kids absolutely loved exploring the different pinnacles and running around them.<br />
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There are a lot of photographers out with many thousands of dollars of gear. At one point one friendly guy (who I should mention had been taking pictures of himself with a horsehead) offered to take a family shot which is one of our favourites that's been taken in WA. <br />
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We finished hungry, and headed for Cervantes, just 20 minutes to the North. Bad idea. We were told to go to the Country Club which was the only place open. Angie and I had to chuckle as it reminded us so much of every 1970's built community club in Western Canada which we had both spent more time in then we cared to admit. After 1 hour of waiting for food that hadn't been started we gave up and began the trek home. <br />
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I should mention that I don't ever remember seeing stars so clearly.<br />
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I highly suggest this quick road trip if you every get the chance. It's a special place that you'll always remember.</div>
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com2Cervantes WA 6511, Australia-30.5015022 115.06793240000002-30.556227200000002 114.98725140000002 -30.4467772 115.14861340000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-59887155151255529142013-12-28T16:35:00.003+08:002013-12-28T17:05:22.984+08:00Breakfast in Fremantle - Wild Poppy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We took the kids out to Fremantle for Breakfast today to Wild Poppy. This is our second visit to Wild Poppy and its quickly becoming one of our favourite places for breaky even if it does take us about 30 minutes to make the trip out to Fremantle. <br />
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The place is an eclectic mix of colourful quilts, painted murals, velour couches and serves both breakfast and lunch 7 days a week. You can sit in the nicely air conditioned inside or they have 4 or 5 tables outside for those who prefer.<br />
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I can only point you to one thing on the menu because it was so good the first time I ordered it again today. Chili Fried Eggs. As per the picture...it's 2 eggs over easy laid over top of a Indian flat bread that has been spread with a sweet and spicy tomato chutney and has the odd green chilli (jalapeƱo) on it. It costs $16. I haven't tried a coffee but they definitely have the right equipment to make it right.<br />
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Seriously good.<br />
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After eating we found the couches, read the paper and the kids made a pretty good castle out of the blocks they found.<br />
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Wild Poppy is located at 2 Wray Ave, Fremantle, WA and is open for breakfast and lunch. Worth checking out.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Fremantle WA, Australia-32.0560399 115.74717970000006-32.0829564 115.70683920000006 -32.0291234 115.78752020000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-91685383904415237122013-12-27T20:30:00.000+08:002013-12-28T17:06:25.274+08:00Spiders and Snakes in Perth - Part II - SpidersSpiders are a different kind of problem in Perth. There are a large number of species but only one, the redback spider has the actual ability to kill you.<br />
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<b>The not so killer Redback Spider</b><br />
The anti-venom for the redback was created in 1956 and no-one has died of a bite since 1955. Generally if you're a health adult they will just make you feel quite unwell and then you'll move on with life. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dd1HALnuLkc/UrwmFU3JNoI/AAAAAAAAAM8/sOWmy9YELkk/s1600/Redback-spider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dd1HALnuLkc/UrwmFU3JNoI/AAAAAAAAAM8/sOWmy9YELkk/s320/Redback-spider.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Redback Spider</td></tr>
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The redback is the very timid. You normally find them in humid, dark places just sitting there. Bites tend to happen when people grab them by accident. I do suggest a pair of gloves when taking out the little rolly garbage bins as they like to hang out under lids and places similar.<br />
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Seriously don't worry about them. They're a non issue.<br />
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<b>The bigger pain - Common house spiders</b><br />
Common house spiders, black spiders the size of a small coin come in waves. They start to really show up when it starts to heat up in summer. They really only cause two issues. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bnU_CgGfcH0/UrwmP-7BrkI/AAAAAAAAANE/qkmKkcoAL_8/s1600/spider-3_353-200x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bnU_CgGfcH0/UrwmP-7BrkI/AAAAAAAAANE/qkmKkcoAL_8/s1600/spider-3_353-200x0.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know these guys too well. </td></tr>
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1) They're around, and it isn't really pleasant to have spiders crawling around the house.<br />
2) They make webs. And if you let them, bucket loads of webs.<br />
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When we first moved into our rental house there seemed to be a lot of them. It seemed like every time I went into our upstairs bathroom I would need to kill one of two which would come in through the bathroom vent grills. I should mention that I don't see the same numbers that I did last year.<br />
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Many of my friends bring in people to spray for spiders around their house. It will kill the spiders there but doesn't stop any new spiders from coming in. <br />
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I bought an expendable spider web broom and every month or so I walk around outside and take down all of the webs. That seems to do the trick.<br />
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Don't let spiders scare you away from coming to Perth. The issue is way over blown. They are much more of a nuisance than anything.<br />
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-25890352456807556602013-12-26T19:20:00.000+08:002013-12-28T17:05:42.752+08:00I wish you an aussie Christmas!Merry Christmas from Perth...<br />
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This is our second Christmas away from our extended families and can always bring a few sombre moments where you begin to realize some of the things you gave up as an expat. Last year we spent the day with our wonderful friends from Italy and Greece who landed in Perth around the same time we did.<br />
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This year we got a true Aussie Christmas. My friend Steve and his amazing family (all born and raised in Western Australia) opened their home to us for a beautiful meal, great conversation and plenty for the kids to do.<br />
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I will honestly never get used to Christmas without snow. It simply does not compute in my brain. For well over 30 years I've been programmed to bundle up to go shopping for presents. There are lights on all of the houses and everything outside is covered in Snow. The closest thing in Perth is the picture below taken on a day that was well above 30 Celsius.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0OOQ_ueViQ/Uru-GEOmBoI/AAAAAAAAAMU/uAErBECOU4U/s1600/perth_christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0OOQ_ueViQ/Uru-GEOmBoI/AAAAAAAAAMU/uAErBECOU4U/s640/perth_christmas.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The closest thing we get to snow....foam bubbles at London Court, Perth CBD</td></tr>
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Last year it hit 39.6 Celsius on Christmas day. Thankfully this year it was a much more respectable 29 which was to be perfect to be out (under cover of course). The kids had a bouncy house complete with mini water slide.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IGzNdSfJEo8/UrvAV_NjEHI/AAAAAAAAAMs/FCXmR3yX0ko/s1600/slide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IGzNdSfJEo8/UrvAV_NjEHI/AAAAAAAAAMs/FCXmR3yX0ko/s640/slide.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aussie Toboggoning</td></tr>
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So back to the meal:<br />
Ham<br />
Chicken<br />
Natural Oysters (Southern Australia)<br />
Prawns - massive massive prawns<br />
A selection of salads including a killer asparagus one<br />
Enough deserts to require a prescription for Lipitor<br />
A giant esky (cooler) of Beer and ice<br />
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The meal was awesome. <br />
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That said though I think it's just a tribute to the Australian way. Steve's family, most of whom had never met us, opened up their home to us and treated us like we were family. I have to say, that is my experience since being in Perth...Australians are just SO welcoming of anyone into their homes.<br />
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Thanks to Steve and his family for a wonderful time and making us forget for a short time just how far away our family is.<br />
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If you're an expat how do you spend the holidays when far from family?<br />
<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-587073049673435861.post-52981404306417963352013-12-24T17:43:00.000+08:002013-12-28T17:06:52.252+08:00Spiders and Snakes in Perth - Part I Snakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Upon announcing that we would move the family to Perth, and not so much Perth, but Australia the most common response was:<br />
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"Oh Australia, you know about the spiders and snakes right? They can kill you!"<br />
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In honesty the comments and the propoganda started to affect a reaction in me.<br />
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"How would we keep the kids safe"<br />
"Would we need to have them in blue jeans at all times"<br />
"How would we know when they got bit?"<br />
"How long would we have once they were bit?"<br />
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You get the idea.<br />
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The truth is something so far from what you read it isn't funny.<br />
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First snakes:<br />
I have yet to see a snake in the wild anywhere in my travels up and down the coast of Western Australia. AND....I have yet to meet someone who has been bit by a snake. <br />
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That is not to say they are not here. Western Australia is home to tiger snakes, brown snakes, duggites, king browns, and death adders. All of which are venomous. <br />
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The thing about snakes is however, they don't like being around humans. Even the slightest vibration can make them go the other direction. In almost all cases, snake bites occur in humans when the person is trying to do something to a snake or in cases where the person scares a snake which is sleeping or under brush and leaves. So it usually boils down to drunk bogans and lovely old ladies gardening without a quick check that get bit. <br />
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In the end snakes in Perth is simply about a little awareness and it will never be a concern. It should certainly never prevent anyone from making the journey.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mnxT69knGU/UrlUhtj3ggI/AAAAAAAAAME/5zsKhOcBzwo/s1600/IMG_3479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mnxT69knGU/UrlUhtj3ggI/AAAAAAAAAME/5zsKhOcBzwo/s400/IMG_3479.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Owen likes his garden time</td></tr>
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05583738138729227908noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9530044 115.85746930000005-33.6770629 113.27568230000004 -30.2289459 118.43925630000005