Xavier Rudd

The Fremantle Arts Centre is just such a great venue for open air concerts! After the Indigo Girls a couple of weeks ago we went there last night to listen to Xavier Rudd.

Again we had a picnic beforehand and then laying on the lawn and listening to the music - just great! I would describe the music as a mixture of reggae pop rock techno traditional aboriginal music - sounds wired but it somehow fit all together. One of the songs I love is his cover of No Woman No Cry but unfortunately he didn't play it last night. I also expected the concert to be more relaxed with lots of slow songs rather then this techno light show thing :-)

The Great Bike Ride II

The results of the City of Perth Great Bike Ride from last Sunday are finally published on their website as pdf. So Anke and I finished in a fabulous time of just UNDER 2h (1:59:27), which means an average speed of 26.6 km/h - and this even though I had to push my bike up one hill. So we both came number 111 and 112 amongst all female riders! And so yes, I am proud of this :-)

The fabulous world of Anika

Just found a link to this really nice game called Anika's Odyssee where you have to help a little girl to find her teddy. I have to admit that I only played it because of the name :-) But it is really beautiful and lovely made game. Well suited for kids :-)

The Great Bike Ride

My first real bike competition! I mean it wasn't an actual race, but a ride for charity. And it was soo much fun!! I met up with my friend Anke to cycle the 53km!!! around the river together. And it went really well as we both did approximately the same speed.
At 8am in the morning we lined up with hundreds of other cyclists of all ages - I think about 4500 participated this year. Some did the family run (12km) and others 1 (53km) or 2 laps (106km) around the river. [source of the picture on the right]
We finished the 53km in just under 2h. Just for comparison, Ian did the 106km in just under 3h!! Our maximum speed was 48km/h!! which is actually quite scary :-)
The weather was also really good for riding. At first I didn't like the grey clouds above they protected us from the sun, which was very good. And the route along the river is soo pretty!
These pictures of us are taken before and after the ride :-)

The best place to be in the garden...

... hiding under the mulberry tree eating mulberries :-)

Men are like kids

Especially my man :-) He bought himself a remote controlled helicopter over ebay the other day. Just because his friend had one as well! So it finally arrived a couple of days ago and Ian couldn't wait to open the package! And after it took much too long to charge it the little helicopter fly around the whole unit! Then the next morning before he went to work, he put the helicopter on the bed - while I was still in bed!! - and started to fly and crash landing the little flying thing in the bedroom :-) I guess they will never grow up ;-)
Ah yeah, and today he took it to work to show his colleagues and make them jealous :-)

Advent Calendar

I am still not too old for advent calendars :-) Last year my mum sent me this big calendar with 24 doors full of chocolate *yum* But this year I will be travelling the whole December and I won't have room for a big advent calendar in my backpack. So my mum sent me this small postcard with 24 little doors on the front - how cute :) And this one will fit easy into my pockets.
One of my Aussie friends actually asked my what would be behind each door. She probably never seen one of them. Advent calendars are not very big here. But I think that it is such a nice tradition!

Crowded House

It was a really great concert last night in the supreme court gardens - which is a fantastic location, too! It was their last concert in Australia (on this tour) and they played nearly all of their most famous songs. We danced, sang and laughed!
Unfortunately the venue was too small (and the number of people to large respectively) for us to have a picnic beforehand - like we had before listening to the Indigo Girls. But we still had such a great time! And considering the number of people it was still quite spacious, we had enough room and there was no pushing. This probably also due to the average age of the audience :-)
And while writing this I am actually still listening to all the Crowded House songs on Ian's IPod over and over again! And even worse, I am also singing to all of them really loud ;-)

Never-ending renovation stories...

Just like last year we had another Strata AGM (annual general meeting). We are still trying to get our renovation plans approved. But after the meeting last week we both have been really disappointed, frustrated, annoyed,... It's been a complete farce and it is just getting really ridiculous - but I am actually really sick and tired talking about it.
We just learned our lessons I guess - never ever buy Strata again, especially not when there are 26 units in a complex!!! And BEFORE you buy a place have a look at your neighbours. Your first impression is probably a good indication ;-)
And as a friend of mine said, you will probably end up at court because of such crap once in your life - so just get over and done with it I guess...

The great shave...


... happened just this morning. Ian's colleagues gathered around him in a big half circle, all smiling mischievous, laughing and jeering at him as his hair was shaved off.

I actually didn't like the idea of him getting shaved at all!! I really loved his thick brown curly hair! But after my first sceptic looks at his new 1mm hair cut I have to say that I really like it! In fact I can't take my hands off his head now ;-)

And it was for charity, too. Ian's colleagues raised A$4000 for men's health!! So it was worth growing his hair for the last 4 years :-)
Read part 1 of the story.

My first pack

My very first (proper) hiking pack finally arrived today! Since we will go hiking in NZ in a couple of weeks time I needed my own pack. And it wasn't an easy decision...
Some friends recommended MacPac (Esprit for Women) and all the internet critiques that I read sounded also very promising. I once tried them on in a shop and they seem to be really comfy. The only thing that put me off to spend the money so far is the design. This is probably a girls thing, but I don't want to spend A$500 on a pack that looks like 20 years old!
But now I finally needed my own pack and just a couple of weeks ago MacPac redesigned their whole range of packs! Much more features, apparently a better harness system. BUT 650g heavier than the old model and 100 bucks or so more expensive. And since they also reduced the old model by 50%!! I actually ended up buying the old model - I figured that out in the bush I don't really need to be thaaaat fashionable ;-)

It's HOT!

The temperatures rose up to 40C yesterday and today. So we didn't really feel like cooking inside but unfortunately we still don't have barbie - not YET! So we were very pleased to be invited for a spontaneous BBQ at a friends place yesterday - but to be quite honest, we actually came up with the idea in the first place :-)
And so today we finished the day in a nice swimming pool, drinking gin and tonic at another friends place. It is soooo good to have such lovely friends :-)

Summer - Winter

While it already started to snow in Germany and everybody is getting ready for winter, we had our first summers day with temperatures above 35C today!
It will be the same as last year, temperatures are rising, clouds are disappearing - blue sky everyday - and everybody prepares for X-Mas - decorations in the shopping malls, Christmas carols - Christmas in summer is just not the same!! It actually feels wrong for me! I am so looking forward to a cold Christmas in winter in Germany!!

Hollywood - Perth :-)

The perfect shower

I actually managed to ride to uni for the last 3 weeks - but only once a week, because it takes me about an hour to ride the 22km! We have a shower just around the corner from my office on the same floor, which is really quite convenient. BUT... this is a male/female shower. Just a small room, more like a walk-in-wardrobe, no windows, a shower and a small bench. And it STINKS!! It is not too bad when you are the first one in the morning, but once the floor / walls get wet... it is really bad!!
But last week I found a shower map of our campus, showing the locations of all the showers on campus :-) So I found this female only staff shower!!! It is a biggish room with toilet, shower and sink - and I can lock the whole room!! It is great, just like a private bathroom :-) It doesn't smell and I don't need to be afraid of catching something when touching the walls accidentally ;-)

It's Movember

It is Movember = Moustache + November again! During November men are encouraged to grow a moustache to raise awareness about men's health issues. It is basically a big charity / funds raising event throughout November.
But for one of Ian's colleagues this isn't enough. She offered to raise A$1000 for charity if Ian volunteers to cut off his lovely curls and shave his head. And as far as I know she raised half of the money already!! I guess this means goodbye curly hair by the end of this month :(

Rotto - what a great place to be!

Rottnest Island is still one of my favourite islands! On Sunday friends of us invited us to join them on their boat for a short trip to Rotto! So we packed our eskies and jumped on board their 45-footer. The weather was great - blue sky, sun shine, for the first time above 30C, and the wind died off in the afternoon!

So we cruised to one of these lovely bays around Rottnest and set the anchor. But unfortunately we weren't the only ones - there were about 15 - 20 boats!! Due to the ongoing economy boom in Perth there is a lot of money here at the moment. And I was told that companies that sell luxurious boats having trouble selling - because all the moorings and anchorages are taken! There is simply no room for more big boats!

The day on the boats was sooo relaxing!! All we did was eating, drinking, swimming, sun bathing and enjoying ourselves! And the water was crystal clear - at 3,5m one could still see the ground! But the water is still freezing!! I didn't swim for more than 10min.! Other people tried to catch fish, went skurfing, diving or cruised around in their dinghies.

Indigo Girls

We had our first picnic dinner this season! This Friday the "Indigo Girls" played live and open air at the Fremantle Arts Centre. It was a lovely warm evening - much enjoyable :-) We all brought bits and pieces for a picnic dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal with home made quiche, frittata, salads, chicken, melon and prosciutto, ... *yum*

While the sun set just behind the stage we were listening to "Toby", the support, while still sitting / laying on our picnic blankies and enjoying glasses of wine and beer. By the time the Indigo Girls entered the stage I thought the cosy part is over and everyone is going to jump up and dance in front of the stage blocking our view. But I was wrong!! Everyone kept sitting / lying - people even bought sleeping bags! It was a really lovely night. Listing to live music while laying on picnic blankets, cuddling and watching the stars above :-)

Ian really likes good female singers - like the Indigo Girls. And their voices are really good! There were only the 2 girls and their guitars on stage - nothing else. But their voices harmonised with the guitars so well - it sounded like a whole band playing.
And there is a new phrase that I learnt that evening - "Thanks yo'll" which is short for "Thank you all". They kept saying this in this broad American accent after each song ;-)