We’re Back….! Chillin in Down Unda

Perth City on an Early morning walk with Tommy

Perth City on an Early morning walk with Tommy

Photo opp with the kids in front of the spirits at Duty free!

Photo opp with the kids in front of the spirits at Duty free!

Week 28

Day 190

Perth Australia

31.9522° S, 115.8589° E

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been back in Australia for almost a month, but that’s how long it’s been and that’s how long it’s taken me to catch the blog up with our travels.

We landed back in Sydney on February 5th after a night of flying from Bali.

Touching down at 9am we had a whole day ahead of us to make the trip from the airport through the city to the Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Manly.

Headed to Manly

Headed to Manly

Sydney Harbor

Sydney Harbor

The Barton Family was nice enough to let us crash again and rest up for what would be a whirlwind of a week of events.

I’m sure most of you figured out via Facebook or Instagram that Tom Keynoted the last RYPL Game Changers Conference hosted in Sydney along side with Joe Brachocki and Stacey Brown.

Cleaning Tom up before his Keynote

Cleaning Tom up before his Keynote

From the run through Friday morning, to the Conference on Saturday followed by a mastermind meetup of LiveYourLegend Sydney, through the more intimate meetups going on throughout the week until we flew out to Perth, our time in Sydney flew by.

While really busy, I can’t really complain about all the activities we had because everything was a blast!

The Conference was held in the PowerHouse Museum in Sydney.

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Followed by the Live Your Legend Sydney meetup at Quarrymans Hotel, home to tasty eats and frosty craft brew!

Sunday we allowed the “adults” to continue their game changing conversations while I mucked around with the kids at the beach!

Playing with Naz's little

Playing with Naz’s little

Tables at the Quarrymans...not sure why they had Starbucks tables but I liked them!

Tables at the Quarrymans…not sure why they had Starbucks tables but I liked them!

Tuesday we wrapped up the RYPL event with work at The Hub, a co-working space in Darlinghurst followed by more Entrepreneur Conversations over tasty brew in Newtown.

While there was a lot going on, our time in Sydney wasn’t all work.  We also squeezed in some site seeing heading out early Tuesday morning to check out the Blue Mountains.

The boys chilling at the Blue Mountains

The boys chilling at the Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains were on my bucket list of Australian attractions that I had wanted to see, but I had reluctantly given up hope of seeing them as they are a couple hours outside of Sydney and I knew we would be super busy.

Blue Mountains Fogged in.

Blue Mountains Fogged in.

Mucking around in Newtown, Sydney

Mucking around in Newtown, Sydney

As has happened many times on this trip, the universe intervened not only providing us with wonderful hosts Kim and Mick who offered up their house for us, but Mick and Kim also happen to live at the base of the Blue Mountains making the trip an easy start to one of our mornings!

Thank you again so much Mick and Kim for your hospitality!

In between all the RYPL fun, I did manage to escape to meet up with a fellow fall ’12 Bikram Yoga TT, Emma at her studio at Sutherland Shire to take and teach a class!

An Australian Kookaburra seen in the wild on en evening walk in Perth

An Australian Kookaburra seen in the wild on an evening walk in Perth

We flew out early on the 12th to head to Perth, the last stop in Australia before we head to South Africa.

Once again Tom and I were blessed by our travel guardian angel.

Seattle friend Lauren, put me in touch with her sailing friends who now live in Perth.  Without meeting us, the very generous Bruce family offered to host Tom and I between their apartment in Perth City and their Sail boat which they moor in Fremantle.

Sunset from King's Park, one of the places Tom and I enjoyed walking to in the evening for it's great view of the city as the day ended.  The park was always full of people having picnics enjoying the view and we were super lucky to be able to join them for a couple weeks!

Sunset from King’s Park, one of the places Tom and I enjoyed walking to in the evening for it’s great view of the city as the day ended. The park was always full of people having picnics enjoying the view and we were super lucky to be able to join them for a couple weeks!

Staying with Bruces also meant a furry friend to keep us from missing Colby Jack too much.

Staying with Bruces also meant a furry friend to keep us from missing Colby Jack too much.

As we arrived in Perth on the very morning that the Perth Now printed a story declaring Perth the most expensive city in the world now surpassing Hong Kong and Sydney for the #1 spot we were incredibly grateful for a place to stay, but staying with the Bruces truly turned out to be a home away from home.

We had blast hopping into family life making dinners together during the week and relaxing on the weekends, spending time sailing out to Rotto (Rottnest Island).

A couple times things got lost in translation, but I can say that I’m slowly but surely starting to pick up the Australian Language.

A couple of my favorite phrases include:

Our favorite coffee shop in Perth also happened to be the closest right outside of the apartment.  Not only  did Uncle Joe's Mess have a cool hipster vibe, but they also make a bomb.com ice coffee (ice cream on top optional!)

Our favorite coffee shop in Perth also happened to be the closest right outside of the apartment. Not only did Uncle Joe’s Mess have a cool hipster vibe, but they also make a bomb.com ice coffee (ice cream on top optional!)

Brekkie: Breakfast

Maccas: McDonalds

A cooked chook:  Cooked Chicken

Lollie:  Any sort of sweet

Mexican : a person from south of the New South Wales border

Shout : turn to buy the round of drinks

arvo – afternoon

Coffee time!  An iced coffee is a great afternoon treat in Perth!

Coffee time! An iced coffee is a great afternoon treat in Perth!

It can be hard to catch on at first, but when in doubt drop any R’s and add an ie to the end of the word and your fine.

But some of the most important language is in regards to ordering a beer as this can be a difficult task.  Here is a quick brush up from All Down Under.

Beer
Ginger Beer mildly alcoholic drink made from fermenting a mixture of ginger and syrup
Black and Tan drink made with beer and stout
VB Victoria Bitter, a brand of beer
A Green One Victoria Bitter, a brand of beer
XXXX famous Queensland brand of beer, pronounced “4x” NOT “x x x x”.
Amber Fluid beer
Brownie bottle of beer
Slab carton of 24 cans (tinnies) or stubbies of beer
Throw Down small bottle of beer that you can throw down (drink) quickly
Tinny can of beer (or an aluminium boat)
Schooie, Schooey a schooner of beer. Not to be confused with schoolie which is a holidaying school student after completing final year exams.
Darwin Stubby famous Northern Territory bottle of beer (1.25 litre)
Longneck bottle of beer in South Australia (750 ml.)
Middy medium sized glass of beer (about 266ml or 9 oz., varies depending on state)
Pot medium sized bottle of beer in Victoria and Queensland (about 285ml, varies depending on state)
Schooner large glass of beer (about 443ml or 15 oz., varies depending on state)
Stubby small short-necked bottle of beer (about 375ml or 12 oz., varies depending on state)
Tallie very large bottle of beer (about 750ml or 24 oz.)

 

Tom Sailing to Rotto

Tom Sailing to Rotto

Travelers Tip:  As you can see there is more than one way to order a beer and if you simple order a beer there is a good chance you’ll end up with a throw down.

Australia is home to some crazy wildlife.  Where we in the states grow up seeing deer and seagulls, Aussies grow up seeing kangaroos, koalas, and rainbow lorikeets on the regular.

We saw a lot of Aussie creatures on our first trip up the east coast of Oz, but it wasn’t until we sailed out to Rotto that I saw my first Quokka.

Taking a picture of the weird little creature under a table, a little girl came up to me and proudly announced it was the first Quokka she’d ever seen.

The first Quokka I've ever seen!  I had to wait 28 years!

The first Quokka I’ve ever seen! I had to wait 28 years!

I told it was my first as well.

She looked at me surprised and said, “Well I’m only 4!”

I told her, “Wow you’re really lucky I’m 28!”

“That’s a LONG time to wait to see a Quokka!” was her reply.

She was right, 28 years is a long time to wait; but it was worth the wait as our sail to Rotto was gorgeous!

Here is the photo tour:

 

Sun setting in the Harbor our night on the boat

Sun setting in the Fremantle Harbor our night on the boat

The boat Cat Moo

The boat Cat Moo

Peaking through Moo's view from the outside:  Hellooo Kell! :)

Peaking through Moo’s view from the outside: Hellooo Kell! 🙂

 

Tom and the girls chilling in the galley

Tom and the girls chilling in the galley

Best pic of Lochie I could get :)

Best pic of Lochie I could get 🙂

Tom's so cute!

Tom’s so cute!

The beautiful waters of Rotto

The beautiful waters of Rotto

Kell and Bella on the Dingy as we headed ashore.

Kell and Bella on the Dingy as we headed ashore.

Bella and Tom

Bella and Tom

Hanging at the pub on Rotto!

Hanging at the pub on Rotto!

 

Rotto was a pretty amazing place and we feel so lucky the Bruce’s shared their special spot with us as well as sharing their lives with us for 3 weeks!  Thank you so much for your hospitality!  We hope to one day repay it when we settle down and have a home!

In addition to sailing to Rotto, the other highlight of our time in Perth was being able to kick back and relax, catch up on life, and eat healthy meals before the travel starts up again.

Resting up and catching up on life, means Tom had a lot of time to work on Insurgent Publishing and Tommorkes.com which was great as the past month had left him feeling a bit behind; while I had plenty of time to teach a couple classes, do lots of yoga, and muck around all over Perth for my 365 day Scorpion Challenge.  Here are some of the best pics:

Handstands in London Alley (in Perth!)

Handstands in London Alley (in Perth!)

Mucking around with Roos!

Mucking around with Roos!

Off to work?  I am too, just another day at the office!

Off to work? I am too, just another day at the office!

My upside down view was amazing!

My upside down view was amazing!

Will muck for beer! Chilling on Rotto

Will muck for beer!
Chilling on Rotto

Moo spotting my form

Moo spotting my form

 

Art on the streets in Perth

Art on the streets in Perth

Tom and I head to South Africa tonight and squaring away the logistics for our arrival has a taken a little bit of time.  Luckily we’re set for our time in Johannesburg.

We’ve booked a hostel which sounds pretty cool as it’s an ex-mafia mansion.  One of the benefits of this hostel is their free airport pickup.  We’re trying to make Johannesburg as easy as possible until we can escape to Cape Town on Sunday as we hear it isn’t the friendliest place….but I’ll have more about that next week when we’ve seen it for ourselves.

On a side note, the whitening lotion I bought in Indonesia doesn’t seem to be working.  My skin keeps getting tanner and tanner in the Perth sun 🙂

We drank a LOT of Nespresso, but that's ok!  It meant we also got to go to the nespresso store down the street for free samples every time we ran out!

We drank a LOT of Nespresso, but that’s ok! It meant we also got to go to the nespresso store down the street for free samples every time we ran out!

FYI while I do buy sunscreen to keep myself whiter, I would never buy whitening lotion…those that know me know I’m apt to buy Jergens Natural Glow, but in Indonesia the only lotion available is whitening lotion.  Funny how Asians want to whiten their skin and Caucasians want to darken theirs.  I guess the grass is always greener!

Goodbye Perth!

Goodbye Perth!

 

Comments 2

  1. Aunt T

    Enjoying your travels. Love the language lesson. Moo–very cool–a Holstein cat! Bet that Tom was a big hit at the conference! How did you like life on the boat? I always loved boating! Can’t wait to hear about South Africa. We are still digging out of the last snow storm–Sunday and Monday–only 9 inches–but a big icy, snowy mess. Love, Aunt T

  2. Post
    Author
    admin

    The boat was awesome Aunt T! Tommy was a big hit at the conference! I was/am very proud of him. I should have a post up about South Africa next week. Keep warm! I love you! 🙂

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