The Next Instalment: Aquarium and Pingelli Tim is now a new housemate too! Approximately 20km north of Perth, is the Perth Aquarium, located at Hilary?s Boat Harbour. On the 22nd, Andy West kindly drove Fiona, Tim and I to see the delights of the WA coastline and its ocean delights. We were dazzled by sea horses, jelly fish, rays, sharks, turtles and seals. My favourite part of the day must have been holding star fish and stroking rays. Rays feel very silky on the top of their heads, but they have a knobbly back bone. What a great experience. We lunched on the balcony of an Italian restaurant, overlooking the harbour and strolled in the sunshine to walk of lunch. Following an inspiring day, we visited the Little Creatures Brewery in Freemantle. There we tasted different ales, although they are much like our fizzy beers, and on hearing of its great reputation, ate some delicious food from the restaurant. Served as tapas-style, we tried lots of different menus, and I even ate Kangaroo, which was surprisingly very nice. We polished off the night by heading to the Harbour Club (or something like that, it was rather dancy and full of lots of young people - I am after all, 27 now). On Sunday, I set off, for what would have been my very first yacht race. Members of the Royal Perth Yacht Club were looking for crew to race in the Winter Frost Bite Series, however, very strong winds prevented a large number of people from racing, so no need for crew. :o( Do not fret though, as in my quest I have found a skipper who needs crew and all is told in my journal entry for the 14th August 2006! In the end, Sunday was not wasted and I spent the afternoon strolling around Claremont, one of the nice suburbs of Perth. Not only is it Mama's birthday on the 29th July, but also Jess'. So, Tim and I hired a car and set off along the Brookton highway to visit Jess at the Exchange Hotel in Pingelli (yep, this time, the car was fully loaded with fuel). The Exchange Hotel turned 100 years old this weekend, so the owners of the hotel celebrated in style. We arrived to a great atmosphere and spent the evening drinking copious amounts of wine and dancing to a very good band. It was great to see Jess to happy in her new home. Rather than wallow in our hangovers, we headed to back to Perth the following day. The housemates took what was a rather long stroll along the beach front - oh, to be beside the sea, and have it on your doorstep, is just wonderful. We had a typical Sunday night, eating pizza and watching a film - one my favourite past times. p.s. if you haven't seen it, Walk the Line is worth watching. Love Em x