Started to pack things this week for our big move south, also Rich's last week at the academy, he received a letter detailing his promotion to 1st Class Constable which gives him 1 stripe on his shoulder, oh and more importantly a payrise !! Rich was bouncing around the Academy this week, no not drunk again - he is the sucessful applicant for the post in Mandurah yippppeeeeee. This will be soooo good for him and is a nicer station than his original placement, al...

Driving course lasted 10 days, that was apparently 10 days of driving around race tracks, Kangaroos and cones !! Different style and standard of driving is uused here, not necessarily lower just different. Rich has been driving completely different vehicles than he is used to. Here they have 4.2L Ford and Haldons (vauxhall), even the prisoner carrier, instead of a Ford Transit they have a 4.2L purpose built ute !! Great course and again he was within the top 2 of...

Took a trip to Rottnest Island, about 45 minutes catamaran ride from Perth. Rottnest has 63 secluded beaches and 20 beautiful bays, it measures 11 km long and 4.5 km at its widest point. There are no private vehicles or taxi's available on the island, just a bus or bike hire. On this occasion we decided on the bus mode - it was a really hot day. Took Mum and Dad to Mandurah to see inside our new house, I think they were impressed ! we then took an hours boat tri...

Rich finished his shootin this week - scary to think they only have 2 weeks training. He did however do remarkably well on his qualification shoot, which is where you shoot in different circumstances and from varying distances. He scored a 'cull qualify', which aparently means he didnt drop a single shot (they all hit the target) and his procedures with the firearms were marked at 100 % accuracy, He is the first student officer ever to have done that with Western...

Got a house, in Halls Head, Mandurah, comes complete with sandpit and pool, AND remote control double garage door - now there is a gadget. It has plenty of pluses but there is one downside, we have to walk 50 metres to the sandpit and pool - see a photo in our pics !! We are sooo excited we cant wait. we get the keys on the 15th feb. Mum and Dad (Knowles) arrived on sunday, they are here for 2 weeks, have a packed itinery for them and really looking forward to ...