Well thats just over 3 weeks we've been in Oz now. Thailand seems like a distant memory, sob sob........ Apologies for the delay fans but the pace of life and the madness has slowed down somewhat. Don't worry though still got a tale or two to tell. Week 1 - After a pleasant 1st weekend we tried to settle into the ozzie way of life. Spent a few days in the city getting organised, immigration office for visa, bank accounts opened, registered with some temp agencies and generally found our way around the city. By the time Wednesday hit we were having withdrawal symptoms from no alcohol or partying so decided to treat ourselves to a wee night-out. As we were dressed in our work attire we thought we'd find ourselves a suit in one of the city bars, how sadly we were mistaken. We barely saw a punter let alone a suit. The place is a ghost town mid week! After a glass of wine we went to the brass monkey, which had been recommended, only to find one man and his dog in there as well. We got chatting to the barman and asked him where were the busier places to go out. Before long he appeared at our table with a little message on a beer mat, with the bars we'd asked him to write down and an invite to go out with him later!!!!!!!! We were relieved to find that we hadn't lost all our charm from Thailand. We had been beginning to fret. The fact we didn't actually hang around to go out with him is besides the point! We ended up in the Leederville Hotel which was very busy BUT the clientele were mainly under 21 and thats being generous. We left soon after we heard a group of guys refer to us as "a couple of oldies" hahahahaha............ It was too embarassing to stand there crying into our vodkas. After another day of job hunting the weekend had arrived again and our hostess with the mostess delivered the goods. Met her at 6pm in the Claremont and began the evening with a bottle of champers. Strawberries in the bottom o the glass n awhing man! It was barry. Met Tomo's friend Andrew who has just moved here from Sydney and treated him to a night out with the girlies. We told him he'd best raise his hand if he wanted to talk at any point. After the Claremont we moved onto Subiaco (you'll be surprised to know they refer to this as Subie) another suburb. The clientele was more within our age bracket and the tunes were much more to our liking. Had a few drinks in the Subiaco Hotel and then moved onto the Lama Bar. In true Lyndsay style some skankie local pinched her wallet and robbed the money but hahaha on him as it only contained a few british notes. Luckily he threw the purse on the ground and Andrew found it. Thought we were back in London for a second!! A few more vodkas and there was nothing for it but to end the evening with a doner kebab, see Oz isn't that different from the UK after all. Classy ladies......... Saturday we made our 1st trip to Cottosloe Beach. The views were spectacular! We think you'll understand what we mean by that. We were slightly dismayed to realise most of the cuties were about 17 - the boys didn't look like that when we were at school!!!! Not a scrawny body or a bit acne in sight hahahahaha........ Saturday evening we met up with Mikey, Noel's best friend. He had only planned a few quiet drinks with us as he was rowing at 6am the next morning but as you guys know its all or nothing with us. We were barely in bed by 6am! He took us out in Northbridge and throughout the night we kept hooking up with more and more of Noel's friends. We all ended up in Geisha, a cool intimate club playing house tunes. Much fun was had. We love Mikey. However hard we tried on Sunday the day was nothing but a wash-out. We did venture down to the OBH to participate in the Sunday session but 2 glasses of wine had topped up the previous evening and was sending us precariously close to the edge! We thought it best we retire. Week 2 - Job hunting, job hunting, job hunting. We pounded every street in Perth and can you believe nobody wanted us. Cheek! Lyndsay had been in contact with her dads cousin (who lives in Perth) and had arranged to have lunch on Monday. Andrew, Elaine and Auntie Dot took us to an Italian in Claremont and we stuffed our faces. It was nice to hear a scottish accent but freaky that it sounded identical to Lyndsay's dad! We had Australia Day to break up the week. We headed out for a few drinks on the Tuesday evening to the Cott. We were most impressed with the band, not too rocky played everything from Bob Marley, Arrested Development to the Beatles. But more about the band later. Got quite tipsy between there and the OBH but weren't home too late as we had a party to help organise the next day. We started Australia day off with a dip in the Indian Ocean (not too dissimilar to the North Sea temperature wise). Skippy had organised a soiree for a dozen of us and we had to tidy up the backpacks and our bedroom! Emma made a gorgeous feast of traditional ozzie tucker. The mattresses and cushions were arranged thai stylee in the garden and Emma's floral decorations topped off the effect. A pleasant afternoon was spent drinking, eating, listening to music and laughing. Skip's mates were all as lovely as her, aww...... We headed to the Swan River to watch the skyworks display from the city. We will not be using Tomo as a navigator again though as he had us practically crawling up a mud track to the top when there was a perfectly good pavement we could've been using. Had a quiet weekend by our standards, needed to watch the cash! Friday we watched tennis and had a few vodkas, Saturday had a few drinks in Freeo late afternoon / early evening, Sunday watched the australian open final. COME ON......... Week 3 - Job hunting, job hunting, job hunting. As much as we tried not to get down our time in Oz was not being enjoyed the way it should have been whilst we were looking for work. The callydosh was running oot fast man. Emma and her flatmate Rodney were being fantastic about the situation but we still knew we needed to find jobs ASAP! By Wednesday we had hit rock bottom when we found ourselves on an induction day in the schemiest shopping centre learning how to sell / promote save the children! A good cause we know but not really us I think you'll agree! Oh how the mighty had fallen........ By noon we were losing the will to live so made a sharp exit and said thanks but no thanks we will not be taking up the position. The visas would be hammered before we would resort to something like that! Luckily we had arranged to have a meal at Andrew and Elaine's restaurant that evening. That cheered us up no end, we were very spoilt and couldn't have eaten or drunk anymore if we'd tried. Another pleasant evening. Having arranged an interview on Thursday we were disheartened and sceptical to say the least but this turned out to be our lucky day. We met a nice woman (she was british) who offered us both jobs in her travel company call centre. A cushty number working 5 hours a day, 10 - 3 or 3 - 8, and we decide what shift we want to do. Gives us enough play time whilst still earning money. That horrendous induction was meant to happen though as it was one of the girls who worked for save the children that put us on to this travel company. So thank you Marissa! You won't be surprised to find out she was scottish, a nice race us scots. Feeling a celebratory drink was in order we met Skip, Tomo and Andy at the Claremont for a wine or 2. Emma also broke the news that Rodney was happy for us to stay on at the flat for the remainder of our time in Perth. A job, a flat all we need now are some men. Enter the band!!!!!!!!! After abusing Rodney with our drunkeness and giggles on the Thursday night he's probably regretting his decision! Friday (yesterday) was spent with Peter and Ruby, Lyndsay's mum and dads best friends from Nigeria, now living in Perth. They picked us up and took us to the wineries in Swan Valley, we saw our 1st kangaroo - it was dead at the side of the road unfortunately! Then onto Guildford for a lovely lunch in an old country pub. We drove down the coast road to Hilary's Boat Harbour where he had the biggest ice cream cones ever and funnily enough some wine. They dropped us back about 4pm, and we're gonna meet up again soon for a barbie and to enjoy their lovely backyard swimming pool. Ah what a life! Last night we headed to the Cott to see the band again and were in for a pleasant surprise when they were joined by another member. We had found the lead singer/guitarist most attractive but this new addition broke all the boundaries! Our heads were swinging about like we were at Wimbledon, we didn't know which one to look at. Applauso for the band, applauso for them. We have the feeling we may become groupies over the next few weeks. What more can you ask for - good looking, well dressed, good singers, can play the guitar, tanned, toned, pretty much perfection. Clearly they were thinking the same about us 2. Oops just woke up with our heads on the keyboard hahahahaha........... Yes they would be the ultimate challenge for us. So thats us up to date now, oh except today we'd planned to spend the day on the beach and its bloody overcast. Oh no our tans are fading. Only another year of sun to top them up hahahaha......... Meeting another friend Michael tonight to go to the casino so sure we'll have a few more tales for you shortly. xxx