What did we get up to in Australia for 3 months?

We finished our European tour with Eugene on the 15th February 2019 and headed home for a very busy week of sorting, unpacking and packing again.

We’re off to Australia for 3 months, yeahhhh.  Baden Xavier was born to Jodie & Shaun on the 21st January, 2019, our 4th grandchild and their first baby and we can’t wait to finally meet him this little man.

Our plans for Australia are really just to spend time getting to know Baden and helping Jodie & Shaun as best we can.  We’ve got 2 house-sits booked in and a camper van trip down south, a little surprise for Jodie & Shaun and not much else really.  This is our 3rd trip to Perth in 4 years.

22nd February

We were quickly through customs and I burst into tears when I saw Jodie, Shaun and Baden waiting for us in the arrivals hall, I think Keith might have been a bit blurry eyed as well.  Baden was absolutely perfect and I was quick to get to him before Keith for a huge baby cuddle, just love a new baby.

The temperature was hitting 38 degrees and for the first 2 weeks it was really hot and humid with the nights a steady 26 degrees, unbearable to sleep in this heat.

Australians are mad about coffee and there seems to be a coffee shop on every corner, so of course we wanted to fit in whilst we are here, coffee and cake every day, yes every day, no wonder we are twice the size than when we arrived.  Keith still believes his clothes have shrunk with the altitude during the flight here.

Baden hadn’t been very well prior to our arrival.  He had an abscess on his bottom (an anal fistula) which involved trips to the doctor and 2 day admissions to Perth’s new Children’s Hospital, not somewhere that was on our places to visit on our trip but the new hospital and staff were absolutely amazing.  He was on antibiotics for almost 5 weeks whilst the doctors and surgeons tried to sort him out and he didn’t react very well to them poor little thing.  After 2 operations under general anesthetic it was finally sorted and Baden was finally getting back to normal.

9th March, 2019

I have always wanted to see a Monster Truck Show and was delighted when Monster Trucks Unleashed were putting on a show at the Perth Motorplex.  We managed to get tickets to the sell out show.  The show started at 6pm, but I like to be early so we got there at 3pm so I could check out the trucks.  Only today happened to be the rainiest day in Perth for over 8 months, would you bloody believe it.  The rain was constant all day but it was incredibly warm.  Umbrellas and chairs weren’t allowed inside the arena so we got absolutely soaked sitting on a blanket on the grass waiting for the show to start.

The arena was so wet and muddy that the trucks could do little more than drive around the arena, the crowd were disappointed and people started leaving half way through the show.  Social media went wild with thousands of negative comments about the event. It was really really disappointing.  Next time I’m going to America to see an indoor show, fingers crossed!

10th March

A handful of close family and friends knew that we were going to spring a huge surprise on Jodie & Shaun and we were so pleased that we managed to pull it off, yeahhhhhhhh

One afternoon we had a very funny conversation with Jodie & Shaun.  Shaun’s biggest wish is to have family or friends just turn up on their doorstep in Australia to surprise them.  Jodie was telling Shaun “its too far for family and friends to come, no-one will ever be surprising us”, but little did they know!!!

We told Jodie & Shaun that we were spending the night house sitting for a couple who were heading into the City for the night and packed an overnight bag and headed off to…………. the airport to pick up Glenn & Sarah., oh yes, the surprise is finally here!

Now anyone that knows Glenn knows he doesn’t like to travel too far and he hates the heat.  Glenn and Jodie haven’t seen each other since August 2016 when Jodie had been visiting Guernsey and Glenn had been unable to make it to Jodie’s wedding in November 2017.

We spent the night a local hotel with Glenn & Sarah working out how we were going to spring the surprise that Glenn was in Australia.  After breakfast we arrived at Jodie’s house.  I had told Jodie yesterday that she needed to be ready so that we could go out for the day.  Having a new baby getting dressed is the last thing that Jodie does and we needed to be sure she was dressed lol.

Keith & I went into the house and Glenn and Sarah stayed out in the garage.  Glenn called Jodie on her mobile for a chat, Jodie thought Glenn was calling her at 3am UK time after being out in the town for the night.  Jodie had no idea even though I was filming her on my phone what was going on.  It suddenly dawned on her when Glenn asked her for her Wifi passcode.  Rushing out to the garage to floods of tears all round, she couldn’t believe that he had traveled to the other side of the world to see her.  Love, Love, Love it.  You can see the surprise video on our Guernsey Donkeys On Tour Facebook page.

Next was how were we going to surprise Shaun who was at work.  Whilst we sat discussing various options we heard the garage door open.  We quickly pushed Glenn & Sarah out the front door.  Minutes later there was a knock on the front door, everyone pretended to be busy so that Shaun had to be the one to open the door.  His reaction was absolutely classic, he looked at them both standing there, stepped back and said ‘What the Fuck!’, it was such a shame we didn’t get time to record it.  He was in total shock and his wish to be surprised had come true lol.

We spent the next 3 weeks introducing Glenn & Sarah to Australia and packing in as much in as we possibly could.

We spent the day at Caversham Wild Life Park where they met the kangaroos and other native Australian animals.

You can’t come to Perth and not have chips on Cottesloe Beach and watch the sunset.  A trip to Rottnest Island and an amazing trip to Penguin Island.  We did so much, there’s too much to tell you.

Leaving Jodie, Shaun & Baden behind we hired 2 small camper vans and took a trip down south as far as Denmark.  The weather wasn’t that great but we had a great time nevertheless.  It was the first time camping for Glenn & Sarah and it really pushed Glenn totally out his comfort zone.

We swam in the river, climbed the Pemberton Tree, saw Sting Rays at Hamlin Bay, walked in the pouring rain at the Valley of the Giants, went on a great wine tasting tour, ate some great food, a trip to Margaret River, visited the Margaret River Chocolate factory, visit to the Emerald Cave, Elephants Rocks and Green Pools, Bussleton.  We took a great jet ski safari on the Mandurah River to see the dolphins playing and to look at the beautiful riverside mansions with their huge boats moored outside.

Keith even had a go at wake boarding but he needs a bit more practice to enter a competition lol.

To finish off 9 days camping we booked a Skydive, something we’d been wanting to do for a very long time.  Up at 5.30am to meet our instructors.  It was the best 60 seconds I’ve had in a long time (wink wink) and we definitely want to do it again.  Keith was the only one worried, to much skin around his face flapping around he thought he might knock himself out lol.  We only have the photos before and after because the official photo or video package were extortionate prices and we couldn’t do a group shoot which is a shame.

Our final night camping was at Yanchep National Park where Jodie & Shaun had got married back in November 2017.

Jodie & Shaun introduced Baden to his first camping experience in their new roof top tent.  The facilities have certainly improved since we were there last and we had a fantastic time and Baden really enjoyed his first night camping.

After 3 great weeks it was time for Glenn & Sarah to head back home to Guernsey, they’d had a great time and will definitely be back again.

We booked in two house-sits which were great.  The first one was only a few minutes drive from Jodie & Shaun and the other in Northern Perth.  It was great to be able to give Jodie & Shaun space again to spend time with Baden without nanny & pops stepping in to take over, well nanny taking over lol.

Our hosts for both our house sits were great and the dogs were amazing, particularly Billie & Hallie who restored our confidence in dogs.

Our last week has been spent back with Jodie & Shaun and Baden.  Baden is growing so fast and I can’t believe how much he has grown in the past 3 months, he is a big boy.

We’ve loved having Sunday morning layins with Baden and the daily walk to the coffee shop which we are really going to miss and of course the never ending cuddles and nanny & pops conversations with him.

We can’t believe that we are heading home to get back to ‘normal’ whatever that might be.  We are house sitting for our first month back home before we move into our new property and we get to empty our storage unit and get our stuff back yeahhhhhhhh.

Thanks so much for following us, all the words of encouragement and who knows, is this the end of The Guernsey Donkeys On Tour travels………….  watch this space………..

A la Perchoine

Shirena & Keith

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