The First Six Months are the Hardest
Wow so who can quite believe we're half way through the year already? I can't quite get my head around how fast this year seems to have flown already. The 17th June marks six months since Rich and I first arrived into Oz. We left the UK eight months ago and have achieved so much in that short space of time. Before we arrived into Australia I felt excited, nervous and full of trepidation as to what this country would bring for us. Rich always said the first six months would be the hardest, so now that those six months have passed I thought I'd reflect on what's happened during that time and how I am feeling now.
A couple of months ago I wrote about my feelings of homesickness and how I'd been dealing with Rich getting a FIFO job and him therefore working and living away the majority of the time. For a while, I felt completely at a loss as to why I was even here and I just felt overwhelmed with sadness about missing out on things back in the UK and missing my friends and family. Only a short time has passed since those feelings were at their worst and I can't believe the difference in me. Just lately I have started to feel as though this place is beginning to feel more and more like home. I am forever in awe at where I live and I am starting to feel settled and I am building friendships with different people and I am making my own life in Perth, rather than just having followed Rich out here and relying on him for everything. I feel more positive generally and don't have that sad feeling hanging over me about missing out on stuff happening back home. Of course, I think about my friends and family every single day and miss them so much, but I have started to accept that my life is here in Australia now. I always feel like I'd love more than anything for my friends and family to come out here and visit and to see for themselves what it's like, but I know for most it's just not possible (not yet anyway, maybe one day), so I try to convey what life is like in Australia through my photos and my blogs. I also try to make sure I am living for every single moment and making the most of where I live. Even with Rich away, very rarely am I just sitting at home twiddling my thumbs out of bordem; I am always out and about discovering new places, walking and enjoying my surroundings. There are so many amazing places on our doorstep and I really do want to feel as though I am getting out and soaking it all up. I enjoy my own company so I don't mind that I am going out on adventures on my own; in fact I rather enjoy all the me-time, taking time out to really focus on me and gather my thoughts. That said, nothing is better than when Rich is home and we can go out on adventures together; it is, after all why we came to Australia!
Western Australia is truly an amazing state and I can't believe I never even made it over to the west when I was travelling Australia three years ago. It seems that WA is quite often forgotten about (which is fine for those of us that live here as it makes it far less touristy) and I just love the laid-back, relaxed attitude to life that is adopted here. I'm going to Melbourne and then back to the UK in a few days and I know that the hustle and bustle of Melbourne and London is going to seem bizarre after the slow, lazy feel of Perth. And because we are a forgotten-about state, a lot of people don't know much about WA, so here are a couple of short but sweet facts:
Perth/Western Australia was formerly known as the Swan River Colony and was founded in 1829 by British colonists.
The state capital of WA is Perth, which is one of the most isolated major cities in the world. It has on average 144 days of sunshine per year, making it Australia's sunniest city, with 121 partly-sunny days.
The state is 2.646 million km², covering one third of Australia's mainland.
Perth is 3,291 km (2,045 miles) away from Sydney. Australia really is a MASSIVE country - so anyone asking if I'm 'popping' to Sydney any time soon, it's a four hour flight from Perth! That's the equivalent of 'popping' from London to Greece! So Sydney or anywhere or the East Coast of Australia may as well be in a different country from WA.
Speaking of the fact we may as well be in a different country - Western Australia is the only state in Australia that ranges from north to south through all climate zones. The climates in WA are very different to that of other parts of the country. Time zones also vary from other parts of Australia. In Perth, we are seven/eight hours ahead of London (depending on the time of year) and our clocks never change; we don't have daylight savings here.
So all in all, we have learned that Australia is HUGE. So huge, Europe can fit inside it:
So what have I been up to and what are my highlights of living in Western Australia so far?
Fremantle
Fremantle is my new hometown and I absolutely love living here. It is such a beautiful old city with many historic colonial buildings still proudly standing in place. This city truly feels like home and Rich and I don't ever want to leave. I can't imagine living anywhere else and nor do I want to at this moment in time. Both Rich and I both feel that 'it's got to be Freo or nothing.' We're thinking about buying a house in the next year or so and although houses are hard to come by and expensive for what they are in Freo, it's where we want to be and have decided that location and lifestyle (like being close to everything) are very important to us, more so than just living in any old suburb that we consider to not be as exciting (in our opinions anyway).
There is so much right on our doorstep in Fremantle; we're a fifteen minute walk from the shops, beach, restaurants, bars, cafes, train station and so much more. It really is a lovely place to live and I fully understand why houses rarely come up for sale; once you get a taste of that Freo life, you don't ever want to leave!
We live right next to the old prison, which was constructed between 1851 and 1859 by British convicts. We went on an underground tunnels tour of the prison a few weeks ago and it was fantastic, albeit a little pricey! The story of the prison was fascinating and the actual building was beautiful; we couldn't believe we live right next door to so much interesting and beautiful Australian history. The underground tunnels tour consisted of climbing down ladders for 20 metres (while being harnessed in, thank goodness) and then exploring the tunnels by both foot and by boat. It was such an adventurous day out and an exciting way to learn about the prison and its place in history.
One of the biggest things to happen to us recently is the fact that Rich achieved one of his all time life goals in purchasing a Tesla Model S. For anyone that doesn't know, these are fully electric cars that Rich has been obsessed about for four years. He is going to be writing about Tesla very soon on the blog, so watch this space for more info! Having an electric car has enabled us to go and see more places without paying for fuel or worrying about polluting the earth. One of our goals before coming to Australia was to get a Tesla so we could go out and explore more of WA and even one day, more of Australia in general. More and more charging points are popping up all over the country, which is fantastic to see, so it's becoming easier and easier to drive an electric vehicle. We're so excited that we have managed to achieve one of our goals already and this will open up so many doors for us and tick off more goals of seeing more and more of Australia.
With Rich working away, the Tesla has become more my car than it is his (sorry Rich!), which is amazing for me as it means I can get out and about without the fear of breaking down (like in our $800 heap of rubbish that I lost all confidence in driving). So having a new found sense of freedom, I thought I would check out some of the amazing places that are so close to us. (And on a side note, I am a complete Tesla convert - it's so amazing to drive and it's safe to say, I am also obsessed now!)
Raeburn Orchards
I follow a few pages on Facebook about the best things to see and do in Perth and while most of them are food based and recommend nice places to eat and drink (which is fine, but I prefer the outdoorsy stuff), the odd page comes up about beautiful places to go and visit. Raeburn Orchards was one such place. It popped up on my newsfeed and looked stunning, so knowing that I had the use of the car and no plans on the Saturday, I set off to explore.
The orchard was about 40 minutes drive east of Perth and at one point I was ready to give up and go home as the sat-nav was taking me on a wild goose chase and was getting confused with the newly built roads. However, I'm glad I persevered as when I finally got to the orchard, it was so beautiful and so worth getting lost for. The leaves looked incredible and it was stunning walking around the orchard in the beautiful countryside and getting a feel for an autumnal Perth. Up until this point, it hadn't really felt like autumn to me, the days recently had been gloriously warm and we'd had barely any rainfall, so to come and see these orange and red leaves made me feel very autumnal indeed.
Swan Valley
The Swan Valley is Perth's wine region and is just so stunningly beautiful. I have, as yet, not been there for any wine tasting but I have now been up there for a couple of drives and for lunch. There is a Tesla charger outside a nougat shop, so with that in mind, I set off up there from the orchards, even though it was out of my way getting home. But I thought it might be a good idea to charge the car, go for a walk and for some lunch and enjoy the Swan Valley, so that's exactly what I did. That's the beauty of having an EV (electric vehicle); you end up going to places you might otherwise miss because you know there is a free charger available. I parked up the car and went for a short walk to an arts cafe that was recommended to me by someone at the nougat shop. The walk was just beautiful and it was great to get my daily steps up - if I had not been charging the car, I would have driven the kilometre to the cafe rather than walking there, so getting some more steps in was a massive bonus. The arts cafe was gorgeous and even on a winter's day, I sat outside in the sunshine. I had the most incredible food and even the tea was just spot on. I will most definitely be returning to Taylor's Art and Coffee House with Rich, especially as we can let the car charge for free too.
Perth Hills
A couple of days before we got our own Tesla, we met up with fellow owners for a Tesla drive day. It was fantastic to be part of a network and meet other enthusiasts. It's even better knowing that we can participate in the next one with our very own Tesla.
We drove to a couple of different locations, one of them being the nougat shop and the other was the Mundaring Weir Hotel in the Perth Hills. It was a gorgeous country hotel (something I would call a pub in the UK) that had a roaring fire and felt cosy on the wet and chilly day. The food was amazing and it was a wonderful experience to drive up into the hills, check out the beautiful views and enjoy a lunch in a cosy little place and to meet new people, all with a common interest. The best part of the day for me was when we were getting ready to leave and some kangaroos started hopping across the road; something I will never stop finding exciting. Everyone else was so excited about the Teslas, but for me it was all about those cute kangaroos!
Albany
As Rich is mostly away, he doesn't get to use his car as much as he'd like so he rather spontaneously came up with the idea of us going for a road trip down to Albany when he was back from work. He planned the route on where there would be charging points and we headed out on our road trip on the Saturday morning. I think a lot of people thought we were crazy for driving the 416 km (260 miles) for just one night in Albany, but the road trip was as much about the journey as it was the destination. Rich was just excited to get out in his car and to drive it long distance for the first time and I was more than happy to join him on the adventure. It was just nice to be exploring more of WA and to know that we didn't have to pay for fuel to make it happen.
We drove for around two hours and stopped off at a little place called Williams Woolshed, where they'd recently installed a Tesla Destination Charger. It was absolutely perfect for us as we were able to stop for lunch whilst getting a good bit of charge for the car. We spoke with the owners and they were so excited that a Tesla was actually charging! Rich let their kids sit in the car and have a look round, while giving them all the lowdown on the technical side of it (I really need him to create an FAQs sheet for me - people always stop and ask me about the car and I have no idea!). It's lovely to see people so excited about an electric car and especially lovely when kids are so excited. They are, of course, the next generation so it's amazing to see that they're so on board with sustainable transport and renewable energy. We can't seem to go anywhere without people stopping to chat to us about the Tesla - which is good for us getting more charge, but not so great when you're in a hurry!
After a nice lunch and amazing coffee, we got back on the road, this time with me in the driver's seat. I'd used the traffic assist cruise control before (which takes a bit of getting used to when the car speeds up and slows down with the traffic in front), but I'd not used the autopilot function before, mostly out of fear; I didn't really know how I felt about not being in control of the vehicle! But once I got going, I realised that it was an amazing feature and it greatly assisted with driving long distance. We got to our motel in the evening and were welcomed to chocolates upon arrival in our room. It was a lovely touch and the chocolates were soon demolished with a cup of tea, before getting ready to go out for some dinner.
The next day after a delicious breakfast, we had a little walk around the Anzac Peace Park and took in the beautiful views of the waterfront.
We then headed to the Wind Farm, which was stunning and actually made me feel a little emotional that some steps are being taken to making the world run on clean energy (can you tell Rich has got me on board with renewable energy?!). I felt sad that more is not being done and that as a race, we are slowly destroying the planet, but Rich reminded me that a lot is happening and that we are doing our bit, which we should feel immensely proud about.
After the wind farm we went to see The Gap and Natural Bridge, which are natural rock formations. It was very impressive!
We then headed to Cable Beach, which was stunning and so peaceful as we were the only ones there. It was 18°C and was a stunning winter's day. I do feel I have acclimatised though and anything below 20° feels cold. This is absolutely crazy when those kind of temperatures in the UK are delightfully warm! But those temperatures do feel cold when you're used to high 30's and early 40's. Friends can't seem to work out why I am wearing jumpers in what is a summer's day temperature in the UK. But it is winter in Australia and I must admit I am such a wuss now when it comes to the cold. The winter sunshine was lovely, but we were very grateful to get inside and have lunch at the Sandalwood Factory, where there was a cosy wood burner. I know a wood burner sounds laughable to my UK friends in those temperatures. But seriously it does actually get colder than that here in winter, it's not all days of glorious sunshine, I promise. I'm sure I will be donning the jumpers when I am back in UK summer...
We had a great time seeing the sights in Albany and exploring more of this wonderful state that we live in, and it's got me excited for even more adventures, even if they are a whirlwind (hey, that's part of being with Rich!).
The last couple of months have been quite busy, which has been amazing in terms of putting those feelings of homesickness to bed. I've been doing a lot with friends as well as getting out for 'me-time adventures' and most of my weekends are jam-packed. I'm starting to settle in and feel as though there is nowhere right now I'd rather be living. The past six months has had its ups and downs, but mostly things are starting to fall into place and by keeping busy and exploring, I am realising that the life in Australia I had envisioned, is exactly how it's turning out to be. I feel so lucky to be setting up my home in WA and I can't wait to explore more of it. We had WA Day celebrations a couple of weeks ago and I went to have a look at the festivities taking place in Freo and I felt so lucky and proud to be a part of Western Australia.
I'm looking forward to what the next six months are going to bring for us in this wonderful part of the world.
