My parents in Perth (16 October - 26 November 1999)

In October 1999 my parents stayed with us for 6 weeks. It was great to show them our way-of-life and to give them a first-hand look at our house, city etc.

It must have been a good omen as right up until the day they arrived the weather had been cloudy, rainy and even stormy. Mariska, another friend of mine from the Netherlands, stayed with us for three days at the end of September (after a trip from Darwin) and had 3 days of rain. But when my parents arrived it cleared up and the temperature soared from 20 to over 30 on some days.

In and around the house

As we couldn’t spare too many days off (all to be used for our honeymoon next year) my parents spent most of the days at our home. With the weather being so perfect, they were quite happy with that: lounging around in our new chairs on the patio.

But they also helped with some chores. My mum took care of washing and ironing and cooked her share of meals, while my dad cleaned the windows inside and out. He also did some jobs in the garden, such as painting our fences, planting some seedlings and edging the lawn.

Before you think we’re slave drivers: our usual household help still appeared every fortnight and we told my parents they didn’t have to do anything if they didn’t feel like it. But we were spoiled with them and have offered to sponsor their migration (but they declined :-).

Our clean house formed the base of many meetings with our friends and Lisa’s family. For one to introduce them to my parents (and vice versa), but also to introduce my parents to the typical Aussie customs of ‘barbies’, ‘bring-a-plate’ & BYO. Mid-November we had an early-Christmas with most of Lisa’s family at our place.

Perth and surroundings

On the first day we had shown them how to walk to the shops. We live only a few kilometres away from Westfield Carousel, which had just extended to be the greatest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere. Here they could do their banking and shopping.

Some of the evenings, and in the weekend, we tried to show them some more of Perth. At first just a ride around the river, but in the first week we had a walk in Kings Park (the big park overlooking Perth). Later we had a sunset-diner in a restaurant on the beach and in the weekends we visited the city, Underwater World, Fremantle (and the nautical museum) and the beach.

A few days Lisa’s parents offered to go out with my parents. At first it was a Mystery bus tour, which ended up going to Fremantle and back along the coast. On a second trip they took the car and rode via the hills to the Swan Valley, the wine area North of Perth. And a third trip, another Mystery one, brought them to Kings Park & the Swan Valley once more. This on Melbourne Cup day (the biggest horse-race in Australia) and my dad even won some money (thanks to my tips :-). Further trips ventured to Lisa's uncles farm, a reptile park and even fishing in the river.

Further trips

The weekends gave the occasion to make further tourist trips. We visited the farm of Kathy and Dennis in Northam. Although it is only a relatively small farm, with more than 700 Ha. it is quite substantial in Dutch terms. Dennis showed us all his equipment (and we all had a ride on the back of a quad), including the sheering-shed (all ±1.500 sheep were unfortunately just shorn the week before) and we took a drive over the land, which was almost ready for harvest. It was amazing how my dad, with limited English skills, could converse with Dennis on the Australian crops such as lupins, canola and wheat. In the evening Kathy had made lamb-roast, another traditional Aussie meal.

On the coast

A couple of weeks later Lisa and I had taken some days off, so that we could go out for a long weekend. First down south, to the Margaret River wine area. There we remained for a day to look at the vineyards and the coast. Along the coast we were rapped to see whales in the distances. Less rapped, but still amazed were we to see a 'dugite' (poisonous snake) on the path back to the car. More animals in the wildlife-park were we fed kangaroos etc.

Then further south to Denmark, where we did the Tree-Top-Walk (actually in Walpole). This is a construction of suspended bridges leading you up to 40 metres up into the tall Karri trees, shaky but impressive. Finally a day in Albany on the South coast, before driving back up.

The Tree Top Walk

We also put them on the bus for a day-trip to the Pinnacles. This is a little dessert in the dunes with remarkable rock-formations. We had visited this place a year before with other friends (this and other WA-tourist information can be found on my Australia-page). On the way they visited Yanchep National Park and encountered koala's, kangaroos and aboriginal art.

Other visits

After that first time, my parents have visited us again in March/April 2000 (for our wedding) and in April/May 2001 (when Joshua was born). These weren't tourist-visits, but they did make several short trips.

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