During our mini-holiday at the end of the larger not at work holiday we went to Carrickalinga and stayed not very far from the beach. The first couple of days we were there it was a bit windy and cool and not really conducive to going in the water, not for me anyway.

That didn’t stop my son, however, as he was in every day. The day I took the photos below, was a bit warmer and I took them before I finally went for a swim myself.

He borrowed a friend’s boogie board. I must get his own as he really enjoys using them and this time he stayed out there for a bit.

There were a group of other kids not too far away and maybe he was copying what they were doing but I admired his patience. I can just see him looking for a bit of a wave.

As you can see the waves weren’t very big but at least I don’t panic when they are only this big. He doesn’t mind the bigger waves though and knows how to handle them.

When I went in I took my friend’s daughter who’s nowhere near as confident in the water and was very wary of the waves. I showed her what to do and she ducked down for two of the waves and was very proud of herself. Hopefully that will give her the boost she needs for next time.

If I was to participate in something like taking a photo a day every day for a year, this photo would be today’s.

I was reading about participating in the project, and also on BlogHer, and immediately knew what I wanted to take a photo of, even though I’m not participating in the 365 Flickr group or anything similar.

I might do it one day, or maybe I’ll just give it a bit of a whirl and see what transpires.

I’ve just hung the clothes out on the line and it’s quite warm here today so they won’t take long to dry. Then I’ll be able to fold up and put away this lot and the other two to three loads I’ve done over the last couple of days that I haven’t yet put away. I don’t mind washing and hanging clothes out, but I always procrastinate the folding up and putting away bit.

The day after New Year’s Day JJ and I packed up the car yet again, harnessed Monty and off we drove to Victor Harbor. We managed to get the one way joke (the Southern Expressway) which makes the trip a bit quicker but the bit after that’s usually a pain in the ass because of crappy drivers. There’s also a really high incidence of fatal car crashes which always makes me a bit nervous about impatient drivers. We were lucky this time.

A part of the drive is a really long and reasonably steep hill. My little car starts off at the speed limit (100kph) at the bottom of the hill and three quarters of the way up it’s down to 80kph. This meant that I saw the turnoff to a lookout which I spontaneously took.

I’ve never stopped at this lookout before but I was obviously fairly relaxed and in holiday mode and not in a real hurry to get to our destination, hence the stop.

I had my camera with me too and as I haven’t been taking many photos lately I thought it was time to remedy this.

The photo below shows the coast on the horizon, around Port Willunga way.

JJ loves collecting the seeds off the weeds you can see in the foreground. I got him to throw them up in the air.

Can you spot JJ?

Today I was reminded of being a tourist again when we popped down to Glenelg to purchase a few things. I used to live at Glenelg and hated Jetty Road being so crowded on a Saturday morning when all I wanted to do was buy the paper and an iced coffee. I’m very glad I don’t live there any more. Visiting a touristy place like this is fine but not living there is good too.

As I take a break from the mundane everyday life I’m taking a step back in time to a few weeks for our visit to Rottnest Island in Western Australia.

We spent a day there and we were extremely lucky with the weather. It was the perfect winter’s day, blue sky and not too cold. In fact I wish I hadn’t taken my coat as I ended up lugging it around all day.

Rottnest Island is unique in that there are no cars allowed. The main mode of transport is bicycles and it makes for a very peaceful place and the perfect family holiday destination. As we were there during school holidays it was fairly busy and the ferry was pretty full.

The first thing we did upon arrival was find the bike hire place to hire a couple of bikes for the day. They sure don’t make bike seats that comfortable, or maybe it’s just because I don’t ride bikes very often. My bum was pretty sore by the end of the day. I also found out that I’d worn my bike helmet the wrong way around all day as towards the end of the day I was riding past a group of kids and one of them said, ‘You’ve got your helmet on back to front.’ After I stopped and put it on the right way I realised it was a lot more comfortable. And here’s me thinking I was doing okay riding around the island.

Actually, we didn’t ride all the way around the island. The smallest hill becomes the largest mountain when you’re riding up it and you’re not used to it. JJ did really well and I was always looking at him in front of me. And we were constrained by time. We probably did about one third of it.

Rottnest is named after these little creatures who slightly resemble rats. They are called Quokkas. After our bike ride I was sitting outside after I’d finished an icy cold beer, watching JJ on the playground and I felt something at my feet. I tried to move it out of my way and realised that it was moving. When I looked down it was this creature looking for food. They’re obviously quite tame.

In the main settlement area near the shops, there are also lots of peacocks. The supermarket had little swinging plastic doors which I realised were to keep out hungry animals.

All in all it was a really good day and I’d love to go back some time to stay for a while. I think it was our best day in Western Australia.

Two weekends ago we were in Fremantle and one of the things we did was to visit the Fremantle prison. The only way to have a good look around is to pay to join a tour - an hour and a half tour. Keeping JJ interested crossed my mind, but I paid for both of us to do it and I’m glad I did as I like finding out this kind of stuff. I did a similar tour around Alcatraz when in San Francisco.

The tour guide knew his stuff that’s for sure and the hour and a half for me went quickly. Probably not quite so quickly for JJ but he coped admirably well and didn’t tell me too many times he was bored.

The above image is the original sized cell that prisoners slept in. Prisoners being convicts in the first instance before it became a prison for non-convicts also.

A day in the life of a prisoner.

Of course the walls have barbed wire at the top of the walls to help prevent escape.

Some of the walls had broken glass instead.

I couldn’t believe that prisoners were inhabitants until 1991. The prison certainly isn’t luxurious and it wouldn’t have been very comfortable.

Before the prisoners had to be moved to another prison because of its closure they were allowed to paint on walls, both inside their cells and outside.

This painting was done by an indigenous inmate, and you can see JJ looking a bit bored!

There was a church inside the prison which the male inmates used to go to fairly regularly, especially when women prisoners were going too. Once they stopped going many of the men stopped too.

One prisoner painted the ten commandments on a church wall. If you’re familiar with your commandments you’ll notice that the sixth one is slightly different.

I would have liked to do a tunnels tour but the youngest you can be is 12 so JJ wouldn’t have been able to come. Perhaps I could have put him in a cell for a couple of hours?

So we’re back from Perth and it was great to go away on holiday and be away from work for one week. Today was a bit of a shock being back at work and I found out that my voicemail said I’d be back on 21 January, not 21 July. Talk about wishful thinking!

I’ve mentioned earlier that I’d never been to Perth before. It’s hard not to go past all the construction that’s happening in Perth - the parts of it I saw anyway. I have a photo somewhere of the CBD and we counted about eight cranes scattered across the city. The mining boom is having repercussions in the building industry that’s for sure.

We stayed in a backpackers for a few nights and a couple of people staying there worked in the mines. Why you’d want to stay in a backpackers during your one or two weeks off escapes me as they’re not really restful places. We had a double room with an ensuite and unfortunately it was right in the middle of the backpackers (an old house) and not far from the kitchen so we got the kitchen noise at night and from people getting up at 5am for work. As it was only for a short time I put up with it and there were benefits.

JJ made friends with nearly everyone, provided entertainment, and annoyed them with requests to play Uno with him. We were lucky that I found a clean and family friendly place (family friendly was on my criteria list and this backpackers was about the only one I could find).

We were also fortunate that it was near the free bus that Perth Transit puts on. Their free bus system is fantastic. Apart from our time in Fremantle at the beginning and one other public transport trip, we didn’t pay for public transport at all. I was also really impressed with the trains. They’re frequent and they’re clean. So unlike the Adelaide trains.

Unfortunately it rained a fair bit which put a dampener (pardon the awful pun) on our holiday a little bit and I had to buy JJ a pair of waterproof shoes because the sneakers I took for him got wet really easily and were quite uncomfortable for him.

I took heaps of photos while away and will be posting them over the next little while along with our travel tales.

I’m already thinking about the next holiday we can take together.

As JJ is a bit older now I want to start taking him on holidays. This is a bit daunting because it will be just him and me ALL the time with no break from each other which puts me off a bit but I want to do it nevertheless.

So, I’d been thinking of going to Queensland as it will be warm when I want to go there. Then I realised I’d never been to Perth so I thought I’d go there instead. I looked up airfares and realised that it would turn into an expensive holiday after paying for airfares and accommodation. This is why some of my friends go to Asia for their holidays because it’s not much more expensive to fly there and it’s cheap once you’re there.

I put my holiday plans on hold for a bit to think some more. Then at work recently I nearly had a chance to go to the States for a conference in July. Unfortunately that was kyboshed so my manager could go but as a ‘consolation’ prize I get to go to Perth for a one day workshop which happens to be during the school holidays. Therefore I get a free flight to Perth.

My brain immediately started ticking when I realised that I could take JJ but I’ll have to get him babysat for the one day of my workshop.

I’ve got some feelers out but if anyone from Perth reads this blog and knows of childcare options please let me know. I don’t know if I’m able to put him in vacation care for a day at a school there as it will be school holidays there also. I’ll have to find out.

My other option is to put him on a plane back to Adelaide and have someone pick him up and look after him until I get back. I’m hesitant to do this as it’s a fairly lengthy flight from Perth to Adelaide.

So it appears as though I’m going to Perth folks. I can’t wait.