WA AMRA 35th Model Railway Exhibition – Claremont Showground, Perth
10 Jun 2011 3 Comments
in Days Out, General, This week we ... Tags: fun day out in perth, postaweek2011, WA AMRA Model Railway Exhibition
Last weekend (4, 5 & 6 June 2011) was a long weekend here in Perth.
Paul had the morning off on the Monday so we decided to take Rhys to see the Model Railway Exhibition that was on in Perth. We had intended to go on the train but unfortunately couldn’t make the schedule work with Paul’s work so we ended up going in two cars!!!
Anyway the exhibition was super fun and there were all sorts of amazing model railways. The lego exhibit stole the show and, as you can imagine with a 5 year old in tow, the Thomas the Tank Engine exhibits were quite a draw! However, there were also more grown up varieties of model railways and we would strongly recommend a visit – it’s on every year so keep an eye out.
Here’s our video of the exhibits that caught our eye (sorry, it does go on for a bit!)
Be sure to also take a look at this post by Claire (comment below) who took some amazing photos of the exhibits.
How not to do business by e-mail
25 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Business Tags: cold e-mailing, how not to e-mail for business, postaweek2011, small business tips, UK to Australia, where's your website?
As you know I’ve been trying to get my business up and running over here. After the first year I totally transformed my entire business and things appear to be going much better. However, I’d forgotten what it’s like when you have a ‘web presence’ and how you are plagued by the constant cold calls and ‘cold e-mails’ that interfere with the general day-to-day running of your new business.
You’ll know the calls I’m talking about: ‘Hello, my name is Richard and I’m calling from Search Engine Optimisations R Us. Do you know you are not on the front page of Google? I can help you with that.’ As far as I’m aware the only company that’s on the front page of Google is … Google, it’s just a big white screen with a search box and lots of Google stuff! Anyway, I digress. That’s a topic for another day. Today I want to talk about the e-mails I get. Below is one I received last week
Cold Call E-mail
In fact this one isn’t too bad.
The thing that I really hate is the greeting – ’Hi Jane’ – This person doesn’t know me, why do they think they can greet me in such a familiar way. I don’t mind the Jane so much but a ‘Dear’ goes a lot further with me.
But actually the first thing about the e-mail is the subject – Website. What? This doesn’t tell me the anything. They’re lucky I even bothered to open it. It already sounds like a generic cold call.
In this example they do, at least, give a small description of their company and I can tell that they’ve looked at my websites because they know the content of them – I get so many of these e-mails from people who haven’t even taken the time to do this. However, they should have registered that I designed both my websites! It’s a little inflammatory to suggest that they can do a better job! I got over that though …
They boldly state that they can make improvements … but they don’t go into any detail. And this is further frustrated by the fact that their signature does not include what is, in my humble opinion, the most basic of things – their website address. I want to check them out, they’ve been cheeky enough to contact me by harvesting my e-mail address from my website, why are they so coy about letting me see their site? If they want my business they’ll need to show me some samples at the very least.
I guess my point here is that if you are going to send out these type of e-mails then make them more professional, make them more pertinent to the business you are approaching, take some time to get to know the business and offer suggestions – a little taster goes a long way to softening the blow.
Throughout my business life I have offered free advice and service because I like to help people, but this has also had a knock-on effect of bringing in more business and sometimes from the most unexpected of places. People and businesses like freebies and kindness, don’t ever forget that.
In this world of ‘social networking’ many businesses appear to have lost the most basic of manners. Many seem to believe they have a right to barge in without any explanation and on top of that they are taken aback if you, the bargee, take offence.
Maybe I should start a ‘back to basic business manners’ campaign … hmmm …..
Mother’s Day in Perth (or should that be Mother’s Week?)
21 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Days Out, This week we ... Tags: Australia, fun day out in perth, Mother's Day, numbat, Perth Zoo, postaweek2011, things to do in Perth WA
Such a long time since my last post! I’ve been a bit busy with the invitation business, but I couldn’t let the last couple of week’s go by without blogging about them. So, I’m going to start with my Mother’s Day experience.
The school holidays finished and Rhys went back to school on the Thursday to prepare for the ‘Mothers Pamper Party’ the next day! Can I say I was dreading it?? Rhys’ favourite colour is red … what on earth would I look like when he’d finished?? Anyway, my fears were unfounded … well not totally, see below.
Pamper Passport
Our 'Tasks'
Red Nails!
It was fun, and I’ve got a lovely red glittery pasta bow necklace to keep forever!
On the Sunday, after a delicious breakfast in bed, we headed off to Perth Zoo. All Mums got free entry and there were free hand massages as well – what more could a girl ask for? The place was pumping! We ended up parking a fair distance away but it all added to the fun.
As the day was quite cool – still warm, but not stifling – the animals were a lot more active than normal. We saw magnificent tigers, regal lions, super sun bears, kangaroos, pelicans, spiders, lizards, bats, quokkas, orangutans (so cute), red pandas (even more cute!) etc. The best part of the whole day for me was seeing the numbat.
These delightful creatures are so close to extinction – currently only found in two very small areas of WA in the wild – but Perth Zoo and others are doing much to stop this situation. Numbats are small, furry, striped and spotted with a long tongue. They are also known as the Banded Anteater. Outside the enclosure was a huge wooden carving of the numbat which Rhys couldn’t resist:
Rhys & the large wooden numbat
Rhys wanted to see the Tasmanian Devils and Koalas but their enclosure was under improvement so we weren’t able to get into it.
We had a great day and I would highly recommend Perth Zoo, expecially for learning more about the Australian native animals. Pick a cool day though if you want to see active animals.
Happy Australia Day!
26 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in General, This week we ... Tags: Australia, Australia Day, bank holidays, celebrations, holidays, Just Jane Designs, official holidays, postaweek2011, UK to Australia
Australia Day - 26th January
Today, 26th January, is Australia Day. It’s one of several holidays we have to look forward to over the next few months, but Australia Day is a special day – much like 4th July in the US. The following is a direct quote from www.australiaday.org.au where you can find masses of information about Australia Day:
On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian. It’s the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. It’s the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future.
Australia Day, 26 January, is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip, in 1788 (to read a comprehensive history of the evolution of Australia Day, click here).
Though 26 January marks this specific event, today Australia Day celebrations reflect contemporary Australia: our diverse society and landscape, our remarkable achievements and our bright future. It also is an opportunity to reflect on our nation’s history, and to consider how we can make Australia an even better place in future.
Celebrations at the annual Australia Day Live concert in Canberra On Australia Day, over half of the nation’s population of 21 million attend either an organised community event, or get together with family and friends with the intention of celebrating our national day. Many more spend the public holiday relaxing with family and friends.
Yet Australia Day is much more than barbeques and fireworks. It is more than another public holiday. It is more than the pride and excitement of new citizens who call themselves Australian for the first time on 26 January after being conferred citizenship.
At its core, Australia Day is a day driven by communities, and the celebrations held in each town, suburb or city – unified by the celebration of what’s great about Australia and being Australian – are the foundation of its ongoing success.
We are having a quiet family day (just the 3 of us). We took a walk (Rhys on his bike) down to Kingsbridge Park, one of the many parks around us, where we played with a ball for a bit. The park was fairly quiet with just a few other families around, but earlier (commencing at 8.30am) there had been a sausage sizzle breakfast and community cricket match – the Aussies against the ‘rest of the world’ – which is an annual thing organised by one of the residents committees. Later we might pop down to the beach before our tea.
All around us there are houses overflowing with people having pool parties and barbeques. Others will be travelling into Perth to the foreshore for the annual Australia Day Skyworks - a fantastic firework display. The beaches and their park areas will be packed with families and friends enjoying the weather and picnicing. There have been early morning citizenship presentations in many of the towns. And there are flags everywhere … on T-shirts, shorts, bikinis, hats, cars, houses, boats and caravans!
Whatever you are doing today I wish you a Happy Australia Day! Please also spare a thought for our fellow Australians (mostly in Queensland but also in other areas) who have been suffering such dreadful natural disasters over the last month or so.
Jane x
An Impromptu Camping Trip
19 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Days Out, General, This week we ... Tags: Australia, caravan parks wa, fairy wren, guilderton, kookabura, new migrant, postaweek2011, seabird, shire of gingin, UK to Australia, west coast honey, willowbrook farm caravan park
I’m a bit late with my weekly blog this week because we decided on a last minute caravanning trip on Wednesday last week! The weather had been so hot and since we don’t have air conditioning in our house but we do have it in our caravan we thought we would make a trip out in the caravan.
We decided to go a little bit inland (not much) to Gingin which is about 45 mins from where we are in WA. We were able to book for two nights at Willowbrook Farm Caravan Park - $28 per night for a powered site. A quick Google had come up with mixed reviews for it but we weren’t too worried. Before I go into more detail about what we did I just want to touch on the caravan park itself.
We were welcomed by Lil in the Office who allowed us to pick which site we wanted (it was very quiet to be fair) and was happy to let us set up and then come back and pay her for our stay. The sites are mainly grassed and shaded by gum trees – some are a little unlevel. In a small copse of trees towards the rear of the site is lovely heritage cemetry which also contains some family pets. The ablution block, though not palatial, was meticulously clean and each shower cubicle had it’s own toilet – not something we’d come across before but actually quite nice! The gardens to the front of the private house were beautiful and full of birds and the al fresco area here, which is for the use of the park guests, was spacious and well equipped. The camp kitchen, which was clean and tidy, features an enormous cooking range and oven. Every Sunday morning Bill and Lil provide scones with jam and cream for all those staying at the park – unfortunately we left on Saturday so were unable to savour this particular hospitality. On Friday evenings Bill and Lil host a get together where all the park guests can meet each other – bring along your own drinks and nibbles. The hospitality at this caravan park was exceptional. Bill and Lil were the perfect mix of friendly host and silent managers – so amenable if you wanted it, but happy to leave you to it as well.
The trees around the caravan park were amazing – I think they are some kind of gum, not sure. Most of them had ghostly white trunks and branches and those that didn’t were in the process of shedding their bark which is just as beautiful!
Lovely shady pitches.
We had made the decision to stay there as we had appointments to view some houses in nearby Two Rocks so we arrived at the park at lunch time, set up our caravan, had a quick shower and off we went to the viewings.
Caravan all set up and ready for action!
It was a long day!
On Friday we set off to explore the locality of Gingin which is a very pretty town slightly inland. Typically the weather had changed during Thursday and we had not needed our air conditioning, in fact quite the opposite during the night – it was just as well that we had a duvet in our storage compartment – but the sun was shining when we got up and it was still a warm day.
We stopped first at West Coast Honey expecting to see masses of bees all over the place. But no, it turns out that the company have hives all over WA and they truck the honeycomb frames in from their locations to extract the honey! There are some bees in a special frame that they use to give visitors a close up of the work the bees do. Yolanda, a fourth generation member of the family, talked to us enthusiastically about the work her family does and she was fantastic with Rhys as well. We stayed there for over an hour finishing up with a cream tea for Paul and I and homemade honey ice cream for Rhys (he also had a cream & jam scone!). We stopped back there later to buy some lovely honey for our toast on Saturday morning!
After the honey shop we ventured into the town of Gingin. Such a pretty town with an oasis of green in the centre and full of history. And from there we drove around admiring the scenery of the surrounding area. After Rhys had had a little nap in the car whilst we drove (!) we decided we should probably do something for him so off we went to Caledanian Mini Golf – an 18 hole mini golf course set in some pretty gardens. We had a lot of fun even though Rhys was a little upset at the end when his ball disappeared into a large locked chest!
There is a lot more to see and do in the Shire of Gingin and you can find out about that here.
On Saturday we arranged with Lil to extend our check out time to 1pm and set off to visit the coastal towns of Guilderton and Seabird. Seabird is a small town with lots of shacks backing onto the beach. It has a private caravan park which is more like a holiday park (think Butlins without the entertainment) and there are some very large and swish houses being built around the town, but it still retains a kind of old fashioned Aussie fishing village feel.
Guilderton is a very popular town which has a very pretty caravan/camping park situated at the mouth of the Moore River where it meets the sea. It’s a great spot for kids and consequently is very popular during school holidays – in fact the caravan park has ballots for the sites during the summer (Christmas) holidays which you have to queue up for at the office in February in order to get your plot for the following year! Needless to say when we got there on Saturday it was absolutely heaving and there were droves of cars still arriving … we didn’t stay long. We’ve camped here in the autumn and it’s much quieter, and the surroundings are somehow more beautiful when they’re not heaving with boats, surf boards and fishermen.
Well I’ve droned on enough now! That was our impromptu camping trip last week – I wonder what we’ll do this week … need some time off I think! Last picture of the heritage cemetry at Willowbrook Caravan Park, which was actually in the copse of trees behind our caravan – note to self: don’t let Paul choose the caravan spot next time!!!
The dead centre of Willowbrook Farm Caravan Park!!!
One final thing. As the sun set each night we were treated to a chorus of kookaburas and galahs in the trees around us – prompting a quick chorus of ‘Kookabura sits in the old gum tree’ from Rhys! – and again as dawn broke in the mornings. I love it, but Paul is not so keen – he does like his sleep! There were a couple of geese wandering around who would join in also and the fairy wrens flitting about all day are beautiful. Well worth a visit!
Jane x
Along came a spider …
07 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in General, Tips for Migrants Tags: Australia, black house spider, postaweek2011, red back spider, spiders, UK to Australia
... who sat down beside her
If you follow me on Facebook you’ll know that we recently had an incident with a large Black House Spider and that got me thinking about how life has changed in respect of our attitudes to ‘wildlife’ since we arrived here in Australia.
I think I read somewhere that all spiders in Australia bite. Some of them can’t bite through human skin but they all bite. Only two can kill a human being (and that is only in very extreme cases), a handful can cause some very nasty side effects (like ulceration, nausea, sweating, etc) and most are just painful bites. I don’t think there are any spiders in the UK that bite.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you! But it was something that I wanted to be clear about when we arrived here, at the very least so I could identify which type of spider was crawling up my leg at any given time. Also, having a toddler with us meant that we had to train him to not touch spiders and start teaching him what each type looks like.
I did some major internet research when we arrived and found a website with a print out sheet of the most common spiders in the country (you can find it here), where they are most common and how poisonous they are. We stuck it to the fridge and set about training the family. We live in Quinns Rocks which is undergoing fast development at the moment and therefore tends to be very dry and dusty with few well established gardens and this type of environment is a haven for red back spiders, the second most venomous spider in the country.
We get the Red Back frequently in our front porch and around the garage edges – they like to build their webs outside in the sun but keep their ‘living space’ in the cool so garage doors are perfect! Once you know what their web looks like and what the spider looks like it’s pretty easy to spot them and then deal with them. The other thing we learnt is that other types of spider prey on the Red Back so if you keep those types around then you can keep your Red Back numbers down! We have Black House Spiders, Whitetail Spiders, Wolf Spiders and ‘Daddy Longleg’ Spiders in abundance in this area. Black House Spiders and Daddy Longleg Spiders kill and eat Red Backs apparently.
The most important thing to remember is that even if they are poisonous they are still generally frightened of humans and will not attack, most will do everything possible to run away to the nearest safe spot. Most bites happen when people are putting on clothes or in bed, so it’s a good idea to check your clothes before you put them on and your bed before you get into it.
The other day Paul and I had been to my parents and dropped Rhys off for a couple of nights. We came home and planned a relaxing afternoon on the beach – since having Rhys ‘relaxing on the beach’ is a thing of the past – so we set about gathering all our bits together. Paul’s scruffy beach T-shirt had been left on the washing line after yesterday’s visit to the beach so he went out to put it on. It was inside out on the line so he turned it back the right way and put in on. He came back into the house to get some more things and as he walked past the large mirror in the hallway saw a large black spider walking across his right shoulder. ‘Err, babe, I need you here now’ were the first words out of his mouth. He thought it was a Red Back spider, so I tried to calm him down but telling him it was a Black House Spider. His response was ‘Listen David Attenborough I don’t want a lecture on spider identification just get the *** thing off me!’ So I shut my mouth, brushed the spider off and stamped on it … because it was very big … so now I have to clean the floor … but no-one got bitten.
I hope you’re not scratching and jumping at every shadow in the corner now!
Jane x
Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!
02 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Days Out, General Tags: 2010, Australia, fun day out in perth, Perth, photo year, postaweek2011
Ok, not the most original heading for the first post of the new year and it wasn’t what I was originally going to post about but this morning I was sorting through my photos from this year and decided that I couldn’t let the year finish without sharing a few!
2010 has been a bit trying but when I look back at the photos we actually had quite a lot of fun times. Anyway, here’s our year in pictures:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
So for this year …
- Find a new job for Paul that he can enjoy
- Work on developing my wedding invitation business
- A happy year of school for Rhys – full days from February!!
- Hope for an improvement in the GBP-AUD exchange rate so we can bring some money over and buy a house …
- Happy and healthy year for us and all our friends and family.
Here’s to 2011!
Jane x
I’m posting once a week in 2011!
31 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in General, This week we ... Tags: postaweek2011
My pledge / resolution for this blog for this new year …
I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog once a week for all of 2011.
I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.
If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.
Thanks!
Jane x
Marmite & other dilemmas
16 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in General, Tips for Migrants Tags: Australia, Marmite, Marmite vs Vegemite, new migrant, Perth, UK to Australia, UK vs Australian products, Vegemite
When we were talking about moving to Australia I very recklessly said, when asked how I would manage without Marmite, ‘When in Rome do as the Romans do … I will eat Vegemite – how different can it be?’
Well, as it turns out the two are very different products, and the worst thing of all is that I really don’t like Vegemite! Vegemite is much blacker and thicker than Marmite and has a kind of creamier flavour. I’ve tried, I really have, but I just can’t get used to it.
When we first arrived I found a shop that sells British goods. They sell all the items that you can’t get in Australia, and some that you can but that have different packaging! However, as you can imagine, the price of these goods is rather high and it was getting harder and harder to justify buying my Marmite at such a mark up. So on a mission to find something that I could enjoy as much as Marmite I set about testing all the yeast spreads I could find in the supermarket.
Purely by accident, & probably because we live in a predominantly British community, I discovered in my local Coles supermarket a small 125g capacity jar shaped the same as my beloved Marmite and featuring the same colours and very similar logo. Our Mate, the jar declared itself as. On closer inspection it turned out to be an imported product from the UK. And whooo hooo on tasting it WAS Marmite! Even better the price was cheaper than purchasing from the British shop.
Phew!
There are a few other products that I miss – a decent mayonnaise, M&S ready meals & twiglets are at the top of the list – but generally I have found alternative Australian products that work. It takes time to work things out and figure out which product might be suitable in my old recipes, but actually it’s fun tasting new things and learning new ways to do things, and I’m finding new recipes to work with my new products.
I guess the point of this post is that there will always be things you miss from your old life, but if you keep your options and mind open you will find new things to replace them. And sometimes … dare I say it … the new things are even better than the old … yep I said it!
Our new caravan!
20 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in This week we ... Tags: caravan, jayco
Sold!
Last week we picked up our caravan, whoo hooo! It took two attempts due to a blip with the funding, but we finally collected it on Friday.
The caravan ‘shop’ is about 45 mins drive away from us and involves a long stretch of freeway, but also a number of traffic lights along a busy stretch of road. The day before we set off Paul’s car started playing up, so that had already made us a bit nervous. Anyway, we all set off after Rhys’ swimming lesson with bankers cheque in hand and hearts in our mouths!
After handing over the cheque and having a final check of the caravan they let us hook it up and drive out! Oh. My. God! It was like leaving the hospital with Rhys after he was born – we kept thinking ‘surely they don’t think we’re grown up enough to look after this tiny scrap?’ Paul was very quiet – and for those of you who know him you’ll know that that is not normal. So, off we set.
The car was still acting up a little, which wasn’t helping, but the nerves were the biggest problem. Even in the passenger seat I could feel how differently the car was handling. Rhys was totally oblivious to the strain in the front of the car and happily jabbering away (just like his father!) from the back seat – frequently experiencing short, sharp retorts of ‘Be quiet!’, ‘Daddy needs to concentrate’ and ‘Will you please shut up!’. Poor little devil, we do love him really 
And we got it home safely with no trouble. Here are a few pictures of the new addition outside the house with Paul looking very relieved! Getting it through the garage and into the back yard took a further couple of hours – more about that later!
Thank heavens that's over!
Ok, now how do we get it through the garage?
