The Verdict

On Sunday, we said a sad farewell to Western Australia, as we flew from Perth to Auckland to begin the next part of our adventure. We've really enjoyed the three weeks spent in WA and packed quite a lot into our last weekend too. We had a day at the WACA, watching England against India in a one day international. Strangely for us, we actually got to see England win a cricket match... that didn't happen at all on our last trip to Australia in 2011.

It was a steaming hot day on Perth for our cricket visit... The humidity was making it feel more like Columbo (according to Jon anyway, I've never been to Sri Lanka). I just knew it was hot. Our booked seats were in an uncovered stand but we managed to sneak our way undercover after about an hour of play. We were still hot but at least avoided sunstroke!

Before play started, we were able to seek shelter from the heat with a vist to the cricket museum, a rabbit warren of a building that used to a private house. Each room was a treasure trove of cricket memorabilia. Jon spent most of his time lost in his cricket-watching youth... the Dennis Lillee gallery. According to the museum curator, most of the items were donated by Dennis Lillee when his wife told him it was time to clear out the junk in the garage! I also spotted the ball bowled "underarm" in the fractious match between Australia and NZ (that's one for the cricket historians). There was also poignant display dedicated to Phil Hughes:

England's success was short lived - battered by Australia in the final on Sunday. We're quite glad we didn't get tickets for that game. Before play started, we also had the chance for a photo with the Cricket World Cup Trophy... we'll be watching at least 2, possibly 3 games whilst in New Zealand.

Our Saturday was again a parkrunday, although this one was epic even for us. We left our hotel at about 7.25am for the 8am start at Heirisson Island parkrun and finally got back just after 1pm, after a postrun breakfast with the Claisebrooke Cove parkrunners, including the Japp family who brought parkrun to WA. Heirisson Island parkrun is a relatively new addition to the parkrun family and one of the smallest runs we've been to in a long time... 43 happy runners taking on a 2 lap course on an island in the middle of the Swan River, with kangaroos at one end and dolphins swimming by (sometimes). We loved it (but the heat was tough for running) and received a very warm welcome and a lift afterwards to the Funky Lizard cafe in Claisebrooke Cove (less than a mile away) to join the breakfast chat.

With most of the day devoted to parkrun (and buying new running shoes at the outlet mall), we didn't have much time to spare before heading off to the Perth Arena for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular - the music from Doctor Who played by the WA Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ben Foster, introduced by Peter Davison (the fifth Doctor for those of you who keep count) and with special appearances from Daleks, Judoon, Ice Warriors, Silurians, Ood and the Silence. Unlike many other concert goers, we sadly didn't have fancy dress costumes to hand, although Jon was wearing his cyberman socks. No photographs allowed, unfortunately. 

Sunday was spent packing up then visiting a few more of Perth's tourist attractions including the Perth Mint, before a late night trip to the airport and our flight to NZ. We spent a couple of days catching up with ourselves at a little motel close to the airport, in a place called Mangere Bridge. We quickly got used to a 10 degree fall in the temperature - very welcome - and had to dig out rain coats for the first time on our trip - not such good news. We climbed Mangere Mountain, which was an erupting volcano 18,000 years ago and has archaeological evidence of early Maori settlement too.

We also completed our first run in NZ, running round a volcanic lagoon. It felt a lot easier in the cooler conditions!

And now we've arrived in Hamilton, where we've booked a cottage and this will be our view each morning for the next week:

We've unpacked everything, been shopping and got settled in. We've checked out the neighbourhood and even had a chat with some of the neighbours, although they did mistake us for the "new people" from No. 1! We've been for a run along the river bank, and made it home again afterwards, even if there was some confusion about who was waiting for whom and where! 

On Friday afternoon, we're meeting up with my old friend Anna and her family. I was on my way to Anna's wedding seven years ago when I first met Jon, so she's partly responsible for us getting together. It is going to be fun to catch up over the next week.

Happy travels

Liz T