Two volunteers from the local branch came and presented Ethan with his wish. They came with goodies for a party and presents for the kids. It was a great night. The amount of effort put into presenting his wish was amazing.
The excitement definitely kicked in from here.
Sunday 16th - Tuesday 18th
We flew to Adelaide on what has to be the bumpiest plane ride ever. We were transferred from the airport to the train station where we checked our luggage in, checked out the Indian Pacific and headed off to the city centre. Ethan was reluctant to leave the train station but with some persuasion he was soon happy enough. That night after a brief introduction to the crew we were able to board. The kids were all very excited. After a lot of who's sleeping in what room debating, it was decided a boys room and a girls room. At the start I thought this was great, I'd get sleep while Luke deals with Ethan. I didn't realise the girls would need to get up half a dozen times each to check out the fold out toilet!! So after a very restless night in the girls room, we were woken with hot chocolates and coffee from the conductor, the boys also woke to this after a solid sleep. I definitely pulled the short straw on that one. Our tickets were gold kangaroo which included our meals. The crew would come past to make sure there was something suitable on the menu the kids would eat as there was no set kiddies menu. I decided it was a good time to introduce new tastes. They did extremely well. Erin was a little upset to learn she had eaten kangaroo one of our Australian native animals she had been learning about at school.
The train stopped a couple of times. Ethan and Luke managed to get to the front of the train at Cook to see the engine and were lucky enough to sit in the drivers seat. The girls who had been catching up on sleep after their restless night couldn't get off as it started pouring! It was hard explaining to them about how rare rain is in this part of Australia.
The train also stopped at Kalgoorlie. We booked a tour of the super pit and talked up the monster trucks but when we got there behind schedule we could hardly see them. Ethan was disappointed and so were we. The second nights sleep was better than the first but the kids were still excited so it was an early start. We arrived at Perth on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday 18th
We arrived in Perth. From here we caught a cab to the car rental depot. A rental car was included. We went to Kings Park first. The kids had a ball playing and running after being couped up for a couple of days.
We then drove to our accommodation. 2 interconnecting ocean view rooms at the 5 star Rendezvous in Scarborough. Very nice!
Wednesday 19th
We went to Rottnest Island with Uncle Colin. The kids were excited about the ferry trip until they all started feeling sick half way and wanted to go home. We were sitting in a stuffy area with no breeze it wasn't very pleasant. We hired bikes and cruised around stopping for the odd swim. The ferry trip back was a lot better we got on board early and got top deck seats. The love for boats was back again. Ethan now wants to sleep on a boat!!
Thursday 20th
We went to Hillary's boat harbour. The kids did more swimming and played with Uncle Col again. After that we went back to the hotel and layed by the pool. The kids were buggered, Ethan and Adele had a sleep before tea. Ethan woke with a temperature asking to go to hospital. He was in a fair bit of pain grabbing at his chest. Half an hour after some panadol he was looking and feeling better. This is normal day stuff for us but it is a lot scarier being away from the safety zone.
Friday 21st
We met Uncle Col for breaky before he headed south to do some surfing. The kids were upset to see him go and had enjoyed the time with him. We then went into Fremantle to the Markets. The kids had their faces painted. On the way back we stopped at
Cottesloe beach.
