Eugene's first school uniform - Cute as!

Our blue-eye'd boy; terribly cute.

Flexing his biceps...almost :-)

...and throwing some modelling moves (Karla was showing him how), haha!

Mundaring Weir & brekkie at Little Creatures

It was 41 degrees C out here, so we did not stay too long.

Karin had the grilled mushrooms and Oupa had the "big brekkie". We rate this the top breakfast spot in Freo.

The book of my dad's visit - You can even buy a copy!

Bok's Perth Adventure by Brendon van Rensburg | Make Your Own Book

Bok at the Pinnacles & Perth Royal Mint

We were not sure if my dad would like a day-trip to the hot, and fly invested, Pinnacles. However, Oupa really enjoyed seeing this
strange natural phenomenon out in the "desert".

180-degree Panorama

My dad is 1.85m tall, so this give you an idea of scale.

One of the mandatory tourist shots...we'd have preferred a living one, but they proved quite elusive on this trip.

The Indian Ocean and some typical W.A. coastal flora. Beautiful!

Yep, a honest-to-goodness Aussie road-sign on the way North to Cervantes.

The jetty at Lancelin.

PERTH ROYAL MINT - SUNDAY, 22 Jan '12

A statue commemorating the first gold (nugget) found in W.A., roughly 600km West of Perth.

Oupa and the kids with some full-scale molds of actual gold-nuggets found in Australia. Huge!

Eugene, digging for treasure!

All that digging is warm-work!!

Bindi getting pampered

After a bath she got the royal treatment

She looks a million-dollars! 

Fishing at South Mole

So, we finally caught some fish, but nothing worth keeping unfortunately. Bummer! Still, the weather was perfect and it was nice to be able to fish here for ~3 hours.

My dad with a fish-on. Eugene is not all that interested!

A rather poor pano shot with the Sony. Not anywhere near the image quality I get with my Canon.

Karla & Oupa painting

Today Karla and her Oupa bought some acrylic paint and canvas. Here they are busily at work.

A first iPhone photo

Karin snapped this photo on the weekend. Pretty darned good for a phone!

Kings Park visit on a cooler day

The kids with my dad and Perth CBD in the background. 

Pointing in the direction of home as viewed from Kings Park.

Karin and Bok looking at the tree Queen Elizabeth planted on 27 March 1954.

On the glass bridge overlooking the old Swan Brewery and "the narrows" on the Swan River.

Oupa with the grandchildren.

...no doubt thinking about my mum back in Napier...

Eugene, aka "Hulk Smash", turns 4!

So, our boy turned 4 today! He was very proud and kept showing us how he was taller, how his arms were longer and how he was much stronger! Too cute!

Eugene and his blue cake. It HAD to be blue! Here he and Karla are decorating it.

Eugene playing Karla's Bop-it. Yes, they have frequent fights over who is playing next :-)

At the Spur Steak Ranch in Mandurah. We took Eugene there for his Birthday lunch. Our
good friends Greg and Briar also drove down all the way from Joondalup. Thanks a million guys!

'Gene and all his robot presents. Also, check that Savanna Dry on the left. Mmmm!

Munch, munch, munch. Gene eating his Chico the Clown desert.

At Spur the tradition is that the waiters come and sing the birthday boy/girl a song. Eugene was very over-awed by all this
and ran to mum! Still just a small boy.

Back at home ~5pm, he finally got to blow out some candles and tuck in to the Blue cake!

Karla was a great big-sister allowing Eugene some more lee-way than normal :-)

A final shot. Our two lovely babies.

Oupa in Perth CBD

As with most big cities, it is nice to visit it once in a while, but after every visit you think "..don't need to go there for another 6-12 months..". Perhaps it's just me, but all the people and the business of it all is not for me. Give me a tent in the bush in the Aussie Outback and I'll be happy as Larry.

Anyway, we took my dad into the city yesterday just to experience it. We took the train and then discovered that the Perth Underground Station was closed! We got off at Esplanade and had to walk into the city. Hit was warm (31) and humid and I was pushing Eugene in the pram and lugging my 40D along (as you do).

Outside the Perth Underground station.

Oupa, Karin and the kids with the Perth CBD in the background.

The old Commonwealth Bank of Australia building, which is now home to City Beach, a surf-wear shop.

Doing the obligatory souvernir shopping...

Kangaroo paw back-scratcher; expensive at $45!

Watching the clock-tower display at the Ye Olde English shopping mall.

...and looking at all the shops inside it...

My dad now knows that the famous WA cork-string hats do in fact work and have a use here, haha!

Dad waiting for a bus in the CBD...

...or Burger King as it is called in New Zealand. Just check out the make-up on the bloke in red pants.
Eugene is out-for-the-count too.

Waiting for the Mandurah bound train, which will stop at the Bull Creek Station, where we were parked.

On the way home...

A couple of  hours later we went down to Freo (South Mole) and my dad had a
chance to almost catch some fish, haha! Some decent bites, so we will head back this evening.
The apricot-red glow in the distance is the remnant of the last sunset of 2011.

...and it was a little windy down there too!