10 lessons learned in Aussieland

We just returned from a holiday in western Australia.  We had a string of unexpected events that gave the trip a little more adventure than we planned for.  But it didn't stop us from enjoying the lovely (not humid) weather, having a car, beautiful beaches, history, and great company.  

Here are some lessons we learned:

1. When you book a beach house and it doesn't actually have pictures of the bathrooms that means there is only one.  And that it's basically equivalent to camping (not ideal for 4 kids and 4 adults).  On the plus side, the swinging doors did offer a small degree of privacy and made you feel like you were in a saloon in a western. When Iris (owner) says she has all the basic kitchen stuff she means you can boil water.  50 meters to the beach is more like 200 meters in her calculation. Air conditioning listed as a feature means one a/c unit in the living room, which doesn't cool off the bedrooms...the list goes on.  Perth (north of where we stayed) experienced the largest storm they'd had in 25 years while we were there.  So, in the end, we were just grateful to have a roof over our heads.

2. If you enter  the ACTUAL physical address of the LDS temple into the GPS and not the mailing address you'll get there the first time.  Very helpful when the drive takes over an hour and you have no cell phone or way of looking up the actual address once you arrive at the mailing address.

3. Penguin Island should be renamed poop island.  Don't waste your money.  Their website and the Perth tourism one that boasts it as one of the top-ten attractions must be part of the penguin conspiracy. Ten hand-fed penguins in a shelter should hardly qualify it as "penguin island".  They are cute though.

4. Driving on the left side of the road is harder than you think.  I hit 3 garbage cans and ran over 5 curbs on my first drive.  Also, if you sit in the passenger seat your 3-year old will be sure to remind you that you need to actually sit in the driver's seat to drive the car.  Clever girl.

5. The world would be a better place if Arnott's were in charge of the world's food supply.  I blogged about their mint slices.  They are only the beginning.  We tried as many varieties as we could physically eat while we were there.  If we ever had twin boys we'd name them William Arnott and John Cadbury.

6. Kids don't understand that vacations are for sleeping in. Note to Samara: waking up 4 times a night does absolutely nothing to earn you Arnott's products.  It only causes your parents to eat more of them. Learning how to say, "I think the dingo ate your baby" will earn you a few cookies.

Disclaimer: No cookies were harmed in order to obtain the above image, which definitely was not staged.  However, cookies may or may not have been promised for compliance.

7. A beautiful sunset is good for the soul!

8. My pop-up flash does not work above shutter speed of 250 resulting in over-exposed images.  How did I not know this?

9.  A five hour red-eye flight isn't that bad compared to 24 hours.  I even slept a little.

10. Last but not least, if your flight is at 12:20 AM on Wednesday, it's optimal to go to the airport Tuesday night, not Wednesday night.  Always proceed to the airport in above scenario instead of calling.  The sweet woman at the check-in counter will have pity on your group with 4 tired crying kids and a pregnant lady.  While the fellow in a call center somewhere in another part of the world who doesn't speak English well will insist your only option is to pay $750 AUD/pp to get on a new flight.  The crying doesn't convey the same message on the phone.   There were only 11 seats left and we got 8 of them.  The next two nights were fully booked.  Bless the woman at the counter who changed our whole groups' tickets for $200 total.  I've never been so happy to spend $200 and be on a red-eye flight before.

The new editor/composer in blogger does not have spell check.  I can not be held responsible for errors until I figure out a way to spell check.   Anyone know how to get spell check?