With regret, there is one day of holiday left and unlike Kim I don’t want to return to the mayhem I already know is happening back there at work. Ash told me that they moved my office (and changed my phone number I suspect) whilst I was gone, so I should wear jeans the first day to unpack everything. And I will. 
Lounge area on train. Scene of several German Whist triumphs. Somewhere along the line, I stopped posting about holiday things and returned home and got back to daily life, so this is my catchup. We had a fun time returning from the 24 hours of party that is Fremantle (not that we stayed out beyond 10pm) on the Indian Pacific, where we predictably sat with people in their 60-80’s every 5 hours in a wonderful dining carriage and made smalltalk whilst sipping wine and eating nice airline-style food. The first lunch, we met Audrey (whose name I had coincidentally mentioned to Kim as one I liked for a baby girl if that fertility thing ever works) who was visiting relatives in Sydney for a week. At dinner it was the Japanese couple of 72 and 69 who could speak little English, but liked Aussie beer, and asked polite questions. We got them again for breakfast, and then we decided new company was required, so we got some (gay?) German 50 year old Blues-enthusiast guys who were revisiting the country for the 5th time. By the time we arrived in Adelaide we were starting to get sick of the meet-people-and-get-asked-when-we’ll-have-kids crowd, and we gratefully drank the worst coffee of the trip, and then tiredly drove home to Melbourne. 
Finally made it to sunny Perth. One of the most isolated major cities on earth – so they kept telling us. The garden had grown, and Kim’s mum seemed to have nearly killed a swag of my pot-plants but I didn’t mind. The dogs were jubilant – apparently tempermental Chloe spent several weeks sculking under the shed in a rage at the lack of attention she had been receiving. She seems to have reverted back to normal after a few walks and some extra affection, but she’s still a strange dog at times. We got back on the World of Warcraft, and resumed ties with some Crusaders of the Flame buddies. I booked a piano tuner and a haircut. We chilled some of my home-brews and drank them. We chatted to the guys fixing up our backyard and were surprised by how little they’d done whilst we were away. We revelled in the cheap Victorian prices for everything (coffee/booze/dinner) and were glad to be back in Bracks‘ dominion. And the election is coming up this week….hmmm.