All quiet on the western front

Early this morning, we bid a very sad farewell to Adrian, Rachel and Max, who caught a plane back home to Melbourne, via Adelaide at 9:00am. Our home, upon return, was unnervingly silent and only contained traces of our little nephew...we discovered two toy cars under the couch and an assortment of other toys awaiting his return sometime in the future. Max managed to endear himself forever to his uncle, as he learned to say "dooj-truk" (Dodge Truck) while he was here and then said it as often as possible ever after! If Andrew is ever down in the dumps, I'll know what magical words will put the smile right back on his face!

Anyway, some final photos now of the fun times we all had together...

Max had a ride in Uncle Andrew's tractor at Wongan Hills. At first he looked a little uncertain but soon seemed to be enjoying himself.

Playing on the big red tractor in town!

And the little gray tractor in town too!

Sharing a quiet moment with mum on our block

Water, water everywhere!

Well, the fun, games and excitement have continued over in the West, with lots more adventures and escapades with Adrian, Rachel and little Max...most have had a definitive watery flavour to them, as you will see! Tomorrow we head off to our block in Wongan Hills where we hope to have another lovely walk in the bush and play in the dirt! Anyway, here are some more photos from the last few days. Enjoy!

We went back to a great little cafe for an early breakfast on Sunday morning. Max enjoyed every last drop of his babycino!

After breakfast, we headed to Kings Park. Here Max enjoys his dangerous river crossing!

Always enthralled by the water, Max was especially excited by the huge fountain of water that spurted skyward every few minutes!

All smiles!

Shortly after we got back from King's Park, it poured non-stop for the rest of the day and into the evening. Finally consenting to Max's requests for "outside", he was suitably dressed and spent the next few hours happily playing in the glorious mud!

On Tuesday, we all went to AQWA, the very impressive marine park at Hillary's Boat Harbour. The underwater tunnel had both kids and adults absolutely fascinated.

One of the beautiful aquariums at AQWA

Andrew & Rachel trying to get Max to touch a sea creature in the Touch Pool. Max was more interested in splashing the water than touching anything!

Fascinated by the seal! We have discovered that Max does a really good seal noise!

Moray eels in one of the aquariums

After AQWA, we went to the nearby beach for a play in the sand...as you can see Max had a great time!

We're all having fun!

Well, our family from Melbourne touched down in Perth on Friday afternoon and since then we have all been having a great time, mainly amusing ourselves with toddler Max's antics, most of which involve either dirt, food or trucks. Here are some photos from our adventures so far...

Max enjoying himself in the dirt this afternoon with his new toys

Learning to be gentle with Super-Cheep the House Chicken!

Breakfast outdoors this morning (Max had already finished his)!

Laughing at the antics of his very silly Uncle Andrew!

Being chased around the backyard by Uncle Andrew

And then getting his own back!

Looking very cool at our afternoon visit to Churchman Brook Dam, about 10 minutes away from our house in Armadale

And then launching a suprise attack at Uncle Andrew!

Riding on the big green frog!

About to enter a huge tunnel

The Adventures of Super-Cheep, the House Chicken

Well, a quick break from India now...back to life in Perth.

Preparations are now well underway for the keenly-anticipated arrival of Rachel, Adrian and little Max from Melbourne on Friday at around noon.

Shanks has been very busy this week working in the yard, tidying up and fixing his car. He has had with him a little helper, that doesn't leave his side even for a second...Super-Cheep, the House Chicken, left to itself after its mother and three siblings were gobbled up by a fox a couple of weeks ago. Now, well and truly imprinted on its new mother, wherever Shanks goes, it follows...take a look at these!!

Shanks hard at work fixing his car this morning!

Trying to surf the net is a bit hard these days!

Though reading the paper is a little bit easier...

OK...now that's just too much!

Aaah...mother chook and baby chook!

Kochi to Mysore...more photo and stories

From Kollam, we made our way up the coast towards Kochi...finally a journey that didn't take all day. Kochi turned out to be something of a tale of two cities - touristy, unsettling, infuriating Fort Cochin and bustling, friendly, spirited mainland Ernakulam.

This chap invited Christian over for a friendly chat as we wandered around near the Chinese fishing nets at Fort Cochin. Slightly inebriated, he asked for his photo to be taken, and as soon as the deed had been perfomed, he demanded a small sum of money from Chris! He may not catch many fish, but I imagine a fair few unsuspecting tourists have fallen foul of his net!

One of Astrid's many beautiful photos. Dolls for sale at a market stall on the waterfront.

Another Astrid shot...colourful lanterns at another stall.

And another of Astrid's photos - the cantilevered fishing nets that dot the water's edge at Fort Cochin

After leaving Kochi, we made our way towards Kalpetta for our Indian wildlife adventure. Arriving at the tourist information office at the stated opening time, we waited for half an hour to see someone and then spent another two hours trying to work out how we could possibly get into the park, with the added dilemma of our car permit being about to expire. In the end, we had our adventure, despite the bungling beauracracy!

We passed through some lovely areas on the way to Bandipur, that really made us feel like we were at last in the real India - the rural villages where life goes on at the most casual of paces!

The vehicle we toured the park in was rather noisy, but luckily the animals seemed pretty used to it!

A familiar roadside sight almost everywhere in India

The very large and impressive Maharaja's Palace in Mysore. We spent an afternoon here and were really taken with the sheer size and beauty of the place on the interior. Everywhere we looked we saw ornately carved wooden doors, beautiful paintings and sculptures (no photos allowed of course!)

On our last night with Rajendren, we treated him to a meal out and bought him a large box of sweets to take home to his family...needless to say, we were very sad to bid him farewell, but glad that he would be able to make it back to his family in time for Christmas!

We spent a fun day wandering the markets in Mysore on our last day. Here, Astrid & Shanks are hearing all about the process used to make the famed sandalwood oil of Mysore.

Bangles anyone?

Many children still work in the market stalls every day, with no thought given to their education. These children would have been primary-school aged. Seeing these children made us reflect on the vast inequalities that still persist between the developing and the developed worlds.

Another lovely child at his stall selling limes, red onions and potatoes.

This boy was eager to share with us the tricks and techniques of incense making, and chased us down a few times until we came to his stall! It is certainly a struggle to survive for many families and there are no options but for the entire family to work all day doing anything possible to make that extra few rupees.

Another young lad selling marigolds, used to make garlands and for offerings at holy temples

Astrid having a design applied to her hand using the coloured tikka powders, seen in the background. No charge this time, just the usual hard sell!

One night as we were walking back to our hotel, we came across a group of kids playing cricket in a dusty alleyway. Shanks and Christian were quick to replace the rock that they were using for a cricket ball with a couple of tennis balls. Astrid and I sat and chatted with the younger children, while Shanks and Christian took another caning at the hands of the youngsters!

Maybe the current Indian selectors need to scout around Mysore to inject some new blood into an ailing side! I think Australia can stick with McGrath and Lee though!

More photos from Kodai to Kollam

OK, we're back on the road again! After leaving Trichy fairly early in the morning, we prepared ourselves for another day in the car as we headed towards the hill station of Kodaikanal. After a peaceful 3 days in Kodaikanal, we were back in the car once more for what ended up almost becoming the roadtrip from hell! You may remember our earlier blog about this adventure...we ended up having to stay overnight in Kovalam, as the 300 kilometre trip turned into a never-ending journey of mammoth proportions. Just a few more photos from Kodai and Kollam now...

A brief stop on the way up to Kodaikanal provided an opportunity to feed the monkeys...

And one even managed to jump in the car with us for the rest of the journey!

Kodaikanal was very cold and we stopped at our favourite eating spot for a ginger chai and bhajias (potato & onion mix deep fried in a spicy batter) at least twice a day!

Check out the size of these cooking pots! A small village we passed on our two-hour walk to Pillar Rocks.

The bike that rode itself!

At this restaurant in Kodai we were invited into the kitchen to learn about the different methods of making the traditional Indian breads - roti, chapati and naan.

We got into the habit of packing up any leftover food we had and buying extra rotis to give to any beggars that approached us. One night we still had some food left over so we put it outside in the cold (no fridges in the hotel of course!). The following morning we were wryly amused to see what had become of our well-intentioned offering!

The Indian method of cooling down a boiling hot glass of chai!

Another very satisfied customer. Shanks regularly consumed a couple of these massive dosas in one sitting!

No wonder the restaurant staff were so happy!

A view of Kodaikanal from our breakfast spot at our hotel.

Scenery on the drive from Kodai to Kollam

All smiles aboard our canal experience of Kollam

At roughly 3km an hour, our leisurely cruise through the winding canals was one of the most relaxing experiences we had during our travels

Onlookers!

A typical village dwelling on the embankment of the canals

Fishing on the river

A quick tour of some gardens with spice plants and tropical fruits and our three hour tour was over.