Saying good bye to Freo- Around 10th Dec 2007

So the couple had dropped out of buying Rocky after they had had an RAC check done and we had spoke about price. But it didn't bother us that much as we now have another adventure. Going to Margret River, (Wine country) and crossing the Nulabur from WA in to South Australia. We had to say good bye to everyone and we exchanged facebook details and emails. We visited Marcus in his new place and had a few beers with him. He had decided that he wanted to come to England and we've promised to show him a bit more of England than most Aussie seem to see, because on our travels most Aussie have said they've seen England and when we asked where they went, most of it was just London and around the suburbs. So come on Marcus we'll show you Robin Hood country and Sheffield.

About a week before we were to go we had a bit of a party at our camper van. We invited Sal, Jez and Jess around from there campsite and got Chantal round. We had a few nibbles and then started chatting and drinking. Chantal had bought round some vodka and mixers and we started on them after the beers had gone. We didn't want her going home too drunk so she crashed at ours upstairs (haha!) The day after we spent the day with Chantal and had breakfast in FBH and then Chantal drove us around some of the sights of Freo. We then picked up her youngest daughter and chilled and played round at the house. We had a great day and we loved meeting and playing with Ebony, she's a cool kid.

We had a BBQ on our last night in the campsite with Sal, Chantal, Jez, Jess and the fox. We had more food than we could eat and then had a few beers and chatted into the night. The reason we for having it at the campsite was due to most of the people had moved in, apart from Chantal and the fox.

Hannah took some photos of where we worked and the people we met:

Freo over the next 6 weeks from 26th Oct until 10th Dec 2007

So we've started working in the Fremantle Bake House (FBH). We were working on the floor as wait staff. It was really easy to pick up, most of the people would ask us where we are from and what we are doing over here. We were taking orders at the table and taking out food. Then we started moving to behind the counter. Then I was asked to help in the kitchen, doing some prep and then some cooking. This increased my hours and Hannah ended up with more hours because of it. We met loads of great people, some of them we will always keep in touch with.
Our days started with work and most of the time finished with a beer with Sal, the manager and really cool. Once in the kitchen I got really really close to Chantal. She's a crazy, fun loving, great person. We got really close to Sal and Chantal and because of this became friends with Jez and Jess (Sal's sister). We didn't do much in Fremantle apart from work and make loads of friends, as Hannah and I didn't have the same days off. But it didn't matter as the coffee house closed at 6pm-ish. So we had every night together.
We had a few nights were we went to the pub after a crappy day, as Sal was buying the 1st beer and then that changed into a few more, and as Sal was seeing the pub manager we then ended up with another beer from somewhere. Great times!
We also got really close to a guy we met at the campsite called Marcus. He's an Aussie guy, really big hearted and we became really good friends.
Fremantle is a great place, beautiful feel, like a holiday destination and the people we met were brilliant.
In between working and having loads of fun we had some people come and look at the van. We had one couple interested but dropped out at the last minute. So we then had to plan driving over to Melbourne for Christmas as Hannah's mum was coming over for a family Xmas.We had to tell FBH we were leaving earlier than planned.

Chillout and walked around Fremantle, Thursday, 25th oct 2007

We had a lazy day today, we just chilled out and went into town. We used the Internet and handed out more CV's for night time jobs as well as our coffee house jobs. Its all to get some money together, to keep the bank balance health.
We treated ourselves to a fish and chips dinner from the chip shop and we really enjoyed them. First ones for ages, there are not chip shops in the outback, just nothingness, sun and dust. We're feeling really happy and loving it here.

Bake House trial a success, Wednesday, 24th Oct 2007

Went in for my trial at 10am for 2 hours and Hannah arrived for her trail and Sal asked me to stay on for a while as we were really busy. The trials went really well and Sal offered us the jobs. We then got a few shifts this weekend. The job was really easy and fun, the only problem was the hours, we could only get 25hours to start with and we were looking for about 38 hours. But Sal did say that she would give us more later on, as an when she could. That evening Hannah and I had n=more to talk about than we had had for ages, which was nice. That night we had a little celebration of a curry, a few beers and some telly.

May have found a job in the Fremantle Bake House, 23rd Oct 2007

We drove into Fremantle and booked our 1st week in the Fremantle holiday village. It was a great campsite, we drove to our pitch/bay. It was a patio area for the van, it had its own grassed area next to it, with a picnic table and a small hedge around the whole thing. It was the nicest looking campsite area we'd had. We are really going to enjoy it here. Then found we shared a separate campsite kitchen with just a few other camper van's and it had a dinning room/TV room too.
We went into Fremantle to look for jobs. We popped in to a few restaurants and a coffee shop "Fremantle Bake House". A lady took our CV's and said to call back later to speak with the manager, Sal, about 5pm. So we will. After that an American called and wanted to see the van, so we drove and met him. He was really interested and said he'd call us after he saw a few more vans. So we drove back to the "Fremantle Bake House", sat and chatted to Sal about the job and she asked us to come back for a trial tomorrow. Cool!

Job hunting in Perth, Monday, 22nd Oct 2007

We drove to Perth and did our CV's. Went to an agency and that did fill us with encouragement. They just tried to push us for a job and 400km south of Perth and didn't really offer us anything else. So we said we think about it. We really want to work around Perth for the sale of the van. We were a little annoyed later on because the woman called about the van and said she wasn't coming and we could have moved to Fremantle today instead of waiting for her to arrive. Oh well, going to Fremantle tomorrow.

Blessing of the boats in Fremantle, Sunday, 21st Oct 2007

Woke up late after a disappointing Rugby match. We drove into Fremantle, just south of Perth city. We watched the "blessing of the boats", the streets were full of Italians and the whole of the town fork. It was a really nice place and we found a nice looking campsite in Fremantle, so we decided to stay and look for work here instead of the city. We got a really good feeling from the town. We liked the look of the building and thought yeah we'll like it here.We had a phone call about the van and the lady was coming to see it tomorrow. That night Hannah made us a Sunday roast, with Lamb, roast potatoes, veggies and gravy. It was really good!