Down Under « Rachel Henwood – Freelance writer, copywriter, published author, marketing and sales literature, web content, web design, Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia, England, UK,

Raining Cats, Dogs and Maltesers

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Rachel

Yesterday Mother Nature wasn’t very happy. In fact, I’d go as far as to say she was pretty pissed off. If I was a guy I’d probably say it was a case of PMT, but I’m not, so I’ll just hazard a guess and say she was having one hell of a bad hair day.

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER, my family & other animals, the funny side of life, what's going on in the world, why is that? | Tagged: 40 degrees, AFL player, anchorman, angel, armbands, australia, autumn, bad hair day, blue sky, boring, British, car wash, carparks, cars, channel 10, Channel 7, Channel 9, city, climate, cold, conditions, damage, damage in Perth, daughter, day care, dog, Down Under, downpour, dream, drought, dry, dry spell, dusty, England, flash flood, flooded, freak weather, freeway, God, golf balls, hail storm, hailstones, happy, headlines, heat, hot, houses, husband, iron ore, isles, kangaroo, landscape, landslide, learning to swim, living in perth, Maltesers, March 2010, mother nature, mud slide, news, news team, Northern Suburbs, November, nursery, oz, perth, pictures, pissed off, plants, PMT, precipitation, Queensland, rain, raining, reporting, school, sleet, smell, snow, son, Spoodle, spring, stories, storms, summer, sun, sunshine, temperatures, traffic, trains, tsunami, tumbleweed, TV, UK, underwater, unfortable, unpleasant, victoria, water wings, weather, Western Australia, wet, wet dog, what is a spoodle, what's the weather like, wife, windy, winter, working in Perth | 3 Comments »

There’s no such place as perfection

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Rachel

Lots of people want to know, what’s life in Perth really like? Is it all blue skies, suntan cream and sandy beaches? Is everyone as ‘happy as Bruce’ and do the kangaroos all smile and wave you on your way as you speed off to work your 5 hour day? In a word, and a very short one at that, NO.

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER | Tagged: 40%, animals, australia, babies, bbq, bringing up children in Perth, Brisbane, camping, children, cleaning, climate, cold, cooking, Down Under, drinking beer, easy, Education, emigrating, England, Expats, families, fish and chips, fishing, go home, happy, hiking, Hillarys, housework, hype, jobs, Kangaroos, kids, kings Park, life in, lifestyle, lifestyle laidback, living in, melbourne, migrants, misconception, moving, moving to, new life, novelty, outdoors, parks, perth, Perth Zoo, POMS, rain, reality, return, rose tinted glasses, safe, schools, shopping, sun, sunnies, surfing, sydney, Tellytubies, travelling, UK, visa, weather, what to expect, what's life in Perth like, winter, working day | 29 Comments »

Why Perth will never equal Paris

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Rachel

Paris, NY, London and Milan – the fashion capitals of the world. Exciting hubs of cutting edge design and stylish good taste. Where the beautiful flock to see and be seen, and designers fight to outdo each other, sending one unwearable outfit after another down the catwalk. Perth on the other hand – not so much a hub as a gaping hole.

Filed under: all under one roof, funny stuff, pictures & video clips, living life DOWN UNDER, the funny side of life, why is that? | Tagged: 20 years behind, 80's, affordable, appearance, aussie, babies, backpacker, bad, barbers, barefoot, basics, beauty, big names, BigW, blog, boots, brands, Bunnings, buy, camera, catwalk, chav, cheap, cheese, chic, child, cinema, city centre, clothes, clothes. Paris, coles, compliment, culture, customs, cutting edge, David jones, designers, dirt feet, dirty, disgusting, divorce, don't care, Down Under, dumping ground, duvet, Ebay, expensive, Extreme Makeover, fashion police, fashions, funny, haircut, health, hillbilly, hub, hygiene, IKEA, images, iphone, Italy, jeans, kids, kmart, lawyer, life in, life in Perth, life span, living in Australia, London, looking good, magazines, makeup, making an effort, mascara, men, Milan, mullet, My store, Myers, New York, NEXT, not wearing shoes, NY, outfits, perth, phone, photo, pictures, public toilets, quality, restaurants, rhino, Rottnest Island, scruffy, shoes, shopping, shops, slippery slope, stock, style, stylish, supermarkets, Target, taste, trends, trucker, unwanted, urine, vanity, vouchers, WA, Western Australia, what are the shops like, what to wear, where to go shopping in Perth, where to shop, why, windy, Woolworths | 17 Comments »

Educational rubbish

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Rachel

I cleared out our mailbox earlier, and as usual, there was a good half a tree trunk of junk mail in there. The usual stuff. All of which went straight into the bin. The recycling bin that is.

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER, why is that? | Tagged: advertising, age, age bracket, Amharic, Arabic, australia, Australian, blind, boom, Bosnian, Braille, breast cancer, bum fodder, bumpf, Burmese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Croatian, cure, Dari, delivered, delivery, Dominoes, door stop, Down Under, dumb, economy, English, estate agent, Farsi, free, French, government, greek, health department, history, home, house, house prices, housing market, illiterate, Indonesian, information, international, Italian, Japenese, junk mail, Khmer, Korean, languages, learning, linguist, literature, loo roll, Macedonian, mail, mail box, Malay, Maltese, mammogram, meaning, melting pot, nationalities, Netherlandic, Northern Suburbs, offer, over 50, paper, perth, pizza, Polish, politically correct, Portuguese, post, prevention, price, printed materials, property, rainforest, recession, recycling, reduced rate, risk, rubbish, sale price, sales, screening, security, selling house, Serbian, services, shutter blinds, soldiers, Somali, South Africans, Spanish, speaking, storms, stupid, super deluxe, Swahili, testing, Thai, Tigrigna, time, Togalog, treatment, trees, UN, valuation, value, Vietnamese, voucher, waste, weather, who lives in Perth, windiest city, winds, world war 2, WW2, Zimbabweans | 1 Comment »

Another Shark Attack in Perth

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Rachel

On Saturday (9th May) a 35 year-old man had a very lucky escape when he came nose to nose with a 4.5 m pointer (great white), and survived to live another day.

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER | Tagged: 2.7-metre bull shark, 2009, 60 Minutes, 9th may, alive, amputate, attack, attacked, australia, baby steps, beady., boat, celebrity, circling, clearance, competition, confronting, determined, Diver, diving, Doctors, Down Under, driving high performance cars, emigrating, escape, examining, experience, facts, fears, February, fishing, future, Garden Island, Garden Island docks, graphic, great white, grey, hand, Harbour, head-on, headlines, hospital, Jaws, killed, leg, life jacket, living in perth, lost, lucky, man eating, Manly's Oceanarium., mauled, mauling, McCleans, medical, Mr de Gelder, museum, Naval Base, navy, Navy clearance diver, nerve-wracking, news, nine network, panic mode, Paul de Gelder, peacekeeping mission in East Timor, perth, phobia, photographs, physically, point peron, pointer, predators, prosthetic leg, rescused, Rockingham, Rockingham Sea Rescue, RSR, scare, scene, sea, seven, shark, shark attack, sharks, surfing, survive, survived, swim, swimming, sydney, toothy, vivid, walking, white | Leave a Comment »

Playtime

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Rachel

An Aussie influenced playground.. Posted From My iPhone

Filed under: all under one roof | Tagged: australia, children, Down Under, emigrating, expat, family, growing up, kids, living in Australia, living in perth, moving to Perth, nothern suburbs, parent, parenthood, perth, photo, picture, suburbia, what's it like | 2 Comments »

Hunting Skippy

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Rachel

One of the things that Australia is best known for, (apart from killer spiders) is its lean, mean hopping machine. AKA the kangaroo….

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER, my family & other animals | Tagged: australia, Baileys, balls, blog, bloody clot, bored, bubble bath, bumper, card, christmas, connolly drive, cows, culling, dangerous, daughter, dead, dog, dog food, Down Under, drink, driving, emergency, emigrating, enclosure, expat, family, fences, funny, hedgehogs, hopsital, hunting, image, imagination, Joondalup, journey, kangaroo, kicking, lakeside drive, life, living in perth, mailbox, mob, moving to Perth, nails, nature, Norah Jones, nothern suburbs, parent, parenthood, PE, photo, picture, poo, pooh, questions, rigamortis, roo, santa, seat belt, seeing them, signs, skippy, son, spiders, Spoodle, spotting, story, suburbia, supermarket, trip, watching, what's it like, where can you see them, whiteman park, wildlife, Yanchep National Park | 2 Comments »

Getting hot, hot, hot

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Rachel

I think it is safe to say that summer has most definitely arrived in Perth. Temperatures are way up, the sun is out and the sky comes in just one shade of a very bright blue.
After all those months of moaning about how cold it got in the winter, here I am, cooking slowly in my own skin. Add an onion, a c0uple of carrots and a bay leaf and I’ll be good to go…

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER | Tagged: Africa, air con, australia, Beijing zoo, breeding, cars, chores, clothes, cold, condition, cute, dog, Down Under, enviroment, evaporative, expat, fires, grass, growing vegetables, heat, hot, housework, humid, humidity, ironing, koalas pictures, living in perth, middle east, moving, nature, ozone layer, panda, perth, photos, pool, seasons, shopping malls, Singapore, Spoodle, steam iron, summer, sun, sun bathing, sun cream, sunglasses, sweaty, swimming, temperatures, washing, weather, weather patterns, what it's like, winter | 2 Comments »

Day care dilemmas

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Rachel

Earlier in the year, after agonising about whether cutting the apron strings would really stunt my son’s future development and catapult him into therapy, I decided to bite the bullet, put him into nursery for a few days every week and get back to work…

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER, parenting dilemmas & surviving kids | Tagged: ABC Learning Centre, afterschool care, australia, babies, baby, baby groups, best, bills, biting, Bob the Builder, books, Bovril, Butler, caring, child care, childhood leukaemia, choices, Clarkson, cold, cost, craft, cup cakes, Currambine, daycare, decide, decision, deposit, development, devil, Down Under, earth mother, eating, finding child care, first year, getting in, going back to work, guilt, Gymaroo, IKEA, improvement, Kinross, living in perth, location, maternal, Merriwa, Mindarie, Mindarie Keys Early Learning Centre, mothers, music classes, news, NOR, northern suberbs, nurseries, nursery, painting, paper mache, parent, perth, places, play dough, playing, pulling hair, PVA glue, reading, recent study, reports, reputation, runny nose, sand, selfish, sick, sleeping, social skills, socialisation, speaking, staff, sticky back plastic, talking, teaching, therapy, toddlers, trains, unmaternal, vacancy, waiting list, where to go, working | 1 Comment »

Love Thy Neighbour

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Rachel

There are some boys on our street who make me wish that using an air riffle was legal. They wander around, swearing at the tops of their voices and generally going out of their way to irritate, provoke or pick fights with everyone who gets in their way. Feral, is the only word that can describe them…

Filed under: all under one roof, living life DOWN UNDER | Tagged: adult, air riffle, appreciation, arson, attitude, australia, barbie, birthday, boys, boys being boys, cars, childn, children, christian names, christmas, coles, discipline, Down Under, feral, fighting, fights, foster care, good manners, gratitude, grounded, gun, horrible, housing estate, ill, intrigue, lack of respect, legal, letters, life in, limes, living in, mother, moving down Under, murder, Neighbours, parents, perth, presents, proof, Ramsey Street, respect, shopping trolley, sick, speeding, suberbs, suburbia, swearing, thank you, throwing, TV, unruly, vandalism, yobs | 2 Comments »

Rachel Henwood – Freelance writer, copywriter, published author, marketing and sales literature, web content, web design, Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia, England, UK,

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