We set off a little after 10:00 pm Perth time and arrived here a little after 3:00 pm London time. We managed to doze, but not sleep on the first flight. I was lucky enough to have a spare seat next to me on both legs of the journey and could get rid of the side arm rest and stretch out a little. Stephen’s knees were hitting the seat in front of him so he couldn’t really stretch much. Nevertheless we seemed to have good energy for changing planes at Dubai and then getting here by train. It was sunny and a bit smoky/foggy yesterday when we arrived, in fact it felt much like the sort of days we have been having in Perth, with all the burning off making our atmosphere quite smoky. It felt nice to arrive in sunshine, quite cheery. Ours was the second stop from Gatwick, so although it took time it was fairly easy. Finding our apartment block took a little more work, but I think we will find it an easy stroll without our roller cases from now on.

I posted our arrival status on Facebook yesterday evening, and this alerted family here and in Perth – how neat. I didn’t think Matt would have a chance to look on Facebook, so we rang him this morning using Skype phone. 5.5 minutes cost less than a quarter of a cent.

Stephen has started his own blog: travelswithsusanblog.wordpress.com.

The apartment seemed a bit shabbier than the photos and there was a smell from the fridge which I have identified as dried spilt milk. Although I’ve cleaned it up we will need to get a lemon to freshen the inside of the fridge. Everything feels a bit better this morning as we are beginning to settle in. We slept quite well until about 5.00 a.m., then had cups of tea in bed and read our iPads.