I'd love to report that I've been silent on this blog because I've been too busy travelling the globe but the reality is I've struggled to leave the state, never mind leaving the country.

When my AFL team, the mighty West Coast Eagles, found their way into premiership contention toward the pointy end of the AFL season, Amanda generously gave me a leave pass to travel to Melbourne should they make the grand final. Well, after a successful finals campaign, that's exactly what happened! After booking flights and accommodation prior to the Eagles even making the Grand Final, Mikey and I were very excited that our gamble paid off. However, we missed getting tickets in the GF ballot and for a while there thought we might not get to go. Lots of calls, messages, texts and emails later, we managed to secure two standing room tickets so off we went!

Red eye horror flight to Melbourne on Friday morning had us land in Melbourne in time for the AFL grand final parade. We pretty much went to the pub on arrival and actually bumped into a few people we knew and get into our beers. The parade was great and it was nice to see the boys relaxed before the big day.

Saturday we arrived early to the MCG as we were told that standing room areas pack out quickly and we wanted a decent position, which we managed to get behind a couple of short ladies. Our area got very packed and by the time bounce down came, we were well and truly sandwiched in.

The game itself was epic. West Coast got off to a very shaky start, giving up the first 6 goals of the game within the first 20 minutes, but steadied and started eating away at the deficit over the next two quarters to square up the scores at 3/4 time. The last quarter the Eagles and Collingwood trades punches, with the Pie getting out to a 2 goal lead before West Coast stole the lead within the last two minutes of the match with a brilliant goal from Don Sheed in the pocket (after a great intercept mark by Jeremy McGovern, a good mark and play on by Nathan Vardy and a ripping grab and play on by Liam Ryan). That goal ultimately won the game and the 2018 premiership for the West Coast Eagles.

It was great to be there and be part of the 100,022 strong crowd. We stayed at the ground after the game for the after party where Jimmy Barnes played live for 30 minutes before the boys came out to meet the crowd with the premiership cup. Was a great day.

Sunday we rose a bit slowly and after some food and some shopping, eventually found ourselves back in a pub to watch the match replay over a quite beer and reflect on a great game of footy. We eventually headed back to Perth first thing Monday morning, where parent duties resumed immediately!

Seriously, where does the time go?

All of a sudden I haven't posted since the birth of my son Joshua in 2016. Good grief. Well, it's been a whirlwind being first time parents and a few minor niggles with Josh over the last few years. However, I'm very blessed to report the safe arrival of Joshua's little sister, Imogen Anne, who came to this world nearly 6 weeks early at 10:27pm on 17 April 2018 weighing just 2.47 kgs.

We thought one child was hard work but two is utter chaos but we couldn't be happier, especially for our second to be a girl, which is the first new girl in the family for nearly 30 years.

From a very young age, I was lucky enough to nearly annually take a family trip north to Broome in winter. With Josh now one and a half, we decided that we'd take a family holiday to Broome in June with my parents.

We organised to get two one bed apartments at Blue Seas Resort for a little over a week. We didn't have many plans once we got to Broome, which was sort of the point of the holiday - just to unwind, slip into Broome time and relax by the beach. On the whole, Josh was great for the flight up and the flight passed uneventfully. The weather in Broome was perfect upon arrival and we got our hire car and headed out toward Cable Beach, where Blue Seas is located.

The next few days we visited the markets, the beach, town and generally chilled out around our resort, swimming in the pool and enjoying sunset drinks at Cable Beach. About day 4 Dad and I had organised to join a fishing charter and do some deep sea fishing. It was another sunny day but the swell was quite up. It took a while to find the fish but we soon got on them and pulled in many a pink snapper and red emperor. The old knees took a beating bracing against the side of the boat as we rocked about in the swell but it was a great day out. I even managed to hook a mackerel whilst trawling on the way in, which was a bit of added fun. That night we, of course, had a delicious meal of fish and chips, eating the fish we caught that day.

More relaxing, more beach followed over the next few days. Before we left, Amanda and I took the car and headed out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm for a tour around and some education on how they farm pearls. Was an interesting morning, with Amanda trying on some very expensive jewelry (but not getting any). We also managed to catch a movie at the outdoor cinemas, Sun Pictures, before we left, which is always a cool experience, especially when the planes fly overhead as they land or take off. Mum and Amanda also managed to do the Broome Hovercraft one afternoon too!

All too quickly, our Broome time came to an end. We had the return flight booked for 6:50pm, which was pretty much Josh's bedtime. We planned it perfectly, following our usual routine of eating dinner and getting him into his PJs in anticipation of him sleeping the whole way home. Unfortunately, Josh had other ideas and spent the majority of the flight climbing over us, visiting mum and dad and running up and down the aisle smiling at people. Best laid plans...

Overall, it was a very enjoyable, very relaxing (well, as relaxing as having a 1.5 yo with you can be) family holiday and it was great to be able to share it with Mum and Dad.

Hi everyone

Long time, no post. Seems work keeps getting in the way of a good post.

Today I'd like to introduce you all to my first born, Joshua James Wylde.

He arrived Sunday February 21st, 2016 just after 9pm weighing in at 7 pounds. He looks very much like his father and sleeps about as badly. Amanda and I are overjoyed with his arrival and to us, he's perfect. I look forward to planning travels as a family and hopefully he too gets bitten by the travel bug.

Wow, no posts since 2013 when we went to Africa but such a lot has happened. Guess I'm a bit behind on my posts.


Quick summary:
2013: Went to the USA in Dec for Ian & Angela's Wedding/Ski Holiday/Christmas
2014: Got Married on 26 April, honeymooned in Bora Bora & briefly New Zealand
2015: Went to South America for Carnival
2015: Went to Singapore for 1st anniversary


But probably the biggest news is that Amanda is pregnant with our first child. HE is due March 2016 and we couldn't be more excited.


Watch this space.

Hi all


Just a reminder - I have created a separate page to capture our African Adventure. See the signpost for a quick link to that page.


Cheers

We survived Oktoberfest, though I'm not sure I'm ever drinking again...

Our fourth day in Munich, we hired a car and headed south west toward the famous Schloss Neuschwanstein, built by King Ludwig. I'd already seen the castle before but Ian and Amit hadn't and I was happy to go and see it again. We were given a tiny Fiat Punto to drive around in, which was a bit small for the three of us but we still gave it what for down the Autobahn.

The castle (Schloss) is very impressive but unfortunately unfinished as the King died while it was still being fitted out so there are only 8 or so rooms to see on the tour. It's stunning none the less, the guy was nuts and nearly bankrupted Germany building castles. After the castle tour, we headed to a nearby mountain where Amit and I organised to go paragliding. We had to wait to the end of the day to get the last two spots so we hung around there for a couple of hours. Fortunately the pilots got down in time for us to catch the last cable car to the top of the hill and were able to go. Paragliding is where you run off the mountain with a parachute, as opposed to a hang glider, which is what I did in Rio. As we were the last flight of the day, the guys took their time. My pilot took me up and up and we fly high over Neuschwanstein castle, which was cool.

On Wednesday, we checked out of our hostel and the four of us, (Adam, Ian, Amit and myself), got our hire car and drove to Cologne, about 600kms away. We had a new Merc C220 diesel. I did most of the driving, of which half was B roads as we incorrectly set the Sat Nav to shortest route rather than fastest route. However, I did get some autobahn time, as did Ian and Amit, at the wheel. We all topped out around 220km/h but sat on something between 160-180km/h most of the time. Gotta love the German Autobahns.

Our last day was Thursday. In the morning, I checked out the giant church at Cologne, before boarding a 30 min train to Dusseldorf. We should have skipped Cologne and gone straight to Dusseldorf as it's a really cool city with a massive "cafe strip" style area in the AltStadt (Old City) just chock full of pubs and restaurants. Amit and I hung around this area the whole afternoon while Ian was off exploring some converted steel mill somewhere (Duisberg?).

We concluded our trip with a traditional german meal at a microbrewery in Dusseldorf. The next day we traveled Dusseldorf to London, London to KL and finally KL to home.

And so ends another trip. Can't wait for the next one, which may be a while off yet unfortunately due to changing employment and no annual leave accrual!

Til the next instalment!
Auf Wiedersehen