Perth was really fantastic!
DAY ONE
We touched down on 9th July, close to midnight. Took a couple of shots
at the airport while waiting for friends to send us to River View
service apartment at Mount Street. After orientating ourselves with the
facilities and putting down our "barang barang", we headed to Fast Eddy
for supper. The food was great! Burgers and pancake.. Yum Yum! In fact,
almost everything that ive tried in Perth taste superb.
DAY TWO
Following our late night, Sunday's itinery was pretty relaxing. We
drove to King's Park (which is in fact really near to the apartment)
for a breath-taking view of Perth City. Cottlesloe Beach was our next
destination. It was slightly colder with the relentless breeze. We had
breakfast at a cafe there. The entire day was then spent on shopping at
Fremantle Sunday Market and Habourtown Shopping Centre.
The melodrama of the day was I thought Ive lost AUD100 at the Fremantle
Market. I was sulking most of the time until Ive found it in the front
pocket of my bag when we were taking a quick rest outside one of the Al
Fresco cafes. Because of that silly scare, I did not buy much stuff at
Fremantle. Only bought two bottles of honey- Jarrah Forest and Appricot
and cream. Besides these two flavours, they've got many more
interesting taste. If Ive found my money earlier, I'd have bought more!
Besides the honey, I got some keychains for friends as souvenirs.
Soon, we have to stop for lunch. We went to the pier at Fremantle to
have Fish & Chips. I claimed to WA's No.1 Fish&Chips.
Apparently it has lived up to its name. The Q was really long and it
took us some time to grab a seat for ourselves. We ordered seafood
chowder, fried squids, fried sardines and not to forget Fish &
Chips. The Fish & Chips was incredibly good! It was wrapped with
crispy skin with soft and sweet flesh in it. You can really taste the
freshness of the fish in your mouth!
Habourtown Shopping was cool! According to my friend, this time of the
year happens to be their post stocktake sale. Hence, almost every store
has got amazing discounts. I got two really sweet brooches and a nice
fury cardigan (at only AUD10). Jon got two pairs of bermudas at AUD15!
We got some takeaways from Habourtown eatries and retired at about 8pm
that night! (I mean, can you imagine sleeping at 8pm?? Haha!)
DAY THREE
We got our own rental vehicle on the third day and did some
sight-seeing in Perth City itself. Perth Mint was our first stop,
followed by St Mary's Cathedral, WA's Museum, Art Gallery, London
Court. We shopped around London Court area, combed one of their
upmarket departmental stores, David Jones and did some grocery shopping
at a supermarket for dinner preparation. The Brandy choc snaps and
appricot cookies from David Jones foodhall were really good! I returned
the next day to get more for my family. Lotsa good bargains can be
found there.
After shopping, we proceeded to Swan Towers and Supreme Court Gardens
for more photo shots. Perth city has got so much of nice architecture
and scenic views to offer! And guess what? Our Parking charges for that
day totalled close to AUD 18! GASP! Some places actually cost much more
than Singapore!
We prepared a simple and nice dinner at the apartment. After which, we
took a slow drive out to King's Park again to enjoy the night view. And
that called it a night.
DAY FOUR
The itinery of the day is to visit Yanchep National Park, which was a
two-hour drive up north, and Strawberry Fields. The drive up North was
a successful navigation attempt! Haha. At least I didnt get lost all of
us lost when I decided to turn into Scenic Drive for fun.
We got a nice view of Joondalup lake and snapped some shots there.
Yanchep National park was interesting. They've got a beautiful lake and
we sighted 5 or 6 koala bears there. There are 3 caves in the National
Park. But only Crystal Cave was opened to the public on weekdays. It
was a really good experience though Crystal Cave was quite a small
cave. We actually intended to visit Mammoth Cave at Magaret River but
had to call off the plan because of time constraint.
After a whole morning at the national park, we stopped by at Strawberry
Fields on our way back. But it was a pity that the season for
strawberries has just started and we couldnt pick them. Nonetheless, I
got a 1kg organic honey, strawberries and nougats there. Tried a pinch
of strawberry beer as well.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on last minute shopping at Habourtown and David Jones to grab more stuff to bring home.
DAY FIVE
The last two days of the trip were the most enjoyable. We took a
four-hour drive down South to Margaret River to visit the wineries.
More than 60 wineries can be found there. Free wine-tasting are
available at most cellars. Some wineries even have got award-winning
restuarants. Our first stop was at Gralyn Estate. My favourite picks
are
Late Harvest Riesling and
Late harvest Cabernet.
Chocolate factory was the next stop. Their dark chocolates were good
and they give generous servings for tasting. It goes without saying
that I've gotten quite a bit of stuff from there.
We stopped at Berry Farm to try their fruity wines. I love their
Mango wine!
They've got exotic jams there as well. I got 3 miniature bottles of
different flavours of jams mixed with liquer. We got a bit lost from
Berry Farm, trying to figure out how to get to Voyager Estate and
Leeuwin Estate. Nevertheless, because of the wrong turn we made, we
treated to beautiful pastures along the way.
As we were hard-pressed for time, we could only snap quick shots of
Voyager from the outside. It has been raining hard the whole day
actually. Taking photos can be quite a challenge when the rain gets
heavy at certain juncture.
Leeuwin Estate was another posh winery where you can find a beautiful
art gallery at the basement. They've got an award-winning restuarant
there as well. Their wines can be quite pricy!
After Leeuwin, we proceeded to Marrilodge Cottage for check-in. The
place was very cosy and have got a fireplace. But the catch is, you've
got to light your own fire! And the heater system was horrible!
Nevertheless, I kinda like the place (but i'll consider carefully
whether to go back or not!) and it was a really good experience staying
in the countryside.
After settling down, we took a drive out for dinner at WAVEs
restuarant. I had grilled snapper. It was so tender and nice! It
started pouring heavily again. This time, the weather has turned much
colder than it was during the day. We had to make a quick dash to our
car. By the time we got back to the car, we were wet and shivering!
The drive back to the cottage was abit erry cos there were no street
lamps at all. On top of that, I was suffering from repercussions of my
friends' horrible tales of cars colliding with kangaroos.
DAY SIX
We had to load all of our barang barang and made a trip to the very
last stop for our trip. Augusta was half an hour away from Margaret
River. We stopped near Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse to snap photos of the
beautiful coast. When we finally reached the lighthouse, it started to
pour again. Arrrggghhh!
Whale-watching was an unforgettable experience! Being on a small ship,
sailing out on the Indian Ocean and riding on the waves was thrilling.
Trying to spot the whales and catching them on your cameras was
challenging. And, spotting dolphins around your ship was an additional
bonus!
The three-hour ride was kinda bumpy because the waters were still
recovering from the rough weather. Getting dizzy on board was
inevitable. Nonetheless, I still feel that every dollar that Ive paid
for the whale-watching ride was well worth.
As our return flight was at midnight, we could afford to shop
pitch-stop at Mandura shopping centre to get essential oil, candles and
souvenirs at Dusk. We returned to Perth for late-night shopping
(Late-night shopping isnt that late after all. The mall closes at 9pm!)
and got some more chocolates and Jesters' Pies.
The only disappointment for the trip was too little time allocation for
the trip down South, which was, in my opinion, more exciting than Perth
City. We didnt get to visit Bunbury as planned. But well, there's
always another opportunity!
One last interesting thing to note! Squeezing our fragile shopping bags
into our hand-carriers was a good challenge at the airport!
I'll miss Perth... The weather, rainbows, pastures, wines,
architecture, landscape, pastry and Fish & Chips!! Everything about
Perth is soooOOoo good! I've gotta be back again! More time to spend at
Margaret River, Augusta and exploring other small towns the next time
round.
