Perth Darul Awesome Trip - Day 3

It was Sunday. This time around our plan would be shopping - phase 1. We have heard about this Sunday Market all around Perth that selling a lot of stuffs with really cheap prices, so we are going.

We woke up early and had a breakfast courtesy of the B&B, before heading to Belmont. From what we have read, Belmont Sunday Market is the biggest and offers a lot more items.

The whole journey went smooth. Not so many people and cars can be seen everywhere, maybe it because of Sunday. It is around 20km away so I figured it might take around 40 minutes drive. One thing about driving in Perth, you must always comply to the speed limit because the speed trap is everywhere. You don't want your holiday to be ruined by a speeding ticket, do you?

Anyway, we arrived at Belmont around 10:30 am. Little that I know the Sunday Market will be ended earlier that day at 11:30 am, so we got approximately 1 hour to shop.

Happy doing her favourite thing.

Basically Sunday market in Perth is like a huge backyard sale. The only different thing is everybody got to share spaces. And Belmont is considered the biggest Sunday market in Perth. You can practically get everything that crossed your mind here, there was even a guy who is selling a tractor here! Yes I mean the tractor that we use to dig a hole on the ground, that tractor! Found a dude who is selling a chainsaw for AUD170, thought of buying it, but it gonna use up my baggage limit plus a huge chunk of hole in my pocket, so it gonna have to pass.

In the end we managed to grab a few things. I managed to grab a jigsaw puzzles, few toys, DVD, a vase, quite a number of stuffs considering we got only 1 hour to shop. But I wasn't satisfied, 1 hour of shopping definitely not enough!

Next destination, E Shed Market in Fremantle. It is a good place to get some souvenirs.

Well before we went to this trip, I told Edrian an office mate of mine that I'm going to Perth for a vacation. And he told me he's been there before and he didn't like it much. Reason? Too many Malaysian.

God damn you Edrian you were right. When we were in E Shed Market, I didn't feel like being in a foreign country at all. So many Malaysian were busy buying stuffs, and the sellers, most of them were Indonesian. The best thing is most of the stuffs were made in China. Awesome. I didn't flew 6500 km just to buy a product which made in China.

Anyhoo, we managed to grab a few things, you know, usual things that you give away as a souvenir, fridge magnets, key chains, t-shirts.

By the time we finished, it was already 4 pm. For the next plan we were supposed to go to the Marine Museum nearby, but it wasn't enough time since the museum will be closed at 5 pm. So we decided to explore the town.

The town. More like a ghost town to me.

People can hardly be seen driving or walking around. Where the hell all the people go?

Yes, we were curious that much. Where the hell all the Perth people go?

We walked a little bit further towards Fremantle Market, and there you go, there were so many people there. Apparently Perth people will go here during the weekend. Perhaps there were a lot of bars and restaurants is the reason. 

You see the people on the first level? They were actually in a bar, and they threw money to the street performer below.

Fremantle Market is, how do I put it? Hmm, is like our own Central Market. Big building with many stalls in it. People sold variety items from greeting cards to pen. You can also find some street performer entertaining people at the outside of the building. There were a lot of restaurants and bars along the corridor, and you can find all sort of people from families to teenagers enjoying with their friends there. 

 Inside the market

Street performers entertaining the crowd outside.

Restaurants and bars along the corridor.

Not much purchasing were made though. It was already 5 pm, we were pretty exhausted from the whole day of walking, so we decided to go back to the hotel. 

Walked by the park on the way back to the hotel.

Saw a couple of dude performing solat in the middle of the field.

Zebra crossing over a train track. No problem for Perth people.

Sunset view of Fremantle port.

We had our dinner in Fremantle before heading back to the hotel. You see, there were actually 2 outlets in Fremantle (Cicirellos and Kailis) who claimed they were the best fish and chips in the town. We decided to try both and see who is better. Last night we tried Cicirellos and tonight gonna be Kailis' turn. 

Well, the fish and chips weren't so good. It fish and chips anyway, they all taste the same to me.

We then headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow gonna be a long journey to the south. 

The entrance to the University of Notre Dame. The whole bunch of shop lots along the streets is being occupied by the university. Thank God the students were on leave so it is easy to look for a parking spot.

End of Day 3.

Perth Darul Awesome trip - Day 2

We woke up early to a lovely morning for our next agenda, Caversham Wildlife Park. It was cold early in the morning, the temperature reached 4 Celsius. We had to wear our jacket to warm ourselves all the time even in the house.

Caversham Wildlife Park is a private park housing many Aussies exotic animals. We need to be there early to get to the 10 am show. Oh just so you know, the park got two interactive shows, the first is The Farm Show where they demonstrate on how to sheep shearing, and the other one will be Meet the Wombat Show. The farm is approximately 40km away, so I figured it might take around 1 hour to get there.

Nice view of the park. Reminds me of Taman Tasik Taiping though.

After having some lovely breakfast (thanks Mas), we headed to the park. Unfortunately we got lost on the way there so we missed the show. We then decided to wait for the 1 pm show, so we got plenty of time to browse through the park.

The entry to the park will cost us AUD22 per person. Crossed our fingers hoping it worth the penny.

Upon entering the park, we found out there's plenty of birds and animals that you can find here. Some were let free, some were in cage. Pretty impressive considering this is a private park.

A koala. Lazy bastard. Sleep 22 hours a day, and only eat eucalypt leaves. Cannot be easily touch or else it will feel depress and then die. 

Feeding the Llama

Picture of the day. While waiting for my wife who went to the toilet, the donkeys suddenly decided to.. you know. Having sex. In public. Shame on you. Bloody donkeys.

A fox

Of course, the main attraction to the park is called Mingle Around with Your Friendly Kangaroos. Ok I made up that title. The activity is pretty much, ermm how do I say this, you socializing with some very docile kangaroos. You got to touch them, you got to feed them. You got to take picture with them. They wouldn't mind, trust me.

My wife with the kangaroos. Don't be fooled by the smiley face. She was actually freaking out.

Us, with the kangaroos. Man than white kangaroo followed us to anywhere we go.

At 1 pm, we had a sandwich for lunch before heading to the Farm Show. 

Halal food served here. Convincing enough for me.

The show was entertaining. The farmers started the show by introducing two dogs that being used to guide the sheep into a containment, where they will select a sheep to be sheared. There was also a demonstration on how to use a whip, the funny fact is I always thought the whip is being used to whip the animal, but I was wrong. Actually the whip is used to generate a very loud noise to frighten away the animal. It didn't even touch the animal's skin. And it wasn't easy like you see on the TV. A guy who volunteered to demo practically whipped his own ass. I mean literally. 

The two farmers, briefed us on the demonstration. 

Poor sod. But not to worry a sheep can only be sheared once a year. The product will be shipped mostly to China.

The sheep after being sheared. Their skin will produce a melanin in order to protect them from the cold weather. It is said that the melanin is good for our skin too. There were a lot of products base on the melanin being sold here.  

Some kids excitedly feeding the baby sheep.

The next activity, Meet the Wombat. Well it is not that interesting though. The workers there will display some exotic animals and you got to touch them and take pictures with them.

The wombat. Ugly bastard. No idea why the Aussies fancy so much about them.

No idea what that is. But it does look pretty cute. Not the guy.

After the wombats activity, we browse through the park until the end before we left at around 2:30 pm. Which means we've been in the park for approximately 4 hours. Worth every penny.

Next stop, we drove to Scarborough Beach. Initially it wasn't in our plan, But hey we got some time to kill so why not. Heard that Scarborough Beach is a popular tourist spot too, especially during the summer. But never crossed in our mind that we will find some crazy Aussies surfed, in this cold winter weather! Crazy Aussies.

Nothing interesting. It was freezing by the way. No idea how these Aussies still manage to surf in the cold weather.

Tried my luck to look for any topless chicks, but to no avail. Maybe the weather is just too cold for anybody to get naked in the public. 

We left the beach at around 4:00 pm. It was already getting dark, we need to check in to our stay before it getting darker.

For the first 2 nights, we will be staying at Fremantle Bed & Breadfast. Cost us around AUD125 dollars per night. According to Travel Advisor it is a highly recommended B&B, and just a walking distance from Fremantle port itself. 

And Travel Advisor was right. It was lovely.

The B&B is a privately operated inn managed by an old but sweet couple. It has three floors including the ground floor, and each floor has 4 rooms with 2 shared bathroom. Not a problem at all because we barely stumble upon anybody from the same floor. 

The living room at the ground floor. Designed with an English concept. Lovely.

The dining hall. They also threw in free breakfast, juices and milks free flow whenever you want. 

The shared bathroom. Got a Jacuzzi some more.

Unfortunately our room was a twin bed. The king size bedrooms have been fully booked. Not a problemo.

That night we decided to take a walk around the Fremantle port. Read somewhere that there were some restaurants serving good fish and chips, and we decided we gonna try it and make a judgement. 

End of Day 2.