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.

Perth Darul Awesome trip - Day 1

Well, not exactly a day because our flight was at 11:50 pm. The 5 hours journey was a bumpy ride. Apparently Perth was hit by a storm 2 days before so there was still a little bit of heavy rain here and there. I couldn't sleep at all, my stomach you know, refuse to give a cooperation.

We arrived at the airport at 5.00 am in the morning, the whole immigration process ran smooth. The counter to collect the car will only be opened at 8, so we chill. I went outside just to get the feel on how cold it is the weather, and it was freeeeeeziiiiiiingggg. 8 Celsius I tell you. 

Cut short, after the long process of registering, at last we got our car. First destination, Kings Park. At first I had a trouble adjusting to Perth people way of driving, but I adapted fast. The GPS is very helpful in this situation.

Drove to Kings Park through the city. Not much different from our city, except for the less busy road of course.

Kings Park

The War Memorial, one of the park's many landmarks. I guess it is the same thing like our Tugu Negara.

Without much trouble, we arrived at the Kings Park around 10 am. It was, breathtakingly beautiful. The weather is nice and cold, we had to put on our jacket to warm ourselves. We could see some old people walking by the road side, Some people jogged, some did some exercises, others, just mingled around and took pictures, like us. It was quiet and peaceful. 

You know, the thing that you always saw in brochures from oversea's universities where students do some study groups under the tree in the middle of the field, this is absolutely possible here.

So we walked around the park, and I told my wife if the weather is like this in our country, I would jog to the office. And my wife with a sly told me Malaysians will never jogged or walked. We will drive even if the distance is 50 meters.

Anyway, let me put some pictures here and describe it a little bit, that will be more interesting rather than me blabbering around.

Yes, you read that right. That tree with the white trunk is planted by Her Majesty herself. Look how tiny the tree was when she first planted it.

 This Giant Boab tree, known as 'Gija Jumulu', is a 750 years old tree. The thing that make this tree interesting is, the tree was found in Warmun, Kimberly WA, 3200km from it current location. It has to be moved to make way for the new highway project. The tree is some sort of iconic to the WA people and the aborigines, represent their historical culture or something. Just google it and then you will know.

Western Australian Museum

By noon, we moved on to our next location. My wife is a fan of museums, and we read in some blogs Western Australian Museum is a must visit if you really into local history. But we need to take a lunch first. We didn't eat anything heavy yet since we arrived and we were starving. Tried to look for a halal restaurant, and finally we found one just near the museum. It was a veges restaurant operated by some of the PAWS volunteers. And of course they will never served meat there. I didn't quite remember what we had, but it tasted awful and costed us around AUD30. That's more than RM100. We can get a decent meal for 2 at a decent hotel with that price. By that time we figured we need to stop converting the currency or else we will not be able to eat anything.

The museum, well, not that interesting though. Maybe because I was tired, been awake since yesterday. But we did enter though, the entry is free anyway.

That my friend, is a police station. Just across the road from the museum.

Told you nothing interesting there.

Somebody going to be eaten alive.

Now looking at the pictures, I wondered what actually happened there. All I can remember was I kept yawning all the time.

Harbour Town

I was told that Harbour Town is a good place to shop. I was told right. Harbour Town is much like our own JPO, minus the high end products. That means there are no Coach, Burberry, Prada yada yada. But Adidas, Nike, Levi's and equal to that, you can find it here. And the price, some are cheaper, some are more expensive. Perfumes are especially cheaper here. You can get a decent brand perfume for AUD10. How cheap is that? But we didn't do much shopping that day. We were tired, and seems to lost the appetite to shop. That is weird considering my wife lost the appetite to shop.

Reduan's house

So then we went straight to Reduan's house. It was located in Crawley, near the Kings Park. Got no problem at all to find the house. Being greeted by his wife Masdiana, sister in law, and 2 kids. Have a chat a little bit, before we ask for excuse to go to bed. It was 4 pm by the way. Hehe. Damn tired.

Our host for the day.

Dining hall.

We woke up around 7, it was already dark. Apparently the sun set earlier during the winter, around 5 pm. At 7 pm it already felt like 9 in Malaysia. And it was freezing, the temperature reached 7 Celsius that night. 

Mas served us a delicious dinner, and then we watched the tv for a while before continue our journey, in bed! at 9 pm! I never slept that early back in Malaysia. The earliest will be around 11. But you know, when it is cold you will always feel sleepy, I read about it somewhere and that writer was totally right.

End of 1st day.

Perth Darul Awesome trip - The Planning

Yauuzaaa! Yes we went to Perth last 2 weeks, and it was awesome. I mean damn Perth is like a Utopia, maybe not like a Utopia but close. After what we have heard and experienced in our own country we felt not safe anymore and somehow when we were there Perth seems like the epitome of community. Damn safe I tell you. I can leave my Geox shoes at the outside of the house and nobody gonna steal it. And the house doesn't have any fences either. But we'll come back to that later.

I bought 2 return tickets for me and my wife via AirAsia last January and it cost me RM1600. Pretty cheap, but I've heard some people can get it even cheaper. As low as RM500 return per person. Anyway back the topic.

Since then we've been planning on where to go and what to do, doing research and doing a lot of blog reading. Surprisingly there were quite a few blogs telling people their experiences when travelling in Perth, and we found it quite useful. Plus we got a friend who his wife just started pursuing her further studies in Perth, so maybe we can stop by and says hello or something.

So we asked around what the weather will be and how is the best way to move around, pretty much we found out the best way to move is by renting a car, and we should get prepared with some jackets because it gonna be pretty damn cold there in June.

We found a website which offers pretty good deal in car renting. If you, yes I mean you the not so many my readers, plan to go to Perth and rent a car, this website might interest you. Check on this website:

http://www.carhireperthairport.com.au/

They offered a vast variety of cars with good prices, in extremely good condition, easy to pick up and send back, and you just have to pay 10% of the rental price for booking and the rest when you pick up the car. We booked for a Hyundai Getz with manual transmission for AUD31 per day but they threw us a blue Hyundai i30 with Auto transmission instead. Nice car, my wife love it so much she even considered to get one when we got back home. But it gonna cost us RM97k so I said forget it. And you can also add in GPS if you like and it is highly suggested that you take it, but make sure it is working. Ours? It died on us on the 4th day of our trip and we have to rely 100% on my wife's Iphone's Google Map then.

Our ride

My ride. If you know what I mean.

Driving in Perth is pretty much easy. They drive on the left side of the road, pretty much same like us, plus their drivers were so polite if they see somebody is crossing the road from miles away they already hit the break. The hard thing about driving in Perth is not looking for ways, but to comply to the speed limit. Yes, these people are law abiding citizen when it comes to driving. Maybe because there are speed trap anywhere you go. I read a blog where this dude being ticketed for driving 92 kmph at 90 speed limit. Damn.

Our plan was to stay for couple of days in Fremantle before heading south and then north. The last days in Perth will be spent with my wife's favourite activity of course, shopping what else.

So the do's of don'ts.
1. Entering Australia will require you to apply for ETA (Electronic Travelling Authority). You can simply apply it through website, they got even an online wizard to guide you on how to apply. The damage? AUD20. Go here.

http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/

2. Don't bring any milk products. That means no freaking Milo, Nescafe or whatever instant coffee or chocolate drink that you have. I don't know what is the deal with the Aussie's authority and their milk product, I just don't know.

3. Maggi/instant noodles are OK. No problemo.

4. If possible do all the necessary booking as early as possible. You might get some discounts.

5. If possible bring along a lot of chili sauces in packets, because chili sauces here ain't cheap I tell you.

I'm writing again.

Yeah I'm writing again. I just realized my English became suckier each day, I can even differentiate between nouns and verbs. I had to think hard for a word, or referred to Google if I had a chance. I stuttered a lot when talking to my boss. This is bad. I have to do something about it.

Then I came to realize, maybe because I didn't read and write much these days. Working in a company surrounded with Malays I found it is hard for me to practice my English. We barely spoke one, therefore I decided to at least practice by reading and writing. Because that is the least I can do.

Well, that's it. Yeah you will see more of me writing.