I have been longing for a trip for so long and finally my dream has been realised. I have chosen Perth for this trip as the flight hours is shorter, weather is good, country is clean and we can be closer to nature . However, travelling with a child below 2 years old has proven to be quite a challenge for us. First of all, there are so many things that we need to bring – diapers, milk powder, bottles, let alone baby’s clothes etc. Furthermore, we have to manage a hyperactive kid without the help of our maid.
At Changi Airport
We had quite an “eventful” time in plane both to and fro. Our baby hardly sleeps! In fact, he can hardly sit still. The hours in the plane is like eternity to us. Worst is I had to change his soiled diapers in plane. Yucks! The toilet is so small, so difficult to change him and he never lie still for you to change him. Goodness. The trip back, we run into situation where he got diarrhorea and poo twice in plane, to the extent that we run out of diapers to change him. What a day, we both couldn’t wait to get back to Singapore which is still about 2 hours away.
In Perth
18 September 2009 (1st Day)
Wow, the weather was so cooling. We reached Perth around 2.40pm. According to an Austrailian that we met in the airport, the temperature was about 17 degrees celsius but I found it much colder, probably because it was very windy outside and I, being Singaporean was not very accustomed to their weather.
We were staying at Perth Ambassador Hotel and it was about 30 mins walk to Perth City where the nearest shopping malls like Myers & David Jones were located. Our first task was to find food near the vicinity before the sky turns pitch dark.
19th September 2009
We had a half day city tour arranged for us this day which would bring us to places like Kings Park, Cottesloe Beach & Freemantle where we can enjoy a cup of coffee at our own leisure. The weather had not been good, it had been drizzling that morning and when we reached Cottesloe Beach, it was raining pretty heavily, thus we were unable to stop by Cottesloe Beach for a walk.
At Kings Park
At Freemantle
Freemantle is a port town. Over there, you can easily find cafes selling coffees and pastries, and also fish and chips. The Freemantle market is only opened on Friday through Sunday, and other than local handicrafts stuffs, Aussie T-shirts, there is also a market selling fruits, vegetables and probably meaty stuffs too. We bought strawberry, they were so cheap.
We met up with Ian at Freemantle and he brought us to Cicerello’s for fish and chips, apparently the best at Freemantle.
After our sumptuous fish and chips, we proceed to harbourtown with Ian as our tour guide for the later half of the day. Harbourtown is a shopping mall where you can find their local brand of goods or sports jersey at discounted prices. It was like their factory outlet but I still find them pretty expensive and the shop closed very early around 4+pm, though I had checked on the internet that they closed at 5pm on Saturday. What a shame! So, at the end of the day, we end up empty handed instead. I guessed we should have stayed on at Freemantle as there were also small shops there which we could shop around. We returned to Perth city around 5+pm and the sky was starting to turn dark again, with Matthew completely knocked out.
20th September 2009
This day was our Farmstay at Windmill Farm. We headed for the farm around 10.10am and were being welcomed by our host Joan & Milton. Apparently, we were the only guests for that day and so we received undivided attention. I felt kind of stress – undivided attention! I hoped I could catch their accent well enough to strike a conversation since we most likely would be talking quite alot as there were no other guests around but luckily, Milton can speak pretty good English without the authentic Aussie accent and I can understand Joan perfectly alright as well though. Phew!
Just want to show you the place that we were staying, it is just a simple room with beds and toilet and there are a few of such rooms in the farm for guests to stay. A separate room with kitchen & TV facilities is just next door to our room. They also have a function room which they uses for dinning purposes when they had more guests at the farm. According to Milton, a farm (that comes with a vast piece of land) in Aussie costs about AUD1m. Back in Spore, a small unit condo costs around that price or even more. I think next time if we want to buy condo in Spore, we ought to think again. We had our bbq lunch there and after that we began our day’s activity.
Our day’s activities included visiting the farm where the sheep resides and feeding them, milking cows, feeding kangaroos and sheep shearing. I guessed it was good for kids to get exposed to nature and animals. Matthew was pretty curious, puzzled at times but overall excited. It was an quite experience for us adults too. I had never stayed in a farm before. The temperature was freezingly colder at the farm as compared to city area and us being a city person, we were pretty conscious of the muddy grounds that we had to trample on constantly.
We ended our day with dinner at our host’s warm and cosy home.
21st September 2009
We had to say goodbyes to kangaroos, cows, sheeps and our host today after breakfast. However, we had our 1 last chance to feed kangaroos and sheep and to get our hands on the “century old” weaving machine that Joan wanted to show us.
We had the rest of the day to ourselves as there was no more tour lined up for us. On our way back to our hotel, we dropped by Margaret River Chocolate Factory at Swan Valley to take a peep inside. Well, this isn’t really a factory, just a place where they sell chocolates. The factory probably closed down long time ago, but the name “factory” is still being used.
Once we settled down at our hotel, we headed to Perth City foodcourt for lunch and then shop around the place as it was most likely our last day that we had any leisure time to ourselves before heading back to Singapore.
Perth City Sights (Murray & Hay Street)
22nd September 2009
Today we would be visiting the spectacular Pinnacles Desert and experiencing a thrilling 4WD adventure at the Lancelin Sand Dunes. First of all, we began our day at the Caversham Wildlife Park where we had an opportunity to see koalas, kangaroos & wombat close up.
At Caversham Wildlife Park
At Nambung National Park – Home of the Pinnacles
Before heading for Lancelin Sand Dunes, we had a chance to take a short break at the cray fishing port of Lancelin on the Indian Ocean. It was about 5pm when we reached there and looked at the skyline, the sun was already setting down.
At Lancelin Sand Dunes
This was the place where we thrill ourselves to 4 wheel driving across the massive Lancelin sand dunes. The sand were so fine and Melvin had his go at sand boarding.
23rd September 2009 (Last Day – Back to reality)
It was time to say farewell to Perth. We would be heading back to Singapore today at 3.30pm and our coach driver would be waiting for us at the hotel lobby by 12.10pm. To make our time and stay worthwhile, our last stop was at the Perth Mint before we wrapped up this trip.
At the Perth Mint
The Perth Mint is Australia’s leading precious metal house, as well as being the nation’s oldest operating mint and its specialist metal mint. We are able to view the gold pouring ceremony at the mint and tourists could also mint their own medallion by putting their name on it. Well, of course this is not free.
Ivy Junior 