PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Vacation 2018 - Part Two

PERTH DAY TWO

Day two, we woke up extra early to visit the Caversham Wildlife Park. It's my first time meeting Koalas and Kangaroos in my entire 38 years of LIFE. All I can say is that they are awesomely cute!

The Caversham Wildlife Park is located at Lord Street, Whiteman. It opens from 9 am to 5.30 pm. Besides Koalas and Kangaroos, there are other Australian native animals such as the Wombat, Tasmanian Devil, and Kookaburra to name a few.

It was fun because it was my first time seeing these animals at a close-up range, face to face and I have to say, they look exactly like how they are portrayed in photos and even sketches... just gorgeous!

After spending about 3 hours at the Park, we drove to Charcoal Chicken Dianella to fill up our stomach with the mouthwatering halal ribs. Yes, you heard that right... HALAL ribs.

After stuffing ourselves, we made our move to the Watertown Outlet to do some shopping. And that pretty much wraps up day two.

Sleeping beauty...

An albino kangaroo

They're albino and blind...kecian...

This one's sulking.. perhaps he just had a fight with his wife..hehe

such a cutie pie... the one on the left I mean.

Me, my Aussie hubby and our child..Isn't she adorable?

Delicious Big portion!

The sides.. Malaysia..why you no have this?

Malaysia..why can't you be generous with Avocadoes like this?

It's hard to hold your horses. This brand is kinda big online in my country.

That's me and that's Watertown outlet.

PERTH DAY THREE

Day three got even better because everyone was already totally adjusted to the Aussie air. So again, we woke up as early as 5.30 am to head to The Lancelin Sand Dunes, The Pinnacles at Nambung Park and Lobster Shack at Cervantes. The visit to all of these places were made possible  because we rented a car. I'm not sure how to share with you the way to get to these places by public transport though. All we did was just to get in the car, turn on our waze app (we had a pocket wifi rented together with the house and the car), just typed all of the above locations and boom we safely reached the destination...just like back home.

Trip kali ni memang tak perlu perah otak sangat sebab kami sewa homestay yang sekali kombo dengan pocket wifi dan kereta. So kalau nak kemana-mana just simply waze aje dari depan rumah. Driving kat Australia ni so far Mi tengok memang selamat. Cuma kita kena ikut had laju. Kat sini polis dorang laju nak saman kalau langgar undang-undang. Kalau bawa babies or kids make sure setiap sorang duduk dalam carseat. Parking pula ada code-code tertentu. 1P la 2P la... pi la mabuk..hahaha. 1P means you can park for 1 hour, 2P for 2 hours, and so on. Itu ja sebenarnya...kebanyakkannya FREE tapi ber had...kalau sejam tu maksudnya sejam tak boleh lebih. Kalau lebih bukan kene bayar parking, tapi kena bayar denda sebab parking terlebih waktu.

Sepanjang bawa kereta kat sana tu je DILEMMA terbesar kami. To park or not to park. Otherwise kalau ada paid parking pulak, masalahnya bukan main mahal harganya. Cuba bayangkan, sampai mesin parking dorang pun boleh accept credit card...

So, dekat Lancelin Sand Dunes tu kawan Mi sewa sandboard  dekat nearby shop yang ada patrol station. Mi pun cuma mampu tengok sebab tak berani nak main sebab takut tercedera pulak masih banyak hari lagi kat sini..hahaha. After that, we head to Lobster Shack Cervantes. Kat sini Mi tak sure halal or not cuma just tau dorang tak serve Pork. All seafood. Nampak ramai je orang Melayu Malaysia makan so kami pun taknak terlalu was was. Lobster nya sedap dan ofcourse lebih murah dari harga kat Malaysia cuma well..you know..it's Lobster so of course it's not cheap.

And then kami gerak ke Pinnacles pulak. Subhanallah...cantiknya Pinnacles ni. Macam padang pasir kuning yang terbentang luas dan dipenuhi dengan beribu ribu batu karang. Masa sampai situ, Mi cuma boleh terpegun je la dengan kecantikan batu-batu karang yang entah dari mana datangnya ni.

And then kami pusing masuk ke Tourist centre dia baru la Mi dapat baca sikit sedikit sejarah tentang batu-batu ni sebab ada museum kecil yang display tentang perihal tempat ni.

The Pinnacles ni rupanya adalah lautan batu kapur yang terbentuk dari sisa cengkerang  sejak 30 ribu tahun yang lalu. Sisa Cengkerang tu ditiup oleh angin pantai lautan Hindi sehingga ia membentuk bukit pasir yang tinggi secara semulajadi. Orang Australia pulak tak sedar pun dengan kewujudan tempat ni not until 1950s. Pastu dorang pun terus gazzeted the area as a reserve and then name it The Nambung National Park. Since then, tempat ni jadi tourist attraction yang menerima lebih dari 150 ribu pelawat dalam setahun. Dekat area ni tak ada hotel atau camping site, kalau nak kena stay di bahagian Cervantes. Nak tengok Pinnacles ni ada entrance fee. Dalam AUD 13. kira kira RM39 camtu...Kita boleh bawa masuk kereta kat dalam area pinnacles tu dan park kat tepi sekiranya nak turun dan bergambar dekat batu-batu tu. Mi rasa memang berbaloi bayar mahal untuk masuk tengok pinnacles ni sebab ianya salah satu ciptaan Allah yang kita patut witness kecantikannya.

At Lancelin Sand Dunes. It was sunny but the air was cool.

With the whole bunch!

The Pinnacles...same..sunny but cool

I don't know why I posed like that

Too beautiful...

The seaside at Cervantes

Simple but delicious Lobster lunch at Lobster Shack Cervantes!

PERTH DAY FOUR

Our fourth day was well spent at the Fremantle Market, Kaili's Fish and Chips, E-Shed and Rainbow Container. 

Sebagai seorang tourist yang sangat suka membeli belah (hahaha) Mi memang suka visit Market-market dia negara orang. So kat Perth ni terkenal dengan Fremantle Market nya. Banyak jualan-jualan farmers, independent grocers, seolah-olah macam satu pasar ETSY hard copy yang besar.

Mi beli mostly handmade stuff kat sini, knitted hat for Orked, and then rattan bag for me, handmade soap as gifts for friends and family...all purely Australian. Ada banyak jualan buah-buahan and sayuran, kedai souvenir, and paling dasat gerai makanannya...fuhhhh menyengat. 

After enough shopping we headed to Kaili's Fish Market. Ini memang wajib kena mamam rasanya semua tourist Malaysia kalau pergi Perth harusla nak kena singgah makan fish and chips kat sini. Masa nak order makanan pun dah terasa macam dekat food court Aeon Mall sebab kiri kanan depan belakang semuanya orang Malaysia. hehehe.

Kalau tak kuat makan Mi sarankan just kongsi berdua hidangan fish and chips dia sebab giant portion. Chips tu segantang dibaginya. Kalau nak lagi gempak order seafood platter. Ada macam-macam selain fish. Rasanya pada Mi just so-so. Sedap lagi makan Fish and Chips masa kat Ireland and London dulu.   

After makan kami continue beli souvenirs dekat E-shed pulak. Yang E-shed ni adoiii macam Pasar Besar Kelantan tu. Penuhnya orang melayu Malaysia waktu Mi kat sana tu mungkin sebab ada satu bas rombongan dari sana la tu stop kat situ. Kalau nak beli souvenir murah...this is the best place. Semua ada.

And then our last stop for the day, amik gambar kat Rainbow Container. Benda ni just replica tepi jalan aje so kami park dan pergi tangkap gambar sat. Patutnya ada  lagi tempat yang dah plan nak pergi tapi memandangkan bawa toddler and dia tak sihat pulak, kena la kami end jugak the day.

 

As a market native, I kinda enjoy the Fremantle market... it's the second best I've been to so far, after the Portobello Market in London

I love the little details on the cupcake... so tastefully made

She actually waved hi...not giving a no pictures sign. They're all so friendly here...

I can't remember what this one's called... but it has spinach & melted feta in it.

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can you see that Ferris Wheel?

Colorful containers arranged in a way that it looked like a concrete rainbow

That's me and happy below the concrete rainbow!

Instaworthy place

PERTH DAY FIVE

And then it was already day five. How fast time flies when we're having fun. So the fifth day ni Mi spent almost half of it dekat Watertown. Since Watertown ni tak la sebesar mana, kecik lagi dari JPO, maka pusing-pusing pun masih di takuk yang sama...hahaha. Ceritanya patut kami ke Mandurah harini, tapi dek kerana anak buah kawan Mi demam, kami pun batalkan hasrat tu since separuh pun dah takda mood nak keluar. So kami pergi Watertown ni je teman kakak ipar my friend yang merupakan personal shopper. Sambil-sambil tu I pun jadi personal shopper yang tak profitable kat situ hahaha.

When night comes kami keluar semula pergi tengok Elizabeth Quay and also the Perth Mosque. After that we just packed our stuff yang makin beranak pinak dek kerana banyak ngat nyoping.

I think I broke the Perth tourist record when I say that I came here 4 Times. Yes, Ladies and gentleman, 4 times. That's because there were a personal shopper among our crowd, and also because there were those with second thoughts that caused second trips. That's why I say, If you like it, just grab it. Or else you'll think about it and you'll be coming to the same place again. Whatever it is, you'll never get tired of the Watertown Outlet. Especially if you're a Smiggle enthusiast.

Something to calm the Starbucks craving. This is an iced latte with ice cream and it is really delish! Just so you know there's no Starbucks here. And they don't really care for Starbucks. Why would they,  if they can make coffee this good. Latte with Ice-Cream! Starbucks please Watch and Learn!

Elizabeth Quay

Masjid Perth

Perth Mosque

PERTH LAST DAY

We didn't really go anywhere on our last day coz we were already busy packing for home. So siang tu kami keluar pi minum kopi kat Perth town...and then pi Watertown Outlet lagi (hahahahaha) and then beli Corica Apple Strudels. Ini pun yang terfamous dekat Perth ni wajib makan kalau datang sini. Mak oi punya la sedap gila benda ni.

So kami singgah lagi ke Coles, kalau nak tau hari-hari kami pi Coles ni (muahahaha) dia macam Tesco gituw. Mi habiskan all my coins and small change untuk beli more chocolates for friends and family. Oh ya..Mi beli Oats and Quinoa jugak...kat sini makanan diet nya murahhhhh tak macam Malaysia.

Soon after that we got home, ate our last dinner which is again the Charcoal Chicken Dianella second round hahaha....and then tido sebab nak kena bangun awal pagi pukul 3am since our flight back to Malaysia is at 5am.

Corica Apple Strudels

Last Aussie cafe before going back

Nak pergi sini just waze Corica pastries

captivating to my palate..amboiii siap makan dengan vanilla ice cream

The most visited place in the duration of our vacation

Most drank bottled iced coffee on the duration of our stay

Just like all of my travels, these would be the thing that I'd likely miss about anywhere... supermarket foods

In our front yard

Summer Rose

Roses in the summer

The town where I did not get the chance to explore on foot. Well..that's because we drove, and we were paranoid about parking...we were so damn worried we'd get summoned if we park mindlessly. Perhaps one day, I will get the chance to walk on Perth's city pavements when we visit there again as backpackers. Since this vacation was more to family holiday, locations were confined to certain family friendly areas.

Hmmm..so that ends my entry for Perth. Honestly I had so much fun. It was supposed to be because it was my first time and I'd like to remember it in the most beautiful way. In my previous post I vented about my friend's brother in law not being able to get to this place....that would still be a stain in our memory. I seriously kesian him still. It would be so much more funner if he was around to be with his kids throughout the vacation.

So....till then, perhaps we'll meet again...not Perth, buat Australia. I really wanted to visit Melbourne, Sydney...Adelaide....but not until these particular stain in my heart gets washed away.

I'll see you very soon in my next entry because my next destination would be a country that I last visited when I was 8 years old. That's like, 30 years ago! Till then..bye bye!

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Vacation 2018

My First Time visiting the Land Down Under

It's my first time visiting Australia and I would have to say I had mixed feelings about the whole experience. My dad used to study in Sydney back in the 70's, but I just don't know why he was never interested to bring the whole family for a vacation to Australia when he has brought us to visit so many countries as far as the United States to enjoy Disneyland in Los Angeles.

Why I said mixed feelings was because I never really thought it was going to be quite hard to get here. You see, it was my first time ever visiting Australia and I have decided to join my best friend's family on their family trip. There was 8 of us adults and 3 children. Of course, we had to apply Australian Tourist Visa to enter the country, and I, along with my friend, and her extended family which consists of her mom, dad, sister, brother, and sister in law as well as the children (9 in total) was granted the VISA right away after application, EXCEPT for just one person, her brother in-law. His VISA was rejected just like that. 

We were cracking our heads trying to figure out why his VISA got rejected. He's a school teacher, in his early 30s, had no bad records whatsoever, married to my friend's younger sister who's an executive in Sunway college, and a father of two lovely young children.

I was so confident that it was a mistake that I'm sure he will get through the first appeal. I was wrong. His VISA was rejected 3 times. The third time was the most heart wrenching. They simply rejected the VISA right after the last day of our trip with the reason, "there's no point of approving the VISA since the date of your vacation has already expired".

Come on Australia? How could you do this to a person who's never been out of his country all his life? He just wanted to see Perth, have a great holiday with his wife and kids, and his whole family, and you simply rejected his VISA application? The first round with reason being the insufficient information of his bank account and source of income?

I don't get it, he wrote an appeal letter explaining the situation, how he needs to join the trip so that the children will have their father around at a foreign country for the first time and his wife was like 3 months pregnant at that time so imagine the pressure she might be under without her husband around???? Just because you're in-secured of the foreign people coming into your country to permanently stay and work, doesn't mean that other people are also that DESPERATE! How could you not see the picture?? We're a HUGE family going on a vacation!!!! Is it nonsense if we all go back without him???? Why would he leave his job as a teacher, his wife and kids and remain in Perth???? To do what kind of job? The illegal jobs you were so worried about????

I am venting as I typed this and though a month had passed since this tragedy, I am still bitten by the tragic incident. It really taught me a lesson that not every country welcomes you. Not all country wants to share what they have with you. One of them is Australia.

So there you go, my first time ever coming to Australia, and that's what happened. And that, my friends, was only the hors d'oeuvre.... wait till I get to the entrée...

So our flight was smooth through Air Asia. We bought Promo tickets so it was cheap, just about RM900 for a return ticket. Our plane landed in Perth Airport early morning and we waited for the Homestay people to come and pick us up with the cars we rented and get us to the homestay. I'd have to say at first glance it was quite frightening. The house looked quite old just like in the 60's films... (turned out the house was built in 1956, I googled the address) oh yeah and it was quite creepy. It has this Night Shyamalan Sixth Sense aura due to the furnishings. The house had four large bedrooms, one bathroom and one separate toilet. That's quite a downside since we have like three bathrooms for a standard house like this back in Malaysia. The air was cool when we arrived, perhaps because it was early morning. 

Soon as we got to the house, we unpacked the food luggage first, because everyone was already starving. We brought so many types of food from home which by the way, I had made a list of all the items in advance and it was my list that eventually saved us at the custom check out. It was all different with the customs in Australia. Seems to me that they are very strict about anything and eveything that concerns the items that enters their country. Could be something about preserving their agriculture. Hence, the very detailed declaration form that we had to fill up in the airplane beforehand. The form itself was overwhelming. Should I tick YES or NO... if unsure tick YES and most questions are asking whether or not did you bring milk.... (fresh milk or formula?) grains.... (so do we need to say yes if we brought RICE?) so obviously we ticked YES mostly and thus we had to go to a special corner where the interrogation goes further. They'll ask, did you bring cigarettes? Is it more than 3 packs? and then RICE..is it the normal white rice or brown rice? Did you guys bring anything down from the plane...? No, we did not, the pilot warned us not to do so repeatedly in the flight... OKAY, EXCELLENT...you may pass. Welcome to PERTH! And passed that customs checking, is the immigration point...and that's when don't nobody go playing with their phone. It's the most crucial step. Three girls queuing in front of me got stopped. They took one of the girl's phone and checked it. They stopped us, me and my friend. Asked us some questions...so how long are you going to stay? Where do you wanna go? What are you going to do? all of these questions while taking our thumbprints..three of our fingers and that included both of my middle fingers which I apologetically gave when the immigration officer asked for it. Sorry I said and chuckled. The officer laughed and said..that's okay..you're the first ever to apologize.... *LOLS*

Answer them calmly because you have nothing to be afraid of. You are coming here to have a great holiday because your boss approved your 6 days leave and you only have 16 days of leaves per year from your company. You work in your own country, at a company that pays your salary every 25th of the month and that's where the money came from for this PERTH holiday.... and it's not a small amount...I spent about almost a year saving bits of that salary so that I could see Kangaroo, Koalas for the first time...see for myself this amazing Australia that so many people talked about especially Malaysians...a country where even the low income Malaysian can afford to set foot in...you can come even if you don't know how to speak English because you booked a tour package from Malaysia and that include a tourist guide who could speak bahasa melayu and bring you to Malaysian restaurants.... there are millions of them... SO, why should you be afraid? You are not gonna overstay because you don't need to stay here in Australia like those desperate apple picker that gave a bad name to our country and also made it impossible for someone like my friend's brother in law to obtain a tourist VISA.

There is nothing to be afraid of... because I have a proper job in my own country. I am not a fruit-picker in my country. I work in a proper company that has a proper office, with my own proper cubicle and civilized friends and environment. I would not leave everything at my own country to be a fruit picker in your country. I have credit card bills to pay... my car still have a year of loan to pay and my parents....why would I leave without them? 

PERTH DAY ONE

So we rented a house at Lawrence Street... It was a classic house built in 1956... It has four large rooms and one toilet. The kitchen is complete with a proper stove top, microwave, fridge and what not. Since we arrived early morning many were exhausted so we decided to just go to Coles to do some groceries, as well as the nearest halal butchery to get our halal chicken. We also visited the King's Park and Blue boat house. The view was breathtaking.

119, Lawrence Street, Bedford

My room.. check out the Twilight duvet hahaha

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A corner in the house that we rarely used because the TV's not working...actually this part of the house felt eerie because the sofa looked so 60s and there's a very old set of dinner chairs hidden in the corner. That TV is not functioning.
 

Our house for the next 7 days and 6 nights.. This is the family area and we spent most of our time here..

A Totally Breathtaking view of Perth City  from King's Park

Amazing

The Sun was just about right

A giant Christmas tree perhaps?

 One with the tree

 Green and Blue....both are my favorite colors

Love at first sight

Blue Boat house is right in front

If I had not come here, I would not have known that to get to this pretty blue boat house, I had to cross a busy road with fast moving cars..hahaha