Perth 9 Days - Day 2 - Busselton,Goose Bar, Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, Sunset at Yallingup

Before I start Day 2, here's a quick review of our 1st night stay at our B&B near East Perth.
It's located at Hay Street, East Perth, very convenient to town too. The CAT service is right at our door step so additional plus point if you don't drive.
It has a swimming pool and gym but we didn't bother to go and see, think it's like a service apartment kind of thing.
The building has an Italian restaurant which supposedly quite nice, but we didn't try it since it was GGH's birthday, we went San Churros to celebrate.

It has 2 big rooms, and 1 shared bathroom. 1 of the big room has a full length mirror wardrobe, so you might not like it if you are "pan tan" about sleeping facing the mirror.

It cost us $176 SGD, so I think it's quite worth it.

 

And so, on Day 2, we set off at 7am to arrive early at Busselton. Travelling takes a lot of time so we made most our of the bright timing to travel. During cold season, their day time is shorter, sunsets around 5pm plus, so it's really dangerous to drive at night. So, sleep early and wake up early!

 

Woolsworth Banana Cake is very nice!!! Love it!

The journey from Perth City to Busselton Jetty takes about 3hrs.

We managed to reach there early, and we walked around the jetty.

The weather was slightly cold, but it felt good walking around the jetty pathways. It was so peaceful.

 

 

We booked the Busselton Underwater Observatory at 11am, and in order to get in, tickets had to be purchased. The cost per person was AU$32. To reach there, you either take the train or you can walk .. about 4km/5km I think. cannot remember.  

 

We were given a tour which is 8 metres down. Its a spiral staircase leading down, and you can see through the windows and observe the different types of coral and fishes that you probably will not see unless you do diving. It's really dark inside, so we had difficulty in taking pictures.

 

 

Time for lunch! Of course, one of the best food you have to try in Busselton is The Goose Beach bar & Kitchen!

It's right at the beachfront, so you definitely cannot miss it.

 

 

We ordered fish & chips, Margherita pizza and chilli salt calamari.

The chilli salt calamari is superb! Really fresh and the taste was just right!

 

Next, we went for a self guided tour. We explored Cape Naturaliste by doing a trail after visiting the Lighthouse.

So this trail is actually very long, the full track is called Cape to Cape Trail, which covers 250km down south of Perth. It will lead all the way to Albany.

At the ends of the Cape, there is a lighthouse each.

 

The lighthouse is a short walk in. It's nothing much though, except it's an iconic feature.

 

 

We ventured slightly into the woods and managed to see a wildlife kangaroo!

 

 

We began exploring the trails.. There's many different trails, and this board provides guidance on the difficulty level and timing. We decided on "The other side of the moon" track hahha...

We wondered what is on the other side. 

 

 

Along the road, we saw different flowers blooming and many many bushes. haha...

 

 

And finally, the other side of the moon. We seriously don't know where is the moon, but i'm guessing why the name is because after the bushes, it lies a land of barren and black ugly rocks before you get to seafront.

 

 

 

After going to the other side of the moon, we headed further down to Yallingup to watch sunset. The wonderful thing about watching sunset is people actually bring their mats, chairs, and wine and really sit and watch sunset. SO MUCH FEEL!  

That day wasn't the best sunset as it was cloudy.

 

 

 

We then headed back for dinner. We went to supermarket for a quick buy.

In Besselton, there isn't much supermarket at night, if I'm not wrong, it closes at 8pm.

You can eat out but it's mostly all western fast food in Busselton.

 

Effort A+ for photo taking. hahahaha...  

 

 

OUR STAY - A private house at Carey St.

It's like 5min walk to the beachfront! And it's huge!

It has 3 rooms, a big living room with chimney, a dining room and kitchen!

However, it has only 1 toilet.

It's really huge for 4 of us, cause it supposedly can fit 6 people.

 

It has an outdoor balcony with BBQ pit, but we didn't bother to use them.

 

We stayed here for the next 2 nights, costing only SGD $383. :)

 

 

My chosen room, beach feel.

The living room

Feels so homely.

The Kitchen - fully equipped.

 

The cozy dining.
 

 

Perth 9 Days - Day 1 - Perth City - Tuck Shop, Fremantle, Prison Tour

We arrived at Perth when the sun was rising.... 0525hrs. Long day ahead...

But it's the start of our holidays!

Went to pick up our car at Hertz. We wanted to book the caravan so we could experience living in the caravan, but the reviews were bad and deposits were too expensive.

The total cost of our car for 9 days came up to SGD$797 with insurance cover for driver.

 

 

So, we picked a spacious car, full size auto, Toyota Camry. It could nicely fit 2 big luggage and still had spaces for small bagpacks.

 

The team model drivers. :p

The bananas: Our entertainer, and the always sleeping in car.

 

Such beautiful weather. It may look sunny, but its still cold. The best weather.

 

Our first stop: Tuckstop Café

178 Newcastle St, Perth WA 6000, Australia
Tel: +61 8 9227 1659 Tue-Sun: 7am to 4pm
Tue-Sun: 7am to 4pm

 

It is famous for its brunch & pies.

 

The pies were the best! I think we had the beef pie..

 

Venturing along the Fremantle jetty since we had free time...

 

We headed to Fremantle market to walk around and mentally deciding what we should get on our last day before we head back.

 

The famous Honey Cake in Fremantle.

Well, it's nice, but I felt it wasn't very fantastic cause it's just sweet lor.

Maybe the expectations were already high since many raved about it.

Cause have too many slices at one go cause it's sweet!

 

It's not cheap by the way....

Mandatory shoot

 

 

Next, we headed to the Fremantle Prison.

It's a stone throw away from the Fremantle market, so it's really quite convenient.

This place has its history and is already a part of Perth.

I feel it's worth to check this place out after all there's not many places that offer prison tours...

They do have a new prison hostel, but we skipped that.

They also have a super cool night walk underground! I wanted to try that, but the group wasn't keen :(

 

Here's a few snaps of the prison.

Entrance - Really huge

Security guard of the prison?

The prison hall

Their one room space.

The hanging place (w/o the fence).The fence is now for safety.

 The above areas are all walkable. We parked near Fremantle market and walk around the jetty and the market. There is a CAT bus which is free, you can hop on and tour around by bus as well if you have time. It brings you to popular spots of Fremantle.

 

Perth 9 Days - The Plan

Perth was a group trip in Oct 2015, with #gobananasinperth
GGH and I had already bought the tix way in advance during a sale and cost only $230.
We psycho-ed our team mates to go on a road trip with us and offered to plan the whole journey and they were gamed! :)

This trip is sort of our first time doing a long journey self drive and going to different areas in a state.
Previously, our Taiwan trip was long, but it was train rides and taxis.
So, we planned way in advance on the journey and printed out handy direction maps just in case GPS failed us. hahaha.
Overall, I think we made a great team cause the journey was rather smooth as planned. hehe..

Our itinerary in general was: Perth City - Busselton - Perth City - Kalbarri - Jurien Bay - Perth
Our journey wasn't very packed, such that we were able to explore the area (not touch & go).
However, the journey from Perth City to Kalbarri was a long 6hr drive so that's the toughest part.

The weather was good with wind in the morning/ evening, and good sun in the noon (approx. 20degree)

Being adventurous, we stayed a variety of places from airbnb, hostels, chalets, and hotel.
Honestly I find staying in the hostel was really exciting cause it's my first time at such a place, and it seems like a good place to meet and hang out with people from different countries, and definitely, with common interest - travel. Too bad we (as typical Asians), went to bed early and anti-social-ed. haha... Will definitely do something like this again!

Our total expenses (major ones):
8 nights of stay - $1,900 (4 person) .. so per person less than $500. Super on planned budget! We even get to say at Crown Promenade Burswood (Casino) for 2 nights ok?! hehehe
Our tours (Prison, Busselton, Whale watching) - $140 per person
Car rental 9 days - $800

Will list in more detail when I itemise it out per day..
A habit of mine is really documenting down almost everything so that I can keep these for records.
All my itinerary and expenses are really handy for my future re-visits. :)

Stay tuned for 1st day!

 

Bangkok again - 2015

Bangkok highlights this round:

On Lok Yun - Finally tried this old school kopitiam.  Supposedly locals favourite.

It's super ulu, so better take cab there.

All we ordered... Definitely can skip that English platter. Super oily.

The plain bread with the egg custard tasted alright.

Personally I wouldn't come back here again cause it's not worth taking cab all the way here.

We chanced upon a "bread" shop that sells kaya and different flavours of jam at Siam Paragon which tasted great as well! It's right next to the food court.

I'll get my fix over there when I'm in Bangkok next time.

Most of the time we did shopping and eating and thus, didn't take much photos... haha..

The only touristy thing we did was going to Asiatique!

And Sylvia recommended a shop that sells lots of kitchen stuff that I fell in love with too!

I will make sure I buy them in future.

A group picture! This is the only one... :p

Ok, group feet picture count? hehe

The night view in Asiatique is quite pretty with this flyer. Every country needs a flyer isit?

We ate dinner at this Happy Fish - Obviously made Yuez a happy fisher too!

Bright cheery setting. :)

Hopefully our next trip will have LINX!!!!!!

Changes - For the good (I hope)

Ok, I know I have been missing for a fair bit. And, I always think to myself that I do still wanna blog, cause I do love keeping something for records.

So, what have I been doing? First, I have left my previous tax role in Nestle, and have joined a totally new industry which I have never been to - Oil industry.
I have joined Ampol, part of Caltex Australia Group. Because this is a new company set up in Singapore, there are many operations and processes that needs to kickstart. So, I am really looking forward to contribute and also learn more. I knew this may be difficult, after having a not-bad work life for 1 year plus... hahaha...
Now, I may be back to working OT, but I'm definitely very excited to be working in this new place.
Coming up with new processes and documentations, compliance, financial statements, and of course tax will still be a major part of my role. Learning Australia taxes is a new area for me, but definitely excited to ace this.
For the first time, I'll be working in TOWN..... and the people there are..... horror. People mountain people sea.... haha...

Anyway, I started work for 1 week, and then went to Bangkok trip with my dear girls and then 1 day later, took a flight to Sydney for 3 weeks of training.
I have not been so busy since Abbott time, so it's challenging... 3 more days, I'll be heading back to Singapore, and not long after, will be boarding the flight to Perth for holidays! hahhaa... October has been a roller coaster, but hey, keep calm and carry on!

I can do this! *note to self*

Anyway, I will update all the backlog trips.... just give me some time!!!!

 

Hoshino Coffee

On one of the rare weekends I have in August, the boy and I went on a movie date.

Really cannot find time to watch movies this month and I don't know why.

Time flew by.

We also had lesser time together doing café hopping spending time doing things together. So we made it a point to have a date!

 

Finally tried Hoshino Coffee. Whenever I passed by Plaza Singapura, it's always crowded. So, this time, we met slightly early and went to the new outlet at Capitol Piazza.

 

 

This is the reason why I wanted to try Hoshino Coffee - their hand drip coffee.

I got a little shock when it was served with a small cup of milk.

The coffee looked so black, how could this tiny amount of milk be sufficient?!

I took a sip of black, and it was really bitter and sour after taste.

As I poured the milk, I realised the coffee immediately became lighter in colour.

So I stopped at half. I was surprised that amount is enough already.

The coffee tasted so much better and nicer.

 

Tried their French toast - Warning, the white ball is not ice cream but a ball of cream!

Not exactly my favourite.

 

 

This! The ordinary looking tomato omu rice. I had my first bite, and I loved it. The egg was so soft and bouncy. The rice tasted fragrant and not overly sweet.

Would totally come back for this!

Haven really tasted a tomato fried rice so nice. :):)

My 29th with my girls

Ah. Finally having some time to myself. August is a super busy month and with elections coming, even more busy.

Just had the worst day of the year -surgical wisdom tooth extraction and now on my bed resting and semi-awake.

 

My birthday with my all time long girls was a simple affair at Changi City Point.

Because it was a long weekend, and knowing everywhere else in town will be crowded, we decided to go Changi City Point the almost extreme end of Singapore. Weirdly, it was actually quite crowded as well... guess some of them has the same sentiment.

 

We settled for Shabu-sai, Japanese buffet.

The service isn't great, I think they are short handed. We had to top up the soup by ourselves. And the meat came slow. Order more at one shot so that no need to keep calling the waiter.

 

 

We did a super auntie activity thereafter (Aging I told'ya). We went to NTUC to do grocery shopping! Not because we have chalet ... just stocking up cause I had "free SG50 money" to spend.

Went to Starbucks for girls talk until like 11plus when it's closing already.  

 

 

 

And a group photo with so many retakes because of that candle. haha...

 

 

Thank you my dear girls for the celebration and the gift!

 

 

 

 

My 29th

My actual day celebration was with the boy! It was just a simple dinner after work. Didn't bother to take leave or do anything special since it was a long weekend right after that.

 

He brought me to Pasta Brava located at 11 Craig Road. Near Tanjong Pagar.

Have absolutely no idea that this place is recommended for Italian pasta!

I wonder how he got this. So ulu... haha...

 

But when I stepped in at 7pm, the place is almost full! Wow!

He mentioned booking is a must. Ok, I get it.

 

The place is furnished with wooden decors and dim lights, it really does seem like an authentic Italian house and it gives me a homely feel. 

The waiters wear vest/ jackets even. I glanced around me, many are well dressed and no jeans in sight! Wines are ordered and people are slowly enjoying their food.  

 

 

We took quite some time to order because the types of pasta were too many!

And of course, we spent more time reading the menu as the name of the food are all in Italian... haha..

 

After ordering, we were able to scribble on the table! Chalks were provided on every table.

He started drawing.... :) and I added along the way... hehe...

 

 

We order appetizer - black pepper Portobello mushroom.

Don't let the picture deceive you. It does taste good. Juicy yet tender.

 

 

For my main course, I order their handmade pasta selection. I just chose one with tomato base and with salmon... and it came like that. hahaha...

The salmon is stuffed inside the pasta. Every one of the coin looking pasta is filled with lots of salmon, and very nice!

 

 

The boy also ordered something safe. Seafood spaghetti pasta.

The portion is huge.

I preferred mine as the tomato taste is thicker and the pasta is softer.

 

 

Desserts were ordered... and we continued drawing again....

 

 

Molten lava cake. In love with this... Not too sweet and the chocolate is very smooth.

 

 

He presented my gift after dinner... which I knew what was it because he gave me a theme this year.

To tell each other what he/she wants for present. and must be something that can be bought (physical touch) and kept minimum 3months.

So in the end, I told him to get a silver watch for me. I'll never complain having too many watches. hehe...  

 

 

 

We took a stroll after that and went home. Before he went home, he passed me a bag with a beautiful box inside. Had absolutely no idea what it was and when I opened it, I was in awe!

Never have I expected he would do something so challenging... haha..

I wanted to do this but guess he was a step ahead of me...

:):):)

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the amazing gift. And of course, always being here for me whenever times are down.

Loves.