Year: 2014

Last day in Perth. Met up with a friend who is one of my blog readers. We’ve known each other for more than 10 years! Too bad… We forgot to take photo together! MY GOSH! How can?!?! Finally see each other in person 10 years later! Don’t even know whether there will be any second chance, this might be the first and the last time. What’s more, few attempts to meet for the past 4 days didn’t materialize due to his work commitments, not even when I was in Adelaide for almost 2 years! We only managed to meet up for less about 15 minutes as he had to go back to work. Guess second time will be in Kuching, that also if it actually happens *LOL* I won’t go back in near future… Too expensive…

Anyway, after meeting up with him, we walked to Perth’s Chinatown. At first we thought it will be very far but it’s not far at all from Murray Street Mall! These are some views along the way. Most shops were still closed, we’re there too early. Couldn’t get the Vietnamese food we’re after. Too bad…

Our last stop was King Street before heading back to hotel for quick lunch before going for our Swan Valley tour. Didn’t buy anything on King Street, cannot afford it ;p Nothing fancied me there too.

Signed up with Taste Bud Tours for the afternoon tour. You’ll get TasteBud VIP Reward Card and enjoy savings with it. I didn’t use any of the discount as I didn’t buy much. What’s more, you can extend the discount privilege to your friends too.

Supposed to go for the morning tour but because there’s not enough people, we had to shift to the afternoon tour. Either way, it’s still good, just that we don’t get to eat ice cream hahahah… First stop was Yahava Koffee Works.

Tried lots of coffees. I’m not a coffee person but I love the smell of coffee, not the taste. I don’t really drink coffee and it makes me sleep. However, I don’t mind munching on the coffee beans, just like eating nuts *LOL*

Also had the chance to try out the chai latte. Thinking of buying it if it’s good but nope… Not the taste I’ve been looking for… Really miss the one back in Adelaide.

Next, we went to Margaret River Chocolate Company. Since we’ve been to the shop before on the previous Margaret River tour and also that morning at King Street, we headed straight to the shop next door, Coward & Black and also where you can get Providore products. Tasted some really nice chutneys but didn’t buy any as I have no idea what to do with it back home hahaha… Most of the time, these things will be left in the pantry with no one touching it. So just tasted it there. You know how things taste so good at the original place and no longer tastes as great when you bring it home.

Next stop, Cape Lavender. Thought of buying something here too but at the end went back empty handed. Nothing I need.

We get to sample unique lavender infused scones, jam, cream and refreshing tea. The scones was freshly made, still hot when we had it. I like them.

Now to Jarrah Ridge Winery, wine… OMG! I love love love love the olive! I was so tempted to buy a pack home because it’s so cheap compare to back home but afraid that the bag might burst on the flight back. Try lots of different type of wines too. Cheese as well… Ah… Wine, olives, and cheese… Great combination, I could just have these whole day while lazing away! However, I don’t know how to enjoy this sort of thing back home, the feel is just not there. This is the thing I’ll do in OZ only. I miss the place… Doesn’t matter it’s Perth or Adelaide. Just wish I can extend my stay there *dreaming*

The House of Honey is next. I’m sucker in collecting honey. I bought miniature honey if I do visit places that produce honey. Collected the ones from NZ and Kangaroo Island. Now this one from WA.

Was looking forward to this shop. Hmm… I just realized something above the door when I was editing this photo… Isn’t this a Chinese feng shui thing? How come it’s there? The owner believes in such thing too?

Left: Oh dear! Ice cream with honey! Too bad I didn’t try it out because we’re in quite a rush and had been trying out sweet stuffs a lot. It took me ages to finish an ice cream so I didn’t want to risk it, no food allowed in the tour bus too. At least I tried honeycomb ice cream before in Rottnest Island. Better than none. Maybe next time, then again… When???

Right: Bees! Not my first time seeing them. Seen them before at the Royal Adelaide Show. It’s pretty fun watching them in action.

So many awesome products there from food to skincare. I only bought a small bottle of honey, nothing else. I still have honey skincare products I bought from NZ, still trying to finish using them. Tasted all sort of honey too, interesting… Never know each honey has its unique taste. Yes… I did buy honey whenever there’s chance but those places didn’t provide sampling. I bought them as souvenirs only, not for consumption.

Coffee, tea, wine, honey, now to some sweets and nuts… I was sugar high!


Mondo Nougat and Morish Nuts, located side by side. Only bought some nougat as gift. Didn’t buy any nuts, better don’t buy any because I have uric acid problem so have to reduce nuts consumption, actually alcohol too hahaha… However, there’s no way to avoid it this trip ;p

After that, off we went to The Juice Hut. Very nice juice they have. It’s all fresh, no preservative, no fillers, it’s just pure fruits and vegetables goodness.

Last stop was Ironbark Brewery, just next door.

I opted to sample the ginger beer. Ok… It’s just ginger beer. I didn’t feel any difference from what I had in McLaren Vale, SA. Didn’t order other drinks aside from that as was rather stuffed already from all the tastings the whole afternoon! That’s not the end as there’s one last food to have. Our early dinner!

There’s a list for us to choose and we went for the “Wood Fired Pizzas”. The pizza we ordered was packed with so much ingredients! Luckily we ordered one only for two persons, still it’s a bit too much, could feed three because of the samplings we had before coming to this place. The pizza was great! Even better to go with beer for sure 😉

This is the end of the tour. I do recommend this tour if you are on tight schedule like us. It’s quite fast pace, sometimes you wish you can stay longer in one place but you can’t, that’s the only downside. Other than that, it’s great tour to sample a wide range of food and beverage. You will also be in the good hand of Loris, the person behind this tour.

We got back to the hotel and packed like crazy and called the night early! We had to catch the flight at dawn and we went to the airport at 3am if I recall correctly. Goodbye to Perth.

That’s the end of my Perth post. Only 5 days, too short, too fast, but covered quite a fair bit of places. Wish can be longer. See you again Perth… Just don’t know when…

Day 4, very early in the morning, 7am we started our journey to Margaret River with Out & About Wine Tours. This was the most expensive tour we booked, AUD245, full day tour. They picked us up from our hotel so we didn’t have to walk to any pick-up point, enough of walking so much. Took us 3 hours plus to reach Margeret River. It’s the longest tour of all, more than 12 hours and we visited a lot of places too.

First stop was Busselton (220 kilometres south west of Perth) for morning tea and view of the Busstleton Jetty. About 2 1/2 hour drive from Perth.

Had our morning tea at Equinox Café. Scones and also chai latte for my morning tea. There’s also muffin if you don’t like scone. This is inclusive in the tour package.

It was so cold out there, the wind was merciless! Brrr… The view that you will see once you’re there, this is the Interpretive Centre. Didn’t walk till the end of the jetty because we didn’t have the luxury of time, it’s the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere stretching almost 2 km out to sea.

The view of the Indian Ocean. 45 minutes at Busselton for morning tea and view of the jetty, we left to our next destination. Time for wine tasting!

First stop was Happs.

I tried all the fuchsia & the sweets. Sweetness overloaded LOL. Sweet wine with ice cubes and dash of lemon or lime is quite nice on a hot summer day. I don’t remember what’s this. Anyway, I don’t remember anything I had 😛

After that, we went to Canal Rocks to enjoy the cold wind and the view of waves crashing the rocks. When we almost left, someone exclaimed to us that there’s whale! We all went back out and saw whale!! My first time seeing whale! Out in the wild, so excited. I managed to take a video but not so clear, capture it in the video 3 times. It came up to the surface, spurted water, then back into the water with the tail last going down. Surreal! Even though we’re not near to it but it was really all about luck to spot it randomly. Didn’t even manage to spot one when we went to Rottnest Island. Also, didn’t get to spot one back then in Adelaide too even though I’ve been to Kangaroo Island once and Cape Jarvis couple of times. Wish I can see it again in near future.

By the way, heard that Air Asia will ceased flight to Australia soon 🙁 No longer affordable to go to Australia. Going back to Adelaide in near future is even more impossible.

For lunch, we went to Aravina Estate.

Home decoration items for sale apart from wines.

There’s a section to view some sports cars too.

Dining area of Aravina Estate. I opted for the wrong wine to pair with my food, should have gone for red instead of white because I was having beef short rib, balsamic red onion, cream potato, and veal jus. Lovely presentation! Food was great too. The meat was nicely cooked. Ah… Heavenly. Didn’t get to eat steak hence I opted for beef. Had too much white until I forgot about the red for red meat.

Left: Lovely dish too, Crispy pork belly. It just melted in the mouth, not oily at all.

Right: Very nice presentation for hot berry clafoutis, warm anglaise, and ice cream. Very sweet dish, even sweeter with ice cream. However, it is not sickly sweet.

Overall, the food was great! Satisfying lunch. This meal is included in the tour package.

We went to Natural Olive Oil and Soap Company and I bought Chamomile and Lavender Rejuvenating Treatment (AUD35) simply because I was having rashes due to friction and dryness at my hip area. This product is meant for the face but I used it on my dry and itchy area as whatever I brought with me couldn’t help. The product was amazing, not oily at all and it sure did relief my irritated skin. Will have a separate review on this product next time.

Next, we went to Wills Domain for more wine tasting. This time I did try some reds.

So much to try that I don’t remember what I had tried the whole trip.

The view of the vineyard.

Personally I felt that South Australia wine regions have nicer landscapes. Well… Maybe there are others with pretty views in Western Australia which we didn’t have the chance to see.

After all the wine, it’s time for a beer! We went to Duckstein Brewery for beer.

I had the Duckstein Hefeweis (hints of clove, vanilla and banana), it’s inclusive in the tour. However, if you are not into beer, you can order other drinks. Can really taste the banana in there. Very light and easy to drink. Finished the whole mug 😛 Thirsty… After a whole day of alcoholic drinks, we’re all still very sober hehehe…

Last stop, Margaret River Chocolate Company. The three big bowls are free for you to eat!

We’re also entitled to choose one truffle for tasting. I tried sea salt truffle, hmmm… Nothing special really. Should have opt for others but there were too many and I just couldn’t decide!

Bought none of these, just got 3 small boxes of pastelle (dark, milk, white). Not cheap at all!

That’s the end of the 12 hours tour. I do recommend this tour. So tiring! We’re flat out that night. Lucky no more walking that much with this tour, feet was so sore from the walking for the past 3 days.

Part 5 aka Day 5 coming up… It’s our last day. So sad…