Category: Swan City – Perth

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…

Day 3, we went to Rottnest Island. Went to Barrack Street Jetty again to catch the cruise. We signed up with Rottnest Express. Took the package of ferry and coach tour which cost AUD146 per adult.

Was hoping to catch a glimpse of whale or dolphin while on the ferry but none. I also slept my way through to the island once we hit the sea. Was quite tired, need the sleep, woke up very early for this tour.

Rottnest Island, here we are! The sun was hot and the wind was cold! You’ll see a lot of quokkas everywhere! Lots of crows too. They are huge! Lots of crows in Perth in general. I’ve never met one in Adeleide, lots of pigeons in Adelaide though.

Wish can play at the sea but it’s just way too cold and too hot! How contradicting?!?

Nice? Blue sea, blue sky…

Two landmarks which you can find on the island, the museum (yellow building) and chapel (white building). Overall, I didn’t take much photos for this whole Perth trip. I’m learning to experience the environment without fumbling too much with the camera or phone. Many times, I forgot that I have my camera with me too.

Simmo’s Ice Cream can be found in Rottnest Island. We decided to have it, the single scoop cone cost AUD5.50. A bit steep but oh well… It’s OK. Not like we spend like this everyday and it’s WA’s brand. Very hard to decide on what to have, I ended up with honeycomb because I miss hokey pokey ice cream from New Zealand. The honeycomb was sweet but not sickly sweet. With chunks of honeycomb in there and honey and butterscotch caramel, heavenly! Very rich ice cream. Very different from hokey pokey. The photo I took was blurred beyond visible so can’t show you how it looks like.

We missed the first couch tour when we arrived because there’s very short time in between reaching the island to get on the first coach tour. Quite rush. You have to be fast to go the pick up point. Since we were informed at the jetty to take the 1.45pm tour even though our ticket stated we’re on the first tour, we just listened at the same time worried that we might heard the guide wrongly. Luckily there’s second one, we didn’t hear wrongly. Phew…

You can always cycle around the island if you want to but hehehe… Not me… Too much work, too much sun, and too much wind.

You can find Kingstown Barracks where it is a popular accommodation for school outings on the island, picture on the right.

One of the salt lakes and something you can spot on the island which I don’t remember what it’s called. ;p

One of the shipwrecks and some random flower along the way.

Are you rich enough to get a spot to park here? What’s more, the demand is huge while the supply is limited! Perth sure has lots of rich people.

Jeannies Lookout point. Looking out at the Indian Ocean. Surreal!

The lighthouse and the wind turbine.

Left: Those white stuff is salt at the lake. See how salty the lake is?
Right: Geordie Bay Villas is one of the accommodations for visitors.

Left: The anchor from one of the ships that wrecked.
Right: Goodbye Rottnest Island… That’s our ride back to Perth. Didn’t get to see dolphin or whale. No luck.

I don’t mind staying here for a night. Peaceful place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Hopefully, if one day I have the chance to go back to Perth.

That’s the end of our day 3 tour. Another early start the next day.

Day 2 in Perth. We headed to Fremantle. We went with Captain Cook Cruise, AUD38 for return trip.

We took the cruise from Barrack Street Jetty. It’s walking distant from the hotel about 15-20mins walk. We walked along the Swan River, very cold wind from the river! Didn’t get to meet any swan though…

The jetty.

Photos taken on the ship heading to Fremantle. Another way to go there is by driving but we decided to take the cruise, something different.

Left: Skyline of Perth. Lots of high rise buildings. Perth is developing very rapidly with lots of mega building constructions. It will be very different in the next 5 years. Wonder will I like Perth by then…

Right: View along the river.

All the rich people living along the river with yachts belong to them. Imagine seeing this view along the river… How rich those people are? Those houses cost millions of dollar! *gulp* Along the way, a dolphin showed up.

Fremantle… The port city. Took photo with this guy but I don’t remember who this person is hahaha…

Just a small town… Walked around the town, look see, look see, and did some shopping. I bought a tankini top for swim at Target there *LOL* Not cheap, it’s AUD35, no offer some more. Oh well…

Before heading back to Perth, we had our lunch at Cicerello’s, one of the famous seafood restaurant in Frementle. Amazing Fish & Chips and Salt & Pepper Squid (Squid tossed with chilli, salt and pepper, served with chips, lemon and chunky tartare). Portion was quite huge for 2 persons. Don’t remember the prices. Less than AUD40 for sure. Just don’t convert to MYR! ;p

After we reached Perth, we went to buy some food from Woolworths. Bought the roasted chicken for dinner. Miss it so much too!

After dinner, we called it an early night. Too cold and tired to go out again. Nothing to see at night too.

That’s the end of day 2.

Part 3 will come soon.

One week ago, I was in Perth. Now that I’m back, it’s time to get this post going.

It was quite a drama before the flight. I booked my ticket months ago but I never realized I need to apply ETA. Of all the times I went in and out of OZ without issue was because I was on my student visa. I totally forgot that now I do not have this luxury anymore.

When I check-in, the staff at the check-in counter inform me that I need ETA. I was shocked! It was 1 1/2 hour before flight. Luckily they told me I can apply ETA on the spot. MY gosh! Good thing I brought my laptop along and thank God for Starbucks free WiFi. Sorry Starbucks for using your WiFi without buying anything from you. Applied for it on the spot with AUD20 payment via credit card and I’m good to go! All done in less than 15 minutes. Thank God for everything! If it’s other country, I’m dead meat, all my money will just gone down the drain from flight ticket to hotel to tours! What’s more, it’s not only my money but my travel mate’s too! She did ask me about it the night before flight and I assured her that we can just go without visa. -.-

Left: Safely arrived KLIA2. Very confusing airport, not enough signage. Luckily we have ample time to navigate our way to international terminal. Before that, we had our dinner at Uncle Lim’s. Ordered the porridge, goodness! Blardy salty and the seasoning was overwhelming that we had to request for hot water to dilute it. Diluted it with one whole mug of hot water but it’s still too salty. Made us so thirsty after the dinner.

Right: Almost slept the way to Perth, good thing no one sat next to me but still not comfortable enough to sleep. The chair wasn’t comfortable. What to expect when you got no-frill cheap tickets and every single thing has to be charged when flying Air Asia? Trying to save as much cost as possible, who to blame but myself. Luckily it’s less than 6 hours flight, if more than that, it would be hell! However, once we’re almost there, we’re greeted by sunrise! Beautiful! Hello OZ sun! I miss you!

First food in Perth, breakfast in the airport while planning our next step once we’re out of the airport.

We stayed at Goodearth Hotel (195 Adelaide Terrace, Perth City Center, Perth, Australia 6004), was lucky to be able to get early bird deal AUD100+/night. If I booked few days earlier it’s less than AUD99/night. Still consider a good deal because it’s in the CBD! Walking distant to many places. It’s an apartment some more! Spacious and clean. Can fit 4 adults some more. The sofa can be transformed to bed. Very happy with it. Just one downside is that no early check-in allowed and check-out time is 10am. However, it didn’t affect us because we check-out extremely early in the morning, 2.30am!

Since we can’t go into our room, we ventured out to find places and started our shopping! This is the only free & easy day. The next four days were going with the tours.

Photos taken along the way…

Murray Street reminded me of Rundle Mall in Adelaide.

We also headed to Harbour Town and glad I went there, I managed to get 2 dresses for AUD30. Just too bad we didn’t have enough time to spend there. We went there using CAT, the free bus. See the grey bus with black cat in the photo? That’s the free bus that’s looping around the city. There’s 3 lines, so you have to plan your journey.

Christmas decorations are already up and the day was very sunny. Was tanned even on the first day out.

At night, we decided to visit the casino for dinner. Not for gambling. Was looking to try out the steak there, found offer there but I forgot the name of the eatery. Didn’t expect it’s inside the Crown Perth Casino. The photo here is the hotel lobby. Interesting architecture. One thing that got my attention, you actually can see people walk into their room, not your usual hotel design.

We saw Market & Co after alighted the taxi and I assumed this is the place. When I saw the menu, I thought maybe they changed the offer (AUD13.99 per dish) and didn’t bother to ask further as we’re too hungry. Just settled with whatever we came across. The steak should be Junction Grill inside the casino.

Left: It’s so filling! Cannot underestimate what you’re seeing. Love the Wagyu Beef Burger, Guyere cheese, lettuce, tomato, jelapeno relish, and fries. The fries was perfect too!

Right: Seared fresh fish of the day, pumpkin and spinach ragout, roasted beetroot puree. This was awesome too!

Overall, the meal was great! However, I would be more satisfied if I get to eat the steak. Didn’t get to eat any steak and Vietnamese pho this trip due to unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully next time.

That’s the end of our first night in Perth. Extremely cold night, was wearing all my autumn clothes that I wore back in Adelaide *LOL*. Day time was rather cold too.

Day 2 will come soon…