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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.