Perth, Australia Trip (Part 1)

Monopoly Deal

Day 1
Went Perth with my good friends from 6th August to 13th August. We met at Changi Airport T1 at around 3 plus in the afternoon. We went to have some snacks after checking in our luggage. Then we made our way slowly to the gate for our flight. The flight was slightly delayed for about 10 to 15 mins. Finally the plane arrived and we are allowed to board the plane. We took Jetstar airlines, and the seat space wasn't big, it was like just nice for a person. Anyway, the plane departed and we were flying off to Perth!! My friends had their dinner on board, i just 'steal' eat abit of my friend's
meal..hehehe...Then i taught my friend to play monoploy deal to pass time. She lost twice, then she gave up..hohoho...so we tried to sleep as it was getting towards night time. We finally landed at Perth, 11 pm plus. We went and bought 2 sandwiches from Dome when we came out of the airport. Then we went out and looked for cab to make our way to the hotel. It was sooooo cold..lol....We got onto the cab and the cab driver was like introducing himself..he was an ex-singaporean and he migrated to Perth, don't know how many years again (Can't remember already...lol).

Anyway, we reached Criterion hotel and we registered at the front counter. Got our room keys and made our way up to our rooms. It was a 3-storey high hotel and the lift is super old....like it will fall apart anytime.Lol. We had corner rooms and it was at 2nd storey..at least the room was still decent, just that the flask was already rusted to the max...we don't even dare to use it...lol....Had my yummy bread and then got ready for bed, to prepare for the next day....

Day 2

View from King's Park

We woke up at around 7 plus, got ready to explore Perth. We walked around our hotel area,the streets were soooo quiet, as the shops are not open for business yet. There were not many people walking around. We had mac breakfast, bagels and coffee....lol...Then we made our way down to the bus stop to take bus to King's Park and Botanic Garden. But there is no bus coming at the bus stop we waited, so we made our way slowly down along the streets to the next few bus stops. We passed part alot of buildings, a small cottage entrance in between 2 tall buildings, bank, office buildings. Then we finally stopped at 1 bus stop and tried to wait for the bus to come. The bus stop stand stated the bus arrival time, so we just waited for it. Soon, the bus came and we boarded. The bus is similar to our SG buses, they even had posters with nursery rhymes on transport courtesy (so creative..).

Alighted at the start of King's Park and then we made our way up towards the park. From there, we can see Perth and Swan Lake from the top. Then we passed by the information booth and we got the map of the park. We then continued to make our way down to the Botanic Gardens, there were a lot of plants and trees. We saw a group of kids rolling themselves down a small slope, even the adults played with them..lol...then we walked to a bridge and from there, we can saw the swan brewery opposite. After walking for 3 hours or so, we decided to go to Harbourfront for some shopping. So we made our way out the park, to the bus stop. While waiting for the bus stop, i called up my dad's friend living in Perth. But he was busy to answer the call.

We arrived at Harbourfront, it was a 2-storey high building with all the branded warehouse shops there, not that atas ones..normal ones like Nike, Levi, etc). We tried to find food for our lunch when we arrived, but there were so many people there, like every restaurants are so full with people. We can't even get any seats. So in the end, we bought breads and fried fries for lunch and sat outside to eat. After that, we walked around the shops to see see look look. Meanwhile, i arranged dinner with my dad's friend, he wanted to bring us out for dinner and bring us around after dinner. So we agreed. After shopping, we had ice-cream from Gelare. Then we made our way to Perth station, walked at the shopping streets but it was near to 5 plus or 6pm. Shops were already closing or closed. One of my friend bought a data plan for the rest of our stay there, so that she could message her darling anytime..lol...Then we walked back to our hotel and rested for awhile. It was time to meet my dad's friend, so we went down to the hotel lobby. He arrived, his name is Sonny. Hehehe...It was my first time meeting him. He brought us to Sizzler to have our dinner (Food so-so only but is exp). He told us he had a grocery shop and a restaurant there. Beside Sizzler, is a big cinema. His daughter told us 1 movie tix is $12 aud, we were like 'WAH!!'...lol...so expensive. Anyway we just walked around to take alook at the cinema. Then he drove us to some car-selling area, and showed how cheap it was to buy a car there in Perth.Then uncle sonny drove us up to King's Park to see Perth in night view. There are no street light inside the park..it was dark inside...he told us that in the past, people got murdered and buried without any notice in the park and nobody would want to come after night fall.

He also showed us the University of Perth and told us how big it was (can up to a few streets). After that, he brought us back to our hotel. We went back to our rooms, had our bath and jumped onto the beds and slept.

Day 3

Busselton Jetty

Today we were going to have a 3-days trip from Perth to Albany, Margaret River South West. We woke up at around 4 plus and checked out of the hotel, made our way to the travel agency opposite the street and waited for our bus to come. We were greeted by the tour guide and boarded the bus. On the bus, there were a family of 3 from china, a old couple from Malaysia, a pair from Singapore and Malaysia (both guys), a guy from Australia and a lady from Netherlands. Once everyone had arrived, the tour guide drove off, and we were off to our 1st stop for the day. It was raining, we arrived at a small shop in the middle of the highway after 2 or 3 hours of driving. There, was an old lady selling fresh oranges and emu pies...lol...The Mandarin oranges were very delicious, my friends bought a bag to share. Then we continued our ride again, down to Busselton Jetty.The wind was blowing high when we reached there. The tour guide allowed us to roam around for half an hr to 45 mins but there were like alot of things to see, which we don't have the time to explore. There was even a tram to bring people in to the underwater observatory (too bad, didn't have the chance to go). After we walked for awhile, it started to rain...luckily it was a short rain but the wind was still blowing very hard. Before setting off again, the tour guide gathered us around and asked us whether we wanted to go cheese factory or the brewery. So we all agreed to go the cheese factory, so we set off to the next stop, which is the Ngilgi Cave. By the time we reached is about lunchtime, the tour guide was taking alot of ingredients out from his bus. Then he told us to help out in making our own lunch..-_-"..Then he requested some of us to start cutting the vegetables. But everyone was abit shy in doing, only the Australian guy and Netherlands lady stood forward to cut the vegetables first. Mi and my friends also went and help out abit..lol...After we got ready all the food, we made our own sandwiches as lunch...everything was cold.

After lunch, the guide from Ngilgi cave gave us an introduction on how the cave was found and kept until now. Then she took us down to the cave, it was amazing. We just kept walking down on the staircases. The tour mentioned that some concert was also held in the cave.  After the cave tour, we went to the Margaret River chocolate factory. By then, we had made friends with the old couple. The uncle is quite funny, he likes to crack jokes too. Hohohoho....We went in to the chocolate factory and there were a lot of different types of chocolate. We bough some chocolate back and went to the cheese factory next. It was just a small shop and selling their cheese, but we didn't buy back. My friend bought 1 tint of yogurt though..But i was very disappointed on the chocolate and cheese tour, i was expecting to have a guide on how the chocolate and cheese was made. It ended up just buying their stuffs. Next, we arrived at Margaret River town where the tour guide let us go walk walk for half an hour or so. So we just walked down the streets to see what is interesting there. It started to rain again when we were walking down the streets. I bought a pack of french fries and it was super salty...lol...

Next, we went to Blackwood River. We got to see a full rainbow when we arrived there. It was very beautiful. We stayed there for 15 mins or so, then the tour guide bought us up to see Margaret River from the top. The river was flowing down towards the sea and the sun was setting down, it was quite a nice scenery there. After that, the tour guide bought us to see the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. But it was closed when we reached there, so we just took pictures from outside.  After that the tour guide drove us to Augusta we were supposed to stay overnight. But the room we were going to stay had an accident. The tour guide told us that an old lady had a heart attack, and had stepped on her car's accelerator. The car went straight crushing to the motel. So we got lucky and got our rooms 'upgraded'. It was those backpacker's room, where 3 or 4 persons shared in 1 room.(I think the original room we were going to stay might be all of us were going to sleep together). Some of the group members had paid extra, so they had the whole room to themselves without sharing with others. Before we were assigned to our room, the father of the china family argued with the tour guide on why we were brought to the lighthouse so late and he could not go in. He was making a big fuss and shouted at the tour guide in Mandarin, which annoyed the tour guide more. But the tour guide controlled his temper and tried to reason with the father, by saying that he should have told him earlier in the day,so that he can plan it in the day's planning. The son stepped forward and tried to calm his father down. But the father still insisted that the tour guide bring us to see the lighthouse the next day. So the tour guide told him can, provided we leave at 5am plus. By then, it was already making me and my friends  fed-up. Cos the lighthouse was actually not included in the plan, the tour guide made an effort to bring us there. Plus the next day is the giant trees tour, i would not want to waste time on the lighthouse and cut short the giant trees tour because of him. He went and asked all of us whether we want to go to the lighthouse (think he was looking for some support)..we just told him straight it was not in the plan and we don't want to go see the lighthouse. So he just kept quiet after that.

The tour guide gave us our room keys after the argument, he told us to meet at the kitchen after 15 mins. So we took our stuffs to our room, rested for awhile and made our way to the kitchen. Again, we were needed to prepare our dinner again. We helped to wash vegetables, defrozed the beef, cut the vegetables. I helped to wash the dishes, the tour guide helped to cook the beef patty and vegetable patty, and there were salads and sausages. It was kind of sad for those who don't eat beef, cos they don't even provide chicken or fish. After all the preparation, we finally got to eat our dinner. After dinner, the tour guide gave us a meeting time for the next day, we made our way back to our room and rested, tiring day for us.