Batam Trip 2011

Day 1
Went Batam the first time from 26th Nov to 27th Nov, on a short weekend trip. Woke up at 4 or 5 plus and woke up my friend too. Then we met at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal at 6.30 am. After we met up, we went and collected our ferry tickets and grabbed some food for breakfast. Then we waited to go in for our ferry ride. We passed the customs and waited at the departure hall for at least half an hour to 45 mins for our ferry to arrive. There were many passengers waiting too and it was quite hot with so many people waiting inside. Some people even jammed at the escalator there, as the queue to board the ferries was lining to the escalator there. We waited until around 8 am, the ferry arrived and we were allowed to board the ferry. So we went up to the ferry, it was under BatamFast company. We managed to get seats on the middle deck, as it was free seating for all. So everyone was trying to grab seats once onboard. Anyway the whole journey was 45 mins, so we just rested while waiting to reach Batam.

Arrived at Batam, Sekupang Ferry Terminal @ 9.45 am. The terminal looks new and there were not many people there except those from the same ferry. We passed the customs and walked out of the arrival hall..There, we met up with our day tour guide. His nickname was 'Cowboy', cos he is always wearing a cowboy hat. Then he instructed us to walk outside to go the coach bus which we will be taking for the whole day tour. So we went outside and found the bus but as we were the first few who came out first and there were so more others that we need to wait, we went and walked around the jetty first. We took a few photos before boarding the bus to wait. Finally all the people arrived, and we were off for our day trip. But before we can go to the places of interest, the tout guide told us that he needs to go to a hotel and pick up a family of 12 people @ Golden View Hotel first (they are joining us for the tour too).

So when we arrived at Golden View Hotel, the guide went to the lobby to find them. We waited for at least half an hour for the family to arrive...which we all think it was a waste of time to us. So crap...Anyway, the family of 12 finally arrived, which we were all so glad. The guide brought us first to the Miniatures House, which displays all the different houses in mini size (not so mini, though) and it was outdoor...the whole place was quite of small and looked crappy (not much maintenance on the houses too, got spider webs around, if you look carefully..lol). We walked 1 round and went back to our bus. Next, the guide brought us to the mini kart, flying fox and paintball place (all are next to each other). We skipped the kart ride, cos the route was super small and nobody is interested too. So we alighted at the flying fox and paintball area. The paintball was also super miserable..it was just target shooting..The flying fox area included high elements too, a couple from our bus went and had a try on it. The worst part is, there were many many many small flies flying around the whole area. Anyway my friend and i just walked around and see whoever played. Then, we went back to the bus..too many flies..lol....

After that, the guide brought us to see a floating restaurant on a chinese ship. It was not open for business when we were there. So we just took photos of it and left. After that, we went to a place to see a performance by some people who can eat fire and glass, and can even peel off a coconut with just biting. After the performance, we were asked to donate some money for the show. Later, we walked over to a shop which is selling layer cakes. My friend and i each bought 1 cake, which was $25 sgd each. There was a mini zoo behind the layer cake shop, so we walked over and have a peek. After that, we walked over to a seafood restaurant called 'Golden Prawn' for our lunch. It was a 7 course lunch which was included in our day tour. And we were siting a family with 2 kids, sian sia...the younger kid was having cough and she was coughing in front of the table...think her cough virus was flying to our food whenever she coughed. And she was kicking on the leg of the chair i am sitting on too!! Pek chey...Luckily i was just too engrossed on eating my food.

We had crabs, fish, fried sotong, prawns, vegetables, gong gong and a soup. The food was quite ok (not too bad) but my friend and i didn't manage to eat the fish as it was placed further from us. And nobody hardly touch on the crabs, we left quite a lot..wasted. We even had to ask 4 times for ice from the staffs, they seems like not bother to get ice for our table, we even asked the guide to help to request for ice from the staffs. But he also didn't bring ice for us, we were like going to die from thirst at that time. The coconuts were very big there too.

After lunch, the guide brought us to Da Pu Gong Temple, which was very famous in Batam. We walked around the temple for a while, after that, we were brought to a factory outlet. A couple was brought for spa treatment nearby. which was 1 hour. And for the rest who are not doing the spa, were forced to stay at the factory outlet for the same 1 hour (which was stupid). The factory outlet was just a big shop selling clothes and some shoes, my friend and i walked inside the shop for 3 or 4 rounds, just to pass the time. Finally, we were allowed to board the bus..at the time, we were all feeling hot. So we were happy to board on the bus for some air-con. After that, the guide brought us to Batam shopping Centre. It was around 4 or 5 pm when we reached there. We were allowed to shop there for 2 hours, the shopping mall was very big and there were alot of shops there.

We walked level by level, and walked the supermarket there. We bought a cup corn there, we saw Shilin banner there, wanted to buy snacks from there but we were unable to find the stall. After that, we went to the meeting point to wait for our guide to come fetch us. After we boarded the bus, the guide told us that he had to drive from hotel to hotel, as we are all from different hotels. The family of 12 got off first and the hotel they were staying looked scary...lol...the kids were complaining when they were getting off. Next, we were brought to our hotel. We alighted on the opposite side of the road, the guide took us to cross the heavy traffic to get to our hotel...And the guide helped us to check in the hotel, and we went up to check out our room after we got the room key.

The room was ok, quite big for 2, it was not as bad as i thought it would be. hohoho...we rested for a while, watched tv..then we went down to Nagoya Shopping Mall for dinner. We walked some road stalls which were selling satay, seafood and ayam penyet. But we still proceeded to Nagoya Shopping Mall for A&W dinner. We spent the last bit of our money on that meal, we even didn't have enough to pay..the staff just accepted what we had..hohoho....After the meal, we went to change some money just in case. Then we went to the supermarket to walk walk, we bought cup noodles and some snacks back.
After that, we walked back to the hotel. We bought satay and a ayam penyet just to try. The satay tasted differently from ours in singapore but it was nice. The ayam penyet was tender, more nicer...lol

After that, we jumped onto the bed and watched TV. My friend fell asleep while watching, so i continued watching it alone. Only managed to sleep after 2 plus...lol....

Day 2
Woke up at around 7 or 8 am, and we got ready for our free breakfast, provided by the hotel. There were not much variety on the food. So we just ate some, my friend tried to toast the bread and she got the bread toasted real black..hohoho....After breakfast, we walked to buy banana cakes. We just bought 2 boxes as we didn't have much money left..After that, we went back to our hotel room to wait for the guide to come pick up us. We sat on the bed, watched tv until the time comes. Then we checked out our room and waited for the guide. He was late, we thought he left without waiting for us. Anyway the bus finally came and there was another family stayed in the same hotel as us boarded the bus too.And so, we were brought to the ferry terminal and our departure time was 3 plus. But we arrived there at around 12 plus. So we were stranded there for a few hours. We walked the shopping mall opposite the ferry terminal. We walked for awhile, and tried to find seats to sit as we were getting tired. I just almost fell asleep there..it was so boring there. Finally we walked back to the ferry terminal but we were not allowed to go in yet. So it was another standing wait there.

We finally got to go in and cleared the customs. We went down to the departure hall and walked for the ferry to come (wait again)...Then we went up to the ferry but we were able to get seats on the lower deck...So we just fell asleep on the ferry on the way back to Singapore, which ended our weekend trip.


Hotel Stayed: Nagoya Plaza Hotel

Perth, Australia Trip (Part 3)

Day 7

Fremantle Jetty

Today, we all woke up abit late as we were going to Fremantle today. We all got ready and went out for breakfast. We walked the streets to find a restaurant called 'The Green House'. It was located in front of an office building. It was quite expensive but we still had our breakfast there. I had a super nice hot chocolate there too. It was the 1st hot chocolate i had in Perth that was really nice. My friend got a call from  the old uncle, who was with us in the 3 days trip. He wanted to meet us to go Fremantle walk walk together, cos they were too bored at their's son place...hohoho....So after breakfast, we went down to Perth Station to meet the auntie and uncle first. Then when we bought the train tickets, our coins got struck inside the machine. We told the station staff to help us out, then he gave us free tickets for the train ride. We went down the station platform to wait for the train. We arrived at Fremantle station, then we walked towards to Fremantle market.

We arrived at Fremantle market and walked around the market. I went finding nuts for my friend, and some snacks back. After Fremantle market, we walked to the other market and shopped. We got some souvenirs back from there. After shopping for a long time, it was late afternoon. So we went to have our lunch, Fish & Chips!! We went to Kailis and had our fish & chips. It was quite dry and we ordered calamari too. The calamari was nice, but we ordered too much fish and chips. We can't finish the food, anyway we had to wait until night fall as we had booked  a night tour in the Fremantle Prison. So the uncle and auntie went home and we roamed around longer to wait for the tour. Finally, we waited until 8pm for the tour..was falling asleep soon...lol...

The tour started and we were lined up in a single line to go in the prison. We were each given a small torchlight to shine when we were inside the prison. The tour guide brought us and gave us a tour of the whole prison. It was dark in the prison and there was not much lights on. We went to the prison rooms, kitchen, the gallows, the room where the convicts spent their last night and had their last meal. We saw their small toilet and the yard where the convicts spent their time watching tv or having sports outside. Along the way, there was 1 or 2 guys jumping out with a scene to scare us. The tour lasted roughly 1 hour plus, my friends was quite disappointed on the tour, cos it was not scary enough for them. For mi, it is ok and i was too tired to think about it...lol...After that, we took a bus back to Perth. On the bus, we saw 3 young ladies. One of them was wearing just a coat and her breasts was showing out..wooo.....lol....Anyway, we finally reached Perth and we walked back to the hotel. I went to mac to buy some nuggets for dinner while my friends went up to the hotel first. We had a few rounds of monopoly deal and then went to sleep.

Day 8

Nando's

Today is the last day in Perth, we were going back to singapore in the night flight. So we got up and get ready to go out. We checked out the hotel and left our luggage at the hotel first. Then we walked down to mac to have breakfast. After breakfast, we walked down the streets near our hotel area. It was a shopping arcade. My friend wanted to go to their art gallery, so we walked down to Perth station and to the art gallery. We are not allowed to bring our bags, so we had to deposit them at the counter. And the admission fee is up to individual, you decide how much you want to pay. So we went in and looked at the art pieces. After walking at the 1st level, i went up to the 2nd level. In the end, i just walked to a sofa and slept on it...hohoho...so tired and sleepy. I slept until my friends came and looked for mi, and told me to leave...lol...

After that, we walked to Northbridge area and walked around to look for food. In the end, we chose Nandos there. The chicken was more tender there, nice to eat. After that, we went to the supermarket and bought some snacks and nuts to bring back to Singapore. I was still thinking whether want to buy back potato chips...hohoho....After shopping, while we were walking on the streets, there was a public demonstration going on, against equal marriage rights for all kinds of people, be it man and woman or gays or whatever...they were shouting a protest song for the equal marriage rights too. After that, we just walked to Swan Lake there to laze around..My friends sat on the grass there to enjoy the breeze, i went to walk around at the jetty there. I also bought a cone of ice cream too...soo cooling....later we took the cat bus to go to Taka Place, where we had japanese food for dinner. It was here, that we found chilli sauce...lol....

Then we went back to the hotel to squeeze in our snacks and waited for Uncle Sonny to come fetch us. He had offered to drive us to the airport. He came at around 8 plus or 9 plus, before leaving the hotel, he ordered some pizzas from his friend's shop. So he drove us to the pizza shop and collected 3 large sized pizzas. Then he drove us to a jetty, where we had the pizza. It was cold as the wind was blowing but the pizzas was hot..it was still nice to have pizzas out in the night...the pizza was also nice and tasty, it was with thin crust...and there was fireworks at that time. Pity it was blocked by trees, we can only see abit of the lights and hear the sound. After the pizzas, Uncle Sonny drove us to the airport. Then we checked in our luggage and we wrote the immigration passes. Then we went in and got ready for our flight to leave.
We arrived in Singapore early in the morning, which ended our Australia trip.

Perth, Australia Trip (Part 2)

Day 4

Elephants' Rocks

We woke at 4 plus again today, to go to see the 75 metre high Bicentennial Tree and the valley of the giants. We had our breakfast at 6am, it was prepared by the tour guide (anyway is just cornflakes and fresh milk, tea/coffee are made using the free packets from each room.) After breakfast, we all loaded our luggage up to the bus. After everything were loaded, we all got onto the bus. The old uncle still asked my friend whether he remembered to bring his fake teeth....hohoho...joker....

First the tour guide took us to some place (don't know where), anyway he said that's where we can see wild kangaroos around. We did managed to get to see 2 or 3 kangaroos resting there.Next, we continued our journey to see the bicentennial tree. But the weather was abit wet, still wet from last night's rain, so the tour guide was against the idea of climbing the tree as it was not safe. We reached the bicentennial tree and we saw a group of students climbing up on the tree. It was a super tall tree and there were metal rods poked into the tree as a form of steps for people to climb up. There were platforms on about half the tree and at the top of the tree. It was quite an achievement if one really climb to the top..lol...Anyway no one from our group climbed up the tree, only the australian guy climbed halfway on the tree. My friends and i just took photos on the early steps of the tree...kekeke....

After that, the tour guide us to a small town, where there was a cafe called Hollowart Cafe. The tour guide told us they had the best chicken pies in town. So we ordered the chicken pies, coffee and hot chocolate. The pies are super tasty but the hot chocolate sucks (just like plain water with choco flavour)...lol....Next, the tour guide took us to Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park. But it was just like a deserted jetty...lol...nothing is there except water...and the tour guide also didn't tell us any information of the place. Anyway, we left for lunch after 15 mins or so. We went to Denmark Town, where we had our lunch. This time, is hamburger with last night's leftover salads and meat patty. I didn't had much as i was still full. The hamburgers were super big in size, my friends just had half...lol...i just went to the nearby post office and bought some stamps.

After lunch, the tour guide took us to the valley of the giants Tree Top Walk. The tour guide helped us buy the entrance tickets. Then he passed us the entrance tickets and left us to roam the tree walk. Then we just walked on our pace to the tree top.  After the tree top, we walked down to see the tingles trees. There was a tingle called Grandma's tingle, it looked just like a old granny's face where you look at it. After that, the tour guide took us to green's pool to see elephant's rocks. But the weather turn bad when we reached green's pool. The wind was blowing super hard and the rain was coming down heavily. So the tour guide told us that whoever don't want to go down can stay on the bus. So I and one of my friends went down to see the elephants' rocks. The tour guide took us down to the beach but there was a big rock we needed to climb down. So my friend backed out as he had injury on his knees, so i went ahead. But i slipped and fell down when i was climbing down the rock. I landed on my butt..lol...my pants got wet. Later, the tour guide continued to climbed a super big rock up and the rest of the tour members too climbed up. But the water was flowing down fast and my shoes were too slippery. Luckily there was a small staircase at the other side, so i was about to climb up and continued the path up to see the elephants' rock. It was large rocks facing the beach and it looked like a herd of elephants from the back. (I sure took great lengths to see the rocks...lol) We still went down to the beach and it was super cold.

After that, we climbed back to the bus. I was wet and there was a lot of sand on my pants...lol...Later, the tour guide brought us a small town nearby. He gave us half an hour time to go see and shop. So we just walked down the streets and see the shops. We saw a supermarket nearby and went in to shop, we had fun shopping inside. After that, we went to wait for the bus. The old uncle still bought sausages for our dinner for the day...(we were so happy, finally we had something better to eat...lol). After that, the tour guide took us to see the gap and natural bridge. From the gap, we saw the big big waves crashing against the rocks. It was very amazing to see the waves crashing against the rocks. After that, we went to see the blowholes. Pity it started to rain again and the ground was wet again. And the blowholes were quite down and needed to climb rocks again. So i didn't went down but 2 of my friends went down. My other friend was 'frozen' to death...hohoho...she was so scared of the cold...lol....

After the blowholes, the tour guide took us to the hostel for the night. It was at Albany, it was called Albany backpackers. So as usual, we got the room key and we were sharing with the australian guy. Then we need to help out  to prepare dinner again. This time we were cooking pasta, but the sauce was going to add in beef meat. But i went to bath 1st while waiting for dinner (to avoid rush for toilet). The toilet was common use and it was shared by everyone living in the hostel. When i was bathing, the lights in the toilet went out and it was super dark inside (I was still bathing..-_-"). Luckily my friends came and looked for me in the toilet and when they opened the door, the lights came up. Anyway, i quickly finished up my bath and went out for dinner. But the tour guide didn't want to cook the sausages that the uncle had bought...sad....anyway we finished our dinner.  My friends all against of taking shower the next morning, so we all agreed that we are not going to take shower the next day and just tahan until we returned to Perth hotel..hohoho.....We played monopoly deal and had potato chips to pass time as it was still to early to sleep.  We played until 10 or 11 plus, before turning in for the night.

Day 5

Balancing Rock

We woke up early today, and prepared to leave for the day. We all took turns to change our clothes and the australian guy took off all his clothes to go for a bath, leaving only his underwear on (luckily me and my friends are back facing him..lol). There was a big spider hanging on top of the bed i was slept...scary....Then we all returned our room keys and went out to wait for the bus. The tour guide took us to Desert Mounted Corps Memorial. We had climbed steps up to the top and saw the overview of Albany. After that, the tour guide bought us to a place, where he told us to walk down the path and he will be waiting for us at the end of the path. So we all walked slowly down the path to enjoy the breeze, sea and sun. After that, he brought us to buy some good coffee and passed by a rock at the side of the road which looked like a shape of a dog. After that, we went to see castle rocks. Once we reached there, the tour guide told us whoever wants to go the toilet,may do so except there was no water...lol....and to bring our water bottles along as it was a long long walk up to the castle rocks.

So we started our journey up, it was like hiking up the jungle. We walked super long way up to the top, just to see the balancing rock and castle rock. Halfway through when we were still climbing up the mountain, my friend's singapore phone rang. So we were all so amazed on the good reception out in the wild...hohohoo....Instead both my friends' who had got australia's local data sim card, there was not good reception on their own networks..lol..Finally we reached to the top and got to see the balancing rocks.  It was a nice view down to the lands. And there was a rock with metal bars built into the rocks and you can still climb higher up to the rocks. 2 of my friends went up, even the old couple managed to climb up.lol...so mi and my other friends waited downstairs. Later we all took a group photo at the viewing gallery there and left. It was a long way down too, same way up, same way down. After we came down, we had our lunch. This time, we left others to prepare the food, no mood to prepare the food anymore..lol..The bread was super hard due to the cold weather..cold food for the 3rd day and i am so glad it was the last meal that we need to prepare the food and no more cold food. Our last place of visit was castle rock winery, where the owner taught us how to drink red wine. She let us try some of her products, a few even won awards for it. So we all bought 1 or 2 wines back, then we left the place. Finally it was our last stop for the whole 3 days trip and is back to Perth. We stopped at a petrol station, where i bought a pack of hot chicken and fries to share and eat....nice!!

We reached Perth around 6 plus and we returned to the same hotel we stayed in Perth. We were soo happy to return to the hotel. We took showers and rest for awhile before heading out for dinner. But most of the shops are closed, we had our dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. The food was quite nice and we were all happy..lol...After the meal, we settled our bill and went back up to our room and ended our day.

Day 6

Kangaroos

Today is the day to visit wildlife park and the Pinnacles Desert. It was with a day tour too which we had booked before the trip. We got ready and went down to the bakery shop opposite our hotel, bought breakfast. Then we went to the bus waiting area, there were a lot of buses, all going to Pinnacles Desert too. We got onto the bus and waited for everyone to board. All aboard and we were all set to go. The tour guide told us it was a long journey there and there was a mobile toilet at the back, which we could use for real emergency...lol......There was a group of japanese tourists with a tour guide translating what the guide was saying. And the japanese guide was talking non-stop throughout the whole journey, we can't even hear the tour guide speaking  clearly. First time, we found them very annoying...We arrived at Caversham Wildlife Park, then the park guides took us round the park. First they took us to see the kangaroos, there were a lot of kangaroos, they even got white color kangaroos...hohoho....There was one kangaroo with little joey inside...so cute....We even got to feed the kangaroos with some snacks. After that, the park guide took us to see a wormbat. It was very very big in size, it weighes 30kg of muscles and it can run very fast, regardless of its size. It is a vegetable eater too. We took turns to take photo with the wormbat. After that, the park guides took us to see the koala bears. There were 2 koala bears on the bamboo tree, one was sleeping and one was having its lunch...cute cute....We took turns to take photos with the koala bears. After the koala bears, it was time for us to leave the park, but there was other animals we yet to see.

Anyway, we had to leave the park to go the pinnacles desert. The tour guide brought us to a beach first and later we went to a lobster shack. There, we got a tour to see how the lobsters are being processed  and shipped out to other countries after being caught. After that, we had lunch there, we also bought a cold lobster to try out. After lunch, the tour guide took us to the Pinnacles desert. It was a long drive ride to the desert. And the japanese guide was still talking non-stop on the bus, until we cannot take it. Finally we reached Pinnacles Desert. We all got out and walked to the dessert. It was a big place with a lot of sands and rocks, luckily the weather was good, no rain..nice weather to walk. We had a good 1 hour time to explore the desert. Me and my friend took some the sand back...hohoho....After the desert walk, we headed to sand dunes, where we can play sand boarding. It was inside a town, called Lancelin town. The tour guide drove us around the sand dunes, it was like roller coaster round...there was another bus infront of us too. The tour guide drove us 2 or 3 rounds the sand dunes before stopping the bus at the top. Then he took a sand board from the bus, and gave us a demo on how to glide down the sand on the board. Then he let us take the boards out and let us glide down the sand. It was fun, gliding down the sand but it was tiring climbing up the sand back..hohoho....we all had fun playing there. After that, the tour guide took us back to Lancelin town to wash up before going back to Perth.

After that, we had a long ride back to Perth. We returned back to our hotel first and rested for a while. Then we went down to have our dinner, we had japanese food for dinner. We had a full dinner and after that, we went to the mini supermarket to buy some snacks. After that, we went back to our hotel rooms to rest for the day.

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.