Perth Day 3

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Friday, 4th May 2018

So today is Friday and our third day in Perth. We’re planning to go to Freemantle to do souvenir shopping and eating the famous Fish & Chips at Kailis. Had our breakfast at home first before leaving because shopping will consume lots of energy lol! But before that, we gotta fill our petrol tank at nearby petrol station. The petrol price is different everyday following the daily fuel price. Here, they are really trust on their customers, we fill the tank first then only we pay at the counter on how much we have filled. Such integrity. If this implemented in Malaysia, surely the fuel station will go bankrupt! Haha. Freemantle from Cannington is about 45 minutes drive, taking into consideration the low speed limit. Freemantle is the famous main Western Australia port. Just like our Port Klang in comparison. We went to Freemantle E-Shed market to buy souvenir from the famous shop among Malaysians, Megabes. Buying parking tickets could be pretty confusing. I used the machine to buy tickets and good thing they can accept credit card. I don’t know what I press luckily there’s one mat salleh helped me out. But it still stupid of me to buy a one day parking fee, it’s not like we’re gonna do shopping whole day there. And the tickets can’t be used anywhere else as different parking areas run by different parking services company. 

Megabes has two outlets, one in Freemantle market and another one is at E-Shed. The owner told me that they’re closing down the one at E-Shed and gonna move everything to Freemantle market which currently run by their son. The owner is Singaporean Chinese. Here, there are two famous souvenir shops among Asians, Megabes and the Australia souvenir shop opposite each other. The other one is belong to Indonesian and Kathy told me that you can actually bargain with the owners by telling them the other shop selling with cheaper price. They seem like competing with each other but they are actually good friends outside. Well, that is one weird friendship I must say. The owner told me, sooner or later, they’re gonna close down the E-Shed markets because there aren’t many people visit here anymore except for foreigner. Ahh, no wonder I’ve seen many closed shops. The Freemantle E-Shed is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. 

After the shopping, we went to Kailis to have lunch. We just walked from the E-Shed to fully utilize our parking fee earlier. We bumped to Kathy while at E-Shed as she bringing other tour group there and told me the direction. Although with the direction and GPS navigation, we still got lost. It’s pretty confusing because all buildings in Perth look the same. Plus, I got annoyed and losing focus because everything is on my shoulder; handling Hanif Aiden, pushing his stroller, alert on the surrounding, finding the place, and navigating.

Anway, after the climbing up and down the stairs, u-turn and crossing, we finally got there. It’s not that far actually, but it’s pretty confusing. But we wouldn’t mind it because the walkway to go there is beautiful along the beach. There are soooo many people at Kailis, probably because of lunch hour. At Freemantle, there are two famous restaurant for Fish & Chips; Kailis and Cicerello. So, you can opt for any two although Kailis are more favorable among Muslims because they don’t serve bacon. Mak and I ordered a Family set instead of individual set as the individual portion is large and I don’t think we can finish them all. This family set consist of fish, scallop, calamari and prawn, all battered and deep fried on the bed of crispy french fries. Be careful when you eat here because there are many birds flying around and they either gonna poop or steal your food!! (-___-) We wanted to go to Freemantle Markets too but time is quite limited to us plus I want to go to Perth city as well. H

After the hearty and filling lunch, we went to Perth city because I wanted to buy Swarovski and Pandora at Hay St. It’s pretty confusing driving in town because there are so many junctions and the road signs are small. The other part of Perth seems like calm and peaceful with friendly people but the city is just like any other city. Busy, with many cars and people minding their own business. Finding parkings are extremely a challenge here and expensive. That’s why it is best to go to the city by train or bus. Luckily by using Waze, it can show us the nearest parking place, which mostly is inside the building. I bought few bracelets for myself and friends as I’ve been eyeing them back home. Too bad, the sale just ended here and I’m few days late. The normal price item aren’t as much different from Malaysia, about RM50-70 difference giving conversion rate at AUD1 = RM3. I wanted to go to Pandora too to buy any Australia-themed charm but my family rushing me as they wanted to go back as there are no things they find it interest there. *rolls eyes*. It’s kind of frustrating really where I need to wait for everybody to do their thing they like but when it’s finally my turn, I have to do it in rush?! The perks of travelling in large group.. really, LOL. So, at the end, luckily my colleague’s daughter is working in Australia, so I asked her favour to buy for me then. Hay St & Murray St malls are street of stores, international brand like Levis, Pandora, yada yada. There are not much of price difference here compared to Malaysia. 

After dinner, that night we went to Chemist Warehouse in Cannington area. Only few minutes drive from our stay. Chemist Warehouse is the famous store selling medicines, vitamins, supplements and Malaysians favorite, perfume at much cheaper price. There are many Chemist Warehouse branches in all over Perth, in fact, Australia and the one in Cannington is among that open until 10pm. Most of the shops here closed early as 5pm, sometimes 9pm on the weekend. So, it’s better to check from Google their operating hours. I went crazy buying the perfumes. They are seriously cheap!! But those high-end brand and the most sought after perfume, aren’t as cheap but still cheaper about RM100-200 difference from Malaysia. The cheap items are like Elizabeth Arden where they are all prices at $10-$15 each whereby back here they can cost up to RM100+! I bought Sarah Jessica Parker perfume at $9 each.. Whattttttt. I also bought few boxes of Vicks lozenges because I’ve read they are good for sore throat and it’s difficult to find a good lozenges that suits me.

That night, we packed our bags for our next journey to South Western Australia the next day. It’s our last day staying at Mak Long’s Homestay. Initially, I’ve made plans with Pak Jubaidi, the car rental owner for luggage storage plus the car rental. We ain’t gonna bring all our big luggages and shopping stuff all the way to Albany. However, Pak Jubaidi sub it to his staff to contact with me and he seemed like has no idea on all the arrangements I made directly with Pak Jubaidi. I got pissed and having some trust issue leaving these luggages with someone who barely taking this seriously. Plus, all of these luggages contained our shopping stuff worth thousands of dollars (6 of us combined all). At last, I had to seek favour from Kathy to leave our luggages at her house. I’m glad Kathy willing to help us although it was such last minute plan, so kind of her. So that night, we cleaned a bit of the house before checking out for our next day trip. 

Perth Day 5 - Albany

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Sunday, 6th May 2018

So today is our fifth day in Perth, and today we’re going to continue our journey to South Western Australia, Albany. Waze said the journey would take about 4-5 hours drive. We bid our goodbye to the beautiful Geographe Bayview Hotel, wishing we would never leave this place but had to. We took the journey via Albany Highway and man, it’s a... umm boring drive for some people. Hahaha. One is because of the speed limit, two; is the straight road, three; is lack of stops and four; not much of other vehicles. But I secretly enjoyed it because of the view. Priceless, you can’t get it here in Malaysia. View of vineyards, wild kangaroos, farm, group of sheeps, desert, wheatfield. Be mindful when you drive because sometimes Kangaroo would suddenly jump out of nowhere and it is advisable not to drive during nighttime at this area because Kangaroo usually attracted to light. 

The weather today aren’t so good, the wind is quite heavy and sometimes drizzling along the way. In Australia, to plan for your trip, always check the weather forecast. Unlike here, their weather is quite extreme, when it’s good, it’s really good, when it’s bad, it is really bad that you can’t go anywhere. Plan your journey wisely. If you spot any fuel station, please fill your car because another stations might be miles away. Please download offline Google Map because there is no phone service nor radio service at all. I should’ve bring a CD really. Luckily I use Waze, if you already entered your destination, it would still navigate and detect your car movement. Well, if you have neither, don’t panic, the highway has the signboards and not so confusing because there aren’t so many junctions, just a straight road. 

We arrived at Albany town few hours later, a bit delay from our original plan because of the bad weather and too many stops. Well, if you’re carrying many people and a kid, this is much expected, nature call, snacking time, things like that. For the first stop, we went to The Gap and Natural Bridge. This is basically a highlight of our trip. Heck, we even extend our flight itinerary to go here! Yes, originally our flight itinerary only for 5 days but we extend it to 7 days because I couldn’t hold myself from seeing all the pictures posted here in the Facebook Group. I.Must.Go.Here.

However, when we got here, the weather is bad, eye sight is blur, wind is so strong, you gotta hold to something, well especially for someone as skinny as me. Something unfortunate happened here too, everybody else had went down from the car except Mak and of course Hanif Aiden, and I did too following them. When I opened the door, I couldn’t control it since the wind so strong and it was pushed to the back so fast and I am struggle to push it back to close since I’m against the wind. When I managed to, the allignment has went a bit off and needed to be adjusted everytime we tried to close the door. This rather upsetting me because I didn’t take extra insurance for the car only basic one that will cost up to $700 maximum should there is any damages to the car. This is the biggest turn down (for me at least) of the trip and killed the mood for the entire trip.  

Anyway, back to The Gap, I spotted despite the strong wind, there are quite a number of tourist that brave enough facing the storm to go to the designated bridge to see the Southern Ocean. Many too has turn their car back. No point anyway because you can’t really see anything and the risk is too high. Can’t really imagine what’s down there. J dared myself not to go there, I tried but the visual sight so bad and it’s dangerous because the rock are all wet and slippery. Well, deaths have occurred few times here, although there’s a designated path for walking, I did not go further. We just record a video from the parking area. Allah swt indeed has a better plan, a week after we’re back, there was an fatal accident occured whereby a tourist plunged to his death when he tried to take a selfie there, during a very good weather. 

After that, we went to Albany Wind Farm, which also just nearby, but because of the wind is too strong, I didn’t follow my family to climb. You have to climb the hill a bit to see the windmill view. Plus, I saw a snake signage, so it brings the creep out of me, so I stayed at the car waiting for them. Afraid I might see a flying snakes in the strong wind, lol! Is that even possible? Another plus point to repeat this trip in the future haha! 

After that, we continued our journey to our next accomodation, Park Avenue Holiday Unit. I really love the road in Albany, it’s actually on the seaside overlooking the Princess Royal Harbour. Although it was drizzling, it looks so beautiful and serene, it would be such an amazing sight during a good weather I bet. Park Avenue Holiday Unit is the only accomodation U could find in Albany that could cater large number of us. The size is small and decent, just ok for us. The least appealing accomodation for us throughout this trip although it is slightly expensive compared to others. It has 3 bedrooms, only one bathroom and a small living hall + dining area. But maybe because it’s a small city, and not much of choices unlike the Perth CBD. And I heard, it’s a quite an expensive/elite place, thus explains the price. But, the view in Albany MashaAllah, so beautiful and calm with the mountain overlooking the oceans. Such beautiful beautiful place. I wish we extend our stay in Albany, 1 day (well not even half a day considering the journey) spent here plus with the bad weather, wasn’t enough for us to really exploring the beauty. It’s like in Monaco, although I never actually been there. Slight note, it is advisable if you could shop fresh supply (fish, meat, poultry etc) in Perth before coming here because of its limited Halal resources. If I’m not mistaken, there is only one Kebab restaurant here. Unless if you can eat Kebab for two days straight, then it’s ok. 

After checking in, we took a walk around the homestay, there located such beautiful garden and small lake within walking distance, about 200 metres. Little did I know, if we walk a little bit further, we can reach to Middleton Beach. But, it’s already late evening and no point anyway to go there. Hanif Aiden had fun chasing the goose and watching the ducks. Surprisingly, the temperature aren’t that cold and I didn’t even wear my jacket. We bought the thick jacket purposely for Albany trip because it’s in the southern part, so logically it would be colder than Perth. Turned out, it was the other way around. 

That night, of course I couldn’t sleep well thinking about the car damage and how much would I be charged later on. 

 

Perth Day 4

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Saturday, 5th May 2018

So today is our 4th day in Perth, and we’re heading South! We checked out from Mak Long’s Homestay in Cannington early in the morning. It’s quite sad really because we really love this house. Leaving our luggages behind as Kathy will collect them later. My heart still felt heavy that I had to trouble her at a very last minute. Only Allah swt could repay her kindness. 

So, first stop is to go to Busselton. We drove through the Kwinana Highway and weather is lovely today. We stopped for a while at Kwinana Service Centre to eat our breakfast, Nasi Goreng Sardin. We’ll Malaysians will always be Malaysians. By the way, they call their R&R here as Service Centre. They had facilities like restrooms, restaurants, petrol stations. I love to see the parking areas here, they have few categories, cars, lorries, motorcycles and caravans! Even at this area with a small bushes, they still have a signage to beware of the snakes and small poisonous animals that might be in the bushes. Here, Abah even made friend with this one Jewish man whom called me beautiful earlier, hahaha. These people are so selfless guys, when they see us taking pictures or selfies, they will offer themselves to help. Such kind gestures. On the other hand, Ecah told us in the car she got a backlash from mat salleh lady saying ‘F**k you’ to her, probably seeing her with hijab. If I were her, I would definitely say ‘F**k yourself!’ Hahah. 

After like 2-3 hours of driving, we arrived at Busselton Geographe Bayview Hotel to drop our luggages abd perform prayers. This hotel is so beautifullllll. This is the most beautiful accommodation while we were in Perth. I love the serenity, the calm, the trees, the grass smell.. aaah. Feel like laying on the grass admiring the beauty. Would definitely staying here again. I looked forward to do cycling but due to limited time, we didn’t get a chance. It has 3 rooms and the master bedroom has their own private access and and and a Jacuzzi!! The facilities include washing machine and dryer, kitchen, stove, heater, basically everything! It is spacious, perfect for our big group. During our trip in Perth, I purposely looking for facilities that have 3 rooms, well for privacy. Although it costed a bit more but I do appreciate a little privacy. Who knows it might lead to baby made in Perth, but not knowing from which couple Hahahaha. 

Busselton Jetty located about more or less 1 km from our stay. This is the longest jetty in the world, about 1.2km across the sea. At the end of the jetty is the underwater world discovery where you can go down and see the under the sea view through the glass. I’ve read a reviews, if you ever been to Aquaria, KLCC, it’s more or less like that, so I gave it a pass. You can either ride a train or walk through the jetty. Of course we took the train ride! The ticket is about $12 each if I’m not mistaken. The train is about every 1 hour. Be mind of the schedule, if you’re not sure, just ask the people there, they are more than happy to help! What interest me is that, most of the people working here are senior citizens and they are actually volunteer! All the money raised from the tickets etc is used for the preservation purpose of Busselton sea life and jetty maintenance. You can actually fishing here too at the designated area along the jetty, just check on the signage. The train will stop at the end of the jetty and we were given about 1/2 hour before its departure. If you missed the train, you can catch another one about an hour later or you can walk your way back. With the wind and narrow path, I’ll stay on the train, thank you. Hanif Aiden is having a time of his life, he’s always obsessed about Thomas & Friends, and to ride a real life train must be a happiness to him... or deep inside his heart, I know, although he is expressionless. By the way, we also visited information centre or museum to learn a little bit about the history of Busselton Jetty and seeing the artifacts.

Busselton I would say is a retirement place, like Kathy claimed. Most of the people are veterens and I could see there are many hospitals, retirement centre and rehabilitation centre here. It is a calm and serene place. No traffic congestion, laid back people, simple life.. aaa.. what a great place to settle in.  

After the Jetty visit, we continued our journey to Canal Rocks about 15 minutes drive from Busselton town. Oh my God, this place is so beautiful!!!!! When we got here is already 4pm+ and almost sunset, so the view is magnificent, MashaAllah! All pictures taken here are perfect, Instagram worthy. To be safe, please stay on paths, we can never predict the weather aren’t we? If you wish to climb the rocks, please be careful, although the water aren’t rough that day, if you slip, you can hurt real bad. When we passed by at the junction to go to Canal Rocks, I spotted a Lavender Tea House which is popular for their scones and lavender products, and I made a mental note to drop by there when we got back. Too bad, it was closed by then :( I googled this place, and it has a lovely deco and of course I wanted to try their famous lavender tea. Not my rezeki this time. 

Then, we went to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. Too bad when we got there, it’s already closed and dark despite it’s only 5pm! We can only see the beautiful lighthouse from afar, and it is indeed very beautiful during nighttime especially, where we can see the light circulating around. 

After that, we went straight to our accommodation to cook dinner. And today, we’re doing extra works before cooking where we have to clean and samak all kitchen utensils before using. I made Gulai Lemak Sardines that night, together with some veges and omelette.