Perth - Day 2

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Thursday, 3rd May 2018

So today is our second day. In fact, this is a second time I write post for my second day in Perth. I have wrote and even put pictures for my second day, I don’t what on earth happen, when I tried to publish the story, it’s gone. Poof! Gone. Just. Like. That. No backup, no nothing!! Usually if things like this happen, blogger would have a backup file, obviously luck not on my side this time. Hmmmm. 

So today is going to be full of activities for all of us as we are going to Lancelin Sand Dunes for sandboarding and the famous The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park. These 2 are major attractions in Perth and the journey there could take about 2 hours driving. So we left home as early as 7.30am in the morning. For this trip, I took a tour package from Homestay Mak Long at the price of $60 inclusive of entrance fee and tour guide. We brought along our packed breakfast that Mak cooked earlier and Kathy our guide and driver for that day is kind enough to stop at Yanchep National Park for us to do breakfast picnic. At Yanchep National Park, you can actually purchase tickets to go to The Pinnacles, but I’m not sure how much because it’s already in the package. First, we went to see wild koalas and kangaroos here. There are lots of them compared to the one at Caversham. They are more active and.. wilder. You can see them running, jumping, climbing, unlike the one in Caversham where they are all a bit... ermm relax? Hehehe. 

Hanif Aiden had so much fun chasing the Kangaroos, running here and there. The park is so beautiful and green, the weather is beautiful too, perfect for a picnic and pictures. For a moment, I thought to myself, ‘aaa this is what the mat salleh park feels like’. There are restroom, barbecue facilities and bench. While we were there, there are bunch of old mat salleh setting up their barbecue, on a Thursday. Oh, what a blessed life.

After breakfast, we continued our journey to Lancelin. Before reaching there, about 15 minutes before, we stopped at Lucky 7 shop to rent sandboard. Occasionally, there are other people renting out sandboarding at the Sand Dunes but Kathy said it’s much more expensive and we did not want to take a risk should they are not there today. One unit of board rental is included in the package too, but we rented out another 2 because there are 6 of us. I forgot how much is the price, but I think it costed about $10.

I read on the Facebook group, you should be extra careful parking your car at this place, because there are some ‘soft spot’ that your car might be sunken by the sand and stuck. Another point, why we get the tour package so lessen the burden of planning and thinking while everybody having fun lol. We chose quite a high peak to begin with, I thought to myself, nahhh, it just a bunch of soft sand, how hard could it be to climb? 

I take it back.

It was one hell of climb for a.. let’s say 5 seconds sliding down?! I need to sit at the top, catching my breath before sliding down. And sometimes, the board might not want to cooperate and would stop in the middle, or worse, not moving at all! Hahaha. It was fun nevertheless. I even brought Hanif Aiden to the top although half way he started being cranky wanted to be carried. No way son, I barely could carry myself up, let alone carrying you! So, I just pushed him and forced him to continue walking, hahaha such evil! But, it was all worth it, he had so much fun and laughing non stop while we were sliding down together and his Daddy? He forgot to record the video *face palm*. 

It’s best to sandboarding barefooted and please wear your sunscreen and glasses as the sunlight here is too bright and sunny making our eyesight a bit blur. Glasses and hat is important too to avoid the sand get into your eyes and hair. Well, even Hanif Aiden’s bump is full of sand too! There other lower peak dunes, but although it is easier to climb, but where’s the thrill right? Hahaha. We spent about 2 hours there.

After the fun sandboarding, we stopped to clean ourselves at the nearby restroom, about 15 minutes drive from the Sand Dunes. Australians taking their barbecue activity very seriously, every park has the barbecue facility including the one that we stop for restroom. I mean, it was Thursday, aren’t you supposed to go to work or something? How calm, and peaceful and leisure their lif is. Making me feel like migrating here. 

We continued our journey to Cervantes for seeing the lobster factory and learning the process. We also planned to have lunch at Lobster Shack which is about 1 hour journey from Lancelin. But first, before the lunch, we were brought to the factory to watch the video on the history of lobster catching, then we brought to see the live process of lobster packing, sorting etc. I’m not sure about the ticket fee because it’s already included in the package. We were given a walkman/walkie talkie whereby we have to stop at each numbered station and press that particular station number to listen the details. I couldn’t really focus because we were walking on the bridge and under us is the sorting water where they place the lobster. It’s quite dangerous for kids especially the active one like Hanif Aiden, so, my husband and I taking turns holding/carrying him. 

Now it’s lunch time! I’ve been wanting to have lunch here ever since I made the itinerary. I’d even screenshot their Instagram pictures of lobster and then tagging my mother, and we’re drolling together seeing the picture perfect lobster laying on the bed of fries. In fact, the picture does it justice. Whatever I see from the picture, lays perfectly as it is in front of my eyes. Initially we all wanted to order Medium-sized lobster, but they weren’t available, only small size has. Well, we’ll take whatever you have anyway although to be truth, it wasn’t enough! Haha. My husband doesn’t eat prawns and its family, so he ordered Fish & Chips instead and for Hanif Aiden, I ordered Deep Fried Calamari Rings. They were all soooooo goooddd! The lobster is definitely the star of the show, its meat is succulent, and fresh dip with tartar sauce. Definitely worth the price. Kathy claimed, most of the tourist she took didn’t eat here because of the price, but for me, although it is expensive, the price is in fact more or less the same as in Malaysia. Plus, it might be once in our lifetime, and we’re here at its origin lobster breed, why not? Treating yourself with only the best of Western Australia specialty right? It’s for the experience, and of course for the tummy. 

After the hearty luxurious lunch, we were brought to Nambung National Park to go to The Pinnacles. The tickets were purchased earlier at the Yanchep National Park. Kathy drove us along The Pinnacles, it has the dedicated one-way road there which is lined/marked by the stone. Only for small cars and no caravan is allowed. We can stop at any designated areas with available parking as long as we don’t blocked the path. Hanif Aiden were asleep at this time and Kathy is kind enough to look after him in the car while we were taking pictures. With the blue sky and natural sunlight, the pictures turn out so beautiful! Like an editorial standard. Even my friends commented my pictures taken here looks like it came out straight from H&M catalogue, amboi! Hahaha. 

After that, we went to the gallery to learn more but it was almost closed at 4.30pm. The Pinnacles is actually a natural forming of limestone from thousand years ago which caused by the wind. Since the gallery is closing, I can’t continue my reading so, you might want to Google yourself up on this! Hahaha. We even had our Jamak prayers at the park there where there are not much of passers-by. 

We were supposed to go to Moore River, but it’s 5pm and since we’re in Autumn, it does look like night time already. Kathy then brought us to Niglin Lookout Point to see the magnificent view of sunset and overlooking Indian Ocean. SubhanAllah, it is so so beautiful and calming and peaceful. The view is breathtaking, however, you gotta be careful, especially during night time there might be a dangerous animals/insects pass by like snakes or scorpions. That is why, tourist aren’t allowed to overnight at any of the parks and even at The Pinnacles. The insects might hide between the rocks, please be mindful while taking pictures and not to climb the stones. 

After that, we heading home and stopped by at Woolworth to buy some groceries and Hanif Aiden’s diapers. As usual, Mak couldn’t contain herself from buying the freshest colorful vegetables and fruits while myself and husband couldn’t help ourselves from buying the drinks; milk and juices, and the snacks. They are tasted so so so good because of its locally produce. That is why our body is a little bit dehydrated, because lack of plain water teheheheeee. When we got home, as usual our routine is to cook for dinner. We had sardines, omelette and Ayam Masak Kunyit. Eating such a simple homecooked meal in foreign land and in cold weather is tasted even delicous! 

So end of Day 2, will continue our journey of Day 3 in the next post. 

Perth Trip Day 1

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Yes, I went to Perth, Australia a week ago! It’s my first time going to mat salleh place and outside of Asia lol! Australia especially Perth seems like the popular spot for Malaysians because it’s nearer to us, the land down under and the flight journey only take about 5 hours or so. Compared to other mat sallehs countries in Europe and America, Australia is closer and cheaper. For this trip, I went with my parents and newlywed sister, Ecah with her husband. I bought the tickets like a year ago, February 2017 to be exact because AirAsia were having promotion and I got a pretty good deal about RM500 for return tickets! 

We departed from KLIA 2 and our flight was at 12.05am midnight. It seems like a good option because I thought we can sleep peacefully in a plane. It was a cute thought anyway because I’m a mother to an active child, so I can erase that thought and get into my motherhood role, please. The journey took about 5 hours and Hanif Aiden only sleeping after like 3 hours latter or so. But, I still thankful that he isn’t having his meltdown or screaming and tantrum-ing like other kids in the plane. It must be difficult for the other parents when their kids screaming and whole plane could hear them, poor thing, bless these parents. He just couldn’t sit still and asking non-stop this and that and.... hungry. I have to order nasi lemak for him and myself which I didn’t pre-book earlier because my initial plan was to sleep entire flight whilst the rest of my family sleeping peacefully. Hmmph. I let my husband sleep although he is disturbed once awhile because he’ll be doing the driving later that day. Such mithali wife, am I not?

When we arrived, this is the tricky part because I’ve read in my Facebook group that the Australia immigration is pretty strict especially with us Asian muslims because we tend to bring food this and that to foreign land. Sometimes, there’ll be a dog sniffing or you have to open your bags in front of them for checking. If they found unpermitted items, they would throw it or worst case, you’ll be fined $300 which equivalent to RM1k+ ! Don’t worry, you just declare everything in the declaration card which will be given inside your flight. Don’t try to cheat by not ticking them ok?! Alhamdulillah, Allah swt made it easy for us, there was no dog, no need to open bag, and they just ask me a simple question like do I bring meat/poultry etc and what type of dairy product that I bring. Oh yes, meat/poultry is not allowed, that is why I left my daging dendeng and serunding home. I’ve read some of the passengers managed to sneak them in when they declare as chicken/meat floss but I just didn’t want to take that risk. 

So... the first thing we all did were to buy an Optus simcard. There are others telco likeTelstra and Vodafone but from the Facebook Group most of them are suggesting Optus, so here we are. Alhamdulillah, we are lucky that the queue aren’t long, and we got a pretty cheap price for the simcard. About $10 per sim as they having a promotion, the data is valid for 30 days for 10GB if I’m not mistaken. We will be in Perth for 7 days and it would be a tragedy if I were to do roaming while there. But, I still did a roaming anyway for the first day I was there because the simcard activation would take a while and I need to use the internet for navigation whatnot. 

From the Airport, I already arranged with the Homestay for the airport transfer. For the next 3 days, we’re gonna be staying at Homestay Mak Long. She has few properties to rent out for vacation in Perth, for the large group like us, she allocated 4-bedroom single storey house in Cannington area. Before dropping us at the homestay, we stopped by at Selera Malaysia for buying breakfast which I already ordered earlier. Well, you can get a girl out of Malaysia, but you can’t take a Malaysia out of a girl, duh. I ordered Nasi Goreng and Roti Canai, the portion is big and well, I couldn’t finish it. 

For the first 3 days in Perth, we stayed at Mak Long Homestay and I would recommend this place to everybody. The house is spacious and complete with furnitures, appliances, kitchen tools and some Asian dry ingredients like turmeric powder, curry powder etc. Most important, it is belong to Muslim, so we use all the facilities without doubt. No need to samak. This house also located in Cannington opposite the train station, so if you want to go to Perth city, you can actually take the train from Cannington station because Perth city parkings are damn expensive. 

After breakfast, we drove ourselves to Caversham Wildlife Park. My husband is driving while me navigating. Driving in Australia can be challenging for Malaysians, because the law there is pretty strict, you gotta follow the speed limit or else, just prepared for the summon letter. We lost few times because I am bad at navigating, and it’s rather confusing me. But, to justify, from this Perth trip my navigating skill has improved a lot! Hahaha. 

The normal city road can be from 40 to 60km/h and on the highway is about 110km/h the most! Can you imagine how unbearable it is for us? Hahaha. But, driving there is such relaxation because everybody aren’t selfish and would give ways to whom should be prioritised. I used Waze to navigate and God, it is so helpful!!!! The only downside just, most of the road signs in Perth are so small, duhh. Please, download Waze guys, although it eating up your phone batteries like crazy. I have standby Google Map and Apple Map as well but nothing beat Waze guys. 

It is indeed unfortunate days for us, as we arrived at Caversham Wildlife Park, it was raining. So we bought the raincoat and it’s quite hideous to wear them. We just wait at the entrance for the rain to stop, while the rest of the families drown in excitement leaving us. My main concern is Hanif Aiden, I don’t want him to catch cold or whatnot being it’s only our first day there. We went to Kangaroo place first, feeding and caressing them.. in the rain. We put Hanif Aiden in a stroller, covered him from upper body with my mother’s shawl. At the Kangaroo farm, they have like a small hut there where everybody and the kangaroos gathered, but due to rain, it was wet, packed with people and smelly. Not the poop smell but their food actually. When the food made contact with water, it become mushy in your hand, duh. It’s kind of off for me but Hanif’s poop is worser, so I can deal with it. Haha. A little tips, if you want to visit Caversham, please go earlier if possible because later in the afternoon, Kangaroo are already full, and they just want to sleep and refused to be fed. 

There are few animal show there and you can refer to the schedule for the timing to plan and utilize your time while there. We went to see and take pictures with the Koalas and Wombats, seeing the Farm show where they show you how shaved the sheeps’ fur. It was fun nevertheless because on that day, there were a group of school pupils, so seeing they are having fun cheering and laughing kind of setting the mood. Hanif Aiden also has get enough rest and had fun too running in the park. We spent hours there and getting hungry because it already passed the lunch time. We brought the breakfast leftover but left it in the car. You can actually picnic inside here, there are a lot of designated picnic area. 

After the animal visit, we went to NP Supermarket and Carousel Halal Supermarket to furnish our fresh ingredients. These 2 are located next to each other. NP Supermarket is like Asian markets, so you can get many of Asians ingredients here like soy sauce Cap Kipas Udang to be exact, Maggi brand products, Brahims instant paste, chilis, galangal, lemongrass whatnot. Don’t worry about food in Perth, this city is kind of Muslim friendly, you won’t starve, lol. My mother and I went nuts seeing all the fresh produce. The fruits and vegetables are sooooo fresssshhh and prettyyy. 

During night time, we didn’t do much activities because most places are closed and we were tired from the earlier flight, so after dinner, we went straight to bed.