Perth

First time having a driving trip to Perth and Western Australia with a group of friends. We travel on 12 Sept 2009 in the evening via Jetstar for a 9 days trip.

12 September 2009

Reach Perth around midnight and we pick up our 2 rental cars. We have some problem with 1 car as it is of different kind from our request.  It was different riding experience compared to Singapore. We check into one of the hotel near the airport after collecting the cars.

13 September 2009

We left for York from Perth.  Our 1st stop at York, we stop by to see Lavender flowers. It smell nice.

At York town, we walk around the town. Saw York Motor Museum, some nice heritage buildings like the post office, church. While walking, we pass by a candy shop selling all kinds of candies. Is interesting.

To reach the church, we walk through a small suspension bridge above a river. There are black swans at the river and beautiful colourful parrots at the trees near the river.

While we left York and head towards Wagin, we drive pass many nice yellow flowers. We decided to stop by one of the big field of yellow flowers and take photo.

As we reach Wagin, the weather has turn a bit cold. We check into our hotel and went to a nearby hotel for dinner. It was cold walking in the street at night that day. The weather suppose to be warmer during spring. There isn’t much activities to do at night as most shops are closed by 5pm. Also we can’t be sure that we can find any restaurant to eat hence we settled our dinner at a hotel and went back to hotel after that.

14 September 2009

We check out the hotel and drive to the nearby Giant Ram & Ram Park. 

We stop by Kojonup  after Wagin and learn some history at a museum about Noongar Aboriginal people who were the traditional custodians of the land that is now referred to as Kojonup.

After visiting the museum, I walk around the compound and saw some sheeps and a sheepdog. I was pleased and start taking photo.

We head towards Albany after that. It was about dinner time as we reach Albany. Lovely sea view, windmills view as we drive inside Albany town towards the motel. After checking in, we drove to the hilltop wanting to see the sunset. The weather isn’t good, we couldn’t see the sunset as it was a bit drizzling. Some of us head back to the motel to cook dinner, while me and some friends went driving around looking for some nice food to eat. In the end, we decided to eat at a HK restaurant. It was good. I really miss Singapore food and glad that there is some chinese food we can eat. After having dinner, we decided that we would like to drink some wine, we end up driving around the town for almost an hour trying to find a store that is open and sold wine. We will surprise that we couldn’t find any wine at the supermarket. Finally after asking around, we came across one wine shop and one of our friend bought a bottle of red wine and a packet of nuts and treated us.

15 September 2009

Check out of motel and drove down to Whale World. It was drizzling.

We then went to the nearby Torndirrup National Park where there are beautiful coastal cliffs. We can see the southern ocean at The Gap , Natural Bridge and Blowholes at the Torndirrup National Park.  We need to walk a stretch of path to reach the Blowholes. At the Blowholes, we waited a while trying to catch the blowing of sea water out of the blowholes but couldn’t see it. It was also raining as we wait. In the end, we decided to leave as it was raining and we have our journey to continue.

Next stop, head to Denmark to see the Elephant Rocks. There is nice scenic sea view near  the Elephant Rocks.

   

We reach Valley of the Giants at Walpole in mid afternoon to have the tree top walk and to see the red tingle trees. The weather was just nice for the walk. It was fun and interesting. We also get to see some animals exhibition.

   

After the Valley of the Giants, we head to Riverside Retreat stay in Walpole.  We decided to have our dinner first before heading back to the house. Have our dinner at a small restaurant, the fish & chip serving was big. I bought some wine and share with the rest. The white wine was cheap and good. It was raining as we made our way back.

16 September 2009

The stay at Riverside Retreat was the best in all of our stay. It was peaceful, we can see the river beside our house. While having our breakfast, we saw beautiful rainbow.  It was fine weather when we first see the rainbow, next minute it start to drizzle.

After breakfast, we check out and head towards Nortcliffe to see Shannon National Park and Salmon Beach.  There are beautiful sea view at Nortcliffe.

 

 

At one of the National Park, we were lost driving in the forest of tall karri trees at the broken heart road. The road was winding and small, the drivers have to be careful with the driving. As we finally get out of the park, we were relived.  We then head towards to Pemberton as it is getting late. We check into the motel and went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. The food serve was great.

17 September 2009

Check out of the motel and we went to the nearby Gloucester Tree(Fire look out tree) in Pemberton. All of us climb the stairs of the Gloucester Tree. Some climb partial, one guy climb all the way to the top of the tree. We were impressed.

We also get to see birds, kangaroos  near the Gloucester Tree. I manage to take some photos of the birds but not the kangaroos as they went hopping away into the forest when we saw them.

Later, we stop by at the The Lavender & Berry Farm which is nearby to see some ponies, lavender and flowers and have our ice cream hotcakes with berries. There is a small river with ducks facing the farm.

After having our hotcakes, we went to see the Beedelup waterfalls.

Next stop, we went to Augusta to see the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse  where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. It was not raining when we reach the lighthouse tickets centre, but it rain heavily as we approach the lighthouse. All of my friends went back to shelter while I was already at the lighthouse. I was caught in the heavy downpour with very strong winds blowing against me. I run towards the lighthouse front door but it was locked. I have to stand at the  front door waiting for the rain to stop but there was barely any shelter to cover from the strong rain and wind. At the door, a family of three was also squeezing at the small area trying to block from the rain same as me. As the rain become less, the family decided to make a run towards the next nearby shelter in front which is the restrooms. I run back to the lighthouse tickets centre but head back towards to the lighthouse as I realised is reaching the time we tour the lighthouse. The weather was drizzling for a while then it became to pour heavily again as we nearly reach the lighthouse. This time more people is standing at the front door trying to block from the rain, I was caught the 2nd time in the rain. It was cold and wet. Later someone walk to the side of the lighthouse and we realise that that area was even better, we have less rain and wind. As the time to tour the lighthouse arrive, we met a lighthouse guy as he opens the front door of the lighthouse. We walk a flight of winding stairs to the top of the lighthouse. At the top, we walk outside the door to have a good view of the surrounding 360 degrees view of the Indian and Southern oceans. The wind was strong at the top. We have to have a strong footing and grip at the railings.

As we left the lighthouse, we drove toward the nearby Water Wheel on Leeuwin Rd. The wind was very strong and it was raining, we couldn’t spend more time there and take more photos.

We then head towards Margaret River and stop at Caves Road to see Jewel Cave.

 

We continue our journey after Jewel Cave towards Margaret River. As we reach the town, it was late and was raining. We bought some groceries and went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

18 September 2009

Check out of motel and went to the Margaret River park to see Margaret River.

We then head to one of the wineries in Margaret River, took some photo of the winery grapes plant. Unfortunately the winery is not open yet as is still early.

We went to Yallingup Reef at  Leeuwin - Naturaliste National Park after that, they have splendid sea view.

We then head towards another winery.  The surrounding garden is beautiful and they have nice pond.

 

Next stop Busselton Jetty, 144 year old longest wooden structure jetty in southern Hemisphere measuring 1841 metres.

We then head towards Dunsborough where we have lunch and then to Mandurah. Along the way, we make some stop to see some nice beach and sunset.

In the evening, we drive to Frementle for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Food was great. We check into a hostel in Perth in the evening.

19 September 2009

In the morning, we drove to King’s park in Perth. The garden was great. I love it. We have good views of the city skyline, the Swan River, beautiful summer flowers and parrots

 

After visiting King’s Park, we drove to Fremantle Prison to tour the prison.

After the tour, we walk to have lunch at Cicerello's Seafood Restaurant at Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbor.

We then head to Fremantle market to buy our souvenirs.

Followed by Esplanade Reserve and Round house.

 

In the evening, we drove back to Perth. We went back to King’s Park to see the night view skyline of Perth. At King’s Park, we saw a black colour limousine. It was nice.  We went for dinner at a nearby Japanese food restaurant near the hostel. Food was affordable and great.

20 September 2009

Last day of our trip, we decided to walk around Perth and took their free bus service. We started off walking to the Bell Tower.

From the Bell Tower, we walk towards the Swan River and to the The Perth Mint. For lunch, we took the Free bus to Northbridge where there are many chinese people and restaurants. After walking Northbridge, we took the free bus for a ride to see Perth town. Followed by dinner, check out of the hostel and back to the airport for flight back to Singapore.