Perth

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First day in Perth was quite bad. We reached Perth at 7 plus in the morning and reached the hotel at 8 plus but were told that a room would only be available at 12 plus. As such, my parents and I decided to take a walk around the hotel to try to while away our time. Unfortunately, though it was summer, it was quite cold and Dad was extremely unused to the colder weather and as a result, he was extremely uncomfortable. In the end, we tried to find some place that sold liquor and at ten plus, we went inside a supermarket only to find that the area selling liquor was closed on Sundays. Anyway I was quite surprised that it was quite difficult to find liquor around in Perth. In Singapore, it's quite easy to find wines in supermarket and beers in convenient stores but on hindsight, I think we should have gone into a hotel or restaurant and order some wine. When dining in Perth, I more often than not will see people opening a bottle of wine for their dinner. Anyway, feeling miserable, we went back to our hotel at 11plus and were told that a room was not ready so we waited until 12 plus for our room. Phew…took a nap immediately when I got into the hotel room. At night, we went for Chinese food at a restaurant.

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On the second day, we had a half day tour to Fremantle and another half day tour to Swan valley Region for wine tasting. Tour was all right. Had a tour around Perth City, went to King's Park and later spent around one hour walking around Fremantle. At Fremantle, we went to the E-shed, I was hoping to buy something at the flea market but was disappointed to find that it was closed. Actually, I think it's only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I had thought that it was open everyday.

In the afternoon, we went to the Swan valley region for wine tasting. Dad bought 2 bottles of wine. The Swan valley is quite nice. We went for a pre-booked 3 course dinner at Venezia restaurant. Service was very good but my parents did not quite like the food. I guess Western food is not to their liking.

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Third day was a full day tour to Margaret river region for wine tasting again. Our guide was Peter and he was very friendly and enthusiastic. When the tour bus passed by Margaret river, I was very surprised to find out that it's just a very small river. I think it was originally called Maggi's creek so you can imagine how small it was. I had thought it would be as long and wide as Swan river as the whole region is named after it. How unimpressive! We went for wine tasting and to a chocolate factory, saw a bird show and also saw a one km long pier. The picnic lunch was quite good. Though most of it was cold meat, the taste was not bland. Not bad. Tour ended at 9.40pm and by the time we reached the hotel for our dinner, the waitress told us that the chef was knocking off soon so we had to quickly order our food. There's some bad planning here. I did not look at the itinery beforehand and thus did not know that we can have dinner from our way back from Margaret river. If I had known, I would arrange to have dinner at the hotel on the first day.

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Fourth day was a free day for us. I decided to go to the aquarium (Dad said I was the organizer so all of them will follow me ) and after that, we went to the casino to try our luck. It was quite an eye opener. When I go on a tour, I like to experience a bit of local life and I was able to do so that day. We walked to the railway station from our hotel and took a train to ?. After I bought the tickets, I did not know which platform to go to board the train so I approached some station staff for help. It was then that the staff told me that I could have bought a family ticket for around 7 plus dollars. However he was very nice and wrote a ticket for me. Thank goodness. If not I would have spent quite a bit on the bus and train fares. Anyway the train system in Perth is quite unlike that of Singapore's. It seems that if one is daring enough, one can just take the train for free since I did not see any staff checking the tickets at the exit point, but I guess if one is caught, one might have to pay several times the fare as fines. I remember when I went to Melbourne, somebody told me that.

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After around 4 stations, we alighted and took a bus to the aquarium. I felt quite anxious and I was not sure where to alight. All I had was a brochure that indicated the road name where the aquarium was situated and roughly where I should alight. Fortunately, quite a few people alighted at that stop. It was quite an interesting experience. Although there are proper bus stops at some places, at other places, there's only a wooden pole at the side of the road to show that that was a bus stop. Also quite different from what we have in Singapore. There were quite a lot of people at the aquarium and I enjoyed watching the marine animals that could only be found in Australia.

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Afterwards, we went to the casino and had our lunch there. We ate Asian food and the portions were so big. I could not finish my food and I think it's such a waste. We then went into the casino and I tried my luck at jackpot. Dad and Mum just watched me play. Felt kind of weird and with Dad and Mum around, of course I cannot play for too long. Anyway, I won around ten dollars. Wonder why I always cannot win big money but I will continue to dream of hitting the jackpot. Until next time.

Fifth day was a full day tour to the pinnacles. It was a long journey there. Actually I am not sure whether it's worth the trip there. Before that, we went to the Caversham Wlidlife Park and since we had been there a few days ago, we just sat at a table and waited for the rest to come back. One of the staff at the park was very nice. He served us some hot drinks and asked where we were from. When I told him that we were from Singapore, he said, “No lah, Singapore lah.” I was kind of amused.

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After traveling for around 3 or 4 hours after we left the park, we reached the pinnacles and spent an hour walking around the rock formations. The sun was very strong. Our guide told us that on a very hot day, temperature can reached up to 40 degree Celsius and most tourists would not want to take a walk there. Temperature was only 31 that day so it was still bearable but then, the sun was very strong. I did not have the foresight to apply some sunblock beforehand and I found that I was a bit sunburnt at the end of the day. Afterwards we went to a sand dune area and did some sand dune bashing in a 4 wheeled drive (bus). Think Dad and Mum found that activity to be more interesting.