Last day in Perth

Well, I spent a long time packing my luggages while watching the television, so I only had a few hours of sleep. Holiday ending soon...

We had the most delicious fried fish noodles (Fish Head Mee Fun) at Bateman Chinese Malaysian Eating House for lunch. They had more than 100 dishes on the menu but every table ordered the fried fish noodles! Haha...

I shall work hard and save up for my next visit to Australia... next destination, back 'home' to Canberra!

Fremantle

We were so glad we did most of the shopping the day before. Day eight in Perth was a very wet day. It rained cats and dogs in the morning, and there were reports of a mini tornado, fallen trees and the damages the storm did to some houses.

We went to Fremantle for lunch at Cicerello's - it was a spread!

The fish tank at the restaurant was an interesting feature that attracted many people to look at the marine life in there:

Then we walked around a bit before heading home to pack!

Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail 2

Still going strong and skipping lunch, we had really good ice cream at Oggies Ice Creamery. Rested, we continued our drive to the House of Honey!

Check out this signage they put up for visitors:

I love their white roses!! Of course, I tried the interesting selection of honey. My favourites: Chia honey and the famous Jarrah honey. Yummy yum!

Wasting no time, our next destination was the Mondo Nougat & Chocolate place. It was fun to watch them make the nougat. Our second last stop for the day was the Raeburn Orchards. There wasn't many fruits in season during autumn, mainly persimmons.

We ended our day at Australian Grown. My gosh! I've never done so much shopping in a day. It was truly exhausting!

Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail 1

We started early in the day. First stop was at the Sandalford Winery. It was too early for wine tasting but I had a yummy glass of Element Late Harvest and promptly bought a bottle. Then we were off to our next stop - Margaret River Chocolate Co. We tried many tablespoonfuls of dark chocolates and milk chocolates! And they had interesting cups on sale!

Next destination was to pop by Cape Lavender. It's lavender cream was very effective in soothing a stinging pain at a site near one of my fingernails - not enough moisturizer, I guess. We also had a cup of flat white for the much needed caffeine!

Then it is more coffee tasting at Yahava Koffeeworks. We bought a variety of coffee there! And they have very interesting cups! Haha...

Annual Craft & Quilt Fair

I was looking forward to this event. I didn't believe my aunt when she told me we would be spending a whole day there. It IS possible! I found out that card-making is a very popular hobby in Australia. There were so many stores on card-making! The fair also featured the latest in sewing, beading, knitting, crochet, quilting, scrapbooking, etc... There was a live demo of handmade glass beads. I hope I am able to learn how to do that one day! And they had fancy sewing machines that would magically start sewing once the designs were programmed and entered. Wow... And I attended a session on Knitting for Stress Relief. It was useful!

Check out these wonderful quilts on display! All masterpieces!!

Can you see the flight of butterflies on this quilt? It is my favourite piece.

This one seems to be telling a story.

Very Australian!

This one's for the cat lovers! ^.^

Western Australian Museum

After posting some postcards at the Australian Post (one of my favourite places), I met up with a friend and we went to the Western Australian Museum. It has a rich collection of meteorites, and a wide range of minerals on display. I felt like I was in a science class I've never had. It also featured stories and culture of Perth's local Aboriginal people, and the rich biodiversity of the State. I was most fascinated by the collection of butterflies that occupied a whole room! So beautiful!!

I was a bit spooked when I entered the displays featuring megafauna and dinosaurs that once inhabited Western Australia. First there was this large life-like snake at the entrance...

Then at the end of the tour, this T-Rex frightened me when it let out a loud ROAR!!
I was in the midst of taking a picture of it! Haiyo...

I enjoyed walking around the museum's Discovery Centre. There were trays and trays of objects to explore. Really educational! And I was excited to find live frogs there (any frog prince out there? hello??). It's a pity the pictures didn't turn out very well but here you go:

Check out this calculating machine. I think I'll get my fingers stuck in the keyboard before I figure out how to use it! Haha...

The Pinnacles Desert

Last leg of the tour - the Pinnacles Desert at Nambung National Park. I was very sleepy and sometimes, Len would wake us up with excited calls to look at that kangaroo or that echidna. Most times, I was going "where, where, where???!!!" Managed to capture only a daddy emu and his kiddo on camera. Hehehe... I slept all the way to the Pinnacles. ^_^"

The sky was turning dark when we arrived. Len told us that he would lead us on a 1km walk and then we had to quickly follow him back to the coach in case it rains. It was an interesting place... like a dried-out ocean floor. There were thousands of limestone pillars that rose out of nowhere.

Len showed us one of the broken limestone, it was powdery on the inside, but the outer layer was very hard.

I learnt 2 new types of plants from Len, the Australian Sandalwood and the Shark's Tooth Wattle:

Thank goodness the sky was kind to us. It only started raining when we were all safely back on the coach, as we say goodbye to this unique landscape!

Wildflower in the West!

This is a highly recommended place to go to when anyone is visiting Perth. The boss, Mrs Rhonda Tonkin, who was a former school teacher, greeted us when we arrived. She gave us a quick tour around and we settled down for a simple salad lunch (prepared by Len) and watched an educational video featuring, what else, but flowers!

This is their website - really informative!

http://www.wildflowerswa.com.au/about-us/

They sell a great variety of dried flowers in vivid hues and there were some interesting ideas on how to use dried flowers to decorate your mirror, create fridge magnets and a whole lot of dried flower satchets. I couldn't resist buying a small rose satchet. It is now keeping me company at my office cubicle. ^.^

New Norcia, Wildflowers & Pinnacles!

Finally, some action! Went on a fun 12-hour day trip. It was tiring but I had a good day.

We arrived at New Norcia after a long drive. It is the only monastic town in Australia. The volunteer tour guide there was a bit grumpy and said she wouldn't be talking if our coach's mike wasn't working. Everybody looked at each other. Woah.. aunty power!

Len, our coach driver, prepared a simple tea for us to refresh ourselves before following aunty Ricki around like little school children... I was looking out for pretty stained glass windows but there weren't that many.

See pictures below:

One of the two pipe organs located within the monastery buildings.

Interesting motif found on the ceiling...

The walls are full of paintings.

The St. Gertrude's College, completed in 1908.

The only stained-glass I came across.

After a quick look at the museum, we were off to our next destination!

Perth Day Two & Three

Didn't do much during these 2 days. Spent some time at the Subiaco Market. Had yummy Vietnamese beef pho for lunch and sipped chai latte. Bought some pine nuts from a shop with an interesting name - Angry Almond!

Spent some time doing weeding at my aunt's garden and we harvested watercrest for dinner (I accidently picked some chocolate mint as well, which contributed to the 'complex tasting soup' later... oops). Dinner was home-cooked chicken stew, watercrest chicken soup and I cooked my corn & pine nuts dish. ^.^

Went to another market the next morning, and explored the wide array of plants, vegetables & handicrafts. Pity I couldn't bring back a few items: a beautiful peacock made from wires, 2 marble sculptures by a European artist. Lunch was a big bowl of Ipoh Hor Fun. Yum!

Perth Holiday

Arrived in Perth on Friday the 13th. Was looking forward to a relaxing holiday...

We had dinner at the South Ocean Chinese Seafood Restaurant. My favourite dish? The finger-licking snow crab cooked in the Hong Kong "pei fong tong"style with lots of garlic, shallot and dried chilli.

Felt great to window shop at Woolies and Priceline. I'm back in Australia!!

Roasted Pigeons for Dinner

Yup. We had roasted pigeons for dinner at Shui Wah Restaurant! Not only that, I also tried rice infused with pork lard and drizzled with dark soy sauce. The friendly service staff served us soybean curd for dessert after dinner... OK. I'm not counting my cholesterol levels here and I think I hit the quota of good food for this whole year! I keep surprising myself with the amount and types of food I've tasted during my stay in Hong Kong. Thanks so much to my dear friends who really enjoy life and know where to find good food! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! ^.^

So till my next adventure... signing off for now.

Afternoon Tea at The Verandah, Repulse Bay

I guess we need some tea after a walk at the Hong Kong Park so off we go to the posh looking hotel at Repulse Bay! At the table next to ours, a group of tai-tais were chatting animatedly and enjoying silver trays of petite cakes and pastries, and sipping tea. I wish that years later, all my girl friends in Hong Kong and I can gather and enjoy an afternoon tea, just like them. I also hope that by then, we would all be happily married!!

So what did J2 and I had? We shared a yummy plate of vanilla bean creme brulee, with very fresh berries. I also had Earl Grey tea and there was even steamed milk! I really like the idea of serving coffee or tea with steamed milk, not cold milk or worse, weird smelling milk.

I also like the large Longines clock at the hotel garden. Very lovely!

Hong Kong Park

J1 and her bf had to go back to work after lunch so J2 and I spent the leisurely afternoon together. Oh boy, we were so full!! What better way to burn off the extra calories than taking a walk at the Hong Kong Park nearby! It is not just a simple park with manicured flowers and plants. Within the park, there is an aviary with a whopping 600 birds of different species! The birds were well fed with fresh fruits and they looked contented and happy. There was a pair of pelicans! Haven't seen them since my Wollongong trip! We saw a very fat pigeon and I jokingly told J2 that it would become my dinner soon. Haha! Unfortunately, the Visual Arts Centre was closed for the day.

Here are some bird pictures...