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!

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!!

Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

If you happen to be in Melbourne while this show is going on, please do visit the exhibits! As I walked into the garden, it was filled with melodious pipe music played by 4 amigos. It was a very relaxing walk in the garden with myriad of flowers on display. There were also short sessions of talks on plant care and horticulture products.

Gastronomical experience in Melbourne

Actually I wanted to go for the Mornington Peninsula trip but was told that it had just been closed for the season. I was really disappointed - but hey, it will be a good excuse for me to visit Melbourne again! ;-p

These are some places I explored by foot and by taking the red City Circle Tram:

• City Museum - spent a day there, very educational
• Chinese Museum - was spooked by the trail I had to follow, a bit too dark for me
• Federation Square - a food and wine festival was going on there
• Old Melbourne Goal - very informative
• City Watch House - educational. I had fun doing role-play and pretending to be 'arrested'. Our Charge Sergeant was a serious looking lady with big hair and long fingernails painted in black...
• State Library of Victoria - love the library building!

Wanted to go to the Immigration Museum but I lost my way... =(

Oh yes, I was supposed to be talking about food here. Well, there is a big variety with representatives from different ethnic groups living in Melbourne. Here are a sample of what I tried. Of course, the meals were even more enjoyable with the company of friends!

Soy Chai Latte and handmade chocolates at Brunetti! If you like chocolates, you must also make a trip to Koko Black at the Royal Arcade. Royal Arcade is worth exploring too. It is a heritage shopping arcade with high glass roof and interesting stores.

Yummy, warm Roti Canai with lamb curry from Little Malaysia


Eating warm, freshly made pizza while enjoying the harbour view at Mecca Bah Dockland...

Fancy scallop fried with macadamia nuts and veges?? Absolutely delicious... not to mention the great taste of the juicy salmon fish. I used to pan fry a small slice of salmon fish for dinner occasionally while studying at ANU. Fresh salmon fish tastes great with just a little salt and pepper.

Interesting food at Chocolate Buddha, Federation Square

Puffing Billy

I signed up for the Puffing Billy trip and had a great time. I made a new friend and the whole experience was simply wonderful! We sat on the window, with our arms and legs sticking out. It got scary when the train was above a busy road. The kids in front screamed and my toes were curling up. Along the way, we waved at people and cars. Haha...

I was thrilled to see crimson rosellas and sulphur crested cockatoos again! Plus a familiar flower I used to see at ANU campus. Someone told me it's a weed. But such a beautiful yellow flower!

Melbourne 2007

I was very happy to be able to visit Melbourne again! Was in Melbourne in the late 1990s. It was a really short trip and I only managed to see the Great Ocean Road, St Kilda beach, watched the water feature at Crown Casino, plus the awesome fire display outside the casino. Of course, being a typical Singaporean, there were numerous trips to the Victoria Market. ^.^
For this trip, it was mainly a free and easy one. Most importantly, I treasure this opportunity to catch up with my friends who are now living in Melbourne. I'm so envious of them!

One of my friends brought me to St Kilda beach and it was nice to visit the place again. I was told to take this picture. It will proof that I've been to St Kilda...














Introducing... Acland Street. Cakeshops, cafes and restaurants lined the streets. It's a feast for the eyes! I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the cakes. Was too busy ogling at the mind-boggling varieties of cakes on display.

Tour of ANU 2

Here's a sample of the rich flora and fauna found in campus...


The Banksia...

I'm not sure what plant is this but look at the berries!

The pink and grey gallah. In Australia, if someone is referred to as a gallah, it means that the person is not too bright. Poor thing...


My favourite crimson rosella. Isn't it pretty?