::Perth Day 3: Walpole - Margaret River::

Day 3: We started our journey at 8am. Temperature is 13 degree celcius. Cold >.<

We had bread with tuna as our breakfast, and this groceries was bought the day before from Wolsworth. Cost-saving :)

We stop by Coalmine Beach in Walpole to have a look :)

This is what we saw. Empty cold beach. We get back to our car for the next destination since it is so cold out here with breeze from the sea.

So we continue our journey to our next destination - Giant Tingle Tree. With the help of TomTom and road sign (worry not. the road sign in Perth are quite easy to understand. for tourist attraction area, there is a unique symbol as a guide). On our way, we stop by Hilltop Look Out Point.

Bibbulmun Track.. you can see this track anywhere in Perth. I think it connects to many many places from Albany up to Margaret River.. 5000+km walk, if I'm not mistaken.
This short walk is just a tiny dust part of the walk. 5km.. you might call that short walk.. but NO for me.

This is what you can see from Hilltop Look Out Point. It will be more spectacular without the high trees blocking the sight. From here, there is another 5km to the Giant Tingle Tree.

5km?!! Nah.. Let's not walk.. Let's let our car do the walk.. ^^

And let's us just enjoy the show with HEATER in the car! =)

Arrived! Haha.. 5km is so easy with car.. nyek nyek nyek~

Let's start our walk to the giant tree.. 300m only jek...
Oh yeah? It makes me breathless somehow.. I don't like to walk in the cold freezing weather! :(

This is the GIANT tree!
How giant it is?

As GIANT as this!
*amaze!*

Next we head to Valley of the Giants where it is abundant with the giant tingle tree.
Entrance fees is AU$12.50

At certain time, they provide free tour guide to tell stories of the jungle.

Uncle so bersemangat!!
Amaze by the biology stories he told. At that moment, I felt my biology-genetic lesson I'd learnt is so useful. LOL..
Maybe I should migrate to Aussie and work there as environmentalist!

We almost miss this bridge..
Actually the Au$12.50 you paid is for a walk on this 40m above ground tree top walk. We initially thought is the walk lead by the tour guide. Lucky we realise it before we leave.
Well.. skytrex is more thrilling of course. This is just.. a leisure walk to see.. tree tree and more trees.

Wuuu~ so high above.
*proven I'm not suitable for Skytrex*

I've got not much confident with the bridge.

This is our last stop in Walpole as we need to catch up with our schedule. From here, we continue our journey down to Margaret River.

After an hour drive, tummy is growling.
Looking for town.. we pass by Pemberton and stop here for lunch for our tummy and car.
The Fizz Cafe.. looks like the only cafe alive here.

Fish and chips.. AU$14
The chips is so a lot!!

Coffee again.. LOL.. AU$4

The dead-look Pemberton town.

And finally we reach Margaret River after 2 hour drive.
Our first stop is Cape Leeuwin Light House.

We took the lighthouse tour which cost AU$17 each :)

This is where you can view the southern ocean and indian ocean meets.

This is the view from the top of the lighthouse. Very amazed by the beauty of nature. Nice one! :)

Saw that? At the center there? There is where the two ocean meets..
Amazing isn't it?

After around 15 minutes up at the top of the lighthouse, enjoying the spectacular view and strong wind.. it's time to get back down the ground.

I have a difficult time climbing up and down this stairSSS.. it's scary!

Anyway.. we then head to check in into our hostel.

YHA Hostel Margaret River. This room cost AU$67, we get 10% discount as YHA member. From all the YHA hostels we stayed, I like this the most. Little cosy modern room :)

As our cost saving plan, we cooked! It is really much cheaper to cook on your own.

That's it.. Day 3 of our journey in Perth. I misses this trip a lot :)

::Perth Day 2: Albany - Walpole::

Good Morning Perth! Time is 8am and temperature is 13 degree.
Although it's only 8am, but we feel that we are late already. Cause the skies had turn bright at 530am. Not wasting time, we check out and start our 2nd day journey!

Albany town on a Monday morning. Still very quiet. Love the peace but somehow this seems to be over-peace already.

We start our road trip in Albany with Mount Clarence. It's a cool freezing morning. (13 degree is freezing for me) .. we hike up the stairs for 10 minutes, reach the look out point of Mt. Clarence. And saw...

Tada! And another few minutes hike up the staircase which is hidden by the bushes.

Tada! Spectacular view! 360 degree panaromic view of Albany which includes - Porongurup Mountains, Albany coastline, Royal Princess Harbour..

Next.. we stop by The Brig Amity.

AU$6 is required for entrance into the ship, which we didn't invest into..

We continue our journey to Albany Wind Farm! ^^

A 300m walk from car park to this gigantic windmill~

Another 100m walk to the first look out point.

And another 100m to the second look out point.. phew~

Next is The Gap and Natural Bridge. This is an easy 300m walk from the carpark :)

The Gap which forms by the waves.

And the Natural Bridge which also forms by the waves. Nice view!

Next is the blowhole.. is the blowhole blowing today? Yep.. it did when we was there ^^

The wind gush and the waves hits the rock. And the hole make a loud sound.. Just like a vessel but way too loud that it freaks us a while. Amazing! ^^

And we left Blowholes with many little friends. LOL.

The Blowholes is our last stop in Albany. We grab lunch at Hungry Jack's before start off our driving trip down to Walpole. Fast food meals is fast and cheap.

The view along the highway. Yea.. I don't deny you will start to get bored having too much of greenies view.

We saw a stop along our way.. Choco Late!~
We went in the lounge.. it is so warming and comfortable inside, unlike the weather outside.
After scroll through the menu, we left. The chocolates and choco drinks is out of our budget. At this moment, how I wish we are filthy rich :(

Then continuing our journey, we stop at The Toffee Factory. And bought some home.
The uncle was too 'friendly' giving us 'April Fool' joke @@
The aunty was nice to give us cider testing as well. :)

Finally after 2 hour drive, we reach our hostel at Walpole.

Lemon tree in front of our room! Exciting.. I never seen lemon tree before although I am very fond of lemons.. The owner let us to have it if we want too.. Nice :)

This room cost us AUD70.50/ night. 10% discount for YHA members. Toilet is sharing based. And there is kitchen available for you to cook.

Here goes our second day in Perth. Full with nature wonders. A very nice and relax trip indeed.

::Perth Day 1: Perth - Albany::

I don't know how long will it take for this post to be up. Life has been hectic and laptop is down. I might just complete this post with my new baby =]

Here we go.. story which happen one month ago.. second oversea trip for this year .. location: Perth!~
I think pictures will be able to tell more than word does =)

We fly to Perth with Air Asia. Return ticket plus meal and luggage cost us around RM800+ each. That was cheap! But I think you can find even cheaper nowadays.
Our flight from LCCT departs at 1150pm and we arrived safely at Perth International Airport at 515am.

There is no wi-fi spotted in the airport, but there are a few booth for free internet access. We take this chance to drop message to our parents before start our trip - stepping out the airport! =)

The airport.

We took Perth Connect to get to the town. Perth Connect provides service of picking up and dropping off from your accomodation and Perth airport (and vice versa). We took the return ticket which cost AU$59 for 2 pax.
The sky has turn so bright although it is only 530am.

We were drop off in front of Bayswater where we had placed our booking for 4 days car rental. 4 days car rental cost AU$212, includes TomTom GPS. No hidden fees. But deposit of AU$300 is applicable; which will be return back to you when you return the car.

We bought some pies for breakfast and took a stroll to the nearby park. Due to it is Sunday, Bayswater will only start operates at 9am. So we have to loiter around the park, waiting for time to pass by. While enjoying the freezing cold weather.. (only me! Those mat salleh were jogging with shorts @@)

The pies we bought from nearby store.

Finally it's 9am and we get to pick up our car! Woot~ nice nice car! Toyota Corrolla Hatch - a hatchback toyota corrolla...

Strolling around city with our car.. the town is really so so quiet although it is a Sunday and it's already 930am! Love it! Peaceful city~

Out of town on Albany Highway to Albany!~ Which will take us 6 hour drive @@

We stop by at Williams Woolshed at 1230pm. I read from the net that we will be able to watch sheep shearing here. But when we were there, no any signage of sheep shearing though. Only coffee house and souvenir shops.

We continue our journey and reached Kodja Place at 145pm. Kodja Place is located in the small town of Kojonup. Here you can listen to the stories of the aboriginal.

Entrance fees to the mini museum of the aboriginals; which includes story telling cost AUD6.

We grab our lunch at the cafe in the Kodja Place, called Black Cockatoo Cafe.

There you go.. the menu. All sandwiches only though.

We ordered the BLAT & Chicken, Brie and Cranberry Foccacia & a cup of hot mocha. Total damage was AUD22. I have to tell myself not to convert it, else i will go crazy thinking that this sandwiches cost us RM70, where as I can make it on my own.

After our lunch, we continue our journey along Albany Highway to reach Albany. This is what you can see along the highway. Greenies, lambs, cows, sheeps, kangaroos.. so it's ok to drive. Just that it's quite tiring.
We had to skip Mt. Porongurup due to time constraint and made our way straight to our hostel at Albany.

Finally reach after hours of drive.
During our trip, all our accommodations were with YHA. We applied for the membership and do the bookings from KL branch. YHA member will get 10% discount for the rooms and also discounts for entrance or meals at certain places.
Initially from pictures from the net, YHA Albany gave me an eerie feeling. However, the reality is, it is not that bad after all. It's clean and the best part is there is kitchen for you to cook, so that you can save more.

It's only 630pm. Shops already closed and skies already turn dark. We were out to the small town of Albany hunting for dinner. Some shops are still open but from our survey, the price of the foods is not that cheap. (Ok.. I do the converting..) Malaysian foods are available but I couldn't forgive myself if i splurge AUD10 for a bowl of wan tan mee or char kuey teow.

We end up at HK Cafe. We had fried rice (which is tasteless) with fish fillets (sweet and sour - which taste fake, and honey which is toooo sweet). It cost AUD10.50/ plate. And the can of soya (which made in Malaysia!!) cost AUD2.50.

That was our first day in Perth. A day of driving trip. But the weather, the cold breeze, the view... a kick off which is good enough for me :)

Perth, Western Australia

We are back! From Perth, Western Australia.
Never I thought I could make it to Western countries. Pricey is always there in mind whenever a thought of a vacation to Western countries cross over. But this time we made it! With only spending averagely RM3k per person for a 7 days 6 nights vacation.
We are back 2 weeks ago actually. I had so much to share that I don't know where and how to begin with. In the end, I narrate all the grandmother stories in my Facebook, complete with pictures of the whole journey. I had semi-private it. Nudge me if you need it :)

Anyway here are the short story to share with.

Day 1: Perth City - William Woolshed - Kojonup (Lunch at Black Cockatoo Cafe) - Albany (Dinner at HK Cafe, Stay YHA Albany)

Day 2: Albany (Mt. Clarence - The Brig Amity - The Wind Farm - The Gap & The Natural Bridge - The Blowholes) - Lunch at Hungry Jack - Choco Latte - The Toffee Factory - Walpole (Self Cook Dinner, Stay YHA Walpole)

Day 3: Walpole (Hilltop LookOut Point - The Giant Tingle Tree - Valley of the Giants) - Lunch at Fizz Cafe, Pemberton - Margaret River (Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, Self Cook Dinner, Stay YHA Margaret River)

Day 4: Margaret River (Mammoth Cave [did not enter], Jewel Cave [only the Interpretive Center], Leeuwin Estate, Voyager Estate, Lunch at Chicken Treats, The Fudge Factory, Bettenay's Wine and Nougat, Margaret River Chocolate Co. Providore) - Busselton Jetty - Perth

Day 5: Pinnacles and 4WD Sand Dunes

Day 6: King's Park - Bell Tower - Fremantle - Perth Night View

Overall, the this trip was too rush. Rushing from one place to one place, without really having chance to slow down our pace and relax. And some disappointment with the fact that there are few places we need to skip due to time constraint. Nevertheless, it was a very very very nice trip! I miss it already.

:: Han Woo Ri @ USJ Taipan ::

If you noticed it, recently internet deals such as Groupon is a hit.
I heard several bad comments from friends and bloggers regarding deals offered by such webs. But never try never know right?

We tried on the not so expensive deals. A meal worth RM49 each at Han Woo Ri. With Groupon, we bought the voucher at RM25 each which sums up to RM50 for both of us for a meal as below.

As per terms and condition, we called for reservation and they said will confirm our booking. Doubts came up when they didn't called us back for reconfirmation.
Luckily when we reach there, a table was already reserve for us. Meals came up fast and service is good. I'm not sure will it be different if we are not using voucher, but nevertheless, the food portions and service satisfied us.

We can't even finish this due to very full.

Here's what we get for RM50. Like the variety choices of side dishes. Side dishes is refillable.

The porky porky~

I'm happy we did not get cheated by the deal. Satisfy with the foods and service too. Might try to pick some more deal soon ;)