Jalan-Jalan Perth 2015

The annual trip to the land Down Under took us back to Perth, Western Australia. The last time we were there was 4 years ago; Tia was still watching the Cartoon Network! Hehe. But yeah, we've had some pretty good Perth memories and knew we'd be going back one day. So it wasn't that tough of a decision, really.

Our MAS flight got into Perth close to midnight that day and by the time we got to the Baileys Serviced Apartment along Hay Street, it was close to 1am. But despite not having reception staff on standby, checking-in was a breeze. And I must say that our whole stay there was really nice and peaceful, and we had no complaints about anything whatsoever.

The morning after was actually our wedding anniversary (thanks to all who sent their well wishes!), and we spent the first half of the day just enjoying the cool air and blue skies. We took a stroll along picturesque Swan River and back up to the CBD for some window shopping and makan-makan.

Later in the evening, we hired a car and drove to Cottesloe Beach for the sunset. And man, it was simply breathtaking.

Then it was off to one of our favourite places (on the planet, in fact), Fremantle! As expected, things were lively, especially at the Youth Park area which has a Big Wheel now as well. We took a walk around the boardwalk area and had a nice seafood dinner at one of the restaurants.

The next day, we made a short trip to Watertown (formerly known as Harbour Town), before making our way to one of our favourite spots in Perth; Kings Park. It was a fine-looking day, although the skies grew darker later in the day. It must be said too that the temperature was rather moderate throughout our stay. It was early winter, and it rarely got into the single digit, except during the night and a couple of the mornings. So, jackets were rarely on :)

And for dinner, again we drove to Fremantle; this time for some crabs, squids and oysters! (We also had some delicious snacks at San Churro before that :) )

The following day, it was time to head out of the city. Despite this being our third time to Perth, we've not really ventured out too far before, although we did spend a day at Rottnest Island the last time around.

So this time, we decided to explore more of Western Australia, and that meant, heading to the world-famous Pinnacles! Slightly more than 200kms away from Perth CBD, we also decided to make a couple of stops along the way.

The first was actually unplanned. I saw the sign to the Gingin Gravity Discovery Centre and thought it'd be worth exploring, especially since Tia's into science so much.

And it was indeed an educational stop, although I wished I didn't go into this space pod that went round and round to the point I wanted to puke! : /

Next, was a stop at Lancelin for lunch. Having done no research whatsover, we just drove around for a bit, hoping to find a nice spot for some seafood lunch, and maybe just walk around a beach. On a hunch, I stopped at a cafe called Kerfuffle by the Jetty. And we hit jackpot!

As I parked the car, I could see that we were right by the beach. It was cold and windy, but there was no way we were not gonna go out for some pics!

Then it was time for our makan. We ordered fish and chips, and some oysters, and we weren't disappointed. The fish and chips was one of the best we've ever had, and the oysters were big and fresh! Highly recommended if you're ever in this area.

All the stops though meant we reached the Pinnacles only by 3pm. We had to pay AUD12 to enter and parked our car at the car park provided. You could also drive through the dessert but our car hire company already told us we're not allowed to do so with the Hyundai Accent. And so we walked on the marked path and the view that greeted us also took our breath away!

Honestly, I thought it was gonna be a small area like Stonehenge in the UK, but the Pinnacles spanned a very vast area. The weather was rather erratic, as the sunshine was interspersed with dark clouds and showers, but we were lucky when a rainbow also made an appearance!

But really, it did feel like an out-of-this-world experience, literally!

Other highlights include Hillarys Boat Harbour and also the drive along the Sunset Coast. We've been to Scarbrough Beach before, so this time we stopped by the picturesque North Beach.

I also did a bit of running along Swan River, and finally, we went for some shopping at Westfield Carousel where there's also quite a number of halal eateries. And oh, we also drove all the way to Rockingham, hoping to hop on to Penguin Island, but it was closed for the winter!

Another wonderful time in Western Australia no doubt, the only bummer being that it's too short of a vacation!

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