Australia - Perth Day 7 & 8/9

Day 7 : We decided to make a 1 1/2 hour drive up north to the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Center. The center usually get visit from a few dolphins which swim up to the shorelines. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any dolphins because they left quite early. So sweetie and myself decided to make a sand castle which after a few minutes of trying didn't really work out, but we managed to morph whatever we had into a turtle!. We also checked out all the details and information that were available in the center.

After hanging out on the beach for about an hour we headed back all the way south to Cape Lee Uwin. Weather was getting colder, but it was just a nice breeze. Took some photos at the rocky shoreline since the light house was already closed.

Day 8/9 : This was our last day in Perth, so we checked out from the apartment and headed back to Perth. After a couple of hours we checked into a hotel and walked to Murray St. Mall to get some souvenirs. We then drove to pick Edwin up for dinner at Dome Cafe. Everyone headed back to pack and headed to sleep early.

Our flight for Singapore was at 7:30am, so everyone was up around 4am. One last drive around town and we headed towards the airport.

I liked Perth and I'd love to visit Australia again.

Australia - Perth Day 6

Dad and myself got out of the apartment a little early, headed to the tourist info center to see what tours were available. We decided to go for the local wine tour, a company called Wine For Dudes. The tour started around 11:30am from the tourist center and stopped over in 4 winery's, cheese factory and a chocolate factory. By the end of the day we were tired from tasting all that wine. I had to stop tasting after the 3rd winery cause I was getting sick from the alcohol. But overall there were some local wines that were very nice. Sweetie loved the chocolate factory, cause it had free chocolates in small servings, eat all you can. We also had the chance to mix our own wine and I know now that I'm not cut out for that cause it tasted dry and horrible!

Finished the day just resting in the apartment.

Australia - Perth Day 5

Started the day early heading south towards Cohunu Park. We read about this park in a brochure and they have a lot of animals there and it's about 30-40 minutes from Perth. What really caught our attention about this park is that they have Koalas and sweetie really wanted to see them. We decided to pay a fee to carry them and take some photos. There was more to see around the park, as most of their livestock is allowed to roam around freely. Checked out some Kangaroos as they were laying down lazily in the shade, llamas roamed around too. There was this bird that could talk and do a trick by shoving its head into an empty can and walk around. After walking the entire park we continued our journey south.

We stopped to have lunch in Pinjarra, mum took this opportunity to check out the local bakery to inspect their bread. After anothe 3 hours of driving we arrived at our destination, a small town called Margaret River, Western Australia's Wine country. Picked up our keys to the apartment and did some shopping at the local grocer. I can understand why this part is wine country, it's cold at night, about 8-11 degrees Celsius is just nice for the vineyards. Town center is small, everything is just walking distance and across the road. Alot of surfers come here, the beach is just about 10 minutes drive, but during this time of the year the swells aren't big.

The apartment that dad booked was excellent! big and spacious with 2 rooms. It has everything, so we did our laundry and also cooked dinner here too. We did some research on what to check out here before heading to bed.

Australia - Perth Day 4

Day 4 started with a short trip to drop Edwin off at his apartment. We headed North East towards Whiteman Park hoping to get to see some wildlife at a reserve. But when we arrived it was near closing time so we decided to skip that and walk around the park.

With some time left we headed back to Perth and straight to Kings Park. Evening weather is cool and windy which was great! Took some nice photos around the park and managed to learn some good facts on plants.

After a good day driving and walking around we headed back to the apartment and started packing and got some good sleep for a long trip.

Australia - Perth Day 3

Started the day helping to prepare some half boiled eggs with toast as dad worked the frying pan and cooked sammor ham. Today we decided to head to Fremantle to check out some goodies at the local market. Thanks to the GPS phone that I brought along we managed to get there in about 30 minutes, parked the car and started taking photos as we headed to EShed Market. This is where we spent most of the afternoon as we checked out almost every store. We did spend more time checking out the souvenir shop and the hat shop. Had a late lunch in the cafeteria before hitting the road again, on the way we stopped at supermarket called IGA to get more stuff for dinner. The meat section looks so good, dad decided to get rolled rib roast that will be oven cooked.

Got back around 6ish, once again our chef started preparing dinner, smoking up the entire apartment. Oven cooked rib roast with salad, mushrooms, carrots...yummy.

Australia - Perth Day 2

Got a wake up call around 9am to go across the street to get breakfast. Dad cooks, so he and mum bought a whole lot of things. I was in charge of choosing all the junk foods and drinks. This Asian store was operated by a family of Vietnamese people, typical asian stuff, but I think you wouldn't find all these stuff in a local store. Frozen durian anyone?

After spending about 30-40 minutes purchasing stuff we went back to the apartment and dad started preparing breakfast. Eggs, toast, cherry tomatos and ham, yummy, not long after that cousin Lily came by with her family. We all went out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant for some Dim Sum and as expected everything there was exactly like what we have back home. Once lunch was over, we decided to walk to the mall. On the way we stopped to have a look around, stepped in the Western Australia Museum to take some photos. Kept on walking till we got to Murray St. Mall, this entire strip was full of shops and street performances. Spent most of our time in the Target store looking for some things to buy. There were lots of people in this area, no surprise since we were in the heart of the city.

We decided to head back after walking for about 3 hours, went to get additional supplies for dinner. Watched more TV before heading to bed.

Happy CNY to ALL!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

There isn't much happening here in Perth but the weather is good...hehe.
Photo will be uploaded later :)

Australia - Perth Day 1

Started the day heading to the office after gettin' a call saying that there was no IT people around to assist on a Video Conference setup. After setting it up and completing everything 1 hour later I was home and did some final packing checks. Packed the car and it was time to head out to drop lil' Zoey off at Verginia's place, where she will be staying for the entire CNY week. Thanks to Verginia for taking Zoey in!. We're going to miss the small one, sweetie is missing her even before we left her with the other furry kids.

Hopped on the Ranger with sifu Ivan who drove us to the airport and we arrived with lots of time to spare. So we just walked around the entire airport till it was time to check in our luggage. Boarded the flight and just after 30 minutes and 1 multiplayer mahjong gave we were in Singapore Airport. Decided to have late dinner at a small Thai Restaurant. Later on we met up with my family who was already at the gate waiting for the plane.

6 hours on board a plane is my longest yet and I must say that I didn't really enjoy it and I think I managed to only get like 20 minutes of sleep. Watched Surrogates on the in flight entertainment and had breakfast around 5am. Another hour later we touched down in Perth, took us another 20 to get off and through customs, another 10 minutes to get our luggage and another 20 minutes to get through the boarder check. We lined up for another 30 minutes to get our rental car and after that we finally got moving, well after we sorted out how to put all the suitcases in our Toyota Camry. Seems the rental company ran out of Falcons so they gave us the next best thing. It would have been nice to drive something different around, oh well you can't have everything I guess. Driving around I noticed that the roads were paved nicely, smooth and signboards were pretty easy to follow, but we still depended on the GPS I brought along just to make sure we don't get lost too long. You might think that the Camry is big, but among the other cars here in Perth the Camry is small. There are lots of Subaru's running around and tons of Ford Falcons and Holdens.

Drove Edwin to his university to get registered before heading to his rented room in Millpoint Rd. which I must say is super expensive for such a small place. Skipping ahead a couple of hours we finally headed to our rented apartment called Veranda Apt. located just at the outskirts of town. We all decided to take a short nap before heading out to look for dinner. Just down the road we found lots to eat, Italian, Chinese, Western, you name it, you'll find it on that street. We settled for Kebabs after walking till the end of the road.

After a long day, we just slept for the rest of the night after watching some TV. Will update more when I have the chance.

American Idol : Kris Allen

I heard on the radio that Kris Allen will be in town and he will be performing around my office block area. So I couldn't pass up an opportunity to do some shooting. Although I knew it would be a tough fight to get a good shot at him with all those screaming teenagers I still did it.

So I walked from my office to the autograph session which started around 6pm. Sat down on a bench, unzipped my bag and put the big gun on. I felt like I was installing a rifle. Made my way into the crowd and planted myself somewhere close enough so that I could get some good shots. After about 30 minutes of holding my 3 kilo camera up in the air I was sweating like I just did a full workout. Screaming and jumping fans all around me, it was just crazy! Like a swarm of bees the fans followed Kris and his band to the car. These people are seriously crazy, people started to line up for autographs at 10am in the morning. But I'd do the same if Metallica or Armin Van Buuren did an autograph session.

Adidas Rava MB

I've been wanting a new pair of shoes since I found my current pair of walking shoes were starting to show signs of tearing at the sole. So before Christmas I was shopping around and taking my time to choose a pair of shoes.

I tried on these Adidas Rava Micro Bounce, a similar design which Sifu Yoda has been using for all his events. Supposedly the most expensive pair of shoes but you do get what you pay for. These shoes have superb cushioning all round and I love them :)

photography by Andy Kow

photography by Andy Kow