6th Oct 2014 - Caversham Wildlife Park/ Swan Valley/ Matilda Bay Boathouse/ Claisebrook Cove

The cold did not make my night a comfortable sleep as I was shivering throughout..hoping that sunlight will arrive soon! Fortunately, the following day was a warm sunny day with occasional winds to my relief.

Getting some breakfast from the nearby IGA, we set off for a 2.5h drive to Caversham Wildlife Park..a place where you can see all the animals in Australia..ranging from Koalas, Kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, wombats etc..I have been looking forward to visit this place! You can get to touch the Koalas and feed the kangaroos..there are also interesting farm shows and interaction times with the animals..

This little one attracted my attention instantly although I forgot its name!

Agile Owls Wide Awake

Below are some interesting birds which I have never seen before...

Rabbit in its hideout!

Even their rooster looks different and elegant!

This peacock was simply too proud to look at us but just sang away!

You can never miss Koalas when visiting Australia. They are simply lovely animals that are soft to touch...

Kangaroos in Caversham Park were rather lazy. They were either sleeping or faking to sleep with most of their eyes closed.

You see what I mean? Haha..

An awkward Itch in the afternoon

Bats!! I know there is plenty of research on bats going on in Australia, but I'm kinda wary of them.

 After spending 3 hours at this Park and visiting all the animals, we drove off to Swan Valley Duckstein Brewery for our lunch. This restaurant is famous for German food, hence we chose their in-house specialty, the pork knuckles.. As expected, the serving size was HUGE! The draft beer was great too..overall we enjoyed the German cuisine at this little hideout.

Ignore the Knife. It looks a little daunting but the meat is really good!

Swan Valley is famous for its vineyards, beautiful scenery and great food..like the Margaret River Chocolate. We hence popped by to get some icecream and I must say the Chocolate is really good! There are many products on sale as well, ranging from chocolate lip balms to various flavors of chocolate..some very exotic flavors too!

Our next stop is to Windara Honey. We originally wanted to drop by House of Honey, but it was closed on the Mondays. We had a chat with the boss at Windara Honey and understood about the various flavors of Honey. In the end, we bought several bottles of the Jarrah Honey, which taste quite good and is known for many health benefits. It is definitely ideal for a honey-flavoured drink. Honey in Singapore is usually sold more expensive, so getting them from Australia as a souvenir for folks at home make a great gift haha

These places in Swan Valley are usually closed at 5pm. So we didnt stop at every attraction..particularly at places that we know what we wanna get. There are factories like the Mondo Nougats, the Yahava Koffee etc..which we didnt check them out..of course the wineries like the Black Swan..

Feeling very full after the heavy meal at Duckstein, we drove off to find the boathouse at Matilda Bay and we finally found it! Boy, it is indeed a notable attraction among photographers and tourists. I waited for some time before getting a chance to shoot the following :)

My Take on the Boat House

Before ending the day off, we decided to pop by Claisebrook Cove. I chanced upon this place after sourcing for some night photography spots in Perth. Fortunately, we reached there just after sunset. The accomodation around this place look very posh, which I believe belong to the rich. A river in within..I am not sure if it is natural or man-made haha

                               

Overall, this has been a refreshing trip for this was my first time to Australia. No doubt short, we took the pace rather slow and the driving experience was a great one. Looking forward to more self-drive holidays at other parts of Australia!

4th Oct 2014 - Rockingham Wildlife Encounters at Penguin Island/ Fremantle/ Matilda Bay/ Kwinana Freeway

We had a booking for the Dolphin, Penguin, Sea Lion Cruise at 1030am with the Rockingham Wildlife Encounters Company to Penguin Island. But before that, let me share with you our wonderful breakfast made by the lovely lady boss in the Como B&B, Helen!

We opted for pancakes that morning and the choice was a good one. The pancakes was really nice and filling for our breakfast before we embarked on a 40min drive to the jetty to board our cruise.

The sea was beautiful that day with great weather. Everyone was enjoying themselves by the beach or on the waters.






We waited shortly for our cruise and we saw snake and some reptile while waiting!

Our ferry came and we began our adventures. 

Our guide brought us around to locate dolphins, sea lions, pelicans, and some other wildlife around various islands or in the sea..





Dolphins!

I just love this Blue Blue Sea..

Weather was excellent that day and we spotted all wildlife that we can see..

Birds

Pelican

Coming out to Say Hello!

Sea Lions!

After about 90min, we alighted at Penguin Island to catch the feeding show. Penguins breed in Australia were really small, as compared to what we saw in South Africa. No doubt small, they were very agile and swift in swimming. It was quite fun seeing them posing around and swimming around freely.

Getting Ready!

Patiently Queuing for Food

Visitors to Penguin Island can choose to do all sorts of sea sports like kayaking with the sealions etc but we didnt go for that. There was no food outlets on Penguin Island itself. As it was nearing lunch time, we made our way to Fremantle Markets.



We had lunch at the Fishing Harbour.

This is a yummy squid appetiser

Look at the serving size!

Yummy Oysters 

 Now the markets are only open during Friday and weekends,which hence explains the crowd when we were there on a Saturday. We had a seafood platter at Kailis and we finally had a taste of the fresh oysters, lobsters, fish and squids. THe portion size was very huge for 2 of us. Eating out at Australia is not cheap I must say but their serving size is quite overwhelming.

After a hearty meal, we walked around Fremantle to explore the markets and shops. It has several interesting shops and the streets are full of nostalgic atmosphere. We saw street performances around the market and did some shopping at the various shops too..









We made our way to Woolsworth to get our stock of Timtam cookies as requested by folks in Singapore haha..

After exploring Fremantle, we went to Matilda Bay, looking for the reputable boathouse that has been one of the top photographic spots in Perth. However, we didnt manage to locate it after walking the entire stretch.. but the sunset that day was quite spectacular with the boats to make up the picture..

and just as we were about to give up, we finally saw the boathouse! but it was too late to shoot anything decent..so we decided to make a return trip on the last night we had in Perth..

Us with the Sunset at Matilda Bay!

Kids Out at PLay!

Even the Moon is Out

It was just 7pm by the time we finished Matilda Bay..so we decided to hang around and stopped around Kwinana Freeway to take some of the night shots.

Beneath the Freeway

At the end of shooting, the temperature have drastically dropped that I was practically shivering, so we hopped on the car, purchased take-away pizzas and went back to Como B&B for a good rest!