Tuesday 16 December 2014

Perth Itinerary - 1 Week

Edit: All posts and itineraries have been shifted to http://totravelanywhere.com :)

Perth Solo Trip Plans for 1 week: 7th - 15th December 2014

Airline: Scoot (SGD $530 round trip)
Hostel: The Shiralee Backpackers (AUD $30/night)


This was how my hostel looked like at night. I kinda loved the brick walls, gives is a rustic look. The only problem I had with this place was that there was no air conditioner - I don't even know how I managed not to sweat while sleeping through the nights of summer.

But other that than, the location was pretty good, it was clean, the people were nice and the management was pretty much quite systematic and organised.

I secretly prefer sleeping on the top bunk because it's actually a lot safer in my opinion, like no one would specially climb up to steal your things right LOL.

Things to note while getting around Perth: 

  1. For Singaporeans, you need to get a Travel Visa (Electronic Travel Authority - ETA), entitles you to travel in Aussie for up to 3 months if I remembered correctly.
  2. There are free CAT bus services that run through the city centre so if you don't fancy walking around (which I personally love), you can choose to hop on those buses to get around. You can get a map of the buses here. I printed it out before I arrived to make things easier for me.
  3. To get to the airport from the city centre or vice versa, you can choose to take the Airbus (about AUD $14) which stops at several places in the city centre. But I checked google maps and managed to save $$$ because there's actually a bus #37, you can take it from St George Terrace before William Street (it's near the shopping district) that goes to the airport in 50 minutes and it only costs AUD $4.40. But do note that it drops you off at the domestic terminals T3 & T4, so you need to take the inter-terminal connect bus (takes about 10 minutes) to get to T1 for the international terminal. 
  4. You can pay for buses when you hop on them, change is given if you do not have the exact amount.
  5. Train to Fremantle from Perth Station costs AUD $4.40 (2 zones) and the ticket can last for 2h, which means if you come back within 2h, you don't have to buy a new return ticket. If you stay longer than that in Fremantle, you need to purchase a new ticket back. To determine how much your train ticket costs, you can click on "suburb" at the ticketing machine and key in your final destination, it will automatically tell you how many zones it is and the amount you have to pay.
  6. Driving is on the left hand side of the road, which is the same as Singapore.
So here goes my itinerary:

Day 1 (8th Dec) - Kings Park and iconic Blue Boat House @ Matilda Bay. 
I had Brunch at this cafe called Milk and Honey, it was pretty good and I think it's one of the better cafes around. The famous blue boathouse is located along Swan River; Mounts Bay Road. I walked from the heart of the City, passed by Esplanade Train Station and followed the Swan River subsequently, took about an hour slow stroll to get to the place (if you drive, it's a lot faster, perhaps just 5-10mins from the city). This was where the fateful incident happened, took pictures on self timer with my DSLR on the tripod even though the wind was extremely strong and so... the wind blew my tripod (with DSLR) down into Swan River. Thankfully it was pretty near the "shore", so I went down to retrieve my camera, but I think it's pretty much a goner. Tried salvaging it but... nope. Still not revived, guess I'm getting a new camera by the end of this week. :'( So eventually my 1 week trip cost $3000 because the DSLR cost $1500 sigh)

Before it died, I managed to take a few pictures:

 City view from Kings Park at night. 
(Secretly think Singapore has a better city landscape than Perth so this wasn't fantastic)


 Brunch at Milk and Honey. Had the caesar salad and Iced Mocha which were both pretty awesome. Honestly, one of my better meals in Perth because everything else pretty much sucked. I think Perth is in dire need of better restaurants, not kidding.

 Again, city landscape pretty much like Singapore with those high rise buildings. Nothing new.





 The road leading to Mounts Bay Road, where the blue boathouse is.



Blue Boathouse. 
Million dollar picture - where my DSLR got blown down this wooden link way, sigh.

After whatever happened, I just sat there at this bridge mourning over my camera, didn't feel like doing anything else. For everyone else who probably won't suffer the same fate as I did, you could walk further down to University of Western Australia, apparently it's pretty good for photos and many people get their wedding photographs taken there as well.

Day 2  (9th Dec)- I took a pinnacles tour: link here. It was a day tour to Caversham Wildlife Park, Lobster Shack, Namburg National Park (where the iconic Pinnacles was) and Lancelin Sand Dunes for sand boarding, was about AUD $210 for the tour because I had 10% discount for booking online and I added the Lobster Meal upgrade as well. 

Whoever is going on this tour, DO GET THE LOBSTER MEAL UPGRADE. For $15, you get a lobster meal consisting of half lobster, 3 lobster cakes and chips. When we reached there I realised it costs AUD$40 to order this ala carte, so trust me and just get the upgrade if you're going via this tour. For people who are not doing solo trips, with 2 or more people I would say it's probably more worth it to just self-drive all the way up to pinnacles. It's about 4h there and 4h back from Perth city, but at least you get to take your own sweet time to walk through the pinnacles and sand board at Lancelin for as long as you want. 

 While waiting for the Coach to pick me up at 7am in the morning. Sun rises at 6+am, it's amazing. I love having so much daylight time during summer.

 Caversham Wildlife Park where we could feed the Kangaroos. Sadly, the tour only allowed us to spent about 30minutes in this park due to our tight schedule for the day :( If you go on your own, you get to spend up to 3 hours in this park, which I thought would be so much better.

I cannot get over how cute kangaroos are. 
My favourite animal - currently competing with dogs for first place.

Koalas that were sleeping like 24/7. It's quite interesting to know that we weren't allowed to touch the bamboo shoots because the moment they smell the human smell on the leaves, they won't eat them anymore.

The lobster meal which I upgraded. Thankfully I did so, because the free lunch that everyone else got was pretty shitty according to the rest. It was like chicken with salad.

The tour in the lobster shack (didn't really interest me though)

Namburg National Park. It's basically just rocks (limestones) everywhere, so most people got really bored. If you're not into nature or photography, you probably might not want to drive 4h up just to see this. But I really thought it was an experience, given a choice I would still drive up to see this. 

 Proof that the wind was crazily strong throughout the week that I was in Perth - but that made summer a little more bearable.


 Sandboarding at Lancelin Sand Dunes. Notice how sun burnt I already was by the 2nd day. (I did not apply sun block on the first day because I hate applying stuff - but it got so bad I'm peeling like a snake right now a week after. Needless to say, I bought sunblock for the first time in my life on my 2nd day there and used it because my skin was hurting like crap)

 Amazing sand dunes. I wished my DSLR didn't spoil because it would be so beautiful to capture the landscape.

Day 3 (10th Dec) - Rottnest Island. 
It costs AUD $97 for ferry there and back from Perth City. I honestly regretted buying the ferry ticket from Perth City because it takes like 2h from Perth City (Barrack Street Jetty) to Fremantle then 30minutes to Rottnest Island (Total time taken: 2.5h).

It would make more sense to take a train down from Perth station to Fremantle (AUD $4.40, takes about 30 minutes), then hop onto the ferry at Fremantle to Rottnest Island. (Total time: 1h). It's cheaper too if you purchase the ferry ticket from Fremantle instead of Perth city. Also, do try to get Perth City travel booklets or brochures you see anywhere (in backpackers, they do have it), there'll be like a 10% or 15% discount off your booking. I didn't realise it until a friend I made at the backpackers told me about it. Oh, and renting a bike (which is probably necessary, unless you want to walk in Rottnest Island which is quite impossible) costs $30 for a day, they do have snorkelling rentals too.

I really loved Rottnest Island and it's definitely worth going - well, only if you have company with you. I kinda got lost somehow because I was cycling alone with no one in sight most of the times and the map just wasn't sufficient for me to get around. OH and as my friends say this: Flies are Perth's delicacy. There were SO MUCH flies around I think I ate a few. It's pretty disgusting because every few seconds there'll be flies all over you, even on your face. :/

 I love how beautiful the beaches are at Rottnest Island and how little people there are (Everyone's scattered around because there are sooo many beaches and snorkelling points)






 I cannot get over how pretty the place is.




 Went to church for a little while when I cycled past it at Rottnest :) 

Quakkos - my first time seeing this animal that hops around like a kangaroo. There're quite a lot of them that are near the eateries because they try to eat your scraps that drop onto the floor. Do not attempt to touch them because they get very defensive.

If I were a kid, I would love this.

Day 4 (11th) - Shopping at Habourtown (now known as Watertown - Perth's Outlet Store) and in Perth City Centre.

Had brunch at Tuckshop Cafe at Newscastle Street, apparently the best cafe in Perth city. I went there pretty early around 10-ish and didn't need to queue. But if you go around noon, you probably needa queue to get in. Food was pretty good, I ordered the mixed berries pancakes which cost around AUD$18. Not the best I've eaten, but for Aussie standards this was superb.

Subsequently, I walked to Watertown from Perth City Centre, took about 30 minutes. Was quite stupid of me because there's a free yellow CAT bus service that takes only 5 minutes (3 stops) to get to watertown from the city centre. The outlet wasn't as magnificent as I imagined, in fact it was pretty small but they had the usual Perth popular stores like Cotton On, Just Jeans, Dotti, Valleygirl, Temt, Ally, Typo, Converse, Ripcurl, etc. The only few stores I shop in Perth were Valleygirl, Temt and Dotti. Was hoping there would be a havaianas outlet store, but nope. I ended up buying 2 havi's at normal price which weren't any cheaper than SG's. I actually didn't really shop much in Perth because I think SG is a lot better in terms of shopping.

Shopping in Perth City Centre was nothing much too actually. I only remembered this store called CHEEP because everything was going for $10 (pretty fashionable stuff), except that I recognise all of them from Singapore's bugis street. So basically everything was from Bangkok (As stated on their tags), but it's super popular amongst Aussie teenagers haha.

Day 5 (12th) - Fremantle Market and Fremantle Prison, Cottesloe Beach
Fremantle Market runs every Friday-Sunday from 8am to 8pm. The famous food stores would be the Japanese Ramen Store and The French Crepe store just 2 stalls away. In my honest opinion, the Japanese ramen was just slightly above average (priced at only AUD $9.90, cheap for Aussie standards), but seriously SG has much better Japanese Ramen stalls. Ippudo is one example. The French Crepe stall was good, I loved it but it was the moist type not the crispy ones we have in Asia. 
It was one of my favourite food in Aussie (omg was so deprived of good food) that I took the train down again on Saturday just for it. I had the Strawberry banana cinnamon crepe (AUD $7.50), and the banana nutella one (AUD $8.50) the next day. I also tried the truffle mushroom paella in the market but was just average I thought. 

I also bought "souvenirs" home from the market, which were basically just nougats and honey roasted nuts (the nuts brand is called morish and the nougat brand's mondo). I have tried some of them and I think they're pretty nice, but it's not exactly the cheapest stuff you can find from Aussie though. My mum loves the chocolate coated soft nougat and the nougat with cranberry pistachio that I bought.

At night, I went to Fremantle Prison for the torchlight tour  (AUD $26). The torchlight tour is supposedly a "ghost" tour (okay well, not exactly) and it's only available every Wednesday and Friday nights. I thought it was pretty educational for me, but no kick in terms of the scary level. Haha I kinda wish it was scarier, but I guess that wasn't the purpose of the tour. The guy I went with (some new HK friend I made while at the blue boat house on Day 1) was shit scared during the first 15 minutes though, haha so I guess it's quite subjective. It would be good if they used the prison for a Halloween Party though, think it would be pretty cool.

That aside, I went to google Fremantle's ex Prisoners and their crimes which resulted in... goosebumps. I mean hearing all of that from the guide that night and reading it once more on the internet just gives me the chills. So yes, a good visit if you're interested in these kinda stuff. They do have the tunnel tour too (AUD $60), kinda wished I went but at the same time glad I didn't because I got to save the money. Heard people saying it's not bad though.

Oh yeah, I went to Cottesloe beach halfway in the afternoon because it was a short drive from Fremantle (my friend drove). The beach was all-right-oh-kay, after awhile all the beaches look the same to me. But that was where I got like massive amount of sandfly bites (think 50-100 bites) and I didn't know until I got home, because apparently these bites only appear 3 days after you get bitten?
I'm itching so badly everywhere now I wished I didn't go to the beach.

 Truffle Mushroom Paella (AUD $7) from Fremantle Market

 Karaage Japanese Ramen from Fremantle Market (AUD $9.90)

 I really liked this place, it's a concept store for local designers that brings in vintage stuff. I can't remember what's the place called but it's the building just beside Fremantle Market where the multi storey carpark was.



Cottesloe Beach

Fremantle Prison at night

 Where prisoners were hung. (Goodness, I get the chills just looking at this)

 Prisoner's cell.

This prisoner was given the exception of being able to paint his walls for therapeutic purposes.



Fremantle Market

The French Crepes at Fremantle market that I was talking about.

The famous Fish and Chips at Fremantle's Fish harbour. There are two different ones, apparently the better one is called Kaili's, which was the one I tried. The meal cost me about AUD$16 for two fillets. They tasted not bad, the batter was cripsy and thin, but the fish on the inside certainly wasn't the best I've tasted.

My remaining days in Perth were pretty much nothing. Just walked around Perth City Centre because I was so annoyed with the blazing sun and crazy winds by then, so I basically chilled around in cafes. Oh to save money, on some evenings I would wait around Wellington Square where the fountains are (kids love to play in it), and when it's 5pm, I would head into Jaws Sushi store to get sushi at 1-for-1. Cheapo max, but that was how I saved money.. although I have to admit that I splurged most of the time while I was there.

I was supposed to head to Wave Rock on Day 6 with my new HK friend but I felt really uncomfortable in his presence for some weird reason, so I gave it a miss. I cannot imagine having to spend 4 hours in the car with him to get there and 4 hours back :O Although I kinda wished I went there (IF I had a fully functional DSLR that wasn't spoilt). 

Other alternatives one might choose is to head down to Margaret River for a 2 day road trip - everyone said it was good but somehow I'm just not into vineyards and wine. And I think I have seen nicer views and scenery in NZ, so I gave it a miss. Wouldn't pay 200 bucks for the tour or drive 4h down on my own, but well seems like everyone else just had to to it.

Also in the winter, my friend did this thing which I thought was pretty cool - Digging for black truffles. If only I could do that in the summer.

Doubt I'll go back to Western Australia in the near future, after having such bad experiences...  I personally think that my trip was a little too long for this city, so perhaps a maximum of 5 days would be enough. I think I probably won't go to Aussie during the summer again, just a week there and I think I might get skin cancer from all that UV rays from cloudless skies. :O There's truly no place like home in Singapore.