This place has been abandoned for quite a while. Maybe it's time I blog about something nice, for once.

If I were to ask you to close your eyes and imagine a place that you would love to be in right now, where would that be?

I would think of Perth.

Today's one of those mindless days at home, I'm on mc. It's great! I've been in bed since I woke up at 7 to drop a msg to my boss. I can't wait for my self-imposed 'semi-retirement' break coming up! It's also one of those days where I start thinking about a lot of things. I thought about Perth. From the bottom of my heart, I miss Perth - and I can safely say that it's my favourite-est place in the world. I am 95% sure that I wouldn't need to travel halfway round the world to know that.

The thing was... the experience would've been very different if Love and I were staying in a hotel as compared to us putting up at Dr's house. We bought groceries, stocked up supplies, cooked every other night, washed the dishes, did laundry, mopped the floor and took pains to ensure that the doors and windows are locked and armed whenever we left home. Which was probably the reason why I could seriously consider living there permanently. I miss the feeling of waking up to Love in a 14-degree morning, the lack of traffic noises, to sound of chirping birds, and sometimes the disturbingly cat-like meow of the bloody crows.

I figured I should write a long-overdue post about this wonderful place and post up some pictures - this is one trip where i would want to remember every single detail.

If I were to further narrow down the one place that I love the most in WA, it's Hangover Bay, a piece of Paradise that's totally deserted because it's really out of the way. It's en-route to the Pinnacles (desert).

Wild flowers along the path

Next stop was the Pinnacles, the funny thing was that... in places that we expected to be hot, it was cold, Pinnacles was cold, only 22 degrees, Rottnest was 14 degrees.

The Pinnacles



Lots of er... rock

our ride for the entire trip

I miss keeping tabs on the weather channel, visiting Coles and picking up things on offer - A perfectly delectable whole lemon cheesecake for dessert after dinner costs merely A$4.99, a huge pack of eclairs, yummy and the perfect mid-journey for the long drive to wherever we're going - perfection is almost priceless at A$5.

Another fantastic thing about the supermarkets there... they sell all kinds of seafood that has been cooked - boiled in seawater. You can taste the ocean.

I miss the friendly people, and the feeling of wonder whenever I look at the clear blue skies while feeling the cool breeze aka the freementle doctor.

Freemantle, it's sunny, but the breeze from this place actually
reaches Perth city and cools people

Families drive their yachts here, park, and dabao their food.
How laidback, it seems like having a yacht was no big deal.

Freemantle is also home to what is arguably one of the best fish and chip restaurants in Western Australia, Kailis.

The batter is light, and the fish is extremely fresh and juicy.
The chips are crispy on the outside and soft inside.

I miss the big breakfasts - every place that we went to, got it perfect: fluffy pancakes, big juicy grilled mushrooms, poached eggs and thick slabs of rye bread to mop up the egg yolk, the smell of juicy, sizzling sausages. Love and I went on a crazy and expensive hunt for the perfect big breakfast in Singapore: Wild Honey was ridiculously overpriced and overrated - the mushrooms were sour and the service was bleah. The Tanglin Tree... hashbrowns tasted like it was from Mcdonalds - but it was better than Wild Honey. Jones the Grocer was the closest, but for some reason, was rather salty. I miss dining at Valentino's at Northbridge.

Breakfast at Valentino's, Love's order



my fluffy pancake with eggs and homemade baked beans

Before we even considered going to Australia, if I had to name one thing that strikes me the most when I think of her, it would be - the clear blue skies.

Rottnest Island

Northbridge in the day, it's the equivalent of Boat Quay


At a fish and chips place opposite UWA and near to King's Park

The sun, sand and the sea.

Through a clearing towards the beach







Practically jumping up and down at the sight of the ocean before us

Along Margaret River, overlooking the Indian Ocean



In it's full splendor

Long cycling trails on Rottnest, you won't feel the heat,
because it's 14 degrees, lalala... and so we got very sunburned



More of Rottnest Island

Basin for scuba diving



Exhausted after cycling uphill and attempting to dive.

Other quirky/interesting/lovely stuff in Perth:

Barbecuing at our hotel at Margaret River

Australians love to BBQ, in fact, in most of the public parks, BBQ pits are actually provided FREE. Mind you... those are gas-operated pits, so no painful experiences with charcoal and fire-starters. People are actually responsible enough to keep the place clean. I feel so upset that we have to pay for the tiny jurassic-era bbq pits at east coast park.

Our inn/hotel at Margaret River

I wish I had more photos of this place. Margaret River is about 8 hours' drive from Perth city,there's no way Love can drive back forth on the same day, so we stayed for one night. The hotel's very quaint and comfortable, about A$185 a night with spa bathroom attached. We're really quite lucky to have accommodation (in Perth city) and car provided. If we had to stay in hotels (ave about A$120 a night) and rent a car (ave. abt A$80 for a four wheel drive) for our entire trip, it would've cost a bomb.

Pretty little street basker in Perth City



One of the Chinese shops along Northbridge

Perth zoo enroute to Swan Valley, where you can see koalas and kangaroos




They NEED TO sleep about 17-20 hours a day, so in the day, they do 'shifts' this one is currently 'working' while the rest dangles on tree branches snoozing away. Poor guy.




Visitors are basically free to roam around the kangaroo enclosure



Lancaster vineyard @ swan valley

The one thing that is so fantastic about Aussie is that... in places like swan valley and margaret river, there are 'factories' for things like cheese, wine... cheese and wine... nougats, ice cream, chocolate, fudge... honey... you name it! All you need to do is to park, get your ass down and there's free tastings!

more vineyards



award-winning cheese factory



free ice cream!




Nougat!




busselton jetty on christmas day

there are pretty white pigeons everywhere

coin-operated dog wash near home, along grand prom

the famous die-die must try Corica's apple strudel!

I always hated it when Singaporeans go abroad and come back insisting that this other place is better... singapore is so blah. I hate it that I'm sounding like one of them now. I really do think that Perth is comparably more live-able and simple things like organic food are actually cheap there (i know it's local products, hence the low price but still...) so you do not pay a penalty for wanting to eat healthy food. When we were there... we never felt better, healthier and happier. I would love to work and live there more than anything else.