Day 5
Wednesday, 18th March 2015
You must be bored by now and probably thinking when will she stop writing about Perth?? Haha.. well, peeps, I have 3 more days to go not including this one. I can't even recall the details without first looking at my itinerary and photo folder. Just bear with me a bit longer while I strive to finish up this travel log and then move on to the birthdays - hopefully before our next holiday. Yea, you heard me... another holiday? Haha... we work hard you know?
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| In Australia, we are spoilt for choices on yogurt too. I remembered us struggling to finish a container of goat yogurt in original flavour back in Philip Island, November 2013 so this time, we decided to stay "safe" with cow milk yogurt. Billiions of live cultures? You got me sold now! Did Vic and William ate this too? Well, they had no choice! |
Today's itinerary was changed last minute as we needed to cram in King's Park as it was near but NOT within walking distance. The night before, we did a recce by driving around from our apartment to the park. checking out the best route. If one could get to King's Park by foot, one would still need to walk within the park to
Synergy Parkland which is one of the many parks inside King's Park.
Synergy Parkland, King's Park
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| Stone birds and my beloveds |
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| Hohohohohoo!! |
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| Aaahhh... he wants to sleep here, but looks like he may slide down |
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| Mummy and the possessive boy |
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| Mummy and my girl |
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| The triumphant kids on top of a gigantic crocodile... or alligator? Better ask William the difference |
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| Not my fancy... baby dinosaur and eggs |
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| Daddy discovered this mist sprinkler which the kids enjoyed so much until they got their hats and jackets all wet! Imagine, we were keeping dry from the rain all the time and then get wet deliberately with this! They had so much fun and laughter |
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| A duck sunbathing with the morning sun just out |
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| Ducks cleaning themselves |
The weather at King's Park was drizzling and cool when we arrived. We couldn't stay longer than the 15 minutes we spent there because we needed to get to our next destination, Swan Valley. Just as we left, the sun came out...
Swan Valley - first stop, Mondo Nougat and Murish Nuts at 640 Great Northern Highway, Herne Hill. The place inside is small, and samples were limited to ONE per walk-in visitor. At first, the store assistant gave us three because he saw only me and the kids. When William bravely asked for another one, he told him no, that because he already had one, he can have no more. So I got rather upset because here is a child asking another piece of yummy nougat and come on, how much can that cost? It's not like we are eating a whole bucket without buying!
So when I heard that, I immediately highlighted that we were given only three earlier, but there were four of us and pointed to my hubby on the phone. Then we got the 4th nougat! And to send a message across that we're not here to take advantage of the free tasting (like it's such a big thing?) I bought a packet of mixed flavours. Later when we bought GB nougats, I felt that Mondo was inferior compared to the former.
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| The car that daddy drove |
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| and the car that Vic and Will "drove" |
Second stop which was just down the road -
Whistler's Chocolate Factory along the Great Northern Highway
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| Inside Whistler's - small and less than a handful of customers when we were there |
Same here, the samples were very limited and only 4 flavours were on the table, guarded by a store assistant. We could not help ourselves freely unlike the Chocolate Factory in Yarra Valley. Here we had to ask for a sample and was only given ONE each. Could it be that people here are more stingy, or all Asians have been mistaken to be from a certain nation which has tarnish the image of Asians with their lack of civilization?
So far, nothing really took our interest here in Swan Valley...
Third stop - Sandalford Winery which was the only winery we scheduled in our itinerary. I was hoping that we could do impromptu stops but we didn't see many other vineyards and non were impressive. Forget Yarra Valley, we have to lower our standards 10 times for Swan Valley.
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| The entrance to Sandalford Winery - grand and reminds me of an old series my parents used to watch |
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| Ducks on the loose... but guess who chased them all away! |
Boring place, lack of flowers and nothing to see. We left to hunt for lunch.
Finally, lunch at Homestead Brewery at 10, Harris Road, Caversham. Ambience was good, and food was average, price was not worth it. Hubby thinks the Organic Pizza we had on Day 3 was a lot better for the price and value.
Anyway, we didn't have much choice around this place, because
Ironbark Brewery was closed and
The Vineyard Teahouse was very pricey!
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| We played UNO whilst waiting for lunch to be served. |
We're done with Swan Valley and unfortunately I'd not recommend this place unless you're prepared to see and do nothing. Better to stay in a farm and pat some kangaroos.
We headed off to
Westfield Carousel Shopping Center for a touch and go before driving back to Perth city center to return our rental car. We took the train first time back to our apartment. Total cost for the train ride for four of us is around AUD8
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| I cooked dinner tonight... look at this huge portobello mushroom?? Almost as big as my face! |
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| Dinner - not so yummy as it looks. Roast chicken (store bought), boiled potatoes, ham and portobello, with fresh strawberries. |
That night we had a special visitor - Pastor J-Son who just migrated to Perth a few months back. It was great chatting up and getting to know his little friend whom he brought a long, and then we went out to this exclusive garden in an exclusive neighborhood (forgotten where) which he wanted to show us, and supper at this Malaysian eating place. Food the men and kids ordered were
maggi mee goreng, nasi with malay dish, fried rice and
teh tarik.
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| Supper at this Malaysian Restaurant |
