Perth, Australia – Day 10

Today marked the end of my Perth vacation. Heavy heartedly, we parted ways at the airport, and left for home – Kuala Lumpur. I am truly grateful for the wonderful hospitality from all at Perth. Above is a picture taken from the top at King’s Park, overlooking the city’s night skyline.

 

A wonderful and rejoicing 10 days it was at Perth. Will miss the company very much!

 

Seen below is a shot of the monument taken at the peak of King’s Park. I couldn’t find anywhere else appropriate to sneak this picture in, so I might as well just sneak it in here.

PS: Something spooky happened here….

Perth, Australia – Day 9

Located on Mends Street at South Perth is one of Perth’s longest running Italian restaurant – Spaghi. As the shop’s name suggests, it serves strictly Italian. Spaghi incorporates the “no-booking” policy, hence being a part of a long queue at the outside of the restaurant during dinner hours is merely a mundane ‘pre-appetizer’. Submitting to the 6 o’clock dinner crowd, we instead opted to only be there at about 8-ish, in time for the “finals”.

 

The host, waiters and waitresses and the chefs were all Italians. I guess this is a definite enhancement to the Italian authenticity for this dining experience. Together with its authenticity are the skills and techniques of the chefs, to make their own pastas and pizzas from scratch. Above is a picture of the Traditional Home made Pizza.

Below are shots taken of our meals. Enjoy!

 

Entrée

Above: Pizza Bruchetta

 

Above: Garlic Breadsticks

 

Pasta

 

Spaghetti Alle VongoleSpaghetti in garlic, olive oil sauce with fresh tomato, chilli, spices, herbs and fresh Aussie clams.

 

Taglierini Bianchi Con PorciniHome made spaghetti pasta with porcini mushrooms in light cream sauce.

 

Stelle RipienePasta with prawns, scallops, herbs and spices with mussels, clams and crab meat.

 

Secondi Piatti

Cotoletta ParmigianaPan fried crumbed veal topped with tomato and parmigiano with saffron rice and vegetables.

Perth, Australia – Day 8

We were awake by the crack of dawn today (6 am), and ventured wayward east of Perth city; headed towards Margaret River and Caversham Wildlife Park. It was a 40 minutes journey from where we lived. Thanks to my sister and Sebastian for allocating time for us, this trip out there was made possible. Above is a picture taken during our travels in my sister’s newly possessed Toyota Yaris.

 

Our first stop was at the Margaret River Chocolate Company. They manufacture and package their own home brand chocolates at this very outfit here. What I loved most about this place was free chocolate tasting!

 

Upon entry into the chocolate company (I’m always tempted to say chocolate factory), the above picture was clearly visible through the observatory glass. The worker was stuffing big blobs of chocolate into the machine; and what came out were small little cubes.

 

 

The picture above is a close up shot of the processed chocolate cubes. I still wonder why were the chocolates still appear to be in an assortment of odd sizes.

 

Now, this is what I call a real chocolate fountain. Here, chocolate coatings are put to encase different fillings to produce a unique blend of flavours. Perhaps, this should be called a chocolate Ferris wheel?

 

Our next stop was the vinery. Here, they would harvest their own planted crops (ie grapes), and send them to a partner brewing company to brew their home brand wine – Lancaster. Above is a picture of the wine in the setting of the vinery.

 

We were then invited to a wine tasting session. The “bar tender” was really serviceable and entertained us really well. The after taste of the wines were heaps good. Eventually 3 wine bottles were made purchased by us.

 

After wine tasting, we also had the chance to do some cheese tasting. Apparently, wine is suppose to go well with cheese? I honestly never associated wine to cheese or vice versa. Seen above is a picture of different types of cheeses. I enjoyed the chilli cheese (the one in the middle of the picture, with red spots on it).

 

Our biological clocks set our tummy to rumble at noon, and demanded we make our way for lunch at a restaurant. We then aimlessly ended up at this small barn like restaurant. As we sat down at our table, their home made wines were given to us as complimentary.

 

This restaurant offered a huge variety of really healthy and interesting dishes (based on description). Seen above is their Today’s Specials. AUD 32 for a Sweet Lip Snapper? Nah, I couldn’t bite the chip! However, my mom had that dish made for order while I had a vegetable sandwich instead which cost AUD 12.

Below are some shots of our lunch meal.

 

 

Above: Fruits, cheese, asparagus, quiche, pepperoni and Turkish bread platter

 

Above: Today’s Special! – Sweet Lip Snapper

 

Above: Mediterranean Vegetable Sandwich

 

Above: Shrimp and Asparagus Fettuccine

 

Our next and final stop for the day was the Caversham Wildlife Park. Visitors to Perth would usually not miss the opportunity to drop by the park to grab hold of the chance to meet the famous Aussie animals – Koala, Possum, Wombats, Kangaroo etc. Above is a picture of my mother and sister with the park staff having the Wombat cradled in his arms.

 

It was very pleasing to me, having the chance to actually be able to be at this park in person. I used to harbor hopes, wanting to meet the koalas and kangaroos in person when I was really young; as then, all these hopes seemed imaginary and only viewable through photographs sent home by my brother (Kris), while he was still studying in uni back then here at Perth. Above is a shot of me, and the baby kangaroo.

 

One thing I found exciting about this park is that, the caretakers of the animals are actually really experienced. They know the behavior of the animals really well. Some of them even have pretty heavy accents, (very cow-boyish). I guess that they must have come from the suburbs where these animals are apart of their everyday lives. Seen above is a picture of the goats’ feeding time. They actually eat Wholemeal Bread!

Posted below are more shots at the Caversham Park. Enjoy!

 

Above: Koala Bear – We were told Koala Bears sleep alot as their diet only consist of water and eucalyptus leaf. Therefore, they are generally energy deprived and hence have to preserve it by sleeping.

 

Above: Possum

 

Above: Baby kangaroo inching its way into it’s mother’s pouch.

 

Above: Black ostrich

 

Above: Bark Birds – I guess they were named after tree barks, as they camouflaged very well with tree barks.

 

Above: Cattle Egret

 

 

Above: Iguana

 

Above: Parrot

 

Above: Dingo

Curtin Graduation Day (Perth, Australia – Day 7)

Our main agenda for coming to Perth is for Today. As today is the day where my sister is officially a Curtin University, Bachelor of Science (Food Science) graduate. Above is a shot of her, together with her teddy bear (purchased at the university graduation stall), both in their regalia.

 

Different graduates of different faculties here at Curtin have their respective sash colours. For my sister’s case, the science faculty graduates are symbolized with the aqua sash. Seen above is a picture of my parents with the graduate.

 

Before the commence of the convocation, we managed to take a few shots around the campus of my sister with us, family members and her friends. Above is a family picture taken by Sebastian.

 

 

Above are 2 picked group shots of my sister and her peers, who will all be graduating later in the evening today.

 

At 7.30 pm sharp, all the professors and deans started to march into the Graduation Arena. Above is a picture taken from a far back, where I was seated with the 70-200 lens.

 

After finishing the singing of the Australian National anthem, we were eventually given the pleasure to be seated. Henceforth, the graduation ceremony begun. Seen above is a shot taken during the opening speech by the chancellor.

 

Upon the ending of the scroll awarding proceedings, this graduation ceremony was to be put to a close with a performance by a female vocalist, with her song – Time to say goodbye.

 

Immediately after the song, fireworks were set blasting into the skies. Unfortunately I lacked the time to swap lenses at that moment, and was only able to take a close up shot of the fireworks display.

 

After the ceremony, we once again got another group picture. This time, with my sister’s Graduation Scroll at hand.

 

I believe that all Su-Yen’s friends and relatives will be extremely proud of her success and achievement. Just for an update, she is currently happily employed by Coca-cola Amatil in Perth, Australia as a Quality Technician. Above is my washed-out sister after a long day’s work in her Coke Zero uniform.

Do drop her a note to congratulate her if you’ve got the chance to! Cheers!

Perth, Australia – Day 6

Today was more of an administrative day, as we obliged ourselves into heading down to the city’s banks with the intention of setting up an AUD bank account here in Australia. After surveying the different banks and their respective saving-plans, we eventually opted to proceed with the opening of an AUD bank account with Commonwealth Bank. It’s plan is pretty inducive as it promised a 4% p.a. interest rate.

 

After a long day’s chore, we wound ourselves down at a Chinese Restaurant – Yummy House for dinner. This restaurant is located in Victoria Park, not far away from Mitchell Street. To my delight, the Chinese food here was surprisingly good! Much better than back at home! And oh yes, the cooks and service staff were either from Hong Kong, otherwise Malaysia or Singapore.

Below are the pictures of our ordered dishes. Enjoy!

 

Above: Chicken in dark soy sauce

 

Above: Deep Fried Tofu

 

Above: Pork layered meat with Yam

 

Above: Seafood Platter in Claypot

 

 

Above: Belacan KangKong!

Being a Malaysian dish, tt’s quite interesting to see that this Belacan Kang Kong dish is being offered here in Perth.

 

Above: Steamed Fish.

This Aussie fish was Asian-ised! A very Yummy fish indeed!

 

For desserts, we popped by Baskin Robins after our dinner for a some real icy chilly Ice Cream. The Baskin Robins outlets here in Australia has much more offerings compared to the outlets back at home. Above is a picture of my sister with her waffle cone strawberry ice cream.

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