A Trip to Perth, Australia - Part 3

(Continued from Part 1 and 2.)

We woke up to a sunny morning the next day. And looked at what we had for breakfast! The staff packed us a basket of assorted jams and butter, bottled orange juice, milk, cereals, some slices of bread and yes, they even had a small tupperware of coffee powder!

So after our breakfast, we figure it would be nice to take a walk around the farm before the activities began. It was a warm morning indeed, but not humid which is so unlike Singapore. Anyway, we applied some suntan lotion to prevent ourselves sunburnt, although I have to say we had already got some tan due to the activities the previous day. Nevertheless, the activities began at 9a.m. where a staff showed us a tour around the farm and fed the animals.

I find feeding the animals to be quite fun, after all I was brought up and lived in a city since I was a baby so I find this experience is so new and refreshing! We visited the poultry, fed the chickens and ducks (there were also a few ostrich-like birds but I do not know what they are called), and snapping away with the camera as we went along.

The staff also showed us the way of cooling and bathing the pig after he had fed it with a bowl of oats. A girl volunteered to try it while we looked on. The pig looked quite satisfied as it sat there quietly and enjoyed the cooling water sprayed on its back. A few of the girls shrieked in shock when the pig stood up and shook its body, sending some droplets of muddy water flying. Luckily, most of us stood within a distance so we were not being 'hit' by them, haha.

After feeding the farm animals (I did not post a picture of the goats feeding though), it was back to our own leisure time. We took a little walk around the farm some more and found this place full of gum trees! It is situated near to the place where we had our campfire the last evening. We were hoping to find some wild kangaroos around but unfortunately, we had no such luck.

After the walk, it was near to noon so we had a barbecued lunch at their recreation room where they had set up the table and the dishes ready for the three of us. We had salads, barbecued sausages and chicken, french fries and some iced water. We checked out from the cottage after lunch and a coach brought us back to Perth city.

So when we were back to Perth city and checked into the hotel where we stayed earlier, we were out exploring again on our own. We visited Hay Street again and then, to Murray Street (I could not get enough of these shopping areas!) And of course, I had to stop by Borders and came out with four books. They had "3 for the price of 2" promotions and I was extremely thrilled to find a copy of Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (which I read and reviewed here) since I had a hard time looking for it at the local bookstores.

Next we went on our way to this place where Corica's apple strudels are sold. Our local travel agent had highly recommended this bakery to us before the trip so we were very much looking forward to it. However, the staff told us that the apple strudels have to be ordered in advance so we had no choice but to collect it the next day.

And this is how it looked like...

The pastry is soft and flaky, with an abundance of sweetened custard lined with soft, sweetened apples. Yum!

And guess what I found besides the 'yummy-licious' 'apple strudels? The library! I know I just could not resist taking a picture of this. Heck, I would be so happy if I were to stay around that area - nice pastry and good books! I could not ask for more, could I?

The next day was a half-day city tour (I was glad we did not have to visit these places all on our own!). Our first stop - Kings Park and Botanic Garden. A place for nature lovers.

As for the above two pictures, I know they must be some kind of a memorial thing but unfortunately I have no idea about the event or the history. There was no guide for our city tour (and the coach captain had drove off and would pick us up at a specific time) so we (as well as the other tourists) were pretty clueless but we were happy enough to just take a walk and snapping pictures along the way.

A view of Perth city - taken from the Kings Park.

Wittenwoom Floral Clock (I loved this little garden with the cottage in it.)

Our next stop was to Fremantle Markets. The coach picked us up on time and off we go, out of Perth. At this point, we did not really enjoy the trip because my dear husband realized that he had left our passports in our hotel room!! We prayed and hoped that whoever cleans our room would not take away our pouch (which also contained some cash and was hidden underneath my husband's pillow).

There was no way we could make our own way to Perth city without getting lost (It is a distance between Perth and Fremantle). Needless to say, we were all feeling very grumpy and had no mood to enjoy our sightseeing (I still took a few pictures of the market though). Anyway, Fremantle Markets reminds me of our local markets where we could buy fresh vegetables and fruits and shop other individual shops (e.g. clothings, shoes, bags etc) all under one roof.

The coach drove us back to Perth city during noon and you can imagine how anxious we were when we got back to our hotel room. So did we find our precious pouch? What do you think? Lady Luck must be smiling at us on that day because the housekeeping staff did not clear our room until later in the afternoon! We were so happy (and not to mention relieved) that we murmured our thanks. What a thrilling morning for us all!

Later in the afternoon, we went to Hay Street and Murray Street to shop for some souvenirs for our family and friends since we were back on our own again. We had apple strudels for lunch, can you believe it? (Not that we were complaining though. Moreover, we saved the time and trouble of looking out for food.)

So after all the shopping and we put all our shopping bags back to our hotel room, it was nearing to six o'clock so we had a Chinese dinner nearby the hotel and took a walk further to this park. At this time, there were not many people around except a few natives jogging. I felt so peaceful and relaxed there! I wish I had brought along a book and sat on a bench to read (just like the lady in the pic).

We waited for the sun to set before we made our move. This was the last evening we spent in Perth as we were to depart the following day.

As we only had to reach Perth International Airport by noon, we had the whole morning to explore around so we visited the Perth Mint (which is situated near to the hotel we stayed). The above picture is the entrance to the Perth Mint and it is the only picture I could share with you since they do not allow phototaking inside. We returned to the hotel right after this and waited for the coach to bring us to the airport. And that marked the end of our Perth trip; so sad yet it brought us wonderful memories (except the hoo-ha in Fremantle).

I want to thank you all for being so patient and for taking the time to read my posts. I hope you have enjoyed them.