Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!!!!

We're back!!!! Hang on while Mummy tries to find time to upload some of our Perth trip pictures.... (Let's hope she keeps her promise this time because people are still bugging her for our US trip pictures back from Dec 08, which somehow never made it here??!!) We had a grand time, and Mummy wants to migrate there! I'm all for it, as long as you let me feed the kangaroos and stuff. I'd feed ANYTHING now! I love animals!!!!!

View from King's Park, Perth.

Day 5: Caversham Wildlife Park

We headed for Caversham Wildlife Park bright and early in the morning because Mummy wanted to make the most of our time there. Er.. actually we wanted to head out bright and early, but we got delayed because I was doing my business. So when we got there it was still bright, but not that early...



Anyhow, we really enjoyed ourselves there, and Mummy and Papa strongly encourage any families with young kids to allocate one full day for Caversham and Whiteman Park (where Caversham is located). We spent over two hours in the kangaroo enclosure because we loved getting upclose with the roos, and we also spent 1 hour just gazing at the koalas. P/S: It also helps to go on a weekday, where it is much less crowded.

Mummy raring to go; me grumpy at having been woken up from my hour-long nap.

Koala bear! It was also Mummy and Papa's first encounter with these furry cuties, and they loved them. Papa also commented that koalas reminded him of Stitch.

Me patting a koala. The keeper said you have to pat them with the back of your hand so that you don't hurt them.

This koala almost kissed Mummy! Mummy was wondering why Granny and Ah Gu were shrieking away as Papa took her picture.

Me running around while waiting for the Wombat and Friends show to commence.

Mummy made me touch this scaly thing even though she didn't dare to, because she says I should not inherit her fears, so she makes it a point to let me confront all her worst fears. Huh? Shouldn't she confront them on her own? LOL. Anyway I think this is a bobcat...

Picture op with a joey! Of all places I decided to rub the joey's belly.... well, since I, a human baby, liked having my belly rubbed, I guess she should too!

Feeding a kangaroo in the kangaroo enclosure. It's in the afternoon, so they are all lazing around in the hot afternoon sun.... And didn't show much interest in food...

This donkey looks EXACTLY like Donkey from Shrek, right down to the expression in his goofy eyes.

Hello. My mummy said you're a reindeer. We didn't expect you to be so big in real life. How come your nose isn't red, huh?

Feeding the rabbits. I had to tiptoe and lean over just to feed them.

The llama which looked exactly like the llama llama character in the 'Llama llama' series that I like so much.

Feeding the billy goat. See, I told ya I liked feeding animals! Mummy and Papa says this place is about 10,000 times better than the Singapore zoo because you don't have to pay to feed the animals here. All included in the AUD22 entrance fee.

Saying hello to the camel. Too bad we reached the camel enclosure too late and I couldn't get a camel ride.


Bonus: Video evidence of my over-enthusiasm in feeding kangaroos. LOL.

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Day 4 - Toodyay and York

Today the Sims attack Toodyay and York. on the way, we make a slight detour to a free-range emu farm. Quite an experience as we got to stand upclose to the emus (which by the way are pronounced e-mius rather than e-mus).

The Clairester and Mummy posing next to a nesting emu. This is, incidentally, Daddy, and not Mum. Apparently male emus hatch the eggs and look after the young. And this guy would watch over his eggs, come rain, shine or hail. He basically sits there for the 56 days of incubation and does not move.

Daddy's little preciouses.

Streets of Toodyay, a quaint town which reminds us of old western movies.

At the doorway of Newcastle Gaol. This place once housed WA's most infamous bush ranger, Moondyne Joe.

Sigh. I do not know why the parents find it so fun to torture me. First they try to lock me in a cage, next they pull me up to this thing. Oh well.

View of the Avon Valley from a lookout in Toodyay. View was nice, but nothing compared to what we saw from Mt Brown near York later.

York streets. Unfortunately we reached there late and just about everything was closed.

Someone keeps a llama for a pet! Spotted this as we went past a private residence on the way to the suspension bridge. The llama even has his own pond to wander around. Talk about a good life.

The Clairester and Mummy on the suspension bridge over the Avon River.

Dreamy Avon River view from the bridge.

Stunning view of Avon Valley from Mt Brown, at sunset.

Day 3 - AQWA and relocating to Joondalup

Exciting day today as in many ways it is the real beginning of our vacation. Today we collect our rental car from Bayswater in the morning, then check in to Joondalup Resort, our home for the next week.

My Ah Gu studies in Edith Cowan University which is situated in Joondalup, so it was just nice that we managed to get cheap and nice accomodation near there!

Day 3 began with breakfast at Miss Maud's again - a full breakfast this time, complete with toast, scrambled eggs, chipolata sausages, grilled tomatoes and bacon.

Trip to AQWA was next. Here I am posing with some colourful fishies.

Trying the binoculars on for size coz I saw Papa using them.

Dinner was at Hog's Breath Cafe in Joondalup, voted best in WA. No pictures as we forgot to bring our camera to the restaurant, but Mummy says the steak was the BESTEST. As for me, I stole bites from Papa's delicious burger.

Day 2 - Rottnest Island

Our original plan was to go on a one-day Pinnacles Tour; however, first the people over at this booking website missed out on answering Mummy's email queries; then when we finally reached Perth and went to the WA Visitor Centre to enquire, the people there told us that I had to have a baby seat and also pay to go on the tour. So - end of Pinnacles Tour. We decided to go to Rottnest for the day instead, mainly to see quokkas in the wild. Rottnest Island is apparently a favourite holiday destination for WA residents.

Mummy and me on the ferry to Rottnest - we set off around 8.30 in the morning.

Me on Rottnest!

And the elusive quokka - distant relatives of the kangaroo, but really more rat-like than roo-like. And extremely, extremely cute.

Here I am trying to lure the quokka with some plant that we saw them eating; but the quokka was having none of it.

The parents thought it'd be fun to put me in a cage. Well, whatever. I don't really care coz I know they wouldn't leave me there for long.

Me doing my Zoophonics while waiting for lunch to arrive. Robbie Rabbit! - Ain't I cute???

Wow are ALL these for me???

Taking the train up Oliver Hill for the Guns and Tunnels tour. Rottnest was an important defence outpost for the British. The guns were positioned to defend

Fremantle's port.

Day 1 - Perth Mint and Harbourtown shopping

We arrived in Perth on the night of 24 July...
Mission: to visit Perth and my Ah Gu who is completing the last year of his degree there.
Participants: Granny x 01, Papa x 01, Mummy x 01, the Clairester x 01.
It was not very cold as we walked out of the airport and we were all lulled into thinking that Perth was not so very cold after all. This was, sadly, misguidance, as we all nearly froze to death the next day. Strangely enough, Perth city was very cold, but the environs, including the parks, were actually quite all right. Think the environs got more sunshine? Hmmm.

We stayed in the city for the weekend, at the Rydges Perth, before moving to the rented bungalow at Joondalup Resort, belonging to SAF.

Mummy and me on King's Street, from where we managed to get quite a good pic of the hotel as the background.

Room at the Rydges. Nice and clean, but no view to speak of, as we were accorded a 3rd floor room which directly faced the adjacent building. Oh well, we got the room at a steal (AUD169 a night), so we couldn't complain.

Breakfast at Miss Maud's the first morning - Steak and mushroom pie! Tasted great, but helping was very small.

At the Perth Mint. Papa rates this the 2nd most disappointing visit of our trip. We got to watch gold pouring, which was quite fascinating, but the exhibit itself was really small, and totally not worth the AUD15. And what's more, you weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the building, for security reasons.

Ah Gu suggested we go to Leederville for dinner. We were lucky that there was no queue at Siena's, which served gorgeous pasta at great prices (well, for Perth it was cheap!). The carbonara was FANTASTIC.

Phuket Escapade 30 May - 2 June

So Papa and Mummy had this bright idea when they went to this talk organized by Marriott Vacation Club, which was how we came to be on a plane to Phuket on 30 May. They took up an offer by MVC for a 4D3N stay at Marriott Mai Khao Beach, for USD499. For a two bedroom suite that sleeps 8, it was a very good deal. After two months of anticipation, we finally got on the plane to Phuket.

The Clairester on the plane (not in a very good mood because the flight was at 8.15am in the morning!)

View of the pathetic swimming pool from our 2-bedroom suite on the 5th floor - yup, that's the ENTIRE pool. Sad right.

Papa and Ah Gong competing to inflate my mushroom float while i enjoyed an afternoon snack.

Grinning evilly at the thought of the two slaves at my disposal (see pic above)

They had a DVD player there. Mummy brought my favourite Hi-5 disc (the one I call Hi-5 xing!) and Elmo VCD along, but she needn't have bothered, because there's PLAYHOUSE DISNEY! Here I am camped out in front of the TV in our bedroom (flat-screen somemore, don't pray pray)

You didn't think I'd go anywhere without Pi, did you? :P

Self-entertaining with crayons and paper while the family relaxed at a massage centre in the middle of Central Festival Market - the biggest shopping mall in Phuket (I think). I've been drawing circles for months now, and I even try to draw faces sometimes (but of course if I didn't explain to you that this was a face you wouldn't be able to tell).

Watching the sunset at the beach (yup, you guessed it - another one of Papa's artistic/journalistic attempts!)

Mummy and me - on the way home... so fast...

Making myself comfy on TR153....

Self-entertainment because we couldn't afford a plane with inflight entertainment system - hiaks hiaks hiaks.

Review of Marriott Mai Khao: Obviously a spillover resort for the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa (which by the way was way bigger and had a far nicer and bigger pool). Very limited facilities (but the breakfast at the restaurant was good). The room itself was very nice; they had everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) you could think of within the room, including your own washing machine and dryer, ironing board, microwave oven, coffee maker, so many kitchen utensils that we couldn't even recognize some of them. Location was far from ideal however; we had to hire a private driver to take us everywhere because there simply wasn't any other cheaper way to get out.