MY BABY FOOTSTEPS

8th December 2012:
Day Eight (Perth – Singapore), Home-sweet-home…

And it’s our last day in Perth.  After checking out, we headed down to Swan Valley for a short walkabout.

And it was really luck that today, there was an unscheduled bell-ringing demostration at the Swan Bells!

And that meant we get to have a go at it too!!!  I didn’t know bell-ringing needed much technique, but after trying my hands at it, I realised it wasn’t as simple as just pulling a rope.  You had to know WHEN to pull back each time to make the clapper ring the bell!

They even have a tiny baby bell for the tiny hands to DIY.  And at the end of it, you get a certificate to prove you actually rang the Swan Bells!!!

After having a go at it… and then watching and listening to the volunteers ring a whole melody, we toured the whole Bell Tower, before heading to Fremantle’s…

The Roundhouse, the oldest public building in the State of Western Australia.

It is now a museum, showing you how life was when it was used as a prison… and also gives a marvellous view of the Swan River.

Pretty much a touch and go before we moved off to the E Shed Markets.

Compared to our first day when we reached after it had closed, the market was much more active this time.  It being December, they have free kids craft stations where the girl could choose and paint and christmas tree ornament and bring home!  We continued to walk around a bit more, trying to spend our last aussie dollar on little knick knacks… before rushing back to the airport and await for our flight home.

Have I ever mentioned that I really love Christmas?    Even the plane has christmas wreaths!

And very fast, our Australia holiday has ended and we’re ten thousand feet up in the air, heading back home.

So we went to Australia from 1st to 8th December… but I only managed to finally find time to rush all these blogs out to capture the memories, lest we forget.  Not so much of my girl, but more so for me.  It’s been 2 months since our holiday, and the little one can still remember the little things we did together, including touching the wombat on its legs… feeding the rabbits… chasing the sheep out from their pen… and her favourite ending phrase is always – “Let’s go Australia again!”

Oh yeah.  I’d like to go back to Australia again too soon.    I just need to make sure I don’t go during summer when the flies are everywhere… and if I really do, I’ll be sure to bring my Aussie Fly Swatter again.

—————

P/S:  I can’t believe it took me 2 months to write about our holidays.  Either I need to be a bit more efficient, or I need to nag the husband to keep his promise of sharing the blogging load.    No double checking to make sure I’m coherent… and definitely no double checking to make sure my tenses / grammar / vocab was perfect.  No excuses really, except I really want to pen all these down before my notorious memory fails me further.  Well, 2 months from our last holiday, and I’m already wondering where’s our next getaway.   Hopefully next time I’ll be able to log down our family’s memories way sooner than this! 

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore

7th December 2012:
Day Seven (Perth), overnight stay at Mont Clare Boutique Apartments.

As if we didn’t have enough outback adventure during our farmstay at Margaret River… we headed to the Caversham Wildlife Park!

Perfect planning by the daddy brought us here in time to catch the Animal Farm Show!

Saw how they shear the sheep’s wool…

… such that once completed, it’s all still in one huge piece that you can buy and put in your living room as a huge carpet!

Then they taught you how to crack a whip.  Look who’s game enough to try it out!

After the show which included a demostration of billycan swinging (like we’ve seen by Neil in Day 4), sheepdogs rounding up the herd, kids bottle feeding baby lambs (like Yahn did in Day 4 at the Sunflower Farm) etc… we headed down to test out the sheared wool.  “Mommy, it’s so soft like my pillow!”

And then finally some new experience….

… the little girl milked a cow!!!   Well, at least now she knows and sees where milk comes from (apart from mommies).

Then it’s off to get acquainted with more Australia’s native animals…

A wombat!!!    Till this date (Feb 2013 that I’m finally writing this post ), she can still remember we took a picture with a wombat and she held on to his legs!  (And that’s really cos we were told we could ONLY touch its legs cos he’s not really happy touched anywhere else, especially his whiskers!)

And a possum, fast asleep in the park warden’s arms!

And this, is a blue-tongued skink!  I didn’t think I’d be so happy to have taken a picture of this reptile, until we went home and saw in one of her books about this very same species and the girl remembered! 

And of course… all kids love rabbits.  Unlike the Sunflower Farm experience in Day 5, these rabbits were much friendlier, coming right up to eat from your hands!

I guess it was because they only allowed kids to enter the enclosure, and asked for you not to pick them up.  Those at Sunflower Farm were probably chased and grabbed so often that they were overly traumatised and wouldn’t go anywhere near any kids.  All the more better for us.  See how happy the girl was just doing her feeding duty.

And to a donkey too!  I was kindof worried that the donkey would chomp down on her tiny hands… But thankfully these animals seem to be well-trained to “not bite the hand that feeds it”.    But no matter, I’m not letting her try it again cos this donkey’s breath stinks!  PHOOEY!  I grabbed my daughter to wash and scrub her hands immediately after.

But there’s so much more to see in the park… like this peacock that’s strutting off showing his feathers.

And finally… a KOALA!  And I’ll have you know these koalas are super VIPs.  They are on rotating shifts to be patted.  And you can ONLY pat them on their back, with the back of your hands.  AND, you CANNOT touch the leaves… cos once you leave a scent on these leaves, the fussy eaters would not eat them anymore.  Talk about VIP treatment…

And a kookabura!  My first time seeing it too!  And because of this, I started singing the Kookabura song to my daughter who picked it up immediately.    … … to the point that she’d ask to sing it now and then, out loud in public.

I would probably be super embarrassed in the past trying to hold a tune in public.  But now that I’m a mom of a 3-year-old, singing songs while walking amidst strangers seems so natural to me now.    Bringing up my daughter, truly brings out the child in me too.

After a short muffin-tea-party, we headed into the kangaroo enclosure, where kangaroo feed was provided for you to feed them.  (How thoughtful. )

You can feed them… and pat them…

And even see mommy kangaroo with a joey in her pouch!!!  (can you see the baby’s head popping out from under the mommy? )

Here, the girl was trying to boss the kangaroo around, telling her to eat the one I was holding instead of eating off the ground.

By the time we left the park, it was probably around 2pm.  WAYYY past lunchtime.

So we brought her to MacDonalds where she finished her burger and fries so fast that she was allowed to go run around in the connected playground while the parents sit and rest a little, while thinking of where to go next.

And that brought us to Kings Park and Botanic Garden.

Our nice little family of three.

Doing simple and silly things, but truly enjoying our time together.

The park was HUGE!

With so much empty space to run around… So while the daddy took bird’s eye view pictures of Perth from way up here, the mommy and daughter went fluttering around the park like butterflies.   Didn’t I already say my daughter brings out the child in me?

And cos the whole botanic garden was so HUGE, we had to drive in between places.  One of those we went to, was the DNA tower.

The daddy and the daughter went up… and of course I HAD TO stay down so I can take pictures for them right? 

And after they went up and had a quick look, with the daughter clinging on to the daddy cos she’s truly scared of heights, they came back down and off we drove to the next spot, Synergy Parkland.

A playground…

… a nice pond with ducks swimming and flying about…

… and huge animal structures like this giant crocodile… and of course, friends to make and play with.    We’re glad we forgo the shopping for a more relaxed sightseeing at the park. 

And cos the girl didn’t nap the whole afternoon, by the time we returned back to our apartment, she was totally exhausted and knocked out.

So mommy me started taking pictures of the car…

… and all the flies that it crashed into and killed while we travelled all around South West Australia.  Amazing.  I’ve never seen such a sight… Flies, mosquitoes, and even dragonflies!  I feel sorry for the car rental company who has to help wash it up after we return it. 

Despite trying to wake the girl up for dinner at a nearby Singaporean / Malaysian restaurant for some chinese cuisine, she growled at me and remained stuck in dreamland.  So we decided to just eat and pack some back to the apartment for her.

Maybe the whole week of travelling and touring really took too much of her… cos that whole night, she hardly ate… and was like a slug stuck to the couch, watching christmas movies on the telly…

Either that, or the DNA genes inherited from ONE of the parents suddenly amplified itself on this very night.

Next day…

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore

6th December 2012:
Day Six (Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth), overnight stay at Mont Clare Boutique Apartments.

And then it’s finally back to Perth.

Checked out of The Sebel and headed down to Penguin Island before that to… well, see penguins! Throughout our Australia trip, we have pretty much met all the animals we’ve promised the girl, except penguins.

So we  bought our tickets, and waited for the ferry…

… including a glass-bottom boat tour to hopefully see more than the usual!

Alas, it was mainly just seaweed and sea-grass… Not very exciting, but at least a little cruise to get the girl all excited and eager to see what animals she could find!

The water was so clear that the husband said next time we come back, we should really try to snorkel here.    — That sounds like an invitation to return to Australia soon?

That’s Penguin Island, viewed from afar.  All those caves used to be abode for the natives.  Nice huh… seafront view.

And finally some activity… or at least inactive animals sighting. Sea lions sun-tanning on the shore.

The ship master tried to bring us around to see if we can have any dolphins sighting, or seals, or any other animals at all.  But today was not our day.  After our boat ride, we headed back to shore to see the penguins in captivity in the little museum.

These are really there just so you can at least leave Penguin Island having seen at least some little penguins.

These are fairy penguins, and they are the smallest of the penguins species. They had this huge poster of the Penguins line-up, and my girl went along to join the queue.

But the daddy isn’t happy just seeing the captive penguins so we walked around the island in search of the wild fairy penguins.  We walked far out towards the caves, hoping to find some there… but no luck.

And finally we saw this group of guys staring into the bushes.  And being the curious us went up to kaypoh… only to have the guy say “It’s only just penguins…”.  Is he crazy??? That’s what we’ve been searching for!!!  So the daddy took his DSLR, maxed out the zoom capabilities of his lens, saw a sparkle of what could be the penguin’s eyes…. and SNAP!

WILD PENGUINS!!!  They are really good at hiding cos we would not have found them otherwise.  And I have no idea how the nonchalant guy saw them in the first place.  The hideout was dark and there was no tell-tale signs of the residents inside.

But we were happy.    Especially the daddy who declared our Penguin Island adventure complete.    So we headed off to the picnic area for a strawberry biscuit tea party. It’s really just snacking… but if we term it as a tea party, the daughter’s excitement level kindof tripled, so why not right?

And guess who came along for lunch!  The whole island was infested with this lizard! Yikes!  And this was really how close they would get to you just to have a bite of your picnic… If you look at the angle of the photograph taken, you would have guess me and the daughter climbed all the way up to the tabletop to escape these reptiles…

And we went back to shore.

Where the girl finished the burger for lunch… just so she could have a go at the playground beside.  You would have thought she would be bored of all the playgrounds we have seen on this trip… but nope.  Somehow, kids just gravitate towards a play structure and sand pits and stuff.  Here she was, playing “house” with the dad… scooping up sand and letting it fall, saying they were snow! 

But we were behind our kindof-schedule to set off for the long ride back to Perth.  We had wanted to check out Perth for some walkabout and shopping!

And perhaps it was always a good idea to give in when the girl asks to spend all her remaining energy on the playground cos we had a long quiet ride back to Perth, where we found our apartment – Mont Clare Boutique Apartments!  It was HUGE!  The daddy got us a 2-bedroom unit cos the 1-bedroom was fully booked.  It has a full kitchen… INCLUDING A DISHWASHER and a WASHING MACHINE!!!

But we remembered Australia kindof shuts down very early, so we headed out to catch the shops before they closes, and hopefully find dinner too!

Took the free perth city bus that moves around the city center.  For a while I was in doubt.  Are you sure the buses are free?!?!

But they truly are.  I guess this was how the government encourages people to take public transport instead of hogging the roads with their private cars?  I was going to say maybe Singapore should do this too…. but then I remembered our public buses are private owned, out to earn huge profit margins, and worse – even though they are not free, they are already packed to the brim.  So I don’t think we need more encouragement to get people to take the public transport, until they actually have more space on the buses first.

Mom and Dad wants to find a nice place to sit down for dinner.  But the daughter got fixated about the water fountain.  She came up to me and ask me where her swimsuit was… and asked if she could go in and join the other kids running around inside.

Yes… I spoil my girl too much.  While I really didn’t have her swimsuit, I asked the Daddy if he would bring her in.  See, the fountain was actually just along the perimeter of squares, so she could actually just avoid the water fountain as long as she the daddy calculated their moves properly.

And yes, the lucky girl is spoilt by her daddy too cos there they went inside…

See how happy the little one was?  And what I meant by them being able to avoid getting wet?

She had so much fun that she kept going on and on and on….

… and on and on… until she got herself wet from all the stray splashes. 

And that’s when she finally agreed to say goodbye and let the mommy “attempt” to shop.  But alas, the shops close too early!!!  It’s summer, for goodness sakes.  But nope.  By 7pm, most of the shops are closing.  In fear of not finding a restaurant that might be open with available seats, we rushed into the supermarket to quickly grab canned soup again before grudgingly making our way back…

And along the way we saw the London Court!  But again, the shops were closed.  The whole walkabout this evening only gave us sufficient time to buy our dinner back.

CHUNKY canned soup… baked beans… instant noodles… and mash potatoes.

To be honest, all these self-cooked dinner was saving quite a bit of our money – not our intention, but rather the shops are closed super early here!  And though this was our 6th day in australia, we’re still not complaining about all these canned soup for dinner (pretty much cos we didn’t have much of a choice).  Plus, the daddy should know better than to complain about the state of dinner, knowing full well any such comment / complaints would result in him being tasked to do a much better job than the above.

Next day…

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore

5th December 2012:
Day Five (Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah), overnight stay at The Sebel.

Woke up this morning and started missing this place already.  Cos this morning we’ll be checking out of the farmstay and start heading back up towards Perth. 

And as we were eating our breakfast and doing our last bit of packing, the peacock and the hen came by to say goodbye…

Okay, I think they were more like looking for food, cos my daughter was munching on a piece of bread and these two probably thought she might want to share her food.

But nope.  Not today.  Apparently these animals are only fed like every alternate days to make sure they don’t get too fat… or maybe the main reason was really to make them hungry enough to be friendlier during the actual feeding sessions.

The girl was surrounded.    The hen at the door and the peacock at the window.  But the oblivious girl probably really thought they were really coming to say goodbye and finished her bread innocently.

And after loading up the car and setting off, we decided to make a stop at another farmstay before leaving Margaret River for real.  We headed off to Sunflower Animal Farm which was more popular cos there are many more animals and activities.  We had actually wanted to book it for our farmstay, but it was full.  Nonetheless, Margaret River Hideaway which we stayed at was superb so we’re not really complaining.

We were one of the first few visitors to arrive.  $9 per person’s entry.  Once we reached, we bought this huge bucket of vegetables all for $3.  And right at the entrance, the girl started her feeding duty with the rabbits.

They had kangaroos too!

And geese…

… and chicken…

… and a whole pen full of free-roaming rabbits!!!  You have no idea how much effort it took for the daddy to grab this black rabbit just so the daughter could pat it.  And when the daughter requested to carry it, the rabbit put up a MEGA HUGE fight until the daddy gathered several long and deep scratches down his forearm.

The daughter probably felt quite guilty cos after that she kept checking her daddy’s wound and asking if he’s okay.  And never once more did she ask the daddy to catch a rabbit for her to pat.

At 10am was the bottle feeding…

… and the girl had a go at feeding both the lamb and the kid.

After several rounds around the huge area to feed, pat and explore, we finally finished the huge bucket of vegetables (feed) and head back out.  And that’s when we saw the huge incubator for the baby chicks.

And the little ones were so young and fragile that I told the girl to be careful with them… and she practically FROZE as she carried them, totally afraid to drop or hurt them.

And oh… Australia, Australia.  There was a playground everywhere we went.  So although we had planned to start our drive back up towards Perth upon leaving the Sunflower Farm, the little one insisted she’ll be quick at the playground and insisted on going at the swings before agreeing to be locked in the carseat for another few hours.

Totally having a great time as the mommy worried if the whole see-saw could hold her weight!

And when she finally agreed to move off, we drove down to Busselton Jetty to check out the Underwater Observatory.  The jetty is supposedly the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere… 1.8km along, and would take about 25 minutes to complete…

… so no wonder there was a jetty train to bring us from shore all the way to the end of the jetty, where the underwater observatory was.

A nice little town with… is that a lighthouse in the background?  Apparently they organise quite a lot of activities here including IRONMAN (an Asia-Pacific triathlon – cos they were preparing the beach and sand for the competition).

Check out how happy the girl was to be on a choo-choo, with the wind blowing in her face.  Could you believe she threw a MEGA tantrum JUST before we boarded the train?

And this painting gave the perfect illustration of the Underwater Observatory.  You basically take the stairs all the way down, stopping at each stairs landing to look out of the glass panels to see the fishes that could swim by (if you were lucky).

Alas, we were quite out of luck.  All we were were some crabs, pufferfish, and other fishes and of course corals on the stilts.  *bummer*

So as we made our way back out to wait for the train to bring us back to mainland, the girl took this truck for those coin-operated rides and started amusing herself as we sat in wait.

And finally the train has returned to pick us up, brought us back to mainland where we had quite an expensive yet very yummy meal at The Goose Restaurant.  So hungry were we (cos it was way past lunch time), that we kindof tucked in and forgot to do the very Singaporean thing of taking pictures of the food before devouring it.

And as usual, as with the rest of the trip, in between stops where we have a long 2+ hour ride, the girl will knock out in the car… on me.  We actually did rent a child-seat for her, but most of the time, she could only sleep either on my lap, or just like the picture above.  I know it was probably against the law… but the child-seat was super uncomfy and there was no way the girl could or would be willing to nap.  And yes, I’m the horrible mom who couldn’t say no to a tired and grouchy daughter who just wants to be cuddled to sleep.

And we finally reached our hotel for the night – The Sebel at Mandurah.  Sadly, this one doesn’t have a drive-up parking.  So the whole family gets to work shifting our luggages, including the daughter who claims “I’m SOOOO strong!!!” as she pulls her own luggage up to our room.

No time to waste… after we dropped our bags, we headed off in search of CHINESE FOOD!  After many nights of canned soup and TV dinners, I saw from the guidebook that there was a chinese restaurant nearby so I insisted for some noodles and soup.

And we found ourselves at Hans Cafe!  It was probably not the Din Tai Fung or Crystal Jade quality… but after nearly a week of non-chinese, even my girl was CRAZY for fishball noodles!  In fact, she ate a good 3/4 of that bowl of noodles up there!

And since we are already here, we decided to walk around and enjoy the nice cool night breeze…

… take some nice shots of the bay…

… and even play make-believe at the various statues in the courtyard of the theatre there.

I would never have thought my daughter would be so tickled by a giant loud-speaker… or a giant picture frame… or just running around an empty courtyard.  Either she’s in a really good mood that night, or she’s just a much happier baby in nice cool weather.  But her joy is contagious.  We all had a superb time just running around and shouting into the pretend loud-speaker to the amused looks of bystanders.

Next day…

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore

4th December 2012:
Day Four (Margaret River), overnight stay at Margaret River Hideaway.

Woke up bright and early cos we have got duties to do this morning!

Was this what the tree stump right outside our apartment was for?  Regardless, both daddy and daughter found good use for it.

Our super nice and cosy apartment…

… with the carport right at the entrance.   In fact after staying at these past few accommodation with drive-up parking, i’m kindof spoilt and expecting it now.  Perfect for lazy people like me. 

We started our morning farm activities with chasing the sheep and lamb etc out of their “sleeping” pen into… another “day” pen (I dunno. Was too busy trying to help the princess remove sand from her shoes *sigh*).

And then we moved off to the ox pen to chase it out.  It’s crazy!!!  Kids were just shouting and waving their hands in the air and chasing after this huge bull and I was freaking out cos what made them think the ox won’t turn around and start a bullfight?  The other mothers with me probably had the same idea cos they started screaming their teenagers back before accidents happen.

But thank goodness this ox was probably trained to just head out to feed and leave the humans pretty much alone.  Here’s the girl holding the bucket to feed it, and the farm owner holding the horns and pulling it back a short while later so other people can have a go.   In the same way, we fed the emu too (though the daddy didn’t manage to take a picture of the girl laughing away at how the long emu’s neck came over for the bucket.

She had a go at feeding the geese… the chicken… the ducks…

… the lamb… the sheep… the goats…

… and the alpaca too!  My brave little girl wasn’t scared of any of these animals… but she was REALLY PISSED at the flies buzzing around her.  Sigh… lesson learnt.  Shall not travel to Australia during summer anymore.

Nonetheless, the happy trooper is still really happy to be on a holiday out in the wild!    (Either that or she’s really happy with the Hello Panda biscuits in her hands )

So after sweating it out being a farmer’s helper for the day… which really only involves feeding the various farm animals, we washed up a little and started our little tour around Margaret River which includes visiting the Silkworm Factory…

Here’s mommy explaining the process of extracting silk from the cocoon…

… and the girl testing the silk. “Yes, it’s very soft!”

And of course the Margaret River Chocolate Co.!

The amazing thing is… FREE TASTING!  These huge bowls of white, milk and dark chocolate bits are for us to grab and eat as we walk around the shop.  It’s as good as chocolate buffet!!!

They have a viewing gallery for us to see how they make the yummy chocolates… and the mommy is salivating too.

 ”Mommy, I want this one please!”

And of course when you ask nicely like that, you kindof get anything from your over-doting parents.

We walked off a happy family, with a bag of purchase of Margaret River Chocolates… (except they all melted in Australia’s summer heat!!!)

And then it was super late.  Searched around the Margaret River map for a nearby eatery and found ourselves at Bootleg Brewery.

It’s outdoor dining, but under shelter, it was still nice and breezy.  And the amazing thing??  Even though there were flies abound in summer, they somehow stayed in the sun, and hence left us alone and happy enjoying our lunch under the huge pavilion.  Here’s us looking at the photos the little girl took on her camera, while the daddy went to get food.

And here’s what we had.  Fish and chips, a burger… and apple cider!  And honestly, this tasted so much better!  And maybe that’s why we didn’t share with the girl.

And she ate her lunch so fast because right next to the restaurant was this playground that served as the best encouragement to finish her lunch top speed.  And our Miss Congeniality went ahead and made friends with just a snap of her fingers and off the two kids went around playing like they were the best of friends!

And the funniest thing was my girl would shout “KOR KOR (Big Brother in Chinese), WAIT FOR ME!!!” …  And the boy probably didn’t understand whatever my girl was refering to.

That’s her running across the open fields, barefooted…  so carefree… I almost shouted at her to put on her shoes before running barefooted, but in the end decided to let her be.  We’re on a holiday and she’s totally enjoying herself.  She doesn’t need a mommy to start preaching about safety at this point of time…   (Just need to pray there’s no dangerous items lying around that shouldn’t be there).

After lunch and a huge workout at the playground, the girl fell asleep in the car.  We made a stop at the Mammoth Caves, thinking we’ll just walk around and let the girl sleep through it… except she felt the sudden chill of the caves and woke up, refusing to miss out any fun.

We had wanted to head to the Jewel Caves initially, but in view of the lack of time, we headed to this one which was stated to have a shorter walking time to self-tour.  And while we were informed right at the entrance that there’ll be a long flight of steps at the exit that if we didn’t want to tackle, we can walk back out from the entrance… we kindof overestimated ourselves.

Cos the long long long flight of steps were probably like straight up from the bottom of the caves up till about 5-7 storeys high!  No joke for the mommy who was unfit to begin with… much less carrying a 12+ kg daughter.  And even when the husband took over, my heart was screaming in protest at the sudden exertion!

And we were really in a rush cos we have booked ourselves a kangaroo safari tour and we didn’t want to miss the ride!

*PHEW* we made it! Cos I’d be really upset if we paid for it, and miss the tour cos to-date, we’ve still not seen a single kangaroo that we’ve promised the daughter! (minus those lying dead by the roadside from roadkill…)

WOAH! A treat!  We came for a kangaroo safari… but cos the owner of the safari needed some photos taken with his horses, the girl got to feed one up close!

Check out her look of accomplishment.

So Neil McLeod, our guide through this kangaroo safari, actually owns this whole piece of land.  And on it, he has his horses…

… free-ranging kangaroos (some with their joeys in their pouch)….

… their gorgeous house with two pet pigs!!!

And a nice surprise!  As part of the tour, Neil threw in a picnic along a nice brook.

He started a nice fire to make coffee and tea for us…

… and even showed us the traditional Australian billy!  I’m not so sure whether the water was meant to spill out… but the main purpose of swinging the billy was to get the tea leaves to the bottom of the billycan!  Truly an outback experience.

And then Neil brought us for a short trek to show us the Australian grass trees.  According to Neil, these trees only grow 2.5cm per year… which means this tree behind us is probably several million years old!!!

And this is truly cute.  All in the group went to take a picture with this “split grass tree”.  And how could my daughter miss out on the fun right?

If you are in Margaret River, check him out cos I understand from other families in the tour group that Neil would actually drive down to Perth Airport to pick you up and drive you down and around Margaret River too!  We had him only for a 3+ hour kangaroo safari tour and we think he’s fantastic.

After ending our tour, we went grocery shopping again… and we were tickled at how we need to surrender our car keys as deposit to get the kiddo trolley, whereas the adult-sized ones are free.  (The reverse is true in Singapore where you need to deposit a dollar into the adult-sized trolleys, but the kid-sized ones are available free at Jelita Cold Storage).

Bought a huge carton of water for the rest of our roadtrips, and canned food for our dinner.  And it’s really great how at this age, the little girl wants to help out in everything including pushing the purchases to the cashier, and loading them up onto the conveyor belt.  I just hope the day she starts filling up the shopping cart with all the sweets and chocolates by herself doesn’t come so soon, if ever at all.

And here’s our dinner!  Yummy canned soup that my fussy pot agreed with.   — *phew!*

Next day…

Trip itinerary: 

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River 
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore 

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore

3rd December 2012:
Day Three (Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River), overnight stay at Margaret River Hideaway.

We checked out early but instead of leaving the estate, we took a nice leisurely walk around admiring the estate…

Our bungalow looked like that on the left, on stilts.  Quite rustic and basic with a full kitchen (+fridge and microwave) if we should decide to cook our own dinner.  The bed was quite comfy too, though a little tight for a family of 2+1 to squeeze into (and that’s really cos of my daughter’s terrible sleeping habits).

So we walked around capturing the beauty of nature in photos.  Really love the shot above with the morning sun peeping out through those stormy clouds… the small patch of blue in the sky… the birds in the air… the silvery reflection in the lake… the green grass… and of course, the daddy and the daughter enjoying each other’s company.

The daddy obviously had the same thought as me as he went about doing the same… except his subject focus was mainly on his precious daughter…

… and I must say, he did manage to get several great shots!   With this place being so close to beautiful nature, no wonder the girl was in such accommodating mood to pose and smile for photos too!

And trust me when I say such moments don’t come very often.    And definitely not with such a gorgeous backdrop.

After we decided to move ahead our day’s itinerary, we loaded ourselves into the car… and this was when the adventurous husband decided to check out this off-terrain road within the estate compound.  He said it was a “trek” listed in the map… And since he was the one who planned the whole trip’s itinerary, who was I to doubt him right???

So he started driving into the wilderness… And as usual the paranoid mommy started worrying, especially so after seeing a sign that stated this area was marked for “BURNING”???  So after a very short drive, we decided to reverse the car out (it was a one-lane trek).  Then we saw a tiny turn-out which we decided to use for 3-point-turning… … … AND THEN WE GOT STUCK!

Like SERIOUSLY STUCK!  The car was backed out halfway down the slope, but could not find a grip on the loose soil to pull back up onto the trek!  The wheels were just getting deeper and deeper entrenched into the soil and nothing worked!  I took over the wheel and the husband went behind to try to push it out… but that came to nothing too!

DOOM… … … We contemplated walking the rest of the way back to the estate to ask for help.  Or even off-loading all our luggages to reduce the weight etc… And when we were ALMOST about to throw the white towel, the ex-taxi-driver’s daughter stared at the wheels, the soil, and had a sudden inspiration.  We quickly calculated the momentum of the wheels’ revolution, the weight of the car, its speed, the soil’s resistance, the available fuel in the tank, etc… … …  Okay, I jest.  But it was true with the sudden inspiration.  I asked the husband for one final try.  Failing which, we’ll really have to shove our pride aside and ask the locals to save us.

Told the husband to stand far far far away… put the car in reverse (falling further down the slope – *gulp*)… braked… took a deep breath… ignored the yakking of the daughter in the car seat… put the car into DRIVE… and just floored the accelerator!  I must have said the fastest prayer in my mind and when the car hacked a little (probably tired out from our multiple tries earlier on)… and then somehow caught onto a grip… and pushed forward and upwards!!!!

Braked hard after the car went back onto the trek (before it knocked into any trees or boulders by the side… or even the husband standing by).  I looked at him in bewilderment.  He stared at me sitting behind the wheel… and we both gave each other a big THUMBS-UP!  (Super drama… but reality drama…)  By this time, we were both perspiring madly.  I was still shaking from all those excitement and relinquished the wheel back to him.  And as we drove out of the wilderness, we congratulated each other for “saving ourselves” and agreed unanimously… “NO MORE OFF-TERRAIN ADVENTURES FOR THE REST OF THIS TRIP!”

So back to the original trip itinerary, driving on proper highway roads of average speed limits 110km/h… and went to the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk.

Walked the suspension bridge which brought us up to the highest point of 40m to look over and down at the tingle trees canopy.  After the car adventure just past, the swaying suspension bridge didn’t help to soothe my nerves.  And it absolutely did not help too when the daughter insisted on being carried – cos she was scared too!

So we took a quick walk across the whole bridge, looking down at the tingle trees, and admiring the various birds species that flew all around the forest… and then we moved on to the Ancient Empire - “a grove of impressive veteran tingle trees. This award winning attraction has won many tourism awards over the years and is in Western Australia’s Tourism Hall of Fame.”

And this was the Grandmother Tingle.  Does it remind anyone of Grandmother Willow from the Disney Cartoon Pocahontas?

The amazing thing about these Tingle Trees, were the ability to continue growing despite the split and hollowed trunk!

This one even had an entrance and exit point… and it’s still very much alive!!!

Spent a good time slowly walking and admiring the tingle trees and other flora and fauna around the grove with the curious little girl who finds fascination in all the flowers in bloom that she had something to say about all of them - well, we don’t have these many species of flowers back in Singapore after all…

And time just flew by so fast that we had to move off on our way towards Margaret River.  Remembering we passed by a Toffee Factory along our drive, we decided to stopover to buy some toffee to chew on the long journey.

And this was what greeted us as we drove in.   Hilarous!

And here we are!  The Toffee Factory, otherwise known as the Elephant Rock Cider Factory.  We have learnt from yesterday, not to tempt the daughter by drinking cider in front of her.   So we moved her outside while the mommy shopped…

… where she made friends with the estate’s dog and guinea pig!  Oh yeah, armed with her trusty weapon – the fly swatter – which she never let go so she could chase those pesky buggers away as she kept herself entertained at this tiny but somehow super entertaining treehouse.

And when she finally could bear to leave, we headed for the Lavender and Berry Farm at Pemberton.  We had hoped to be able to do some berries picking… but alas nothing was in season.

So we just walked around the estate admiring the lemon trees, lavender bushes, alpacas, sheep, ducks etc…

… And the sharp-eyed girl saw, and thus demanded an ice cream!!!

Look at that smug face. 

So we sat down as we ate that ice-cream, admiring the different species of birds that flew into the cafe to eat the breadcrumbs left by the past patrons.  I can only be thankful that the pesky flies that seemed to be EVERYWHERE somehow stayed out in the sun and pretty much left us alone in the shade.  PHEW.  At least we could have our ice-cream in peace.  I quite had enough of the daughter complaining – “Mommy, the flies are all disturbing me!”

After walking around again, we drove off to our accommodation for the night – Margaret River Hideaway.  Once we checked in, the owner brought us to our studio which was a standalone unit with a living area, a small kitchenette, a separate bedroom and bathroom.  But what’s truly amazing was, when we went to our main door, there was a peacock waiting right at our doorstep, as if welcoming us to our farmstay!

After such a long drive, all we wanted to do once we got in, was to kick off our shoes, put on some music, and just chill out on the sofa…  :)

But we didn’t come all the way here to Australia to slack off… so we took a short self-guided tour around the estate… helped chase the sheep back into their pen… before declaring end of day/work…

… and went back to our very inviting studio apartment where the daddy and daughter danced to the hifi as the mommy prepared the canned dinner for the rumbling tummies.   Gotta rest early tonight cos we gotta report early for the next morning’s farm activities!

Next day…

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore

2nd December 2012
Day Two (Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole), overnight stay at Rest Point Holiday Village @ Walpole.

Woke up bright and early this morning to head for Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Center.  The husband said we should really try to reach there early as the dolphins usually appear early in the morning. So by 8.30am we have already washed up, breakfast-ed, checked out, and headed for some dolphins encounter!

After spending some time at the ticketing office wondering whether we should go on a cruise to guarantee at least some dolphins sighting (and then deciding not to to save some money…), we got the entrance tickets which actually allow for 3 visits so you can keep trying your luck if you don’t see any dolphins… or if you want to see them again and again sometime later!

But we needn’t have worried.  Immediately after we bought the tickets and walked in, the whistle started sounding… DOLPHINS SIGHTING!  We rushed to the beach and true enough, two dolphins were making their way inshore! And then the volunteers gave us a briefing… that we had to stand in a row together and move into the sea towards the dolphins so they can come up to us.

SERIOUSLY?! I wasn’t prepared for this. My tour-guide-aka-husband didn’t tell me about this either! And I was wearing my 3/4 cargo pants!  (He said later on that he didn’t think I would be interested to get myself wet so he was prepared to just bring his girl in himself)  HELLO?!?!  I didn’t travel all the way to Perth to sit on the beach while you guys go “hang out” with the dolphins!!!

So into the water we all went… and this was how close the wild dolphins came up to us!!!

We went deep enough until the water reached up to my hips. And my daughter stayed safe and dry in my arms… and my husband the taller one stayed relatively dry, happily taking photos now that he had his hands free… and we totally forgot about his iPhone in his pocket and the electronic car key in mine!!! Yap, we were so excited at seeing the dolphins that we literally dropped our bags, kicked off our shoes, and ran into the water eager to go up close and personal!

Thank goodness the electronic car key still worked else we’ll just be stuck in Bunbury.  As for his iPhone… well, if you were trying to contact him for the period we were away in Australia and can’t get hold of him… you know why now.

As we weren’t prepared to go further out to sea (any deeper and my girl will start getting herself wet too), we made our way back to shore.  That’s when we made our way into the Discovery Center itself to experience the Touch Pool where the girl picked up a sea-star… a star-fish… a sea cucumber…

… and even a sea urchin…

When we were done exploring this small little center, we moved off south towards Donnybrook.  Well, the main reason why this was made a stop in our journey…

Was because of this HUMONGOUS playground – Apple Fun Park!  My daughter saw it and almost went crazy!!!

In… and out… Up… and down… and all around my little one rocketed… Until she really couldn’t stand the summer flies any longer and sulked, “Mommy, the flies are disturbing me!”

So we asked for a final photo moment (and even this had to be coaxed), before moving to our next spot.  We had intended to do some fruit picking here initially… but alas, it being Sunday, nothing was opened.  Not even the Visitor’s Center where we had initially planned to ask for some help on where to go to “Pick-your-own”.

So we decided to try our luck at the Old Goldfields Orchard and Cider Factory which was listed on a travel brochure.  We had no idea what there was… but from the sound of it, maybe fruit picking and watching the production of apple cider???  Well, whatever it was, the fact that they were open on Sunday was good reason enough for us to visit!

And the place was… well, not exactly what we expected.  “Old Goldfields” cos they really had gold mining there ages ago… “Orchard” cos there really is a small fruit orchard at the back, though nothing for picking.  “Cider Factory” cos they have a cafe that sells homemade cider?  But that’s pretty much it.  They do have some farm animals too but not for interaction.  But since we were allowed to roam around the area, we just allowed the girl to pick up some strands of hay and feed the sheep. 

And then the little one saw bees picking nectar from the little flowers on the ground and found that fascinating.   And the mommy found it fascinating that things so simple can bring so much joy into a 3-year old.   Truly simple joys of life.

And since this is, after all a cider cafe…

… we bought a bottle of apple cider to try.  Both of us have not tasted apple cider before (YAP! suaku us), so we decided to lose our “first time” in a cider factory itself…

And my little busy-body daughter demanded to be part of this party too.

She: Mommy! I want some apple juice oh please~~~~~!
Me: This is not apple juice…
She: I want some of this one oh please~~~~~!
Me: This is sour, not yummy. Are you sure you still want?
She: YES YES YES!

So one sip after, she decided she liked it (!!!), and asked for another… and yet another… And then mommy decided it’s more than enough!  A 3-year old drinking alcohol?!?!

No wonder she totally knocked out on the car immediately after.

We moved off to the Old Cheese Factory Craft Center next… and it was even more misleading than the Old Goldfields Orchard and Cider Factory!

I had totally expected to see a cheese factory… or at least perhaps some craft made from cheese… but it was really just a shop that sells furniture, knick-knacks, souvenirs etc.  And the only remnants of the “old cheese factory” were those equipment and cheese boxes outside the shop!

But since we’re here now, we made the best of it… did some shopping while the drunk daughter continued her nap…

… and bought a fly swatter! HAHA!  A great souvenir this summer in Australia with the netting in the shape of Australia’s map…

… and it comes complete with directions on how to use it!  Forehand… Backhand… etc.

After a quick battle with the pesky flies out in the open, we drove down to our next accomodation… Rest Point Holiday Village!

The girl awoke to a great mood once we reached.  And it was a beautiful place!  Kudos to the husband for finding it!  Our “bungalow” faces the lake where this beautiful pavilion sits, with pelicans swimming around…

One of those bungalows in the background is ours!!!

With long summer days, we dropped our bags and decided to take advantage of the sunlight by rushing down for some sightseeing.

It was either the after-effects of the apple cider, or the girl is super happy with her new weapon (aka fly swatter)… cos she was on a mega chirpy mood that whole time!

And the thing that tickled her most were these weeds along the pathway!  So happy was she that mommy picked a few from the ground and gave it to her, which she guarded like treasure for the rest of the day!

And then we moved off closer to the Green Pool, thus named cos… well, the lagoon was kindof emerald green!  Alas we left our bathing suits back in the bungalow so we couldn’t allow the girl into the sea even though the beach was so gentle that she could probably walk into the sea far enough and still keep her knees dry (but we’re not risking it)…

Although it was summer, it was still pretty chilly, which pretty much explains why mommy and daughter were wrapped up in their jackets!  (Mainly cos the mommy was super cold and insisted on wrapping the daughter up too )

Running on the beach together…   I really have to remember it’s really so easy to make my little girl happy. Not the iPad… not the S3… but just spending time together.

Hey Daddy, shall we plan for our next holiday soon?

The Green Pool… but to be honest, the husband actually planned on checking out the Elephant Rocks.  Supposedly named cos they resemble a herd of elephants… So we went trekking a little, and found them on the other end!

Can you make out the “elephants”?

After the family photographer went off to do a quick hike and take more photos while the mommy and daughter hung around playing with the weeds (whatever makes her happy, remember? ), we spent some time walking around admiring the beautiful silvery sunset.

The girl on her favourite royal sedan as we make our way back to the car, and headed off to possibly the only restaurant at the Tree Top Walk Motel that was still opened at 6pm serving dinner.  It was probably the MOST expensive meal we had in Australia…  but it was SO YUMMY that we decided it was totally worth it.

Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, okay?   Plus the fact my daughter finished the whole bowl of soup was testimony and reason enough for us to return for lunch the next day… … only to find out that it doesn’t serve lunch!!!

Anyhow, after a super filling dinner, we drove back to our bungalow by the lake to recharge for another exciting day tomorrow!

Next day… 

Trip itinerary:

Day 1: Singapore – Perth – Fremantle – Bunbury
Day 2: Bunbury – Donnybrook – Walpole
Day 3: Walpole – Pemberton – Margaret River
Day 4: Margaret River
Day 5: Margaret River – Busselton – Mandurah
Day 6: Mandurah – Penguin Island – Perth
Day 7: Perth
Day 8: Perth – Singapore