Perth - Day 2

Mooiness is a slave driver!
For Day 2, we were meant to leave the house by 8am!! Though I managed to wake up by 8am, I blame the sleeping like a pig 'Good Fren' for the delay. Think we only managed to get to McDees for breakfast at 9am! Late by 1 whole hour!!

After a relatively short drive, we arrived in Swan Valley. The sky was threatening to rain all the while, but it held up.
This is one of the larger wineries, Sandalford. That is also where I pressed 'FORMAT' on my DSLR and deleted all my pics from Day 1. =_=


Tour groups packed the retail area for wine tasting.

Parts of the winery had this sour smell of wine. 'Good Fren' didn't think much of it, but I was getting high on the vapor. =P

Care for a romantic outdoor wedding at a vineyard?!
*fainted*


If weddings are not your cuppa/glassa (ho ho!), pose with a glass (slightly) full of wine.


While I was trying to give instructions to Mooiness and 'Good Fren' on the picture composition, the vineyard staff went,"So where do I stand? Here?!" =)))

We brought these 2 bottles back. Had to stuff them in the suitcase, and wrapped with loads of clothes and stuff.

Who says I is small compared to the tractor?!!


Like that leh?! I is big big big!!

(Btw, the top was bought on Day 1. I only brought 1 top for going-out change and 1 t-shirt for sleep. Hence, I had to buy something. Hee Hee Hee...)

Next stop/door, Conifer Estate... A boutique winery.


The drive in was short but exciting!!


Most of the wines here are named after fishes.
The wine brand? Fish Tail!!


Bought 2 more bottles and the shop keeper offered to take a pic of us. This pic is nice, but a closer look reveals a shocking moment. *gasp*

Public display of affection?!! Tsk Tsk Tsk...

After 2 wineries, we were actually ahead of schedule!! Mooiness had overestimated the attention span of 2 Singaporean urbanites.
ENOUGH OF THE SUBURBS OREDI!! LET'S GO!!!

On our way to see some atas housing (one of my many requests), someone fell asleep quietly in the back seat.


These houses at East Perth really remind me of Robertson Quay. I like!!!


Mooiness said people who can afford these houses probably worked a lot more, e.g. than 10 hours a day.
Erm... Isn't that like... NORMAL in Singapore?!!!!

After jumping and continuously exclaiming aloud how much I liked the area, Mooiness rolled us into his Ah Beng car and we were headed for a yuppie lunch at Subiaco.
And I kept saying my newfound pet phrase,

"IT'S PRETTY FLASH!!"

Until Mooiness said I was over-using it. HAHA!!!

On our way there, Mooiness pointed out a chiobu at the traffic light. But because I was too slow... I only managed to get her hood. Sorry guys... She was cute! Asian!


The streets gone more urban. These little buildings are similar those I saw a couple of years ago in Sydney and Melbourne.


Finally, we got to the Subiaco Hotel which is... not a hotel. Huh?!


Mooiness found a parking lot. And here you get a fuzzy glimpse of his Ah Beng Nissan Skyline which says MOOI on the plates. He even has those big-ass speakers and this ridiculous subwoofer thing in the boot. (So big that he had to use his folks' car to send us to airport at the end of the trip!) So you get the idea...


Mooiness brought us to this atas restaurant for lunch. It's really lovely!!


These lights are DIYed and I got slighted for taking pics of them by one of the waitresses!

Mooiness had some seafood/fish thing with truffles, 'Good Fren' had the veal, and I ordered the risotto and went for an extra order of CHEESE!!!
All were yummy, especially the cheese. Comforting...

Btw, if you have noticed my hat, it's 'Singapore' tourism product which I got at the SPC petrol station opposite Gallery Hotel a couple of nights before the trip. In fact, I bought 2 Singapore Tourism hats. You will see the other one in Day 3. =)))


After lunch, we walked around the area a little.


For a city with a population of 1.5 million, they sure have many bookstores. Here's one of the many I saw over the 3 days.
Can you spot the old lady store keeper amidst the books? I imagine this is what I will be doing when I get to her age.


We got back into the car and drove to (Mooiness!! What's the name??), where we saw another bookstore.


More chio houses!! YEAH!! IT'S PRETTY FLASH!!! =)))


Mooiness informed us that the train system is built on trust that the commuter will pay without having someone watching/erection of gantry. *GASP* Is that even possible?!


Check this out! These houses look like a set in the Truman Show!


We finally made it to South Perth, where this is a huge park and some really nice residences with a wonderful view of the Perth city line. In Perth, we saw so much sky. It's something I'm not very used to because the Singaporean Sky is usually significantly framed by buildings and street lamps, and not so blue.


Very leisurely...



When I was trying to arrange the 2 boys for this pic, Mooiness said,"FASTER!!! I look stupid!!!"

HAHAHAHAAH!!! Funny what!!

On our way home, Mooiness acceded to another of my weird requests, i.e. to go to Freedom. So, we found our tired little selves at Garden City, waiting for a quick shot of caffeine.


I expected an IKEA-sized store but Freedom turned out to be rather small. The range is something between IKEA and IWANNAGOHOME, with overlaps. Price is as such too.


Great place to get inspired.

After a quick of Freedom (no further pics of Garden City, coz digicam batt went flat), we went home for a short nap.

2 hours later, Mooiness was pushing his Ah Beng Car with 2 hungry people in it towards Ethnic Town. Another pet phrase of the trip,

"I'M VERY HUNGRY!!"

These little buildings would be worthy of conservation status if they were in Singapore.


We were having dinner with Father and Mother Ooi at this Vietnamese restaurant!!


Here you see Father Ooi holding the themos full of Chinese tea.


Between 'Good Fren' and me, we had 4 drinks. 3 were mine?! =))

The wine was a Fish Tail from the vineyard earlier that day! YUMMY!!


After the enjoyable dinner, Mooiness drove us out of Ethnic Town. Huh?? I thought we were gonna spend the rest of the night in that area, i.e. check out the chionging scene?


Nope... Not before we visit the ultra modern and beautiful Kings Park!!


Check out the view of Perth City!!!
This little viewing niche was designed to frame the view perfectly.


I like the way the trees are lit in various colours. Makes the long corridor of trees the centre of attraction.

We saw many people all sprawled out on the grass and enjoying the cool evening with their families. Also, there were Hen Night groups, a wedding etc. An old fireman truck drove past, making loads of noise with the bell and probably drunk people. Mooiness said the truck was for rent! Cool.

After spending some time exploring the park, its trees, the atas apartments along side the park etc, we made our way back to Ethnic Town for alcoholic relief.

Mooiness brought us to Brass Monkey (which demanded for ID and so we had to bring our passports around).


Amidst loads of wines, we found something familiar!!

Tiger, being a foreign beer, is really rather expensive there!! From exotic Southeast Asia mah!!

After the beer, we embarked on a walkabout within Ethnic Town, and came to a portion which was exceedingly littered. Hence, we were in the Chinese bit of Ethnic Town. =_=

I've been to quite a few Chinatowns in different bits of the world, and in the general, they tend to be dirtier and messier when compared with the rest of the respective cities. I wonder why...

These are Singaporean restaurants in it.



It's quite convenient that the chionging places are together with the ethnic enclaves because the latter provided late night eats. This part of Perth is unusually bustling.

Check out the queue outside the Library!


This is where Mooiness likes to frequent. We didn't go in though.

Didn't manage to take a pic, but there was this bus with loads of rowdy and drunk people jumping and shouting in it that went round and round within this area. The bus, I guess, is part of the scene.

Whenever many people come together, there is always law and order enforcement presence.


Mooiness tells us that this vehicle belongs to the aboriginal volunteers who patrol the area at night to keep young aborigines off the streets and out of trouble.
Cool concept!


By then, we were so damn tired. Been walking and walking for many many hours. Aching legs demanded to be horizontal. So we headed home.

A great day with lots to see.
We felt tired, but satisfied.