Perth - day 4

29 January 2012

Anniversary day! We were going to be on the road all day. We had originally planned to drive to Denmark but it seemed tooooo far away (about 400 km from Perth). Also, we were not confident that Xena would be able to last the whole day strapped to a car seat without getting cranky. So we decided to drive to some of the towns in Avon Valley instead, so that we would have multiple stops and things to see along the way. The plan was to cover the towns of Toodyay, Northam and York.

And off we go!

Xena actually took three naps in the car! She doesn't do that even at home. Refreshed from her naps, she was her happy self, singing and entertaining us along the way, with only small periods of crankiness. 

At Toodyay we saw the Coca Cola museum with many many collectible items. We got a Fanta Float at the museum's cafe, and I wondered if we had insulted them by not ordering a Coke float instead... 

There was not much to be done at Northam, so we pretty much just drove past it. 

Next stop was York, and we were hungry!

We found a Chinese place for lunch. 

Viv wondered how such restaurants that primarily cater to tourists make any money at all as there were hardly any tourists. The restaurant owner seemed to have a second job as a freelance designer though as we caught him looking at some sketches and designing a logo on his Macbook after our food had been served. 

Xena was chirpy and happy at lunch. Of course, her lunch, like all her meals, consisted of pumped breastmilk. 

Viv playing with Xena

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After lunch, we hit the road again. I figured that the drives to these places would probably be more scenic in spring or fall, but we did see sheep and horses on the way. 

The people in all the towns were incredibly friendly. I suppose not many tourists stop by so it's a novelty for them.

Once we were back in Perth, Viv suggested that we go back to King's park and check out the Lotterywest Federation Walkway, one of the most popular tourist destinations in King's Park. It's a 620-metre walk over an arched bridge suspended among a canopy of eucalyptus trees. You could walking among the treetops and get spectacular views of the city skyline. Unfortunately for us, the treetop walk section had closed at 5 pm and we were rather late. On the bright side, we would not have enjoyed that walk under the ferocious before-5 pm sun. So we did the rest of the walk, which included an extremely downhill walk, along trees through which the wind was howling. We couldn't go all the way down as the howling wind was scaring Xena. 

The place was unbelievable. A beautiful breeze was flowing, the grass was so green and soft, there was a fountain surprising us every few minutes with a new pattern, and most importantly, it overlooked the Swan River and presented a spectacular view. 

The beautiful view

Check out the thickness of that tree trunk!

We tried to copy the statues in the pond, but failed miserably!

We sat on the grass and had a tiny family picnic.

And because it was the era of no selfies, we used the auto function of our camera to get this family shot. 

Xena was just as happy and chirpy as I was.  

We drove back to our hotel's carpark, and after getting out of the car, encountered the most annoying ass of a guy ever. He was just doing rounds of the carpark, revving his engine and making such a loud noise that it was making Xena cry. As he passed us, I glared at him. He saw me, he saw Xena in her stroller, and revved even louder. Then he drove past us, stuck his head out and yelled "AUSSIE!" I don't even know what the heck that was supposed to mean. He kept going round and round, revving his engine making louder and louder sounds, and we could hear him even when we were outside on the street! Suddenly he came out of the carpark and my heart skipped a beat, wondering if he was following us, intending to run us down or something. He entered an open carpark and did his clown act again, and then finally drove off. It took us a while to get the terrified Xena to stop crying. Grrr. Anyway, that was probably the most unpleasant experience we had in Perth.

30 January 2012

Nothing much happened on this day, except that we flew back to Singapore. So the pictures below are all of the airport. 

Viv playing with Xena

I don't know what he was doing, but it was hilarious. Poor baby though. 

Xena checks out the aeroplanes!

Up, up and awayyyyy!

Overall, it had been a nice vacation. Short and sweet, and it gave us the confidence that we were ready to travel again, but as a family with a kid.

Perth - day 3

28 January 2012


When planning the itinerary, I had looked at several options where we could get a peek at native Australian wildlife. We wanted something small that wouldn't take a day to cover, and something that would give us a chance to get really close to the animals. Caversham Wildlife Park ticked all the boxes. 

Xena was going to be out and about in the stroller the entire time so I was hoping for a cool day. Unfortunately, the forecast showed a temperature of 42 degrees! More than Xena, I was worried for myself because the hot sun is the only thing that can make me wilt (and occasionally faint) instantly. Luckily, it was very cloudy, otherwise it would have been very difficult to walk through the animal enclosures in that kind of heat. 

We started the day with an impromptu ballroom dance performance by Viv and Xena. It was hilarious to say the least.

Soon, we were driving towards the park. Xena had gotten used to the carseat by now, so the drive was a breeze. Once we reached, we put Xena in her stroller and pushed it around. 

Xena at Caversham

We had planned the day such that we would get to see all the animal shows scheduled for the day. 

It started with a sheep-herding demonstration. It was quite amazing actually. 

Next up was a sheep-shearing demonstration. The sheep looks quite helpless in the picture, but it was actually quite comfortable in that weird position. 

In less than a minute, the sheep had been sheared and it didn't even flinch!

It was amazing how the guy got all the wool out in the form of a single piece!

The kids in the audience were invited to feed the lambs from bottles of milk. The guy doing the demo kept repeating again and again, "Don't drink the milk yourself!" I was wondering why he had to say it so many times when he clarified, "At the last session, one of the kids actually started drinking the milk himself..." LOL!

There was also a cow-milking demonstration. Members of the audience were also invited to try it out. [Fun fact: I milked a cow in India at the age of about 5 or so, during a trip to my dad's village.]

Next up was the whip cracking demo, and the guy actually came up to me to ask me to take Xena out because it was going to be too loud for babies. I took her out, far away from the area, and yet we could hear the whip cracking clearly and loudly!

After the show was over, we roamed around the place, looking at the various animals.

A turkey (?) was taking a free and easy walk around the place.  That was the best part of Caversham. The animals were just out there, mingling freely. 

Lonely llama at Molly's farm

What a snob!

Guinea pigs!

Strangest hen I'd seen in my life!

A joey nursery with a joey inside!

Meanwhile, our joey was taking a nap in her stroller. The fan attached to the stroller was a blessing indeed. 

A very very long python

Spot the reptile against the log?

That's a wallaby, a smaller cousin of the kangaroo.

We kept an eye on the time as we walked around so we didn't miss the 'Meet the wombats and friends' show! Soon, it was time and we hurried to the spot.  

This wombat weighed a whopping 25 kg!

Various colourful and beautiful birds featured in the show. 

Check out the colours on the spectacular rainbow lorikeet!

Guess what this is! It's the bum of a brushtail possum. We asked them to turn around so we could see their faces but just retorted with a "My ass!" Hmmmph!

Pinky the pink cockatoo

The wedge-tailed eagle - Australia's largest bird of prey

The rare princess parrot

Spot the black flying fox hanging upside down?

An emu!

By now, Xena was famished and took a milk break. We took the opportunity to rest our legs too. Soon, she was fast asleep. 

Next, we headed to one of the main highlights of Caversham -- the koala enclosure! 

We got really close to the koalas, but of course, all of them were in slumberland, tucked away in the branches. 

Koalas sleep more than 20 hours a day! As their food (mainly eucalyptus leaves) has very little nutritional value, they sleep a lot to lower their metabolism and conserve energy. 

We got a really good shot of this one. It looks like it's awake, but it wasn't. 

Our little koala was still fast asleep!

As we walked, we saw kangaroos everywhere. They were out in the open!

There were containers with food for them and visitors were free to feed them!

Kangy and me

This kangaroo blocked our path and refused to let us through. I was quite terrified at the thought of being kicked in the face or something. I'm not sure how I managed to smile in this picture!

Finally, we had seen all that Caversham had to offer. We were also quite famished. So we had lunch at the Village Cafe. It was decent -- I had fish and chips and they managed to make Viv a veggie burger. 

We were on our way to the Swan Valley, Western Australia's oldest wine region, but Viv decided to make a stopover at the Motor Museum, which was on the way. The museum boasted of cars and motorcycles from the late 19th century through to the present.

They were not lying. 

I'm not really into cars, but it was interesting to see how they have evolved over the years. 

1957 Ford Thunderbird

1982 DeLorean DMC 12

1969 Lambretta SX 150

1946 Ford V8 Deluxe sedan

1994 Reynard

This, the 1985 Sinclair C5 Commuter, was the most interesting of the lot, at least to me. The description said, "The English-built C5 was promoted as a revolutionary advance in personal transport and in an ideal would, it might have been. Unfortunately, it looked like a plastic slipper, it was powered by a washing machine electric motor, it was slow (only 24kph), heavy and short-ranged. The perception of being run over by a truck put off potential customers. Within a few months, poor sales and financial losses of £20 million closed the factory."

They had some real khataras too!

The inside of one of the engines made me dizzy!

Soon, Viv had had his fill of cars and we were back on the road, on our way to Swan Valley. 

On the way, we saw some people playing cricket so Viv promptly stopped the car and went to watch a couple of overs. I stayed in the car with Xena -- it was simply too hot for us. Viv came back and told me about the match. In his own words, "Ek batsman phod raha tha!"

We drove through Swan Valley, enjoying the beautiful grape vines of many colours. There were some wineries too, but we didn't stop for them either, as we're not that much into wine. We did stop at the Margaret River chocolate company. Viv, the big milkshake-lover, had a milkshake, while I chomped on some yummy cashewnut chocolate. 

We stopped by the beautiful Swan river and were there for a long time, enjoying the serenity and the cool breeze. 

Viv also took a good long break from driving all day. 

It was so relaxing to just sit there and do/say nothing. 

Xena was happy to get out of the car...

...and enjoy the cool breeze.

A wind sock! I'd never seen one before!

Mommy and baby pose for a picture.

Xena enjoyed looking at this spectacular fountain. 

The day had almost come to an end. We took a looooong walk (1.6 km), scouting for dinner places and finally picked an Indian restaurant. After dinner, it was a long drive back to our hotel. 

Xena fell asleep literally as soon as we placed her on the bed!

Click here for Perth - day 4 (5th anniversary celebrations with a drive through Toodyay, Northam and York, and a family picnic in King's Park)