Land of Kangaroo - Western Australia (Part 2)

Day 3 : The Pinnacles, Lancelin

Another wonderful day in Western Australia begin as early as 7.30 am. Tony picked us up at the hotel and we headed to Cervantes, where the beautiful and mysterious desert with various sizes of limestones was located. This place is known as the Pinnacles which is within the Nambung National Park. It took around 2.5 hours to get to Nambung National Park. Along the route to Cervantes, I couldn't stop admiring the beautiful scenery. Obviously the vegetation in Western Australia differ a lot than in Malaysia. There were many shrubs, bushes and colourful plants which enhanced the colours and beauty of the landscapes. 

45 minutes before arrival to The Pinnacles, Tony showed us a huge sand dune area which was WHITE!! It was simply amazing to see this kind of landscape. I somehow thought of about possible occurrence  of sandstorms. But I have not heard about sandstorm in Western Australia so I guess this is something even interesting to know. I'm not sure if there were patches of sand dunes or it was only a single huge, gigantic sand dune in this area. But whatever it is, the formation of the dunes was amazing. The texture and colour of the sand were exactly like the sand covering the beach. And logically, this place was near the sea which was why the sand structure and texture were similar. But the questions are, how exactly the dune was formed and how long did it take to form this natures wonder? How stable it is and how this helps the ecological process?

Beautiful white sand dune near Cervantes

Couldn't believe my eyesight

15 minutes from the beautiful sand dune, we arrived The Pinnacles and had morning tea. It was windy and cloudy but that didn't even close to ruining my mood. I thought it would rain but it didn't. We couldn't wait to get to the desert, enjoy beautiful landscapes and of course, it was working time for my life recorder, my little Nikky. And slowly, the sun showed itself and everything looked just perfect and beautiful. I faced no difficulty in getting the right exposure for the photos as I rely on natural lighting most of the time. Here, the jumping pose photos are must have items for all visitors

1,2 Jump!!!

Limestone pillars

It looks warm, but it's cold actually.

Another view of scattered petite limestones

With out dearly Tony

You see a desert in orange but with white sand dune and some shrubs.

Amazing formation of desert out of nowhere. Nature is just lovely as it is always

Another sections where the limestones show very peculiar shapes

 I didn't think I have enough with this place. It was too awesome that I couldn't stop admiring the beauty and uniqueness of this place.The cooling breeze and beautiful sky were value added to this lovely place. After an hour or so, we visited the museum and souvenir shops. There were useful information on the flora, fauna and founder of The Pinnacles but I couldn't remember everything about it.

Next, we went to Lancelin town to have lunch. The town was so quiet and I thought this was my 1st time experiencing this quiet environment. It was nothing wrong with it, in fact, I did love this condition. It was windy and really cooling. A number of holiday-makers were there to have lunch too.

After lunch, we headed to Lancelin sand dune. Before arriving the dune, we stopped at a shop where we sand-boards could be hired for our sand-boarding activity. Once done with the rentals, we proceeded to the dune. It was windy, cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. But thank God it wasn't rain and we started to experience this sand-boarding activity. Lulu was really excited that most of the time, I was the one to pick her sand-board at the bottom and brought it up so that she could glide again. It was fun but it was funner when Tony and the rest of the visitors found a place where the slope of the dune was more incline and lengthier. But we Lulu and I didn't try it because Lulu had minor burns when we glided together on the sand-board. Sorry Lulu. My bad....

There was also nice view from the highest point of the dune facing the sea. I could imagine another beautiful scenery if the sky was clear and sunny. In this dune, I couldn't risk having my DSLR camera being faulty, or damaged, so I brought my Canon G9 to snap photos here. So basically what I got from Lancelin was not one of my best.

Lulu is ready for some action and fun

Day 4 : Cottesloe Beach and Perth City

It was a wet day for both of us, in fact, for everybody in Perth. It was raining since morning and it was cold. There was nothing we could do much in this kind of weather. Actually I didn't mind at all, but my little Lulu was totally not in mood to go out in the rain. When it was raining very lightly, I convinced Lulu that it was OK to get out at that time. She wanted to go to beach so I  obliged. We went out for awhile and get some fresh air. It was nice to walk around without the wind. We thought that the beach would be a nice spot for me to sit while watching Lulu enjoying the waves. But it didn't turn out as I have expected. The sound of the waves hitting the shore was rough an that was something I didn't fancy with. To ignore my disappointment, I tried to take a few photos around the beach, and of course Lulu being my photography subject. After an hour and a half, we returned to the hotel.

I could't resist to go out again, so I decided to go to the nearby supermarket to buy things to cook tuna bolognese spaghetti. Lulu had been requesting for spaghetti meal since the day before. Moreover, here was a kitchen that we could use, so I thought it was a good idea to cook. At first, I was quite worried if the things I needed would cost me a lot. But I was quite surprised to look at the prices for the items sold there. They were dirty cheap!!! I regretted a lot for not doing my own cooking earlier. I spent almost AUD30 for 2-day dinners, when I could buy ingredients of the same amount, and do my own cooking, thus having complete meals for 5 days. This was something I've learnt from this trip,  and something useful for my next trip to any parts of Australia.

Our sweet family darling

At 2 pm, I decided to go to the Perth city to buy more souvenirs. It was pretty easy to get the city and their public transport system was very efficient and reliable. I didn't feel insecure or worried at all. Signage and information were sufficient and easy to understand. There was free bus services within Perth city known as CAT buses. They have BLUE CAT, YELLOW CAT, GREEN CAT and RED CAt

Land of Kangaroo- Western Australia (Part 1)

Hello world!!

I just got back from Australia last Friday but I was too hooked up with tiredness and laziness.
I wished I didn't have to fly home from Australia.The only word I will assign for this country is, AWESOME!!.Yes, Australia is indeed a lovely country.The more lovely thing about this trip is, I have my 8 year old niece coming with me.This trip is meant for her, for she managed to get good results and best student in her class in the exam.Which means, to add up, I visit Australia for the first time and travel with my niece for the first time.How's that sound?

Day 1: Arrived Perth - Cottesloe Beach - Fremantle city
We flew to Perth at 2350hrs, 2nd June by AirAsiaX. Thanks a lot AirAsiaX. The journey took 5 hours, and I didn't sleep at all. But no complain here..heheh.. The flight D7236 touched down Perth International Airport around 0550 hrs. It was winter and it was still dark when we arrived.

Lulu

The cool morning temperature was quite freezing but it was nothing compared the extreme cold when I was in Tianjin and Beijing. Pitty little Lulu but she could cope with the cold.
After 30 minutes of decision making, I finally decided to get a cab to Cottesloe, where our lodging place was.
It was quite far from the airport, 40 minutes or so. I had a chat with the cabby, a guy from Hyderabad, India, and he is a Muslim. The nicest thing I will remember forever, he gave me some discount on the fare because I am his Muslim brother (sister..of course). Thank you mate.

Lulu on the arrival day

Presenting rosemary bush..hehe

It was still dark when we arrived Cottesloe. The check-in time was supposed to be at 1300 hrs, but we just wanted to dump our bulky luggage at the luggage room. As the sun started to rise, my little Lulu insisted on going to the beach. We removed our shoes, and wowww...the white fluffy sand was cold. Lulu was so excited and she approached the shore, dumped her feet, and had fun with the wave. At first, I was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle the trip, but I was so wrong. She did enjoy the time at the beach, while I was sitting boringly waiting for her to finish. Hehehe...lousy aunt. 

Excited baby

There you go...hahaha

I'm surprised to see several individuals were swimming there and some were jogging by the beach in this cold weather. Obviously they are already well adapted to the cold winter days. It was cloudy but everything started to glow when the sun was coming out. The sea finally show its real colour, my all time favorite of emerald-turquoise water. I enjoyed taking photos of Lulu's, which add up to my photo collection of this little girl. Owh by the way, initially she was wearing the jacket, but later she removed her jacket and enjoy the beach without any jacket. This girl...well...is really a little tough one.

Where is the jacket?

After and hour or so, we walked to the Cottesloe train station.Dannggg...it was really far from the beach (for both of us) but lucky the weather was nice and really comforting. The only thing we couldn't stand was walking uphills on our way to the station. I decided to go to Fremantle and do some shopping at E-Shed market. It's really near to the Fremantle train station. At Eshed market, I bought several fridge magnets and thought of getting some other souvenirs too but the prices are wee bit higher than I thought. So we just walked around and had some thick fries for Lulu. That was our lunch for the day. I thought of visiting the Fremantle Prison, The Mint and just strolling around the city, but Lulu was too tired to walk. Of course she would feel tired as she didn't get enough and proper sleep last night, plus the coldness where she was still have to adapt with. There weren't many photos taken at Fremantle though. We took a bus back to Cottesloe, and I must say that we got on a wrong bus. Instead of disembarking right on front of our hotel, we ended up walking 1km or more from the junction. Huhu...pitty Lulu. But she is a little tough strong girl...We finally checked in to the hotel and rest.

Nice place for souvenirs shopping

Fremantle Train Station

We spent the remaining of our arrival day resting, and when the sun started to set, I went out to buy dinner meal near the hotel. It costed AUD18.50 for a set of fish an chips, and a bowl of salad. It was a big portion though so we had our stomach full enough.

Day 2 : Caversham Wildlife Park - Swan Valley - King's Park

    We begin our wonderful trip in Western Australia by visiting Swan Valley and the infamous Caversham Wildlife Park. I booked this day trip from Kandu Holidays early of the year. This tour company, owned by a lovely husband and wife, Tony & Karen, caters for small group tourists and visitors tailors various trips as well. I am definitely recommending this Kandu Holidays to anyone who wish to see Western Australia in the most pleasant, comfortable and hostile way. Tony & Karen themselves are very professional in providing their services. Feel free to surf  www.kanduholidays.com.au. I do have plans to return to Western Australia in spring next year, and I am planning to book trips to several destinations that I didn't get the chance to cover in this trip.

 Our first visit was at Caversham Wildlife Park.All Australian native animals (except the Tasmanian devils) were displayed here. Wombats, wallabies, kookaburra, kangaroos, koalas...you name it. It was really a great time to do all this photography thing, and it was such a wonderful moment to get close to the animals which I could only see in magazines and TVs. I was so glad Lulu did have fun in the park. She couldn't wait to feed the kangaroo and the climax was when she held a python for the first time ever. She was so scared but after a series of convincing-forcing, she finally able to TOUCH and HOLD the python. Well done little girl.

Clean and less smelly goats

Australian chicken

Cute sheep

Kookaburra

All species of birds displayed in this park were interesting to look at. I particularly love the colourful birds such the cockatoos and kookaburra, but the owls are just awesome as ever. There were pink cockatoos, red-tailed cockatoos and tropical parrots. There were also eagles, white peacocks, ducks and many other avians which I wasn't sure what they are.     

          

       

 Before we spent longer time with the kangaroos and koalas, we saw other Australian mammals such as dingos, wombat, wallaby, possum and many others. I have no idea that a dingo would look like a dog, and a fox can be a very beautiful animal. And I just knew that wombat also has a pouch, just like a kangaroo. But I couldn't see any wombat carrying its youngster in its pouch. A wombat looks like a swine, but a wombat is always a wombat. Never a swine. That's what most of the people, especially those who've never set foot in Australia, would say. It was super cute when it was small but a little bit of losing its cuteness when it became adult wombat. Haha...but whatever it is, I love cute and harmless animals.

Lulu and I with adult, sleepy wombat.

A possum

A type of Dingo

Fox...gorgeous animal

Other then seeing these incredible animals, we were also entertained by the demonstration of shed shearing. Initially, I felt sympathy for those sheeps thinking that they would suffer when their wool was sheared. But one interesting fact I've learnt from this activity was that, after shearing, sheeps' skin produce a natural chemical substance known as lanolin (not sure of the spelling). This substance protects the sheeps from cold and cuts resulted from the shearing process. Another interesting fact was that, sheeps would get immobilized when they were not on their feet. But to get them off their feet would need some effort.  

Tony and Karen prepared morning tea for us. Karen baked lovely apple riccota and I loved it so much. I think it's easy to bake this dessert but I'm not sure if we have riccota cheese in Malaysia

Shearing in progress

Kangaroos...the symbol of Australian native animals

Sleeping Koala

I wished this fella was awake. 

Like a cat. Really tame

Will never forget this experience

She loved the albino kanga

Scratching and scratching

Feeling good eyy

After having loads of wonderful time in Caversham Wildlife Park, we had lunch at the nearby park, which I couldn't remember the name. It was public holiday. As I recall, it was the Australian Foundation Day on every 4th of June. There were so many people around the park. Oh by the way, I couldn't get proper meal for Lulu from the cafe since everything was inedible and out of stock. So we had a pack of milk each. After meal, we went to the Transport Museum and saw vehicles and commuters to transport goods, and people in the past time. Check this registration number of this cool car...hahaha

Instead of 1962, it would be cool if it was 1982

Next point of visits were tourist centres around Swan Valley such as honey farm, coffee tasting, nougat and chocolate factory. First, we visited an outlet selling honey. Until I visited this place, I didn't know there were different flavors of honeys. The tastes were named according to the plants of origin where the bees collected nectar. Some flavors, as I recall, such as Gumtree, Red Coast and a few others. I bought each flavor in a small container and all went to my mum. Hehe...Other then pure honey, there were also whipped honey, which was really nice, but a little expensive than pure honey. They were innovative enough to produce sparkling water made of honey too!!

It was time for coffee tasting. Well, Lulu and I are not coffee lover, so we got out from the outlet and had fun with the outdoor environment of this outlet. We lay down on the clean looking grass and enjoyed the beautiful view. I was so happy to see my little Lulu having fun, though it would we funner if there were other kids of her age joining the trip. I'm too old to play run and catch thing...hehe..

Clean grass, nice for enjoying the blue sky

The vineyard  in winter

Next, we visited Margaret River chocolate outlet. Wowww...there were so many visitors and I was so blurred when seeing people here and there. We didn't get the chance to taste the chocolate. And looking at the prices of the chocolates, I thought it was expensive. Well, I didn't want to spend on something not so worth buying. I still prefer Cadbury though. Wait till I get the chance to isit Tasmania next year. 

In less than 15 minutes in the chocolate factory, we headed to a nougat outlet. Nougats were my favorite snack other than chocolate. Subtracting the sweetness, I considered nougat as healthy food because of it contains various types of nuts, berries and grains. However, the prices for nougats sold here were quite expensive. I wonder if there was any places selling nougat with cheaper price. I totally forgot that visiting these kinds of outlet  would definitely burn the pockets. I think I need to get some info on this because I don't think the items sold should be that expensive. 

Our final stop today was King's Park. It was not in the itinerary but Tony & Karen were so generous to bring us there. It was almost dusk but we could still see the view of central Perth from the park. It would be an amazing view if we managed to visit this park much earlier and minus the reduced visibility due to mist/fog/haze, whatever it was. That was the end of our day 2

View of Perth city from King's Park

Last pose of the day. Photo taken by Lulu