My Winter Sonata At Perth

Hey everybody, just gotten back from Perth Australia yesterday with my dad, so I'm here to post our happenings and updates about our house. It was just a father-daughter trip( first time travelling overseas just with my dad) And yes, It was my first time experiencing winter in Aussie, but I must say that the weather is beautiful and it really wasn't very cold, except at night. Temperature rages about 17-23 degrees. The amount of daylight is alot lesser as compared to during the summer. The sun will only fully rise at about 8am and it sets at about 530pm. By 6pm the sky is completely dark, as dark as 9pm in Singapore. Yup, the people there majority wore winter clothing esp when walking around the streets. So here's how the 6 days has been for both my dad and I.

DAY 1 - Left our house at 630am, took a cab to terminal 1. Flew off to australia at 905am. Touched down at 210pm at Perth International Airport. Took a shuttle bus from airport ro our hotel. By the time we got there, it was already 4 plus in the afternoon. Shops usually closed by 6pm, so papa and I quickly checked in and went out to buy some food in the nearby supermarket. By 5 plus, the sun was already setting, we didn't walk around much...just went back to hotel. Watched world cup on the TV, think it was south korea and somebody...haha. Went to bed around 11 plus pm.

DAY 2 - woke up at 9am. Ate breakfast and we set off to find our land and the area where our future house is gonna be. Took a train from perth city to clarkson, the ride is about half an hour. From clarkson, took a bus to Butler. Butler is a suburb north of perth city. And yes, we walk like crazy to find our land, eastwall parkway! I thought it was near the ocean, it was, but not that near where you can see it. It is quite a distance still. After that we walked to Brighton estate, beautiful park. I love the pond, the garden, the people. Ate our lunch at 3 plus pm. It was an awesome lunch at an awesome restaurant. Haha took the bus back to clarkson station at about 530pm. (While waiting for the bus, I fed the ducks in the pond...hehe). Reached back perth city at about 7plus pm. If I'm not wrong, we went to buy some food from woolsworth. That's it, our day kind of end like that, of course we went back to watch world cup. Went to bed at 1am.

DAY 3 - woke up close to 10am. haha set off to glendalough station. We went there as we had an appointment with our house agent, Don Russell. Spent about 3 hours plus there choosing our tiles, house colour, bathroom, carpets, garage etc. So many choices, so many selections, but it was very fun. All thanks to Jan who made the process so meaningful and fun for us. She offered alot of advise, and yes she herself is awesome too. We broke their record for choosing everything in 3 hours plus. Most people need about 6-7 hours. We went back to perth city and went shopping, bought plenty of food stuff. That's it for day 3.

DAY 4 - haha same as usual, woke up to close 10am. Took a walk to swan bell. Papa saw the cruise promo and thought of trying out the river cruise down sream and up stream as well. so we hopped on the ferry at 12 noon. Bought a few sandwiches and orange juice before getting on. The cruise is lovely. The captain told alot of stories about the history of certian buildings along the swan river ( I like esp the contravercies). We headed down river towards Frementle first. Couldn't go more than that there after as we would hit Indian Ocean, so we went back and headed up river. The waters up stream is alot calmer. And there was a crazily rich Singaporean who bought a huge mansion along the swan river! By the time the river cruise ended, it was 430pm. I was gald we decided to take the cruise as that day was a little rainy, it would have been difiicult to walk. Went to eat dinner at 5 plus pm at hay street shopping district. I ate thai mee goreng, yummy. Day 4 was alot colder than the other days, guess it was because it was raining the whole day. We went back to hotel to change to thicker clothing after dinner and set off again to shop for food! Came back about 8 plus pm, watched world cup and yeah, went to zzzzz.

DAY 5 - Went to UWA today. There were having exams, saw alot of students studying around campus. I went to the administration office to enquire about the application for monkey and myself for wanting to do honours there next year. Took a few picutres. Then, we set off to Kings Park, the biggest park in Perth. We walked like crazy. Went to Synergy Park first, then to the Botanical Gardens. Took many pretty pictures and we walk and walk and walk. I love the view on Mt Eliza where we could see the Perth Skyscrapers and the Sea! There were alot of people at the park, relaxing, cycling, picnic etc. It really is a very beautiful park. I kind of knew that this is our last day to really explore Perth before heading back, so we walked alot. From UWA, we walked throught Kings Park and all the way back to Perth city. It took us around 3 hours. But it was worth it. Papa decided to reward ourselves and thus went we went to eat KFC.

DAY 6 - woke up at 830am. The sun has just risen(yeah i slept beside the window in our hotel). Papa wasn't in, he went out to walk i think. I went to wash up and ya did some packing. Papa came back, we ate breakfast and checked out our hotel at 10am. Went to put our baggage down at the lobby and yup went to walk around the park that's near our hotel. We couldn't walk much. Went to buy orange juice, and went back to wait for our shuttle bus to fetch us back to the international airport. Our flight took off at 340pm. Touched down at Singapore at 9pm. It was quite a rough flight back to Singapore. Somebody threw up in the toilet and the cabin crew made an announcement if there's any doctors on board as someone had heart troubles. I was a little afraid when the plane took off as I could smell leaking fuel, or was it gas. But nothing happened, so okay.

I chatted with the woman beside me on our way back. She was from Perth, but came to live in Singapore in the 1960s ( boy, she really saw Singapore change!). Yeah, she was saying how much she loved Singapore and ya, she didn't really like Australia. I was thinking, man I'm like the complete opposite from her! Her son is an Architecture, he is one of the designers of our circle line.

All in all, I really did enjoy myself, and I'm sure my papa did too. Australia has always been so hospitable to us. This trip wasn't meant to be a holiday, we had a mission to accomplish. But somehow, I did enjoy myself. Oh man, think I've put on some weight, their food portions are huge! haha but yes we walked alot too. And the weather is beautiful! So yup that's all from me.

That's all for my winter sonata in Perth!