Perth to Albany: Pemberton to Denmark

The next leg of our journey was to travel from Pemberton to Denmark where we based ourselves for the next two nights (point A to B), stopping by a couple of places along the way.  

First stop was at Walpole where we bought our tickets to the Valley of the Giants at the Visitor Centre, grabbed a sandwich and headed off to the Walpole Inlet at a picnic spot. It wasn't particularly pretty, just that it was secluded. It was also quite a challenge to eat and not chomp a fly! This is the first time I've experienced so many flies trying to park themselves on my face!

Right after that we took a drive along Tingle Drive, a dirt road which led us to view the Tingle tree with the largest gap at it's base. Basically, Tingle trees are very hardy. Despite fires and bacteria attacking the base of the trunk, as long as there's a little bit still stuck to the ground, the tree will continue to grow. The holes can be as large as allowing a vehicle to pass through. Sadly, that tree which allowed cars to pass through died after it's roots were too run over by the vehicles and thousands of visitors. So this one here is currently the one with the largest gap.

A short distance from Tingle Drive was the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. This is a 400m walk on a suspension bridge as tall as 40m.

That's KS and Yen

The ticket also allows you to walk to another area beside the suspension bridge see more tingle trees.

From here, we then drove to Denmark where we stayed at this lovely cottage along Ocean Drive. This was our base for the next two nights. 

The next day, we took a drive to Albany for a day trip. First stop was The Gap and Natural Bridge. This is where Australia broke off from Antarctica. The rocks here are exactly the same as those found at the northern point in Antarctica. Of course, everything here is carved by the pounding waves.

See the humans at the top? That's how huge The Gap is.

As I approached the viewing area of The Gap, I could hear and feel a thunderous rumbling, very much like a huge trailer passing by but much louder. I was wondering what it was and when I looked over the railings, I was greeted by a frightening but majestic sight of huge waves charging into the narrow gap, slamming into the wall of rocks and spraying a fine mist into where I was standing, about 70 feet high?

We were free to walk around but I didn't dare stand close to the edge for fear of being blown off. KS and I were then told by Yen to walk on to this area which looked pretty easy to walk down to.

We slowly made our way and heard more pounding waves. Little did we know we were walking on The Natural Bridge then and the pounding waves were right beneath us! Later, we heard someone say that there was once the waves were so high that it splashed onto the bridge itself! Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened when we were there.

KS doing the star jump on The Natural Bridge

From here, we went into Albany town itself (a very pretty town) and had a quick lunch before we headed to the Sandalwood factory. We were just in time for their gong session, something about using the gong vibrations to relax. I think most of us fell asleep in that session! We also joined the free tour to learn more about sandalwood. Interestingly, the Indian Sandalwood originates from South East Asia especially Indonesia but illegal logging has deteriorated the trees so much so that there's not much of it left. It takes decades for the sandalwood to be ready for harvest, hence it's price.

After that, we headed off to Emu Point and had a snack at The Squid Shack which is right at the jetty.

Emu Point pier

When we got out of the car, I saw some large birds and thought they were statues. They turned out to be wild pelicans! One was astray from the flock so I hunted it down, going as near as I dared to. Luckily, it was a bit shy so it kept putting some distance from me.

Hello!

KS as a point of reference to the pelican 

So that was our day trip to Albany.

Our final day, we headed off to Williams Bay to visit the Green pools and Elephant Rocks. My goodness! It's such a lovely beach! The rocks beyond the shore blocks the strong waves so that by the time the water reaches the shore, it is calm and clear. How I would have loved to swim in this peaceful bay!

The crystal clear blue waters. I don't know why it's called Green Pools. 

On the way to Elephant Cove

See the strong waves beyond hitting the rocks?

A little walk of about 5 minutes from the Green Pools and we came to the Elephant Cove. Here we saw rocks which looked like elephants and another peaceful bay.

Can you spot the elephant?

After that, we headed to a nearby honey farm and bought honey, wine made with honey and honey ice cream. Yumz!

Our final stop was to have lunch at a vineyard called The Lake House where we had the most unusual lunch of our entire trip, a platter of antipasti, cold cut ham, cheese and crackers, fresh bread amongst other stuff:

The lunch platter

Vineyard jump!

We reluctantly left this beautiful place at about 3pm to head back to Perth for a 6 hour drive.

Bye!

Perth to Albany: Via Busselton and Pemberton

Our first part of our journey was to travel from Perth to Pemberton, via Busselton and Augusta:

We stopped by Busselton for lunch and took some time to appreciate the view at the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. It also has a slow train that takes you from end to end.

Busselton Jetty

Train at the Busselton Jetty

We then headed off to Augusta to catch the last tour of Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. I actually was hoping to see the line waves clashing when two oceans meet since I missed the one at Cape Reinga in north of New Zealand.

Visitor information

The lighthouse!

The tour took us up the lighthouse with a bit of history thrown in.

Just to inject some history, there were over 200 shipwrecks in the area, all but one happened prior to the building of the lighthouse. The one that happened to sink after the lighthouse was built happened in 1910, a luxury cruise liner whose captain thought he could navigate closer to the shores on a calm day. Ironically, the ship was built in the same shipyard as the Titanic and it was also it's maiden trip. No one died, thankfully.

Also, the lights from this lighthouse blinks every 7 seconds, it's thumbprint for captains to know which lighthouse they're looking at. And the custom made crystals which reflect the light is worth a LOT of money now.

See where to waves are clashing? It's not where the official line of where the two oceans meet though. And it doesn't form a continuous line. Darn.

From Augusta, we rushed to Pemberton, racing against the darkening sky. The ride was one of our more interesting rides because we were going through the southern forests with immensely tall Karri trees with their straight trunks hugging the side of the roads. 

At one point, the most beautiful sight of my entire holiday came as we were navigating out of darkened roads due to the tall trees when the left side of the road continued with a line of trees while the setting sun cast it's last rays from the right. It was like coming out of a tunnel with a golden light at the end. Aiyah, I don't know how to describe it but I wished we could have stopped in the middle of the main road to take that photo.

We also passed by several kangaroo families hanging out on the middle of the road. So, quite an eventful ride. We arrived at our place of stay Lavender & Berry Farm at 7pm, in time to start a roaring fire, cook dinner and get plenty of rest.

The Lavender & Berry Farm, Pemberton

Their famous pancakes. We ordered 2 servings for 5 of us but they were so huge we had to feed the birds around us.

A bright blue bird grabbing our offered pancakes

KS looking past the lake to our cottage

View from the cottage on the other side. The lake was steaming in the cool of the morning at a very bright 5am on our first morning.

Beautiful rose bushes at the farm apart from the lavender bushes.

They also had sheep and an Alpaca which we fed. Didn't manage to see the horses/ponies/miniature horses (?) on the other side.

Some chicks trying to get into the feeding action.

First thing we did in Pemberton was to climb the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree. The pins that are stuck to the trunk carry you up to 76m high (that's over 200 ft). These are fire trees where folks climb up to see which direction a fire is coming from. There are three of such trees in this area and this is the tallest.

Looking down from the 25m station

Climbing the tree

I stopped on the way down to take this video. See the gaps between the pins? There's nothing to stop you from falling through, well, except the pins below. So far no one has died. But KS and I still only made it to the 25m station. My hands were starting to sweat from fear, which created more fear of slipping! A cheeky sign at the station said "That was the easy bit".

For lunch, Jarrah Jack's Brewery was highly recommended by Yen's boss so we headed there. The view was simply stunning! We ended up sitting there longer than we anticipated enjoying the atmosphere that we missed our plan to go for the tram ride. If I were to go back there, the tram ride will be in my next itinerary.

We then went back and were going to spend the rest of the evening sleeping when the farm's owner Pete bumped into us and encouraged us to visit the Big Brook Dam. Pushing aside any tiredness, we gamely got our snacks packed and headed off.

It was a beautiful serene place. We were the only ones there for about an hour taking in the setting sun, enjoying the breeze, gazing at the tall trees... I could have sat there for ages!

That's my mum-in-law at the bottom right in white.

I didn't want to leave!

The next day, we decided to head off early on the next part of our journey to Denmark as we had much more to cover. This will be covered in Part 2.

Family picture in front of our cottage.

Western Australia Family Holiday

Every time we go to Perth, KS and I try to plan to do something different each time. Since the last trip we took a tour up north, this time, we decided to explore the southern parts of Western Australia together with KS parents and sister, Yen.

Our trip started from Perth to Busselton, to Augusta to Pemberton on the first day. Thereafter, we covered Pemberton to Walpole to Denmark before we explored Albany for a day. I'll do separate posts for this trip otherwise this post will take forever!

This post is to just jot down what we did in Perth. Since Yen lives there and warmly welcomes us to stay whenever we're there, we usually settle down pretty quickly and make ourselves right at home, allowing us the taste of living in Perth. Thanks Yen!

This time, there was a new housemate. Say hello to Ah Ngiau! She was shy for the first few days but warmed up to us pretty quickly.

We went to restaurants with a vast variety of cuisines, Italian, Mexican, Northern Indian, Malaysian (when we started to miss our food!), fish and chips... I only took food photos on the first part of my trip before we went on our roadtrip so here's a sampling:

First order of the day, chilli mussels! Yum! These were really good!

Tiramisu

Port ribs for brunch

Pork belly also part of brunch

Fresh oysters for my birthday dinner. I discovered on this night that I really enjoy fresh oysters with mustard. Drool...

My birthday fish and chips! The serving was huge so I'm sad to say I couldn't finish my meal.

My birthday cake was a lovely chocolate passion fruit mousse cake from Utopia, which actually serves bubble tea.  I loved it!

The two big purchases of my trip went like this:

Purchase #1:

Every time we come to Perth, we always end up going to Harbour Town, which is where the factory outlet shops are located. I really wasn't expecting to buy anything since we normally look for sport shoes here so we set about an hour to meet up with my in-laws as we went shopping separately.

Then, I saw a Levi's store and decided to just check it out (I succumbed to the 4 letter word - SALE!). They stocked the type of cut I purchased a couple of years ago for RM250. Their price? AUD49 which works out to be about RM150. Cheaper than what I'd be able to buy back home! 

I went to make my payment after much selecting and to my delight, there was a further 50% discount off the price! I looked at KS and told him I needed more than the one hour to shop. What a bargain! So happy!

Purchase #2:

We went to a morning car park second hand market just to check it out. Walking around, I suddenly spotted this ergonomic chair I've been looking for for years! The price tag on it was a little vague as I read it as $40 while KS read it as $70. After much testing and deliberating (How do I ship it back to Malaysia? How much would I be willing to pay for this?), I finally asked the owner what the price really was, $40 or $70?

Her answer? "That's $10". My $10 was out before the next breath.

So, here's the chair and here's the box I engineered to check in:

My friend laughed at me for being so not practical for once. The sad part is, after using it for a long period of time like over an hour, my shins hurt and I do not sit straight like I'm supposed to on it. Oh well! It will force me not to sit too long in front of the computer! LOL!

All in all, I had a great time and was already planning/wishing that I'll be back next year!

The rest of my trip can be found here and here and KS post here.

Tonsillitis

A few years ago, when I was hospitalized for prolonged fever, the ENT specialist examined my throat and said he saw scars on my tonsils. He recommended me removing them since I've had infections before and I didn't think too much of it.

(I'd insert a picture of infected tonsils here but I guess you could Google it on your own if you'd like to see the interesting patterns it makes on the tonsils.)

Now that I'm having yet another severe sore throat this year with tonsillitis (my third, but I really haven't been counting), I'm doing some quick Googling on it and find that apparently tonsils are only supposed to be the first line of defence from infections below the age of three.

So, in my own layman understanding, tonsils are like... appendix? A part of my body that isn't of any use?

It's also one of the most common surgeries done in USA. I'm tempted to explore this but I'm not completely convinced:
1. I really don't need my tonsils for the rest of my life
2. Will this mean I will stop having my blood-in-my-spit sore throats after that?

Hmm...

5 Loaves & 2 Fish

Just thought of jotting this down while it's still speaking to me. This post, of course, is in reference to when Jesus fed the 5,000. Had I been the one with five loaves and two fish, I would have kept quiet. How can my small quantity feed the thousands?

I don't think it's appropriate for me to share just yet about the project I've been urged to volunteer for. The pastor urging me quoted the loaves and fish and I thought of my reaction above.

Less than an hour later, Sidney Mohede, my church's guest speaker last weekend gave his sermon at church, his message hit me squarely:

Thank God for everything He has given - even before the miracle happens!

Sidney ALSO mentioned about the two fish and five loaves, how Jesus thanked God before breaking the bread and fish into pieces to be shared around. Interesting. Always had the habit of "God, show me the miracle first, only then I thank you".

Here, I must say I've noticed I've been complaining quite a fair bit when there's always the other side of the coin to be thankful for. Trying to change my tweets and what I say to others now. Slowly but surely!

Ah. So I'm just gonna do it. Small fish or not, it's still fish. Gulp!

This REALLY Sucks!

As I said, the George Michael Australian tour was cancelled. I bought my tickets in June this year and now my refund was given in October. And since the USD was stronger in June compared to now, I have lost RM85 from this refund. I doubt if I'm the only one.

So, it's like I've paid to park my money somewhere for 5 months. Talk about rubbing salt into a wound! I feel scammed. 

Hey, RM85 in Malaysia can feed my family of four for one good meal at a decent restaurant. RM85 is USD27. One full tank of petrol.

This is the first and last time on my attempt to watch George Michael in concert.

Squeezing in another trip

Barely had our plans for Perth in November were confirmed, I was itchy and started to plan for another family trip for December.

You see, my parents were supposed to go USA to visit Grace this year instead of Melbourne with Ron (they went two years in a row). Grace instead decided to come back to Malaysia so my parents were then deciding where else to go. NZ came up but I encouraged them to go in Autumn rather than Spring as it can get quite rainy. Plus if they went, I'd rather they go with some friends because the drive from one place to another is long.

Then they decided to go Israel. But because of the unrest, the trip was cancelled. So my parents are overseas tripless this year.

Since Ron is coming back in December while Jan and I have to clear our leave, I am proposing to go... Lake Toba. Yes, the largest volcanic lake in the world with an island that is larger than Singapore. I've been on Lake Taupo, NZ which was apparently 1.5 times the size of Singapore (why do they always compare to Singapore?) and it was lovely. Crystal clear waters which we could drink from (I didn't but my friend did) and a strange calmness as it doesn't have waves. I am not expecting to drink from Lake Toba though.

Thing is, there's not much stuff on Lake Toba that I can find on the internet. Plus the hotels on the island, well, they're not like the villas in Bali. Mum's not estactic but hey, we're all broke plus it's supposed to be really nice.

A quick survey with my colleagues showed that no one has gone there. Hmm... Not very popular despite it being so near to us. I guess the best plan would be to book a trip via a travel agent (Gasp! So not my style!). Anyone gone to Lake Toba and have something to say?

I was also reading somewhere that someone commented it is showing signs of an eruption. KS then asked me, "How then?". Let me put it this way, if it does blow, I doubt if there's anywhere we can run and hide even if we were in Malaysia.

Curls?

So my company annual dinner was held last week. I was planning to wear a long dress I bought years ago but it failed the zip test. Unless I planned on not breathing, it would have fitted. As usual, my trusty stretchy and over worn dress saved the day. 

Anyway, here are some photos of the night with my colleagues. Er, vain question to those who know me, should I consider curling my hair permanently one day? I'm not sure if these sort of curls can be made permanent or they'd be tighter curls. Or only curl for special occasions? 

Ew... so many photos of myself. So not used to it.

Cancelled Concert

When George Michael announced his Symphonica Tour in early 2011, I followed his release dates carefully and was deciding to buy tickets from various parts of Europe and travel there to see him. As I've mentioned before, his concert is on my top 4 concerts. But I wasn't prepared to travel to some part of Europe where they speak in different language as I was worried he might speak in some other language or that we might get lost trying to get to the concert.

Anyway, he then extended his concert to Australia so I thought it would be safest to go there. Somehow or other, I didn't buy the tickets and they quickly became sold out. Then, he suddenly became very ill and had to cancel his concerts including the Australia one. I thought to myself, thank goodness I didn't buy those tickets.

After he recuperated, he announced new dates for Australia and this time, I thought, okay, this could happen and just to be safe, let me buy tickets in Perth since Yen is there and since it's only a 5 hour flight. So I bought the tickets for KS, Yen and myself. Then about a month ago, I bought flights to Perth, arranging with KS parents that we will all go together as a family. I then applied for 10 days of leave.

Now, because of this trip (and other incidents), KS and I decided to cancel our Christmas trip to Europe. We were supposed to scour the Christmas markets and experience winter as part of our annual just-the-two-of-us-to-somewhere-we've-never-been trip. Despite deciding not to go anywhere in December, I was greatly tempted when there was a travel fair as somehow this year doesn't feel complete.

And last Sunday, George Michael announces he's cancelled his Australian tour. WaaaaaAAaaaa!!!! To add insult to injury, they offered to convert our tickets to watch Elton John instead. Elton John came to Malaysia last year but I didn't bother to go. I like Elton John, I just don't have the desire to see him live let alone travel all the way to Perth to watch him. *cry*

So now, I am determined to go somewhere we've never been in Perth and do something crazy like climb the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree.

At first when I watched the video, I was super scared. What if I slipped in between the rods and fall a long way down? Now? Huh! Bring it on! I'm gonna rock my (4th) Perth trip, with or without George Michael!