Australia: Spring - November 2008

 

If you know me personally, you will know that I am a person who is always grateful with what I have. I love being Malaysian and the life that I have in this blessed country called Malaysia :)

Having said that, when I visited Perth, Australia for the first time in history I wish that I am an Australian multi-millionaire living in one of the scrumptious looking houses facing the Swan River with small boat and jet-ski as my weekends transport. It doesn't have to be a bungalow like the one above. I will be quite happy living in one of the apartments below.. Mayhap in another parallel universe? ;p

 

Besides houses and beaches, another thing that I like are flowers. Since we went in spring, we found all kinds of flowers when we were there. The flowers were huge and in abundance. It was truly amazing! We visited the King's Park a few times.. simply couldn't get enough of the flowers ;)

 

Besides exploring Perth city centre, we also made a trip to Fremantle and Rottnest Island. We had fish and chips at the famous Kailis' Fremantle Seafood Cafe and I took a dip in the very appetising water surrounding Rottnest Island..

 

We also did typical touristy thingy like visit the fruit farm, wildlife park, dolphin and whale watch, chocolate factory etc. Nothing to shout about. In fact, the whale watching was a disappointment. After  a "suspense" chase.. we only got to see the tail! Dolphins watching were better.. the boat ride was at least more thrilling. Shivers!!

 

We were there from 3-16 November 2008. Great weather but with "surprise" short heavy showers now and then. Becareful of sunburn though.. the temperature was so cool and pleasant that you can sometimes forget that the sun is still there.

 

I've uploaded 390 photos for your viewing pleasure. A word of caution though, I was a bit over-the-top when it comes to flowers and houses in this trip ;p

 

You can access the photos at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!

Australia: Winter - June 2005

 

What I remember most about this trip was the tour leader, Alex. Until now whenever I joined a tour, when the tour leader reminded the participants to check their passports, handphones etc etc.. I will always remember Alex and his stories of his experience as a tour guide. They were so funny! 

 

Another thing that stand out of this tour was the fact that our tour bus actually broke down on our way back from the Blue Mountain! Unbelievable right? I mean this is Australia, the first world country.. where everything should be tip-top. Even the third world countries that I visited thereafter.. so far so good. No break downs. We were stuck for 1.5 hours before the replacement bus came. To err is human huh?

 

We also managed to squeeze a visit to our friend's house who migrated to Australia. She lives at a lovely suburb in Sydney. During the visit, she introduced me to a "sweet" grapefruit. Grapefruit and sweet somehow doesn't jive in my book. But now whenever I'm lucky enough to eat a relatively sweet grapefruit, I will remember her :)

 

This tour was organised by Reliance Travel. From 3-9 June 2005. The tour price was RM5.3k per person. It covers three cities: Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sydney. This was my second visit to Sydney. The first time was before my "digital camera" era in early 2002. We went to Sydney and Melbourne then.

 

Sydney during my first visit was much more exciting. Most probably due to the weather. We went there in early March. Early autumn, where the daylight hours were longer. Bondi and Manning beaches were still a happening place. This time round it was a bit surreal that at 5pm.. it was already dark! And nobody is crazy enough to take a dip in the water ;p

 

I've uploaded 157 photos for your viewing pleasure. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!