Perth AGAIN!! 18 - 25 Feb 2007

Hi Hi!!! Finally got something to blog about after such a long time. Guess what? I was in Perth again during the CNY week! Hah! Tried to siam the CNY mah.... just kidding. I left for Perth on the 1st day of CNY in the evening so still got time to visit my direct families and relatives.

As mentioned in my previous blog, I had unfinished business in Perth and after communicating with Jon via email, I was tempted to go again as now it is still summer and the fishing there has been fantastic since Dec 06. So in the end, WTH, just book the tickets online and off we go.

Arrived at Perth at about 2am, Jon was there to pick us up. Once I step out, I was surprised as the temperature is about 15-18 deg C??? I tot it is summer, apparently it it beginning to get colder the past week. NVM, cool weather is great too.... at least something that Singapore does not have.

By the time we got to Jon's place, it is already 4am so we just knock out and await the dawn of the new day to start our holiday.

First day, went to Subiaco again as my wifey wanted to do shopping, Below is one of the street at Subiaco. I really find their architecture quite interesting, something that Asia will not be able to find.

Basically the first day we only did shopping at Subiaco, however, I was also invited to Jon's friend's place for dinner. Something like a CNY dinner and Yu Sheng and gambling and all. Dinner was ok, but the gambling was quite good. In all, I won about AUD100+!! Hehehe.... my shopping for that day considered free!

The second day, Tues, we decided to check out Penguin Island. Below is the view of the island from the mainland. There are supposed to be wild penguins and their nesting ground so no harm, never seen any wild penguins yet.


We took a ferry over, however, they also have an option that you can walk over. The sea bed is not very deep, about chest high, so there are people who tried to walk over. It takes about 15 mins slow walk. Quite an experience, but we didn't try as Jon's kid is with us.

On the ferry, the skipper was introducing the island and mentioned that Penguins normally will be out feeding in the day and will return at night to the nest. So I was thinking to myself, huh??? then we go see what? Furthermore, the place operates from 9am - 5pm.... hmmmmm.....

Below is a pic of the other side of penguin island which is facing the ocean. Got pretty nice rock structures.


In the end, LL, go and see captive penguins. These penguins are basically either rescued / injured / in the senior age, therefore, they are kept in captive so the staff can monitor and ensure they are living and eating properly.

After Penguin island, we head back Jon's place. Tot of going to this place in the north, Lancilin, to fish. However, in order to satisfy our wives, we played MJ for 1 round first. hehehe..... Bo pian, must compromise mah!

So we headed out to Lancilin, it was a jetty and the water was very clear. We could actually see fishes swimming. I was surprised at the catch rate, basically, you can cast your line and count to 5, confirm got bite!!!

We were there for about 1.5hr and this is our catch: (this excludes those fishes that were thrown back cos inedible or disgusting - puffer fish) In all 6 herrings, 1 skipjack trevally and 3 sea mullets.


When we were there, something happened, the whole jetty blackout! We were instantly covered in total darkness, the only thing we can see are the stars. It was quite a magical feeling and we feel like we are in a giant dome surrounded by thousands and thousands of stars. The next thing was even weirder, the fishes in the sea started jumping out of the water. We are hearing splashes all around us but we are unable to see anything. What a unique experience!!!! Luckily the lights started coming back on again.

On Wed, we went to Perth City for shopping again. Passed by this shopping mall that is designed like Europe. Check out the street inside!

After that we headed down south to Mandurrah, Jon wanted to show me the place where we can just walk in the water to scoop crabs. However, disappointed as crab season not here yet. It will only be here in March. Thus we walked around a bit to enjoy the place. Jon brought us to view the "champion" housing in Mandurrah. Even better than his place....!

Check out the houses and their private jetties!!!

I think Sentosa Cove is trying to copy this concept but frankly I dun think it will work. Most important of all is the weather. It is cool and dry in Perth but Singapore is hot and humid. I can sit at the balcony in the afternoon having a sun tan without breaking a sweat. Not here in SG....

Before we headed back, we were walking along the coast and guess what saw 3 wild dolphins swimming around!!!! Managed to take a pic of one of them only.... What an amazing sight! People pay $ to go out sea to see wild dolphins and there are times where they come back empty-handed but we get to see them for free. Oh, I forgot to mention, at Lancilin jetty we also saw a wild dolphin frolicking near the shoreline as well. What luck!

Thurs: decided to check out the Adventure World in Perth. Sadly, it was not what we expected. The most thrilling rides are these 2 below:

There is also another called Tomb Raider. Basically, we will walk in a group of 7-8 with our hands on each other's shoulders and walk thru a very dark maze. We were told that there will be monsters that may pop out and scare us. It was kinda scary but irritating as the "monsters" are basically people with make up on and hiding in corners waiting for us to walk thru then they will jump out and "Aargh!" you.

Ultimately, felt that the $ not worth the Adventure World.

However, there is this new Koala World so went over to check it out. Basically it is a mini zoo with some emus, kangaroos and koalas.

Friday: our long awaited boat trip. This time we took Bluejuice charters as it was recommended by our friend. overall nothing much to write, the trip was very bad, only managed a red snapper - 1 kg and a queen snapper - 2kg. Some of the other people did not even get a single fish. The current was very strong so maybe that is one of the reason. Anyway, we were expecting to get a better catch the next day with Too Ezy.

After boat trip, Jon and I were tasked to prepare seafood dinner. During the past few days, we lay crab cages just at the jetty behind Jon's place and the collection was wonderful! Average of about 2-3 crabs per half day. Check them out! These are blue mana crabs / swimmer crabs. locally it is known as flower crab but different as local flower crabs does not have blue markings.

The column on the right are male and the other column are female. Amazing, right, free seafood!!!

We also cooked all the other fishes we caught during the past few days as shown:

The end-result....

Very sad, Too Ezy cancelled the trip :( due to weather reporting strong winds for the day up to 25 knots. So never go.

In the end, Jon just brough us around for a bit of sigtseeing. Below is the place called Burns Beach where during seaon, you can go and pluck abalone. No kidding! Their abalone can be bigger that you whole hand!!! But there are restrictions on weight of abalone per person and during season, there will be wildlife wardens guarding the beach. But can you imagine, just snorkel and pluck abalone from the sea!!!

Was a bit disappointed about not going for the Too Ezy trip so in the end, decided to heck it and go back Lancilin again. THis time round it is more exciting. Caught a lot more herrings, skipjack trevally and even squid!

This is how the jetty looks like...

Our total catch.....

There were more but released back, mainly puffer fish and trumpeters.... later in the night, we were visited by 2 giant rays! Their size is easily bigger than those olden kopitiam round tables!!! We quickly tried to lure them to bite our bait. In the end, the bigger mama ray decided to take but of all the rods, she took the weakest one. thus no fight, even before we can strike, the line burst.... what a waste!!!!!

Overall it is a fun trip, however, seems like I still have unfinished business there. May plan to go again in Dec 07 where the timing is just right.....

In any case, depends on how my business is this year, else dun say Perth, even Sentosa also got problem!!!!

Lastly, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all and may your 2007 be a happy and prosperous one!!!