Fruit Picking @ Pickering Brook

8th May 2016

Jen shared this post on Singaperth about apple picking at a farm in Pickering Brook. Many expressed interest & the plan was to go on Saturday. But I was asked to work on Saturday & hence I decided that we would go on Sunday instead. On arrival, we quickly purchased the empty cardboard tray for $25. Hubs even found out that we could buy a habanero plant if we wanted to for $12. (I recently bought 2 habanero chillies to cook & had reserved the seeds for sowing in warmer months.) 

We started off very rapidly but soon slowed down, becoming more picky with our picks. They had red, pink lady & granny smith. We picked just a few granny smiths for apple dessert as this variety is too sour for my sensitive teeth. (I was thinking ahead. Lol.) The tray was getting heavier by the minute. Towards the end, hubs simply carried the tray on his head. We had a pile of apples & had loaded the tray in the boot when we met 2 other Singaperth families. We went over to say hello & introduce ourselves as it was our 1st meeting. They told us that there were persimmons for picking as well. My eyes lit up. They're my absolute favourite after durians. Just then, Nix & family showed up as well.

So off we went to the car, picked up the tray & went for 2nd round. The persimmons were tiny & hard. But I was told they're sweet & not "siap" like the ones sold in Sin. Most of them were high up in the trees. So I decided to climb up the tree. I've never climbed a tree before. But with a childlike glee, I climbed up & plucked persimmon after persimmon. Hubs then handed me the tray which I really struggled to carry to try getting more persimmons for me. Earlier on, he had found 1 that he said had a penis. He came back to me after a while, obviously excited, hand behind his back. He asked me for the persimmon with the penis & I handed it over to him. He then said, "You have 1 with a penis. Therefore, you must have 1 with a pussy." & whipped out the persimmon he had hidden behind him. I couldn't stop laughing. It certainly looked like the persimmons had male & female parts. 

Hubs then asked me if I wanted the habanero plant. Upon order, the farmer will drive his tractor to wherever it was, dig the plant up & drive it back to you. It was huge & $12 is a very cheap price to pay. But I decided against it as it was really too big. I already have a chilli plant producing plenty of chilli at home. Habanero is too spicy to use in large quantities. So I'll try my luck with the seeds. 

I've been having apples everyday for breakfast & lunch since. We still have a huge amount of apples. Well, the ice cream churner is in the freezer ready to go. Apple sorbet anyone?

Apple farm in Pickering Brook.

Red apple trees. 

Happy picking.

Our tray of assorted apples & persimmons.

The cheeky male & female persimmons.

Penguin Island

24th April 2016

I was trying to choose between Rottnest & Penguin Island for our day trip. Rottnest's charges are pretty outrageous, $100 per pax for the ferry ride & bicycle rental, or close to $200 for the guided tour of the island. In the end, I chose Penguin Island simply becoz they're close from June to September for the nesting season. 

I drove 1.5 hours to Shoalwater in Rockingham & bought the tickets for the 45 mins Penguin & Sea Lion Glass Bottom Cruise at $38.50 each. It was a cloudy day, just the way I like it. Although the cruise didn't cover dolphins, we did manage to see some wild dolphins when our skipper purposely took us close to the dolphin cruise. The dolphins like surfing the "waves" that were created by the dolphin cruise & that was how they drew the dolphins out.

We saw only 4 sea lions & our guide explained that these 4 were oldies or juvies & they were all males. The females were all up in Jurien Bay & all the fit adult males had swam over for a rendezvous. They were all just lying on the sand, looking dead. But they were in fact, just resting. We were told to "never stand between a sea lion & the sea". If we see sea lions on the island & get too close, they will feel threatened & try to escape out to sea. If we are between them & the sea, we'll get mowed down.

After the cruise, we were dropped off at Penguin Island where penguin feeding would take place shortly. The fairy penguins are of the smallest variety, are also known as little penguins or blue penguins. They grow up to 33 cm tall & majority of the penguins on Penguin Island are wild. There were 10 penguins in the sanctuary that were deemed unsuitable to return to the wild due to blindness, some were orphaned & hand raised hence they would not survive in the wild.

It was a nice day trip & very enjoyable. Next on the list will be Rottnest. With a price tag of $200 for 2, I'll have to think about it. But it's just 1 of those things that I feel we should do at least once in our life.

Pelicans & sea lions on the tiny island.

1 of the fairy penguins in the sanctuary.

At the time of our visit, there were 10 fairy penguins deemed unsuitable to return to the wild. 

She was sitting on her eggs. I was trying to take picture of something else. Apparently, I got too close for comfort & she abandoned her nest. But she wasn't too happy about it & kept squawking at me. 

Day Trip To New Norcia

Last Sunday, we took the 1.5 hour drive to this little monastic town called New Norcia. It wasn't exactly a planned trip. Neither was it exactly impromptu. It was on my itinerary for our upcoming farm stay & camping trip. The idea of visiting it as a day trip came to me on Friday while at work. The forecast for Sat was possible storm with a max of 34°c so I chose Sunday which was supposed to be clear & a max of 26°c. I woke up as I usually do on my day off, at 6 am. So I baked 2 sourdough baguette before we set off.

The church.

I laid out the pet hammock to protect my car seats & off we went. The dogs were excited & I had to tie their leash to the head rest on opposing ends. Basil tends to step all over Ton Ton who's half his size & we didn't want them attempting to climb over the hammock onto the front seats. The cruise control was the best thing on such long country roads. There were hardly any cars. I took my foot off the pedal & let cruise control take over.

I don't know why but this type of scenery appeals to me so.

1st thing I did when we got there was to go into their visitor centre to get a copy of their walking track map. We didn't take their guided tour as we had dogs with us. The round trip took about an hour & we headed to the hotel to get lunch. I ordered their famous Abbey Ale for hubs & took a sip for taste.

Small, but a 2 km walk.

After lunch, we took the drive home. Dogs & human slept the entire journey home, save for the driver (me). But even I was out for 3 hours when we got home. We need more road trips!

The dogs concussed in the lobby of the hotel as we had lunch.

Day Trip: Lesmurdie Falls

The falls.

Whenever I come across a suburb that I'm not familiar with, I search for it on the map. That was how I found Lesmurdie Falls. I had a patient living in Lesmurdie last Friday & I wanted to see where it is in relation to my work place. My brain immediately went into overdrive, trying to plan when to go, whether dogs are allowed & subsequent activity, namely, food.

Panoramic views.

So there we were on a Sunday morning, after the laundry's been done. Like a well seasoned dog, Ton Ton went out the front door & straight into the car while I was still locking up. He knew exactly that we were going on a car ride. We took my car but hubs was the 1 driving. As we entered the Perth Hills region, the surroundings reminded me of Taiwan.

Who else but Ah Ton?

We finally arrived at Mundy Regional Park where Lesmurdie Falls is located. As stated in the website, dogs are allowed but they must be on leash. Ton quickly took a dump & of course, I'm always well prepared. We were rewarded with a panoramic view after a short hike. We didn't go all the way down to the bottom of the fall but even then, it was hard heading back to the car park.

Obviously we took a wrong turn & found ourselves in the bushes without a path. But we forge on ahead, pushing through the prickly needle-like leaves of native plants. Ton was the only 1 very game, probably becoz he was low down close to the ground & escaped being poked relentlessly. His long bushy coat of fur also acted as a cushion. We finally pushed our way back onto the path. That was definitely 1 of the highlights of our trip.

Rose Heritage Cafe.

There he was, growling at the ducks.

Lunch.

We were recommended Core Cider, a cafe not too far away. But they stated on their website that pets are not allowed so I sourced out this place called Rose Heritage Cafe. It had this koi pond with ducks swimming around. That was where we sat, away from the main dining area. Everytime the ducks swam past, Ton Ton would stick his head out the railings & growl at them. He's a riot. Hubs had their Classic Beef Burger & I had the Vegetable Stack. As we were sitting away from the cafe, we were served the food in take away boxes. Sure was a lovely way to spend Sunday.

A Great Adventure Part 2

The night was cold. It's 1 thing to be indoors with the walls as insulation when it's 5°c outside & another when there's only a thin layer of tent fabric between you & the 12°c temperature outside. I made the mistake of waiting till bed time to start layering up. 3 pairs of socks later, my feet remained frozen throughout the night. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. Ton Ton didn't even protest when I threw the blanket over him completely & he hates having his face covered.

We woke up early, not by choice but becoz we went to bed at 8 pm the previous night. Unlike the others who brought their own electric grill or portable stove, we had cold canned food that tasted like combat ration. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure we could have idled the evening away, slowly cooking our food. Hubs even daydreamed about having steamboat. The options are only limited to our imagination & car boot space.

Greenough Historic Settlement

After breakfast, we drove further north, another 200 km to Greenough. 1st stop was Greenough Historic Settlement. This is an open space, exploration on foot. There was nowhere to hide Ah Ton. I went up to the counter, with every intention to ask if there's a place I can leave him while we were in there. But the moment I said I have my dog with me, the staff told me I could go in through the front gate instead of through the cafe. Cool! Dogs are allowed! He didn't even remind me to pick up after my dog. Not that he would poo or pee since he had done both at the camp site.

1st thing we noticed when we stepped in were the 2 alpacas. The alpacas were human shy. They kept taking off when the other visitors approached them. For some reason, they took to Ah Ton. Instead of running off, they approached us. It wasn't long before we had a whole herd of them surrounding us. "All hail, our great white leader!" they seemed to say. Unfortunately, Ah Ton, being his timid self, kept hiding behind us or I think he might actually enjoy running in their midst. 

The windfarm was next on my itinerary. My photo taking skill does it no justice. Nothing like driving in the countryside. We went on forever without even seeing another car. I insisted on taking the wheels for the journey back to Cervantes. Hubs had been driving the entire day & it would get dark in an hour. I had my high beam on & the light frightened off rabbits on the road who took off into the bush. We didn't contribute to the roadkill statistics. But I can't say the same for all the bugs & moths that got slammed onto my windscreen. It was the next morning when I noticed my license plate got the worst of it. We got back to the campsite at 7.40 pm. After the previous night, I thought I would try something different. A hot shower later, I immediately wrapped myself in my jacket & 3 pairs of socks. I wasn't cold yet, but I thought if I could preserve my body heat, I wouldn't be so cold during the night. It definitely did help. My toes were cold but not frozen. 

Morning came & it was time to break camp. Check out time is 10 am but by 9 am, we had already dismantled the tent & loaded up the car. I got my $50 pet bond back & off we went the way we came. I must say, for someone who's adverse to camping, I really enjoyed myself. I'm already planning our next adventure. My life has been devoid of anticipation & excitement for the future for as long as I've been working. I came here to find better work life balance. I found more. I found my life back.

Initially there were 2.

Then there were 4.

Then, there were many.

1 of the restored churches in the historic settlement.

Windfarm.

At the rest stop on the way home.

A Great Adventure

The most amazing things in life are free. Such as star gazing outside our tent up here in Cervantes, only to find that the trees are twinkling away too. Realisation that the trees are peppered with fire flies struck & I gave thanks for the wonderful sights of nature.

Our alarm went off at 4 am today. Hubs silenced his, I snoozed mine. I finally rolled out of bed at 4.15 am. We departed at our planned time, 5 am. 1st stop, pump up the tires at the petrol station. We were approached by this guy with a dog who wanted directions to his brother's place. He asked if we could give him a lift. We wanted to but we didn't for fear he's a robber in disguise. If it were daytime, I probably will. I wish I can have more faith in people.

We drove west then turned north onto Indian Ocean Drive. Hubs drove on high beam once we passed the outskirts of town, only to dip the headlights when there are approaching vehicles. This is the 1st time we pushed my car to 110km/hr & at some point, close to 120km/hr. The high beam was literally a lifesaver. 2 kangaroos decided to hop across the road & as we could see them from afar, we managed to slow down enough to let them pass safely. Others were not so lucky, flattened & smashed across the long straight road.

Abandoned tire by the road side.

120 km into the drive, hubs stopped by the roadside to "rest the car". I took the opportunity to (what else?) take photos. The sun was beginning to rise. We drove the next 80 km watching the scenary fly by. Finally, we arrived in Cervantes. We had breakfast at their cafe after checking in to the caravan park I had booked. Ham & mushroom quiche, scones with jam & cream to share. As usual, coffee for him, tea for me. I don't drink hot tea, much less sit under the sun to do it. But I enjoy it here when the weather is cold.

Satisfied that we got the tent up.

We headed to our tent site & got started on pitching our tent. It took a bit longer than expected as the ground was soft-ish & the metal pickets kept coming off. We had to try different spots for each anchor until they stayed put. But finally, it was done. What great sense of satisfaction we felt! If there is 1 Singaporean trait I can't get rid of, it's my desire to take picture of everything. Memories fail but photos these days last practically forever in their digital format.

The Pinnacles.

Tent done. Air mattress pumped up. Next stop, The Pinnacles. Dogs are not allowed in national park. I'm guilty to say we smuggled him in. But, I didn't let him out of the car at any stage. Hubs was driving & I was riding shotgun. I made Ton Ton lie down on the floor in front of me & covered him with my bag. When we got to the payment booth, I turned the music on loud for fear he would start making noise when he hears strangers. He was very good. Didn't make a sound. In fact, I stayed in the car the entire time & took photos by sticking my arm out the window.

Stromatolites.

We went to Lake Thetis next. Again, this is part of Nambung National Park. So I was the only 1 who walked down to the lake to take pictures of the stromatolites, leaving hubs & Ton in the car. (Hubs said it was too far to walk. -_-''') We had lunch in Jurien Bay & it was the 1st time I tried coffee float. I ordered it for hubs & I was surprised when it came (coz it says ice coffee on the menu). Very nice.

We got back to the camp site at 3.30 pm. We stepped into the tent & I laid down on the air mattress for the 1st time. Ton 是真的很会享受的狗。Upon seeing me on the bed, he jumped into the tent & up onto the bed with me, making himself comfortable. You can just see the excitement & anticipation in his eyes as he jumped up. We rested for a while until I decided I wanted to have a shower before it gets dark. Then I realised, I forgot the towels. Luckily, I brought 10 pieces of blue disposable hand towels I took from work. I had already used 1 to wipe sand off Ton Ton. So I had to ration them carefully. I used 2, 1 for drying & 1 to wrap my hair in.

We finally found a use for the night sticks hubs brought home ages ago. I had packaged tuna with rice that tasted like combat ration while hubs had cup noodles. He saw people with their portable BBQ & he started chanting that he wanted 1 too. We agreed on electrical grill since we don't have to deal with charcoal ashes. That was when I looked up into the sky to star gaze.

If for whatever reasons, things don't work out & we have to return to Sg for good, I will leave knowing our life here has been a fruitful 1. 1 full of adventures & fond memories.

Going On The Road

Some time back, but definitely a post from this year, I wrote about my dream to rent a camper van to tour the regional areas of WA. A dream remains a dream unless you act upon it & so I did. It turned out that I have to scrap the idea as the camper van rentals I looked at require a bond of 5 grand. While refundable if returned in original condition, I will feel much more comfortable with an excess that is payable if we get into an accident. I tried looking at van rentals so we can still put an air mattress at the back. But the bond for such commercial vans stand at almost 3 grand. Still too much of a risk.

If we drive our own car, we'll not be allowed into any of the lodgings if I choose to bring Ah Ton. Neither am I keen to leave him behind. Call me crazy. But I made a promise to him before we left Sg that I'll bring him on many road trips (coz he loves car rides). I want him to go on many adventures with us.

In the end, I made a decision that my past self will never believe. Hubs even asked, "你是我的老婆吗?" when I 1st told him of my plan. Yes. It is that drastic. I told him, let's go camping instead. We'll drive my car (coz we have insurance on mine), book a dog friendly camp site & pitch a tent to sleep in.

We're crazy to go camping in winter & I wonder if we'll freeze to death sleeping under the stars. But I'll make sure our prep work is immaculate. Heat tech clothes from Uniqlo, heat packs for standby, thick socks, long pants, Ton's sweater. Although not very far away, we are indeed going up north. So hopefully it'll just be cold but not freezing.

We bought a 4 person tent (says 4 but is very small), an air mattress & 2 camping chairs just today. They're not top of the range but they'll do for us novice. I've short listed areas I'll like to visit but I'll have to start fine tuning my itinerary very soon. If we like it, I'll plan a trip down south during the 2 weeks Christmas closure at my work place. For someone who claims she hates the outdoors, I'm actually quite excited. I look forward to creating good memories with the ones I love.

Sunrise At Kings Park

Thursday, 16th April. I had no list & hence got the day off. Hubs was asked not to work as there were no orders. I said I wanted to take panorama pictures at Kings Park on an overcast day but couldn't as I had to work. It was forecast to be a clear, sunny day. It would have to do. We woke up at 4.30 am in the morning in preparation to leave the house at 5.30 am. I estimated travelling time to be around 45 mins, just in time for the 6.30 am sunrise. It wasn't too cold (12 degrees) but I heeded hub's advice to wear my thicker jacket. Thankfully I did coz it was very windy & my usual thin jacket wouldn't have sufficed. As predicted, we arrived at Kings Park at 6.15 am. The views were breath taking. The photos I took on my S3 don't do the scenery justice. 

I brought Ton along just becoz dogs are allowed. We leave him at home way too much. So whenever I can, I'll bring him. He did his usual thing, trying to chase & bark at passing joggers. After watching the sunrise, we wandered for a bit in Kings Park before heading home. 

View overlooking the city.

Goofy Ton.

It's starting.

A fully risen sun.

Strawberries Galore

Mid last week, hubs told me that Nix asked him if we would like to pick strawberries at a strawberry farm on Sat. Of course I said yes. Even if it's for an hour, it's nice to have something to do, be with people I like. Not just the 2 of us staring at each other at home wondering where to go.

Along the way, we marveled at the beautiful sights. As it is considered a rural area, much of it was untouched, undeveloped. I told hubs, "There's a beautiful country side right at our backdoor & we didn't even know it!"

We arrived at the strawberry farm in Bullbrooks at 10.05 am, running 5 minutes late. The location wasn't in the GPS & there were 2 roads with the same name. We did a few U-turns before I saw the road sign. We were on the correct road but if we turn left, the road name remains the same. Usually, once you make a turn, the road name changes you see. So I told hubs, let's try turning left & see where it leads us. That turned out to be where we were supposed to be.

The moment I opened the car door, a sweet scent lingering in the air hit me. It was not the scent of strawberries, just something sweet that I couldn't put a finger on. Nix, Jen & another couple, L & M were already there. We took some pictures & headed in. They were selling an empty tray for $10 or 2 punnets for $5. We bought the tray to share among the us. It didn't take long to fill the tray (no heaping allowed).

At the end of our harvesting 1 hour plus later, I had sand in my shoes, dirt under my nails but I really enjoyed myself. Even after splitting the loot, we still ended up with a huge mixing bowl of strawberries. The strawberries were super sweet & not a single 1 was sour, unlike the store bought ones. They were so good that we ate it as it is, instead of making dessert with them. That concluded our Sat morning.

Day Excursion To Freo

This is an excursion I thought of just recently. I was looking at hub's FB (I do that all the time coz his friends always post interesting stuff & I play Criminal Case using his account) & saw a few of his friends visiting Perth for a holiday. It occurred to me that we've been here for a while now. But we haven't done any of the tourist things. In fact, his friends probably went to more places in 1 week than we had in 5 months. So that prompted me to do this day excursion.

We got off on a bad start. Shortly after parking the car, we passed by a group of 3 aboriginal women. 1 of them said, "Hello." My natural reaction was to turn to see who was talking. She followed with, "Aussie wannabe." Of course, I've been warned about them. Still, it stung. Immediately, my buddhist teaching came into my mind. People who respond with biting & bitter words lead a life that is filled with negativity. What is on the inside inevitably spills outside. We all have been dealt shit & will continue to be dealt shit in our lives. What makes a difference is that we turn the negativity into positive actions.

It reminded me of how negative I was with my landlord issue & how I struggled to overcome it. What we give away we receive back. I wish I can exude only positivity. But I guess that's what we're here for. To learn the ways of life & overcome our negative tendencies & lead a purpose filled life in gratitude.

Whether it's with other people or with hubs, I keep quiet becoz even though I'm angry inside. You may think I'm a hypocrite but all I really want is to keep the peace & avoid a confrontation. I know my feelings will not be reciprocated all the time. But sometimes I wonder if I'm the one of the very few who has this mindset. Hubs is my complete opposite. He will not hesitate to give it to you if he feels he's not in the wrong.

We started with Fremantle Market which sadly to say, had nothing much. It was the same with Malaga Market which we visited 3 months back. Perhaps it just feels different when you're visiting as a tourist rather than a resident. But at least we've seen it in person. We took a stroll in the vicinity & came upon the Esplanade. From my "research", the Fishing Harbour is just on the other side of the Esplanade.

Despite it being only 10.30 am, I suggested to hubs that we have Fish N Chips at Kaili's since it was on our itinenary anyway. I always believe that the quality of the food decline sharply when there's a huge demand, like during lunch or dinner hour. We chose to sit outside where it was cooler (yeah, it was warm indoors) & we had a view of the harbour. 2 ladies came after us & sat outside as well. For some reason, the seagulls kept attacking them & managed to flip a box of Fish N Chips onto the floor. They moved further in but the seagulls were relentless & made off with their scallops. They finally moved indoors. We were sitting just next to them but the seagulls didn't even made any attempts on us. I joked that it must be becoz hubs has a 杀气 & therefore they avoided us.

We made our way back to the car & drove to our next destination: Fremantle Prison. I had a voucher so we got huge discount off our tickets. We did the package that included the Doing Time & Great Escapes tours, originally $28 per pax. We paid $36 for 2. The prison was still in use up to 1991. The conditions prisoners had to put up with were appalling. We were told that some of the prisoners who finished serving their time frequently come back on the tour. That concludes our day in Freo.

Virgin Trip To The Library

After work on Sat, hubs headed to Ninja Nurse's place, having been invited for breakfast & subsequently helping to deliver food to the Soka centre in Osborne Park.

I wanted to get safety goggles & mask for the soap making project that I'm going to embark on. So I suggested that we go Bunnings to get them. While we were there, I picked up some gardening items. I grabbed a pack of 5 gardening tools for $7 & 1 of it was a weeder. J had suggested that I get it for ease of weeding & I put it to the test immediately after getting home. It was indeed much easier & the roots come right out.

Last stop was to the library. I've never been there though it's just nearby. I applied for a card & borrowed 4 books by 1 of my favourite authors, James Patterson. With so many books available, I think I won't need to buy the Kindle, thus saving me $178. Heh.

Virgin Trip To Ikea Perth

I have the day off today since there's only an afternoon list with 4 cases. Hubs suggested going to Ikea & I was all up for it. We used to visit Ikea (both the Queensway & Tampines outlet) for no reasons other than window shopping. I offered to drive since it was raining periodically with strong howling winds. An auto car will be less stressful to the driver.

We decided to try the food here in Perth. Hubs got himself a fish & chips while I ordered the meatballs. I haven't eaten Ikea meatballs for a long time, way before it was reported that there was horse meat in them. I felt it tasted different & the sauce not as thick. We bought 2 hanging wardrobe organisers as we've been dumping clothes that don't require hanging up there on a shelf. Whenever I try to pull a top, everything else comes dropping down. So this will help greatly. There's a lack of kitchen space so hubs insisted on getting me a mobile trolley.

The pelting rain & winds carried on throughout the day & into the night. I was awakened several times by the sound of rain hitting the roof. The wind was so strong our doors rattled even though all doors were closed. Heard on the news that the storm is moving east so hopefully it'll blow over soon.