It was time for our annual family vacation.
Usually, we take our family vacation in October after PSLE and the MOE Primary 4 exam madness. But this year, things are uncertain on the home and ministry front.
This uncertainty plus preferring to holiday during off-peak seasons (cheaper!) make planning holidays complicated. In the end, we decided that we would take our family vacation in April and our choice of destination would be Perth. The last time we visited Perth was back in 2012 when the youngest was 3. Sadly, she does not remember a thing.
Why Perth?
A few reasons.
- Perth in April would be the beginning of Autumn. Read: cool weather and no flies!!!
- Scoot flies there. Read: cheaper airfares.
- It is just 4 – 5 hours away. Read: save on travel time.
But we had a little trouble getting accommodations because of our large family size. Because I did not want to split the family up into 2 rooms or houses, it was hard to find a place that could accommodate all of us comfortably. Also, needing to house all 9 of us in one place makes it hard to source for accommodations on websites like Trivago, Expedia and Hotels.com. Another spanner thrown into the mix was that the period we planned to travel in coincided with the start of the Australian school holidays. Argh.
But God’s favour was upon us. Henson’s friend, through his Church, found us someone who owned an Airbnb house. It was available, had 5 bedrooms and a fully functional kitchen. Yay!
And so, this post is to both document our trip as well as to share what we did in case it helps those who would like to travel to Perth.
Perth Holiday Diary
Note:
Many Singaporeans love to drive along Margaret River, tour the vineyards, cheese and chocolate factories, and stay at places like Sunflowers Animal Farm and Farmstay. But we didn’t do that because we didn’t want to do the long drives. So I searched for things to do that did not involve driving more than 30-45 minutes each way.
Wednesday, 11th April 2018
Some Background
Despite our “powerful” Singaporean passport, we still need to apply for an Australian visa to enter Australia. You can apply directly on the official ETA Website which costs AUD$20. But, here is the crazy part, you can apply through a 3rd party website and pay just SGD$10! Just google Australian visa and there will many websites to choose from. I have no idea how this works.
For our case, God sent me a friend who runs a travel agency. She helped me with the application. Something, however, prompted me to do a check on the official ETA Website on Wednesday night to check that our visas were in order. I had an inkling that my visa would give problems because it was approved one day after everyone else’s.
True enough, the ETA system said that I had no visa. But when I checked with my friend, her system indicated that everything was in order?! Meanwhile, we were all packed and ready to leave the next day.
Thursday, 12th April 2018
As our Scoot flight was at 2 pm, we needed to check-in by 12 noon. We had booked a Maxicab to bring us to the airport by 11 am so that we could have a leisurely check-in and have our lunch before boarding the plane.
Visa Problems
But …true enough, my visa gave us trouble. We think it is due to the hyphen in my Chinese name. Apparently, the system had trouble recognising it. After about 15-20 minutes of stress, where the Scoot counter staff tried various permutations of my name, she managed to get it sorted out. Whew! We could finally check everything in and proceed to eat lunch at Swensen’s. This is not the first time my name has given me problems, and it probably won’t be the last. Sigh.
Strict Scoot Steward
It was smooth sailing all the way after that. Well, except for a very strict Scoot steward who went around telling everyone not to eat food that they had brought onboard. We had brought along two small buns each to snack on the flight since we would only touchdown in Perth past 7 pm, and wouldn’t get to eat dinner until past 8 pm. Most of us managed to eat our buns without any trouble except for one child. He was told off and did not finish it.
Sniffer Dog
Upon landing, he quickly finished it before clearing immigration since we are not allowed to bring food into Australia. In a new (to us) development, after passing through the immigration authorities, we were made to stand in a line to be checked out by a sniffer dog. Because that child did not throw away the plastic bag which held his bun, the dog singled him out. But upon seeing it was empty, he was allowed through.
Car Collection and SIM Cards
We then proceeded to collect our 13-seater Toyota Hiace from Europcar, which was located at the other end of the Arrival Hall. We also purchased 2 SIM cards from Optus at the airport. Having data was very helpful as the GPS we rented from Europcar failed us at one point.
Dinner
There was a small dilemma – should we just have our dinner at the airport or should we drive to the nearest supermarket to buy food back to cook?
Convenience won the day. Five of us had Hungry Jacks while four of us had Mexican food from Guzman Y Gomez. When everyone was satiated, we set off for our Airbnb house.
Our Accommodations
Our God-sent Airbnb accommodation was located in Canning Vale. We found it easily as it was a short drive from the airport. It was HUGE. After quickly unpacking and showering, we all crashed.
Friday, 13th April 2018
Most of us woke up late. The usual early risers woke up…early. 🙂
We breakfasted at McDonald’s and proceeded to the nearby Coles supermarket to stock up food for our day out at Caversham Wildlife Park.
The counter lady at Caversham was lovely and generous. She asked for the children’s ages and charged us as 3 adults, 3 students (although we did not have any student IDs with us) and 3 children. That saved us some money. What a wonderful start to our holiday.
We split into 2 groups – oh the wonders of having older children who can look after themselves – and wandered around. The younger ones wanted to watch the sheep shearing show and milk the cow – again! And so we did.
There were really a lot of animals to see. Koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, lizards, owls, and so on.
The highlight of the visit, besides feeding the kangaroos was seeing an 8-month-old baby kangaroo nurse and then climb into its mother’s pouch! Ruth and Anna had the privilege of watching it happen. I had heard the baby kangaroo call for its mother and when she appeared, I saw it nurse but missed it climbing into the pouch.
Picnic #1
We had our lunch picnic at a lovely shaded area. We certainly enjoyed our simple ham and cheese croissants, with grapes as dessert. For drinks, we brought along our own water bottles. This eliminated the need to pay tourist prices for food or drinks at the park.
We wandered around a bit more after our lunch before heading back to Coles to buy food for dinner.
The children wanted to eat kangaroo meat so we looked for pre-made and pre-marinated patties. I do not like kangaroo meat – too gamey for me – so I bought super cheap chicken drumsticks to bake.
But when we reached home, I discovered that the pantry, while well-stocked, did not have baking trays! So I had to pan fry the chicken thighs and finish them off in the microwave oven. It was super messy, with the oil splattering all over. One child was assigned the job of mopping up the floor.
Meanwhile, Sarah took charge of cooking the kangaroo meat patties. The children said it was nice. For vegetables, we bought pre-made coleslaw. We finished dinner with Cole’s blueberry cheesecake and apple turnovers.
Everyone was happy. But my legs! Oh, my legs! I haven’t walked so much in my life.
Saturday, 14th April 2018
Saturday was Fremantle day. Getting to Fremantle was the easy part, but finding a carpark, not so. Carparks near Fremantle Market allowed you to park for a maximum of 2 hours only, with a $3/hour charge. So we drove farther out and thankfully found an all-day carpark. It charged $2/hour up to a maximum fee of $11.00.
Breakfast
Again, we split up into 2 groups and looked for breakfast at the market. The older ones went to have this “magical” concoction called Muffles, a mix between a muffin and a waffle. There were savoury and sweet muffles. But they were expensive. Prices started at $10 for one.
Meanwhile, Henson and I with the 3 younger ones had Hawaiian crepes at Michele’s Crepe Suzette. Henson and I also had a cappuccino each. He had a medium (2 shots) while I had a small (1 shot).
Shopping
While wandering around, some of us bought caps and scarves as well as some novelty toys called Splat Balls. Then we wandered into the market side called The Yard and bought lovely strawberries and mangoes to bring for dinner at our friend’s place that night.
Lunch at Sweet Lips
After all the walking, we proceeded to eat lunch at Sweet Lips. When we were at Perth 6 years ago, we loved Sweet Lips Fish and Chips. This time around, not so. It was nice but not as nice as it was before. They provide vinegar FOC but charge AUD$1.90 for a sachet of tomato ketchup. I am glad we do not have the habit of eating our chips with ketchup!
After lunch, we wandered back to Fremantle Market to have dessert. Some of us had Muffles again while the others shared a coconut smoothie. We also got to watch a 6-year-old girl busking with her hula hoop. She was really good! David did try busking at the piano provided in the market but did not earn anything. 😀
We finally left the place and tried to rest before heading out for dinner at our friend’s place at Attadale, a 30-minute drive from our Airbnb.
Dinner with Friends
At our last trip in 2012, we had also visited Lay Meng and Malcolm. She was David and Sarah’s Montessori Principal and teacher. She used to run Vineyard Montessori at Buckley Road near our old place. But her whole family emigrated to Perth Australia some 11 years ago.
It is always nice to catch up with this couple. If you didn’t already know, she was highly instrumental in getting us to consider homeschooling* our children some 18 years ago!
Malcolm even generously parted with his Hungry Jacks coupons which came in really handy for 2 of our meals later in the trip! Thank you, Uncle Malcolm!
*Starting this morning, and every single morning thereafter, my crazy son goes for his run in the cold crisp air.
Sunday, 15th April 2018
Perth Market City
Our first stop for the day was at Perth Market City, just a 10-minute drive away from our Airbnb.
There is an entry charge of $1/pax. Breakfast offerings were so-so. Most of it was oily and tasteless, or salty. The cappuccino was also just ok.
But, there was quite a selection of knick-knacks. I got myself a new iPhone glass screen protector for just AUD$4 and Henson got a car phone holder for AUD$10. Shopping for fruits and vegetables was great. A huge wongbok (Australian cabbage) cost just over a dollar. And plums were just $2.50/kg.
Then we headed home for the kids to play board games they had brought along. Henson and I then headed off to Coles to buy food for lunch and our planned-for picnic at Kings Park in the evening.
Kings Park
Kings Park was super crowded. I am not sure if it was because it was a Sunday or if it was because it was the school holidays. We were slightly stressed when we couldn’t find the spot we visited the last time. But the detour allowed us to take photos of a rainbow. When we finally found the spot we wanted, it was waaay inside the HUGE park.
The younger ones had fun at the playground and we all had lots of photos taken by Aaron, our resident photographer. Since it was so crowded, we decided that we would not have our picnic there but proceeded to Cottesloe Beach to catch the sunset instead.
Sunset at Cottesloe Beach
The children loved it. It was their first time seeing the beauty of a sunset unhindered by clouds or buildings. And we all enjoyed the cool, cool breeze. And then we marvelled at the people who exercised in the brisk cold air, topless, or wearing only singlets. They certainly have acclimatized to their weather.
Because sunset happened around 6 pm, it became very dark soon after. And much colder. So we decided that we would head home for dinner instead of having our picnic. But before that, we made another stop at a supermarket, Woolworths this time, to buy food for the next day.
Then we went home, unpacked our picnic food and enjoyed the bonus for eating at home – warm food, with Tim Tams for dessert.
Monday, 16th April 2018
This was going to be one long day spent at Perth’s only theme park, Adventure World.
First, we ate a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushroom and bread. While the children ate, I quickly cooked fried rice to pack for our lunch at the theme park. However, I did not realise that the rice sold in Australia isn’t like Royal Umbrella or Songhe rice. It was much harder than what we are used to.
Groupon Deal
While surfing for coupon codes for entry into Adventure World, I found a Groupon deal. We paid $45/person instead of $58/adult and $48/child. To ensure that it was not a scam, I emailed Adventure World to check. And they said it was legitimate. So I paid for it online and printed out the tickets.
Adventure World
Pre-paid entry allowed us to enter the park faster. Upon entry, the first thing we saw and tried was the Grand Prix Race Track. And that was a good move because when we wanted to ride it again, we had to queue almost an hour! But that was the only ride we had to queue that long. The Park was thankfully not as crowded as I thought it would be since it was the school holidays. But, as predicted by the weather report, it was blazing hot!
After the Grand Prix Race ride, Henson and I got ourselves the best cappuccino of our trip before again, splitting into 2 groups. The older ones went on almost all the rides, including the water slides. Brrr!
I went on The Abyss (rollercoaster) TWICE with Anna (9). The big kids were occupied with the other rides and she didn’t want to go on it alone. So I bravely offered to go with her. The first time was bearable. After the second time, I told her she’d have to wait for her older siblings to bring her because I felt nauseous. In the end, she went a total of 8 times on The Abyss. Older sister Sarah went 10 times, 8 with her and 2 with the other siblings! Crazy children.
Ruth went on Rampage and Goliath and then had to sit out everything else for about 2 hours. She felt really sick. Honestly, I thought they were all crazy to have gone on those rides. Especially on Goliath. It swings and spins! FAST. It is much more violent than any other rides we have been on at Universal Studios and Dreamworld. :::Gag:::
Picnic #2 and Water Rides
Sometime in the middle of all the rides, we ate our fried rice lunch on one of the many grass patches of the park.
And then some of the children decided to be really crazy and go for the water slides even without swimwear. I had wrongly thought that it would be too cold to try the water rides and slides and so did not tell them to bring any swimwear. It WAS cold but did I mention that I have crazy kids?!
Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to ask them to bring a change of clothes in case they got splashed. And so, they went for the rides, got totally soaked, and shivered in the aftermath. One child said, “I finally know how it feels to have chattering teeth!” But they loved it! And yes, went a few more times.
After the water rides, we went home to shower and then headed to Hungry Jacks for dinner, using the coupons from Uncle Malcolm. Those coupons were so helpful! It halved our dinner bill!
Thereafter, we headed to Woolworths for more grocery shopping before going home. The children chilled and played more board games while I had prepared the next day’s lunch.
Tuesday, 17th April 2018
Breakfast was frozen Hawaiian Pizzas bought from Woolworth’s and cappuccino from Hungry Jacks, both bought the night before.
We then drove almost 45 minutes to Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm. It was crowded! There were lots of school-aged children enjoying the farm during their school break. Thankfully it was a huge place so it wasn’t too bad. There were the usual rabbits and guinea pigs for petting and carrying, and baby lambs for feeding. There were lots of ducks and peacocks too. Pony rides were $5/child which the youngest 2 got to enjoy.
We then proceeded to The Maze at Bibra Lake. This was the most overrated park for us. When we visited it 6 years ago, it was solely a maze park with a small mini-putting course.
However, it has since been upgraded (with a huge price increase!) to include a water play area. But since it was mostly just a play area, so no one wanted to brace the cold water for it.
Picnic #3
Instead of more ham and cheese croissants, today’s lunch picnic food was fried noodles. It is a nice break from all the sandwich-type meals.
Dinner was Mexican food at Zambrero. It was good! So good that we decided that we needed to eat it again and would pack it for our last lunch in Perth tomorrow. 😀
Since this was our last night in Perth, we went home to pack and clean up. All the clothes that could be washed and dried in time were thrown into the washer and dryer. This helped to reduce the load of laundry that needed to be done when we return home.
We also had to make sure that all rubbish to be thrown out was bagged and thrown out tonight as the Garbage Collection Trucks would be swinging by early tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, 18th April 2018
Last day.
I got the children up early to eat their breakfast and pack everything up. Check-out time was 10 am.
Since everybody helped, everything was settled right on time, even the mandatory family shots in the living room of the house. Then we left for our last adventure. We would be trying golf at Supa Golf. But first, we had to stop by Zambrero to pick up our lunch.
Last Activity
Supa Golf was really fun as the balls were much larger than real golf balls, with the clubs lighter, too. This meant that even the younger ones (with child-sized clubs) could play along easily.
We were worried that playing at 11 am would leave us sweaty, sticky and smelly. And that would be the state we would fly home in.
But God is SO GOOD! It drizzled in the morning – which stressed me at first. The weather report said there would be a 20% chance of rain. But that light drizzle led to a lovely cool morning for us to play golf. Not a drop of sweat! It was so pleasant. One child was heard saying, “I could play this the whole day!”
I was told to set aside at least 1.5 hours for playing 9 holes of golf but because we were so bad, we took almost 2.5 hours to complete it. 😀 The older ones were keen to play another round but the timing was rather tight. In theory, we could have finished it in time to catch the plane. But that was based on the assumption that there were no other groups playing ahead of us. In the end, we decided not to risk it and just proceeded to have our last picnic lunch at the picnic area. If I had known that the children would all enjoy it I would have skipped going to The Maze.
Next trip, I guess?
To the Airport
On our way to the airport, we had to do a last top-up to the van in order to return it at full tank. That cost us another $25. It was a smooth ride to the airport and returning the car was easy too. Unlike the last time when we flew Scoot to the Gold Coast, there was no queue waiting to check-in. Maybe because we were so early?
But we wanted to be early because we needed time to have an early dinner since we did not pay for meals on Scoot, It was back to Hungry Jacks because…. coupons! 🙂
For some unknown reason, the queue for Hungry Jacks was long and slow moving so I was glad that we were at the airport early. Finally, we all got fed and Henson got his last cappuccino (I passed on it as I did not want my nose to act up on the plane.) and we all boarded safely.
Early Arrival
The flight TR9 was supposed to land 2340 Singapore time but it was a whole 40 minutes early! Such a bonus. But we still ended up at home around 1 am.
We took a Maxicab, which we had booked beforehand, home. Once we dropped off our luggage and started one load of laundry, we went for supper. It was kway chap and zhi char at our nearby kopi tiam. Real Chinese food!
Then it was back to more unpacking and sorting before unwinding to go to bed at almost 3 am.
God is So Good!
Even as I am writing up this post and posting photos to document the trip, I am so, so, so grateful to the Lord for allowing us to travel and enjoy ourselves those 7 days. We got to re-bond and laugh at each other’s silliness and just enjoy time being with each other. Everyone also chipped in to help wherever they are needed and that was nice.
All in all, many memory-making moments.
Yes, it was not a cheap holiday but we have chosen not to spend on many other things so that we can go for holidays like this once every few years.
Some Money Saving Tips
Just for fun, I thought I’d share some money saving tips if you would like to save some money on your next family trip.
a) For the Flight
- Fly Scoot.
- Choosing not to add on food or buy water during the flight.
- We ate before the flight and filled up our own empty water bottles at the water cooler after being scanned.
- Choosing to only buy additional luggage allowance for 2 out of the 9 of us.
- Choosing to travel in the off-peak season.
- Bringing our own booster seat for the child who needed it.
b) In Perth itself
- Book an Airbnb house or rent an apartment/house with cooking facilities.
- Don’t book too far out to save on petrol/diesel.
- Go grocery shopping and eat in. Stock up on snacks. Eating out in Australia is expensive. Eating at tourist places, even more so.
- Shop at their weekend markets if possible.
- Bring along your own food and drinks when you go out. You can pack the food in disposable boxes or ziplock bags.
- When shopping, buy only things that are cheaper or are a rare find.
- Google for coupon codes. If in doubt, email the tourist place you would like to visit and ask if they accept coupon codes or tickets purchased from the deals website.
Other Things to Take Note Of
Tap Water in Perth is heavily chlorinated. Even boiling did not remove it. Boiling and then filtering it in our Brita Water filter or filtering and then boiling it helped somewhat. But it still tastes a little funny. Thankfully, Coles and Woolworths supermarkets sold Spring Water at $6 for a 24-pack.
Water at Water Parks The water at the water parks were even more heavily chlorinated than the tap water. So, for those with sensitive skins, be warned.
And that’s it! It’s a long post. If you made it this far, well done! In my next post, I will share how our large family of 9 manage to travel light.
The Photographer
Except for the sunset photo taken by my iPhone 6, all the photos used in this post were taken by our resident photographer, @aaronlimxe
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