Perth, Western Australia (May 2018)

JJ in PER (31st May – 5th Jun 2018)

Type: Free & Easy (Self Drive)

Day -1

Daddy J comes in with the usual “LIGHTS-OUT-kids-please-sleep-since-you-have-a-long-day-ahead-tomorrow-no-story-time-tonight” yadda yadda; and we try hard to fall asleep, thinking what movies might be screening in the IFE tomorrow (hopefully no more Frozen or Peppa Pig, though Paw Patrol, PJ Masks or Ninjago would be fun) and soon dozing off with Mommy Koa and Elsa.

 

Day1 – Caversham Wildlife Park

We arrive on time in PER and remember the Q at immigration builds up very quickly given the short interval between SQ213 and MH flight. We clear immigration in a jiffy and get the go ahead to clear customs without the cute little beagle sniffing our bags this time. Onward to the car rental counter (this time we opted to go with Enterprise* whose counter was located at the far right end of the terminal in the car park as we were exiting the secondary clearance area).

*Good thing Daddy bought a separate insurance cover from Rental Cover as we did encounter bit of an incident towards the end of our trip! We were so scared! See write up here.

It was a relatively quick(er) process versus the more-than-an-hour-wait at Hertz the previous trip and soon we were all strapped in and headed to Caversham!

   

Day2 – Perth Hop On/Hop Off (Perth Explorer Bus)

We get up early (surprising how JJ get up early during holidays!) and head down for breakkie (free breakkie for HH Gold. See separate write up on HH Gold fast-track. We also got upgraded to a family suite this time!).

We then drive to Murray Street and park somewhere in between ‘The Explorer Stops 2 and 6″ (refer below map) since we want to take the bus only around the City to Northbridge, onward to Optus Stadium, Crown Casino (where we pitstop for Macker’s hash browns!) and alight at Perth Mint – this circuit takes only 20 mins tops. We alight outside the Perth Mint and walk 5mins back to the car neatly parked on Murray.

Refer to the Perth Explorer Website for latest routes and timing (Map/photo credit to Perth Explorer).

We end the day with the welcome drinks…

 

[Disclaimer: Kids did not partake of any alcoholic beverage(s), its just one of the signs of cranky and tired kids after a long day out!]

Day3 – Cicerello’s @ Freo

Voted by the JJ Twins as #1 Fish and Chips in Australia 🙂

Very kid-friendly as they have lotsa crayons and colouring pages to keep the kids occupied while waiting for the food!

(yummy chilly mussels!)

 

 

Day4 – Busselton Jetty

After breakkie we make our way down south towards Busselton, past Bunbury.

All in we take about 2 hours for a leisurely drive on Freeway South.

Highlight here was the train ride towards the ocean along the Longest Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

There’s an Ocean Observatory at the end (10min train ride, which you need tickets for! Make sure you pre-book it lest you wait an hour or two for next available slots). Caution if you are rushing to the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse (about 1.5hrs further down south-west from Busselton) you really need to prebook the train ride.

After grabbing some Jester’s Pie (yum!), we rush off towards the Lighthouse at Naturaliste (past Dunsborough).

Unfortunately we arrived just past 5pm where the last tour had departured. Fortunately the groundskeeper was kind enough to allow us to our self-guided walk around the vicinity!

We hurried off just before 6, as the final few cars to roll out of the car park, with the sunset behind us and make our way back to Perth City. Needless to say kids (including Daddy J and Mummy J) were super exhausted by the time we arrived back at the hotel…

 

Day5 – Swan Valley/Mini Golf

After an exhausting day the day before, we decide to take the day slow.

We went on the Perth Explorer Bus again, then drove north to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory @ Swan Valley (30min) [not to be mistaken with the original Margaret River Chocolate Company in Margaret River (3 hours drive down south).

After stuffing ourselves silly with choc and ice-cream, we decided to head over to X-treme Ice Rink at Mirabooka to burn it off with ice-skating (we had prebook family passes from Groupon the night before).

Ice Skating at X-treme Ice, Mirabooka

Day6 – Perth Carnival Fever!

While at Westfield Carousell the day before, we noticed a carnival going on at the Showgrounds Claremont.

Did some check over the internet and found tix which we then bought. Everyone loves a carnival! 🙂

 

The even had a petting zoo with small farm animals (Old MacDonald’s petting zoo!)…

Face Painting for the girls…

And more rides!!!

  

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Summary of May 2018 Perth Accommodation:

We were at the Hilton Parmelia Perth this time. It was on par with the Pan Pacific Perth we stayed at the year before but note that parking at the Parmelia is by valet only and costs AUD$50/night. We found it obviously more cost effective to go with the street parking. Note that there are also strict timings by when you need to observe clearway (strictly no stopping), and maximum duration allowable (1P denoting 1-hour/2P for example is for 2 hours).

Honors Flash Sale Pricing:

Price breakdown

Room price AU$695.50

5 nights: AU$139.10 /night including taxes

Total AU$695.50