Jan’s blogs about life

What’s a visit to Australia without at least visiting one of the animal parks? So we made a detour along the way of our Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail and headed to Caversham Wildlfe Park. The road was off the main route and it was rather quiet. It was too difficult to find as the map provided by the car rental was really detailed. A signboard along the way pointed us to the right direction. Read more »

Arriving at Black Swan, we were still quite early. Just a little before noon time. Feeling not that hungry, but we were still planning to have our lunch meal here as the next stop would be the Caversham Wildlife Park. We decided we would order less. The Black Swan was a nice looking cafe. It was also a winery too as we could see the vineyard on its backyard. Rows and rows of new vines were planted on its ground. Read more »

“You must joking?!” That’s what my in-laws said. The weather was cold and we were going to eat Oggies Ice Cream? Well, that was one of the interesting stops along the Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail. Catherine said we must try their ice-cream, it was different. So we got off on our first stop to savour some cold ice-cream on a cold windy day. Despite the bright sun on a clear blue skies, the temperature was cool with a slight breeze. Read more »

Swan Valley is located to the north-east of Perth, Australia and takes an approximate 30 minutes drive from Perth according to the guidebook. However we were already smack right in the middle of Swan Valley with our accommodation in the Vines Apartment so no need to worry about the distance. On the other hand, there are over forty wineries, restaurants, cafes, farms etc. from small family-run ones to large scale international export class vineyards and factory. So how do we know which ones to drop by? Read more »

Fremantle is located about 30 minutes drive from the South-West of Perth, Australia. Fremantle was named after Sir Charles Howe Fremantle, a 28 year old captain of HMS Challenger who took over this area in 1829. Later on settlers from Britain came over and colonized the place and it became the Swan River Colony. Much of the charm of yesteryears still remain of this beautiful port town with its old colonial Victorian buildings and quaint little town houses. A visit to Fremantle is a must for those who plan to have vacation in Perth.

The Vines Apartment in Swan Valley was truly a great accommodation. Only problem was that it was located quite far away from Perth city, Australia. It takes about 50 minutes of driving from Perth. You may wonder why we ended in such an isolated accommodation. Well, sometime ago we joined Sara Worldwide Vacation Club which was affiliated with Interval International and decided to use up the points or it will go to waste. It seemed like a good idea at that time to join up, but like most timeshares, there were many restrictions and limitations. Though the apartment accommodation provide was superb, and the number of affiliated hotels, resorts and accommodation worldwide listed looked a lot but the actual number of available hotels and resorts for each specific region and timing were actually rather limited. Read more »

Self driving in Perth, Australia is not too difficult. Their cars are right hand drive with cars driven on the left lane, same as per Malaysia and Singapore. All you need is a valid driving license and you could drive in Australia. No need to apply for an international driving license. Being in an unfamiliar place you will need a driver and a navigator to move around effortlessly. If the driver also has to navigate, then the best course of action would be to rent a car with GPS unit. It would of course mean additional rental amount. Feeling confident to read the map, I was the designated navigator while Lena was the driver. Though sometime I would take over the wheels once I became familiar with some of the route. Read more »

Thanks to Catherine who did most of the legwork of compiling brochures and putting up the vacation itinerary. I did try to look up some info online, but it was very difficult to plan the Perth Vacation itinerary myself sue to my unfamiliarity. Before the trip, I went to MPH bookstore, I couldn’t find any books about Perth either. Most of it was about Melbourne and Sydney, the main tourist destination. Perth was somehow overlooked by most tourists. Even if you were to book a tour from a travel agent, it would usually just be a 5D/4N or 6D/5N affair. A very short tour indeed. Read more »

We had a great time in Perth, Western Australia for vacation! The climate weather was good with clear blue skies. With eight days seven nights worth of holiday vacation, it was a relaxing getaway from all the hustle and bustle of daily grind. Read more »

Durian, the king of fruits. Some like it. Some hate it. But we got to sample a whole bunch for free when my friend, Mr Goo invited my family over to his orchard in the Bentong area.

The durian season was well on its way, and there was an over abundance in Pahang. In KL, it was a little scarcer as the suppliers could not get good profit from the oversupply. Still that would not have stopped my wife and family from organizing a durian fest. Fortunately, Mr Goo invited us over to his orchard on a weekend.”Why not come over to my orchard? Eat as much as you want!” He said. Alright, after making arrangement with various family members we ended up with two cars going out on this excursion as it comprise my parent and parent-in-laws, Kenny and his wife, Rebecca, Lindy, Lena and I. Read more »