Continuing from the great picnic lunch and ocean dip at Hangover Bay, it was time to press on and head over to Nambung National Park, home to the Pinnacles Desert. Without the stop at Hangover Bay, it would probably be about 3hr drive north from Perth City towards the coastal town of Cervantes.

The Pinnacles Desert was added to the existing National Park that was named after the winding Nambung River. Nambung means crooked in the local Aboriginal tribal language. It is a park with a 26km stretch of sparkling coastline bordered by rolling ancient sand dunes that extend inland into banksias woodlands.
credit: Wikipedia

One of Western Australia’s most unique landscape and tourist attractions, the Pinnacles is a desert area scattered with a series of limestone formations shaped like termite hills. They vary in size but can be up to 3.5m high.

It’s believed the Pinnacles were created millions of years ago as seashells were broken down into sand and then eroded by water and wind.

If you’d like to read up more about the desert, near the entrance to the trail is The Pinnacles Desert Discovery, where they house displays and literature providing an insight into the natural processes that formed the pinnacle structures.

The best time to visit the Pinnacles Desert is at dawn or dusk when it gives the limestones and sand a orange/yellow colour wash on the back of a blue sky. Shadows too will make quite interesting photographs.

There are two ways to go through the Pinnacles, either by foot or by car.

If you’re walking, don’t forget to keep yourself hydrated, wear a cap and some sunblock; it can be hot out there!

If you’re going by car, there is only one access road (and one way) into the Pinnacles Desert, which is about 27km long. There are stopping points if you’d like to get down and take photos.

This is the sort of place you’d go once, and that’s it.

I recommend planning other activities around the trip. Don’t just drive 3hrs all the way from Perth just to see the Pinnacles because you might be disappointed.

Driving Directions

1. North along Brand Highway
2. Left at sign to Cervantes
3. Head south 2km to Nambung National Park boundary
4. Continue further 14km to pinnacles

Travel Australia, Cervantes, Perth, Pinnacles, The Pinnacles

On the way to see the Pinnacles in Cervantes, we detoured off the GPS route to have a picnic lunch. Not knowing where the road signs would take us, we headed towards a place called Hangover Bay, just coz the name was funny. But you know what? That was the best decision made on the whole trip, because that place was a hidden gem!

Hangover Bay is a ten minute drive from the entrance to the Nambung National Park, or 3 hours from Perth City. This place was perfect for all kinds of water fun like swimming, windsurfing, snorkelling.

Apparently, based on the Perth tourism website, you can even spot bottlenose dolphins or a local sea lion playing offshore.

Hangover Bay’s white sandy beaches stretches for miles and the crystal clear waters were so inviting on that hot afternoon. When we were sure the coast was clear, I stripped down to our under garments and took a dip because I forgot to pack in bathers. Oh don’t give me that! It’s the same thing as wearing a bikini!

There are a few picnic tables and barbecue pits, but since it was a weekday, there was no trouble finding a vacant spot. We ate leftovers from last night’s Ciao Italia dinner, and did I mention how reheated Ciao Italia tasted just as amazing?

I took tons of photos at Hangover Bay, especially the combination of the beach, water and sky. It was just a beautiful palate of blues and beige, it was hard to stop at just one angle/perspective.

Picture top right above is of me walking on a giant patch of seaweed which got washed up on the beach. You could hear the seaweed crackling and drying up under my feet.

Bottom right picture: I wasn’t the only one leaving footprints behind

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Travel Australia, Cervantes, Hangover Bay, Perth, Pinnacles

In 2008 when I was going through my dark days, I escaped to Perth alone for some “Me-Time”. And one of the things I really wanted to do was to go pony/horseback riding. So after a few phone calls, I was driving up to the Perth Hills on my first outback ride. You can read about it here

Whenever the family went on vacation, if there was an opportunity to ride, we would ride. Every trip back to the UK involved horse riding classes as well. I’m not at the level of jumps, but am still able to travel around confidently on horseback.

On my last trip back, I thought it would be a good idea to bring my friend Duncan for some bushland pony/horseback riding. Again, looked through the yellowpages and on google, made some phone calls and we were off! Little did I know, that I booked to the SAME ranch I went to in 2008!

I much preferred a self ride, but it didn’t occur to me at the time of booking.

It was great just simply being outdoors and in the sun. Our ride took us through the quiet back roads of the Perth Hills and into the outback. I enjoyed the peace and quite while taking in the sights, smells and sounds around us. If you are observant, you can catch glimpses of wild kangaroos chilling between the trees and bushes.

I love that relationship you develop, that sense of trust between you and and your horse. It’s beautiful. How I wish I could have that same experience here in Singapore.

Anyway, what better way to end the morning with a picnic lunch at a nearby lake! Chicken coriander sandwich on multi-grain, hot coffee/tea and left over banana tart tartin (Jamie Oliver recipe).

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Travel Australia, Horse riding, Horseback Riding, Perth

It’s been 7 years since I last went to Caversham Wildlife Park and it has changed so much, in a good way! It’s alot more organised and picturesque, but my only complaint is the hard to follow park maps they provided at admission. The park is about an hours drive fro Perth city centre into the Whiteman park district of Swan Valley.

If you’re not driving, you can book day tours through the Perth Information Centre as well, which I’m sure will include other destinations in Swan Valley. It was close to summer when I was there, so it was stinking hot and the flies were persistent. Very very annoying. You’d keep on brushing the pesky flies off, but after the 115th time, you’d give up and let them crawl around your face like you were a dead carcass.

The park is great for kids and family picnics and the best place to get up close with the Australian wildlife like the Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and koalas.

The Kangaroo enclosure, to me is the coolest part of the park, because you are walking amongst them while they chill on the grass or hop around. You can get kangaroo feed and let them eat it off your hands as well. Look around carefully and you might just see little joey poking his head out of mummy’s pocket!

And do check out the gift shop on the way out, quite a few interesting hats to choose from there. Even the good ol cork hat to chase away the flies.

Caversham Wildlife Park
Website: www.cavershamwildlife.com.au/
Address: Whiteman Park, Whiteman 6068
Tel: (08) 9248 1985
Opening hours: 9am – 5:30pm everyday except Christmas (Last entry into the park 4:30pm)
Ticket price: A$22 (Adult) A$8 (Child 3-14yrs)

Travel Australia, Caversham Wildlife Park, Perth

It seems like gourmet burger joints are popping up everywhere. Definitely trending. Jono insisted I try this new place called Jus Burgers in Leederville Perth when I was there last November.

What I liked about this place was their emphasis on using local produce and the transparency of cooking methods, ingredients and suppliers used. At least you know what exactly you’re eating and where it comes from. Very much like the philosophy Jamie Oliver tried to preach in “Jamie’s Kitchen“, knowing the source of your ingredients.

Below is a list of suppliers and companies that are likely to be used at the time of writing:
Meat/small goods Mondos, Ryan’s meats, Mt.Barker chicken, Princi, Mahogany Creek Bread Turkish bakery Fruit & Veg Morley Growers, Supa Spud Fish Festival fish Dry Goods Angry Almond, European foods, Eustralis, Ladle and Table, The Grocer, Pisconeri, Sealanes, Centra

I also like the honest story about how Jus Burgers came about and who were the people behind it all. You can read about it HERE.

Here’s a sample of their menu:

Jus Burgers use Turkish buns; fresh white or wholemeal, gluten free bun available. All burgers served with fresh lettuce, beef tomato, Spanish onion, relish & house made aioli

For special dietary advice, please refer to our board, or speak with Chef on the pass or our till bitch. Thanks

Original Beef Recommended with creamed horseradish or balsamic onions (+ $1) $10
Cheeseburger Blue, swiss or cheddar cheese, recommended with mushroom (+ $1) $12
Pommy Burger Cheddar & back bacon $13
Spanish Snag Chorizo sausage & sweet red peppers $14
The Mullet Bacon, beetroot, cheddar cheese, & free-range egg $14
Wagyu Beef 100% wagyu beef, wasabi mayo $14
The Guvnor 270g burger, recommended with foie gras/duck liver, France (+ $6) $15

Jus Burgers Leederville
743 Newcastle St
Leederville, Perth WA 6007
Phone: 08 9228 2230

Jus Burgers Subiaco
1 Rokeby Rd (rear), Corner Roberts & Rockeby
Subiaco, Perth WA 6008
Phone: 08 9381 2093
Takeaway: 08 9381 1895

Website: http://jusburgers.com.au/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jusburgers/
Opening Hours: 11.30am – 10.00pm (Tuesday to Saturday)
12.00pm – 9.00pm (Sunday)
Closed on Monday

Food, Travel Australia, Burger, Food, Jus Burger, Perth, Restaurant

No trip to the city is complete without a sit down coffee at the Merchant Tea & Coffee House.

Also bought a bag of my favourite beans to have at home:
The Merchant Espresso Blend – A medium – dark roast that is full bodied with an earthy aroma and a smooth lingering finish.

Merchant Tea & Coffee House
Address: 183 Murray Street Mall, Perth, Western Australia 6100.
Phone: +61 8 9221 1323
Website: http://www.themerchant.com.au/

Food, Travel Australia, Merchant Coffee, Perth

I’m not a fan of lollies, but we were walking around the city decided to go in to show D the live demonstration at the store. My favourite designs were the moustache for movember and the skull & crossbones one for halloween!

Went on their website, and found the page where you can design your own candy!

Roc Candy
Shop 34/36 Piccadilly Arcade
700 Hay St
Perth WA 6000
Australia

Ph: +61 (0)8 9324 3060
Mob: +61 (0)414 519 211
Fax: +61 (0)8 9443 8346
Web: roccandy.com.au

Food, Travel Australia, Perth, Roc Candy, Sweets

We decided to go into town for a look-see, but before doing so, we took a slight detour to King’s Park for a short wander.

Kings Park is a 4.06-square-kilometre (1,003-acre) park located on the western edge of Perth, Western Australia central business district. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza.

Besides tourist facilities Kings Park contains the State War Memorial, the Royal Kings Park Tennis club and a reservoir. The streets are tree lined with individual plaques dedicated by family members to Western Australian Service men and women who died in World War I and World War II.

Credit: Wikipedia

Kings Park has hectares of natural bushland and has the best view point to see the Perth City skyline. It was a great chance to try out more HDR shots with my camera. These two are my favourite ones.

It was Saturday morning, and the lawns were scattered with families having picnics, kids playing footy and friends sitting by eskies having ice cold beers and wine. The walking tracks and cycleways were busy with visitors taking photos and admiring weird bush plants like the indigenous Kangaroo paw and Xanthorrhoea aka black boy.

It was at this point I realised how much I missed Perth, and the lifestyle this country could offer. I too wanted to have this laid back lifestyle, I too wanted to be home by 6 everyday, I too wanted to be sitting on the lawn on saturday morning with a sandwich in hand.

This never happens in Singapore. Perhaps one day I’ll have the guts to move somewhere where I could. Someday.

Travel Australia, kings Park, Perth

The minute my parents told me they were selling the Perth apartment, I quickly booked myself a ticket in November for a week. My friend Duncan hadn’t been to Perth before, so it was a perfect opportunity to show him around. It worked out well for me too because that meant I could do mini-road trips (because I could never do it alone, far too dangerous for a girl to be travelling by herself).

Perth was always my escape and sanctuary, so it was bitter sweet going back there this time round.

First full day in Perth was absolutely beautiful. November is around the time summer rolls in so it was the perfect time to be there. Bottom left is a picture taken from the apartment balcony, look at how all the colours just pop! Almost looks DI-ed.

Duncan said he could cook pretty well, so the only way to test him is to ask him to poach eggs for breakfast. Check out the result above!

Now that’s a brilliant way to start the holiday! Nom nom…

Food, Travel Australia, Breakfast, Perth, Poached eggs

When I was studying in Perth, I would drive down to the farmers market at Subiaco every weekend to do my weekly grocery run. I just loved walking through lanes and lanes of fresh produce, planning my meals for the week. It just has a different vibe to the wet markets here in Singapore, I don’t know what it is. It’s just different.

Most common items in my basket would be:
- a punnet of strawberries
- Courgette
- Mushrooms
- Avocado
- Cherry tomatoes
- Grapes

When I went back last November for a holiday, I re-lived my Uni days, walking through the isles picking out vegetables and fruits for picnic baskets, dinners in and breakfast. I’m really going to miss this place.

Subiaco Markets
Station St
Subiaco WA 6008, Australia

Food, Travel Australia, Perth, Subi, Subiaco, Weekend Markets

Whenever I felt like a need to escape, or be taken away to a place for some ‘Me Time’, I would just close my eyes and let myself be transported to this very place in Perth, Australia.

One of my favourite-est places to spend some ‘Me time’ is at this cafe called Barchetta on Cottesloe Beach. It’s not fancy, nor does it have great reviews online for the food. But it does over look the Indian ocean and that just did it for me. It’s perfect for coffee and cake at Sunset with a book in hand.

I brought my DSLR on this trip, and managed to take some really awesome HDR photos. Here are my two favourite shots taken from Barchetta.

Two different sets, two different treatments.

Barchetta
149 Marine Pde, North Cottesloe
Phone: (08)9385 2411
Open: Seven days breakfast and lunch; Tuesday to Saturday dinner
Licensed: Yes
website: www.barchetta.com.au/

Food, Travel Australia, Barchetta, Cafe, Coffee, Cottesloe, Perth

Still to date the best I’ve tasted. Fried oyster omelette from Jalan Macalister/New Lane. Good amount of fat oysters, and gooey egg omelette.

Fried Oyster Omelette
Macalister Road/New Lane junction
Price: RM7, 10, 13, 16

Food, Travel Food, Macalister Road, Penang

This is what we all look forward to every time we are back in Penang. Macalister Road Chee Cheong Chook! (hehehe say it out loud, its a bit like the transformer sounds that the autobots make! *geek*)

We first discovered this stall during one of our Penang Jamboree trips, and since then, Chee Cheong Chook has become mandatory on every visit there.

From left: Janice couldn’t contain her excitement! And me taking photos of food again

The pushcart stall is at the corner of Jalan Macalister and New Lane. You can’t miss it! Just look for the stall with hanging pork intestines and char siew above a huge cauldron of congee. They start selling their Chee Cheong Chook from 2pm onwards, but the best time to go is at dusk when the weather isn’t so hot.

What’s in a Chee Cheong Chook?
Congee, pig’s tongue, char siew (barbequed pork), pig intestines (done 2 ways: fried and boiled), pepper and spring onion to garnish.

I know it sounds rank, and I’m the sort of person who is quite adversed to trying new things. But trust me on this, it’s delicious! Especially the crunchy fried intestines, that’s the best part!

Chee Cheong Chook
Corner of Jalan Macalister and New Lane, Penang
Price: RM4, RM4.50, RM5

Other food you can find on Macalister Road

Satay, Carrot Cake, Chicken Wing, Cuttlefish

Food, Travel Chee Cheong Chook, Congee, Food, Penang

It was a scorcher of a day in Penang, and when in need of a cool down dessert/drink, first thing that comes to mind is the Penang Road famous Teochew Chendol.

This little pushcart stall has been there for years, steadily churning out bowls after bowls of shaved ice goodness. There’s actually two stalls directly opposite each other, so make sure you go to the correct one.

It’s so popular, people will just STAND and eat at the road side (limited seating available in the coffee shop next to it).

Also available at the coffeeshop are two more Penang specialities: Penang fried kway teow and Penang Laksa.

Teochew Chendol
Address: Lebuh Keng Kwee 10200, Pulau Pinang
Price: RM1.90 – Take Away, RM1.70 – Eat in

Food, Travel Chendol, Food, Penang

Was in Penang last month for the Jamboree, and while I was there, we took Grace and Jo on a culinary tour round the island. First stop was for Dim Sum lunch at Zim Sum Restaurant (点心之家).

Zim Sum Restaurant is located along Jalan Anson, diagonally opposite KDU college. Most taxi drivers would have heard of it, so no trouble getting there. But if you’re driving, here’s a tip for from someone else’s blog:

It is not easy to find a parking lot there. Many customers prefer to take the risk and park on the road side for free. Alternatively, you can pay around RM3 per entry to park safely at Penang Chinese Ladies’s Chin Woo Association.

Here’s a few points to note when you visit Zim Sum:
1. Although there are a few dim sum pushcarts being trolleyed around, customers are actually asked/advised to go to the counter to pick up the dishes instead.
2. The final bill is calculated based on how many plates of food are on your table (similar to how they do it at Sushi conveyor belt restaurants)
3. They don’t serve any other drink except Chinese tea
4. The more people you go with, the more worthwhile in terms of cost and variety
5. MUST try the Chee Cheong Fun, which is made freshly on the spot

Zim Sum Restaurant (点心之家)
35 Jalan Anson 10400 Pulau Pinang
Business hours are from 6.30am to 12.30pm.

Food, Travel Dim Sum, Food, Malaysia, Penang

Our last full day at Villa Azaya was bitter sweet. We all knew we had about 24hrs left till we left paradise, so we tried our best to soak up every bit of sun we could. Day was spent walking around Seminyak and sunset massages back at the Villa.

Being our last night in Bali, we opted to eat in at the villa gazebo. Our amazing BBQ dinner was prepared by the villa chefs who painstakingly stood by the grill even when it started to drizzle. Lots of seafood on the menu; Lobsters, King prawns, lamb, beef steak, salads, vegetables, corn on the cob, all which cost next to nothing in comparison to Singapore prices.

The rest of the night was spent faffing by the pool. Definitely a more subdued evening than the previous few, no thanks to Duncan’s klutzy performance involving the glass door. We shan’t get into that so as to salvage what’s left of his ego. Time to head home and face reality. Till next time, Goodbye Bali!

Food, Travel Bali, BBQ, Dinner, Indonesia, Villa

From left: Amanda & Kimmy. Angela, Daisy, Kimmy

Friends & Family, Snaps & Clips, Travel Bali, Indonesia, Photography

Besides ‘Above water’ shots, here’s some underwater shots we took at night 2.

Snaps & Clips, Travel Bali, Indonesia, Photos, Underwater, Villa

Because the boys has too much energy to blow off, they decided to fling each other in the air. The girls succumbed soon after and decided to partake in a bit of Pool gymnastics.

Rounds consisted of the flying (Silver)Fox, Face plant, bromance flings, gf flinging and canon bombs.

Some of these pre-impact pictures really look like they were going to hurt!

Friends & Family, Travel Bali, Holiday, Indonesia, Pool, Travel

After dinner at BREEZE, we headed over to Ku De Ta for some cocktails before heading back to the Villa to continue our party.

Ku De Ta is one of the more popular bars in Bali, attracting loads of tourists to this watering hole. Cocktail prices are a bit expensive for Bali standards, so it’s probably best to go there just for sunset drinks. They are well known for their yearly White Parties, but I’m not too sure what all the hype is about. Unless it’s some stellar line-up of DJs, it’s basically a beach party where everyone dresses in white?

The last picture is of us girls playing 5/10 thumbs.. READYYyyyyy!!

Ku De Ta
Address: Jalan Laksmana 9 Seminyak, Bali 80361 Indonesia
Tel: 62 361 736969
Fax: 62 361 73 6767

Travel Bali, Bar, Drinks, Indonesia, Travel