Winter in Perth 2014 (Day 7 and 8)

It's Day 7, and we have been in Perth for a week. Today daddy finishes his work and our holiday has officially starts :)

We went to King's Park in the morning... It is a very large park in the central of Perth city, it is nice having such a huge park in midst of the city's building and best of all, it is free to enter :)

Visitor can enjoy the view of Swan River from the Fraser's lookout, having a picnic on the ground, kids can enjoy the nature at Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings Park or play at Synergy Parkland. There is a lot to do and suitable for all ages.

More info on the park: King's Park Offical Website

We reached there late morning and spend most of our time at Rio Tinto Naturescape Kings Park, there are a mini activity zone in midst of nature landscape, something different i would say...


It is open from Tuesday to Sunday... closes at 4pm.

Enjoying the nature
Busy exploring
We are being adventurous... even climb the tree!!!

Adventurous trio


Some nice flowers along the way...


We had a late lunch at this all day brekie restaurant.. reached there at about 1plus and full of people.. need to wait for a seat to be available..



Pie on display
Interior


It is a small and cosy restaurant ... and a simple menu..on a piece of paper for Friday 4th July.... 

Menu for the day
Nice and hot cappuccino to warm up!
I am satisfied with my Chorizo with paprika potatoes, peppers, spanish onions and crispy pork belly and fried egg... the crispy bacon accompanied by the fresh salad and a perfect egg. Yummy! The only downside is the chorizo (sausage) is a little too salty...

Chorizo with crispy pork belly, $19.50
There are many good reviews on The Tuck's Shop pie so hubby ordered their Beef, Bacon and Cheddar pie but he was disappointed.

Beef pie, $12.95
Ordered Nasi Goreng with brown rice, chicken, egg and vegetable in kecap manis for the kids to share. We are quite surprise to see this on the menu... even have its name in Malay...very nice to see familiar words abroad.. and kids can't do without rice.. hehe, so ordered this for them. Nothing fantastic but it does fill the kids stomach and they enjoyed having rice :)

Nasi Goreng, $17.50
Overall, we had a decent meal at The Tuck Shop but it is really not as amazing as its review on Trip Advisor, I think this place is definitely over-rated on Trip Advisor...If you still would like to give it a try, do note the opening hours is 7am-4pm and closed on Monday!

After lunch, we went back to hotel so that the kids can take their nap :)

And looking forward to our dinner at Ciao Italia.. this restaurant is highly recommended by my ex-colleague who studied in Perth. 

This restaurant does not takes reservation, closed on both Sunday and Monday, only open from 5pm-10pm..... and if u reach there after 6pm, be prepared to queue up!!!!

So, we are super kiasu and didn't want to queue up, so we reached there before 5.30pm, there are already people inside the restaurant but lucky for us, still have seats so we didn't have to wait...
Ciao Italia!!!!
Cosy little place with very lively Italian music upon entering the restaurant, you can really get into the Italiano mood once you step in. It is not a big restaurant and the tables are pretty close to one another to maximise the amount of diner....and you would appreciate this table configuration if you are one of the diner queuing and waiting for table :)


After ordering, I walked around and saw the legendary tiramisu HIGHLY RECOMMENDED both on Trip Advisor and by my ex-colleague. The staff are putting them in box for people who wanted to takeaway!

Tiramisu
Hubby had spaghetti carbonara, taste good and its super HUGE portion. Even my hubby can't finish his share.. be prepared to share when you are there... so that won't waste food!!!!

Carbonara
I had their special lasagna which is recommended by their staff, if i didn't remember wrongly is spinach and pumpkin lasagna, and it was nice.. the only problem is the HUGE portion and i definitely wanted to save space for my tiramisu....


Close up of the lasagna...can see the generous fillings!
Saw that their chilli mussels also highly raved by online reviewers... but were disappointed. Didn't really like it...the photo doesn't do the justice but believe me, my jaw drop when this was served.... its SUPER BIG.... we had hard time finishing it!

Chilli mussels
Despite being super full, all of us enjoyed the tiramisu to the MAX!!!! This is definitely something you can't miss..... its very very creamy and soft... BEST TIRAMISU i have ever tasted... imagine us loving this soo much even though we are very full.... if you are too full, make sure you takeaway this .... u won't regret!!!!

After eating, we even takeaway one more to bring back and eat later at night.... it is soooo good that i can't bear leaving the place without takeaway at least one more portion!

"Slurp!"
Yum!!!!
Before leaving, took another picture, wanted to show the queue that is already forming... but was too dark, if you look carefully there is a bunch of people to the right side of the photo, that is the queue to go in...


We went home, satisfied with the meal and especially the desserts :) 



Time for everyone to catch some sleep cause tomorrow we will be checking out from Perth and going to Busselton ... yay!!!

Day 8

Wake-y wake-y!!! Time to check out from Novotel Perth and drive down to Busselton :)

After a quick breakfast at the hotel and shower, we checked out. Wanted to check out Subiaco Farmers Market before leaving Perth. It is a weekly market (Saturday 8am-12pm) which sells fresh organic and farm produce. Located at Subiaco Primary School, there was already a fair amount of people there when we reach at about 11am. Great variety of fresh vegetables and salmon available for sale. We manage to purchase some fresh vegetables, e.g.: beets leaves plus beetroot, pumpkin etc. Do note that the vegetable here are fresh and i believe there are really organic cause they get spoil really fast, so do eat them within 1-2 days if possible.

We also got some snacks to eat, German Sausage and some juices, they are really nice!

More information on Subiaco Farmers Market and its address: http://subifarmersmarket.com.au

Girl girl with a huge artichoke
There is also a big field to chill... Love the laid back feeling!

Enjoying our German Sausage
We had a quick dim sum lunch at Dragon Seafood Chinese Restaurant cause it was full inside and got people queueing outside too. Reasonable dim sum but nothing to shout about. Girl girl ate too much i think and vomited so we quickly finish up and left. Luckily, she was fine afterwards.
Some of the dim sum we ordered, the soft shell crab is nice. The rest is normal
Custard bao... not so nice...
Time to hit the road to Busselton where we will be staying for 3 nights. Took slightly more than 3 hours to reach Busselton as we stopped along the way when we see something interesting :)

Sleeping prince with his leg high up...
One of our more interesting stop... Old Coast Road Brewery(http://www.ocrb.com.au). It is a nice and tranquil place that we stumble upon on our way to Busselton. Vast field with some sheep grazing grass, a restaurant whereby you can grab some bites or just had some of their homemade cider, a small playground for the kids to run around and nice scenery to enjoy while munching/drinking away.
Old Coast Brewary
One can have meal or drinks and enjoy the view
We just had lunch not long ago so we just takeaway a pear cider to drink along the way. Actually mummy is the one who wanted to eat ice cream but I let girl girl choose the flavour. She picked passion fruit sorbet and the ice cream is yummy and refreshing! As girl girl is not feeling too well today, she just ate a few mouthful and pass the ice cream to me, saying that she shouldn't eat too much cause she is coughing. I was stunned, what an understanding girl...definitely deserve an ice cream treat when she gets well :)

Posing with her passion fruit ice cream
Back with our purchase
Boy is sleeping, so only girl girl and me went and buy ice cream and drinks :)

Do note that for takeaway alcohol, the restaurant is not allowed to open for their customer. They will only open the cap for u if u drink on-site, it is their law. So, must bring a bottle opener :)

Great view, great drinks!
Love the car, red with the scenic background!
Reached Busselton close to 4pm. Check in to our rented house is uneventful, the owner gave great instructions and we manage to get into the house quickly and unload our stuff. 

It was a nice house with 2 bedrooms, enough space for 6 adults. The owner also provide us with complimentary baby cot for our little boy. Living room is spacious, with a second small living room area with additional TV, DVD player, some toys for the kids and even telescope if you want to observe the stars. Kitchen is well equipped with all essentials needed for cooking, e.g.: stove, oven, pot and pans etc. It also comes with a parking garage and it is advisable to use it, cause the weather at Busselton does change quite drastically and with the rain and wind, car might be scratch with rocks, tree branches etc. 

Sorry but i think i didn't manage to capture pictures in the house but it was very well maintain and looks exactly as advertised-http://www.stayz.com.au/accommodation/wa/south-west/busselton/132152

Everyone is quite tired after a long journey, so we just went to a nearby takeaway/mini restaurant to have some Thai Food. Sizzling Thai mainly does takeaway but also have a few tables inside for customer to have their meal there. We opted to just eat there, no need to clean up afterwards. :)

Few tables in the restaurant
Cashier to order
Interior
We had fried rice, Pad Thai and stir fry pork. Food is normal, portion are generous, more Asian and the kids enjoyed it very much :)

Fried Rice
Pad Thai
Stir fry pork with vegetables
After dinner and clean up, the kids are enjoying toys provided by the owner....This area is the second living room, my favourite spot in the house. The heater are so powerful and make this place warm.. very nice to stay here and rest, watch TV especially during winter time :)

Enjoying toys at this cosy area
Tomorrow we will explore Busselton and its nearby attractions :)

Travel journey Day 9 and 10: 
http://blessedlittletravelers.blogspot.sg/2015/04/winter-in-perth-2014-day-9-and-10.html

For travel tips to Perth in Winter:
http://blessedlittletravelers.blogspot.sg/2015/04/travel-tips-to-perth-in-winter.html


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