Winter in PERTH once again- June 2015- Midnight flight and DAY 1 (where lots of things went wrong)

This year, we re-visited Perth as the kids plus the parents were reminiscing their time in Perth through all the photos taken last year. The kids wanted to feed the kangaroo, see koala bears, see bear and feed some goats! Mummy and daddy missed the tiramisu from Ciao Italia as well!!!! And so hubby and me kept a lookout for cheap flights to Perth.. 

We waited and waited and finally Jetstar is having ONE-FOR-ONE promotion! It is a really great deal and we manage to book the deal during June School Holidays!!! Got the deal at $250 per person including tax, luggage allowances (25kg to and 50kg fro) and 3 sets of meals on our way back! Timing is a little odd though but I guess it makes up with the cheap flights. We will be reaching Perth close to midnight and coming back early morning so will be kinda wasting 2 nights of hotel stay in Perth but after working out the additional hotel charges, it is still cheaper than the other flights so we decided to go with this!

Kiddos are super excited on the days leading to the trip. They kept asking us when we will be going. Keep repeating wanna meet kangaroo, koala and the bear! Seriously, I don't even know which bear they wanna see, I personally don't remember seeing any bear on my last trip. I was thinking probably they are referring to the cute wombat which is super adorable by the way.

After much anticipation, the day has come! Yay!!! Our flight is at 6pm and the plan is to go to the airport at 3pm so that we have extra time for the playground. Tried to get the kids to nap at 1pm but to no avail. Both of them are too excited and did not want to nap at all. 


Even though we make extra time for the playground and dinner, we ended up being the last few person to board but luckily not to the extent of names being called! Phew!


Lugging the new Trunki hubby and me bought in London airport during our second honeymoon trip...
And we are on-board! Perth, here we come.

Our very own in-flight entertainment- IPAD
Enjoying his in-flight entertainment
Flight reached ahead of time and we manage to check out uneventfully. Then hubby said “ Oh no, I forget my winter jacket!!!!” OMG!!!! Based on our last year’s experience, daytime is usually quite ok but nighttime is pretty chilly and windy. It is almost 11pm already when we landed! It was windy but luckily still not that freezing!

Bought OPTUS card as last year cause it is still the best deal, coverage is good and now they even have the banner in Chinese!
We quickly grab a taxi and checked in at Hotel Ibis Budget Perth Airport that is about 15 minutes away! Cleaned the kids up and after some milk/biscuit to fill kiddo's stomach, the kids fall asleep.

Meanwhile, hubby tried to get the Optus Sim Card to work but to no avail and so we slept!

 Note: For Ibis Budget Perth Airport hotel, to be honest my review is good location but small budget basic room and the price is on the high side. You can probably get a much better hotel at this price. We only choose this because it is close to the airport and we didn't want to travel much as we reached in midnight. Personally, I would not recommend this hotel unless you are only considering about the location. Plus, the heater in the room is not really very warm and we were there in winter so it is quite chilly for me.

DAY 1

The next morning, hubby woke up early, took a bus to collect our rental car. He did some research on how to get to the car rental office before we arrive so that we can do some budgeting for this trip. Well, bus is the cheapest, he manage to go to the car rental place for AUD$2.90 instead of AUD$15-20 for taxi fare! Good savings!!! 

Kiddos only woke up close to 10am, so I had to rush a bit. I settle the kids breakfast and shower so that we could get to our second accommodation which I booked via stayz.com. For Australia trip, I usually book via stayz as the service charge is cheaper than AirBnB and based on my own research, the prices are more competitive as well.

Jie jie is awake and enjoying some biscuit I bring over from Spore.
Now, little one is awake...

This time round we booked from Avis instead of Hertz as they offer good prices. We booked one week of Toyota Camry plus one car seat for AUD $300.

 Avis website: http://www.avis.com/car-rental/html/Landing/sem/au/wa/perth/per.html

I am ready...Let's go!
We had to rush as I had inform the house owner that we will arrived at 11am. Actually by the time, I already got a bad feeling. Prior to coming, we kept having issues with this apartment that we booked. First of all, the credit card payment on Stayz did not work out (some technical issue at the website) and when we tried paying using paypal (hubby’s computer hang for the first time in many years). In the end, we still make payment but the owner did not reply me after informing us of the address and that she will meet us at the house. No phone number is given although I requested for it!

We arrived at the apartment at 11am as agreed previously and we waited. Almost asking each and everyone that came along whether he/she is “Tash”, the owner name given to us. We even went up to the apartment a couple of times to check if anyone is at home etc… no guard around and no neighbours seems to know him/her too! 

Started to get a little panic, lots of things come to mind. Where to stay tonight? What happen to Tash? After an hour of waiting, we decided to just go for lunch, as everyone is hungry and we are unable to contact "Tash". Our Optus Sim Card also does not work and hubby’s phone roaming is super slow!!!!

On our way to lunch, I found this super old email send by Stayz requesting for payment (the one that the link doesn’t work due to credit card service maintenance or something), and I found "Tash" phone number!!!! I quickly gave her a call and luckily she picked up. Though she is unable to meet us, but she told us how to get into the house. Phew.. at least we have a place to stay for tonight.

Initially, we wanted to lunch at iPho to reminiscing the last time we are in Fremantle and then…. it’s opening hours on weekday is 3pm-9pm ONLY!!! Only weekend is opened for lunch and dinner. Oh, really very unlucky. 

We ended up eating at The Monk and the food is pricey and not very nice. I wonder why the restaurant is considered much packed than its adjacent restaurant…Oh well...


Look at her cheeky face...
Little brother join in the cheeky photo shoot...
and mummy's turn as well...
We went for this restaurant also because of the relatively positive review on TripAdvisor. I have to agree that the ambience is good, outdoor seating with nice breeze but the food did not live up to expectation and also, price is on the high side.
Kiddy's spaghetti 
Beef burger with super thin crisp
Close up of the thin crisp


After that we went to Woolsworth to get some groceries and then went back to the apartment. Luckily, we managed to get in with the instructions J


View from the apartment

Everyone is exhausted from the late flight yesterday and all the waiting in the morning, so after checking in and the kids ate an ice cream from Woolsworth, everyone went for a nap. Plus, it was raining too. We slept until 6 plus before all of us woke up and went for dinner.

In between nap, Tash actually dropped by and passed us ONE toilet roll and a few tablecloth. She even said we had to clean up the table, floor and toilet before leaving. Phew….. This is the first time I had to clean up a place before leaving. Of course, the usual instruction is to maintain a relatively clean and tidy place, throw rubbish etc but this is the first time we were given strict instructions to clean the whole place before leaving. 

Anyway, dinner is uneventful except it started raining again…. We managed to dine at iPho. Food is good and I must say that the food in iPho is pretty authentic. I just went to Vietnam a week before coming to Perth so can really taste the similarity :)  We had Com Tan (broken rice with grilled pork chop). The rice is really authentic broken rice and pork chop is very flavourful. Yummy!
iPho
Com Tan
I have attached a photo of the opening hours so that you won't make a waste trip like me...

Business hour for those who are keen to try



We went back after dinner as it was raining so no chance to play the outdoor playground which the kids enjoyed last year.We showered and we had a good night sleep! Tomorrow we will be hitting Caversham Wildlife Park, hopefully tomorrow we will have much better luck! Ciao...

 For winter trips in Perth, check out my previous entry: http://blessedlittletravelers.blogspot.sg/2015/04/travel-tips-to-perth-in-winter.html

For those who are bringing kids to Perth, check out my Top 5 MUST GO in PERTH with kids: http://blessedlittletravelers.blogspot.sg/2015/04/5-places-to-visit-in-perth-with-kids.html








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