Thankful to the people who came to send me off at such an ungodly hour: my parents, Desmond, Shuhui and my baos in the picture below.
Before takeoff
OMA was awesome.
I didn't expect myself to enjoy it as much as i actually did. But i love everything about Perth; the lifestyle, the scenery, the wildlife. Everything is slower-paced, everything was stress-free. Missing the people and the carefree days i had.
Day 1. 27092014
Arrived in Perth in the afternoon (Because i can't remember what time and there will be alot of things that i cannot remember in this post hahaha. I didn't bring the itinerary home, left it in the hostel.)
Left: Our sandwich lunch | Right: Our hostel
Top: Lunchtime | Bottom: Rainbow
The bread was really hard and when i say hard, i really mean hard. I gave up about nibbling at it for some time and just ate up the filling inside. Those who finished it must have titanium teeth or something. Our hostel was a nice place and we had a nice comfy room too. And look! Spotted a rainbow on the very first day in Perth. The sky must be welcoming us to Perth.
So we settled down and went over to Broadway for some grocery shopping. Evelyn and I bought a bag of potato chips to share heheh and Baojie actually bought a watermelon back HAHAHA. It was the weight of a bowling ball too heavy for me to use.
First group photo in Perth
Day 2. 28092014
Set off on a tour around Perth. Took a bus to someplace that looks like Woodlands checkpoint HAHAHA and walked around the city and to HarbourTown before taking the train to Fremantle Port.
On the public bus
City Tour
Left: Seagulls everywhere | Right: Railway
Walking to the railway station
Jamie couldn't open her eyes HAHAHA
On the way to our fish and chips
Ferris wheel
And we're here
For fish and chips
There were much more seagulls than portrayed
After a filling lunch, we went around the place and visited the Sunday market to do some shopping. But before that, we got distracted and started climbing the web at the playground nearby HAHAHA. Young at heart we were.
Noob me stayed at the bottom because i was wearing flats, or maybe because i'm just a noob
We were walking along a street where saw a bookstore selling books in the most creative way yet. They wrap them up and wrote slight descriptions of the book on the outside. Their campaign was "Try a blind date with a book!" which was really interesting and intriguing with a tinge of suspense in buying a book. Quite a few people bought the books, and even a non-reader like me bought one too!
Left: Seagulls everywhere still | Right: Blind dates with a book
Along the streets
Fremantle railway station
We spotted a rainbow that day too. Such excitementCaught the bus back to Uni hall for dinner. Had our usual discussion/debrief at our 'living room' before ending the day.
Day 3. 29092014
Monday started with a 4 hour persuasive writing lecture. Time passed faster than i expected and it was an enjoyable lesson since i always kind of liked English anyway. Best part is that they had peacocks, peahens, parrots and ducks in their school compound! Went a little crazy when we saw the peacock performing a mating dance to a peahen during our break.
What a handsome peacock
And i bet you've never seen the butt of one
Moved on to Gary Cass' lecture about the invention of fermented clothes and how they used the decomposers to create many things out of one. He's one entertaining guy. Then we had a forensics talk too which i honestly did not understand half of it. But oh well, new things.
Featuring Gary Cass and the fermented shirt
Visited the Swan River a little while and saw the third consecutive rainbow for our trip! You can imagine our happy faces! We saw black swans too so i guess the name of the river is legit after all hahaha. Then we decided to climb a tree.
Top: Rainbow at bottom right | Bottom: Family tree
Happy and done with the photo-taking and scenery admiration session, we headed over to the clock tower.. for more photo-taking and scenery admiration sessions. We were vain and excited kids in Perth.
The clock tower's beautiful isn't it
Barely successful selfie stick shot
And our very own lie-on-grass shot
We had grass on our pants
And here's everyone in front of the clock tower
As per every night, we walked over to Uni hall for dinner, before having discussion/debrief at our living room and ending the day freezing from the walk back to Trinity but with a smile on our faces.
Day 4. 30092014
Tuesday was composting day at Earthwise. I held an earthworm! Like a brave kid i am. Ate weird leaves and fruits straight from the plant, just feeling kind of adventurous that day. Someone found a worm on the ripe mulberry though.. but i still ate one anyway. (Of course i checked first)
The small pot they filled with earthworms and organic matter to enrich the soil beneath
Happy us after forming our pile
Photosynthesising because it was cold
Because i like this picture
Stopped by the beautiful flowers
Sleepyheads during the break
Day 5. 01102014
Morning spent learning about Heterobacter pylori with Albert and the vaccines they are trying to make using the bacteria. Learnt about the bacteria, learnt about the product under clinical trials. Rather cool. Had a chance to meet Professor Barry Marshall too, though he only came by for a short while.
The Heterobacter pylori shirt lights up with sound
Visited Perkin's Medical Centre and it was a good eye opener to science laboratories of a different style and culture. Though NTU had some sort of an open concept too, their labs had a huge glass window at the end. Just imagine the sunlight shining through, and the greenery you see amongst the scientific equipment in front of you. It's such a happy working environment.
Work benches
Preparing for hands-on
And this is everyone in front of the centre
Day 6. 02102014
Toured around Swan Valley learning about Aboriginal art and culture. Sheila shared with us her painful past and i'm really thankful for that. She's really strong, it isn't easy to pry your own wound open all the time. On a lighter note, she taught use a new art technique using the back round end of a satay stick. She does amazing artworks.
One of her masterpieces
Left: Sheila teaching us what the symbols represent | Right: Road trip
With Sheila and Ada
Had a barbecue lunch where they actually cooked kangaroo meat. Although it's a once in a lifetime thing, i didn't try it because it's just. Yea. You get it. Went on to hear slightly more about the lives Aborigins led before the European settlers took over at the store. Tried some interesting nuts and sauces/jams and they actually kept emus outside.
Look at that derpy face eating his leaves heh
The warm sunshine
So from here we became tourists and visited a winery and the House of Honey. Tasted some red and white wine but i never liked alcohol so i had a sip of all three different wines before handing my glass to Eugene to finish them up HAHAHA. Tasted a variety of honey with other additives like lavender at the House of Honey. Greedy pig me, Eugene and Baojie shared a cup of honeycomb honey icecream and omg it was the nicest icecream i've ever eaten in my life. I wished i could buy more now.
Vineyard at the winery
Outside House of Honey
Somehow, those beautiful flowers are just weeds to them. Our last stop was at Yahava Koffeeworks where my cup always had sugar left behind even after i finished my coffee. Tasted coffee made from different coffee beans and watched how they were ground to powder. It was a great view outside the cafe where i got kissed by a pitbull and i think we spent more time taking photographs than appreciating the coffee itself.
Left: Grinding the coffee beans | Right: Deco inside the cafe
Squeezing for the selfie
So i'm the only one not from society
The bus drove us back to King's Park and we decided to walk back to Uni hall for dinner from there. Ignoring the fact that we were rushing, i really enjoy being around the trees. Such a beautiful place, if only we had more time there.
Left: Well | Right: I assume all purple flowers are lavenders
两个笨蛋
Boardwalk
Sadly, we didn't get the chance to explore the boardwalk. It looks so cool and all! After some crazy speed walking, we managed to get to Uni hall in time for dinner before our discussion and the end to a long day of tours. Well, essay time starts after the day ends.
Day 7. 03102014
Gary brought us around to areas with varying soil content and characteristics, measuring certain things and recording the observations we made at each stop. He actually linked geography to history and taught us many perspectives about different issues. We started at one of the beaches, white sand clear waters.
Coastline
Pardon my selfie
Pardon my selfie using Eugene's sunglasses
Here's everyone at the beach
After we were done with the geomorphology at several stops, we had a subway picnic lunch nearby!
Our picnic lunch
Having filled up our stomachs, we continued our future farm tour. We stared out the windows to try spotting a kangaroo while driving to the nature reserve. We climbed to the top of Boyagin Rock and played the Didgeridoo. Surprised that i could actually play it! It's kind of like buzzing i guess. Suddenly missing my saxophone from that.
Selfie stick shot again
DSLR on tripod shot
Gary teaching us how to play the Didgeridoo
Successful panorama
Spent some time at the top of the world, taking photographs and doing silly things while battling the endless swarm of flies. Left just in time to catch the most gorgeous sunset in the fields.
Left: Field | Right: Sun setting, friendships made
You can see the shadow of the phone on our faces HAHAHA
Checked in to our hotel and had fish and chips for dinner. Every room had a different layout and vintage decor, some even had sky roofs. Great stay for the night. We went stargazing and learning about the Northern Star to find our direction. You don't really see much stars in Singapore because our city lights are just too bright. Lying on the cold grass, staring at the night sky, that's life. Headed back for a good night's sleep afterwards.
Day 8. 04102014
Early morning Future Farm tour by Gary. Visited the sheep shearing area, didn't watch the process but we were introduced to their behavioural studies research on the sheep. Which i thought was quite cool. Learnt some things about farming that were different from animal husbandry too.
Top: Silos/farmhouse | Bottom: Sheep
We walked through a whole field of flowers, a scene straight out of desktop wallpapers. It felt wonderful to be standing amongst them. I've always dreamt this and i never thought it will actually happen, but it did. These flowers are also considered weeds. Funny how humans deny the beauty of Mother Nature. Saw some weird-looking trees that were over 400 years old. They had these stick-like things that are pretty heavy and the guys were playing around wih it hahaha.
Beautiful field of flowers
So i made Eugene stand still for my sunglasses selfie again
At the entrance of Future Farm
Left: We actually flattened quite a few flowers | Right: 400-odd years old
Gary told us problems with the soil and how the salinity is rising. Many things don't happen as simply as it can due to human greed. Discussed some realistic problems about climate change and farmers. The answer to solve climate change is right in front of our eyes, but most humans are too selfish to acknowledge and sacrifice their convenience or luxury for the greater good. I sound like i'm writing my persuasive essay again HAHAHA. Rebecca drove us to a nice spot with small pink and white flowers everywhere for a picnic lunch then we climbed up further to explore a little.
三个笨蛋
Miemiegoh and her apple
Had one last stop to take some photographs before it was time to get back to UWA. We put down our things and went over to Broadway for a short while with my spoilt flats.
Left: A view down on the city | Right: Picture by Jamie
And as per every night, dinner, discussion, essay and finally, sleep.
Day 9. 05102014
Sunday was a free day for us to do more of our essays before we leave for Rottnest Island. Stayed in in the morning and played some pool after lunch in the recreation room in Uni hall. Been long since i played pool, still enjoy it although i can't play it well at all hahaha. There were table soccer and table tennis too. Lucky us found a rubber basketball abandoned near the half court at Trinity so we decided to do some shooting. Evelyn was so good at it! I have a well-rounded roommate heh.
On the public bus back
Went back to place we first shopped at for more shopping since it was a free day. Bought nougat for my brother (which means it's for myself too) yay. Didn't shop much because of monetary constraints, well i never liked to spend anyway. Since it was a free day and i was saying that we didn't have any photograph-taking sessions, we took one on the bus. I probably caught a cold that night when i fell asleep in from of my laptop downstairs or something, cause i shivered for an hour straight. Thankful for Eugene for taking care of me that night.
Next stop. Rottnest Island.
Day 10. 06102014
Packed our duffel bags and set off for Fremantle Port for the ferry to Rottnest Island. I wore fbt out since we would be cycling once we reached the place and although i was freezing from the sea breeze, the comfort while cycling made it worthwhile hahaha. It was a rocky ride with rough waves but i survived the motion sickness. Couldn't see the humpback whales that the crew alerted us to though. The first animals that we saw apart from fat seagulls and crows:
Left: Pelican on the lamp post | Right: My first quokka
Anne told us about the history of Rottnest Island and Jim shared with us more about how the Aborigins lived and are treated in the recent years. Blind discrimination is a stupid thing. We had a sandwich lunch at Sherelle's dining hall in between the two. It was like a manual subway, we made our own sandwiches heh. Kinda miss that actually.
Our dorms were awesome, a house of 3 bedrooms with 6 double-decker beds, a dining room, a kitchen and a living room with an inbuilt electric fireplace. We weren't expecting such a luxury there, love the cosy feeling with everyone snuggled together. After settling down, Anne brought us around (we were on bikes), introducing to us some of the bays on the island and of course, this means more photograph-taking sessions.
Look at those clear waters
Say hi to Frank and Carisa with the helmet
And Joel with the tiny eyes
And Miemiegoh who never fails to make me laugh
The two girls requested for a photo with all of us hahaha
The island's terrain was filled with tiny hills, up and down slopes. It was tiring to cycle but the scenery was amazing. All the fatigue just melts away when more works of Mother Nature unfold as we cycle on.
We had discussion by the fireplace in the guys' dorm with Anne. She gave us a book she wrote and showed us some articles about sea grasses prior to our snorkelling trip the next day. Homely feeling, loved it. Poor Eugene was suffering the whole day though.
John brought us to the nearby beach just down the trail beside our dorms at night, just relaxing and watching the waves crash onto shore. There weren't many stars because the moon was too bright. The others were playing around, drawing with a torchlight for a slow shutter photo. Hanged around a little enjoying the atmosphere before we went back. Slept with Evelyn, Jamie, Carisa and Jieni in the same room. I only survived the cold with three blankets and a jacket on HAHAHA.
Day 11. 07102014
Baojie fell sick in the morning too so the two guys stayed in to rest. Stopped by a couple places before arriving at our snorkelling destination. We saw a snake basking in the sun on the beach. Quite cool to find wildlife lying around anywhere. So we got ready, changed, took our snorkelling set and cautiously tested the water. I could already feel the coldness through my booties before my naked skin touched it HAHAHA. I decided to be brave and continue walking deeper AND THE WATER WAS ICY COLD. No joke about the icy cold part ya. It's so cold that it actually hurts. No joke about the hurting part either.
Just before snorkelling
We saw sea anemones, sea snails, sea grasses, jellyfishes and fishes. I could swim with the snorkel! Yay for pro Shiyun HAHAHA. I was shivering like a joke but i turned out alright. Wanted to go deeper but John didn't allow me to and i was slightly insecure about my own swimming capability too. Oh well, next time then.
Delivered handmade sandwiches by Frank and I for the two sick boys during lunch but they didn't eat at all in the end. The two poor kids got worse so they didn't join us when we went out afterwards too. Freshened up and we left to explore the island on our own without our guide, Anne. Went to the town area and spent some time there shopping for mainly groceries. Jamie and I ate Magnum! Tried the strawberry crumble that Esther was going crazy about the last time she came to Australia. I like the chocolate outside, not so much of the strawberry icecream though. John treated me cappuccino before we returned to our dorms because he lost in a bet at Perth's airport regarding the breed of dog used at the drug screening area heh.
Having coffee with John (taken by John)
Left: Strawberry crumble Magnum | Right: Curious quokka
This quokka took a selfie
There were quokkas everywhere on the island, these were the ones around our dorm. The quokka refused to take a selfie with me so i just pointed the front camera at it and it smiled for the photo. So it is a vain marsupial after all HAHAHA. Such a cute little thing.
A handful of us visited the beach again and took some photos while the rest stayed in the dorms for a nap.
Setting sun
Stretched clouds
Caught the seagull flying across
The sandy path
After snorkelling, Jonathan and Yeyu started running a temperature too, might be hypothermia or a cold. The sick boys didn't join us for discussion that night. So we sat around in the living room of the girls' dorm beside the fireplace. Everyone shared their personal stories. Never liked such emotional nights especially when i have no close ones around but it ended fine nonetheless.
Day 12. 08102014
Eugene and Baojie went to see a nurse after breakfast because they were sick for quite some time with no signs of recovery. We stayed in to start making the appreciation cards during their consultation time. I napped a little before that though heh. The sick kids were still sick so they couldn't go out for snorkelling and cycling in the afternoon. Since Yeyu was the only girl, i stayed back to take care of everyone. Nurse Goh and the 4 patients. Rehydration salts, medicine and temperature. Yeyu slept and the three of us played Bridge and Big2 while waiting for the rest to return.
Failed attempt at trying to capture solar eclipse and stars
Our last on Rottnest left such a huge imprint on us. The image of the starry night sky cannot be erased from my mind. There was a solar eclipse, it was my first time witnessing this phenomenon. The moonlight dimmed and more stars appeared. We could even see the Milky Way! The number of stars, the tiny dots lighting up the night sky in its own way is something you will never see in Singapore. It was breathtaking.
Usual discussion before we continued working on the appreciation cards for various people who guided and taught us through the two weeks.
Day 13. 09102014
Woke up early to check in our duffel bags for the ferry ride back to Perth. Gave the first appreciation card to Sherelle and she invited us to write on the wall of her kitchen!
Our cook in Rottnest
Free time after breakfast to rest up a little more for those who want to and cleared the things in our dorms. We returned our bikes and did some last chance shopping at the town area before boarding our ferry. Jamie and I bought Magnum again! This time i ate honeycomb crunch heh.
Left: Honeycomb crunch Magnum | Right: Skink sun-bathing
Another quokka selfie
Look at this 笨蛋 sleeping
Waiting to board the ferry
I slept throughout the ferry ride to avoid the motion sickness. I missed the dolphins though, sigh. But it worked, just that i couldn't really open my eyes after that because my contact lens were so dry. Dropped off our bags back at Trinity and had a quick lunch at Uni hall before rushing over for more lectures on forensics. This time, we were taught about entomology-aided forensics and food forensics. I didn't expect lifespan and location of the insects found on the dead body to be used as a clue and evidence, or even validate a person's account in a crime. And.. i fell asleep during the food portion oops. But i liked the part when he shared with us about the discovery of mummies and frozen bodies from thousands of years ago.
Consultation with Joy at night again but i returned to our hostel instead to continue on my work. Essays were due on the next day at 2pm. I only slept an hour but i spent most of the night doing other things or just spacing out instead of doing work. It was a tough night hahaha.
Day 14. 10102014
Some of us skipped breakfast and lunch to finish up the essays but being the pig i am, i had both meals. We attended the closing ceremony after submitting our essays. It was a small affair at the cafe in campus and we celebrated Jieni's birthday too! Photograph-taking session before we went over to Broadway for the last time to spend our remaining Aussie dollars. Bought some Timtam back and as of now, it's almost finished HAHAHA.
Spontaneous photo
With our certificates
The art that shows the accurate hours to sunset
I tried climbing onto the wall but i failed
Say hi to miemiegoh again
It was our last night in Perth and i really didn't want to return to Singapore. Such a carefree life there, no worries or whatsoever, surrounded by good company. The two weeks was heaven on earth for me. I wanted to stay up through the night but i had too little sleep the day before so i crashed at about 2am hahaha. Weak girl goh.
Day 15. 11102014
Return to Singapore blues. Nuaed a little more in our comfy hostel before Rebecca picked us up for departure. Spent really the last few cents of our Aussie dollars at the airport and ate our lunch there too. The curly fries was nice heh. I spent 90 cents buying a single strawberry Freddo home. I have been looking around for it for so long and finally i'm reunited with my strawberry frog HAHAHA.
First 笨蛋
Second 笨蛋
Third 笨蛋
And the guy who accidentally replies me in Chinese sometimes
Homebound
Won't be seeing these guys as often anymore, but it was a real good 2 weeks spent together. I enjoy everyone's company and i'm going to miss it. Never expected myself to be so attached to the trip but i still miss OMA so much now. I've made new friends, gotten closer to friends i already knew. I feel free. I saw the world. And i like that. But all good things must come to an end.
Thanks for the good times
It has been a long post with many hours spent into it in my very tired state. Like now. I'm very tired. Thanks for reading. Bring me back to Perth if you can. Goodnight guys!