Perth Self Drive - Day 3 Heading down to Margaret River

Self drive to Bunbury was excited despite it was 180km away from Perth City. 

My original itinerary was covered Rockingham Kwinana Beach, Lake Clifton, Bunbury lighthouse, and Busselton Jetty before reach Margaret river.

After checking the distance via Google map and the experience from this 2 day itinerary, I knew we couldn't make it. Furthermore, we need to reach the farm by 4pm in order to enjoy the free tractor ride which only available on Sunday. 

So I cut short the itinerary and visit Bunbury lighthouse, Busselton jetty and Cape Naturaliste lighthouse.

Bunbury lighthouse, the view was magnificent. I like the beautiful Indian ocean, like the strong wind too despite it was freezing. We went to Apex Lookout as well. It was in the housing are and we couldn't find a way to drive up. So I parked the car 600m away and walk there instead.

APEX Lookout

Managed to found a Chinese restaurant for parent in-law because they haven't used to western food. It was one of the famous Chinese restaurants in that area. The owner is Malaysian and she told us today was a special day which local celebrate the father day, else the shop is close. Overall the food was as good as Malaysia and Singapore. The owner informed the kitchen to adjust back to original cooking style. They usually adjust the recipe to meet the local taste so it cannot be too strong and spicy. Before lunch I still quite optimistic we have time to visit the Busselton jetty. But it was already 2pm after the lunch, so we skip Busselton Jetty and drove down to the farm directly. By the time we reached the farm, it was about 3:30pm. Just in time to catch the tractor ride and offload the luggage. The tractor ride was fun and the children enjoyed the boat race over the rivulet. I grew up in small villages and used to play in small river so I'm glad my boy can enjoy the natural environment. It's certainly a good experience not only for city boy. Unfortunately, the weather changed very fast and start raining.

After settling down and it was time for worries about dinner. The farm is 10 minutes away from Margaret river town. We were not able to find Asian restaurants so mother in-law decided to cook because our unit equipped with electric stove. There are 2 supermarkets in the town including the famous Coles. We bought some vegetable, egg, rice and ingredient from Coles. Also bought some marinated chicken, and lambs since then oven is available. It was really fun and relax experience. Gathered with family in this small unit, cooking, drinking and have a good time was the best moment for this trip. Thanks god we don't have Internet, else we will busy with the mobile devices. Overall the unit we stayed was fine except few surprises. The house was split into 4 units. I am not recommending this form if you have a budget. We have a few surprises during 2 nights here 1st surprise came about 10pm on the first day, the house ran out of hot water. After checking with the owner, and told that the water tank was shared by 4 units. There was a cockroach in the house, no heater and the fire can't really warm the house.

Our second day even worst. Power failure for about an hour so we can only rely on our phone torch light to bright up the house. I still encouraged farm stay for the family with young children but not the farm i stayed.

Perth Self Drive - Day 2 Caversham Wildlife Park & Swan Valley

We knew it was a cloudy day yet we go ahead as planned.The purpose of this trip is to give my boys the closet experience with Kangaroo We reached here about 10am which the first show is about to start.

It was a farm show which the staff demonstrate how the wool is shaved from sheep. I watched a similar show at Taiwan but this one is amazed. It wasn't a fun show, the shaver skillfully shaved the wool and explain the process at the same time. The farm show ended with milk a cow session, you got a chance to milk by hand. It is a good opportunity for city boy to experience it, but unfortunately 2 of them were scared.
We managed to escape from heavy rain by enjoyed our show in sheltered area.

Like the way owl stayed at us. It was my second day with new camera X-M1 and failed to master it. But i still like its natural colors straight from jpeg.

Koala bear is another iconic animal in Australia after Kangaroo. We were lucky today because some Koala bears were awake and surprisingly active according to the staff. Koala bear usually spend most of their time to sleep.

The Kangaroo park is open to tourist and you have chance to jump together with Kangaroo. You can feed the Kangaroo with the fodder available in the park for free. My boys were busy walking around to feed the kangaroo.
It was the very first experience for my mother-in-law. She was quite curious how kangaroo carry their baby. Great she enjoyed this trip and finally witnessed there is a pocket at mummy kangaroo's tummy.

Caversham wildlife park is only one of the attraction in Swan Valley. There are park, picnic area, museum, tram ride, and others restaurants which many local spend their weekend. There was an ancient car carnival organised by nearby Motor museum. All the cars are well maintain and they do look "sexy".

We back to Perth city after have our late lunch at the cafe nearby. Bell tower is one of the attraction which we planned to visit but have to change the plan due to rain. We went to Murray street hope to catch the last minute shopping opportunity but almost all the shops closed at 5pm sharp. We used to shop until 9pm or 10pm at Asia countries. I'm not able to reserve more time for Perth city due to short 5 days trip in Perth. Will plan in more afternoon slot for shopping during my next visit to Australia. Need to rest earlier and prepare for long journey down to Margaret river.