P.S. Sorry it's so late!
Day 1 – Perth
Today is the big trip – and I don’t mean falling down. With Dad complaining about airport tax and mun complaining about duty-free shopping, I was glad when we finally boarded the plane. There was an underlying reason to that as well. 6 HOURS OF COMPUTER GAMING!!! - something very rare and quite unbelievable.
After 6 HOURS OF COMPUTER GAMING!!! we landed in Perth at 2:30pm local time. Since Perth’s time is same as Singapore’s time, there wasn’t really any jet lag. Our first day in Perth was a free-and-easy, so, naturally, mum went shopping. There is something I don’t get about shopping – you walk for miles to look for the one item that is cheaper than all the others, when you can buy the first one you see and save all that time but lose 5 cents. Where’s the cents – I mean, sense – in that?
That night we checked into the Grand Chancellor hotel. It was quite cozy and nice, but the TV only had a couple of channels. It was cold too. Very cold. The air-conditioning wasn’t working properly – or should I say, working too well. Only after donning 3 layers of clothing and two blankets could we sleep properly.
Day 2 – Albany
Breakfast at the Chancellor was quite OK. We spoke to members of our tour group for the first time. It was a small group – only ten people, including my family of four. The group was very pleasant, but I won’t mention any names in case they wish to remain anonymous.
Our tour guide, who will only be known as "Jeff", was very funny, entertaining and knowledgeable.
"The best tour guide we ever had!" –Me
More details later on.
First, we drove through King’s Park in Perth. Jeff told us that the trees growing by the side of the road were Lemon Scented Gum trees – and they were full of oil. When a bush fire started, these trees would explode in a huge ball of flame. Wow!
It was a five-hour drive down to Albany. I slept most of the journey – the cold must have seeped into my clothing and disrupted my sleep the previous night. We stopped at certain places on the way – roadside restaurants, gas stations, and there was a roadside stop, where Jeff taught us a bit about bush plants. There was a plant had leaves that were square. A bush fire had recently plagued the area, and all the tree trunks were charred black. Poor trees! But Jeff said that some trees needed fire to propagate their seeds. Cool!
Oh - we also went to the Gap. It's a huge sheer drop off a cliff face at the southern-most point of Western Australia. Fortunately, nobody fell off. The wind there was terrible. No, not smelly - not THAT kind of wind. It tore at your cheeks and tried to literally blow you away. Also closeby was the Nautral Bridge - a huge stone structure carved from the lving rock. As its name suggests, it was shaped like a bridge - and arch to be more exact.
Nothing else today - just driving. We stayed at Comfort Inn Motel - not bad. The beds were soft.
Day 3 - Karri Valley
Today was a great day. We drove through the forest towards Karri Valley. The trees were huge - over 40 metres. Called Tingle trees and Karri trees, they are almost 3 metres around. Huge!
We went to the 60-metre Glocester Tree, used for spotting bush fires. I wanted to climb to the top, but the sign said: "NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN". Bah. WE took a nice pic, though.
At the Tree, we fed some Rainbow Lorikeets. We bought some seeds from the old man at the park, and the birds came swooping down. Thery were quite tame, and landed on my hand to feed. There was a whole flock of them, swooping down like a multi-coloured air squadron. And they were selfish too. Only one bird per hand. Anyway, it was a great experience, and even better when one of them landed on my head. Whee! I got some great pics. :)
At night, when you look up at the sky, you actually see stars. Not like in Singapore where all you see is darkness and the occasional skyscraper rooftop. A million pinpricks of light, all across the sky. It makes you wonder, whether there is alien life out there. Yes, I know, all you skeptics out there. But just think of it. You can already see so many stars. There must be millions more. And even though the chances may be slim - 1 in a million. 1 in a billion. 1 in a googolplex - the chances may be like chucking a million piece jigsaw puzzle off a plane and it all joins together when it hits the ground. But there is still that chance.
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Geddit? Stars! =P
Anyway, I'll be posting this bit first. Catch Part Two coming very soon!
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