TL;DR - it's a nice place but expensive.. and because it is expensive, I feel that the experience we gained were not worth the price we paid i.e. for the same price, we could get way better experience if we visited someplace else e.g. Japan.
We spent 8 days here. Our itinerary was:
1) Fremantle at the west of Perth
2) Lancelin and The Pinnacles at the north of Perth
3) Margaret River wayyy-south Perth and finally
4) the city of Perth itself.
That's almost 588km from north (The Pinnacle) to south (Margaret River) but we drove much more km than that because we didn't really travel in a logical north-south direction. We started in Fremantle and went north, then back to Fremantle and then went south to Margaret River. And back north to Perth. That's a lot of driving! A LOT! I think probably 1500km maybe?
We went with another family so there's 4 driving adults and we took our time and leisure. It's a pretty relaxing drive.
Firstly, the weather is fine. It's early summer so we have a high of maybe 26C and a low of 14C. Very pleasant during the day time as there's always cold wind. My only complaint was the super bright sunlight - maybe because the sun is nearer to Australia during summer. It was bright daylight at 6am in the morning. And the UV index was around 8 to 11 (as compared to just 7 or 8 in Malaysia in December).. so you need a sunglass and sunscreen.
Ok, so here we go:
Fremantle
Of all the four places, Fremantle is my favorite. It's a beautiful and quiet place and it's near the coast. We stayed at this nice house run by a Singaporean called Colonial Lodge. It's a nice home, very comfortable and quite complete in terms of supplies. Kitchen is large and that's important because you will do a lot of eat-in to save cost. More importantly (to me), opposite Colonial Lodge is one of the best coffee in Perth - Rubra on the Go. And just 1km away, is one of the best pizzas I have ever had.. Hilton Pizza. Both of these are "artisan" and operated locally and not by any big corporation, so the taste are authentic.
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| Colonial Lodge |
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| A church opposite Fremantle Market |
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| I absolutely love this artisan coffee - Rubra On The Go |
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| We rented a Kia Carnival. It has Car Play.. and very nice and comfortable to drive. The passengers get their own seats too so it's pretty comfortable for them on long drive |
Lancelin
In this place there is a sand dune. And the sand dune is just beside the Indian Ocean. So, you could go to the beach and get wet by an ocean, Indian Ocean some more, ok? and then, go to the sand dune to experience Sahara-like desert. When we were there, a strong wind was blowing and basically you could see the sand shifting. There is a tour at the sand dune and you could hop onto a refurbished military truck which will drive you over the sand and stop at a place for you to experience "surfing" down the hill of sand on a surf board. This is a pretty good and unique experience and while the price is high at AU$80 for a family package (2 adult and 2 kids).
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| The white sand dune. I think this is a pretty unique place which you don't get anywhere else |
The Pinnacles
Don't waste your time driving another hour from Lancelin to see some, um, rocks. I mean, I love rock formations - I do. I really enjoy Egypt. I love the natural rock thingy you found along Great Ocean Road to the east (if you are in Melbourne, you need to take this drive).. but these rocks at The Pinnacles were just underwhelming. As underwhelming as The Stonehenge in UK. All these drive for these rocks? Even the kids did not want to get out of the car to take pictures with the rocks. I am probably the only enthusiast ones and even then, I find it's not worth the trip.
Oh ya.. one thing about Australia - there are a lot of house flies. Seriously! And they flew and hang onto your face and you have to brush them away all the time. It's like you are in Africa and you see flies hanging onto faces of famished children. Yep, that's Western Australia to you. Very disgusting!
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| Just rocks... yawn! |
Margaret River
Thoughts: Ok, confession - when friends suggested we go to Margaret River because they are famous for their vineyards, nougat and cheese factory or what not, I was expecting that we will get to see how wines are made. Or how they made nougats.. or cheese.. or even see some cows being milked or something. What really happened is a 3 hours drive to Margaret River, then half an hour or so drive to the vineyard to come into a STORE FRONT! to taste wines and tried cheese. It's as though you walked into Jaya Grocer and someone give you a plate of cheese with toothpick and you try them. Or you are served a few glasses/cups of wines and beers and taste it before you purchase them. I mean, come on! Surely it is cheaper in terms of time and cost to buy these wines, beers, nougats, cheese in Woolsworth or Coles or some liquor store in Perth/Fremantle city! I learned nothing about how wine was made nor do I learn anything about different type of cheese.
So for a 6 hours to and fro trip, it's really not worth it, even though we stayed a night there and it's not as tiring. The drive is nice and relaxing, sure, the country side is beautiful. But if you want to go there for the vineyards, may I suggest Swan Valley, just 30 minutes from Perth city AND you get the same store front as Margaret River.. some of the Margaret River companies even set up shop in Swan Valley.
Food recommendation - Korean food at Teddis Big Spoon. Very nice Korean food and quite reasonably priced. I'd recommend the kimchi rice for $16 and the vegetables stir fried rice (under kids menu) for $12.
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| This is all you see for 3 hours drive |
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| same samey |
Pho Sai Gon is a nice Vietnamese restaurant (it's not in Margaret River but it's in Bunbury, a town you passed through in your drive.
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| Very nice Vietnamese Restaurant |
Accommodation - we enjoyed our stay at Riverview Tourist Park. From the outset, it looks like a container being remake into a house. Inside though, the cabins are richly built and all the furnitures, toilets, bathroom, kitchen are very new. It's a really nice and cosy place.
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| lots of trees.. and there's also wild parrots which flew onto our porch, waiting to be fed. Brave parrot | s |
Perth
Food recommendation: Wing Bao Chinese Restaurant for a really nice Chinese meal that's fairly priced. The salt and pepper (fried) chicken is a must try.
Accommodation: we stayed in Inglewood Comfort House but I wouldn't recommend this house. It's old and not very well taken care of. And the rooms are not comfortable. There is also no heater and aircond in the bedroom, so beware. For a house with two bathrooms, there is only one WC, so 7 people sharing one WC is not a pleasant thing. One of the shower room floods as well. Yucks.
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| Inglewood house.. looks nice and spacious from the outside, but in poor condition inside |
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| Rubra On The Swan - another branch of my favourite artisan coffee |
Caversham Wildlife Park. A must go, just because you can hang out with the kangaroos and take a photo with the koala. The kangaroos are gated in this huge place and humans and childrens can run around and feed them all day. It's a pretty wild place.
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| no visit to Australia is complete without a photo op with koala bears |
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| and yes, kangaroos too! |
Not much in Perth city except, well, just a picture of the skyline by the huge Swan River (more like a big, big lake, really)
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| We took a ferry from Elizabeth Quay which took us to South Perth, opposite direction and took a picture of the city |
We also drove west to Cottesloe Beach, a popular beach, to see sunset over Indian Ocean. This is a really nice experience as it's not often that one get to touch an ocean of the world. I think I have only been to Pacific Ocean (and now Indian Ocean). I have not been to Atlantic Ocean.
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| useful to have Apple Watch to tell you exactly when is Sunset, so we can time our expectations |
Swan Valley - a replica of Margaret River. Don't waste your time driving 3 hours to Margaret River when you can get almost everything in Swan Valley.
We also drove another 30-40 minutes to Golden Groove Orchard in the country side. The girls love the experience of finally being able to pluck orange from a tree. And the navel oranges are great tasting too! I didn't expect orange tree to be so, so short.
King's Park and Botanic Garden. We went there just before we go to the airport. It has a beautiful elevated view of Perth city. Turns out to be a nice place for relaxing and picnic, if you plan to just spend the days watching the city. I believe it will be even more beautiful at night
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| great picture to be use as iPhone lock screen wallpaper |
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| Nice panorama picture of the whole city - north and south side |
