Swan Valley Wine Cruise

Damn kayu man, I remembered to charge the camera, but forgot to bring either cameras T_T

Luckily Uncle Meng brought 2 cameras, so I could happily camwhore somemore…teehee

I know this post is a little late, but better late than never, right?

Anyway, I went on the Swan Valley Wine Cruise on 5th July and took a whole heap of shots again. Be prepared for some 56k modem killer pictures! Thankfully I had the 5 MP camera, which has macro function and is heaps better than my slim Casio 1.2 MP one :(

The ferry took off at 10am and returned to Barrack Street by 5pm. It takes roughly about 2 hours to cruise up the Swan River to Swan Valley, it is quite worth it.

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We set off from Barrack Street Jetty again.

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We had them obligatory cheese and biscuits and fruits and nuts. Not to mention the wine as well :)

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The birds had this really nice ‘V’ shape formation, but unfortunately I was too slow with the camera to take a proper picture of them :(

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This time I was quick enough to catch the duck just taking off from the water

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Obligatory camwhore pic no. 1

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Obligatory camwhore pic no. 2

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Obligatory camwhore pic no. 3

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting The bus that took us to the winery for lunch and wine tasting.

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One of the vineyards. Did you know that the grape farmers plant red and white rose bushes at the edge of the each row as a reference to the grape colour when it is ready to be picked? It is also legend that if you plant the rose bushes, it’ll bring you luck for your harvest :)

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Chester’s Winery. Really nice lunch there.

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Houghton’s Winery. They have the best white wine (classic white) and the best late picked verdhello. I want some!

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Big wine glass at Houghton’s.

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We went to Margeret River Chocolate Factory. Not cheap chocolates at all. Manage to get a few of the macadamia clusters and almond clusters, but it was someting like $1.95 each if I’m not mistaken. Yummy though :)

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Really cool pictures for wallpapers or screen savers.

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Vodka Cruisers on a chilly day is fantastic.

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No, I didn’t drink both of them. I shared with my Uncle.

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The city at sunset.

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I love these shots!

I had such a great time for those 3 days. The company was good, food was good, atmosphere was so relaxed. Was a good week for me to destress and forget life’s troubles for a while.

Day 2 - Perth-Fremantle River Cruise

Day 2 of going out with Uncle Meng really has been fun! Went for a River Cruise from Barrack Street Jetty, Perth to O’Connor Landing in Fremantle. Went to the Fremantle Motor Museum where they had really funky cars and motorcycles. Managed to sit in one of them tiny cars, don’t have the picture but can get it off my uncle later.

*WARNING: HEAVY PHOTO POST*

First up was the cruise from Barrack Street Jetty in Perth. The Barrack Street Jetty is situated on Barrack Street, which is a stone’s throw from the city centre. You can either walk there from the city or take a Blue Cat bus which runs every 15 minutes and is free of charge.

A few pictures of the jetty itself and the Swan Bells which is directly in front of the jetty.

*Hover your mouse over the pictures for captions*

The Swan Bells

The jetty

Our friendly captain!

Interior view of the catamaran

Compulsary camwhoring picture

Clear, clear water

Old Stirling Bridge

We arrived at Fremantle and we had no idea where to go and just went straight for the Fremantle Motor Museum. They had all kinds of antique cars and motorcycles that still function, so it really was a good trip. Tip: Go to the Maritime Museum first and then go to the Motor Museum, they have discounts on the tickets =P

I <3 this car. It was carpeted!

P

More camwhore shots

More camwhore shots

Cute mini police car

Morris Minor Camwhore shot

That Little Car I sat in

Look! It opens too!

Went off to Cicerello’s for lunch *burp* Chilli Mussels and fish and chips were divine!!

Off to the Western Australian Maritime Museum next. Went on the submarine tour of the HMAS Ovens, which is a Collins class submarine that has been decommisioned and opened up as a display for public. The tour took one hour and if you get a combined ticket to enter the museum and do the sub tour, it costs considerably less. The Museum itself is wonderful with all the interactive buttons and push things.

HMAS Ovens

HMAS Ovens

Inside it was a little claustrophobic, as the width of the sub was basically roughly 2-3 metres at the widest bit and roughly 50 cms at galley ways. Not really for the faint hearted this one.

The small TV in the bunks for entertainment
Below the bunks under the floor were the submarine’s batteries.

A bunk
Each side of the wall had 3 tiers of bunks, so basically if you were tall, you’d still have to squeeze into the bunks and learn how to sleep with your legs bent double.

Their foldaway dining table

That bottom bunk
Apparently that particular bottom bunk is the worst bunk on the ship and the most junior person on the ship would be given that bunk. Reason is that the hatch on the floor, leads to the bottom of the sub which is where the batteries are located. The electricians will constantly be going in and out and in and out and causing a huge din that it is almost impossible to sleep with that. On top of that, if the electricians decide to lock the door open, there would be no way for the poor sailor to come out of his bunk at all. So all junior sailors keep praying that nobody would do that and that some newer junior would come on board the ship so that they can have that dreaded bunk :P

Submarine toilet

Top secret room apparently

Other end of secret room

Secret Beer Storage
Apparently they would store 57 kegs of beer here if stacked carefully and that’s why the lock was put into place :P

Their pressure suits
When they need to be rescued, the don these pressure suits and blast through the escape hatch to safety. Only bad thing about these suits is that on their way up, the sailors need to exhale air, or else their lungs will explode when they reach the surface and the pressure difference is great.

We passed the engine room and control room. One of the traditions is that the engines get named and you cannot call the engine anything but the given name or else the enginemen would get upset. Also the engine room can heat up to 50-60 degrees Celcius and people have been known to faint in there from the conditions.

We got out of the submarine and went back into the Museum where there were quite a few surprises there.

The following 3 photos are in this ingenius display whereby when you walk past the thing, the image ‘talks’ to you as if you were back in the 15th century, walking about the markets. Here, they explain the trade over time and is quite an interactive unit with 2 characters ‘talking’ to each other and you.

Interactive display

Holographic man

Another display

Camwhoring in the toilet

Fremantle's first steam boat

There were much, much more things to see and do there, but we could only manage that much after such a long walk and such a heavy lunch. We toured the Museum much more in depth, but unfortunately my camera battery died, so I couldn’t take any more photos.

After such a long day, dinner was beckoning. Ended up at Taka’s for dinner and home after that.

I would definitely recommend going to Fremantle for at least 2 days to cover everything. There is still the Fremantle Prison tour (which I went to back in 2003), Fremantle Markets (where there are performers during weekends), the cappucino strip for good coffee and gelato, and not forgetting the other wonderful museums and attractions in Fremantle.

Hillary’s Boat Harbour

Had a really fun day today, Uncle Meng took me out to AQWA, Sorento Quay and pretty much everywhere to jalan-jalan today since we were both so bored. At risk of me sounding like a little kid, I had such a fun day today! Ice cream and Cold Rock, lunch at Zeno’s Cafe at Sorento Quay and Dinner at Arirang in Subiaco.

Took heaps of pictures at AQWA, too many to post up, but here are a few good shots I got.

The Windswept Look
Had the whole windswept look here cause the wind was blowing and I pretty much couldn’t keep a steady hand due to the cold and the fact that it feels weird to be camwhoring in a public place :P


The whole jelly fish thing really was cool, cause they had these awesome effects where the projector simulates water. Really had to be there to enjoy it.


Don’t those clown fish look cute? Nestled in the anemone thingos.

The turtle looked so adorable, sleeping at the area where we entered the big aquarium thing. Poor thing must be so tired :P

Look at those teeth!! Scary thing, but thankfully the sharks here are so tame that they don’t bother attacking the people that feed them. Or the fish around them unless they’re dying.

The lobster was hanging upside down, I swear I didn’t edit the picture!

I used to have the video codes, but after being flamed for wrongly naming the sting ray or manta ray (whichever it is), I’ve taken down the videos. But it was good :)

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