Again, this is the third part of our Perth itinerary. Instead of a road trip to the south or north, we visited the wildlife park, garden and nearby island in Perth to experience the nature in/near Perth!
DAY 4 CAVERSHAM WILDLIFE PARK & PERTH CITY
Oh ya! Before visiting the native animals of Australia (koalas, wombats and kangaroos), we chose to dine at a nice café to experience the local café culture. We were glad that the café is nearby our apartment which is just the opposite of Maylands station. In case you didn't know, Mrs. S Café is one of top cafés in Perth.
The weather was perfect and so is the amazing dining atmosphere of the café. We ordered a few dishes for sharing – Avovado Smash, Pulled Pork Eggs Benedict with Cornbread and Rose, Berry Panna Cotta.
The portions are quite decent and were enough for 3 persons. Of course, we also tried their Flat White, Mocha and Chai Latte. Thumbs up for their food quality and excellent services.
What a tasty breakfast to kick start our day! We took the train and then the bus to Caversham Wildlife Park (the bus stops at Whiteman Park entrance at Lord Street). At the entrance, look for the intercom to speak to Caversham Wildlife Park. They will provide a free shuttle to pick and send you to the wildlife park. I don’t think anyone would want to walk to the wildlife park (about 2km away from Whiteman Park entrance) since free shuttle is available upon request.
Tips: We took the train to Bassendean Station, and then Bus 955/956 to Ellenbrook. The bus stands can be easily spotted once you exited the train station. To avoid taking the wrong bus, the stand for Bus 955/956 heading towards Whiteman Park is actually towards the end of the road. The stand for Bus 955/956 that is nearer to the train station’s exit is for the bus travelling away from Whiteman Park.
If you would like to meet and touch the star-studded animals of Australia, Caversham Wildlife Park is definitely the place to visit if you are in Perth. We had a wonderful and fun experience here taking photos with the koala and wombat, feeding the kangaroos, watching the farm show, being surrounded with many sheep and goats, and a lot more! There are no charges for any photo taking session in this wildlife park and the staffs are very kind and friendly that they will help you to take the photos.
Tips: Comparing the admission fees between Caversham Wildlife Park and Cohunu Koala Park, the latter is much cheaper but additional AUD30 is required to cuddle a koala for photo session. We felt that Caversham Wildlife Park is more interesting since you could take photos with the koala for free as many times as you want. The only drawback is that you couldn’t cuddle the koala but you can still touch them. Also, there are other interesting activities as well such as the farm show, penguin feeding show, kangaroo feeding, close encounters with farm animals, etc.
In total, we spent about 3 hours there getting in touch with the animals. Then, we left happily and enjoyed one of our yummiest and cheapest lunch in Perth at Toastface Grilllah. We have to say that a yummy meal less than AUD10 is definitely a gem in the city. A decent and proper meal could easily cost more than that.
Basically, Toastface Grillah is a little café located at the alley selling 11 different types of grilled cheese sandwiches. We ordered 3 toasted sandwiches recommended by the staff.
Shroomy Shroomy Ya (AUD9)
Notorious B.A.G. (AUD9)
Ol Faithful (AUD 8)
Generally, the toasted sandwiches are so good and we loved it so much. The cheese especially, is just nice and tasty! We will strongly recommend anyone to try the Shroomy Shroomy Ya while the Notorious B.A.G. isn’t very outstanding as the apple slices are really thin (couldn’t taste it much).
We continued with our city exploration to the next attraction whereby it is one of the Instagram hot spots, Blue Boat House (Crawley Edge Boatshed)! We read many reviews mentioning that tourists would queue for their turn to take photos of the house. Fortunately for us, there were no other people other than couple and us when we arrived at the house!
Tips: The best way to get here is via Bus 950 as it stops right in front of the place!
To save some transportation cost and burn off the extra calories after eating so many yummy foods, we decided to walk through Kings Park from Blue Boat House towards the Botanic Gardens by relying on our offline map app, Maps.me. It took us about 20 minutes as we enjoyed the wonderful views and nature along the way.
From Kings Park, you can enjoy the spectacular view of Perth city for free. The panoramic view of Perth skyline and parts of the Swan River can be easily seen. It also a beautiful place to hang out with your friends in the mornings or evenings.
Before the sky turns dark, we went to Chemist Warehouse to shop for some supplements as well as some face and body care products. Thus far, the variety and price at this pharmacy is the most attractive compared to the other pharmacies. Prepare your to-buy-list and start buying! Happy shopping!
Then, we went to Woolworths Supermarket to get more Arnott’s biscuits and chips! We mainly bought Shapes and Tim Tam by Arnott’s, Grain Waves by Sunbites, and any other chips that look yummy. This Woolworths branch seems to have more flavors of Arnott’s Shapes that we didn’t see in other supermarkets.
Tips: Download the weekly catalogue of Woolworths, IGA and Coles to get to know about their latest promotion. It helps to save a lot of money.
Miss J just love to visit the supermarkets so much that we stopped by at Coles Supermarket near to our apartment in Maylands before heading back to cook our dinner! We ended Day 4 with many yummy snacks and biscuits to complement our delicious dinner of Linguine Carbonara!
DAY 5 ROTTNEST ISLAND
Visiting this island is one of the must in Mr. J’s to-do list since purchasing the flight tickets to Perth. The ultimate aim of going to Rottnest Island is capture a selfie with the quokkas! Quokkas can only be found in Australia and particularly in Rottnest Island which has the highest population of it.
Look at the cuteness of this little animal. This is the main factor that drives tourists to visit this island especially when more and more people are posting their quokka selfies on the social media. Sad to say that we didn’t spot any quokkas in the morning since arriving there at 9.30am via the ferry, Rottnest Express. We guessed the quokkas must be sleeping as they are actually nocturnal animals.
Tips: There are a few operators providing ferry service from Perth to Rottnest Island. We chose Rottnest Express because its departure point, B-Shed Fremantle, is very convenient for us as tourists and most importantly, it also offered a cheaper rate of AUD39 return per pax (inclusive of island admission fee) on Tuesdays! The normal rate ranges between AUD60 – AUD80 return per pax. You also get to choose any departure and arrival timing that you like depending on seats availability.
Other than quokkas, Rottnest Island is also famous for their beautiful beaches and scenery. We noticed many people actually came here for beach activities, surfing, etc. We did stop by at some of the places such as Parker Point, Little Salmon Bay and Cape Vlamingh to check out the beautiful sea view!
Apart from that, whale and seal watching are also some of the activities of this island if you are lucky. During our visit, we didn’t have any luck with the whales but we saw many seals sunbathing on the nearby rocks (the black animals on the rock in the photo below) with the use of a binocular provided at the lookout point. Don’t forget to check out these two places if you are here – Cathedral Rocks (seal) Cape Vlamingh (whale).
As we didn’t go for surfing or any beach activities, we completed touring around Rottnest Island by bus within 5 hours. Other than taking the available tours, the two cheapest methods to explore Rottnest Island is by bus or by bicycle. With the thought of cycling would be too hot and tiring, we took the other option.
The Island Explorer (Bus) service starts at 8.30am and ends at 3.30pm. This is the reason why we went to the island early. There are basically 19 stops in total which goes around the entire island. Just press the bell whenever you feel like getting down. The bus driver will also act as your tour guide giving introductions and information about the island from time to time.
Back to the quokka hunting, we noticed that there are many of them at Stop No. 14, Stark Bay. This is definitely a good spot to get a selfie with the quokkas. However, please take note that feeding and touching the quokkas are strictly not permitted as such actions would indirectly cause harmful effects to their life! One of the island guide explained that a quokka which was touched by a human might be abandoned by its family or colony. It is our responsibility to save the quokkas ensuring that the future generations will still get to see their cuteness!
After Mr. J accomplished his bucket list after taking a selfie with the quokka (with many different angles), we went back to Thomson Bay Settlement and noticed many quokkas hopping around looking for food. It was already evening by then and the quokkas seem to be getting active. Before leaving the island, we didn’t forget to enjoy 2 scoops of Simmo’s ice cream.
We were back in Fremantle and still feeling drowsy from our nice and comfortable sleep in the ferry. But, as soon as we left the ferry, the freezing weather with strong wind woke us completely up!
This was where we had our dinner, Kailis' Fish Market in Fremantle! It is definitely a must try when you are in Fremantle.
We ordered the fish and chips, sardine and chips, and clam chowder for sharing. We love their fish and chips very much especially with its unlimited amount of tartar sauce!
As for the sardine and chips, we would not recommend anyone to order it. For the clam chowder, the clam taste is mild and it looks more like a fish soup since there are many fish fillets in it.
If you don’t prefer fried stuffs, there is also another section in the market which offers more seafood choices such as mussels, prawns and others cooked in other different methods.
We also spotted something very interesting, fish and chips gelato! It was unfortunate that our stomachs didn’t have the space to take it.
Day 1 & 2 - Margaret River
Day 3 - Fremantle, Lobster Shack, The Pinnacles, Lancelin
Day 6 - Swan Valley
Day 7 - Perth City
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