Perth, Western Australia - Fremantle

I had always wanted to re-visit Perth after my undergraduate study. So, we travelled to Perth in Dec 2013 for our year end family trip. The most common comment I hear from the people is, " What a boring and dull city, and there is nothing to do". Well, why not? Is a great getaway from the daily hectic lifestyle with so much to see and do in and around this beautiful city.

The flight time from Singapore to Perth is only 5 hours 20 minutes. Perfect for families with young children, as compared to flight time of 8 hours to Melbourne or Sydney. I have a 14 months old baby and a 3 years old plus child travelling together.

One would often relates Australia travel with self-drive road trips. With a 14 month old baby, we decided to shelf the idea of self-drive for long distance road trips and rely on the public transport. Public transport is safe, efficient and easy to get around.

Getting around Perth by buses and trains are pretty straight-forward. The tickets/fares are calculated by the number of zones you travel through on your journey. If you travel within the one zone, you will be charged a 1-zone fare. If you travel over a zone boundary into another zone, you will be charged a 2-zone fare and so on. Click here to download the zone map. When in doubt of where to alight, speak to the friendly bus driver.

Source: http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au

A visit to Perth would be incomplete without a trip Fremantle (also known as "Freo"). There are a lot of restaurants to choose from along Cappuccino Strip, but we headed towards the Fishing Boat Harbour for WA No. 1 Fish 'n' Chips, Cicerello's for a sumptuous lunch.

 

 

Next, is to walk around in Fremantle Market. This area (at the entrance of Fremantle Market and along Cappucino Strip) is a place with abundance of quality street performers, and you never need to watch Australia's Got Talent ever again. I am not sure if is a custom to tip if you stop to take photo or pause to watch/listen to their performance. Nonetheless, my girl tipped "Elvis Presley".

 

For those looking to shop for souvenir, a visit to E-shed market is a must. You can get Australia native animals stuff toys at 3 for AUD10, and the very unique cork hat. By the way, if you visit Perth during the summer, the cork hat is a very useful head gear to ward off the insects, mainly the flies during this period: the movement of the head causes the corks to swing, discouraging insects from swarming around the wearer's face.

 

 

Last, but not least, we also visited one of the main tourist attraction, the Round House, the oldest building in Western Australia. The children were running around or nearby the Round House, and to our surprise, they found the dandelion. This is like fairy tales comes alive, the children were busy making wishes by blowing off the seeds of a dandelion. Cool, this is definitely an unexpected bonus on this trip!

 

 

Make a wish on a dandelion! The children wished for happy family. (Feeling blessed!)

 

 

That round up our trip to Fremantle.

 

How to get to Fremantle:

By bus

- From Murdoch station, take bus route 98 and alight along Cappuccino Strip or the Fremantle Railway Station

By train

- From Murdoch station, take train to Perth city, transfer and alight at Fremantle

 

Explore Fremantle by foot or free CAT (City Area Transport) bus service.

Tips: Visit Fremantle on the weekend.

Motivational Mondays - Goal Setting Simplified: ONE Word for 2014

Happy New Year! I hope your year has begun well.

As we enter the new year, many of us are looking ahead in the same old way to set our new year resolution. Be honest. How many of you have written down a SMART goal? How many of you are guilty of being marked as a slacker for not setting any goals and being smacked with the advise "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". I know, somehow, somewhere, someone, have fall short of their goals.

This year, I am keeping it simple by choosing just ONE WORD. I tapped into the wisdom of the authors of My One Word and One Word. That's right - one word. Not a long to-do list, not a phrase, not a sentence, no wish list. Just a single word to as the driving force and focus on every day, 365 days, all year long. One word that sums up what you want to accomplish. According to the authors, one word impacts 6 dimensions of one's well being: mental, physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, financial.

"When words are scare they are seldom spent in vain." ~ William Shakespeare

My one word for the year is GROWTH.

Growth is defined as development from a lower or simpler to a higher or more complex form. Growth doesn't just happen: it is not accidental but intentional.

As a full time working mom to 2 young children and spouse to a loving husband. I need to grow in relationships. As a daughter, a sister, a friend, I need to grow in character to become a better person. As an employee, I need to grow in my skill set to advance in my career. As a Christian, I need to grow spiritually.

Year 2014 is going to be the best year yet! In the comment below, let me know what is your ONE word is for 2014.

I Won in Lego® Friends Giveaway

I won the runner up prize in the recent Lego® Friends giveaway through J Babies' Dad blog. I received 1 Friendship Diary and 1 Mia's Magic Tricks brick set. We were thrilled when the gift arrived at our doorstep!

It includes Mia mini-doll figure and a bunny and features a magic cabinet with disappearing function and magician's stage. My girl is able to use the magic cabinet's magic function to make the bunny disappear! How cool it is for a 3 years old girl to practice and witness the awesome magic show!

I must say that Lego bricks helps to develop her creativity, fine motor skills, and stir up the curiosity in her. How does the small amazing toys managed to achieve so much?

Creativity: Instead of just making the bunny disappeared, she tried to make the flower and the magician's hat disappeared too!
Fine motor skills: She fixed the flower to the branch and she fixed the mini-doll figure, attaching the magic wand and the ribbon on her hair.

We are so in love with Lego® Friends and we are getting one for her 5 years old cousin sister as Christmas present. If you are still looking around for great Christmas present, get a Lego® today!

Thank you Lego® Friends for the giveaway!