Perth travelogue: Day 2 (2nd Dec)

~Woke up to an early breakfast at the hotel; heaped those I preferred onto my plate (scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, heavenly seared tomatoes, bacon strips and braised mushrooms) ~ checked out from hotel and enjoyed more scenery along the way to our next stop ~ weather was great (again just slightly more than 20 degrees Celsius).

~Stopped for a guided tour at Caversham Wildlife Park ~ had the opportunity to view the beautiful birds and other creatures as well as interact with the koalas and kangaroos there; learnt how to stroke the koalas gently with the back of my hand and also fed the lively kangaroos with food pellets given to us; touched and took a picture with a huge wombat securely held in the arms of another employee of the park as well ~ I loved the close encounters with the animals!!! ^_^

~ Next up was a visit to Houghton Winery, which included some wine tasting; as usual, I preferred the white wine that I tasted to the red one, but boy was the white one so much more delicious than any other I'd tasted before (it was really sweet and champagne-like, minus the bubbles) ~ we bought a total of three bottles, one red that Papa wanted to take back to Singapore, one white for Hubby's parents and another white for all of us to enjoy that evening by ourselves ~ took plenty of photos there as well cos there were so many beautiful plants and vines to look admire.

~ Time for some yummy chocolates; stopped at the Margaret River Chocolate Company and sampled some fantastic chocolate bits; never saw so many different types of chocolates under one roof ~ all of us made some purchases there ~ besides chocolates, there were also some choc-related merchandise like T-shirts, mugs and aprons that declared the user as choc addicts -- fun! ~ Lunch was at this place called Valley View Garden Cafe & Restaurant, a stand-alone house amidst the greenery and by the road; loved the fresh garden salad, honey-glazed drumsticks, battered fish and the blueberry cheesecake (only thing I didn't wanna taste was the lamp chops -- that one's more for Hubby!).

~ Then came the farmstay, which was the main reason we decided to go to Perth; met Robyn, the tough female owner of the farm, and learnt that the farm had been passed down from generations that existed as far back as WWI and expanded till it reached the 5000 acres of land today -- that's about the size of 100 golf courses put together! ~ rode at the back of a truck and enjoyed the bumpy but cool ride to the pond to fish for yabbies, a mini lobster-like creature ~ played with and fed the farm pets (a couple of goats and sheep respectively) before dinner time.

~ Dinner by Robyn's friend, Anne, was fabulous! ~ There's oven baked chicken, lamb (which again, I didn't take), pasta, loads of salad greens, rice (to cater to the Chinese taste bud -- btw, it's Thai jasmine rice, very soft and fragrant), garlic bread, and dessert was a cool slice of lemon cheesecake with fruit cocktail and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side; ugh...listing these items is making me drool again! ~ After dinner, all of us, except for Mummy, sat at the porch on the second level just outside our rooms and sipped the wine as we enjoyed the darkening view of the landscape out there ~ the wind soon turned chilly and we were freezing like crazy (temperature fell to slightly more than 10 degrees Celsius!) but still refused to retire for the night; just continued sitting there and watching the night sky till it was time to shower ~ at night, even before sleep, we could still hear the baas of a couple of rams that refused to turn in. :p

Oh, I loved being on the farm! :)