Kailis Fremantle: The Best Seafood and Fish Market in Town

Kailis' Fish Market Cafe was our main reason why we intended to visit Fremantle. It was on the top list when I was googling "where to eat good seafood in Fremantle". We wanted to eat the best fish and chip in Fremantle.

We got there on a rainy day, which was too bad, otherwise we could sit at the outdoor area, enjoying Fremantle's fishing boat harbour. Yes, the restaurant set beautifully on the waterfront, and it was one of the restaurant which is always full with visitors.

Kailis and the boats

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E Shed Markets Fremantle: Cheap Souvenirs in Perth

We don't really have an urge to buy souvenirs while traveling. Most of the time we don't mind buying souvenirs from tourist attraction place, as long as they are unique. We only buy few things anyway, so the price different will not be significant.

However, I love to visit markets! So I planned to visit E Shed Markets located in Fremantle, a short drive from Perth. This market is famous as the place to find cheap souvenirs in Perth.

We still had our rented car that day, after our roadtrip to Kalbarri National Park. It was a good thing because it rained heavily throughout the day. We parked our car just in front of the main entrance.

Our little car in front of the market

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Royal Hotel Perth Review

I had two requirements when I was looking for a hotel to stay at Perth on our first night: it has to be located at Perth CBD and it should cost AUD100 at the maximum. 

The good news was, we were not visiting Perth on a peak period, but still looking for a hotel that cost AUD100 for two person in the heart of Perth was troublesome.

Until I found Royal Hotel Perth through booking[dot]com website, and yup their cheapest room was AUD100, but it comes with a shared bathroom. Because we were going to stay for a night anyway, the shared bathroom was not a big issue. After reading its positive review on tripadvisor, I clicked the reservation button.

An antique hotel in the heart of Perth

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La Maison Bleue Leura: A Blissful Stay at Blue Mountains

This was our second Airbnb experience in Australia. As a family traveler, having a place to stay for four person with a fully equipped kitchen is a must. So for us, it is better to choose apartment from Airbnb rather than staying in a hotel.

When I and mr.husband searching for a place to stay at Blue Mountains, we fell in love with La Maison Bleue in Leura. After our Prince Henry Cliff Walk experience (where we started our walk in Leura), our favorite city in Blue Mountains area is definitely Leura.

Isabelle, the owner or La Maison Bleue welcomed us with a hug, we knew from our first step to the house, we will call Isabelle's house our home.

The beautiful corner at Isabelle's house

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Things To See in Kalbarri, Western Australia

Kalbarri is a little town located around 600km northern of Perth, famous for its national park having the same name with the township. 

Kalbarri has a tag line for its tourism which is "Kalbarri, you'll love it" and yes I loved it on the first day of our visit. This place is awesome with so many things to see.

One fine morning at Kalbarri

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Roadtrip From Perth to Kalbarri

Planning a roadtrip in Western Australia? Why not trying our route, a 6-7 hours drive from Perth to Kalbarri. I admit it was a long journey, but it offers so many things to see.

One of them was Nambung National Park (2 hours drive from Perth), but we decided to visit it on the last day of our roadtrip. Which was a decision I regret until now. We could not stop there as it was was raining on our way back to Perth (:

We started our journey by heading to Brand Highway from Perth heading to Geraldton, the biggest city closest to Kalbarri.

From Perth to Geraldton

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The Nature's Window at Kalbarri National Park

I said "yes" to the proposed itinerary made by mr.husband when we were planning our couple trip to Perth, Australia. He told me about visiting Kalbarri National Park which requires a 7 hours drive from Perth.

I put aside the long trip that I will have to experience, eventhough I knew I am not "a roadtrip person". Australian's National Park has always been a must visit place when we travel as couple.

I am sure you will also agree.

Looking through the Nature's Window at Kalbarri National Park

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What to Do After Sunset at Perth Kings Park

I think anyone visiting Perth will include a visit to Kings Park in their itinerary. We put the plan to visit Kings Park on our first day, with a minimal research on how to go to the park:p

"We could take the Red CAT Bus to the park" mr husband explained while we were on the Blue CAT Bus leaving Perth Bell Tower. So I just followed him, as he was supposed to be the one who do the research for our anniversary trip.

We changed from Blue to Red line at Perth City and took the Red CAT Bus. We alight at stop 18: Outram Street, then walked to the entrance of Kings Park via Kings Park Road. Crossing the road was challenging as there were no crossing sign! By the way, it was around sunset time, and we wished to take a picture of the sunset inside the park as well.

Almost sunset at King Road

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Perth Bell Tower: Enjoying Aerial View of Perth

We always love to see a city view from the top, and that's why Perth Bell Tower was included in our itinerary. As we had only few days in Perth, we visited Perth Bell Tower upon arrival. Too bad we were too late for the Bell handling demonstration.

We walked from our hotel which is Royal Hotel, and arrived at The Bell Tower just 40 minutes before it was closed. Opening times vary seasonally, better to check their website before you visit Bell Tower.

The Bell Tower in the middle of Elizabeth Quay construction

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Our First Airbnb Experience in Sydney

When I was looking for a hotel in Sydney for our 2014 New Years family trip, I was frustrated to find a hotel for 2 adults and 2 person under AUD150 per night. It was just impossible to find that price in Sydney, especially for New Years period.

I discussed it with Mr.Husband, then we switched to look for an apartment using Airbnb website. Food in Sydney is expensive, so we need to cook. An apartment with kitchen will solve our problem. And with our budget, we tried to find an apartment outside Sydney, located near the beach. Yes our Kiddos love beach!

It was in March 2014 when I look for our accommodation for December 2014. I sent email to the owner of the apartment (named Nicholas) and he replied my email, "It is so early, usually I get booking 3 months prior to the date of reservation" Hahaha.. a family traveling means a well preparation.

Nicholas' apartment was my first choice, and when he replied my message asking whether his apartment was available, I booked it directly, and had to pay in advance to Airbnb. This is the link to his apartment: Nicholas Apartment in Randwick.

In front of Nicholas' apartment

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Liburan ke Perth 5 Hari 4 Malam

Katanya, jangan bolak balik ke satu tempat yang sama, supaya bisa mengunjungi banyak tempat di dunia ini. Tapi, kami kembali lagi ke Australia. Kali ini kami liburan as a couple ke Perth. Dan rasanya kami masih ingin kembali beberapa kali lagi. Hehehe...

Silahkan membaca tulisan kami tentang liburan di berbagai kota Australia di link ini ya: Liburan ke Australia.

Cafe at Kings Park, with a super view to Perth's CBD

Kenapa kami memilih liburan ke Perth?

1. Kami mendapatkan tiket murah dari Air Asia dan visa kami masih berlaku.
2. Kami belum pernah ke Perth.
3. Cuti yang terbatas, kami hanya punya Rabu hingga Minggu, sehingga Perth cukup ideal karena jarak yang tidak terlalu jauh.

Mudah-mudahan excuse kami cukup logic untuk dapat diterima. Saya batasi tiga alasan aja, kalau tidak list nya bisa lanjut hingga nomor 50:D

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Wildlife Sydney Zoo: Enjoying The Indoor Zoo

Another thing to do when you visit Darling Harbour with your kids is to visit the Wildlife Sydney Zoo. It is located next to Madame Tussaud Sydney and also a few meters away from SEA Life Sydney Aquarium.

We visited Wildlife Sydney Zoo before started our roadtrip to Newcastle. It was a perfect timing as the weather was really hot. We didn't have to worry about the weather because it's an indoor zoo. Yup as stated in their website: Sydney's Most Unique All Weather Attraction.

We arrived around 11 am and the place was really crowded. The longest queue belongs to SEA Life Sydney Aquarium, the zoo's queue at the ticket counter was not that long, but still we had to queue for about 20 minutes before getting our complimentary tickets.

The ticket counter, next to Madame Tussaud

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SEA Life Sydney Aquarium

Our kiddos love to visit aquarium so much, we have visited Sea World in Jakarta, SEA Aquarium in Resort World Sentosa Singapore and the Grand Aquarium in Ocean Park Hong Kong. So far, their fave aquarium is the SEA Aquarium in RWS Singapore. 

When we planned a visit to Sydney with our kiddos, of course the SEA Life Sydney Aquarium was on our bucketlist. It is located in Darling Harbour, one of our favorite location in Sydney. I and Rene have passed Sydney Aquarium many times when we visited Sydney, but we have never gone inside the aquarium.

We visited Sydney Aquarium on the second day in Sydney (yup it was the boxing day!). We planned to arrive at the ticket counter as early as possible to beat the crowd. The queue was not yet that long, maybe everyone else were busy shopping at the Sydney CBD.

Finally we are here!

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A Great Day Out at Australian Reptile Park

When I found out that we will be passing Australian Reptile Park on our roadtrip from Sydney to Newcastle, I put it directly on our Sydney Family Trip itinerary. From its website, I saw how children could be so close with all the fluffy animals and also the reptile.

We arrived at Australian Reptile Park in the morning around 9.30 am. We saw some big vans and buses were already parked in the parking place. It was great to arrive early in the morning, we headed to the ticket counter after passing this giant reptile.

Finally we are at Australian Reptile Park

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The Magnificent Jenolan Caves

We always wanted to visit The Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains, as it claimed as "the most spectacular and most famous cave in Australia". Having seen its website, I agree that the caves at Jenolan are so beautiful!!

But it is 175 km away from Sydney, we will have to spare two days in Blue Mountains to visit Scenic World and The Jenolan Caves. Or, if we wanted to have a day trip to both of the places, then we should hire a car. That's why we postponed visiting The Jenolan Caves until our third holiday in Sydney. We had plenty of time, and we rented a Hyundai from Apex. Perfect! A visit to Jenolan Caves was finally in our itinerary :)

Grand Arch, the entrance to Jenolan Caves complex

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Port Stephens Dolphin Watching With Tamboi Queen Cruises

When I was doing research for our Sydney Family Trip itinerary in Port Stephens Tourism website, I stumbled on "the top 10 things to do in Port Stephens",  especially for the dolphins. The reason why we wanted to go to Port Stephens was the sandboarding, but seeing the website, I just knew that dolphins watching is also another main attraction in Port Stephens.

We put the Dolphin Watching in our itinerary knowing we could see the dolphin from a boom net. That would be awesome for our Kiddos! Actually, we could also watch dolphin in Lovina Bali, but there is no boom net.

After the cruise in Port Stephens, I asked our Kiddos, which one they like the best, the cruise in Port Stephens or our cruise in Milford Sound NZ? With no doubt they answered Port Stephens. I believe the boom net is one of the reason.

Awesome boom net!

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Sandboarding with Port Stephens 4WD Tour

It was another dream coming true: trying the experience of sandboarding at Port Stephens, which is one hour away from our rented apartment in Jesmond, Newcastle.

In the email, Anna from Port Stephens 4WD, a tour which sponsored our family to do the sandboarding, advised us to do it in the morning. "It's going to be the busiest day of the year. We will be open at 9.30am, just look for the red bus", she replied our email. Yes, we planned to do the sandboarding on 31 December, of course it was a super peak period.

We arrived around 9am, headed to the lower parking place of Birubi beach. Just next to the parking place, there's a beautiful beach called Birubi. Of course Kiddos requested to swim at the beach after the sandboarding. There were many tours providers at the lower parking place. We went to the red bus, as suggested in the email from Port Stephens 4WD.

Kiddos couldn't wait for their turn to do the sandboarding

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Our Amazing Day at Scenic World Blue Mountains

This is our second visit to Scenic World Blue Mountains, and this time we went with our Kiddos. On our first visit to Scenic World, we went with our friend and his family, and I really hope that I could take our Kiddos to Scenic World Blue Mountains. I made my dream come true in 2 years, Alhamdulillah.

As we visited Scenic World on a super peak period (to be precised on 2 Jan 2015), we tried to arrive as early as possible. We had to beat the crowd, and need to park our rented car at the free parking area provided by Scenic World. Another bonus for early riser during the summer school holiday is the discounted ticket price. A normal family pass is AUD88, but if you purchase the ticket before 10 am, it will be discounted to AUD77.

We managed to arrive at 9.30, we could park our car easily because there were still ample parking place available, and the queue to ticket counter was still very short.

The ticket counter at Scenic World

Our plan for that day is to take a return ride of the Scenic Skyway (the yellow sign), go to the forest with Scenic Railway (the red sign), enjoying the Scenic Walkway (green sign) and go back to the Scenic Blue Mountain's main building with the Scenic Cableway (the blue sign). 

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Sydney Powerhouse Museum: Circus Factory and The Exhibitions

The second museum we visited during our Family Trip in Sydney was the Powerhouse Museum. We had seen the roof of the museum many times with "Powerhouse Museum" sign on it, but we had never passed the main gate of the museum.

We were confuse of getting to the museum after visiting Paddy's Market. We thought that the museum was connected with Darling Harbour. But a project called The Goods Line Project was on progress and because of this, the footbridge that connects Darling Harbour with the Powerhouse Museum was closed. Somehow we found our way passing Pier Street, Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center, and voila we finally arrived at the Powerhouse Museum. Yeay:)

Welcome to the Powerhouse Museum

I approached the ticket counter, while Rene was with our Kiddos, because they insisted to take picture with a steam locomotive which is located not far from the ticket counter. 

This Locomotive no.1 first operated in 1855

Our Kiddos with Locomotive no.1

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Australian National Maritime Museum - Sydney

We have seen the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour area on our previous visit(s) to Sydney. But we thought that we would save it until we visit Sydney with our Kiddos. So when we planned our Sydney Family Trip, Australian National Maritime Museum was on the top of our list.

Finally we made it! We took our Kiddos to enjoy the vessels (including the amazing submarine), as well as the exhibitions.

We took bus and train from our rented apartment at Coogee beach. Thereafter we board on the ferry from Circular Quay to Pyrmont Bay wharf. Approaching Darling Harbour, we saw all those beautiful vessels that we would love to visit.

A funny poster welcomed us, and of course we couldn't wait for the submarine!

Lets take the Sub!

We went inside to the ticket counters located in the museum building. Any visitors who wish to get into the vessels, should purchase the tickets at this place. To visit all the exhibitions and also the vessels, the Big Ticket is recommended. It cost AUD27 and AUD16 for an adult and child ticket respectively. Or you can buy a family pass cost AUD70 for 2 adults and max 3 children. 

While if you only plan to visit the exhibitions, the ticket is AUD15 for adult and AUD10 for children. This ticket will give you access to enjoy permanent and temporart exhibitions.

I will share with you how we had explored the museum, by visiting 3 vessels and of course the exhibitions inside the museum:)

Getting our family pass

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