The group of 5 of us reported punctually at 0700 h at Changi Airport T1 to board QF72 to Perth, Australia.
It is nice to see some of the family members of the group members... and how their children look like their parent :-)
Anyway, the flight to Perth took us only 5.5 to about 6 hours. When we arrived the checking out is a huge maze. There were a whole lot of people queuing to have their luggages checked as they are very tight on what is being brought into the country. We were fortunate as we all had nothing to declare and after completing about half of the human maze - we were channeled to the 'Nothing to Declare' lane and got out.
Out there at the airport, we met up with our local (Australian) travel agent, Eugene Lim, who by the way is a PR in Australia, Perth but a Singaporean by birth and our coach captain, Peter. Over in Singapore, Kwok Wei from Transinex has arranged for Eugene to help arrange our itinerary and meals. Eugene has also looked into our hotel arrangements as well as to give us phone access to contact Prof Colin as well as the respective schools' personnel. We have asked for internet access but Eugene had decided to provide us with a 3 GB portable wifi which by Day 2 ran out. We didn't have internet access and the cost of cable access to the internet in Perth is pretty expensive. The exchange rate, by the way is Aus$1 = S$1.31. We contacted Prof Colin to inform him that we have arrived in Perth.
Anyways, we did a city tour to Lake Monggul to see the Black Swans and the beautiful lake. We observed that the weather may be sunny but the winds make the place a little chilly. Australians love to jog, run or walk. We actually see this as a daily feature even with the hotel guests.
After Lake Monggul, we proceeded to the beautiful Kings Park and typical Singaporeans, we popped by the sourvenir store. That store is BEAUTIFUL, we saw some beautiful Australian Glass work made into bowls, vases, plates, costume jewellery and even as wall pictures. The colours were very attractive. When we plough through the store, there were books, other accessories made of different materials, T-shirts, stuff toys, scarves, beautiful cards and buttons. All beautifully displayed. We grabbed two birthday cards as one of us just had his birthday on 19 Oct and the other was going to celebrate his birthday the next day. All of us bought an item or two for our family member(s).
After Kings Park, we popped by the Bell Tower, it is wonderfully beautiful and quite picturesque as you can pose and have a good shot of the Bell Tower with the cityscape as a backdrop.
Dinner was at Olivers at St James, wonderful meal - we had a vegetable salad, bread with olive oil, a plate of calamari and deep fried prawns, followed by a pasta and pizza. To top it all off, we had some very sweet desserts in the form of a meringue as well as brownies. We enjoyed this meal. The waitress was very friendly and helpful - what a nice welcome meal.
Then we called it a day by checking into our hotel, Mecure Perth Hotel. After unloading, the pack of us went for a walk towards the nearest IGA store to grab some groceries to last us for the trip. We bought fruits, juices and titbits. The nearest IGA store was at Hay Street next to Criterion Hotel and the food supplement is to keep ourselves nourished :-) We noted that food prices in Perth, Australia is expensive. Just a simple example, we pay S$5.65 atmost for a large bar of Cadbury Mint Chocs and over in Perth, it costs Aus$5.20 a large bar. Seafood is very expensive in Perth. We really must appreciate what we are blessed with in Singapore as our food stuff are cheap and really fresh!
While in our rooms, we all set out to iron our clothes to be ready for the visits on the subsequent day...
