Day 1 - Perth and Hyden, Western Australia (March 2006)

From WA Road Trip

Perth International Airport.

Touched down at Perth Intl Airport on time. We cleared the immigration, then the customs. They were really quite strict. Checking the luggage of ALL passengers. There were a lot of things on the NOT TO BRING list. Good thing I was able to read that before the trip. They checked our luggage full of diapers and formula milk, and cleared us. The customs officers were nice. 

Kelvin got a toy camera from SQ (goodie for kids)

After that, we took a cab to the city to get our rental car.


Bayswater Car Rental

www.bayswatercarrental.com.au

252 Hay St
Subiaco WA 6008, Australia
(08) 9388 3222

Unfortunately, the carseat we ordered was not there! There was a miscommunication and they sent it to another office. We had to look for an alternative which derailed us from our itinerary BIG TIME! No choice, we had to pick up the carseat from a different supplier. It was a bit hard to locate the house. I think we passed it a few times and didn't see it. We decided to slow down (the car almost in crawling speed) and finally we found the house! The owners were nice and very accommodating. At last, Ira had his carseat. Then we were on our way to see the city. It was almost lunchtime. Our original schedule was to be in the city by 9am!

Had lunch at Burger King near the Visitor Centre. Then took some brochures and maps of the places we were going to visit (although I already received tons thru mail).

After that, we were off to Hyden (5hrs drive, 350kms away). It was a very small town with a few hundred people.

From WA Road Trip

On the way to Hyden. A 4-hour drive from Perth.

stopped by to take pictures of the clear blue sky

of course, no trip to Australia is complete without seeing a herd of sheep

We arrived at Hyden late afternoon. We headed directly to Waverock (rock formation that looks like a wave), Hippo's Yawn (as the name suggests, it looks like a hippo yawning) and Mulka's cave (where we saw early people's painting/carvings on the walls of the cave).

Wave Rock
Hyden, Western Australia 6359
www.waverock.com.au

Kelvin didn't really want to go down. He was afraid of the big flies that were all over the place. He though they were bees! We seldom see flies in Singapore so it was a very frightening experience for him. The flies were also quite stubborn.

From Waverock

WAVEROCK. One of Australia's most famous landforms, 14 metres high, and 110m long, a giant surf wave of multicoloured granite about to crash onto the bush below. Stand under it and feel rock power from over 2,700 million years ago, before dinosaurs roamed the earth!

From Waverock

it's quite scary if you look at it this way. It really feels like the rocks are going to crash on us!

It was around past 7 when we arrived in the hotel. We stayed overnight at WAVEROCK HOTEL (AUD 112). Small hotel/motel, very homey feel. Our room had a queen bed and a single bed. There was a glass door leading to the sitting area outside (like a veranda but on the first floor). We didn't dare go out though for fear of animals attacking us.

After settling in, we went to the restaurant to have a bbq dinner. There was a variety of meat to choose from in their counter. We ordered steak for me and hubby, sausages for the kids, and some potatoes. They served it in a few minutes - RAW! We were wondering if this was how they cook it (rare). Then we realized WE were the once who were supposed to bbq our own meal! So Mark was our chef for the night, while the kids were running around and I was taking videos of him doing the bbq. This was quite a funny but good experience for our first day in the country.


Day 2...