Lancelin Lodge YHA

Location: 10 Hopkins Street, Lancelin, Western Australia 6044
Coordinate: S31°01.5388′ E115°19.9664′
Contact: (+618) 9655 2020
Website: http://www.lancelinlodge.com.au/
Office / Reception Opening Hours: Daily 9am-1pm and 4pm-8.30pm. Check in outside of Reception hours possible by prior arrangement

This is THE BEST hostel we stayed thus far for our trip. Why not!!! Upon checking on the information for this hostel we found out that Lancelin Lodge voted the best YHA hostel in Western Australia in 2001 and 2009 - runner up 2010 and third in whole of Australia in 2004. Rated as 4 stars for budget accomodation. The lodge is a purpose built home away from home for sports orientated guests who stay for extended periods.

The hostel is very clean, and we really enjoy the stay here as truly we felt at home. After the dinner, we rest for a while and enjoying a game of table-tennis with chill weather outside, and enjoying a bottle of Pink Moscato wine.

The hostel has a big and clean kitchen. The utensil is complete and always the hostel guest here very corporative with each other, clean their own stuff after using it. We cooked our spaghetti here and manage to finish it, though at first we thought it was too big the portion. Guests have plenty of storage in the kitchen for dry and refrigerated foods.

The dining area and a living room adjoin to each other. There are TV, books and games to enjoy during winter indoor here, with a fire place available to keep warm. A great place to mingle around with other guest.

At first we were thinking whether should we stay in Perth city or here, but after staying here we found out that it's worth to stay here. It is a nice place, with great sunset view and out of city environment. Real good place for a rest. Would recommend my friend to stay here if coming to Perth for vacation.

Lancelin Jetty

Location: Near to Lancelin Lodge YHA

We finally found out the location of our stay tonight, Lancelin Lodge. However, as it was nearing the sunset time (early sunset) due to the winter period, we decided to came over to the seaside. We found a jetty nearby to the hostel that we are staying.

Once we parked our car, we were walking towards the jetty. There were houses built facing to the sea, which the tenants able to enjoying the beautiful sunset everyday. If to migrate and enjoying retirement, I guess this would be a place to consider, at least for myself.

There were a groupd of people fishing at the jetty. Water was very clear, and a bit windy that time. There also a group of visitors, mostly ladies and I guess they are from China from the way they speaking, learning on how to fishing from the anglers. The anglers very friendly as we spoke to them. As it is getting darker, they mentioned they would call it a day off soon. We also found there is a electricity provided for anglers, in order for them to make hot water for coffee, tea etc while enjoying their fishing activities.

As the getting darker, the sun getting lower and it looks like an egg yolk. We really enjoying the sunset, and it was romantic with the wind breezing thru our face slowly. Sea was not that rough, where one could hear the soothing wave hitting the shores.

Would recommmend to come over this place to enjoy the great sunset if one having holiday in Lancelin town. Just love the sunset and fishing activities. However, I didn't do fishing as didn't bring my equipment our here, as this is vacation period.

Sand Dunes @ Lancelin

Location: via Kendall Road, Lancelin, Western Australia 6044
Coordinate: S30°59.9479′ E115°19.7505′

This is the last places in our plan for today. After the Pinnacles Desert, we headed to Sany Dunes, following the direction using the Garmin device. Basically, we only following our instinct as the the new highway does not exist in the map in our GPS device. Only able to follow the route once we almost reached Lancelin town.

When we reached the attraction point, there were 2 buses ferrying the tourist to visit this place. We were just enjoying the view of this great sands. We just don't understand how the sand is being formed from nowhere. We don't have much time over here, as it was quite late.

Those tourist came with the bus, they were provided with the sandboard. They enjoying the sandboarding. Besides that, we only wearing casual clothes and not ready to enjoy the sandboarding. The sand easily would slip through our clothes and it would be difficult for us to change clothes.

We felt the sand, and it was very soft sand. Indeed, over here we took some picture while sleep on the sand, doing some 'kung fu' style kick and even try to jump on the sand. It was so beautiful over here, white color sand with clear blue sky as background.

We also lucky to take some photos which seems like sunset. As the weather changed fast, we just couldn't miss the golden opportunity to snap some photos.

We walked for a while on the sand dunes, before departing from here to our hostel for the night. We also saw some modified vehicles ferrying the tourist to enjoy the 'bumpy rides' on the sand dunes. We left here to look search for our accomodation tonight, the place that we have booked.

Pinnacles Desert @ Nambung National Park

Location: Pinnacles Drive, via Nambung National Park, Cervantes, 6511
Coordinate: S30°36.2580′ E115°09.3182′
Operating Hour: The Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre is open 9:30am to 4:30pm.

While visiting Western Australia, we could visited places with different climate. From cold weather at the south, we have been travelling to the north till the desert. Along the way, there were signboard this places be flooded with wild flowers during winter season, which it is just beginning of the season. We were told as well that the scenary change when the season change, so it won't be the same whenever one visit the same place during other season. How nice it is, and that's the reason why I like country having 4 seasons.

Though it was quite a long journey for us, but we still like it as when we driving, we could see lot of beautiful scenary along the way. When we reach the Pinnacles Desert, we need to buy an entrance ticket per car. There are 2 paths, one where we can follow the trail on foot, and another we can drive the car along the path provided to the desert.

Though we drove our car through the desert, we could still able to park the car at designated area, as long as it didn't blocking other car from keep moving. We did park our car, and took some nice photos there, as shown on the photo above. There was a group of chinese speaking tourist, and they took picture with our rented car. We heard that one of them said "I wanna take picture with this Ferrari!!!". We burst into laughing when get into the car.

The impressive landscapes and peculiar stone formations of the Pinnacles Desert were originated several millions years ago. The material of these stone mounds came from sea shells that were broken-down into lime-rich sand. Later, this sand was blown inland by natural elements, like the wind, creating sand dunes. Step by step, rainfalls caused the lime to seep to the bottom of the dunes, generating the formation of limestone.

The limestone formations of the Pinnacles vary in size and shape; some are as small as a mouse whilst many are as big as 3.5m high. These unusually shaped rocks have been likened to tombstones, termite mounds and even fingers. The Pinnacles Desert is best seen at dawn or dusk when they cast long, strange shadows over the rippling yellow sand dunes.

From the Pinnacles, we also able to see the great ocean. And along the journey, we were driving along the coastal road. On our way later on to Sand Dunes, we were using the new highway (we guess so). The raod doesn't exist in the map of our Garmin's GPS device, but we just follow the road all along until we reach to the town, Lancelin. It was really beautiful journey for us.

Pinnacles Desert was a candidate for the 7 natural wonders of Oceania (http://sevennaturalwonders.org/oceania/pinnacles-desert). It is also voted as #11 of 131 things to do in Perth by LonelyPlanet.

More information regarding Pinnacles Desert can be found from the following:
http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Pages/Attraction.aspx?pid=9001684

http://www.discoverwest.com.au/western_australia/pinnacles_desert.html

http://www.7wonders.org/wonders/oceania/australia/western-australia/pinnacles-desert.aspx

Caversham Wildlife Park

Location: Lord Street, Whiteman Park, Whiteman, 6068
Coordinate: S31°50.0641′ E115°56.9114′
Contact: +61 08 9248 1984
Website: http://www.cavershamwildlife.com.au/
Operating Hour: Everyday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm (excluding Christmas Day)

This is the second wildlife park (zoo) that I've been in Australia. The first one was Melbourne. Serene has been few before. However, we found that this is the best so far. This is really a great place to visit, especially there are so many Australia's unique native animals to be seen here.

Here, not only we saw kangaroo, but also we have a close-up encounter with white kangaroo. This is the first time we seen white kangaroo. Besides that, it also has a pouch with a baby inside. Wow, what an experience. Visitors can personally hand-feed kangaroos. Within a minute, there will be lot of kangaroos by your side.

Not all kangaroos has pouch anyway. But anyway, we found this kangaroo quite funny, the way it sitting and scratching its tail.

Another Australia's icon, KOALA. It was lucky day for us. When we visited the area, the koalas were active. The zoo keeper was friendly, and told us lot of information about the koalas. Normally koala sleeps during daytime, but that day it was active and we were lucky. The eucalyptus leaves was put besides the koalas so that it would be easier for the koalas to have a bite. It is really cute and we could feels the fur with the instruction from the zoo keeper.

There were many shows available. One of it is Meet the Wombat & Friends shows. The zoo keeper will bring out their favourite friends to see, touch and learn about. Wombat is the star of the show where one can feel and take a photo with it. Of course this is under the guidance of the keeper. Besides that, there were beautiful parrots to show. We saw lot of these parrots during our journey in Wave Rock, flying freely in the sky.

One thing that really attract me is the education system over here. Small kids are exposed to the natural environment, animals particularly. Since there are lot of animals, and only found in this part of the world, the small kid are exposed on how to take care of themselves and also the animal when bump into each other. During the show, I also learned some information for the first time, but the small kid also knew it before that. Amazing ehh!!!

Another animal that attracted our attention is Kori Bustard. From the other website, found out it is a large bird native to Africa. Male kori bustards are contenders for the world’s heaviest flying birds. During the breeding season, the male performs a "ballon" display by inflating his esophagus by as much as four times its normal size. We were not sure whether what we saw in the park means it was breeding season. It also produce funny sound, which really turn our attention to.

The park now features about 200 species, and more than 2000 head of animals, birds and reptiles; most housed in a walk-through environment. It's a great place to bring along the kids to see all kind of animals over here, especially unique Australia wildlife. It's really a great place to visit while one in Perth.

Sandalford Wines

Location: 3210 West Swan Rd Caversham Western Australia 6055
Coordinate: S31°52.1405′ E115°59.0358′
Contact: +61 8 9374 9374
Website: http://www.sandalford.com/
Operating Hour: Restaurant 12pm - 3pm, Cellar Door 10am - 5pm

Our first visit today, in conjunction with Malaysia's National Day. After we had our breakfast from North Lodge, we try to find a place to go while waiting for Caversham Wildlife Park to open. We went to the tourist information center, and was informed to try out the winery in Swan Valley area. Sandalford Winery was highly recommended by the officer.

When we reached the winery, it was still not yet start operating for the day. However, we still manage to have a walk around the area as the staff were day to prepare for the day. It was still early for the day for any staff to entertain us then.

We passed by the Oak Room, which was undergoing some cleaning and renovation most likely to cater for a function. The function room was full of oak barrels, Hessian draped ceiling and wrought iron chandelier. It was a marvelous place to have function, especially wedding dinner in my opinion.

Not far from Oak Room, we found a outdoor place where there was few tables and barrels. The area was planted with grape tree as well. Too bad, it was end of winter and hence we could only see the branches. However, we do enjoying the environment here, and taking some photo here of course. Due the day still early, nothing can be bought here during that time.

Next, we came to the garden and again there was some tree planted there. The grapes was planted in year 1890, basically more than a century ago. It would be very nice if it grew fruits, especially during autumn I guess. Though I've been to Australia few times, but it always coincide with winter and hence couldn't experience to see the grape.

Sandalford is one of the Western Australia's oldest and largest privately owned wineries. Hence would like to made known the history value of the winery which I've quoted from their website:

John Septimus Roe become Western Australia's first Surveyor General after an illustrious career in the British Navy. An accomplished explorer and Mathematician he worked in the New South Wales colony from 1817 to 1827 before accepting the West Australian role in 1829.

After 11 years of service which included the overseeing the development of colonies at Fremantle and Perth, he was in 1840 rewarded for his efforts by the reigning Queen Victoria with the bequethment of 2,000 acres of land along the Swan River in Caversham.

He named the Swan Valley property Sandalford, and soon after planted the first vines there. The property flourished and wines produced from the vines grown there satisfied the requirements of the local community for the decades following.

The Winemaker at Sandalford Wines from the mid 60's to the late 70's was Dorham Mann - son of famed Wine-making Pioneer Jack Mann. Under Dorham's advice the Roe family expanded into the Margaret River region in the South West of Western Australia.

This area had earlier been assayed by Dr John Gladstone which he assessed as being an ideal climate and terrior for the growing of Premium wine grapes, likening the terroir and general conditions to famed region of Bordeaux in France. Based on this the Roe family purchased a 280 hectare property which was planted with vines in 1970.

This Wilyabrup sub region of Margaret River has gone on to be one of the most famed wine producing areas in all of Australia, and indeed is recognised on the World stage for amazing Cabernet's Chardonnay's and now Shiraz.

1840 and 1970 are therefore very important dates in the history of Sandalford Wines, and whilst we look to the future with great optimism having plans to grow and expand our wine, tourism, F&B, and Event offerings, we will never lose sight of our heritage and the fact Sandalford Wines was indeed a pioneer of both the Swan Valley and Margaret River.

We felt this is a great place to visit, though it's a bit regret that it was still not open yet during our visit. Hopefully can come back here during our next visit back to Perth.

North Lodge

Location: 225 Beaufort Street, Perth, Australia 6000
Coordinate: S31°56.7684′ E115°51.9122′
Contact: +61 418 952 333

This is the accomodation we put up for today. It was a nice place, not far from the city center. When we check-in, it was a nice old lady there helping us going through the process. Guess that the old lady is the owner of the hostel. Once done, another nice lady who brought us to our room. It was a nice introductory experience by both of this ladies.

The hostel is situated near to the city center, close to all major public transport facilities. It was also equipped with a kitchen. We did prepare our dinner here, but found out the utensil quite old and not enough. However, we did make full use of what is available here. Again, we had our early rest as tired of travelling today.

While checking in, we also book again for a night on 1st Sept. That would be our last night for our travelling.

The Humps & Mulka's Cave

Location: Lovering Road, Hyden, Western Australia 6359
Coordinate: S32°18.9150′ E118°57.7924′

This is our last stop for the day, as we plan to heading back to Perth city after the visit. From the brochure, Mulka's Cave is another tourist spot at Hyden area. Most of the time, Wave Rock is the main attraction at Hyden.

At Mulka's Cave, one could spot some hand stencils. It is claimed to be few thousands year old.

Mulka's Cave has its own myth / legend:

The name Mulka comes from an Aboriginal legend associated with the cave. Mulka was the illegal son of woman who fell in love with a man with whom marriage was forbidden according to their law.

It is believed that a result of breaking these rules, she bore a son with crossed eyes. Even though he grew to be an outstandingly strong man of colossal height, his crossed eyes prevented him from aiming a spear accurately and becoming a successful hunter.

Out of frustration it is said Mulka turned to catching and eating human children and he became the terror of the district. He lived in Mulka's Cave, where the imprints of his hands can still be seen, much large and higher than that of an ordinary man.

Apparently, his mother became increasingly concerned about him. When she scolded him for his anti-social behaviour he turned on his own mother and killed her. This disgraced him even further and he fled his cave, heading south.

The Aboriginal people of the area, outraged by Mulka's behaviour, then tracked down this man who had flouted all the rules. They caught him near Dumbleyung, 156km south west of Hyden, where they speared him to death. Because he did not deserve a proper ritual burial, they left his body to the ants: a grim warning to those who break the law.

After visiting the cave, we heading back to Wave Rock. We had prepared ourselves ham burgers, and we saw this morning that Wave Rock has a good place for us to relax and having our lunch there. The plan is to going back to Perth once we had our lunch.

More information of Mulka's Cave can be found in:
http://www.about-australia.com/travel-guides/western-australia/australias-golden-outback/attractions/natural/mulkas-cave/

http://www.waverock.com.au/info.htm