Award Winning Pies, WA

Ever since we tasted the pies in "Miles Better Pies" in Te Anau, NZ (Read here), we have not stopped looking for better and tastier pies.

This trip, during a coffee break in a cafe along St. George Terrace in Perth City, we ordered the pie sold there but found it disappointing. This is probably because the pies are cold and require heating up in microwave oven just before serving to the customers.

On our way from The Pinnacles to Jurien Bay as we drove north, we stopped at a road side petrol kiosk for a toilet break. This kiosk is approx. 2Km from the junction to Dongara, a town 350Km north of Perth. We were surprised that this kiosk sold a great variety of pies. The first thing we observed was that the display container was kept heated continuously. We bought two and found them really good. Its succulent meat is chunky and tender! We loved the pies so much that we decided to stop at the same outlet on the way back and bought two other varieties. We tried the Steak & Onion, Beef & Vegetable, Lamb & Rosemary and Steak & Mushroom. Having tasted the pies, we have no doubt that its claim of award winning is authentic!

Its location: S 290 15' 11.3", E 1140 57' 22.4".

Historic Barn Down South, WA

We drove 220Km south of Perth to spend a night at Harwood's Cottage, recognized as a historic building. Harwood's Cottage at one time was an old barn but has been restored and refurbished to become a holiday accommodation. It has two bedrooms with a bathroom in between, a fairly large living room with the kitchen at the rear (Read here).

The plan to spend more time outdoor was somewhat dampened by the two days of intermittent rain. Still, we had a great fun time playing games by the fireplace. The adults wrapped up the evening with a glass of wine purchased from Happs Winery earlier!

The fire place.

On the way back the next day, we made a detour to visit Gnomesvilles in Ferguson Valley. It' just amazed me to see how the number of gnomes has multiplied over the years; from a few placed at the roundabout in the early days to the hundreds and hundreds all over the valley now. Whether by design or unintentional gesture, Gnomesvilles has transformed this simple countryside to become another tourist icon.

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From Gnomesville, we drove to the Apple Fun Park in Donnybrook. I was keen to see this so-called largest "free" fun park for children in WA promoted by TripAdvisor. But, its size is very much smaller than what I imagined. The kids spent barely more 10 minutes when drizzle turned into heavy rain and forced us to move on.

Sunsets in WA

Perth, a western coastal city of Australia is rather similar to Kota Kinabalu where I reside. While Perth faces the great Indian Ocean, KK faces the South China Sea. South China Sea is now a contentious ocean, a large part which is claimed by China as its territory but ruled otherwise by the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in the Hague recently.

In our recent trip to Perth, we decided to visit some of the WA western towns to see first hand the sunset scenery. We were indeed not disappointed and Western Australia does offer spectacular sunset views. This time, Perth experiences unusual cold winter. We braved ourselves to enjoy the beautiful scenery until the sun finally disappeared in the horizon.

Our first stop was Rockingham, a town just 46 Km south of Perth city. We took the train to Rockingham and by the time we got off from the bus which dropped us at the sea side from the train station, we barely had 15 minutes left to enjoy the twilight and the fast disappearing sun. The beauty of the sunset coastline in Rockingham was amplified by the silhouette of people, trees and man-made structures.

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We rented a car and drove northward from Perth and spent three days exploring some of the places we had not visited. We stopped to spend a night in Jurien Bay which is 225 Km north of Perth city. With the knowledge gained from Rockingham concerning the timing of the sunset, we approached the seafront of Jurien Bay just before 5pm and spent the next 30 minutes looking at the sun moving slowly toward the horizon and finally disappeared below the line. This turned out to be another spectacular view of sunset in WA. We spent some time at the jetty enjoying the sunset and looking at people fishing. Then with a bit of patience and good fortune, a split second moment of the silhouette of a man casting his fishing line was captured!

Silhouette of a man casting his fishing line was captured!

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After Jurien Bay, we drove another 200Km north to Geraldton, a much larger town compared to Jurien Bay. Sunset was equally spectacular, but it lacks the man-made structures to enhance its beauty. Still, scenes captured with the silhouette of trees and bushes are equally captivating.

Immediately after leaving the seafront, we drove to the top of the tallest hill in Geraldton where the HMAS Sydney II Memorial is built to view the sunset and the town. We were again not disappointed! Even though we had visited the hill earlier in the afternoon, we would have stayed much longer to enjoy the view had the weather been kinder to us!

Nathan, the People Person

Nathan, my first grandson looks so much taller when he stands next to the little sister, Gracie since we last saw him just six months ago. Kids grow really fast. But what impresses me most is his language skill. He even corrected my pronunciation when he heard me saying "sheep" which sounded to him likes "ship". He said, it should be "she...eep" emphasizing the letter E :).

He is still the little charming people-person. But, I could sense that as he grows, he slowly begins to realize that not all people are "nice and friendly" after all. He started to be more selective in the types of close friends and casual friends to have.

His favorite toy is still Lego but he now dwells more into the characters of these toy creations from the many of block busters movies that he comes to know about. Faced with my dwindling ability to remember names, it is just incredible to see this little fellow's ability to say names after names of all the characters of these fantasy worlds! 

With his Lego creation at a local Library Lego Club.

He still loves to listen to stories. But then after the bedtime story, he is no longer happy to go straight to sleep without a session of conversation - sort of man-to-man talk on any subject that comes to mind. He is clearly growing up!

I believe that as long as his need to articulate his deeper thought and feeling is not curbed, he would someday emerge as a formidable speaker!

Gracie Turns 3

We were glad to be in Perth to witness and celebrate our grand-daughter Gracie turning 3. She was quick to understand this transition and was able to demonstrate her knowledge of basic arithmetic and what it meant to become 3 “fingeratively”.

Gracie, the little princess of the house has her soft spot, but it is her more steely character that is manifestly more evident. Any moment when we felt that she needed a helping hand, it was resolutely rejected with her assertive voice of “I will do it myself!”. A little tough fellow indeed!

With countless gnomes in Gnomesville, WA.

At Harwood Cottage, Quindalup, WA.

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Gracie adores the brother. A good case to illustrate this is - who has the final say in which cartoon movie to watch. It's amazing to watch how the siblings come to a decision of which cartoon movie to watch just before bedtime. Almost 7 out of 10 times, little sister chose to forego her normal preferred cartoon movie in favour of the brother's choice! I could only say that the little sister loves to do what big brother decides to do, at least for now!

Tender moment between brother and sister.

Of course, it is not peace among siblings all the times. There are times of dispute. We caught one such moment just before brunch in one restaurant. In the midst of tension, little sister somehow found a way to defuse the chaos. She exclaimed, "Work it out!". Obviously, mom's formula to solve disputes came to mind. She is tough but is level-headed as well! :)

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This little gem's love for food is equally obvious just likes her steely character. As I see it, she does not chomp her food but takes her time to savour it. Sometimes it takes much longer than usual!

A splendidly well captured moment of Gracie with her 

brother Nathan, Grandpa and Grandma at the 

historic barn of Harwood Cottage.