Perth trip - the preparation

Perth is truly amazing! 

Am not sure about others, but as for myself, I really really loike Perth!!! 

Anyway, this is going to be a very long story. Which I definitely need few days to note down the full story. So please bear with me ya. If you don’t have the patience to read every single line, just savour the pictures. They’re all beautiful, especially those taken by Semah’s hubby (En Dzul) using his Canon DSLR (can’t remember the model anyway, the settings and everything about the camera are all jargons to me!). But even without DSLR pon ai tetap rasa gambar2 sumernya cantik! Hehe belum pepe dah perasan :p 

Back to our trip, we booked the ticket a year ago. To be specific, mine was booked on 25th May 2011. Giler lama kan haha what to say, we can only afford for overseas trip when AA made the zero fares promo. They are 25 pax altogether went for this trip, some of us booked on the same date (we chit-chatted like crazy around 4am on that 25th May just to confirm and ensure we manage to secure the same flight and time!). Later my mom and SIL (or friendly known as ‘nek umi’ and ‘mak ude’ respectively during our trip) decided to join us and booked the same flight separately. So the participants for this Perth trip are Yatipruzz & family, Semah & family, Farra Deman & family, Aini & family, and Suraya and her friend mama Zu. 13 adults and 12 kids to be exact. Giler happening u ols!

I paid RM2869 for my family (2 adults, 2 children, 1 infant)…that inclusive of luggage 25kg and meals ok. You need to have ETA (visitor’s visa) to enter the country. Thanx a bunch to Farra for helping all of us to do the visa booking. We paid RM25/pax for the visa via a travel agency (sri kom). Alternatively you may scout for a cheaper rate at other agencies for as low as RM20. Kalau terasa ade duit lebey, you may opt to do the visa online directly from the Australian embassy website. Bayaran ‘cuma’ AUD20/pax haha. Visa must be done at least one month prior to departure. Takdak visa, jgn harap nak masuk country depa nih yer :p 

Preparation prior to the trip?

Clothes: Since it’s winter, we bought sweater, gloves and enough socks for the kids. I brought layers of long sleeves as well, takut kalau cuaca sejuk banget, at least you can put on few layers inside on top of the sweater.

Food: the part that I like most. The Aussie immigration is pretty strict; however you will have no issue at all if you DECLARE everything during the custom checks. Make sure everything is nicely packed and arranged in one bag (if possible) to ease the checking. Dairy products, meat and nuts are strictly prohibited. Sandwich konfem tak lepas, buah ke bawang ke serai ke…jgn la bawak (ade org bawak serai la lengkuas la…jgn terkejut haha depa nk masak tomyam kaw kaw kots?). Our food semua lepas except tuna mayonnaise 4 tin kena rampas because it contained mayonnaise (ade traces of milk kots). The rest semua ok Alhamdulillah! So our food list in case korang curious nak tahu….sardin, kari ayam yeos, nasi goreng kampung brahim, air kotak (non-dairy yer), maggi kari, maggi goreng, serunding, biskut kapten munch, biskut chipsmore, koko krunch and milk powder. Farra punyer food list lagi extensive…sila la jenguk blog dia for details haha. We packed some of the food dlm luggage besar, tapi dia tak mintak bukak…so in our case Cuma bagpack yg dibukak and check. Ubat-ubatan pon jgn lupa declare yer.

Accommodation: done and paid online. We’ve shortlisted few apartments and finally settled for Mountway Holiday Apartment, taking into consideration the cost, location and service offered. Located in Mount Street, few minutes walking to Kings Park, Harbour Town and Blue CAT. My family chose 5-family room, it costs us AUD775 for 5 nights. Other hotels yg popular among Malaysian are Criterion Hotel and City Stay Apartment (opposite Harbor Town).

Car rental: did a very last minute booking 3 days prior departure. We chose Avis, after doing quite an extensive research and comparison with other car rental companies like Thrifty, Hertz, Budget-A-Car, etc. We booked Hyundai i-Max 7-seater for AUD320.99 for 2 days with unlimited mileage, inclusive of 2 car seats. Aussie rules require child below 7 yrs old to be seated in car seat/booster.

Itinerary : the toughest part amongst all! Believe me, i've drafted the itinerary since last December, done in stages. Biasala bila free surf, then stop kejap, then sambung balik. Then Farra and Aini also reviewed and did the amendments where necessary, and finally we managed to finalize everything a day before our departure. Seronok buat itinerary ni, tapi stress jugakla nak fit to everyone's interest. But even so with itinerary in hand, everybody is free to choose and decide their own plan when it comes to the actual day. Takdela 'wajib' ikut itinerary kan...depends pada own interest suke shopping ke, suke sightseeing ke, suke museum ker (ahaksss). The good thing is, we came out with the plan based on research done from several websites and source. ala-ala synergy gitu :)

Flight departed from LCCT on 6^th June @ 11.50pm. We safely landed in Perth on 7^th June around 5.20am local time. Anyway there is no time difference between KL-Perth…so if you ever heard people telling you they experience jet lags and wat nots…that people is bluffing and exaggerating je tuh hoho. It’s winter in Perth during this time…with strong cold wind and occasional rains. No trace of snow of course…jgn berangan nk berski bagai yer kalau dtg sini :p

the kids - posing dgn sweater baru

arriving at LCCT

reunited with mak ude at LCCT

there u go, the line ups of car rental at Perth International Airport

among the kiddos

and the mommies

sambung later yer!