Unfortunately I can't comment much on going to Fremantle by train, as both times I was there, I was driven to Fremantle. It is conveniently near Perth, therefore it is easy to include Fremantle as part of the itinerary.
My bro-in-law accidentally drove to the Fremantle Port on our way to find the E Shed Markets. However thereafter we decided to go to the other Fremantle Market as thought E Shed Markets does not have any souvenir stores. From the E Shed Markets website, appears that they do.
Fremantle Markets reminded me of Paddy's Market in Sydney, with stalls selling fruits, food, souvenirs, toys, etc. One thing I have not seen in Paddy's Market yet, was thes - Ostrich Eggs.
Somewhat across the street stood the Fremantle Oval.
And just a short walk further up from the Oval, one can find the Fremantle Prison. We only took a picture from the outside this round. :P
I feel it was not somewhat incomplete to leave Fremantle without having a fish and chips meals, so we went back to Cicerello's Fish & Chips.
I still feel there were way too much chips, but not lack of salt, and it would be a big bonus if they would provide free flow of sauce free of charge. From memory, they offered 2 tiny packets of tartar sauce for the 2 whole big packet of food. They do offer vinegar and salt at no additional cost and silly me thought dipping vinegar is a new way of eating chips only to realise that it was for salads. :P
~ Fish & Chips were wrapped up using some white paper
~ Maybe cos calamari were more expensive, hence were put on styroform boxes.
Side note: Wonder what can I do over the weekend in Darwin :P
I missed trying the Pasta al Nero di Seppia, in other words pasta in squid ink that my sister recommended. So I when I was back in Perth, I have requested for a squid ink pasta. This place by all means is not cheap, and it was rather annoying standing outside of the restaurant for a seat with a hand shooing away any approching flies. There is a no reservation policy for this restaurant, also all parties must be present before allowed into the restaurant.
The restaurant, Ciao Italia opens at 5pm for dinner service. We were there before 6pm and it was already full house with a queue outside. My sister left her name and we were lucky to be admit into the restaurant after about 30 minutes.
There were 6 adults, 2 children and 1 baby altogether, of course baby has her own food :P
We ordered bruschetta for starters.
3 pasta dishes and a pizza to share as main meals. I didn't take picture of all the food, some where a little far from where I sat, and by the time we swapped the plates, a big chunk were already not on the plate :P
My favourite dish among the mains - squid ink pasta.
Marinara Spaghetti - tomato sauce based for the kids
We also had Spaghetti Carbonara and Calzone.
Dessert was this very heavenly tiramisu. So very good.
Ciao Italia
273 Mill Point Road,
South Perth, Cnr Douglas Ave.
Phone: 9368 5500
TUESDAY to SATURDAY, 5pm to 10pm. SUNDAY & MONDAY Close
Side note: 4 1/2 days to go ^_^
According to my second sis who stays in Perth, she would recommend a photo of this winery. Just right across the Margaret River Chocolate Company, a beautiful scenary greeted us. Being the lazy photographer, can't be help, it was scorching hot, we took the photo under the shed across the road. This was till my sister helped me to take a photo and she said I looked like some live size billboard sticking to the winery. So, I had to cross the road the make the photo looked more believable. :P
As we have taken some shot of the beautiful vineyard, we thought might as well visit the winery and tried some wine and cheese at Lancester Wines.
Unfortunately it wasn't the most comfortable place to enjoy wine and cheese, especially on such a hot day. It definitely didn't help when there were flies hovering around. I only had a little sip and some cheese, my 2 bro-in-laws were trying some, they were thinking of buying a bottle but did not in the end as we thought of going to another winery to try first. Maybe the people at the winery reckoned we were not keen on purchasing, I feel that they were not very friendly actually.
Nonetheless, a beautiful place. Would be much comfortable if it was a little less hot.
I wanted to go to the Ugly Duckling Winery to pick up a dessert wine for a friend, so that was the next stop while my eldest sis and family went off to Windarra Honey first. I tried the dessert wine and really like it. It was too sickly sweet, just nice :)
I think its a strategy to have beautiful place to drink some wine to interest people into buying them :P
Pardon the photo but this is my purchase from Swan Valley - Viognier
After getting the wine, met up with my eldest sis at Windarra Honey
It was a small place, nothing too exciting inside the shop. It was outside the place that attracts my nieces. There were some cows and they had fun feeding the cows.
Side note: How nice if I have some honey now.. bleh...
I was back to Perth, once again. Among the capital cities in Australia, Perth tops the list of destination for myself (excluding errand and work related). I'm still short of Darwin and Hobart at the moment. My eldest sister and family had a planned travel to Perth for a holidays, and mom already in Perth at this time, I told, what the heck, I'll fly in for a short family gathering, and of course, to see my adorable baby niece :)
Found that Virgin Australia had a very nice flight time to Perth from Sydney. I left work and took the 5.25pm flight to Perth, estimated touchdown time at 7.25pm WA time, just right on time for dinner :) Yes. I did the weekend Perth trip again, reaching on Friday evening and departed on Sunday night, back to Sydney on Monday morning and off to work.
As it was such a short trip, there was no long distance travel, just around Perth - this time to Swan Valley and Fremantle.
So I cheated, I was in the Swan Valley's Margaret River Chocolate Company, not exactly in Margaret River. Grin. As Christmas was approaching, there were some nice Christmas theme chocolate. Don't know what got into my head, I didn't get any of them.
However, my brother-law-law got my nieces & I got some ice-cream (don't worry not the baby), very nice for a hot afternoon in Perth. I think it was up to 34 degree celcius. My pick was the macadamia flavoured, said to be winner of some competition. I wish it has more macadamia and the flavour though. At some parts, it feels more like vanilla ice cream with bits of crushed macadamia. :(
One of my niece likes everything pink and picked the pink colour bubblegum flavoured ice cream. :P
Side note: Supplements are expensive stuff...
Running out of drama to watch, and found this in some old collection.
In episode 1, 杨果's boyfriend left her, she was drunk and she said...
In one of the later episodes, 杨果's friend, 雁玲 after found out that her boyfriend was seeing another girl, said...
Side note: To buy or not to buy...
In episode 1, 杨果's boyfriend left her, she was drunk and she said...
"我希望总有一天可以遇到····那个不管我有没有钱漂不漂亮····他都会永远爱我···那个真正懂得珍惜我···在乎我的人"
In one of the later episodes, 杨果's friend, 雁玲 after found out that her boyfriend was seeing another girl, said...
"我真的好难过
原来那些幸福都是假的
如果连他都会骗我
那以后还有谁可以相信呢"
Side note: To buy or not to buy...
From the previous North Sydney market, I have moved and now staying near another market - Kirribilli Market. There are 2 markets being held in a month at the same location - General Market on the 4th Saturdays; and Kirribilli Art & Design and Fashion Market on 2nd Sundays. Thre are held at a very strategic location, at the Burton Street Tunnel, very near the Milsons Point train station.
Actually both markets are rather similar if you asked me, except that in General Market there was a stall or 2 selling vegetables and fruits. Here are some pictures of Kirribilli Art & Design and Fashion Market. Coming from Milsons Points side, it always starts with food stalls.
Some of the food stalls has been around since when I first moved in, some are new ones. Like the one above - Dutch Poffertjes is one of the ones been around for a bit, so are Russian Blyni, Turkish Gozlemes. Lately the Sri Lanka dishes stall also put up a stall at the Kirribilli Markets.
There are some pretty good buys at the market, especially on handmade jewelleries. Some are on the pricey side but there are pretty good ones. I didn't take a lot of pictures as this being the Art & Design Market, many stall owners do not allow pictures being taken of their goods.
Lately, both markets has been well expanded and it was great fun poking around looking at the things. Especially Christmas is around the corner, might be a good place to get some Christmas presents :)
Side note: Nursing the itchy throat, stuffed nose and headache at home. Have to get it sorted before I travel home...