One Sunday in Perth

Last Sunday (not the one just passed, but the one before that) I was in Perth for the weekend. Perth is a city on the other side of Australia and takes a good five hours to travel to. Yes, Australia is huge and sparse.

Heirisson Island

On Saturday I met up with my friend Kim, but on Sunday I had the day to myself. I woke up a little early (about 8:30am) and decided to go for a run and check it Heirisson Island, a small island less than a mile away from where I was staying. There is a main road that goes through the island so I just followed the bike/pedestrian path. I was keen to see the island because one half of it has kangaroos. It even had a special gate to keep the kangaroos in, but I didn’t see any kangaroos. I only followed the main path and didn’t go wandering, but for a really small island you could walk across in twenty minutes, I was hoping to at least see one.

I went to the other side of the island, on the other side of the main road, but that side didn’t have kangaroos. It was smaller than the kangaroo side and had a carpark, picnic area and playground equipment. I was disappointed but I got some good views of the city on water and all that. And there were duckies. I love duckies. 🦆

A well-shaded part of Heirisson Island
Entering a shaded part of Heirisson Island
I love seeing ducks.
Duckies!
A beat-down track on one edge of the island
A beat-down track on one edge of the island
Me taking a selfie on Heirisson Island
Just decided to take a selfie mid-run, ha!
The water in between Heirisson Island and the mainland
A view of the water surrounding Heirisson Island

I went to the gym in my apartment, which I had done periodically during my stay. The gym was really tiny, smaller than my current bedroom at home. It had one treadmill, an elliptical, a bike, some weights on a rack and one big machine that you had to completely configure yourself. I wasn’t bothered to really configure anything so I just lifted weights.

Tuck Shop Cafe

I was super duper hungry after that, and I usually work out before breakfast, but I downed my protein shake and then went to Northbridge to grab brunch at a cafe. The cafe was called Tuck Shop Cafe and I ordered asparagus, spinach, grated cheese and a poached egg on toast. It was super delicious. Definitely one of the best brunches I’ve had. 😄 I could have eaten another one if I wasn’t so full. It was that yummy. And as I always do, I topped it off with a soy chai latte. 😎

Asparagus, spinach and a poached egg with parmesan, on top of toast
My delicious brunch from Tuck Shop Cafe

Kings Park

I walked a fair way to catch a bus down to Kings Park, a giant park area. I spent a couple of hours exploring. The sunny weather was really pleasant. I ended up getting sunburn on my shoulders though. 😅 I walked around some of the gardens, a cool walkway bridge, and a DNA-inspired tower. I captured some good views. I felt inspired to write some poetry, and although I didn’t, I guess I really experienced the feeling of inspiration so I know what to do next time I’m in touch with nature. It’s true what they say about getting outside to be inspired.

A wide view of the sea from Kings Park
A wide view of the sea from Kings Park
A view of the city of Perth from Kings Park
The city of Perth and the water surrounding it
Big highway bridge seen from Kings Park
Big highway as seen from Kings Park
Beginning the walk down the Lotterywest Federation Walkway, a wooden bridge
Beginning the walk down the Lotterywest Federation Walkway
The walkway becomes a metal one instead of being made of wood
The walkway goes up just a little bit
Walking down the Lotterywest Federation Walkway
Walking down the walkway some more
The DNA tower
The DNA tower
A view of the green lawn from on top of the DNA tower
A green grassy view from on top of the DNA tower
Yellow Prickly Plume Grevillea, up close
Prickly Plume Grevillea in the botanic garden in Kings Park

Vegan smoothie

I caught a bus back to Northbridge and decided to check out Little Bird Cafe. I wanted to go there one morning for brunch but I’m glad I made the choice of going to Tuck Shop Cafe that morning because that meal would have been pretty hard to beat. I was, however, interested in Little Bird Cafe’s vegan coco frappes so I got one of those. It was dairy-free with no processed sugar, and I chose the ‘cacao kapow’, which was made from cacao, almond milk, dates and cinnamon. Yum. It really filled me up.

Black and white sculpture in the middle of a roundabout
Walking through Northbridge, spotted this sculpture
Plastic cup with my cacao kapow smoothie
My cacao kapow coco frappe!

The Nostalgia Box

After that I walked to The Nostalgia Box, a video game museum. It sounded awesome when I found out about it, because the thought of retro games was super interesting. The Nostalgia Box was pretty small, and less impressive than I thought, but I learned quite a bit about the history of video games. I looked at all the old gaming consoles, watched some of the very odd advertisements, and they even had a gaming section where you could play some old games, so I played a few while I was there.

A sculpture outside The Nostalgia Box
A sculpture outside The Nostalgia Box
Some of the earliest gaming consoles on display
Some of the earliest gaming consoles
Toleco Telstar Arcade, a triangular console
Toleco Telstar Arcade, a triangular console
Old Pacman game cartridge
Pacman!
Display of some old SEGA consoles
Some old SEGA consoles
Display of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The SNES
Display of handheld gaming consoles
Handheld gaming consoles
View of the streets of Northbridge
Walking through Northbridge

Ramen at Nao Japanese

I had an early dinner at Nao Japanese, famous for their ramen. You can choose exactly how you like your ramen, so I chose a sesame based seafood one. I walked in just when they were taking their last customers. On the Sunday they closed at 5pm and I just didn’t have time or was too full the other nights, so I was determined to try their ramen. It was really very good. I enjoyed it. I don’t eat tonkotsu ramen since I’m pescetarian, so I was glad that they had the option of miso or sesame based. :D

Bowl of sesame soup ramen with seafood
Bowl of sesame soup ramen with seafood

A funny story to end

I called it a night after that – I went back to my apartment and packed my suitcase, and took a nap. My flight back to Sydney was at 11pm and since I would lose some sleep due to the short overnight flight, I thought the nap was a good idea. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb mode because I really wanted to nap. So I just set an alarm for fifty minutes later.

My mum had been trying to contact me while I was sleeping. I was having a deep sleep and when I woke to my alarm I turned it off and saw some panicked messages from Brandon. Errrm. He told me that mum was worried and to answer my phone. I was confused, but I quickly messaged him that I had been asleep. It was then that I noticed my mum had sent me a lot of messages too (she had a question about the vacuum cleaner), and had tried to call me a few times. I called her up and told her I had been sleeping and she was very relieved. She told me that when she sent her messages, they kept coming up with Read receipts and yet, no reply came. I was confused because I had been sleeping this whole time and there was no way I could have read any of her messages, and all my other devices were shut off too.

After a quick test, we found out that my phone had buggered up and was reading my mum’s messages to me automatically before I had even opened them. It wasn’t happening with anyone else’s message threads. After restarting my phone everything was OK. But it was so strange, Brandon had even messaged Nick (keep in mind he’s just at home doing his thing, and I’m all the way over in Perth) to ask if he knew where I went. I had told Nick I was going to take a nap, but all in all, it was quite funny that my mum was in such a panic. And also really silly of my phone to do that. 🐽

Comments on this post

Beautiful photos Georgie! I’d love to visit Perth someday :)

the park is so beautiful! and the ducks! aww, pretty photographs. i’d love to go the park, especially the walkway.

OMG A VIDEO GAME MUSEUM! i don’t go to museums a lot but a video game museum would be awesome! look at those old school consoles – they were gold back during the days! whoa.

lol is your phone alright? are you sure nothing is possessing it? HAHAHA jk.

Perth looks like such a beautiful place. How wonderful to just have a day for you, to explore and just enjoy all the sights. The food looks amazing, the views are gorgeous! Georgie you are a lucky lady with the heart of an adventurer. :D I’m really loving the video game museum. I’ve never seen anything or even heard of anything like that. Very cool. :D

I love ducks too! XD

All those water views are really lovely. Love pictures with water!

Ah, your poor mom! XD How easily we panic about the littlest things! Least it got sorted out!

I love how you still fit in some exercise even when you’re out on a mini vacation XD. Your brunch looks delicious (making me hungry at 9pm). I’m totally digging the DNA-inspired tower. It looks pretty amazing from far away! For some reason, that Audi Q5 (or Q7) on the left of the sculpture caught my attention first X’D.
Looking at your pics from The Nostalgia Box gave me nostalgic feelings.. I love how technology changed things up over the years!

It’s weird that your phone bugged up on your mom’s thread (out of all people, right??). Your phone was definitely trying to troll your mother XD.

Ahahaha if I was not travelling alone, I doubt I would get all the exercise in. I definitely took advantage of the opportunity. When you travel alone I guess you are free to do what you want. Including exercising. :P

I know right! The one person and it has to be my mother. 🙄

(Trying again X__X)

Thanks for sharing your solo day in Perth! You really did a lot for one day! I have to give you kudos for exercising. I never plan to do that when I am travelling ^^;;;

I enjoyed seeing your sea photo of Perth! I’ve been really loving the East Sea here, so I enjoyed seeing your photos of the sea there. :D I love how you captured the cityscape :)

That brunch, btw, looks amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever had poached eggs before, but now I’ll have to really give that a try one day! It looks super yummy and healthy. Speaking of healthy, yay for vegan frappe! I am now craving this power green smoothie with cacao nibs from this one vegan cafe in my area. I’ll have to fulfil my craving and get that soon :D

Nostalgia Box really appeals to me! I am not a museum fan, but this is a museum I’d like to check out if I’m ever in Perth! As a gamer, I’m interested in seeing old gaming devices, but I also like seeing old technology gadgets like typewriters, gramophones, old radios, and the like :D This really looks like a fun place to kill an hour or two.

Lastly, that ramen looks super good! I’ve never even heard of a sesame-based one, so I’d have given that a try. I’ve only seen miso or shoyu ones, so this is definitely new to me. I generally prefer the chyasu one, but if I weren’t wanting something fatty, I’d like to try this one. ^_^

Poached eggs are OK. I have a love/hate relationship with them. They are one of those foods I loooooved when I first discovered it, but later got sick of and bored of. Nick doesn’t like the slight vinegar taste (vinegar is used to make it keep its shape), but the runny yolk is something most poached egg fans love.

Old technologies are definitely really intriguing. I would love to find a place with old technologies related to music and audio!

I remember having a nice sesame based soup at a bistro near my house, I loved the taste. I don’t think a lot of eateries do a sesame-based broth but I also don’t think it would be too hard to make myself. If I actually bothered to try making it. xD