Agnes can cook #2

Ka Sing and Chue Poh were leaving Perth after their 6-week stint so we invited them over to our place for dinner. In case you are not aware, we only have 2 chairs in the house. By default, one will be in the kitchen and the other at the study table in the bedroom. During meals, we'll get the chair from the bedroom to the kitchen and then it goes back in to the bedroom. When we have guests, we have to innovate. That's how the dining table ended up in the living room and the privileged ones get to sit on the sofa! ;)

A humble meal of home-cooked green curry (using packet mix of course!), potatoes with minced pork and fried egg with onions...

Not-so-lazy Sunday afternoon...

You've probably heard of the recent bizarre weather in Australia - red dust storms in Sydney, two earthquakes in Melbourne and floods in Tasmania. Here in Perth, we have equalled a record of 26 wet days in September which dates back to 1915! So, it hasn't been quite a usual Spring...
 
Last weekend was an exception. We were blessed with clear blue skies - with clouds that look as if an artist had painted them in with a few strokes of a feathery brush. It was so sunny and warm that we were actually perspiring! It was such a beautiful day that we decided to spend some time at Sir James Mitchell Park. Agnes brought along her knitting equipment, while Kevin brought his books and papers.

If you look closely, you'll even be able to spot the moon!

Trying to make ourselves comfortable...

Since we were wearing them, we just had to pose with them happy t-shirts Stacey sent via Preeta... ;)

Bonding

With Kevin back in uni, Agnes and Preeta spent last Monday and Tuesday hanging out together.

Monday
After returning the rented car, they took the train to Fremantle.

Their first stop in Fremantle was Little Creatures, a restaurant within the beer brewery itself! It has a fantastic environment and the food was excellent – the perfect ambience for a great chat!

Little creatures' pale ale and pilsner

Roast pork belly with apple sauce and sauteed potatoes @ $20 and Mushroom, mozzarella and olive wood-fired pizza @ $18

Then, they had to stop yakking so that they could spend some time at the Fremantle Markets. Agnes had been building the excitement for Preeta, telling her about how interesting the place was with lots of things to see and to buy! What Agnes did not know was that Fremantle Market's opening days are only Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Monday public holidays!

Preeta being forced to smile in front of the closed building

Preeta's Fremantle experience ended with visits to the shops around. They then took an earlier train home for home-cooked dinner with circa 60 meat balls.

Malaysia-style makan...

Tuesday

Agnes and Preeta went to Kings Park to enjoy the beauty of the park and the botanical garden. Meanwhile, Agnes practised her photo-taking skills. ;)

They met Thilak, an ex-colleague for lunch in the city and the rest of the time was spent shopping for souvenirs!

Before bidding Preeta farewell (yes, hers was only a 5-day trip!), we went to Spaghi for more mussels, chilli mussels! It was very yummy and the meal was made complete with the ½ priced waffles just across the street!

Thus ended our host-playing and here's a special thanks to Preeta for visiting. The privilege and pleasure was all ours!

Day 3 - Augusta to Pemberton

We woke up early for breakfast and headed back to Cape Leeuwin to visit the lighthouse. It was closed by the time we arrived the day before and we really wanted to check out the meeting point of the Indian and Southern Ocean!

Then, we took a slight detour to Hamelin Bay. Don't be deceived by the calm tranquility of the place... it absolutely stinks (prolly due to the seaweeds on the beach) and is full of flies! And we didn't manage to spot the stingrays... maybe the conditions were not right.

From then on, it was a 2 hour drive from the coast to Pemberton, the heart of the Southern Forests. We stopped by a river where you can fish for trout, Beedalup Falls, as well as a king trout and marron (a type of freshwater lobster) farm before heading to Pemberton town itself.

We 'tapau'ed some food and had our lunch at Gloucester National Park, which attracted a few curious visitors!

It was then time for some work out - climbing the 61m tall Gloucester Tree! Of course, Kevin didn't allow Agnes to climb all the way up, but Ka Sing almost reached the top!

The 3 day journey ended with a 5 hour drive back to Perth. We even had time for a night visit to King's Park, before we all headed home and Kevin began thinking about his presentation he was supposed to give the next day...

In loving memory...

On the evening of Day 2 of our trip, we received the bad news that shocked us to the core... Even now, a week later, it still seems so unreal...

Here's our feeble attempt to celebrate the life of our dear friend and brother, James Ng Chee Kai, whom we will fondly remember...

... as the loud guy who always had an opinion on any issue!

... as the generous guy who bought lots of 'SanCFich'es and 'kah liu' kau kau... just to support our CF fundraising cause!

... as the guy who always availed himself to do the labour work in CF!

... as the guy who built the CyberChristmas snowmen and insisted we make snow too...

... and as the impulsive and headstrong guy who insisted we destroy it afterwards!

... as the guy who made camps so much more fun with his King Scout experience!

... as the guy who brought us around Muar to eat 'Oh Chien' and 'Otak-otak'!

... as the down-to-earth guy who injected the occasional foul language into our Christian gatherings!

... as the guy who never failed to turn up for any of the CF graduates reunions...

... and whenever there's food!

... as the guy who came for our farewell and said he would visit us in Perth...

... and last but not least, as the one and only BIG JAMES!

Your presence will be sorely missed...

Day 2 - Margaret River to Augusta

We stopped by for lunch at the Leeuwin Estate Winery, which we kind of regretted the moment we opened the menu and had a glimpse of the prices!

We then continued our drive south along Caves Road - and there's a reason for its name. The coastline is dotted with about 300-400 limestone caves, a few of which are open to the public. We decided to visit one of them - Calgardup Cave, which had no lights inside (unlike Gua Tempurung). It's nothing compared to what you get at Gua Tempurung, but at least we got some cool gear to pose with!

 

Don't we look like professional spelunkers? :)

It was then a rush to the most south-western point of Australia, Cape Leeuwin, to catch the sunset. And we were in for a surprise...

two rainbows!

  and a beautiful sunset...

Not to mention that it was extremely windy and freezing cold...

That night, we stayed in a hostel in Augusta - it was quite an experience. There was a communal kitchen, dining area and lounge area but all well-maintained and clean. Our chefs for the night, Ka Sing and Chue Poh cooked lovely aglio olio and made full use of the leftover stuffs from the barbeque the night before...