Perth Day 1

G'day Mate!!

Today I will write on the things that I did on my first day in Perth. We touched down at Perth International Airport around 5.30 a.m. After the immigration clearance, I bought my Optus Simcard at one of the kiosks in at the arrival hall. It costs me 15AUD for 7 days of subscription with 1GB of internet per day and unlimited calls and messages to any local number. 

King's Park

We took a short tour around the city area and survey where our hostel is located. I am staying at City Backpackers Hostel, which is located in Fitzgerald St. in Northbridge. That place is very convenient because it is very near to Cat Bus Station (Free Bus), Perth Arena and also Perth Train Station. AS we arrived pretty early right before dawn, we have not eaten anything for breakfast and our last meal was before our flight at KLIA. Ryan, my foster dad suggested that we should grab something before I check in to the hostel. We went to King's Park, one of the largest park in the world, much bigger than Central Park in New York.

Perth Skyline view

After that, we checked in at our hostel. My friend and I had a quick check-in and settled down a little bit before heading to the city centre. As we were walking, we had no idea on the direction of the city centre. All we see was empty streets at 3.00p.m. Seems strange to us because we are used to see huge crowd back in Malaysia during that hours. As we were walking. we saw Perth Station and finally it brought us to the city centre. They have a lot of shops there and our main objective on that day was to find our phone charger. We got the charger at one of the shops for 15AUD. Then, we went to Woollies for grocery shopping. As an Asian, instant noodle a.k.a Ramen is a must buy to us because it is easy to cook and very convenient. After shopping all the groceries, we stroll around the city area and discover a lot of interesting shops at that area. However, the price for most of the things are kinda expensive. I only bought things that are necessary since that was our first day.

Ramen. The noodles here are kinda different from what we have in Malaysia.

City Centre area.

Vegetables available at Woollies

After our city centre outing, we finally got a very nice sleep on a comfortable bed because we did not get enough sleep. When we woke up, we quickly cook our food for dinner and went to the nearby petrol station to buy some drinks. And we end our night that way. Very quick isn't it? Well, life in Perth seemed to be going very slow from what we have in Malaysia.

Travel to Perth Overview

Dear readers,

I managed to spend my holiday in Perth to meet up with friends and foster families. It was a great, hectic, cold and memorable trip. In this entry, I would like to share with all of you on how to go to Perth with a small budget. It is undeniable that Australia is a country with high cost of living. When I was about to fly to Perth, I went to change some Malaysian Ringgit to Aussie Dollar and the best rate that I got was about RM3.32 for 1 AUD. Among the best money changer in Malaysia is in Mid Valley.

At Perth Airport

Flight Tickets

Upon arrival in Perth, we settled with immigration and passport check. The staff in Perth Airport were so friendly. They have another baggage check using dogs and the dog was so cute. It was quite cold that morning when we arrived there because it was winter. So, if you want to buy cheap tickets to Perth, a few airlines offer great price such as Air Asia and Fly Scoot. I choose Air Asia to Perth from KL because they offered the best price which was RM220.00 for one way. I went back using Perth Singapore route which cost me around R328.00 using Fly Scoot. This is still considered as cheap compare to other Australian cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. 

Groceries

Regarding on our expenses in Perth, we don't eat at restaurant that much as it was hell expensive. Even the native Aussie said that they will usually cook their own food as the food over there is kinda overpriced. So, we went to Woolworths (which the Aussie call them 'Woollies') as they offer good price for ample of things. They also have other supermarket such as Coles, Target and also The Reject Shop. If you are hardworking enough, you can simply go to every supermarket and survey the price. But I think Woollies has the best price. 

Internet

You can simply buy Optus simcard at the airport which cost 2AUD per day. In that 2 AUD, you can make free call and messages to local numbers and 1GB of internet. It was a great offer indeed.

Transport

I don't really like the public transport in Perth especially the train because it was quite confusing. But you can use Cat bus because it is free. They also have Transperth busses. You can buy the Transperth card at any train station. I don't use the public transport in Perth because I have my foster family to bring me around in Perth by car. So, I did save some money for my transport. It is advisable that if you are travelling with family or in group of 4 or 5, you should rent a car because to get to one place to another in Perth, it is kinda far. Besides, you can do a lot of sightseeing especially in the country area if you rent a car.

Accomodation

If you are in group, I suggest that you should rent an apartment and split up the bills among yourself. And if you are a backpacker, try to booking hostel from Air Bnb or booking.com as they have some great price to offer. Hostel in Australia is quite famous among backpackers especially from those who are from Europe. Don't be so choosy because hotel in Perth are quite expensive unless you have a lot of cash to spare.