We walked a lot along the Albany Highway (around Cannington) because that was the area where we stayed for 3 days.  We walked to the “nearest” shopping area  called Westfield or Carousel Shopping Centre several times within 3 days to have our stomach filled and bought the SIM card for SiewPeng’s sister.

As I mentioned in the last post, while we were walking compared to sitting in a vehicle, the scope of vision is limited but we can see a lot of the details.  I had taken a lot of photos along the road while we were walking - the bus stands, the street sign, trees, roads, buildings and even the traffic lights.  The photos will be the records of my eye sights.

-The bus stand was made of transparents glass to block the wind during the winter but allow the waiting passengers to see if the bus is coming.

I enjoyed the cool air while we were walking but when the tiredness come we had to find alternative transports.  The taxi fare is not cheep, but there is another option, we can take the bus.  Yes, these are how the bus stand looks like.

-  Each bus stop is labelled with a number, and there is a detail time table to tell that which bus and the time they are coming.  There is an SMS number to request the time of the next coming bus to the bus stop, we have tested the SMS and it worked .

-  I like to see this types of  slim and tall tree.

-  The divider between road was decorated with rocks and plants.

There was a type of smell on the street that I can’t describe using words.  It is similar to the smell I got in Toowoomba many years ago.  I guess it was the smell from certain trees or plants that I cannot get in Malaysia.  Yes, I have a sensitive nose.

I believe we were the only walker on the road because we did not see other people walking there but I did see a cyclist.

-  A brown road sign.  The stand is brown, its wording is also in brown, and the border of the board are in brown too.

-  Another type of road sign in blue and white with advertisements on it.

On Saturday evening, we had our first walk that took only 15 minutes because we walked quite fast.  When we see the overbridge, we know the shopping mall was not far ahead.

On Sunday morning, the traffic was not jam.  We walked again to McDonald to have our breakfast, and hash browns were our only choice.   There is a free wireless internet connection in the McDonalds, SiewPeng’s sister was using a laptop to get online and updating her blog, while it was my turn to check our blog, the laptop goes to hibernate mode because run out of battery power.  That’s why there was no update while we were in Perth.  The Carousel Shopping Centre was not openned on Sunday.  After having our breakfast in McDonald, we proceed to the train station to visit the Perth city.

Do you know what is the meaning of “Bus No. 11″?  It means walking on foot. :p

While we were walking on the street I was the slowest because I walked, stoped, snapped photos, run to catch up with them, and repeat the process again and again.  Luckily they did not walk too fast, otherwise I won’t be able to catch up.

-  On the way to the train station, we walked pass this building.  It looked like a combination of shop and residential house.

If I am not mistaken, the price of petrol in Australia keep on changing all the time, unlike we have a fixed rated for months in Malaysia.  Wow, AUD$1.17  is about RM3, the petrol price is quite expensive in Australia compare to Malaysia.  No wonder the taxi fare is so expensive there.

-  The blue, white and red mini flags combines to become a big flag look attractive.  It is a place that sell cars which is just next to our hotel.

-  There are a lot of car sellers along the Albany Highway.

We took quite a lot of taxi in Perth which means one of the major expenses was on transport.  Next time, we plan to rent a car, cheaper, no need to wait, and we can go freely to anywhere.  The roads in Perth are not as complicated  as I thought.  A GPS(Global Positioning System) will be enough to guide the direction.

These two pictures are taken while we were on a taxi, as you can see these is reflextion on the car windows.

-  I found a pole with an advertisement on it.  ”I buy houses CASH” and a telephone number.  Don’t you think this is a type of pollution?  I believe it is not serious in Australia.  In Malaysia, almost every electric box on the busy streets are sticked with loan shark promotion.

I did not expect that I revisited Australia again so soon after I came back from my study.  I don’t either know when will be the next time I will visit Australia agian.  May be I might reconsider to apply for PR?  I am still considering… …

-  Traffic lights with bicyclist and pedestrian sign.

One of the things that I like about Australia is their traffic system.  They take care of different types of transport including bicyclist and pedestrian.

Not all footpath is for bicycle in Australia.  I had an experience with a police who stopped my friend and me, and a group of primary school kids for cycling on footpath in CBD Tooowoomba 7 years ago.  I remembered I had read from somewhere that the bicycle is not allow on foot path in CBD and I told my friend, but my friend said, “The kids did it, why can’t we?”  Luckily the police just asked how old we were,where we came from, gave us warning and let us go.  The police shifted his attention to the kids, who not only cycled on the footpath, but they were not wearing helmets too.  I heard the police said to the kids while we start to step on the pedal and left, “where are your parents?” … …  I know I was lucky and wish the kids were lucky too.

-  Footpath with bicyclist and pedestrian sign.

“With different vehicles, we can have different scope of vision.  The faster and higher the vehicle is, the further we can see, but not the details, the slower we are, for example walking or cycling, we have limited our scope but we see everything we see in  more detail.”  - (c) 2009 colinjong :p

I wish I can ride bycicle in Kuching, but it is impossible.  It is too risky.  The footpath is not design for bicycle, and some of the roads here do not even have a footpath.  I never think about there will be a traffic light with bicycle sign in Kuching.

Let me tell you some poor traffic system in Kuching, the taxt drivers have to build a taxi stand themselves near a hospital in 3rd miles Kuching.   I am proud of the taxi drivers but feel shame of the authority who are responsible for the traffic system.

It was a Sunday, we took a “long” walk from the hotel we stayed and reached the train station.  We walked along the Albany Highway and we passed through the Carousel Shopping mall.  The weather was not really hot, we were not sweating but the low humidity dry air made us thirsty easily.

When we reached the train station, we did not know how to get the tickets.  We asked a helpful couple and discovered that the ticket selling machine was just behind the seat.  The helpful lady and her husband demonstrated how to buy the ticket from the machine.  She talked to us and told us the places of interest in Perth on our journey from the Cannington station to the Perth City.

This is another lady who wanted to get down from the train.  The button needs to be pressed to open the door when the train stops at each station.

The helpful lady has a strong accent, we could catch what she said but not every word.  I remember she told us many places of interest in Perth such as the Casino.  Surprisingly on our return trip on the train we met this couple again.  Again, the helpful lady told us more about Perth.  This couple take their bicycle with them onto the train.  When we reached the Cannington station they also get down from the train.  Before we had the chance to say bye bye and thank them, they went away toward the other direction because they use the path to allow their bicycle to get down the staircase.

-  This is the Cannington train station.

-  Looking to the left.

-  Looking to the right.  The train was coming but it was not at our side.

-  There is always a signboard to tell us how long the train will be coming.

-  The ticket selling machine.

-  The complete routes can be found in the train.

-  Before we get on the train on our return trip, we were not sure which platform should we go to.  This is the center where all different routes meet here.   We were lucky because the train started to move not long after we get on to it, otherwise we might have missed the train and have to wait for the next one.

-  This station is bigger and has more facility compare to the Cannington station.

-  A lot of people had just arrived and queuing to take the escalator to the upper floor.

-  There is another escalator and bridge at the otherside that allow passenger to get across the railway.

-  Crowded.  Some of them were wearing their uniform.  I guess they might have just finished their activities and came to the city to have their lunch.

Generally we are satisfied with the service of Transperth Train.

Trainsperth is a brand name of the public transport system in Perth, Western Australia which was launched in 1986 as part of a series of reforms integrating Perth’s public bus, ferry and rail services. — from Wikipedia.

I made a serious mistake while I was shooting this video clip.  I just hold the camera, but shoot nothing. When I discovered and wanted to reshoot, it was too late because I need to move and catch up my group.  And this is the only short video clip that I can show you.

I like the music. I wish I can have their CD, and give them some donation, can you see a box in front on them? I saw someone putting money into it, and I wish I could. I can’t even have time to know what their group name is. I hope someone who know about it can tell me.

I guess this is one of a traditional Australian musical instruments.

We saw this long stick in LCCT (KL) airport. Someone brought it from Australia back to Malaysia.

This is the photo of the couple setting up their musical instrument to get ready to perform the street music. I was on the upper floor of a building and took this photo.

I wish I can meet them again on the next visit to Perth.

-This bell tower is called Swan Bell.  It is one of the main tourist attraction in Perth.  Its height reaches 82.5 meter, and the building is made of copper and glass.  From Wikipedia, I learned that the bells ring at D# note since 1998.

We are going to show you the Swan Bell, Wheel of Perth, and part of the Swan River in this post.  They are located not far away from each other.  We took a walk from the tourist information center to this area, I did not expect to see this tower, because the question I gave to the staff was “Where is the nearest river?”.  The staff at tourist information center told me the shortest path to reach here, but did not tell me that I would see Swan Bell and Wheel of Perth.  I was very excited to get this surprise.

-  Zoomed into the Swan Bell.

-  I can see someone on the upper floor of the building looking through the telescope.  I wonder if he saw me taking a photo of him. :p

-  The entry fee is AUS$11.  We did not take it because we did not have enough time there.  Next time, may be we will pay the ticket and get into the Swan Bell building to have a look on how the bells look like.

Look carefully on the picture above!!!  My intention was to take the picture of the Bell Tower entry fee, but thanks to the 4 persons and the baby car.  They helped adding more elements in my picture.  Since we were rushing passing through, I could not wait for them to move away.  When I look at the picture, I tell myself it was not necessary to let them move away before I took the photo, they enhanced my photos.

I have read through the Australian legal information about street photography, here is the summary as what I understand.  There is no restriction on taking photographs of people on public and private property from public property (it means if a photographer is standing on public area such as on the street, he/she can take any pictures) unless for commercial purpose, then a model release form need to be signed by the subject.  However some copyright protected area is not allowed to be photographed such as some park.  Peeping near a building is not allow too if it cause fear of physical or mental harm.

There is a pond with fountains on the other side of the Swan Bell and we can see many visitors were having their good time by the side of the pond, they were sitting there taking a break, and were having fun with their family.

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Next, what were these group of people looking at?  Let me guess, is it the Wheel of Perth?

Here goes the Wheel of Perth.

Same as the Swan Bell, we did not get tickets to have a closer experience with them, we were rushing against the time.

-  Can you see a black gondola lift.  It is a VIP gondola lift.

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We keep on walking and we reached here.

-  I am not sure if this is a jetty or a port.  It is labelled as number 3.

-  A lot of tourists here, and we saw a red double-decker half-roofless bus.

-  This cute girl was very active, curious, and keep turning her head back to talk to her parents sitting under the shade.  She was playing with herself happily and running here and there.

-  I like to see the head of a boat move upward when it is speeding.

Can I compare here with the Kuching Waterfront?

-  Hmm…  the water on the river can never calm down.  It is always in wave form.  Is it able to stop for a moment?  Yes it is possible, only when it is taken as a photo where a short moment is captured and make it into eternity.

-  This is the red double-decker half-roofless bus.

-  Standing at the bus stand, pointing my camera lense to the left, this was what I got.

-  And I moved myself a few steps behind the blue cat bus stand, this was what I got.

-  I took this photo while we were sitting inside the blue cat stomach.  Luckily its stomach has windows to let me take the photos.  I feel great that the Swan River is a nature gift to Perth which make Perth so beautiful and unique.

From the map I can see that there is a part of the river that look like a lake but it is not a lake.  The river is connected to the sea and I believe that the water in the river is half salted.  Am I right?

Although we only have limited time to see parts of the river, thanks to the staff at the tourist information center to give the correct direction to us, and thanks to Alan and Alicia who brough us to see the other part of the river.

I hope I can see more swans at the Swan River.