We care. We care enough about Western Australia to return to Perth a second time after a 2.5 year hiatus. Despite being the largest state in Australia by landmass, and second largest subdivision of any country on Earth, it’s population encompasses only 11% of the national total (Eastern Australia is 81%). I think it’s fair to say that most Australians from the other side of town would say they have never or would never visit WA, that there is so much more to do in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. Why fly 5 hours cross country to Perth when you have the same access to beautiful shoreline/beaches, winery regions, and country living on the East?
Quokkas. Eastern Australia does not have Quokkas. A 4.5 hour flight on a budget airline with a 1.5 and 4 year old to Perth is also much more manageable than a 8.5 hour flight on same airline to Sydney (that last trip was tough). It also cost about a third of the price for us from Singapore, we already had an Australian ETA valid for a year that cost $23 AUD/person, and we desperately needed a destination for the Christmas holidays with ample public park space and without suffocating humidity. And, Quokkas. Look it up, and tell me that you wouldn’t go to Western Australia just for the Quokkas.
In all seriousness, with most of the above being true considerations, we had a wonderful first experience in Perth when our eldest was just two years old, and this time around with a second child, we wanted to explore more unique experiences like Tiny Home living in the countryside for a portion of it. We booked our trip for one week, arriving the day before Christmas and flying back on New Years Eve. Our accommodations at the Holiday Inn Perth City Centre were all free award nights, of which we were upgraded via our hotel status to a family room for the first two nights.
Travel, arrival, and settling in on Christmas eve were all fairly seamless, and while Holiday Inn’s are standard, no frills accommodations, having status and the perk of an extra room for a couple of nights was worth it. The service of the front desk and staff were excellent, and the sights and getting around downtown came back as second nature. Arriving the day before Christmas did require some advance planning for essentials like groceries and picnic items for Christmas day as most businesses would be closed and our only activity option would revolve around public parks. After the rush to eat dinner and settle the kids for bed, my do-it-all wife ran out to the markets right before they closed for the holiday so we could spend Christmas day self-sufficiently outdoors.
On Christmas morning we walked 2-kilometers to one of the largest playgrounds in Kings Park, a 900 acre park and botanic garden overlooking Swan river in the city center. The Ivey Watson playground in King’s Park consisted of 3 separate play structures for different ages, including a pirate-themed ship with sand play, a younger tots bus and slide structure, and an older kid’s multiuse obstacle playground. While our little one clung onto us in every new section we took him (he takes a while to adjust…) our older son hopped, dashed, and climbed everything he could find. Aside from following the children around, we were mostly occupied chasing away the opportunistic crows that went after every unmanned stroller searching for food.
After walking back to the hotel for our little one’s nap, I got my near 40-year old butt out the door to run along Swan River, one of my most favorite experiences the last time we were here. It was Australian winter two years ago and this time it was the dead of summer, so about a 25 degree increase in temperature with massive winds impeding my ability to run ‘fast’. Oh, and I’m two years (slow)older, never run outside in Singapore anymore because of the humidity, and started over with the physically consuming tasks of a baby . Needless to say, it was not a good experience, but quite a slog. On a positive note, I found an open Fish & Chips spot on Elizabeth Quay waterfront, opening up the possibility for dinner in the evening for a rare business open on Christmas day. We did exactly that, and battled 50 degree temps and 30 mph winds outside for Christmas dinner.
It was quite unusual for the weather to be so variable during our time there. Everyone had forewarned us that summers were brutally hot in Australia, owing to the intense sun, which we certainly did experience, but were more bothered from squinting because of the brightness than the actual heat. The temperature in our first 4 days in Perth swung from high 60’s to low 90’s, all with high wind gusts of 20+ mph. We packed for summer, and super light so as to only pay for one bag at check-in (budget airline life), but perhaps we had made a mistake with how shockingly chilly it turned out to be. I was especially nervous for the next day’s activity, a trip to Rottnest Island, a 1.5 hour ferry ride off the coast of Perth, and our planned biking excursion. Would we, and the kids, freeze? Would it even be possible to cycle without being blown over?
Rottnest Island is where you find Quokkas. Lots and lots of Quokkas. They are often dubbed the happiest animals on the internet. They are almost exclusively found in Western Australia, and Rottnest Island in particular. Tourists love taking selfies with Quokkas. The only way to get there is by dreaded ferry, recalling our Sydney whale watching trip in July that resulted in multiple vomits and motion sickness for the adults, not the kids. My wife loaded up with motion sickness patches and dramamine with fingers crossed. I, of course, figured I would be fine. The kids, we didn’t expect anything. As things usually go, the opposite of what you expect happens. Once we hit the more turbulent waters outside of Swan River in the ocean, the little one began to vomit. The bigger one was clutching his stomach, so I invited him to lay on top of me and thank goodness I positioned a vomit bag over his mouth as he chunked several helpings of his breakfast into it. The parents, we actually ended up ok!
I was most excited about this aspect of our trip because two years prior with only one kid, we had the most relaxing bike ride and random beach stops around Rottnest Island. The water, the shoreline, the topography were absolutely gorgeous and I expected this to be a good experience. Upon arriving, we had booked one bike with baby seat for my wife and little one, and one tag-a-long onto my bike for my 4 year old. The tag-a-long is a bicycle attached to the back of the adult bike so your child can pedal along with you. Upon inspecting the equipment and the weather conditions, we decided for the sake of the little one taking his nap, it would be more comfortable in a covered child trailer, meaning both kids slightly squished together on the back of one bicycle.
The whole process of changing our order, attempting to pump the tires, keeping the kids from running around into oncoming bicycle traffic, and then finally getting everyone settled and going with the complaining of the older one “not feeling comfortable” in the seat was stressful and mostly annoying. In my supreme confidence, I assumed I could cycle perfectly fine with the added 80 pounds on the back of the bike. But then, I quickly remembered that these bikes are usually shit, that the cranks barely deliver any actual power with each push of the foot, that the attachment to the child trailer would consistently jerk back and forth with each pedal revolution, and the consistent rolling hills with 30+ mph winds would make the experience miserable. Needless to say, and my wife would agree, I quickly became a sore and moody person, my usual default reaction to things not going perfectly.
Aside from my usual unpleasantness and the massive physical task required of me, the island was still gorgeous and stopping at the beaches for the kids to play and us to have a break was quite nice. After cutting the cycling portion short so that I wouldn’t be any more of a miserable person to my family, we returned our equipment, got ice cream for the boys, and watched them interact with the Quokkas at the playground. The little one became much more brave following his older brother in approaching the friendly macropods, a far cry from the shriek of terror he had when he turned around to see the creature right next to him when we first arrived on the island. All that was left for us to do was take an uneventful 1.5 hour ferry back to Perth, sans vomit.
The next day was our last day in Perth before our “big” Tiny Home adventure (more on that later). As usual, we split our day into two segments to sandwich the little one’s midday nap schedule. After such a big outing the prior day, the next morning we headed back to King’s Park to another section that had a cafe, several play structures, and plenty of wide open running space. We took advantage of the open area to each do our own workouts while the other parent watched the children, and played along to every silly game the 4 year old requested. Usually this took the form of “look at me”, “see this?”, “lets have a race, I’m faster than you”, and then proceeding to let him win and call the shots. He usually never gets us to concede to most any of his requests, but the combination of fresh air and our own time to exercise made us better parents.
Out of my desire to mediate frustration and expended energy traveling with two little kids, we have often limited our experiences in terms of activity and distance. It’s quite easy for me to repeat activities, stay within a certain radius, or just take the easy route and stay inside, but the two of us were feeling quite antsy to try something new. So, in the afternoon, we decided to go to the city of Fremantle, a historic port town known for it’s Victorian architecture, arts, and culinary scene. A 50-minute train ride, and then 20+ minute walk to the heart of town brought us to some cool playgrounds, skate parks, and parkour center for kids. The kids loved watching the slightly bigger kids do tricks up and down the ramps on their scooters, and it gave us a glimpse into how much more laid back families in Australia are than the ever cautious Singapore families we interact with regularly. Afterwards we had an excellent seafood dinner near the waterfront and Jai had his first ever banana split.
The next day was our big adventure. We had booked two nights at a Tiny Home by Heyscape, a Western Australian company known for their glamping experiences. Our Tiny Home was located 1.5 hours inland in the town of Nunile, but you really only needed to drive about 30 minutes out of the city centre to start feeling like you were in the country. The mullets, rattails, shirtless bogans (Aussie slang for rednecks) shopping for groceries next to us made it apparently so. Because the nearest grocery store was over 30 minutes away from our remote location, we needed to buy all the food supplies to cook all our meals for this two day adventure.
The Tiny Home was on a plot of private land, basically a farm, with two other tiny homes around half a mile away from each other. Each home is fully self-contained, meaning that it ran 100% on solar power, had a water tank, and a composting toilet. This meant we had to be mindful of using power, with the A/C unit being the biggest energy user, and rationing our water use. If we ran out of power, that meant that the composting toilet could get quite stinky without the energy to turn on the bathroom fan! This was billed as an experience to both disconnect from the outside world to relax, and to be mindful of how we consume our resources, perhaps changing the way we do things back in our regular homes. Soaping all the dishes before rinsing, turning off the water while showering, and using mostly the fan inside were practices in such habits.
So what does one do on a Tiny Home escape with no artificial entertainment to ruin our brains? We took several walks around the property, but that only lasted so long because of the vast amount of critters, and more annoyingly, the endless flies chasing you everywhere you walked. Dance parties on the patio, singing country songs at the top of our lungs, and fly swatting games were also very common. I didn’t chew any of the grass between my teeth or bring overalls and a harmonica to play while reclining on the stoop, but did spend plenty of time grilling our meals and dealing with the little one constantly crying because he takes a while to adjust to new places and the damn flies loved his little face. Jai also contributed to the preparation and cleaning of our meals and home, scrubbing the grill with me both nights and lending a ‘helping’ hand with 4 year old efficiency in setting up the picnic table.
For our drive to the boonies of Australia, I rented a fully electric Polestar car. I thought this was a genius idea, going off the grid, with a zero emissions car, and also the cheapest option! Well, upon pickup, the battery was charged to just under 80%, so we attempted to fill it at a charge station in said country bumpkin town where we got groceries…. except we couldn’t download the app to pay because our phones did not support the country’s app. So, cognizant of the time of day and wanting to get settled into our Tiny Home before it got dark, we left without adding any charge and worried our way to our destination. The next morning, we set out on a hopeful mission to a small town over 30+ minutes away that supposedly had one electric car charger that matched our car’s port, the city of Northam.
To our luck, the trip out was a success for our charging needs. We could download the app and pay by credit card! We rejoiced at the playground, fed some crazy ducks, and visited the Northam visitor center to learn about the history of Western Australia and this town, while our car fully charged. We were further inland, and my usual nervousness being the only non-caucasians around crept in, always fully aware of the looks and stares we might get. Surprisingly, as was our experience in other parts of Australia, even the disheveled homeless looking people barely batted an eye and gave plenty of space when passing in narrow spaces. For lunch, we settled on Dome Cafe, a popular cafe chain, and had some excellent apple pie, a constant craving of mine when in western countries.
Coming to the end of our Tiny Home stay, we had accomplished most of what we set out for, a different experience that combined nature, solitude, and spending quality time with each other devoid of the hustle and bustle of city life. It was a pretty difficult trip at times, mostly due to the little one’s incessant crying at inopportune times, such as when cooking and eating, but whether good or bad we have committed to this idea that we learn something about what we like or don’t like and our capacity for challenges as a family. I have certainly taken home some of the energy conservation habits from our Tiny Home, and we also were able to take some amazing sunset photos of our young family for memories.
The morning of checkout for the Tiny Home was a bit of a rush, after having cooked and cleaned for breakfast, we needed to make sure we fully packed everything and left the home almost in the same condition in which we arrived. We had planned a stopover to Caversham Wildlife Park, an hour and 15 minute drive just outside the city, to see the private reserve of Australian wildlife. While the park was fairly crowded, and the information learning light because it was not a zoo, it was a great experience to get up close and personal to feed Kangaroos and experience a lot of animals that we don’t have exposure to in Southeast Asia or North America. Surprisingly, both boys were quite alright to pet and feed the animals, but the sheer number of people that visited had already stuffed most of them up.
Following Caversham Wildlife Park, we returned our rental car to the airport and headed for our last night’s stay at the Westin Perth, in an award night room, upgraded to a higher floor with city views via my hotel status. On the way there, while pushing all our luggage, a stroller, and wearing the little one on us, we approached what I presumed was a homeless man walking the opposite direction smoking. To my surprise, as we got closer he stepped off the sidewalk and held his cigarette at full arms length away from our family, presumably because he noticed we had young kids as we were passing. I don’t know if any of my assumptions are actually true of him or the situation, but it shocked me how mindful a person of my presumed biases could be. Is it an Aussie thing?
There wasn’t much left for us to do or see in our last night in Perth, so we had a casual dinner at Burger & Ribs, getting burgers & ribs…., and then strolling through the holiday lights corridor of downtown. On one of the buildings a holiday music show was playing all the Christmas hits, to which my wife and son sang and danced to. There were also plenty of street vendors and other holiday treats to peruse on our last night in town, a fitting end to a week filled with plenty of different experiences, weather, and learnings of young family travel.
New Years Eve our flight was scheduled to leave Perth at 6PM, and arrive into Singapore at 11PM. I purposely selected this option instead of a cheaper 2AM arriving flight because arriving in the middle of the night with two kids body limp asleep and ferrying them through the airport with luggage back into our home would have been a disaster. Well, the morning of our flight I received a notice that our plane was delayed over 2 hours, meaning my worst fears were about to come true. I quickly checked the conditions of our ticket, which allowed for a change of date free of charge for such delay, and scanned the next few days options as well as what it would cost and how many points for an extra hotel night stay. In the end, it became too much of a hassle, so we headed to the airport as planned.
After receiving $45 worth of delay vouchers from the airline and purchasing a stuffed cockatoo and two airplanes for the kids with it, we found a lounge, Aspire, within the priority pass network that allowed us free access. This was hands down the best lounge we have experienced on the priority pass network. The lounge was relatively quiet, a rarity nowadays with so many priority pass members, and had a decent selection of food, differential seating options, and best of all, sweeping views of the tarmac. I set up our tablet for the children to watch and eat their dinner, while my wife and I actually got to relax and watch multiple A380 superjumbos land. We should have known that we were in for something much worse later….
Once upon the plane, I set up my oldest son with his Yoto Mini (screen free music and story player) so he could listen to bedtime stories with the expectation, explicitly told to and confirmed by him, that he would go to sleep as it was his bedtime. My wife, held our other son as a lap infant and started rocking him to sleep. I was seated in the middle because it has been our experience that at age 1 and 4, they can not coexist peacefully enough right next to each other, especially in a cramped metal tube whirling through the sky at 500 mph. We were not going to be those parents that had crazy kids on a flight, never have and hoped we would continue to plan and prepare for never will.
We became those parents. As our plane had taken off, my oldest son struggled to find a ‘comfortable’ position for himself. I tried creating a pillow with multiple soft objects, positioning his legs on my legs or curled up, and switching him around into other acceptable sleep positions. We also did not bring our inflatable airplane bed cushion that would have given him a more bed like position because we were NOT supposed to be on such a late night flight. Things quickly escalated as he started to panic and cry louder and louder that he could not get ‘comfortable’. In this process, he attempted to lay on me completely, lay on the plane floor, and other manner of unacceptable positioning by flying standards.
Our other son had fallen asleep in my wife’s arms, and we made the decision to somehow switch seats and switch kids. Our main priority was not to wake the younger one up and somehow not create the largest disturbance on the plane. By this time, with my older son throwing a full blown, but super tired tantrum on this late night flight, it felt as if all eyes were staring at us judgingly. After much struggle even for my wife attempting to reposition him, she fully gave in and allowed him to sleep on her. After falling enough asleep, she transitioned him back to his own seat. This was hands down the most embarrassing plane incident we have had, and at 4.5 years old for that matter. It’s during these times where it’s hard not to hate your kids, even though you know just a little while later everyone carries on as if the incident never happened.
We arrived into Singapore just past 1AM, both kids wide awake from the bright lights and disembarkation process. I had prepared that I would need to somehow carry the older one while carrying all the bags on me, but since he had woken, he walked all the way through immigration and to baggage claim by himself, although complaining and threatening to collapse at every step because of his fatigue. Understandable, but annoying nonetheless, as no one is feeling fine at that time of night. After picking up our luggage, getting in a 20 minute taxi and then into our home we rushed to put the kids into their beds for sleep at 3AM. It was quite a ‘special’ way to end our weeklong travel, and another check in the box of learning experiences as an expat family traveling with little ones.