Merry Xmas 2009!

Had the first Xmas celebration in Perth! Thanks to Sean who organise the party at Fiona's place - at least Chin Fei and I aren't bored in this long weekend break! Hehe.

I totally like how Sean puts in all the effort in buying matching paper cups and plates and even serviettes for our simply Xmas gathering. And it was nice that Chin Fei and him did the cooking while the girls set the table and prepared for the gift exchange and games happening later after the dinner. :)

Biscuits and cheese for starters

The mains. Instead of roast turkey, we had roast chicken! Haha. :)

After dinner, we had a lot of fun playing pictionary. Tee hee hee. :P Seriously, this was my first time playing this game and it was boys versus girls. Obviously, the girls team won in the end! LOL.

A fruit and vegetable peeling machine was what I got

Also, thanks to David Jones and the City of Perth for organising such a wonderful free event in conjunction for Christmas. This year's theme was the story of Jesus, the Three Kings etc. For someone who isn't familiar with the Bible, watching the play was a good way to understand Jesus in an hour. :) Quite a pity that we didn't know about this event until we saw a large crowd gathering at the venue. So we didn't get to sit but stood throughout the entire evening.

Camels for the Three Kings to travel on later in the show

The choir

Part of the performance

Mary and Joseph travelling on a donkey. Mind you, that's a real donkey!

One of the Three Kings travelling on a camel

The cast

After the show, the Christmas lights were  lit up for the first time, officiating the Christmas season.

Murray Street Mall

Hay Street Mall

London Court

Merry Christmas everyone! Can't wait to go back to Malaysia tomorrow! Hehe. :P

Mandurah

Our friend, Su Ping, went to Mandurah, about an hour drive south of Perth, for fishing and crabbing. She told us that the place was very nice and that she and her friends caught many crabs. So since our friend Sean went back to Malaysia and left his car in our capable hands for restarting his car engine, we decided to take it for a drive too, down to Mandurah to explore this town. Hehe.



So after 2 hours spent in the lab on a Saturday morning, Chin Fei picked me up from work and we drove down to Mandurah. The day was very sunny and stinky hot. Surprisingly, we saw quite a lot of people here. I think it's because Perthians here love to enjoy the sun and the weekends, far away from the bustling city. So it was hard for us to find a parking spot. We had to go round and round the town for some time before we manage to catch a car leaving its spot. :)



Mandurah is a peaceful and quiet place. There is a lake in the middle of the town and a park right in front of it. There are so many BBQ pits facilities too and they were pretty occupied by families, deciding to BBQ in the sun on a weekend. :)

A pelican swimming in the lake

The promenade

A grassy lawn in front of the water and lots of shady trees

A playground and BBQ facility in the back

Everyone was just relaxing on the grass and there wasn't anything to do for us. So we decided to take a few shots in front of the waters.

We went strolling around and since I was wearing slippers, I went into the water to look for crabs but I couldn't find any. I think they are all at the deeper ends of the water. When Su Ping went crabbing, her friends and her hired a boat to go further to fish and crab.

A child playing with the water while the adults looked on

Going deeper and deeper but still nothing

Gave up and decided to stroll along instead

Far away...

Mandurah is like Fremantle, a fishing town. Even the roundabout has an artwork design of a boat in the rough waves and a fish too.

The roundabout

We had fish and chips for lunch at Dolphin Quay. There wasn't much variation in the food and I prefer Fremantle instead.

As we were having lunch, the sky suddenly became dark.

We drove to somewhere nearby to see the Indian Ocean. A storm was approaching and there were still lots of people swimming in the ocean. It was quite scary because it looked like tsunami was coming. We headed back to the car and drove home. It was a very heavy downpour on our return journey to Perth.

People still sailing on Indian Ocean when the skies are so dark

It was a relaxing trip and we are thinking of going there again on a weekend just to drink coffee and enjoy the sun, just like how the ang mohs do. :)