Perth Trip Recap (6)

Day 6 - Albany

Albany Farmers Market - The market officially opens from 8am to 12pm but we read that most items will be sold out by 9am.  Thus, we were really anxious to get there by 8am sharp (nothing comes between me and my food... we pretty much rolled out in our PJs...)  Luckily, the market is really close to the YHA we were staying at.


The market isn't as big as we were expecting but it was packed and there are people already done with their shopping.  I have been looking forward to this because I want my steak dinner and I wasn't disappointed.  We also picked up milk, eggs, lamb chops, cherries, strawberries, ice cream, yabbie pies, vegetables, bread, etc.  We maximized our time by splitting up and picking up food we each liked and by 845am, all the cherries were gone (the larger ones were already gone around 815am).  There was a guy jokingly said he would buy our cherries for AUD20 (we got them for AUD7) and I jokingly said "SOLD!" when he raised his price to AUD100!

I <3 farmers markets!!!

We got our steak, lamb, and eggs here - best steak ever!

Yabby Pies

Yabby (=crawfish?)

Elves selling bread

only AUD2

the kid was singing to Jason Mraz...

it's cheaper to drink milk than coke here!!!
who wants coke anyway~

big cherries weresold out ~815am

everything is gone ~845am

I love it when people are proud of their produce

We made ourselves breakfast when we returned to the YHA and since we are still recovering from yesterday, we took a nap.  When we got up, we are ready to head out to Little Beach!

milk, yabby pie and mango

Little Beach - make sure you have at least half tank of gas before you leave Albany... we scared ourselves by driving with less than one-fifth of a tank :P  Little Beach is a delightful white beach in the Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve located 35 kilometres east of Albany.  Again, we have no GPS friendly address but it's ALL the way at the end on Two Peoples Bay Road.

Albany

a bay pretty close to the YHA, many people drove here to eat lunch with a view

We passed by the Albany Marron Farm and decided to make a stop.  We were still full from breakfast so we didn't stay and eat...

open only 4 days a week...  taking care of marrons must be hard...

We also saw a bunch of cows by the side of the road as we approach Little Beach.  We pulled off the side and got out of the car.  (Yes... we are city people...)  We looked at the cows as the cows looked back at us probably thinking: "morons".

if I were a cow, I hope I am an Australian cow...

the cows seriously came closer to have a good look at us...

We also saw a sun-bathing lizard... YUCK!!!  I hate lizards but I didn't run over this one.  I am too nice :'(  They better eat all the flies and mosquitoes out there to thank me...

Little Beach is absolutely breathtaking!  We fell in love with the beach the moment we got there.  It's like a private beach at one of those exclusive resorts.  There are maybe 6 people total... we totally feel like we owned it.  It was worth driving on low fuel for 30 minutes and scared by an ugly lizard along the way :)

almost there

"it's not a TINY beach, but yes, it is small-ish"

absolutely no touch-up, not even the built in filters in my camera
the water is just naturally turquoise

there is no word to describe how pretty this place is until you actually see it

the water is quite cold (southern ocean) but so clear!

Middleton Beach - After we exhausted ourselves (and our cameras) at Little Beach, we decided to go check out Middleton Beach as well (to compare).  It's only 15 minutes from the YHA and a much bigger beach.

I would have been satisfied if I never been to Little Beach

this baby is so cute!

I am glad we went since they have a fair going on (more importantly, we confirmed Little Beach is the better beach).  We didn't swim here but checked out the stalls and snacked.  Looks like the whole town came out... you can tell Australians really valued family time and spent their weekends mostly with families.  We even met the YHA manager at the fair!

fair food is the best

not a huge dog fan but I love this dog! (and chows in general)

so well behaved and mild tempered!

it just sat there the whole time! enjoying itself!

an orphaned and rescued baby kangaroo :'(

if it was cheaper, I would probably have bought it...

yummy hot dog with grilled onions and BBQ sauce

you will never see any Asian dad flipping their kids like this...

I couldn't wait :)

chicken kabobs by moms - you can never go wrong with these

tasty!

We were ready to head back to the YHA around 5pm and was surprised that the place haven't shut down yet.  Just as we were ready to pull out of the parking lot, we found out why... there was a Xmas parade!  No wonder...

Santa with a beach umbrella and hot pants~

we became part of the float as we were the first ones to leave... there were kids waving at us...

Finally, we got back to the YHA and start preparing our fresh produce from the farmers' market for dinner.  That's when we realized we don't have any dressing, salt & pepper, and cooking oil... we went out to Coles again but they were already closed... luckily, there was a McDonalds nearby...  not only we got our salt and pepper covered and picked up some sugar just in case, we also got us a small bag of balsamic vinegar dressing (and free WiFi)!  To avoid embarrassment and ridicule, I bought myself an apple pie but holy crap, this thing costs AUD2.25!!!  (We still had to borrow some butter at the YHA... and got ourselves some fresh ground pepper too!  Score!)

cost as much as a block of butter 

our ridiculously lavish dinner at the YHA

We had steak, lamb chops, asparagus, salad, bread, a bottle of Shiraz, etc. all laid out in plates that occupied half a dining table when everyone else was eating either spaghetti, a simple salad, or baked wedges... it definitely felt weird and actually quite embarrassing...  (especially when my friend start taking pictures with her Olympus EP-3...) good thing we will be checking out tomorrow :P

Another movie (I think it was Rush Hour) and we are ready for bed... we will be having a super long day tomorrow...