TIME to SHOP!! (By Ong Rie lan)

Margaret River Chocolate Factory
Rise and shine!!
After breakfast, our first stop for the day was Margaret River Chocolate Factory. The experience at the Chocolate Factory was wonderful. When we stepped into the shop, we were welcomed by the smell of chocolate. The chocolate looked delicious and tasty. Some of the chocolate contains alcohol (Brandy Blitz). The chocolate that captured our attention was the one with the map of Australia. However, as it was too expensive (A$19.95), I did not get any.

There were also some pastilles made of white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate for customers to sample . I tasted some of them and I preferred the milk chocolate. Thus, I decided to buy some of them home. Overall, the experience at Margaret River Chocolate Factory was great!

Fremantle Market
After visiting the Caversham Wildlife Park, we departed for Fremantle Market for more shopping!
Wow!! The Fremantle Market was crowded and noisy! Perhaps it was due to the fact that it is a long weekend. (It is Foundation Day tomorrow (3 June.) There were many different kinds of shops. Some shops are selling toys, some selling clothes and some selling souvenirs. I spent quite a sum of money at the market. I spent most of it on keychains and toys. The price of the souvenirs at the market was relatively cheaper than those I found at Caversham Wildlife Park. I was glad that I did not buy any at Caversham! :)

Staying @Goodearth Hotel by Wen Yankai

We arrived at Goodearth hotel on Friday. Goodearth Hotel is a large and spacious hotel. There are various options for room sizes and number of beds. Some of us are staying in 5-bed rooms while others are staying in 6-bed rooms. The beds are comfortable and large and we sleep very well. 

There is also a living room area with a leather sofa and television. A kitchenette with a fridge, stove and microwave is convenient for us. There is also a large bathroom which is clean and easy to use. 

The only difference with the chalets at Orchard Glory Farm is that there are no electric blankets or heaters in the room hence it is very cold in the morning. However, there is still an air-conditioning unit that we can switch on to keep us warm. 

Today's Culinary Adventures by Emily Ni (2 June)

Today's international brekkie at Goodearth hotel was largely the same culinary fare as yesterday's. Apart from the usual spread of cereal, hash browns, sausages, baked beans, bread, fruits and cheese and nut platter, there were both scrambled and poached eggs and shiitake mushrooms.

We gave a shout of joy when we knew that we were having chicken burgers for lunch after the visit to Caversham Wildlife Park. We even had a choice of any non-alcoholic drink in the fridge! It was pure delight! While some of the girls were enjoying our lunch, a bee hovered nearby and gave the girls a scare. They jumped up from their seats and hid from it. It landed on some French fries. In the end, we did not eat our fries for fear that the bee might have contaminated them. 

We had the famous Cicerellos fish and chips at Fremantle, next to the ocean, for dinner. It was just delicious! 

On the whole, we had wonderful meals and I hope that Singaporean meals will be just a tasty!

@ dinner

FOOD FOOD FOOD (by Darryl Tan)

Its Friday!! What's on the menu??
In the morning, I had hash brown, baked beans and fresh cooked eggs for breakfast before checking out of Orchard Glory Farm. The food was yummy!

After breakfast, we made our way to Sawyers Valley Primary School. Ms Teo gave each of us a packet of apple juice and a packet of biscuits for tea. (It was to be consumed during recess with the pupils from Sawyers Valley Primary School.)

From Sawyers Primary School, we made our way to Perth City to have our lunch. We had our first taste of Chinese food at Han's cafe. I had rice with beef curry, cola and a bowl of ice cream. After lunch, we headed to Scitech for our lessons before heading to Good Earth Hotel, where we were be putting up in for the next three nights. After checking into our rooms, we left for dinner. It was a 6-course dinner! We had fish, vegetables, chicken, steamed eggs, tofu and sago for dessert.

On Saturday, we had our breakfast at Good Earth Hotel. There was a wide spread of food! I had apple juice, baked beans, hash browns and fresh cooked eggs. As we would be having our 'lessons' at Perth Hills for the whole day, we had packed lunch at Perth Hills. We had chicken sandwich from Subway, and of course, not forgetting cookies and a packet of Ribena. Dinner was really great!!! We had dinner at Xintiandi, one of the restaurants along the 'Chinese Street' in Perth. We had chicken, beef, tofu, vegeatables, corn soup, prawns and apples for dessert!

The food was really great so far and we look forward to the highlight- fish and chips at Fremantle Market tomorrow!

Perth Hills Centre (in the Afternoon) by Abigail Quek and Tan Yi Yang

After a scrumptious meal of Subway, we went for a 2 km walk down the Catchment Carers' Trail which would lead us to the Mundaring Weir. We were led by our instructor, Mr C. Before we started the hike, we were told to scrub our shoes to prevent dieback disease. This disease would harm the trees and if the trees are harmed, he would have to inject some medicine into each tree to make it stronger.

Throughout the hike, he taught us many things. He told us about the importance of having trees and plants at the area as they prevented soil erosion. He also demonstrated water cycle. He also showed us and pointed out many plants and animals such as trampoline spider web. He also told us the different uses of plants. Every plant has its own uses - some plants are medicines for the Aborigines while others like the soap bush help the Aborigines to "cover" their smell so that they can hunt better.He also told us about the fox baits to kill the foxes and cats as they destroy the plants.

We learnt how important it is to protect the environment. The scenery at the top of the hill was really beautiful. He told us that if we wanted to have beautiful nature like this, we have to protect the environment.

We also walked along the dam and the view was beautiful. Mr C told us that if there's a lot of water in the weir, the water level could be as high as a chimney which is 42 m.

 On my way back, we saw a family of wild kangaroos. They were very cute. I hope I would be able to go for more trips like this in the future.

Perth Hills Morning Dig for Invertebrates by Woo Shiann and Xavier

This morning, we went to Perth Hills Centre. We started off by going up the hill in our groups of 4 and found a great spot to dig for some invertebrates like centipedes, millipedes, ants and spiders. We were given a bag filled with a few magnifying glasses to get a closer look at the animals that we found, a list to tick off the animals that we found, a few Petri dishes, a hula hoop and a tube to keep the animals that we found to ensure that they did not crawl away.

Our group found about five animals altogether. An earthworm, a centipede, a millipede, a spider and an ant. We also learnt that most of the invertebrates have exoskeletons as they do not have back bones. These invertebrates were mostly found under the rock at the leaf litter community. They are important in a food chain as they were food for the predators such as birds. Earthworms help to loosen and enrich the soil. They also help to pollinate the flowering plants.  

After that, as we had some extra time left, we took a walk along the trail. We learnt about many different plants and trees and what their purposes were before we finally went for lunch.