Kings Park and Perthian Adventures

And ramen!
And so with our travels in the country done, we made our way to looking at the sights of Perth and the joys it beholds.  Since it was a flower tour we were conducting, it goes without saying that we had to head off to Kings Park’s Wildflower Festival!


I like Kings Park.  It has history and really really huge old trees.  In fact one of them is right at the entrance.

Right at the start of the park is a nice little lookout, as Kings Park (which will now be referred to as KP) looks over the city of Perth.

The weather wasn’t too bad really.  A bit windy, but considering how I’d driven through a reasonably harsh storm the night before, I thought we had managed to do quite well for ourselves.

KP’s Wildflower Festival manages to capture flowers from each region of the state in one little area.  Sooooo, why did I spend the last week driving across half the state when I could have just come here?  Because it just isn’t the same.  And they didn’t have any wreath flowers.

Since we were a bit late in getting up and there via public transport, we decided a prudent step would be to fuel up and then go on the vast walk watching the flowers.  So, wanting a seat and seeing the limited options for foods, we headed into a rather nice looking cafe.  Assessing the situation and amount of people there, we decided that to speed up our lunch, an order of coffees and sandwiches would be the quickest way to get sustenance.

Well, the theory was sound, as the sandwiches were available and the Pizza slice that was ordered was there too.  The only ‘cooking’ required was the coffees and warming of the pizza. 

Well, it was a long wait. 

Our coffees got delivered after about 10 minute wait.  We then slowly drank our coffees, assuming the food would be along soon.  After all, we just had our drinks delivered how long could it be?

And then some more waiting.

And some more waiting.  We ordered at about 1pm.


ZOMG!  Sandwiches and a warmed up Pizza slice!  HUZZAH!  This was after I had asked the staff two times to check on our order.  They explained that they were very busy.  Well I could see and understand that, but I think it was bad form to have our coffees arrive 15 minutes before our food.  There was a lot of wind as well and due to slow coffee consumption (as we were waiting) the last sips of coffee were cold.

So, there we have it, a 30 odd minute wait for some sandwiches and a slice of pizza.  They weren’t all that great, but my taste buds may have been biased by the wait.

Bad form Botanical Cafe, bad form…

Moving on now, lets have a look at some pretty flowers.  Oh there were so many to look at as well.

I must admit I was getting a bit flowered out by this stage…  Oh a welcome distraction!


Ratchet's little chum was spotted.

I soon found a new craze.  Which I call, Tai Chi-Photography!

You will need, yourself and a camera.

But really the camera is optional.

The form is like this, bend you knees in a slight wu chi style and push your arms out the front.  Hold the camera in both hands, about a foot and a half from your face, looking through the screen for the picture.  Press the button.

Here is a perfect model of the form:

There are different types of this stance.

The crouching and standing.

And the upwards.

Naturally it is more fun in groups.

This one also has the rare usage of the downwards shot stance.

It can be done on the move and in any area that photography is allowed.

As you can see, it is easy, good for concentration and had me laughing so hard that I had trouble catching the photos.  This became my mission for the day. 

Anyway, back to more flower shots.

You silly Pom pom head!

Incredible amounts of colour were on display, it was very beautiful!!

And here’s some more…  Phew.

The 500 year old Boab tree.  Moved to KP as it was in the way of some Highway somewhere.  I remember that this was a massive undertaking, hopefully it will take root in KP.  It isn’t looking the best, but it does have nuts/fruit on it.  The blurb says that it will take a number of years for the tree to gather its senses after the move.

And that was it for the good Old KP.  It was getting late in the evening so we headed back to the city for some dinner. 

On the Esplanade, a lovely CHOGM flower sign had been made.

Aww lovely.

We walked around town for a bit, but it was pretty boring, looking for some foods.  We ended up going to Arigataya.  A place that serves GOOD ramen!  HURRAH!  And so off we went to Roe St In Northbridge.

Hmm, man I love me some Ramen and here is the good stuff baby!!



Oh yes! look at that, it’s making me hungry right now!

And they had gyoza as well!!  the perfect accompaniment to a lovely bowl of ramen!!
 
The ramen was FANTASTIC!  The gyoza was a tad lacking though…  Needed to be fried a bit longer for more crispiness.  I am told that they actually make their own noodle here.  I WILL come back for more though.  We finished it off with a bit of green tea ice-cream. Mmm mm mmmm!

Then a slow walk back to the hotel, where I spied more Christmas decos in shops, remember when I did this holiday, it was still September!

Thus our companions were snug in their hotel and we headed off home.  It was a long day, with a LOT of walking.  I dread to think about how many KMs I walked today…

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