I think a sign that you just had a really good vacation is when after you return from it, your mind keeps wandering back to the memories whenever it’s idle.
And I’ve caught myself in those moments many a times for the past three days.
It will wander back to looking at Matt driving (he drove manual – totally yums to me!), lying on the beach with him, us laughing at each other’s silly antics, watching the TV together in the hotel, strolling hand in hand and hanging with his family…
Matt and I arrived in Perth on 2 Feb to a temperature of 37 degree Celsius. As we were walking to Matt’s bro, Rob’s, car, I was just going “OMG, OMG. My skin.” Matt was delighted at the hot temperature, saying we should go to the beach right away.
However, as the sun finally sets at 9pm, the weather took for a extreme change. It was actually really chilly! I was freezing during our walk back to our hotel in Fremantle and made Matt shielded me from the strong winds.
It wasn’t really a vacation where it was just the two of us. We met Rob and Kristy for dinner for most nights and after his parents arrived on the 5th, it was dinner every night with the family. On Friday night, I finally had my first Australian barbie that Rob and Matt kept telling me about. Rob got these yummy thick pieces of steak filets which I just stared at for a few seconds. They were sooo beautiful!
So while Rob was at the barbie pit, Matt and his Pops watched the cricket game that was on between New Zealand and Australia. Kristy and Matt’s mum were mucking around the kitchen, making fresh salad (I swear it’s the best homemade salad I ever tasted!) and I was just going around being little miss photographer with my Nikon.
I can’t deny being nervous about meeting Matt’s parents for the first time but thank god his dad was such a cool and funny one. He’s so funny that he cracked me up all the time and seeing how Matt and his Pops dealt with the mum’s nagging, it was hilarious.
The four of us drove to Mandurah (a town that’s an hour drive away from Perth) on the Hyundai Getz Matt rented for five days. On the way back, both Matt’s dad and I were snoozing in the car. And while I drifted in from unconsciousness to semi-consciousness, I could still hear Matt’s mum telling Matt to slow down and etc. Matt was just going “Yes Mum, yes Mum.” Hahahaha
Cottesole Beach
But that said, his mum was really sweet too. Kept wanting to pay for every single thing cos she didn’t want her son to spend any more than he did already.
It was nice to be able to know his family beyond face value. I chatted quite a bit to Kristy as well while the men were out in the balcony of Rob’s and Kristy’s place, doing their manly thing by having scotches and cigars.
Even chatted to Gemma, Matt’s younger sis, on the phone for several minutes. She was so thoughtful to get me a necklace from Mexico, where she did a two-month trip to Cuba and Mexico. The fact she even thought of me – that was really sweet. And for the men, she got a shit load of cigars for them.
Kristy told me how she and Rob met on a blind date while I told her about me and Matt. It was funny exchanging stories, especially knowing how the boys would never chat about such stuff between themselves.
On Tuesday night when Kristy went for her yoga class, Rob, Matt and I went for a Texas 5 Poker game tournament at an Irish pub in Subiaco (a suburb in Perth, 3 train stops from the City). It’s free of charge (just sign up for a $10 one-year membership) and you just play against other players, using chips that are of no real value.
It’s organised by WAPL (think it means Western Australia Poker League) and it’s real fun cos it means chickens like me can finally play real poker! There were 32 of us starting out with four poker tables. I was, of course, the first to be booted out among the three of us. BUTTTT, I did win a few games and one of which, I got a straight flush. :D
We started playing at about 6:30pm and Rob was on winning strike, having booted out four players within one game. When 9pm rolled around, he and another guy were the last two standing. Matt and I were tired but it was really interesting to watch on. Rob lost to the other guy in the end but we thought he did pretty well, considering he had printed the rules of the game before we left the house. hahahaha
After dinner on the second night with Rob and Kristy, we went to check out the sunset (at 9pm, yes) in the Fremantle area. Rob, Kristy and I were posing for a pic, smiling quietly when suddenly, before Matt could snap the pic, a loud fart was let out. It was Rob but he accused poor Kristy. I swear, the Herd men have a way of pushing the blame to their women.
All of us bursted into laughter for a good few minutes and we finally posed for a pic properly but with huge grins on our faces:
It was simple and funny moments like this that mostly made up of my vacation with Matt and his family.
There was also this ‘adventure’ where Matt was the driver and I’m the runner and I checked out rate and availability of 15 hotels in the City within two hours. Almost every hotel was fully booked due to some tennis game taking place in Perth. We bunked at Rob’s and Kristy’s for two nights but when the parents arrived, we got a hotel instead.
And we finally found non-exorbitant rates at The Melbourne, which is apparently the first and only heritage hotel in Perth.
‘Heritage’ is a nice word. It, of course, also means the hotel is very old. But it wasn’t creepy or anything. In fact, the room was really cosy and the bed really comfy. Plus it has like the best channel ever! It was showing My Best Friend’s Girl, The Women and this new show with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. They’re all so new!
I also had a happy time checking out the fast-fashion stores in Perth such as Sportsgirl and Supre. Witchery is really quite lovely but also really expensive! Thanks to the low Aussie dollar, all my purchases were lower than the Singapore dollar. WOOT!
These are Matt’s and my shoe purchases. No prizes for guessing which belongs to who! But I was proud of my boyfriend having finally joined the Onitsuka Tiger sneakers club. It was a damn good deal to miss too, at A$99.
Remember those swirly Havies I posted earlier? It was about S$40 in HK while it was only A$24.90 in Perth! Yipeee. And I got the first pair, which is the Sportsgirl copy of a pair of Balenciaga sandals. It was the very same Balenciaga I was eyeing when I got my Givenchy from On Pedder three weeks ago. I’m happy to settle for this at 1/10 of the designer piece.
The brown one was Matt’s pick at A$24.90. Nice, simple and comfy! The black studded one was the same exact design that I was hunting all over from the Steve Madden stores in HK! It was sold out everywhere and when I saw it in Harbour Town from Perth, I was doing a little dance.
I also bought some baking materials that I couldn’t find in HK (or too lazy to find). I was at Woolies and I was looking up and down the baking aisle with an audile “wow”.
The luggages between Matt's parents, him and me on Rob's and Kristy's living room floor.
Matt and I were also in love with Subiaco, the lovely suburb that Rob and Kristy stayed in. It wasn’t the typical neighbourhood I’d seen in Australia. Every house is new, no peeling paint, no defacing of the walls and it’s so clean. Rob’s and Kristy’s place was a two-minute walk from the train station and it’s so peaceful, quiet and safe at night.
Matt said Subiaco is apparently the Bukit Timah of Perth but looks-wise, it’s so different. It looks very Stepford Wives kinda neighbourhood. Every house is cute and tidy. As if a little child who loves his colours was the town planner. “Hmmm, I like blue. Let’s put this house here!”
Matt was also awfully doting and irritating at the same time. Doting cos he took really good care of me throughout the entire trip but irritating cos he refused to let me get him the Canon G10 he got for himself eventually.
I was thinking for the longest time what to get him for our upcoming first-year anniversary. And even before Matt had checked out the G10, I knew he would love it.
But when we checked out the first photography shop in the City and he decided to get it, I was trying means and ways to pay for it. I pouted, threw tantrums, got angry, got whiny and he just refused to let me get it. UGH. Spoil my plans only!!! Should have just gotten it without asking him to check it out. How I know he would get it immediately right!!!
Now, he has the nice gadgets, with his Nokia E71 and now, this Canon G10. I wanna steal them both!!!
All along, I’ve always thought vacations are luxuries, not necessities but it’s only after the Perth trip that I realised that vacations are actually really crucial for our sanity.
Before I left for the trip, I had been constantly battling negative thoughts on work, friendships and living alone in HK. When my mind was idle, it swayed to these negative thoughts. They made me angry, resentful and sad. When I was back in Singapore during the Chinese New Year period, there were times I was just so overwhelmed with sadness. I talked about them with a few friends and Matt but I knew it was down to myself in the end.
However, there wasn’t a single moment when my mind wandered to the ‘dark side’ in Perth and I didn’t realise that till I was back in Singapore on Sunday. The thought surprised me pleasantly and things have been on the upside these few days. :)
It was such a simple trip but it was all I needed.
Thanks Baby, for being a big part of it!
