After last year's trip to the Queensland and Victoria territories, I didn't expect to be back in Australia again so soon. This time, we were headed to Western Australia – Perth, to be exact. It is for our company trip, so it is a pretty short one where I only have a day and a half to explore the area.

To me, Perth feels like a city that's caught in between times. You find the old, preserved heritage buildings (mostly converted into business establishments or coffee joints) and the modern high-rise structures, sitting side-by-side one another in stark contrast. I find this quirk rather interesting, but also very hopeful as Perth seems to be blossoming into something pretty amazing.

I'm so glad to note that all the wonderful nature landscapes have been nicely preserved, in true Aussie style. There is a beautiful river cutting alongside the city and a few nice man-made lakes too. No stray animals in sight, other than the birds. And there are a LOT of birds. Seagulls, mostly. Followed by pigeons and the occasional ibis (ugh, evil-looking thing) and ravens. My point is, you'll find birds everywhere you go, and God forbid if you ever decide to dine by the water along the port – seagulls everywhere waiting to steal your unguarded fish & chips! It was like a scene out of Finding Nemo, I kid you not.

Overall, it was a very fun trip (bloody cold at night though) and we drank a lot of champagne, ate a lot, shopped some, visited an adult store, had gelato and walked a lot. Perth, I will be back for you soon..

I thoroughly enjoyed our excursion to the Fremantle Market – apparently it only opens on the weekend so lucky us, we managed to catch a few good street performances and better yet, window shop. I did eventually end up buying some organic sleep tea from a specialty tea shop (there's only one there, look for it!) and also two bars of lovely handmade soap from a soap shop called Tilley. There were so many other intriguing things to see, and I absolutely love the market section. See if you can spot that cheese rhyme below, from a cheesy cheese shop. We also managed to find a few secondhand book stores in the area (though secondhand books are not exactly cheap).