What you need to know when travelling to Perth, Australia (Part 1)

Do you want to travel to Perth from Kuala Lumpur?  Well, that's definitely a good idea especially when you have plenty choices of low fare airlines available. For those planning to come here, I'm sharing with you few easy tips here and you're welcome to comment and ask questions about Perth =)

 1) Plan ahead to get the best bargain for your flight ticket

It's important to get the cheapest flight ever so that you could minimize your costs as lower as possible. From KL, you have a choice of either to fly with AirAsia, MAS or the latest route offered by Malindo Air. So far, the cheapest that you could get is roughly about RM800 for a return ticket by AA. Will share on some tips on saving airplane cost later some other time.

Besides getting the best bargain, it's also important as there are some aspects that need to be taken into consideration when coming to Perth. This includes peak season such as during long school holidays or public holidays as the airline ticket price might gone crazy definitely. You might also need to consider the weather season in Perth when planning to travel here. Usually it's raining and wet during Autumn that might affect your vacation here. Such a waste if you were to be here and most outdoor travelling were affected in this wet situation. Autumn is usually between March until May each year. I would suggest the most wonderful time would be early Spring, between September until November. Not that wet and most of the  time it's sunny and breezing but yeah, weather is sometimes unpredictable. This year it seems that Summer has come a bit earlier that it should be.


2) Accommodation

If you are on tight budget and travelling solo or in a small group, backpackers or small motel would be the best choice. However, when travelling with kids, you might want to choose something that is not that expensive but convenient enough for the whole family especially that little one. Happy kids would means happy parents isn't it ? =)

There are many options available, either to go through www.airbnb.com.au, www.stayz.com.au, or www.rantau.com.au and many others. Roughly, you are looking at $AUD120 and above for a decent accommodation. Prices varies due to locations, rooms and facilities available and also length of stay.  The closest your accommodation to the attraction areas such as the city centre, would be more expensive but you could save a little bit on transport budget as there are free buses available just around the city.

3) Transportation

Well, it depends on your itinerary as well. You could rent a car, straight from the airport that would be easier when you are returning it. However, there's one tip that might be good to know is by arranging your itinerary carefully.

(Choice No I)

If you were to get accommodation around the city centre, you might want to arrange to visit those attractions area closer in a day or two. Thus, you are travelling around by using the free CAT buses or trains without the need to rent a car earlier. Bear in mind that, rent a car or travelling around city using car would not the best options I would say. Parking are quite expensive and difficult especially during weekdays. And do also take note that not all accommodation places around city includes the parking. Do check on this as some only stated parking available but its the street parking. Street parking means ticket parking and most of the time it's 1P or 2P parking spaces; which means 1 or 2 hour parking only!

This also means that you have to take a taxi from airport to your accommodation, which is roughly about $AUD50-60 depends on your area.

On the 2nd or the following day, then only you opt to rent a car to visit further attractions such as Caversham Wildife etc. This can be done by choosing to rent a car from company near the city. You can even have choices to return at the same outlet you took the car or even at the airport when you're travelling home. Do check with them ya!

You are saving cost on paying parking for the first few days, fuel and hassle on finding a parking spot! =)

(Choice No 2)

Straight away rent a car from the airport and prepare for any unprepared budget such as fuel, parking etc. This could also be convenient for those travelling with small kids or even the older adults. You know your needs better =)

That's all for now. Do stay tune for the next part of our tips!

Have a great time preparing your budget and searching up high and low to minimize your budget! Perth is waiting for you! =D

Driving in Perth

Based on my experience and observations, I would say that drivers in Australia can be classified as careful drivers. Some of you might agree with my statement and some might not. This is to compare with my own country, definitely. The drivers here are very obedient to the speed limit that has been set. You can hardly see cars speeding more than 110km/h in the highway! Although there were no other cars besides you! And that explains why most used cars (5 years age) are still in a very good condition and you can worry less if you are thinking of buying one. Moreover, people here prefers used cars too! You can see many old cars on the road instead of new model cars.

But before that, you need to know on the road rules and how you can legally drive here in Australia. If you are a student or just visiting from overseas and currently holds a valid driving license in your own country, you are allowed to drive using your country's license. Further details can be found here. As for us, being a resident here, we only have 3 months to get the WA full license once we've came to reside here.

Since our country in not in the recognised list of countries that can easily transferred to WA license, we've to sit for the theory computerised test in order to get the learner's permit. And then going for the practical driving test. But, if you're from the UK or other countries, lucky you. You can ask for details from the licensing centre to get your license transferred to WA license.

What you need to know when hiring a car?

If you come to visit Perth, I'm sure one of the most important tool that you need is definitely a car. Your journey here in Perth would be easier, from one destination to another with a car. Yes, you can still rely on public transportation here as it is very reliable, but your visit here would be such a pleasure especially if travelling with children.

There are many options for car rental here in Perth. You can either book one as soon as you arrive at the airport or you can take the car in the city centre. In my opinion, it would be easier if you book from the airport as normally you have to return the car to the original place where you first get it. Some do offer other places for return, but it is with prior arrangements and some might incur costs. Please enquire first when you take the car if you choose to return at their other branch.

As for us, we choose to take from the city centre, near our apartments because we are not returning back in the near future. It would be a hassle to go back to the airport, just to return the car.

One important reminder is that please please check the condition of the car before you go and start your journey WITH the staff. I really mean it. The one that we have was just gave us the car key and a receipt; where they stated here and here that have minor scratch or marks. How on earth to we know, whether the car seat is originally black or brown leather etc. You'll never know and did not expect what they will claim on you when you return the car.

Choose whichever suits your budget and don't forget to read reviews on them just to be on the safe side.

Short-stay apartment

We stayed in an apartment in West Perth upon arrival. We've booked for about 3 weeks, hoping that we'll managed to secure a reasonable house for us later after that. Why we did that? It's quite difficult actually to secure a house from overseas (i.e. Malaysia) unless you've known somebody here to secure a house for you. But I guess, you would want to have a look of the house first before hand..

There are many options for short stay accommodation available, depends on which is suitable and convenient for you. If you come alone and on a very tight budget, you might want to consider to stay in a bulk hostel, backpackers or even rent a room in a shared house. That would costs approximately AUD30 per night or even lower. Common websites that may help you in your search would be here or even here. If you opt for a bit comfortable place, you might have to consider spending a bit higher which is about AUD85-AUD200 per night. Since the budget is higher, there would not be a big problem as there are plenty of choices to choose from. You may opt for hotels, bed-and-breakfast or even fully furnished apartments. The one that we had was the latter, more or less like a studio apartment. A double bed, a kitchen and a toilet complete with all the utensils that you've think of! You may put this apartment in one of your choices =)

The one that we stayed is quite convenient - very near to the Perth CBD, free buses around town. Since it is located nearby the city, you can have anything just within 5 kms - easy to register your bank account, shopping, medicare and centrelink registration or even car hire company. All that you need! =)

Fly to Aussie

After you've settled with your visa, you definitely need an airline ticket. From Malaysia, you have plenty to choose from. But the most commonly known amongst Malaysian are either MAS or Air Asia. If you opt for a cheaper one, Air Asia is definitely your choice. If you are lucky enough, you might be able to get their cheapest fare during their sales or offer; which is normally difficult to get one. You can register to get the latest offer from them if you want here so that you wouldn't miss their offer via their newletter direct to your email address.

As for us, we bought ours during their airline flight ticket offer online. Managed to get about RM520 one way per adult. Not sure whether this is consider cheap or not as the previous ticket that we bought in 2008 was about RM1000+ return per adult. More or less the same isn't it? Oh, mind you that those includes meals on board, allowance baggage of 20kg, insurance and also booking seats.

Journey with AirAsia was great. Not bad. Quite smooth, I would say. Meals on board was okay. As expected, malaysian meals that we had was nasi lemak while kids meal for our girl was mushroom pizza, which she enjoyed eating it very much. Inclusive in the kids meal was a pack of oreo biscuits, a packet of ribena, small packet of kitkat and also a small jigsaw puzzle of airasia aircraft. That costs us RM15.

We arrived earlier that ETA about half an hour early. Departed about 12 midnight and safely landed at 5 in the morning at Perth International Airport.

Oh yes, for AirAsia; there are several other stops for you depends on where you are heading to in Australia. You may opt for Gold Coast or even Melbourne besides Perth.

Perth: Here we come!

In less than 2 weeks, will be arriving in Perth insyaAllah! Hoping for the best for our family - education, career, family etc. May Allah bless and guide us to the correct path everyday; every single seconds insyaAllah.

This blog will serves as our journey heading towards Perth, our life there and insyaAllah will try to provide as much info as possible for the benefits of all especially those planning to come and visit Australia, mainly Perth.

Enjoy your journey here! =)