Monday was our last full day in Perth itself, so we (or rather, C) decided to go all out and visit as many places as possible. The kids napped in the car in between our destinations, so they were always ready to play when we got to a new place.
Everyone who has gone to Perth would tell you that Caversham Wildlife Park is a must, especially if you have kids. We got there slightly after it opened at 9am, and the twins headed straight for the kiddy ride outside the gift shope while waiting for C and N to go to the toilet. They spotted some kangaroos while they were there, and got really excited.
The shows available
Trying to convince me to give them money for the ride
The twins had been asking to “see kangaroos” ever since we told them about our holiday (big mistake, never mention a holiday in advance because they have no concept of time and will keep asking, “Is it holiday already? Can see kangaroos already?”) so they were SUPER EXCITED. We walked through the aviary, and the twins couldn’t stop saying hello to all the birds that they saw. I’ve put almost all the videos on my IG Stories Highlights, so do check those out.
The Farm Show is probably the most entertaining one of the lot, so we took a slow walk through the park, before making our way to Molly’s Farm for the show. We were slightly late because the kids were way too busy feeding the kangaroos in the walkthrough area and didn’t want to leave! There’s a large container filled with kangaroo feed there, so visitors could take as much as they wanted, and go around feeding the kangaroos. N was a total pro and went off on his own to feed the kangaroos, while C and I stayed with the twins to guide them.
We didn’t manage to catch any of the other shows or talks, mainly because it was really crowded and the queues were too long, so do go to the respective venues earlier if you don’t want to miss taking photos with the koalas and wombats. The Farm Show was interesting, and we were fascinated by how the staff was able to sheer the sheep so neatly. Also, if you and/or your kids are brave enough, you can volunteer to participate in the show. The adults can try cracking a whip, while the kids can feed the lambs. After the show, there’s also an opportunity for visitors to milk a cow, and all three of our kids tried that.
Sheep shearing
The only koala that was awake when we visited
The twins liked looking at the llama at Molly’s Farm, while N spent ages looking at the reptiles at the Reptile House. He made me take photos of those which he really liked, so that he can try drawing them next time.
We shared a ham and cheese toastie from the Caversham cafe, and drove to Mandoon Estate’s Homestead Brewery for lunch. The kids’ Fish and Chips was huge, but they were all quite hungry and amazingly managed to finish most of it. There was a nice playground nearby, and they had so much fun there that they didn’t want to leave, until we told them that we were going to see more animals.
We got to Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm around 2pm, which gave us about two hours to explore the place. The kids went straight to the Nursery, where they had access to unlimited buckets of animal feed, and entered the different enclosures to feed/carry the animals there. Meimei really liked feeding the lambs, while N made it his mission to feed all the rabbits and guinea pigs he could find. A goat followed Didi around and Didi was happy to feed it directly from the bucket.
There was also a lamb/kid-feeding session at 3pm (there’s another session at 1030am), where all the children were given bottles of milk to feed the lambs/kids (I can’t quite tell, to be honest). The twins’ lamb wasn’t very keen on drinking the milk for some reason, so the staff brought them to a different section to feed a bigger one.
They then went on the tractor-train ride twice (we joined them for the second round) and the merry-go-round, before ending off the day at the playground there. They had so much fun pretending to drive the tractor in the playground! C and I took turns to walk around the other parts of the farm and to see the other animals while the kids played.
I was all ready to go back to our AirBnB, but C suggested going to Cottesloe for dinner, so we went there instead. The weather was really nice that day, so the kids were able to enjoy playing at the beach before our early dinner at il Lido nearby. The online reviews of il Lido were rather mixed, but the kids enjoyed their plain pasta in tomato sauce, and my blue swimmer crab linguine was pretty decent too.
The kids all slept really well that night, so I guess all the activities really tired them out. That gave me some time to do the laundry and pack, since we were leaving for Margaret River the next morning. I really appreciated that the AirBnB had a dryer, which allowed me to wash and dry the clothes quickly. I expected our next AirBnB to have a dryer too, but it didn’t, which made me appreciate this AirBnB at City Beach even more.
PS. Read about our first two days in Perth HERE if you haven’t already done so!
PPS. Look out for our next post about our drive to Margaret River!