Perth.
I know this place is definitely not your first choice of country to travel to nor will it be on your bucket list. But. It should. It really should.
Well, when we first chose Perth it was because it was the cheapest compared to Melbourne or Sydney but we wanted to go to Australia (well, more like I wanted to show le bf, Eve and TY on how beautiful is Australia)
We decided right from the front that this will be a budget trip because we stingy like that lol and I think RM3500 is totally workable!
If you're there to soak in the culture and open your mind plus feast on the magnificent view, Perth is totally for you.
We all agreed that this trip has really been an eye opener for us and our perspective in life changed.

Our Itinerary goes like this:
Day 1 Perth
Day 2 Perth
Day 3 Perth- Yancep Lagoon- Lancelin- Geraldton
Day 4 Geraldton- Monkey Mia
Day 5 Monkey Mia- Kalbarri
Day 6 Kalbarri- Pinnacles- Perth
Day 7 Fremantle
Day 8 Rottnest Island
Day 9 Perth

Total mileage used? 1832km
WOW. Details on the trip will be in another post okay. As it will be pretty lengthy.

I'll admit that it was kind of packed and tiring but we only had 9 days and wanted to go to Monkey Mia to feed dolphins! A once-in-a-lifetime experience so why not?
So average drive per day is around 450km which is around 4 hours drive?
But totally worth it.

Details on the expenses for this trip as below:

Australia Visa
Don't forget to get your Visa to Australia!
https://www.easyeta.com.au/
This link has the cheapest visa, which is RM30 per pax? Dirt cheap if you compare to others which are like double or more.
Checked it's authenticity and seeing that I'm alive and well, totally legit.

Flights
We bought our flight tickets during AirAsia's RM0 air fare at RM600 to and fro (Could have been RM550 only but we wanted to fly on Saturday, minus an extra day of leave we had to take)
Plus luggage 20kg to and 30kg fro for 2 pax
Total flight cost RM725 per pax


We chose to be there during Autumn because we love a good chilly weather
Pros: Sweather weather!
Cons: Not much of a view during our road trip as the trees and flowers were all asleep. Best time for a roadtrip in WA is Sept- December when all the wild flowers are blooming!

Stays
We choose Airnb as our accommodation choice as we wanted to be more private and to cook in.
I know some of you are probably not a fan of Airbnbs but you totally should! Just go through all the comments on the house/room profile. If all good comments, most probably because it is!

Our stay:
Day 1 & 2- Subiaco
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19086884
Total costs: RM270 per pax
Pros: This area is really quiet and the place itself is amazing
The others talked about how this place is the best among all of the places we stayed
Cons: 10 minute walk to the nearest CAT bus stop (which I will talk about later at transportation)


Day 3- Geraldton
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/16805468
Total cost: RM154 per pax
Pros: Lovely outdoor porch where we had our meals
Cons: Slightly out of Geraldton town and quite dark at night

Day 4- Monkey Mia
RAC Monkey Mia Resort
If you're in Monkey Mia, I highly recommend you to stay here as you get to really soak in Monkey Mia. We took the two bunk beds room with sharing toilets but everything is so clean you need not worry
Total cost: RM67 per pax
Pros: The sunset view is awesome and early morning you need not rush for the dolphin feeding as it is just 2 minutes away
Cons: The food expenses here will be higher as there is no grocery store here unless you buy bread and eat in? But we splurged and had a couple of nice meals here while soaking in Monkey Mia

Day 5- Kalbarri
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17912332
This place is so underrated if you just see the pictures on Airbnb
It was the most surprising stay as our expectations were quite low but we were shocked when we reached and the host was so nice and provided us milk and frozen croissants
Total costs: RM132 per pax
Pros: Free milk and croissants and the location is great
Cons: You'd have to entertain the dogs next door! lol they love playing catch

Day 6- Day 8- East Perth
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1798549
Total cost: RM265 per pax
Pros: The location to the CAT stop is 2 minutes away
Cons: The place itself is not really clean compared to all the others

Transportation:
We basically just spent on the car rental for our roadtrip
Total rental for 4 days + insurance is RM307 per pax
Plus petrol RM300 per pax (because le bf was speeding, speeding means more petrol)

Other days in Perth is by using the free CAT (Central Area Transit) bus service
There are a total of four different colors of CAT bus servicing different area
The first two days we took the red CAT while the remaining days in Perth we took the yellow CAT so it's good to find stays nearby a CAT stop for convenience




Transportation from the airport we took the airbus 380 to Williams street then red CAT to our Airbnb
This bus stop is just outside the Perth airport (Terminal 1) so it's really cheap and convenient
Costing: AUD4.70 per pax


There's no grab here so you will have to download the Uber app here, just in case it's too late and there are no more CAT buses services available.
Per trip will cost around AUD7 if in the CBD area.

Wifi router
We chose TravelRecommend as I had always used them and their connection in Melbourne was great
Perth, not so. haha
But alternatively you can also get a SIM card with data for just AUD10 from Optus
If I'd known it earlier, maybe we won't get the wifi router
Costing: RM65 per pax

Expenses
Our expenses is mostly for meals- cooked in and dine in plus snacks/ midnight snacks
Woolworths and Coles is your best friend, but they close quite early at 5/6pm so sometimes we had to get our groceries from Good Grocer and 7Eleven, slightly more pricier but still.
Oh, the luxury we have here in Malaysia to have stores open until 10pm
And guys being guys, they eat, A lot. And non stop.
And we kind of splurge after Monkey Mia so *shrugs
So if it's just girls, I think the expenses will be much lower.
Food expenses: RM1000 (if converted doesn't sound that much AUD330)

Tickets
On the second day we took the Perth city Hop On Hop Off bus to explore the city
Costing: RM105 (AUD35)

Kalbarri National Park
Costing: RM39 per car (AUD13)

Lancelin San Dunes Board Rental
Costing: RM30 for one board, we had two so it's RM60 (AUD10 for one)

Rottnest Island Ferry
Costing: RM157 per pax (AUD52 after a 15% discount if you have a "Hello Perth" visitor booklet)

Rottnest Island Bike Rental
Costing: RM48 per pax (AUD16 for afternoon rentals 12pm-3pm)

train tickets
Costing: RM14.10 per trip (AUD4.70)

So, with a budget of RM3500 to a western country? Totally worth it.
Try it sometime?