Perth - Day 14 (Catalano - Giants of Mandurah)

- December 31, 2022

Catalano is an Italian dining restaurant in Baldivis. We wanted to have our dinner here few days ago but it's fully booked. So we try our luck again for brunch around 11am and we're lucky to get a place on a weekday. However, there's an hour thirty minutes limit for dining in. I ordered chicken parmy panini under their snack menu which is available from 11am to 4pm and carbonara.

Chicken parmy panini consists of crumbled chicken schnitzel topped with Napoletana sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato, mixed green and aioli. Whereas for carbonara (I chose fettuccine), comes with creamy egg, bacon, spring onion and parmesan cheese sauce. You may choose either spaghetti fettuccine, penne or tortellini for your pasta.

Carbonara is creamy, flavourful and fettuccine is cooked al dente. Chicken parmy panini is tender, slightly crispy on the outside and juicy. I like their fries too. It has a crunchy exterior and a light fluffy interior.

Catalano & Co Baldivis

Restaurant ambience

Tap water

Carbonara - $ 24

Chicken parmy panini - $ 16

Address:

Catalano & Co Baldivis

Shop 19/61 Makybe Dr,

Baldivis WA 6171,

Australia

After brunch, it's time to search for Little Lui, the Giant of Mandurah. It's an easy trail and takes around 25 minutes walking from the start point which is at the car park (3.6km round trip). Both of us were so silly that we didn't realize we walked around the Marlee Reserve! Basically we took around 40 minutes to walk around the old swamp. So we have to start all over again from the start point. In order not to make the same mistake again we study the map carefully and seems that we need to make a left turn half way through the journey. You won't get lost if you pay attention to the small arrow showing where's the direction of the Giant. Along the trail, we saw wild kangaroos and birds. Finally, we spotted Little Lui sitting under the tree. We spend around 2 hours just to look for Little Lui but it's worth the effort.

Location: Marlee Reserve (-32.471934, 115.774571)

Bindjareb country - Marlee Reserve

Trail to find Little Lui

Spotted wild kangaroos

Trail to find Little Lui

Marlee Reserve

Spotted a wild bird

Marlee Reserve

Lookout deck

Playground

Look out for the small arrow to find the Giant

Trail to find Little Lui

Look out for the small arrow to find the Giant

Trail to find Little Lui

Wooden sculpture

Spotted Little Lui

Little Lui

Spotted a wild kangaroo

Spotted a wild kangaroo sleeping under the shade

Spotted a centipede

Guide book to find all the Giants of Mandurah

We drove to Mandurah Visitor Centre thinking we have all the clues for the secret Giant but we got it all wrong. The clue is actually on the Giants itself and not the wooden sculpture! Besides that, we missed out the first Giant, Bille Bob which is located at Subiaco Theatre Gardens. Since we'll be leaving Perth soon, we asked the lady from the Visitor Centre whether she can give us the answer for the secret Giant location. She was very kind and gave us all the answer!

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Basically you just need to go to this website (https://www.giantsofmandurah.com.au/find-the-sixth-giant/) and key in the 5 correct symbols to find the secret Giant location. Jyttes Hytte is located at Lake Clifton Thrombolites, approximately 30 minutes drive (31km) from Mandurah Visitor Centre. It's a Grade 3, 1 hour hike on flat surfaces of crushed limestone and sand (3.5km round trip from the starting point which is at the car park).

This trail is more challenging than the other trails. I almost gave up half way as there's a lot of spider webs with some fairly sized red and black spiders above us. You might need a stick to keep spider webs out of your face when walking on the trail. I'm like a weirdo waving the stick up and down but I still get spider webs on my face. Then, we saw a couple who actually gave up and turn back. I told myself I'm not going to give up and yes... I made it to the end and saw Jyttes Hytte hugging a tree trunk. There's no one there except us. I was a bit worried because it's getting dark. After we took some photos of Jyttes Hytte, we quickly head back to the car park. My shoes are all covered with spider webs and hopefully none of the spiders follow me home...