Part 5 Melbourne: Day 6, 7 & 8 (26-28Nov09)

This would be the last part of the trip update and it would be long to cover 3 days.

Day 6: Thurs 26Nov09 San Remo & Philip Island

For Philip Island, we purchased online for the “PICNIC DEAL 3 PARKS PASS” which was AUD 134.75 (for 2 Adults + 1 Child) and consisted:
• Afternoon or morning tea at Churchill Island
• Entrance to Churchill Island (10am-5pm)
• Entrance to Koala Conservation Centre (10am – 5pm)
• Entrance to the Nobbies Centre (11am – 1 hour before sunset)
• Lunch at the Nobbies Centre (two course and drinks)
• General penguin viewing at the Penguin Parade (Visitor Arrival Time in Nov 715pm)

Our aim was to arrive there to have our late morning tea at Churchill Island and late lunch (early dinner) in Nobbies Centre.

PaPa took the wrong turning because we misinterpreted the GPS instruction that we ended up rounding the Melbourne City. We were late for the morning tea that Mummy called to inform them and they were nice to tell us it was ok to extend the timing.

By the time we arrived San Remo which was located just before the bridge crossing to Philip Island, we decided to stop to let the kids see the ‘Pelican Feeding’ which was suggested by the Customer Service in Melbourne City (our 2nd day in Melbourne). ‘Pelican Feeding’ is free to view daily at 12pm. JL enjoyed watching the big pelicans and even asked for some money to contribute towards taking care of the pelicans. The lady who fed the pelicans was also doing on volunteer basis.

Then we drove across the bridge to Philip Island and from there we went to Churchill Island. The staffs were so nice and immediately got us a nice spot to side facing a beautiful countryside enjoying our coffee and scones. JL was enjoying his hot chocolate and scone too. AL was sharing the hot chocolate with JL when one of the staff decided to make another hot chocolate for AL in a small cappuccino cup for free. This was our first meal in Melbourne which was not home-cooked.

The staff was nice to call Nobbies Centre to request the kitchen to extend the hours for us so that we would have a dinner (rather than early dinner) just before the Penguin Parade at night.

We had a walk and stroll at the countryside and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We visited the Amess House, orchard and the farm area. In the farm, there were a lot of activities which included ‘pat baby animal’, milking cow, blacksmith demo, sheep shearing demo and working dogs with sheep.

After that, it was about to rain heavily that we had to postpone the visitation to the Koala Conservation Centre to tomorrow.

We went and check-in at Cowes Holiday Unit. The owner built a self-contained 2-bedroom just behind his own house. It was not a hotel but it was a home will full facilities. JL decided he wanted to sleep by himself in another room.

We took our shower and then drove to Nobbies Centre to have our dinner. The view was spectacular that we decided that we would drop by this place tomorrow early morning before Koala Conservation Centre since it was late and rainy. We had Fish & Chip, coffee and a slice of cake. JL had his hot chocolate.

After dinner, we went to the Penguin Parade to walk around trying to understand how the work being done to preserve this little penguins and then proceeded to the beach to view the coming back of the penguins. The benches were wet because it was raining heavily. JL decided to sit on the sand in front to have a better view of the penguins. We were walking along the wooden paths built surrounding the penguins’ homes. JL was running along following to see where the penguin went. After that, JL wanted a mini penguin soft toy and we bought for him As for AL, she ‘geli’ seeing and touching soft toy that we ended up didn’t buy for her.

We went back to zzzzzzz…………………………..

Day 7: Fri 27Nov09 Philip Island & Puffing Billy
Mummy woke up early to cook breakfast and also packed our lunch (yes, picnic lunch again after a nice lunch and dinner which we paid with the package). We sat down as family and had our breakfast. Before we left, we cleaned up the Holiday Unit and returned the key.

That morning, we went to pump petrol to the car and went to Nobbies Centre to have a morning walk.

From there, we went to the Koala Conservation Centre to see Koalas and we also saw wallabies.

We had to cancel our visit to the Chocolate Factory in Philip Island and also we supposed to go to Myuna Farm in Dandenong was also cancelled because the slot was taken for Koala Conservation Centre (which we didn’t make it the day before due to rain and late arrival).

We went to Belgrave to catch Puffing Billy- Steam Train. The time we went there was no Thomas Train. We decided to purchase the tickets from Belgrave to Lakeside. It was a long but scenic travel. We had our picnic lunch of pasta and salad at the picnic bench at Lakeside. From Lakeside we took a short stroll and catch the return train where the kids took their nap in the train.

From Belgrave we drove back to Aunty LL’s home and we had dinner together at home.

Day 8: Fri 28Nov09 Victoria Market

 

We planned to have easy going day before we catch the 1am flight on Sunday. We took a train to the city and stopped in front of Victoria Market. Aunty LL and YH joined us along. We drove and parked the cars at Aunty LL’s aunty’s house and took the train. Aunty LL’s uncle was nice to drive PaPa to purchase the tickets from a nearby shop while the rest of us sat at the train stop.

The Victoria Market was amazing with lots of variety of goodies from food to clothes to shoes. PaPa got himself a leather belt. We also purchased some avocado and mangoes which was selling by box. We would be sharing with Aunty LL. By noon, everything especially food would be on sale at a very very cheap price. For example the big box of mangoes or avocado (or any fruits) were selling for less than AUD10 (Mummy could not remember the price).

Then, we took the train back and drove to a town where the set-up of the shop lots was similar to Asian. A lot of the shops and market stalls owners were from Asian countries. We had a very nice Dim Sum made by Hong Kong chefs.

After lunch, we went back home and started to do some packing. We spent the whole evening and night at home. Aunty LL made sushi for dinner which was lovely. Uncle KM came back from his outstation and followed PaPa out to pump petrol the rented car and returned the car back to the car rental. The agreement was we would take and return the car with full petrol tank. About 10+plus, Uncle KM drove us to the airport. At the airport, we started to pack the carseats into the box and send for extra plastic wrap in the airport.

We walked around the airport and JL was too tired that he slept even before we boarded the flight. The staffs were nice to allow us to enter the airplane first and to make sure we settled down before the other passengers came on board.

It was tiring but fun….Overall the weather was ok when we were there. The temperature was not as high as in Sydney and Perth during the same time we were there. Mummy's colleagues who were in Sydney and Perth at the same time we were in Melbourne were hit by high temperature and it was extremely hot. If not, Mummy would be worried about everyone skin and trying to get for zit remedies.

How much was the whole trip? Email Mummy for details....

We planned to go Melbourne again when the kids were bigger to cover other places which we didn't manage to go especially Great Ocean Road and Yarra Valley. Hopefully, by then, they would learn to appreciate the scenery and view of that few places that we didn't go during this trip.

Thanks sooo much for all the great hospitality by Aunty LL, Uncle KM and YH…We will miss you all a lot. Hope to see you soon…. Take care.

Part 1 Melbourne: Planning before the Trip
Part 2 Melbourne: Day 1 & 2 (21-22Nov09)Part 3 Melbourne: Day 3 (23Nov09)

Part 4 Melbourne: Day 4 & 5 (24-25Nov09)

 

Part 4 Melbourne: Day 4 & 5 (24-25Nov09)

Day 4: Tues 24Nov09 Bacchus Marsh

 

We went to Kmart to get our handphone charger because the charger PaPa brought was faulty. We bought some biscuits and box milks at SaveWay.

We then took a slow drive to Bacchus Marsh and our first destination was the Information Centre. The staffs were so helpful that they even helped to call some of the places we wanted to visit and they suggested to call those places to confirm whether it was open or not.

It was about lunch time, PaPa ask for the nearest public park to have our picnic. They suggested Maddingley Park not far from the Information Centre, it was a nice big park with a nice wooden playground. PaPa cooked pasta that morning. So, our picnic lunch was pasta and salad. After lunch, again both kids went to play in the playground. It was a nice playground made of solid wood.

After lunch, our first planned stop was to pick-up some cherries in Paynes Orchards but unfortunately it was closed maybe due to no more cherries to pick-up because last weekend there was a Fruit Bazaar in town. So we went to the Strawberry Orchard. After picking, the kids ate some strawberries in the car while PaPa and Mummy were looking for the Witchmount winery (suggested by the Information Centre staffs). The address given was incorrect because the GPS leaded us to the wrong place. It was a residential house. We continued to go straight and eventually found the place at the other end of the road. The winery factory was closed but the guy, Adrian was very nice to show JL how wine was made. He took us out to the vineyard to show the grapes plants and the processing factor for the whole process from pressing to fermenting to bottling and innaly labeling the wine. PaPa and Mummy did some wine tasting after that tour.
We drove back to Aunty LL’s house. Since we were early, we went to Coles Market to get some grocery and that night PaPa cooked pasta for dinner. We ate with Aunty LL and YH because Uncle KM went outstation that morning.

Day 5: Wed 25Nov09 Sovereign Hill

We drove to Ballarat to visit the famous Sovereign Hill, a recreated goldfields township. We started the journey early because it was located quite far.

We arrived there early in the morning. We managed to get a coupon from one of the brochure collected from the Information Counter in Melbourne City which we could use as free entrance for JL. So, we only paid for two adults tickets.

We walked the whole area and it was quite a big place. JL experienced playing bowling in the olden days where everything was made of wood even the bowling ball. Besides that, he also witnessed how gold was made into a gold bar at the Gold Smelting Works. All of us went through an underground tunnel of Red Hill Mine to see how gold was mined underground. It was dark and cold. We also saw how candles, boiled-sweets and wheelwrighting(wooden wheels were handmade there all in the 1850s style. Then there was a marching session by the Redcoat Soldiers.

JL tried to mine for gold and tried a few locations along the stream. He had more fun playing with the spade to scoop the sand then to panning the metal pan for gold.

We had our picnic lunch outside the Sovereign Hill next to the souvenirs shop. It was good thing that the kids were not fussy of the food even though it was almost the same food. We promised JL that when we have enough budget next time, we would not have so many picnic packed food during our holidays.

After a late lunch, we went to the Gold Museum which was located just across the road since the entrance fees was inclusive when we purchase the entrance fee to Sovereign Hill. It was an interesting place with a few plasma televisions mounted on plasma mounts to display some of the historical events besides the photos on the history of the Gold Town.

After that, we drove back to Aunty LL’s house. We ate dinner cooked by Aunty LL that night.

• 
  
  Part 1 Melbourne: Planning before the Trip
• 
  
  Part 2 Melbourne: Day 1 & 2 (21-22Nov09)
• 
  
  Part 3 Melbourne: Day 3 (23Nov09)

Part 3 Melbourne: Day 3 (23Nov09)

Day 3: Mon 23Nov09 Melbourne City

In the morning, we took bus than tram to the city. Upon arrival, we went to the Information Centre to re-check our itinerary for the next few days. It was crowded at the Information Centre. After that, we went and sat at the Yarra River for our picnic lunch. We ate bread with tuna that we bought earlier. We also had fresh salad. After the fast meal, JL and AL played at the playground for a while. Then we took a slow stroll in the city and PaPa decided that we walked to the Melbourne Museum instead of taking the tram. It was a long walk. As so happen the Melbourne Museum was located behind The Royal Exhibition Building located in Carlton Gardens. The day when we visited the museum, the main hall was packed with students who were rushing to the hall for their exams. Melbourne City had many types of museums.

The Melbourne Museum was interesting where it displayed a lot about dinosaurs, animals and even science (including parts of human body etc…). We paid the entrance fees for the adults only as it was free for kids. Besides that, the worker even loan us another stroller for free to be used in the museum. We were busy looking after AL who was so excited running around because we were worried she might get lost or even accidentally bang on some of the display items which were not covered. We would not want to be caught via the security cameras.

After museum, we walked down the shopping mall road (Bourke Street) to go to the tram stop. The shopping mall was not that big. We did not realize that we actually even walked past the ChinaTown area. We were tired of walking and went back in the evening. We had dinner cooked by Aunty LL.

That night, Uncle KM sent PaPa to the airport to collect car from Hertz. It took PaPa a few hours to come back that we were worried whether he got lost or having trouble using the GPS. Then later we found that PaPa was waiting for 4-door Toyota Yaris to be returned because the ready available car was a 2-door Toyota Yaris. Hertz wanted to give a free upgrade to a bigger sedan car which PaPa rejected because PaPa did not want to pay for extra petrol/fuel consumption- bigger car higher consumption.

• 
  
  Part 1 Melbourne: Planning before the Trip
• 
  
  Part 2 Melbourne: Day 1 & 2 (21-22Nov09)

Part 2 Melbourne: Day 1 & 2 (21-22Nov09)

Day 1: Sat 21Nov09

Our flight was at 2135 and we booked a Perdana because normal budget taxi would be too small for us. For this trip, we didn’t use PaPa’s regular taxi driver. The taxi arrived about 630pm to fetch us to the airport. The booth managed to fit one medium bag, one cabin sized bag and a stroller. Mummy sat behind with JL and AL plus a box which consisted of convertible carseat and booster seat.

Yes, we checked-in both carseat and booster seat because car rental was not able to rent us just the carseats on the day which we were not renting the car. There was a center which could rent everything, for example carseats, strollers, baby cot etc but the problem was Mummy got to trouble Aunty LL to collect it during office hour which we didn’t want to trouble her. Since we only had 2 luggage (1 medium+1 cabin size), we opt to just checked-in with the box. PaPa managed to pack all the clothes using several vacuum bags.

We reached KLIA and checked-in. We got the first row reserved because Mummy called earlier to book for bassinet and food for toddler (JL) and baby (AL). Then we had a light bite in McDonald then we went for a slow walk and took the train to another terminal. AL enjoyed this time as compared to the earlier trip to Singapore because this time she could walk and point everywhere.

Once in the airplane, JL was enjoying watching movie. The worst was this flight would transit at Jakarta (just started recently). When the plane landed in Jakarta, everyone sat on board about one hour doing nothing. JL got bored that he slept off while waiting to continue his movie. We requested the air stewardess to keep his food until he woke up.

The meals arrangement was not that good. Once take off from KLIA, we had a heavy meal and than we landed in Jakarta. Then the place took off for Melbourne and we had another heavy meal that Mummy had trouble finishing up the meal. After that, when about to land Melbourne, there was no proper meal and we were quite hungry. JL was ok because his second meal (after the take-off from Jakarta) was kept for him and he only ate before we landed in Melbourne, so the timing was just nice.

AL slept from Jakarta till Melbourne with occasionally woke up for breastmilk.

Day 2: Sun 22Nov09
We landed at Melbourne Airport about 1000. We went through all the customs and got our luggage plus the box of carseat and booster seat. Then we went across to check on our car rentals booking which we would be collecting the next day. Aunty LL was waiting for us at the car rentals area and she even carried two jackets for PaPa and Mummy. After PaPa confirmed the booking, we went to the car park where PaPa unpacked the carseat and booster seat and fixed in Aunty LL’s car.

When we reached Aunty LL’s house, we were greeted by Aunty LL’s lovely and friendly daughter YH. YH greeted us individually, “Hello and welcome Uncle OL, Aunty CW, JL and AL ...” Uncle KM was there greeting us too.

PaPa and Uncle KM together with JL and YH went to the nearby Coles (a chain supermarket like Giant and Tesco) to get some ingredients. Uncle KM cooked lovely pasta for lunch. We had simple and delicious sandwich for dinner.

We didn’t go anywhere and just spent time with Aunty LL’s family. Uncle KM took PaPa for a ride to show the bus stop and tram. He also sent PaPa to buy the tickets for tomorrow ride to the city. Back at home, we also started to think whether we should get any comparison from all the auto insurance quotes we had, which we should add when we collect the car the next day…

That’s the end of Part 2.

Part 1 Melbourne: Planning before the Trip

Part 1 Melbourne: Planning before the Trip

After months (not really that long because it was last minute also...) of planning, we must give thanks to Aunty LL, Aunty Linda and Aunty Jazzmint (Mummy hope didn’t miss anyone) tips. Aunty LL was nice or another word, extremely nice to offer her lovely home for us to stay. Trust me, this really save us lots of money especially when AUD rate was high.

Initially we wanted to go during CNY 2010 but that it would be too hot to go that we even a good fan like Minka Aire might not be able to help. Then, we decided to bring forward the trip to first week of school holidays to avoid peak time in December where it would not only be crowded but also it would cost more due to peak season. PaPa wanted to go for only a few days and Mummy had to negotiate with him to go for minimum one week. After the trip, what Aunty LL (plus other friends too) said that two weeks in Melbourne would be a better option for a relaxing holiday to cover most of the major places.

Aunty LL helped to plan up the itinerary which was useful as a guideline. We tried to book anything ahead. Since it would be considered a short trip, we decided to pick and choose activities which were more suitable for kids. In order to keep the budget low, we planned to cook then pack for our lunch for most of the meal times.

Mummy was still sorting out the photos and counting our total expenses for the trip with PaPa. Mummy hoped to update the trip by next week.

P/s: AL had been rejecting bottle (with breastmilk) for past 2 days when Mummy at work. Past 2 days, she was solely on solid daytime and would only take breastmilk directly at night. For time being, we got to hide the bottles and praying hard that she would accept it soon.