Week 40b, 41 in Melbourne: Holiday with Kids

Ever since my sister-in-law, Kak Na, told us that her family would be coming over for about a week, T and I had been counting down the days. Apparently, the little girls had been counting down too! And haha, I’m sure Abang Aw was also excited ‘cause it showed in his texts to us. Haha, basically all of us were looking forward to their time in Melbourne! And hehe, it has been loads of fun to have them around 😀

25 Nov – Friday

The four of them reached our apartment around noon and hehehehehe, it was soooo good to see the girls! I got into a relationship with T when the older one, MM, was a month old and so I’ve watched both her and the little one, MN, grow from a baby to 7-years-old and 3-years-old girls. A magical kind of attachment to them has developed and like T said, “It’s nice that they don’t forget us despite being away.”

We had lunch before bringing them to Hosier Lane for photo opportunities. And later, we walked a little around the city and a quick visit to the Docklands playground. Unfortunately, T got called back to work for an emergency at 4pm. But it was not as bad as we thought it would be: We were prepared to have him home only  at 2am, but he managed to meet us back for a late dinner and a trip to Coles, after we were done shopping at South Wharf DFO.

26 Nov – Saturday

Abang Aw cooked us his special French toast for breakfast! I was telling him that it’d be nice if every weekend, my husband cooks for me. He replied that these things will come when kids are in the picture. Haha, we’ll see how that goes in years to come…

When all was ready, we made our way to Queen Victoria Market. Hahaha, T and I made Kak Na and Abang Aw try fresh oysters and they had two very different reactions to the raw food! Obviously, Abang Aw would never have oysters ever again ‘cause I think his tastebuds had been traumatized haha!

Then, we took the train to Brighton Beach for the colourful bathing houses. I sat aside ‘cause the pram could not be pushed around on the sand, and it pleased me to see how all five were having fun under the warm sun. (Haha, MN seemed to love the cold from the night before, but the rest were suffering from the less than 10 degrees.)

We headed to Luna Park after and the kids were full of energy once they saw the rides! MM seemed to forgot the cold (Yup, the temperature dropped drastically once we left the beach.) entirely while MN was prancing around, pointing to the rides she wanted to take. Fortunately, the theme park was not too busy so the girls didn’t have to wait long for their turn 😀

And of course, when the sun was setting, we walked to Saint Kilda Pier to look at the penguins. The cold was terrible that night, and the sea breeze did not help at all. But we persevered and we got lucky when a cutie penguin popped up right in front of us!

27 Nov – Sunday

I did not join the rest for their trip to Enchanted Maze ‘cause I had the happiest 5km run, Color Run, with my girls! The day started out gloomy, with dark grey clouds hovering, and we were afraid if rain would ruin the day. But lo and behold, it got hot and I had my nose badly burnt. But hey, besides that and an hour of wait before we were allowed to join the run, the five of us had lotsa fun walking/running/skipping around, getting dirty 😀 😀 😀

I joined the family again at about 4pm for a second dinner (I just had a Grill’d burger with the girls an hour before, but hey, I did not have a proper breakfast and lunch, so okay lah kan?) at Kedai Satay. It was my second time having the beef ribs there, and they did not disappoint at all 😛

We headed home right after and it was wonderful to hear updates accompanied by the photos and videos taken about what they’ve done in the day 🙂

28 Nov – Monday

We woke up at 10ish and after a quick breakfast, we drove up to Bacchus Marsh to pick strawberries at Naturipe Fruits. So super thankful for the bright and warm weather! (Unlike Singaporeans, Melburnians always talk about the weather and I can understand why. Heh.) I had picked strawberries when I was young like MM at Cameron Highlands, so I knew how exciting it must be for the girls to evaluate and decide which fruits are the best of the lot to bring home 😀

We then had lunch before heading to Ballarat Wildlife Park. Hehehehe, we got to feed kangaroos there! Remember this post when I fed wallabies, and I was super psyched to do so? Well, I was even more thrilled to have the bigger marsupials lick food off my palm. They’re messier, leaving icky saliva trails, and one was even slightly aggressive, with his teeth grazing my skin every now and then. But it was an incredible experience nonetheless! And it got even better to have the kids being unafraid to do the same as me!

With the food-for-the-kangaroos bag gone empty, we checked out the other animals at the park. The magnificent animal that caught my eyes was the 5km, 500kg crocodile called Crunch. It was amazingly massive yet looked so lonely in its enclosure. According to the description, this croc had caused chaos in the wild, thus the captivity. But sigh, it saddens me when animals are kept in isolation. At least have a friend with it..?

We went back to the city to shop for toys, and had dinner at home after. You’d think the kids would be tired with all the walking and travelling, but nooooo, they were still bouncing around till late, hah!

29 Nov – Tuesday

This is another day when I didn’t follow them out. It was their trip to Great Ocean Road and since I’ve been there once, I didn’t feel like going again. It was a good choice ’cause my cousin-in-law happened to be in town and we got to lunch together! It was a good catch-up session and I’m so excited for her and my cousin’s adventure early next year! Hopefully, all will go smoothly for them 😀

T and the rest reached home at about 8.30pm, just in time for dinner and lotsa updates from their trip 😛

30 Nov – Wednesday  

We had pancakes from Pancake Parlour for breakfast! I’ve always gone for the savoury, but this time, T and I decided to try the sweet and it’s as yummy 😛 And haha, the kids obviously love the sweetness of the pancakes, ice creams and what nots!

After which, Kak Na and Abang Aw did some souvenir shopping at Harbour Town DFO before we headed back to our apartment, where they packed their luggages. 4.30pm came and sadly, the four of them had to leave… It was an emotionally charged goodbye. But hey, all is good and we’re glad to know that they’ve travelled back safe to Singapore 😀