Airline -- Emirates
Depart Singapore -- 2240
Arrive Melbourne -- 0745
Travelling Companion – Bestie aka Godma C
My long awaited trip to the place where my Bestie lives. I kept a secret from Ethan till the departure evening when his Dad fetch him from school. He was so excited that he can hardly finishes his dinner. When we broke the news to him, he told his dad….
“Even though I miss you, I am missing my girl friend even more.” He was elated and started planning what he wants to bring to Melbourne.
We reached Melbourne with Ethan sleeping for about 2 hours on flight. Immigration clearance takes about 30 minutes to clear with only 4 counters. We walked out of the airport, inhaled our 1st breath of Melbourne air – GOD it smells so fresh. It was our first time to Melbourne. We struggled to make phone call at the “ten minutes pick up” for Suky & Hayley but they appeared out of nowhere.
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DFO – Subway for lunch
We had breakfast whilst waiting for the shops to open. We went into shops like Fossils, Guess etc..
The kids had fun playing together. They played subway surfers with the two boys running whilst the girls chased after them. We panicked as we could not find the boys & they were out from our sight. Luckily the layout of the mall was straight forward with no left right turns in between, just a straight row of walkway with shops on both sides.
After DFO we headed straight to Bestie’s house & spent the rest of the evening unpacking, chatting, packing for farm stay & distributing the presents.
27th September 2014, Saturday
11 of us comprising of 7 adults & 4 kiddos for the farm stay. Pretty exciting as it is the first time we are having close interaction with Suky (even though we had been friends for the past 14 years), Marc & Dennis’s parents with 3 cars heading to our destination.
Day One
The farm stay was about 6 hours drive away from Melbourne with stopovers in between for scenic viewing, photographs taking & for food.
1st stopover, Ethan woke up crying, looking for his dad & wanted to go home. A sad scene but I guessed he is just tired from all the travelling & the so called “jet lag”. Even though with Ethan being cranky I am still enjoying myself breathing in as much Melbourne air as possible. We reached the farm stay at ~ 4.00pm just in time to prepare for dinner.
Meals
Breakfast @ Bestie’s house
Toasted bread with sliced Cheddar Cheese—yummy
Somehow Australian Cheese really tasted different from the cheese we bought locally.
Lunch – Cheese, Zucchini cakes, sandwiches, carrots, Zucchini & crackers
Dinner – Prepared by Dennis’s mom
Everyone contributed by helping, cleaning clearing, washing, keeping & tidying up. Not a word of complaint or unhappiness. In fact, I was quite impressed by Dennis’s parents as they were very kind & understanding towards us & the boys.
There were 3 bedrooms & a lounge area with Bestie family sacrificing themselves & settled @ the lounge area. It was my first time sleeping with electric blanket that can keep us warm. Another first time...
28th September 2014, Sunday
Day Two
i. Alpacas - Innie, Bazza, Fred and Monty
ii. Horses – Franny who loves carrots
iii. Camel – Alanaiv. Siamese Cat – Rani
v. Dogs – Nikki & Tess
vi. Sheep / Pigs / Goats / Cows
We visited the Cheese & Chocolates factory. Milking of cows at a nearby Dairy farm where we witnessed a lot of big cows being milked by machines. It was so systematic that once they knew they were done with milking they will shake the milking device off using their hind legs, walk out from the “roundabout” & head back to the grassland queuing up.
Meals
Breakfast -- prepared by Chef Suky
Australian breakfast like bacon & eggs
Steamboat
29th September 2014, Monday
Day Three
On our way back we stopped over & had Fish & Chips for lunch at the park with cold air blowing. It was a wonderful experience.
The Twelve Apostles is one of Melbourne’s Tourist Attraction. I counted & I only met up with 7 Apostles. Probably along the way I missed out on some. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL & amazing weather with wind howling onto our face. We snacked Tim Tam, ate oranges, laughed @ cold jokes, gossips & took wonderful photos.
Meals
Breakfast -- prepared by Chef Suky
Pancakes
Dinner
Rice with honey chicken
30th September 2014, Tuesday
Costco with Catherine
Bestie’s friend - Cath took us to the “members” wholesale hypermarket where I bought my few 1kg bottles of CHIA seeds & Hersley chocolates.
Chemist Warehouse
We were excited to be at the warehouse stocking up vitamins & I found my favorite lip balm – Carmex.
1st October 2014, Wednesday
Queen Victoria Market
The tourist place where we bought Noggets & nuts & had our lunch at the “expensive” food court. We bought Oysters from the market & savor at the food court.
St Kilda Beach
It started to have strong wind when we reached the place. By the time we reached the beach the wind was so strong that it was blowing sand into our eyes. We cannot even open our eyes to enjoy the nice scenery letting alone stand there. As such we had to runback frantically looking for the next available shelter from the bad weather. Ethan called the strong wind – The SAND STORM.
We had coffee & pastries @ Acland Street.
All thanks to Dennis who manages the kids at night whilst the girls can have our peace of mind having coffee & desserts enjoying each other’s company. Thank you Suky for driving us to the CBD area of Melbourne & paying extra more for the short cut via Expressway. Indeed we had a fun time visiting the Casino, having supper especially the steam oyster with XO sauce at the famous Chinese restaurant & wonderful picture taking.
2nd October 2014 Thursday
We visited by the Chocolate Factory & Wild Life Park prior to see those cute Penguins.
Philip Island
The drive was approximately 2 hours to the island. Along the way we did stopped by some café for drinks & break. The weather was very cold on that day. Before we went in, I actually wore 4 layers of clothes.
It was not a very long wait for the penguins to return. But it was drizzling very cold & the penguins are quite small. They swim back in groups & run all together back to the shore as if they knew someone is looking at them.
As memories for the kids, I bought them a penguin each with Marilyn & Ethan had the same one & Melody had a pink fairy like penguin.
3rd October 2014 Friday
A relaxing day when the kids play at home whilst the girls visited the market preparing for dinner.
Dandenong Market
We “rob” the nuts stall with Honey Macadamia Nuts, the dairy store with Cheddar Cheese & the souvenir shop with aprons coasters & bibs.
BBQ at night
A double birthday celebration for Ethan & Dennis whose birthday falls on the same day having the same zodiac sign – Mouse. It was again my first time playing Piñata. Bestie bought Ethan a football Piñata & she filled it up with love, light sticks & snacks. Godma C bought both boys a cake each. The kids had a wonderful time taking turns to burst the Piñata & barbecuing marsh-mellow after dinner.
4th October 2014 Saturday
Tulip Farm
A sunny day with cold winds blowing across the beautiful field filled with flowers with people snapping photos. A relaxing day with quality time spent fearing that time will tickle past us fast.
5th October 2014 Sunday -- Day of Departure
Suky brought us to the local Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown for breakfast with a heavy heart. We were so reluctant to leave the place.
Suky & Hayley sent us to the airport. Ethan cried on the way to airport. I can only cheered him up by telling him his dad is waiting for him back in Singapore despite having a lousy feel inside me. Once we alighted from the car, we bided good bye, loaded the luggage onto the cart & I headed straight into the departure hall without looking back as looking back will only bring each other more sadness.
Nevertheless we had a blast & totally immersed ourselves in the great companion we had. We had brought back wonderful memories on top of Ethan’s bag of toys & clothes. As much as we wanted to stay longer we are not able to as we each have our own life to lead & of course back to the unwanted reality.
Memories of Melbourne will stay in our minds.
