PERTH!!

What's a holiday without cool shades ;) 

We had a family trip to Perth from 21st March to 29th March 2014, together with my parents. We decided on Australia as we felt that it was one of the more child-friendly alternative as compared to HK or Taiwan and thought that we would add in a farm-stay just for our dear kiddo. 

We were deciding between Gold Coast, Tasmania and Perth... would have loved to go for Tasmania actually but SQ was having a promo for flight to Perth so we decided to bite it. 

Perth is much quieter as compared to Melbourne which we have been to twice and of which we totally adore. Its definitely good for family trips just that alot of time is really wasted on the road as travelling from one destination to another usually takes at least 2 hours. The most anti-climax part of the trip for me was that me and E fell sick almost immediately once we touch down. I was super down for the 1st few days of the trip and quite lethargic for the remaining half...argghhhh! 

Here goes the photo-diarrhea:p (Can't really remember the sequence due to the fact that I was not well then so its just a whole lot of pics and stuff not according to days)

Starting off with traditional chinese brekkie at Changi Airport! 

We are ready for the family adventure! E actually fell off the high-chair as he stood up without any of us noticing! Thank God there wasn't any bump.. he still remembers it till today ;( 

His 1st flight with a seat of his own! Cost us a bomb though ... haha.. traveling b4 2 is a must for a parents!! 

Still looking fresh as we await take-off!! 

E went all-wild with the video system till it got almost irritating. He would request for switch of channels and he did not nap a wink till the plane started to land!! *ROAR!! No rest and movie for me ... boowoo... 

Perth.. here we come!!

King's Park and Botanical Garden.. spot my parents and E in his stroller.. 

;)

The grass and lawn were so nice to run in... perfect bonding day for papa and E! Would have been perfect with it was Melbourne's cool weather though.. 

Sand play at the children's playground within the Park's vicnity. Did not stay long though as the noon sun was getting increasingly uncomfortable though E was totally oblivious to the heat! 

Just adore this pic of E & me!! 

Taking a stroll @ Sebel, Swan Valley where we had our the 1 week accommodation stay! 

E found some treasure!! 

An even greater treasure that he found parked in the vicinity!

E climbed all the way up..... 

UP....... 

ALL the way to this awesome view! 

Bought a couple of Chugginton Train books at super discounted price over there and they even have stickers for the kiddo! To date, still his favorite series of books. 

Love this father-son pic. Dolphin Watch Cruise Boat @ Mandura... well, we did spot like 1 or  2 dolphin's ...tail... Zzzzz 

Self-entertainment as there were no dolphins in sight... saw tons of huge and beautiful houses though.... quite a chill place to retire;) 

To E's delight, he was allowed to wear the captain's hat and take control of the boat for a couple of seconds! He loved it so much that he was given another chance towards the end of the cruise. This made his day!! 

Had to settle for the toy one after we were chased off the cruise ship... He was glued to this fixture even though there were slides and swings and other cool stuff in the playground. LOL! 

Visit to the Fremantle Prison... very detailed though we felt that the Melbourne one was much more dramatic. Good to visit though as I was really surprised by the state of the prison...

Weekend Market @ Freemantle... the chef at work ;)   

The Pinnacles 

Just us!

1of the nicest fish and chips that we had over there... think its at the small town when we visited Pinnacles... much better than the overly rated fish and chips place at Fremantle!  

@ the WildLife Park... E wasn't too keen with most of the animals except for the Koala. He stayed at the enclosure for more than 15 minutes and was even willing to pet them! 

As seen in his expression... 'Not too interested'... but could be because he was awoken prematurely from his nap as we felt that he was missing out too much! *apparently not for him! 

E was glued to this cute yummy looking mini beetle the whole time we were at the nougat shop.  It was tough trying to stop him from getting in and driving off! 

The Farm Stay at Harvey Hills! 

We had to do all the feeding as E was just not too keen to touch the animals. He enjoyed throwing the feed to the chickens and ducks though and thats about it. 

We managed to catch the once a year Harvey Hills Carnival which was a huge thing for the quiet town! After all the hype about it, we concluded that it was like a huge western pasar malam...

 Caught some cool motorbike stunt acts though...and found a really nice lemonade drink as captured in the picture. Managed to buy 2 cartons of the drink back on the last day there! 

HIghlight of the Farmstay for Junior Mok! THE TRACTOR RIDE!

Managed to sit on it on both days that we were there.. thanks to papa who was willing to go through the bumpy ride just for his little one!

Sitting like towkay as we go grocery shopping... 

The view from our farm stay chalet! Think we got the chalet with the best view! 

Cool driver gotta ride a cool car! 

Beautiful Stirling's cottage restaurant at Harvey Hills just before we left for Singapore... The nicest tortilla beef chips ever! 

Thanks Dear for sourcing out all the good places... the best guide and planner ever! 

We love HOLIDAY TRIPS!! 

Rare picture of all of us!! 

LOL! This sums up our flight back to Singapore where dear E refuses to sleep once again!!

We survived HONG KONG!!!

This post is way overdue. Have been rather lethargic in getting down to blog but there has been this nagging thought in me that has been pestering me to pen down this trip as it is way too precious and memorable.

I have always wanted to bring E to Hong Kong to visit my in-laws and his relatives for a long time but we just never got to planning one. When Larry was due for a July HK business trip, we decided to ride on it and so, E and myself joined him in HK, midway through his trip which also meant that I would be alone with E on the flight there to HK!!

On departure day, my parents sent us to the airport and I repeatedly assured them that all will be fine and that I have got everything checked and was good to go! SO we waved goodbye to them at immigrations and tadaa!!.. its just me and the kiddo, leaving on the SQ jetplane! Only to realize (TO MY COMPLETE HORROR & DISMAY) a couple of minutes after that I HAD LEFT MY IPHONE @ HOME!!!!!!!! Facepalm to the max!!

How in the world did my Iphone get left behind! I was so angry with myself the entire trip. Because of my big boo boo, there were zero photos of our epic flight together ;(

Any case, E was generally well-behaved throughout the flight. I could not have been more blessed and thankful. Thank you God and thank you son!

Arriving at HONG KONG airport! E still stoning from his nap and a relieved me! ;) 

HOWEVER....

E became Mister Koala once he touched down at HK. For example, he was unresponsive when he saw my mother-in-law and refused to let her touch or carry him. And this carried on for the entire trip... he was S-T-I-C-K-Y to me like never before..! Of all in the stroller unfriendly land of HK! 

Loving his hotel room, the only place where he returned to his normal self 

Loving the bed @ Shang!! 

Receiving gifts from his yeye & mama immediately!

   The rare one & only time he allowed my MIL to carry (                                          

               

Finally allowing yeye to carry... only once though. At least he's fair ;p

Gifts from his 'fans' in HK... love his wake up hairdo! 

Nice outlet store that sold really cool kid's furniture

Attempt to take family pict @ the Peak = fail! Haha, love his expression though 

The best restaurant in HK! E eyeing the malagao!!

NICE!! 

Realized that I do not have much pictures to upload... painful lesson learnt. Any case, I'm glad I survived the HK trip  koala trip but I'm even more relieved that I survived the dinner session with the extended relatives. Everyone was speaking in canto and I felt like I was in my own bubble most all the time. NO one spoketo me at all and there was an awkward moment when I was left alone at the table with Mok's uncle and cousin. It was just dead silence and I felt like burying my head in the ground. SO GLAD IT WAS ONLY 1 NIGHT!!

BYE BYE HK!! YOU ARE SO NOT BABY FRIENDLY though I still love your food!!