Melbourne 2014: Great Ocean Road

When the husband and I decided to bring the family to Melbourne, we decided that a Great Ocean Road (GOR) road trip was a must. The only problem was that the GOR lay on the west of Melbourne, and everything else we wanted to visit lay on the east. We were fortunate in that we had time, so we were able to fit in a couple of days of driving. And it was well worth it.

Our itinerary for the GOR wasn't intentionally child-friendly, like most of the rest of our holiday was. Instead, this portion of the holiday was for us -- it was us bringing the kids along to see what we wanted to see. So we skipped the farms and what we got were scenic sights as we did a short trek to a waterfall, a lighthouse visit, and visited some awe-inspiring rocks. Not what we usually do with kids in tow but I dare they they enjoyed it. The best part for me was road tripping with my husband next to me as I scrolled through his devices for music that we could all sing or bop along to as we drove. THAT was just like old times. Some of our best holidays were enjoyed on the road when we have the luxury to chat and it was good recapturing some of that on this trip.

Road tripping with my sweetie!

Someone wants is ready to take over the wheel -- I think not, little lady!

It's my turn on petite travellers and I've shared more details about our GOR road trip there, so do hop over to read it if you haven't! Here's the link: Great Ocean Road: A Piece of Victorias Natural Beauty.

In the meantime, here are some more pictures to share.

Erskine Falls.

Obligatory family shot to prove that we made it there!

This way to Teddy's Lookout.

Endless sea on the left of the lookout.

We tried going up the road towards Kennett River to see wild koalas but we encountered were sweet little wild wallabies instead.

Beautiful and serene Cape Otway Lightstation

Some of the treacherous rocks off Cape Otway.

Mei shows me how to work it!

The Twelve Apostles (some of them at least!)

My kiddy models, looking like angels.

All in all, a fun road trip. I hope it will not be another 26 years before I visit the GOR again!

Melbourne Escape

I think I left my blogging mojo in Melbourne.

We arrived back in Singapore about a week and a bit ago and since then, I've been struggling to get back into our regular routines. Perhaps it is because our holiday was too good. Because it was.

It was the first holiday in a long time where it was just us four, 24/7. It was also the first time we've travelled without a stroller, and the first time that we didn't need to consciously factor in naps. It felt almost like the holidays that the husband and I used to take in our more carefree days, pre-kids. Almost, I say, since we are still a long way from not having to hunt down a toilet every hour or so (or when ever it is MOST inconvenient like, say, after trekking down a very long steep flight of stairs to the bottom of a waterfall), but it was close enough.

Together we explored new places and did things together that we don't always have the opportunity to do, with the hustle and bustle of daily life. Before we departed Singapore, I made the conscious effort to turn off most notifications on my phone because I wanted to give the here and now my full attention, and it turned out to be one of my better decisions. With less distractions, I was better able to concentrate on taking a break and being with my family. Of course, one of the first things I did do was to head out to get a local SIM card -- I wasn't planning on surviving without internet altogether! Plus I had a couple of friends to meet and we needed GPS. But I stopped checking my phone all the time, and it was freeing in a way I didn't expect. I think I need to do that a bit more on a regular basis. 

More time together inevitably means that it wasn't smiles all the time. Unfortunately being out of the country doesn't mean that tantrums get left behind! It was challenging at times to deal with the kids (and sometimes the husband, heh) but I think having the husband present with me the whole time meant that we were better able to address all issues which arose together and quickly. I think we've grown as a family as a result.

After having such a great time, maybe it's no wonder that I took ages to adjust back to normal life. Which was a whole lot more hectic with homework to catch up on, and Noey's birthday party to pull together at short notice.

I hope to be updating on my Melbourne holiday both here and on petite travellers. But here is an outline of my itinerary for those of you who have been asking:

Melbourne Itinerary

Days 1 - 3: Melbourne -- City, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne Museum, Collingwood Children's Farm, St Kilda's including Luna Park

Days 4 - 5: Great Ocean Road -- Erksine Falls + Teddy's Lookout at Lorne, Apollo Bay, Cape Otway Lightstation, Twelve Apostles

Days 6 - 8: Yarra Valley -- Weeribee Plaza/Weeribee Safari Park, Healesville Sanctuary, Wineries, Puffing Billy

Days 9 - 10: Phillip Island -- Caldermeade Farm Cafe, Penguin Parade, Churchill Heritage Farm

Days 11 - 13: Melbourne -- Eureka Skydeck, Shopping, Lygon Street

More pictures and stories on my Instagram account (@mummybean). Check out #mummybeaninmelbourne!

Anyone else feel like they need a holiday right now?

London with Petite Travellers

I can't believe it's been more than a year since our last long holiday to London! Despite all my good intentions, I never did get round to writing about my holiday. I did however, put together a post on our recommendations for a London holiday on petite travellers, so if you're planning a holiday to London, or even just thinking about it, you might want to hop over and check it out.

London: A City of History, Culture, Shopping and Everything Else In Between

Travelling with Petite Travellers

We've mostly been grounded this June school holidays. Save for a short trip up north to Malaysia for our annual church camp (and Legoland thereafter!), we've mostly been hanging around Singapore and keeping very busy. My husband thinks I'm incapable of taking it slow and sometimes I think he's right.

But whilst we have not been travelling much, travel has very much been on our minds, and today, I'm excited to be able to share something that a group of my friends and I have been working on. Presenting… Petite Travellers! A collaborative travel blog about family-friendly holidays for discerning little people, Petite Travellers sprung out of our passion for travel, even with kids in tow. It's been fun getting this new blog off the ground and we hope to grow Petite Travellers into a useful reference for parents travelling with their littles.

We've all contributed posts to kick this off and I decided to write about Sydney, one of our regular travel destinations. We've spent quite a bit of time visiting different attractions in and around Sydney from which I've distilled out our favourite ones. Hop on over to read my recommendations for family-friendly attractions for little ones near the heart of Sydney!

Sydney: Recommended city attractions for Under-6s.

We'll be updating regularly so I do hope you'll visit and bookmark the site. Do also visit Petite Travellers' Facebook Page and like us for more updates. Looking forward to bringing you more travel news! 

Bali, Hi

How sweet it is to be… on vacation.

Would you believe it's our first time back in Bali since we visited once in, erm, 2003. Then it was shortly after the Bali bombings, we stayed in Nusa Dua, and were harassed to death by touts everywhere. We left unimpressed.

This time, oh, it's been lovely.

It's back to my cocktails and milkshakes for me. Ciao!

* The kids have been kindly dressed by Fox Kids and Babies, who join us as a clothing sponsor for next few months. More on that -- and more clothes -- when I get back!

Linking up with:

W Hotel Singapore: W is for Wonderful

Tell me I'm not the only one struggling to catch my breath after the March holidays?

As usual I filled the week with activities and meet-ups so it wasn't really a break… My husband positively rolled his eyes at me when I causally wondered how my week had packed itself with activities so I'll admit it, yes, totally my own fault. But you know what, it was FUN.

The best break we had actually came the couple of days before the March holidays officially kicked off when we decided to take a spur-of-the-moment staycation. We'd originally intended to book a package at RWS bundled with tickets to Adventure Cove, SEA Aquarium and Universal Studios - it was a very good deal. I'm not sure what it is about me and and RWS hotels, but since they've opened, I've never been able to book a hotel stay. Either the rooms would be fully booked or the dates and room types available would not be suitable. This time proved to be no exception. The package I wanted (with a stay at Equarius hotel) sold out as I was putting my booking through! Argh.

After various other permutations didn't prove cost effective, we decided to decided to change our plans and opted to stay for two nights at the W Singapore instead.

That turned out to be an awesome idea because we had a seriously super stay -- a great time of family bonding and just getting away from it all. We'd explored the W before when my parents stayed for a couple of nights, so we knew what to expect of the facilities. But this time as actual guests staying in the hotel, we were quite blown away by the great and warm service that we received everywhere, from the reception to the poolside attendants to the servers at the restaurant. They all made an effort to remember and greet us by name, and accommodate our various requests. I was very impressed. And oh, the food was really good too. W Singapore definitely goes on the "Can Stay Again" list! 

While waiting to check in, Nomi "snaps a pic" of me with her Hello Kitty phone as I snap one of her...

Maybe the only complaint I have is that they took rather long to get our room ready for check-in -- and we came after 3pm! At least we got to wait by the pool in a hammock. I was feeling pretty hungry and ordered a club sandwich too. And this monster of a sandwich turned up. Oh it was gooood.

 

Swimming is the first order of the day! Even better when you can eat by poolside! Noey liked the club sandwich so much we ordered it again the next day and he ate half of it for lunch.

I love the pool at the W -- it's huge, comfortable and open 24 hours! The water was a nice temperature, there are nice floating beds, and floats and toys for the kids available for use, good poolside food and drinks, nice poolside seats and hammocks. Not many water features but the kids still had a whale of a time. I'm quite pleased that we managed to go swimming two days in a row!

A view of the pool and beyond from our room.

View of the bed. I didn't take many pics of the room before the kids invaded it and that was that! I did love the flower motif on the headboard though, and the butterfly features on the having light. The flower motif was worked into features around the hotel and I thought it was very pretty.

The kids' favourite part of the hotel stay -- being able to watch TV while bathing in the long tub, thanks to the sliding glass panels. They watched too much Disney Channel but well, we were on holiday after all!

Part of the breakfast spread. There was a lot of food! From pastries and waffles to cold cuts to cereal to cooked food to fruit to Chinese char siew noodles and laksa (yay from me!). I didn't take pics. Too busy eating. We only had breakfast on the first morning as we only had 1 adult breakfast per day. Since we were staying 2 nights, we asked if we could have both breakfasts on the first day and not take breakfast on the second day, and they agreed. One example of the flexible and accommodating service we received.

Cute bottles of orange juice.

Really excellent waffles which were the kids' breakfast of choice. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Delicious.

We enjoyed the food at breakfast so much that we were back again at The Kitchen Table for dinner to try their international buffet. Here we were recipients once again of some great service as they made the effort to squeeze us in despite being fully booked. And they even specially accommodated us indoors, because the haze was back and the man who seated us expressed concern for our kids. I wish I got his name so I could commend him personally. 

As for the food, oh my, it was GOOD. (Then again, it was $85 per head so it'd better be good!) There was really fresh sashimi and my favourite cold seafood section had deliciously juicy prawns and lobster claws. There was one big leg of ham, garnished with roasted apples, that fed my children. They loved that and the bread rolls. The husband had quite a bit from the Indian section and the servers came round with skewers of tandoori prawns, which were really yums. There was a pasta section with a range of ingredients, pastas and sauces for you to choose from, which were each individually cooked up on the spot. The Chinese noodle corner served up noodles and laksa, similar to what we had for breakfast, and there was another range of cooked food on the table.

And dessert! The chocolate fountain was a must for the kids, but I preferred the deconstructed cheesecake. There was plenty to choose from, with desserts of mousse, jelly and cake served up prettily in little cups. 

I just realised that, incredibly, I didn't take any pictures of the food at all. Oops. I'm such a terrible food blogger. But I did have my hands in all that seafood, so well. You'll just have to take my word that it was good. 

It was a relaxing break, and I dare say, just what the doctor ordered. W is for Wonderful, yes indeed.

Phuket and Langkawi Stopover with Costa Victoria

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the new year, I forgot to share that my post on the adventures that we got up to in Phuket and Langkawi during our 4-night cruise on board the Costa Victoria is up on TheSmartLocal!

We were able to spend nearly a full day in Phuket and half a day in Langkawi, and I think we managed to make the most of it. Our stopover in Phuket was particularly memorable thanks to an elephant trekking tour that we took. Everyone loved it and it was easily the as I had arranged an elephant trekking tour, which we all enjoyed. It was easily the highlight of our trip. For more details, hop on over here: Phuket and Langkawi Stopover with Costa Victoria.

Cruising with Costa

The kids and I recently had a mini-break of a different kind when we hopped aboard a cruise for a 4-night trip, which included stops in Phuket and Langkawi. 

It's really been a while since I've been on a cruise so I was really looking forward to it! I remember going on a couple of cruises to nowhere with my folks, and also once for a friend's 21st birthday. Those were the days when my sister and I would excitedly check out schedules and go join dancing and other sports activities on deck, before slipping off for cocktails. Fun times.

It was the Costa Victoria that we sailed with on this trip, on a media trip on behalf of TheSmartLocal. It was the first time out at sea for my kids, and they loved it. There was nothing they like better than to hangout by the windows and stare out across the water. It was also very cool to wake up in a new place everyday! My husband couldn't come with us but I had the able assistance of my Mum and sister who decided to make a girly holiday of it. I certainly appreciated the help and the opportunity I got to spend some time with them.

I've written up a post on 5 reasons why a cruise is a great option for a family holiday on TheSmart Local, so click on over to read it!

Sydney 2013: Calmsley Hill City Farm

It was rather rainy when we first arrived in Sydney, so when the weather cleared up, we were excited to explore the great outdoors. Hey, we were in Australia after all!

We ended up going to Calmsley Hill City Farm at the recommendation of my father-in-law. A farm-based attraction about 45 mins drive from Sydney's City Centre, Calmsley Hill City Farm offers visitors the opportunity to get up close to a range of farm animals (and some native animals too) and to learn more about what goes on at a farm. This is not a working farm -- farming is not its main business. Instead, it exists for the purpose being a demonstration farm. So there is a Cow Milking Show, Stock Whip Show, Working Dog Show and a Sheep Shearing Show daily, all purely to allow visitors to experience the workings of a farm.

It was all very intriguing, so much so that I decided it was worth checking out.

Since we were visiting a farm, I decided we should try to dress the part. Really, I was just super stoked to have the just the right opportunity to put Meips in a pair of overalls! The overalls-look really isn't something I usually go for but for the farm, it was perfect. 

Little Farmer Meips looking the part.

We arrived nice and early, and immediately plunged into the activities, with Noey having a hand at milking a cow. Meips on the other hand refused to even get out of her stroller to go near the cow. And she continued to be a bit freaked throughout the day when we had any animal encounters. I've concluded that she really doesn't like animals. One of the few ways in which she's like her Mama, I guess!

Noey milking a cow, and succeeding with some help. 

Petting some of the other breeds of cows in the pens nearby.

We'd bought a bag of feed with our entry, so we headed for the animal nursery first where visitors can feed and pat some goats and sheep. It turned out to be a rather large pen where you were free to interact with the animals as you choose. Noey had a blast chasing after the goats and sheep to pat them! Meips would generally have none of it and clung tightly to Ah Kong when he brought her in. I got a bit of a shock though when the goats got over enthusiastic about trying to reach the bag of feed in my hands and literally put their front hooves on me in their attempts to reach up. Whoa. After that I made sure I was the one holding the bag as they would have knocked Noey over if they did that to him.

Poor little goat walking by is ambushed by Noey.

With the sweetest little lambs! They were so fluffy!

After some time, he got brave enough to hand feed them.

Meips on the other had really didn't want to touch the ground at all, or the animals! It took her a long while to even consider patting the little animals.

We spent quite a bit of time in the nursery before we had to leave because it was time for our tractor ride. We had to pay an extra $3 for it, but I got the tickets cos I figured the kids would love it. I was right. Check out our monster tractor!

Huge tractor, loading up.

Kiddies all excited to roll!

Our tractor ride took us on a large loop around the grounds where we got to see some cows and sheep, and just enjoy that sense of SPACE under brilliant blue skies. I think the kids' favourite part was just the novelty of the ride. They wanted to go again immediately after we got back.

Cows grazing under the blue, blue sky. I love Australian skies, don't you?

Sheep and goats a-grazing.

My wide-eyed and interested little baby.

We took a break thereafter for lunch, choosing to eat at the cafe on site. There weren't a lot of options, so it was burgers for everyone. They have a lovely picnic area, with a playground nearby, and roaming ducks and peacocks who come by, to the excitement of the kids. They provide free BBQ rental, and I can imagine it'd be really nice to bring your own food and have a BBQ right there, especially in summer!

"Oo, what's that? Could they be fries?"

Picnic area.

After lunch we caught a couple of shows. First up, the working dog show. It was cool seeing the dogs round up the sheep and direct them where they needed to go. But otherwise the show was a bit wordy, and we couldn't hear very well as we found seats at the side and not in front. After a while the kids lost interest.

The sheep being herded by the watchful dog. There were three dogs, and they were really well-trained!

The sheep shearing show was more interesting. It was exactly what it's name suggests -- a demonstration of how a sheep is sheared. "Just like me getting a haircut!" said Noey. 

Here's how you hold and grip the sheep between your legs before you start shearing. This is one of the useful things I learnt from this show. I have found this grip highly effective for, erm, holding my kids in place when they're trying to get away.

Shearing in progress. The harness that the shearer is using is to provide support and protect his back since he is required to bend over a lot.

All done! and looking like a different sheep altogether.

The kids with their prized possessions -- handfuls of (dirty) wool that they distributed to the kids at the end.

We rounded off the afternoon visiting the native animals on the grounds. There was quite a selection but the kids' favourites were the kangaroos and wallabies, and of course the koalas.

Ah Kong and Noey approaching some wary kangaroos and wallabies. With Meips firmly in her stroller. She refused to come out!

Two curious cautious creatures approach each other.

Noey getting braver. The wallaby, after determining that he didn't have any food, quickly lost interest in him. He ended up chasing it all over the area, which he actually found quite fun.

Feeding goats leaves which we picked off nearby plants.

A camel! One of the more unusual animals we came across.

Hello koala! Meips loved the koala and eventually agreed to stretch out a hand to rub the koala's feet.

How cute is that? Apparently a mother and daughter. Aww.

Altogether a good experience that gave the kids maybe a taste of what goes on in a farm. I would dearly love to do a farm stay with them soon! But this was a good precursor to that, and definitely a fun day out.