Melbourne Tour (Part 6/7) - the Photographer



Daddy entrusted this little Cutie with his DSLR camera.  She had a great time snapping the things that she sees.  Seeing her Jie Jie having so much fun, my little Sweetie also would want to have a go to take photos with Mummy's camera at times.  So that marks the birth of a new photographer to the family.

Mummy was impressed with the photos taken by my Cutie.  Well done.

Click the photo below to view the masterpiece done by this little photographer (too bad this slideshow only has space for 20 photos). 

Melbourne Tourpicture slideshow

Melbourne Tour (Part 5/7) - Dead tired

It must have been quite tiring for my darlings to be constantly on the move while on the tour (a drastic change from their normal routine) and having to battle with our bodies from going into hibernating mode in this nice cool weather.  The photo on the left is my Cutie sleeping on the mini-van.

So when we finally arrived back at the hotel, my little Sweetie just headed straight towards the sofa corner and slumped onto the cosy-looking, big ottoman seat.  This ottoman was in front of some sofas where 2 other hotel guests were seated.  So can you imagine what a shock these 2 gentlemen had when they saw a little girl suddenly "fainted" right in front of them.  Mummy also got a shock seeing the way she slumped herself down. 

Nevertheless, her actions brought smiles to everyone present and relieved us of our fatigue momentarily.  Subsequently, whenever we returned to the hotel, these 2 little darlings will just head to the same ottoman and re-enact the scene again (or is it that they were really tired again?).  Watch the video which of them doing that on our last night in Melbourne.

Melbourne Tour (Part 4/7) - Puffing Billy Steam Train

One of the highlights of the tour is a ride on the Puffing Billy Steam Train.  It was really quite an experience, never the same as our other train rides. 

First of all, the seats on this century-old steam train were facing out.  Secondly, the passengers are allowed to sit on edge of the window, with the legs dangling outside the train during the journey.  This is really interesting, we had initially thot that the train captain was telling us to watch over our kids and not let them put their hands/legs out of the windows.

Mummy decided to give it a try after seeing many other passengers doing it.  My darlings also took turns to enjoy the breeze while the train moved.   Though it was just a short ride from Belgrave to Menzie's Creek, the only thing that was constantly on Mummy's mind was their shoes.  Hee.... wonder has anyone dropped their shoes along the train journey before?

Melbourne Tour (Part 3/7) - Melbourne Aquarium

We had a free day during our tour.  We had initially planned to go to Mt Buller to play with snow/skiing etc, but cancelled it when we learned that there was not much snow there during the last couple of days.  We did not opt for the Great Ocean Road tour as Mummy and Daddy had been there on our last visit here.

Finally, we decided to go to the Melbourne Aquarium as my darlings love to see the penguins again.  It was a wonderful choice as we had a great time over there.  My darlings were full of smiles when they saw so many King penguins and Gentoo penguins.  We were in the penguins arena for a long time as it was a pleasure watching them waddling through the snow and dashing around in the pool.

The gigantic sharks and stingrays at the aquarium really amazed us.  In fact, they were much bigger (the thick glass panels reduce about 1/3 of their actual size).  The large glass tanks made us feel as we were in the ocean with the sea creatures swimming around us.  Whenever the huge stingrays went past us, we just felt so small.

Watch the video to see them having fun with the sea creatures.  My Cutie started a game of "freeze" whenever the sharks swam past.

My darlings also had a fun time at the Rock Pool where they can see the big 7-arm starfish, sea urchins and the mermaid's purse (shark's egg casing).  My darlings were brave to hold onto the little starfish and mummy was surprised that this little Sweetie was having such a fun time tickling the starfish (telling it to keep its legs in).  Haha.... watch the video to see for yourself.  

Melbourne Tour (Part 2/7) - Fun with Animals

This Melbourne trip was filled with getting upclose with the different animals in Australia.  My darlings simply love being with the animals.

First, there was the Penguin Parade which one should never miss when in Melbourne.  It was a joy watching the penguins and following them back to their homes.   

We also had some fun feeding the kangeroos and wombats.  My darlings were so happy feeding them.  It was also an eye opener for us to experience how strong the wombat's teeth are. 

We also went to the Koala bears Conservatory, but the Koala bears were too far up the eucalytus trees to really capture my darlings' attention.  However, the Koala bear bag which my Sweetie carried, sure did capture a lot of other tourists' attention.  Gee... this Sweetie just looks so cute carrying it.

For my darlings, the experience that they love most was feeding the little lambs and hugging them (haha... yes, that's what they did).  Watch the video of them with the little lambs. 

We had almost wanted to try out milking the cow at the farm, but we gave up the idea after seeing the cow peed.  Haha... never knew that the cow could pee so much.  Luckily, we had earlier gotten a sip of the super fresh cow milk.

We also visited the shearing shed and it was an experience watching the farmer shearing the sheep at close range.  See the photo on the right with my Sweetie patting the sheep (haha... as if she was feeling sorry that it has lost its wool?). 

Then we saw how the shepherd dog help the farmer to guide the flock of sheep together.  His discipline and dedication to the job (hee... I mean the dog) really impressed Mummy.  Such a sweetie doggie.

Uncle Sherman (our tour guide, in the background on left) was also very nice to bring us to feed the parrots.  There were so many different species of parrot and it was quite a sight to see how skilful the parrots are in eating the sunflower seeds.  My darlings had a great time feeding them and they remembered their 1st exposure of feeding the birds in Everland (Korea).
 

My darlings have a lot of beautiful memories with the animals that we came across during our trip.  Gee... it would be even better if they could get to hug a real Koala bear (yes, this was actually allowed many donkey years ago).  Cos' you see, my little Cutie is always telling me that she loves to stick to me real tight cos' she's a little koala bear.

Mummy is really proud of my 2 little darlings.  They have shown such bravery getting close to the animals and having fun feeding them.  Mummy observed that they have also shown great compassion for the animals too.  Oh no, hope 1 day these 2 animal lovers will not come asking for a pet in the house.  Mmm... actually Mummy is a dog-lover.  It would be great to have a puppy in the house too, but haha... not now. 

Melbourne Tour (Part 1/7) - Great to have a Trunki

We had just returned from our 6D/5N tour to Melbourne, Australia. This was the first time that we had decided to join a group tour ever since my darlings were born.  Before the trip, we had been pondering should we bring our stroller along too.  Though our Maclaren Volo is super light, we finally decided against it cos' we already had 2 checked-in, 2 handcarry luggages and +++ .(their own baby luggages, jackets etc).

We were fascinated to see a child travelling on a trunki luggage.  So we decided to get one at the airport for our darlings.  It was a blessing that we had bought it as it was really a wrong move to go on a tour without a stroller with young children.  My Sweetie who did not get to have a good afternoon nap (as she used to have), would want to be carried at all times.   But the thing is, it wasn't easy carrying her (with our jackets on) to go shopping and not forgetting that this Sweetie now weighs 16kg. 

Luckily, we have our trunki.  My darlings just love taking turns on the trunki and being chauffeured around on it in the Melbourne city.  Many passerbys would turn their heads and look when my darlings "drove" past.  And these 2 darlings just really look so cute riding on it.  It was definitely a great buy.  See the video of them in Melbourne city.

It was a great holiday with nice weather and many wonderful experiences.  My darlings love this trip very much.  For families with young children, a trip to Melbourne is never a wrong choice.  Most important of all, it was a great break before Mummy returns to the workforce next year.