Winter Holiday in Perth, June 2008

We have decided to bring Dad & Mum to Perth for a holiday. I have been to Perth 5 times, Lawrence went to Perth once 19 years ago, Dad and Mum a few times to Perth too.....

So why PERTH? Because Perth is one of the most relaxed place to drive around especially more so since all of us have been to Perth several times and are pretty FAMILIAR with the place.... and one of the MAIN REASON was also because the season in Perth now is WINTER.... a weather which all of us love..... :)

This is going to be one of our most relaxed holidays as we drive around "doing nothing" without a fixed itinerary and no time constraint...

Sooo we were ready for our trip! We departed for Perth just 5 days after we returned from our Beijing trip. WOW!!! This month is really a month of holidays for us.....

Dad and Mum had earlier anticipated that it was going to be very cold, especially since Perth is known for its very strong wind... but upon arrival, we were a little disappointed even temperature ranged from 8 deg to 20 deg as the sun was extremely strong in Perth, thus making the afternoons HOT on most of the days.....

We rented our car from Hertz Car Rental from Perth International Airport. After all the paperwork was done, we proceeded to collect the car and get ready to drive off for our Winter Adventure!

Throughout the entire trip, Lawrence was the Main Driver, me the Co-Driver and Chief Navigator whilst Dad, the Deputy Chief Navigator. We covered many places this trip; and that included driving within Perth City, ferrying Dad & Mum to Burswood Casino several times, down South to Rockingham, Mandurah, Bunbury and Margaret River.

The fun thing about self-drive trip is that you get to stop over anywhere and anytime you wish. We had so much fun especially on our drive to Margaret River. We stopped over whenever we saw something nice or interesting; visiting wineries, fruit orchards, organic farms, Harvey's Juicy Orange, Scenic Spots etc etc...

Amanda enjoyed herself sooo much during this trip as this is the first time she got so close to kangaroos and joeys.... she was practically hugging them! Look at the pictures taken at Sunshine Animal Farm at Margaret River...

Another thing which Amanda enjoyed was the swan feeding at Lake Monger. All the black swans charged at Amanda the moment she approached with her bag of bread.... and the swans really got her jumping up and down.... wheeee.... that was really fun! This trip the swans bit Lawrence's fingers as he was trying to feed them. I recalled 19 years ago, they bit his BUTT when he refused to give them the bread he was holding!!! HAHAHA!!!

Throughout the entire journey, Lawrence remained a very calm and patient driver despite there were so many navigators in the car giving different instructions at the same time.... and there were also times when we gave wrong instructions and leading the wrong turns...

This was truely a memorable trip and we spent quality time with Dad & Mum and for Amanda, she got to sleep and cuddle with Kong Kong & Ma Ma almost every night.

Home Sweet Home......... zzzzzzzzzzzz

Oh yes, my precious babe did not vomit at all while in the plane to and from Perth.... Trick : let her sleep the moment she boards the plane :)

Summer Holiday in Beijing, May 2008

We haven't gone for a holiday for a year (other than those driving trips to Malaysia), and were all so excited for this Beijing trip.

This trip was a little different compared to our other holidays. This time with a mission... as a parent volunteer for Amanda's future primary school cum our long awaited holiday.....

The flight to Beijing was a mere 6 hours flight... yet, sad to say, Amanda vomitted again just 30 minutes before landing... creating havoc for the SQ crew.... She threw up so much that the blankets & pillows were all soaked... my poor babe.... the flight steward teased her and asked if she ate too much... NO, that's not true, she only nibbled on her sandwich and did not even take her main meal. BUT, I think it must be the apple juice and fresh milk which I made her take sips of them to prevent dehydration.... SIGH..... lesson learnt for me again... DO NOT FEED HER WITH ANY FOOD!!!

We arrived Beijing a few days ahead of the Singapore school team. This gave us time to move around on our own and enjoy some family time before "work begins"....

Our duty was to take care of a group of Primary 5 kids whilst we were out sight-seeing with them and also on their school exchange in Beijing.

We had lots of fun with the 6 kids who were attached to us and Amanda had such fun time interacting with them.

Soon it was time to part when we sent them off at Beijing Airport Terminal 3 for their connecting flight to Shandong. We did not join them as we had extended 2 days after them to "unwind" ourselves before flying back to Singapore. The kids got so attached to us that some of them looked so sad and 2 of the kids even shed tears saying they will miss us.... how sweeeeet..... we told them we are just so near i.e. we will meet them back in Singapore again... and the kids exchanged telephone numbers and email addresses with Amanda....

Our flight home was good. We've learnt our lesson and made Amanda sleep the moment she boarded the plane and she did not take in any food throughout the flight; not even a drop of water.....

This Beijing trip was very enjoyable on the whole except for the weather which we experienced on 2 of the days which hit a scorching high of 39 degree celcius.... OMG!!!