2014

After almost a week in Melbourne, we decided to round up the trip with 4 days in Sydney, well, just because.

We’ve been to Taronga Zoo, the Wild Life Zoo and the aquarium the last visit so this time, we took a 40-minute drive out to Featherdale Wildlife Park for a different experience. And I’m glad we did too because it was the best among all the animal sanctuaries in Sydney. It doesn’t have the lions and giraffes and zebras but if you really want to get up close and personal with Aussie animals, Featherdale is the place to go.

There are the soft and furry wallabies who would hop up to the kids for a snack…

And them cuddly sleepyhead koalas…

Except for this little guy who woke up and started playing peekaboo…

And a whole bunch of friendly farm animals that are so cute they look like stuffed toys…

So you know like baby Finn isn’t entirely thrilled with goats after his little goat incident at Collingwood and he was just doing his thing at the farm area when one playful goat sneaked up on him to give him a peck on the cheek. Little man freaked out, backed away hastily and started telling off the goat like “NO NO!! BAD GOAT, BAD, BAD GOAT!!”

Poor boy. I have a feeling he’s not going to be friends with goats anytime soon.

We were also there just in time for the opening night of Vivid and it was really nice to see the city lit up with all the light shows, installations and fireworks.

So that just about rounds up our little family getaway down under, as well as our travel plans for the rest of the year.

I think I’ve gotten the travel bug itch under control so I’m going to be good, stay home and get ready for baby Theo. That’s going to be exciting.

There are 3 things we usually do when we’re in Melbourne:

1. Pop in to say hi to the animals at Collingwood Children’s Farm.

It’s a great little working farm right in the city where the kids get to spend some quality time with the animals. It’s the 4th time we’re there and Truett and Kirsten always feel like they’re in animal heaven. They get to pet the horses, feed the sheep, run after the ducks and snuggle with the guinea pigs.

We thought baby Finn would take to the animals the same way but turns out that he’s not particularly impressed by animals in general. At the guinea pig petting area, the other two kids were going crazy over the little furballs and he was like “meh, this is so boring…moving along!”

And then we got them each a bag of animal feed and he took some in his little hands to offer it to one of the goats. I think the goat nicked his fingers a little while eating the food and he got really upset at it so he started glaring at the goat with way too much indignation for a little boy. And the goat? It probably thought it was a game so it stared back so they just stood there making faces at each other for a while. That was hilarious.

Finn’s favourite part of the farm…was playing with sawdust. This kid is so wonderfully weird.

2. Ride Puffing Billy.

We took a ride on Puffing Billy last year and it was one of the highlights of our trip so a visit back to the cute little steam train was in order.

Yes, that’s me being a badass while being heavily pregnant. But if you must know, that little move almost gave me a hernia so that was short lived. Being a badass has its price. Worth it though. Sort of.

We rode the train to Lakeside, got off for a picnic by the lake and rode back to Belgrave. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

3. Playgrounds!

Melbourne’s playgrounds are pretty rad and the funnest playground award this time goes to this super retro place called Skinners Playground in South Melbourne.

Trampolines! Swings! Tricycles! Climbing things! All kinds of balls! Bunnies! And a friendly chicken.

I meant to post sooner but we just got back from our annual mid-year Aussie trip to visit my sister and I am so completely wiped. We’ve been doing this for the past 4 years so I figured this would be a piece of cake but this trip has been the most massive operation by far. We went with all 3 kids (technically 4 if I’m counting the one in my uterus), plus my mom and my helper.

I thought I’d be posting on the fly like I usually do but by the end of each day, I could barely stumble into bed without falling over, much less attempt to blog. Turns out that being 30-weeks pregnant and chasing after 3 kids all day is ridiculously exhausting.

But other than that, it’s been a really good trip.

It was baby Finn’s first visit to Melbourne and Sydney and I can say definitively that he loves it. This kid clearly inherited his siblings’ travel bug genes. Every single morning, he woke up with a huge grin, yelling “KAI KAI…LET’S GO…YEAH!!!” He was so enthusiastic about everything and it was like looking at the place through new eyes. I loved it.

We thought we’d do something different this year so we took a drive along the Great Ocean Road for the first time. We’d probably have driven up as far as the Twelve Apostles and Grampians but we didn’t want to push it so hard with so many people in tow (great decision, btw!) so most of our time was spent in Lorne, a pretty little town overlooking the ocean.

Looking at them, I realise that kids don’t need a lot to be happy. All they need are wide open spaces to run, some trees to climb, playgrounds to hang around in, and each other for company.

That pretty much works for me too.

The kids were so thrilled that my sister’s boyfriend brought his two gorgeous dogs along. Meet Khan and Charlotte. I call them the poofy, slightly aloof one and the heart-meltingly sad one.

Club Med has been on our holiday bucket list for a while and I’m glad we finally managed to check it out last weekend with all 3 kids. It was a glorious, sunshiney weekend to head to Club Med Bintan, about an hour’s ferry ride out from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

Being the first time we were bringing baby Finn along for a holiday just the two of us (without any additional adult help), we were a little nervy about the adult-kid ratio. Plus there’s my pregnant belly which reduces mobility by about 70%, so it was effectively like 1.5 adults vs 3.5 kids. It’s a good thing Truett and Kirsten are such seasoned travellers, which helped a lot.

One of the best things about Club Med is their system of GO’s (Gentil Organisateur). They’re a bunch of young, energetic and enthusiastic Club Med crew who run all the activities, including the super awesome kids club (Mini Club Med). The Mini Club Med program runs from 8.30 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon (they even eat together) and the kids had such a great time hanging out with their newfound friends and GO’s.

Evidently, we’re big fans of Mini Club Med because that means we get to chill out and take a breather while the kids are off having fun.

While they were at the kids club, they got to try out a whole bunch of really cool activities like the trapeze, trampoline and archery.

I think the trapeze was Tru’s absolute favourite activity. He panicked a little as he started climbing up the ladder but my brave little trooper powered on and took the leap. He made it look so fun that if I wasn’t pregnant, I’d definitely be trying it out myself.

Baby Finn was a little too small to join Mini Club Med unsupervised so he got to spend some quality time with us, which he was thrilled to do. I’ve never seen him look so happy – he was yelling “AWESOME…YES!!!” everywhere he went.

Finally, here’s what happens after a fun-filled day at Mini Club Med.

Ok, only one of these 3 are really sleeping.

Yeah, that one.

*Book a Club Med holiday from now till 30 May (travel from May-Oct 2014) and enjoy the Kids Stay For Free promotion at Bali, Cherating, Phuket and Guilin.

Also, you don’t want to miss the Bintan Family Festival from 5^th to 8^th June, where there’ll be a whole list of exciting activities happening over the span of 4 days, such as a Soccer Clinic with Steven Tan, Child Yoga, Mosaic Art, Eco Arts and Craft, Batik Painting, Ice-Cream Making, K-Pop Dance and Kids Performing.