Ironman 70.3 Cairns - 6 June 2018 to 11 June 2018
6 June 2018 to 7 June 2018
Yeah! We are finally travelling! This time round, we are heading to Cairns! It’s Lexuan first flight experience and given that it’s an 1.30am flight, we have no idea how it’s going to be like. We are definitely very excited about the trip!
I wanted to apply half day leave to do last minute packing but my colleagues were already on leave, so I decided that I will claim flexi claim to leave at 5pm. As expected, I didn’t get to leave at 5pm. I left at 7pm. It’s kinda jam so I decided to take train which is very fast too!
On the other hand, Jianhui had ordered Nando’s from Food Panda. It’s nice to have food to eat when I’m home! But it’s kinda expensive for a half chicken with 2 sides. The good thing is, it helps us to save time and surprisingly the chicken is still quite hot. The half chicken is kinda small so we had Maggie mee also.
After dinner, it’s time to continue with packing. We are finally ready to go. After pumping milk, I went to shower to go airport. We left house about 9.45pm and started to book maxi cab. After a few failed attempts, we decided we will go airport in 2 cabs. So lucky got one available cab downstairs and so I took it while Jianhui booked another cab.
We reached airport about 10.40am and immediately we went to check in. We saw some other people with their bike box too. It was a fast process of checking in.
By now, I was really real tired and sleepy. We went to Gate 7 which was right at the end. I rested on the sleeping chair while Jianhui helped to feed Lexuan. Don’t know why... but we were so hungry and so Jianhui went to get iced Milo and chicken Bao. Surprisingly, the Bao was not too bad! Haha. Lucky we ate Bao as I was having a bit of gastric pain when I was pumping milk inside the toilet. Anyway, I must say Singapore airport’s toilets are really clean and smell nice! Quite nice to pump milk. I can’t imagine myself pumping milk at Manila’s airport toilet. Haha.
When I was done, it’s 12.45am. Time to board the plane. Our poor girl had finally fallen asleep and now we got to wake her up again for customs check. She must be so sleepy and tired. For the first time, we got priority for boarding haha. We put Lexuan’s stroller inside the big plastic bag and left it outside the air craft.
And so our adventure starts now! Once the plane takes off, the cabin crew set up bassinet for Lexuan to sleep. It’s something new for her so she can’t really sleep on it. Finally at about 2am she slept. Though she kept on waking up but at least she slept and she was not crying. Thanks goodness if not we will be hated by other passengers who want to sleep.
We fed Lexuan again about 3am before she started to make noise. Haha. Breakfast for adults was bad. I didn’t eat much. Then we fell asleep for a while before we touched down about 10am (Australia Time which is 2 hours ahead of Singapore). When touching down, I experienced very sharp pain on the left side of my head. This always happens to me when my nose is blocked. It only gets better when we touched down.
Travelling with a baby means we have priority queue. This is much needed as it is really challenging to travel with a baby as she might get cranky anytime. However, Che Che was the last bike to come out and so we ended up being the last to clear customers. And the worst thing is, one of the wheels of the bike bag came off. And I was so busy at work that I forgot to buy travel insurance. Aiyo. Why this kind of thing always happens.
This time round, we booked car from Eurocar as there aren’t available cars from Thrifty. And there wasn’t any counter staff at the counter so Jianhui went to Domestic Airport to get the car while I fed Lexuan. Soon, Jianhui was back and I went to pump milk. 9 hours interval. My breasts are basically full of milk and on the verge of exploding! Haha.
By the time we were done, it was already 12.30pm and we drove about 6km to Mantra Esplanade. For once, it’s such a short distance to our hotel. Haha. The hotel was located in the city so it was quite difficult to find a parking lot. After going rounds and rounds, we gave up and decided that I should drop off to check in first. The staff told us that Jianhui could park at the driveway temporarily and so he drove over.
I was so relieved we could finally check in. What a relief! We made it to the hotel! The room is spacious and good. But there is no wifi which is kinda sian. Haha. After settling Lexuan, we finally could go for our lunch. Super hungry given that I didn’t eat much on plane. We had McD’s as it was just downstairs.
After we had showered, we rested a bit before I get ready for The Cairns Post Bright Night Run. For once, I would have a race before Jianhui and I would be crossing the same finishing line as Jianhui. Haha.
After getting the bib and took some photos, I went to the starting line. Most of the runners are dressed up in bright colours with light sticks and Color pain on face. So happening. Anyway, it was a fun run so the idea was to enjoy the run. It was a cooling run and it feels like I am running along ECP. The only difference is, the weather is cooling and it is not humid. I could feel that I was quite on form and so I managed to hit sub 6 minutes for 5km on average. All in all, it was great run and the best part was running on the red carpet to to finishing line. I feel as if I have completed an Ironman race. Haha.
After the run, we went to have dinner at By the Sea restaurant which was just below our hotel. We ordered Big Burger and shared the burger.
It has been a Long day for us. We slept at 10pm. And of course, Lexuan was very tired too and slept relatively well together with us on the bed.
8 June 2018
Lexuan must be so tired that she slept all the way till 8am which is very rare as and would usually be up by 7am in Singapore. We had their All Day breakfast at Coast Roast Cafe with latte. It was not too bad but about AUD20 so we ordered one and shared.
After breakfast, we went Woolworths for shopping. It’s our favourite pastime in Australia. Haha. We also bought Data card. For Woolworths, it costs AUD10 for 1GB + 10GB bonus days which was quite worth it.
Lexuan had a short nap before we went out to meet the pro. We wanted to meet Bozonne and Mirinda. We managed to get Bozonne’s signature and I took photo with Mirinda and her baby girl.
Then Jianhui went to collect race pack. It was a fast collection process with no queue. We went crazy at the merchandise store as usual. Haha. Total damage about AUD200+.
For lunch, we went Perrotta’s. It’s a nice restaurant with a good feel but the pizza was normal. And the chocolate milkshake tasted like chocolate milk. Seriously, I think only Billy Bombers serve the best chocolate milkshake in the world haha.
We went back to our room so that Lexuan can rest a while before we went to Palm Cove to recce the swim start. This is the first time that Jianhui had joined an Ironman race in which T1 and T2 are at 2 different places. Palm Cove is about 30km away and it's a beach area so it's more windy. The currents looks scary which we hope it won't be that bad on race day if not it would be a tough swim.
We strolled along the beach and Lexuan stepped on the sand before we drove back. We wanted to go for the welcome dinner but when we were there, we came to realize that it was only for the full Ironman athletes. So we had to find alternate dinner plans. We ended up eating Fish & Chips at a foodcourt wanna-be which was quite okay. We also ended our dinner with NZ premium ice cream cone.
A relaxing day as we could sleep all we want.
9 June 2018
Early in the morning, Jianhui went to test bike and checked in Che Che for them to bring Che Che to T1. He also checked in bags to T2 which was just opposite our hotel. When he was done, we went to the popular (and always packed) Little Loco Cafe for breakfast. Jianhui ordered Steak sandwich while I ordered Ham & Cheese. I guess his steak sandwich was much better than mine and somehow the bread was so hard to bite.
What's after breakfast? Of course to Woolworths for shopping again. Haha. We bought more snacks and milk.
Then we drove 60km+ to Port Douglas. It's a small town with a lot of resorts. As we were running out of time, we had could only have late lunch at Cage Fresq. I ordered the pancakes and I love the pancakes with vanilla ice cream while Jianhui had beef burger (again?!!). Oh ya, the public toilet is interesting as it is automatic in the sense that they will open and close doors for you and flush the toilet bowl.
On our way back, we stopped by Rex Lookout and took some nice photos. Race scenic photos for this trip. haha. Then we went back to Palm Cove to check out Che Che. While Jianhui was settling Che Che, I fed Lexuan at the shelter.
While driving back to our hotel, we also stopped by the park near our hotel for some "ECP alike" photos. It looks way too much like our ECP with the same kind of trees.
As we had late lunch, we were still full to eat dinner. We went back to rest first before coming out to eat Korean Restaurant. We wanted to eat the popular Japanese Ramen restaurant but there was a queue so we settled for the korean food beside the Japanese restaurant. Food was normal only. Seriously, the food here is expensive and yet not that fantastic. So far, we haven eaten anything decent or value for money.
After dinner, it's time to go back to rest for tomorrow's race day. :)
10 June 2018
It's race day and we had to wake up real early for the shuttle bus. I woke up at 3.45am and Lexuan must be so excited that she woke up around the same time as me. Jianhui left earlier at 4am to take the shuttle bus for athletes. I left about 5am with Lexuan in baby carrier and a super heavy and powerful bag which contained all the essential items for Lexuan (milk, ice pack, hot water, diapers, clothes, winter wear, etc). I was kinda nervous as it's my first time with Lexuan alone in baby carrier. The lucky thing was she fell asleep on our way to Palm Cove. When we alighted from the shuttle bus, I saw Jianhui at the drop off point.
I quickly went toilet so that Jianhui could get ready to wear his wet suit. For the swim, it's rolling start so I tried to look out for Jianhui running out for the swim. But, it was so crowded that I didn't manage to spot him. From the app, I knew that he started swimming at around 6.44am so this pretty much helped me to estimate what time he would out from the swim. I walked around the area to familiarize with it to understand where would be a good place to stand to cheer him up when he came out from the swim and how he would be going out for the bike ride.
About 50+ minutes from his swim starting time, I spotted him. I also got to see him cycling out from T1. He would be going for 90km bike ride and would be back at our hotel. So, I took the shuttle bus to go back to our hotel. Lexuan must be so tired or comfortable inside baby carrier that she fell asleep on our way back in the bus.
Back in the hotel, I wanted Lexuan to sleep more so that she won't be tired later in the afternoon but this girl just refused to sleep. In the end, when we were about to leave the hotel at about 11am, she finally fell asleep. Bad timing. I had to carry her to the stroller and luckily she continued her sleep in the stroller. Weather is kinda hot so I changed into shirt and shorts. And the best part is, I could cheer Jianhui just outside our hotel. This is definitely the best thing to stay near the race site. In fact, I could view the race from our hotel balcony.
I saw Jianhui coming back from the bike and immediately, I crossed the road so that I could cheer him on for his run. After seeing Jianhui running past me, I went to find a good place to feed Lexuan.
After seeing Jianhui for the first 10.6km, I went back to the room to pee and change diapers for Lexuan. We rested a while before we went out again. As Jianhui would be finishing his race, we went to the somewhere near the finishing line.
This is Lexuan's first time cheering for papa at Ironman race, so I carried her out to cheer for papa. So happy when we saw Jianhui running to the finishing line.
I am always very proud of Jianhui whenever he completed a race, especially Ironman race. Given that we do not have enough sleep and time since Lexuan came into our life, it's admirable that Jianhui has the discipline and commitment to train for the race. It's definitely not easy as a lot of time, we would simply take the easy way out and just give ourselves excuses that we have no time to train or too tired to train. This doesn't happen to Jianhui. No words can describe how proud I am of him. He is our IronDad. =p I hope Lexuan will grow up to enjoy supporting Jianhui for his races.
We went back together after the race. We had maggie mee for lunch while Jianhui rested a while.
We went Outback for dinner but the steak was disappointing. Jack's Place steak is so much better. And this dinner cost us AUD110, super not worth it. Hah. I guess we could have spent AUD20 and bought some steak to go back cook and it would taste much better than this.
After dinner, it's time to pack as we would be flying back tomorrow. By 10pm, we were so tired that we concussed.
11 June 2018
Happy 7 months old to Lexuan! This lucky girl got to celebrate her birthday in Australia. Haha.
Anyway, it was a busy morning as we got the check out from the hotel to go airport. Jianhui went to buy McD's breakfast for us as we know that we won't enjoy the food on Silkair. By 9am, we reached the airport. It was an easy and quick check in process. Customs was also efficient as there weren't many people for International Airport. I guess main bulk of the people are at Domestic Airport.
We bought blueberry muffin and mocha for snack. Just before we boarded the plane, I went to toilet to pump milk and we also fed Lexuan.
At around 10.30am, we boarded the flight. The air stewardess gave Lexuan a small Silkair aeroplane soft friend, so cute that mummy wana kop. Haha.
Lexuan actually fell asleep in my arms while taking off. But, the moment she woke up, it was nightmare as she kept on crying. Even pacifier doesn't help. We decided to feed her about 1pm and she finally slept. Finally we had some peace. Like what Jianhui said, even though Silkair doesn't have inflight entertainment, the flight time seems short. This is because Lexuan is our inflight entertainment. And this inflight entertainment has no remote control. Totally uncontrollable. Haha.
We touched down at 3.21pm (on time). Was worried that our flight might be delayed because of Trump-Kim summit, but luckily the queue at customs was not too bad. Even the luggage came out relatively fast. We collected luggage, bought liquor and cleared customs by 4pm. Fast right?
Then, we split into 2 cabs to go back home as we had too much luggage. Lexuan was super cranky in the cab and finally she fell asleep when we were about home.
So glad to be home! Haha.
All in all, it was a short but great trip. Thanks to papa for planning this trip and he was also the one who settled the air tickets, accommodation and car rental! Thanks Jianhui! This is definitely a memorable first overseas (on plane) trip for our family! Lexuan has been a good girl too so we are definitely looking forward to create more memories with her!
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Angeline winks
at |1:03 PM|
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