Adventure 2022

Happy New Year! It’s 2022! 

I was so busy at work in 2021 all the way from January to the very last day of 2021. It’s really crazy. But I must say I am thankful for fun and nice colleagues who help to pull me up on my bad days. 

Anyway, you probably won’t believe it. At the time I am writing this, I am on airplane to Melbourne! On the very first day of 2022! The last time we travelled was in March 2020 to New Zealand. We almost forgot what to pack and how to pack. True enough, I actually forgot to pack contact lens for the trip! And we nearly forgot to bring kettle and our trustworthy mini cooker. 

Even with the VTL to Australia, we have to do PCR test for pre departure flight within 72 hours. PCR test to be done within 24hrs of arriving in Australia and we are supposed to self isolate until negative test is received. If you stay beyond day 5, you need to do another PCR test between day 5 and day 7 after arriving. 

We wanted to do PCR test on 30 December 2021 but then a lot of clinics are closed on 31 December, so we decided to do on 29 December. So happen I am on leave also. Jianhui helped 3 of us (yes, Lexuan also did her first PCR test) to book the test at Raffles Medical Holland. We did it at the rooftop and it was a breeze with no waiting time. Lexuan struggled a bit to do the test but overall still okay! I’m the only one who teared after doing the swab. The results are out early in the morning at 6am on 30 December 2021 which I am so impressed! 

With the swab test finally settled, Jianhui went ahead to book our accommodation and car on 31 December 2021 while I continued working full day. I am so thankful to have such an understanding and efficient husband who helped to settled everything for the trip. He also printed all the necessary documents and so I think we’re ready to go!

It was a busy last night of 2021 as we were  busy packing. We went to Senja to get some of the stuff before we went back to Teck Whye with our luggage and back pack to continue packing. Then we realize we forgot to bring our cooking stove, so Jianhui went back Senja to take. Meanwhile, I am trying to make Lexuan sleep… it was a failed attempt as she only fell asleep at 11pm+. We only slept at midnight which means that we only have 3 hours plus of sleep… 

1 Jan 2021 

We woke up at 3am to get ready. I didn’t really sleep well, So I was feeling so stoned. We had a quick breakfast and then we woke our sleepy Lexuan to go airport. We reached airport really early at 5am+. There weren’t a lot of people yet so we could check in quickly. Nowadays, the vaccination document is so important as everywhere you go, you need to show the official one. We had breakfast at Heavenly Wang. 

After going toilet many times, we finally cleared customs to wait to board. Lexuan is getting impatient and she can’t wait to board the plane. In her words… “I’m waiting so long…”. 

They gave each of us a care kit which has hand sanitizer and disinfectant. The hand sanitizer is life buoy brand and it smells nice. I would say it’s an empty flight. We could take one row of seats. We took the windows seats and changed seats after taking off. We thought there isn’t any food on Scoot so we ordered quite a lot of snacks - Pringles + Minute Maid, nuts + beer and truffle chips. Imagine our shock when they served us nasi lemak. The food is not too bad. 

Lexuan doesn’t eat nasi lemak so I ordered cup noodles for her. They probably poured a whole pack of MSG so it is so salty. For the whole flight, I kept on going toilet. I only got to sleep a while when Lexuan finally fell asleep. Travelling with Lexuan means that she is our inflight Non-stop entertainment. 

Thanks to the good weather, we are ahead of our schedule by an hour. At the airport, the customs officer asked for our vaccination documents and we were given 10 ART kits. And then off we are ready to go to our first hotel. As we couldn’t book the better Hotel (Park Royal Collection), we got to make do with Ibis Budget hotel.

We had to walk maybe about 1km to Ibis.

It’s a super small room (13 metres square) and with windows that you can’t really open. So it’s like a cabin room. It comes with a double decker bed but nobody wants to sleep upside as you will bump your head every time you climb up or down. It’s about 7pm and we were really hungry. There’s a McDonald’s just opposite us and we thought we could get some hot food there. However, the restaurant is closed (probably due to new year’s holidays?) and no other restaurants available for food delivery too! Not much choice In the airport as well. Jianhui had  to go to the kiosk to get 3x sandwiches and ice cream for us as Lexuan wanted to eat Oreo McFlurry! She was devastated when I told her McDonald is closed, ended up she fell asleep while waiting for her food. 

We woke her up to eat some ham (as that’s the only thing she wanted to eat) + her ice cream. 

After settling our dinner, we slept at 10pm (which is about 7pm Singapore time). 

I woke up a few times as it was uncomfortable sleeping in between 2 single beds and I was sleeping slanted to give Lexuan more space.

Whatever it is, at least we settled our first night in Melbourne. 

2 January 2022 

We had McDonald’s for breakfast though Lexuan didn’t eat much. Jianhui went to get our car while we went back room to do packing.

Once we got our car, we checked out of our room. We went to Woolsworth to get some stuff before we went to do Swab test and the drive through site (Keilor Basketball/Netball stadium) near airport. We did the registration before heading there. The whole test took about 1 hr and I kinda pity the staff working there as it was really hot under the tent. 

We are ready to go Silverwater Resort! Along the way, we had a quick stopover for lunch. We ate KFC and ice cream before continuing our journey.

We reached Silverwater Resort around 3.45pm due to the jam towards Phillip island. We got our room 113 and it was perfect! It’s big, cosy and has a nice open view. Totally perfect for us to relax. 

We drove to The Nobbies for a while then it’s dinner time. We went to the fish & chips shop and know what? They sold out of chips? So I bought 4 pieces of fish, 1 nugget (i asked for 1 set of nuggets but they sold the nuggets individually so they really only gave me 1 nugget. Haha) and some fried potato. 

We ended the night by finished one bottle of moscato and potato chips. 

3 January 2021 

I woke up with 2 swollen wrists! Initially I tot this is due to food allergy (too much salt) but ended up, it was due to mosquito bites. Somehow, I am allergic to Melbourne mosquitoes. I always get very swollen bite here. 

We did a short run along to coastal drive and it was so refreshing! I think I can do this everyday if I stay here! 

There is a washing machine and dryer so I tried using it to wash our dirty clothes. However, the dryer always gives me problems. It either doesn’t dry my clothes or I cannot open it. Haha. 

We didn’t realise it’s public holidays over here so the resort is quite crowded with families and kids. 

We were excited that the jumping pillow is still around. As for Lexuan, she loves the playground and had fun playing. She even told me she is no longer scared of the swing.

After this, we went to the visitor information centre to buy the 4 passes tickets to Churchill island, Koala conservation centre, Penguin parade centre and The Antarctica journey. 

We headed to Churchill hill to see farm animals but this girl kept on complaining very tired and so we walked one round and we went back to the car. We drove to see Koala which I think she will be more excited. We played a game to see who found the first koala also this makes her excited. We found 3 koalas in total. The oldest koala is 20 years old. 

We drove to woolsworth at Cowe to get some drinks and food before going back to our room. There are more cars in Cowe and seems like a lot of people are holidaying?

After much thinking and researching, we decided to extend one more night at Silverwater Resort! Initially, they told us we need to check out our current room and check in only 3pm which is like pointless so we rejected it. But the moment we are back in the room, they called us and informed us that we can stay in our current room. Yeah. So we quickly booked our last hotel, Pegasus Apartment Hotel. 

Lexuan finally slept at 5pm which is good as we wanted her to rest enough to stay up late for Penguin Parade at 9pm. We also rested a bit before driving out at 7pm. Once again, we went to Woolworth to buy water. 

Then we drove to Penguin parade. It’s so cold and windy as what I imagined it to be. Lexuan had to wear 3 jackets to keep herself warm. While waiting for the penguins to swim back, it’s really cold. After waiting a while, Lexuan cannot wait anymore and insisted that she wanted to walk back (because she wants to buy the penguin soft toys). Luckily, some of the penguins are back and we got to see a couple of them. They are so small and cute. Haha.

And so to pacify a crying baby, we bought her the blue penguin with pink head mittens. Jianhui has to drive in the dark to go back to our resort. Only he can do it as there’s no street lights. 

4 January 2022 

We had a good sleep until 8am. We had breakfast in the room.

Then we drove about 103km to Ripe & Cherries farm to pick cherries. As we drove nearer to our destination, the weather seems to be more gloomy. Is this the perfect climate for cherries? 

It costs us AUD10 per adult as entry fees, free for Lexuan. Jianhui has hidden talent in this man as she demonstrates agility in picking cherries. Within minutes, we have quite a lot of cherries! (We went back room to count the number of cherries that we have. We have about 60!). It costs us additional AUD7 to buy our cherries back home. All in all, it was fun and Lexuan enjoyed herself too! 

Then, we made car trip to west head lookout at flinders. We also dropped by Mount Martha South Beach but got nothing much. 

We got nothing much to eat so we ended up at Mornington’s McDonald’s to buy fries as Lexuan is complaining that she is hungry. When we saw Domino pizza, we are so excited and so we bought 2 large pizza. It only cost us $20.

We drove 1hr+ back to our Silverwater Resort. After a long time outside, we are happy to be back! And so it’s time to enjoy our pizza and cherries! The cherries are really sweet and nice! 

After dinner, I went for a short 3km while jianhui did 5km. It’s a cold and windy run. It’s an enjoyable run with such scenery. I think I can run everyday with such scenery and weather. 

Then it’s rest and relax time.

I simply love Silverwater Resort.

5 January 2022 

We woke up at 7am and started doing our packing as we need to check out at 10am today. 

Jianhui also helped to do Health declaration submission in preparation for our flight back to Singapore. Jianhui also made reservation for our departure ART in Melbourne Airport. It costs us AUD59 and Lexuan needs to do too. We also booked our PCR test on arrival in Singapore which costs us SGD125 per person. We have been doing so many PCR and ART tests for the past one week. 

Here is a summary of the tests and the cost: 

And so today we heading back to Melbourne. We stopped over at Koo Wee Rup’s woolsworth to top up our stock. Then we stopped over to buy Manuel’s fish and chips which taste really yummy! We ate inside the car as Lexuan is sleeping. Though she woke up, she didn’t want to eat the chips. And once she woke up we don’t have peace. So we went McDonald to buy ice cream for her. 

We drove to Brighton beach to meet up with Chun Chi. While waiting for him, we had some drinks at The Baths. It’s a nice place but the raspberry sunrise is horrible. The Stella draft beer and Orange juice is okay. Don’t ask me why did we order the raspberry sunrise as it was ordered by my girl. It’s so horrible that she didn’t finish it at all. 

Then we drove to Brighton beach garden. From far, I saw a family of Asian family which I guessed it should be Chun Chi and family. True enough, it’s him, his wife and 2 lovely daughters. The last time I saw him was probably in 1999 as he moved to Melbourne after secondary school. It was a short catch up session with him. He gave us some cakes and chocolates too. 

Then we made our journey to Pegasus Apartment hotel, our SOP hotel in Melbourne city. Though we came here so many times, they kept on changing the parking rules. We can’t park at the hotel and so we had to spend AUD25 to park at another building. Before Jianhui parked the car, we off load our luggage at the hotel lobby first. 

We stayed at room 2202 which comes with 2 rooms. Lexuan chopped her bed as usual. From our room, we can see the rooms and the people sleeping on the beds of the building opposite us. 

Think I was so used to the open field at Silverwater resort that I feel cramped in this hotel. I didn’t have a good sleep either as the bed is a bit too bouncy for me. I feel like I am sleeping on a bouncy bed. 

6 January 2022 

It’s our last day in Australia as we will be heading home today. We woke up early to go Queen Victoria Market. Roo roo is finally back home! However most of the shops are not opened so early at 8am+. Only the doughnuts shop is open so we bought a packet before walking back to our hotel. 

We had our breakfast back in to hotel before we started packing and clearing stuff. We were just here for one night but the amount of rubbish that we had here is crazy. 

Around 11am, we checked out and we were ready to drive to airport. It’s about 20km to the airport. We drove to the rental car carpark and returned our trustworthy Silver Kia car.

This is the time Lexuan started going crazy. She couldn’t stop crying and kept on saying she misses ah Ma. Headache man. I got to carry her and walk all the way to the T1. Luckily she finally calmed down when we reached the airport. 

Jianhui went to join the queue for the ART test while Lexuan and I waited at the seats with our luggage. Waiting time plus testing time about an hour. Lexuan didn’t cry at all and definitely less struggle. For me, I didn’t cry nor sneeze too. The results are sent to Jianhui’s Australia number within 10 minutes and we could go to the cafe (near the clinic) to print out our results. 

With this important documents, we are ready to check in. Nowadays, the vaccination and PCR/ART results more important than air tickets. We spent a good 10-15 minutes checking in as I think the airline staff has more things to check also. 

After checking in our luggage, we definitely feel more relaxed with only our backpacks. While walking to McDonald’S, Lexuan is sharp to notice the Paw Patrol’s Everest toy and of course I got to buy for her. (Anyway, I think the toy is cute.) 

Then we can finally have lunch at MacDonald’s (again?!!). And know what? The sundae machine is spoilt so there is no ice cream! Lexuan is so disappointed as she has been asking for ice cream since yesterday. And most of the shops are closed so if McDonald’s doesn’t have ice cream, it means there is no ice cream in the airport. 

The whole airport is so empty with not many people. We just relaxed near Gate 8 to wait for boarding. This girl saw the super big lollipop and asked me for it. But of course, we didn’t buy it. 

Glad that there is no delay in flight time and we take off punctually at 4.40pm. Since we are on SQ, there is inflight entertainment and so this girl is busy playing games. She loves the games so much that she was dreaming that she was playing the games. 

For meals, we have either beef shepherd pie or butter chicken which Lexuan doesn’t eat. True enough, she complains she is hungry. So we had to ask the air stewardess to get us cup noodles for us. I know cup noodles is bad for her but no choice… it’S the only thing she eats. 

Then my as I know she will say she is hungry very soon.

She finally fell asleep around Australia time 8pm (Singapore 5pm). For this flight, I managed to watch 2 movies - Shang Chi and Ah Boys to Men 4. Both movies not bad. I also Watched a bit of Paw Patrol Movie with Lexuan. 

Soon, it’s about time to touch down! It’s rAre that I never sleep at all during the flight. So, we made it back home. 

Coming back to Singapore now requires us to complete health declaration which Jianhui helped 3 of us to complete. There are many signboard in the airport telling you step 1 to 4 what to do.

Step 1: Clear customs 

Step 2: Collect your bags

Step 3: Do swab test 

Step 4: Take taxi to your designated isolation place of residence 

Nowadays, there aren’t a lot of flights so we can collect our bags very quickly. Then we will follow the signboard to do swab test. It’s a short queue and everything moved very fast. We also paid for the tests in advance. 

For this test, the swab is so thick and big. Lexuan struggled to do the test. I’m so proud of her for doing so many swab and ART tests. 

Then, we took a cab home. Happy to be back. Lexuan slept throughout the car

ride and was complaining when I woke her up. She refused to go bathing but I don’t care. I just take off her clothes and bathed her. Hehe. Once home, we were busy unpacking, settling Lexuan’s bed and settling my work clothes since I am going back to work tomorrow. 

Thanks to our Mi boy boy, our house is not so dirty. Jianhui also cooked mee sua for me to eat which is so yummy. I miss simple Chinese food! 

We went to bed around midnight. Surprisingly, our PcR results is out at 2am. negative. Thereafter, we need to continue to do ART for the next 6 days, with day 2

And day 7 tests to be done at clinics. I am amazed by Singapore government as the moment I touched down Singapore, I have been receiving emails and SMSes or what I need to do. Haha. 

All in all, it was a good and relaxing trip. It’s like after so long, I feel so 感动 that we can finally fly. Thanks to my husband for planning everything and getting all the documentation done. He’s the best! Lexuan is also way too happy to be able to take aeroplane again!