Our Family Trip, Melbourne Part 2

We Love Self Drive

Oh well, the most important element of a self drive holiday - The car!

4. The Car with Hertz

Its our first self drive holiday and we went with Hertz. We got a nice and new Hyundai Elantra, in white! Hubby loves the car and was missing it after we came back from our trip :P

Of course not forgetting Mr Neverlost! You've done a great job ;D

Good choice to go with Hertz. Will definitely keep as first choice for next self drive holiday.

We took our own sweet time as we are doing a self drive (that's the whole idea right ;P). So we hang around a bit, enjoying the "breeze" =_=", it was quite fun taking silly photos :P



5. The Great Ocean Road ~Woohoo

You are the reason I want to do Melbourne G.O.R~ XD

Travelling along one of the world's most scenic coastal drives Yay! Sounds good right? From Snake Valley to Apollo Bay, it took a good 2.5 hours driving. Credits to my hubby who LOVES to drive non-stop ;P while the 2 ladies go Zzzzz.

G getting into the mood of ... Zzzzzzz too :D

We stayed in The International, Comfort Inn, which is situated halfway along the Great Ocean Road. The rooms are clean and simple but I felt its not a good choice when travelling with kids. It reminded me of one of the horror movie that I watched in childhood where the psycho killer broke into the motel easily because the doors to the rooms were too open to the outsiders. Maybe it was just me! My hubby and daughter didnt feel uneasy at all, and of course I kept it to myself.

Family Selfie

G enjoying the cool weather, the sand & love the beach. She's upset that she doesn't get to swim :(

 It's not about where you go, your kids only care about how much time you spend with them, and without iPhone & iPad distractions.

After lunch, we hang around and felt so relaxed. But till kind of bored cause all we see is that playground opposite the hotel.. And a row of closed restaurants (only open for breakfast and lunch).

There's no choices of food here. The only restaurant open is the one we had our lunch, not worth mentioning. We found 2 restaurants further away, both listed on tripadvisor as the best restaurants in Apollo Bay, a Spanish bistro & a Chinese restaurant.  Both restaurants are so expensive! But maybe we should indulge a bit and went with Chill @ The Bay (because the Chinese menu looks like a joke) and had this:

Fresh oysters & Seafood paella

It was suppose to be very nice but two of us were getting old and do not like too flavorful. G was totally missing her white rice and so she ate a little but kept asking for the crabs. I felt the 3 of us were so out of place! We look tired and hungry and cold whereas the rest are chilling out with nice outfits and sipping their Sangria... Oh well... Anyway about food, I think this is my favorite so far (also my favorite of the whole trip)! Dang dang! APOLLO BAY BAKERY SCALLOP PIES! Apollo Bay Bakery was voted top five best pies Australia wide by the pies buyers guide (disclaimer: I didn't check further: p). The scallop pie is a must eat! its $10, I believe the most expensive pie in the shop but it's worth a try! The whole pie is filled with scallops & even G fussy eater was attracted to the nice aroma and great taste. 

Once we start eating we couldn't stop & that's why forgotten to take the photo of the delicious overflowing scallops... :(

A must-do when you are at GOR is the legendary The Twelve Apostles. Check this out:

Totally love it! This is the best experience of the trip!

Moving on to ~ the Mornington Peninsula... & Don't forget to continue your journey by GOR!

 



Likes: The Great Ocean Drive , The Twelve Apostles

Dislikes: Nothing nice to eat... Could have stayed at Port Campbell instead of Apollo Bay for a better route.

Bonus: Apollo Bay Bakery Scallop Pie!







Our Family Trip, Melbourne Part 1

We decided not to bring A, despites many commented I will miss him, unfair to him, poor A, it's not that difficult to bring just one more baby after all, A will forget you blah blah blah. Okay,  one simple reason for me not to bring him, he will be better taken care of if he stays in SG. We probably can manage, it doesn't cost much to add an infant ticket, but I believe he won't be able to rest well if he's constantly on the road and as he is still on a milk diet, water is my main concern. I do not wish to boil mineral water to make milk and I am not confident in tap water in other countries for infant. NOT to mention the bad ventilation in the plane. Ok so I wasn't even waiver at all by all comments. I know he's in safe hands - my mum!

I brought G to play with A before our night flight to Melbourne.  

I love night flights cause I can sleep better so I assumed kids can sleep better too.

We didn't really have time to plan the itinerary but I wanted to cover the Great Ocean Road, Farm stay, some wildlife, Phillips island and some shopping. I wanted to do Puffing Billy but was discouraged, but well since I don't have much time in the city itself, I decided just to do shopping! 

Is Melbourne a kid friendly destination?

Let's see from G's opinion ;P

1. The Flight - Singapore Airline 

I always trusted SQ. Also, G survived the 18hr long flight from Singapore to Los Angeles as her first trip, so I can vouch for it. For this trip, I enjoyed the hassle free flight on the way to Melbourne. But on the return, I am totally disappointed. So world class brands do make mistakes too. From now on, I am open to all airlines :D

  

2. Farm Stay - Y-Worry Farmstay @ Snake Valley
A real city escape and country experience!
But G was totally freaked out by the sound of the baby lamb (too loud). Oh yeah, and she's a city girl who hates smelly and dirty stuff. She asked, why isnt the cow black and white as in the cartoon? Haha so she refuses to touch anything and milk any cows. By the way, its a cold raining day and we quickly complete our farm tour and head to our cottage.

 

Holiday Feel name "Y-Worry"

 

Animals! We are here because we thought G will be so excited with these furry animals ...

Daddy became the only one who's willing to go near XD

 Can't get G to pose near to the animals haha This is the best shot!

She loves the big spacious cottage!

Likes: The homely feel, delicious home cooked meal and space! Also, the weather! We always love cold weather (about 10 degrees), so shiok!

Dislikes: Not much interaction with farm host, was expecting demonstrations like cow milking and things that kids like. We only met 1 host and she seemed to be really working, so the tour was actually brought us along to see what she is doing, briefly. Maybe I prefer the more commercial type which plan tours to "attract" kids! :P

Bonus: G saw rainbow after the rain! She's so excited and seem like its the best thing that ever happen :)

Even G enjoys her meal

 

The beautiful rainbow after the rain :)



A little Artist

G still could not write so I asked her to draw what she wanted to express. She wanted to say - We went Melbourne,Australia by airplane, we saw a rainbow and Koala Bears (to be exact,  koala bears on the tree). I think it's super nice! I love her drawings!

When she first started grabbing crayons to draw, everything is either dot or more dots haha... she will explain..  This is mummy (a dot...) this is Giselle (another dot.. ). Now, she's constantly praised by her teachers for her drawings :)