Swollen ears

Poor me! Look at my ears, especially my left ear. Did u notice anything different? Look carefully. Can u see dat its swollen x 2? See the redness? I do not know wat bit me. But its damn itchy. Mummy saw tis when she came down to the shop in the evening. Ah ma had already applied some ointment. The thing is i also do not know where or when i gt this bite.

Luckily i did nt develop any fever. However, 叔公 did noticed some pus coming out when he applied the ointment on my ear the 1st time. Not from the inside of my ear la, in case some of u mistaken but from the bitten area.

Hopefully,the swellness will go down faster else i will look like Dumbo the elephant when i go to sch on Mon.

Growing Up

Coming April 03 Apr, Lionel will be 4 yrs old. Rachel will turn 19 Months Old coming 17 Feb. May the both of them grow up to be strong, healthy, happy & loving always.

Day 1 - 26 Jan 2009

A total of 7 days
Departure - SIN/PER QF 72

Its a real hectic day for the 4 of us - Daddy, Mummy, Rachel & myself. Being the 1st day of CNY, we had alot of visiting to do. Our flight was in the evening. So we started off the day with a visit to 舅公. Then onwards to 王伯伯's hse. Next on the agenda is to the temple to pray for a good start to 2009 & also for a safe trip to & fro Australia.

The time was only abt 11.00am. So Daddy took us to Marina Barrage. Mummy didnt bring out the camera. We spent abt 1 hr there & end the trip with water play. We left ard 1.00pm. We went to 太公 & 太婆's place for lunch. Its a yearly affair. They are Mummy's grandparents. We met up with all Mummy's grand aunt, aunties, uncles & cousins. By right we were supposed to go to Granny's place but it was already 3.30pm. 小姑 says we gt to leave home at 4.30pm. Cos her fren told her Qantas is over booked for the next few days so if we only did the check in 2hrs before dep, we might not be able to board the flight. Therefore, its a must to check in early to secure the seats. Our actual checked in time is 5.45pm. Our flight is 7.45pm.

Phew! We gt our seats. We were not offloaded. This happen to 小姑's fren.

Rachel fell asleep even b4 the flight took off & only woke up after the flight landed. She was particularly an easy baby. Mummy was worried dat she wld fidget & fuss but luckily no lor. As for me, the cabin crew gave me a colouring book & a doodle set to keep me occupied.

We reached Perth earlier than scheduled. Mummy told Daddy to declare the milk powder & some medications but the officer said its ok. Those are not neccessary items to declare. However, 小姑's 3 in 1 cereal did not passed the channel & was being confisicated cos well, according to the officer, its erm... can i js say due to country differences, the cereal was made in a country whereby well, maybe Australian Agriculture Authorities do not trust. I dun noe, i say maybe. No offence here. I hope.

Our transport were waiting for us outside. We hv 2 cars sending us all to our apartment. Upon arrival, the recep didnt hv our bookings & we were all like " Huh? Then how? ". 小姑 then saw a sign on the recep counter saying dat our rooms 406 & 504 were not managed by Quest West & so shd not approach them for check in. Since we hv already gt our keys, we can all just go up.

We fell alseep immediately. We are in rm 406 & Ah Ma they all in rm 504. Ours is a 1 bedroom apt & theirs is a 2 bedroom apt. 2moro city tour.

** Exchange rate as of 22 Jan 2009:
S$1.02 ~ A$1
** Air tickets via QF:
S$837/adt
S$687/chd
S$364/inf
(above fares inc applicable taxes & fuel surcharges at time of purchase, subject to changes)
** Accomodation
A$980 & A$910 - 2 units of 1 bedroom & 2 bedroom
(divide by 7 adts accordingly - A$270 per person, subject to changes)
** Transfer 1 way - airport to hotel
A$146.50 per car (subject to changes)
** Tours
Pinnacles: A$135/adt A$85/chd
Dolphins: A$114/adt A$73/chd
AQWA: A$26.50/adt A$19/chd
Swan Valley (we did not go): A$69/adt A$35/chd
(above fares payable at time of booking - subject to changes)

Day 2 - 27 Feb 2009

Day 2 - City Tour

Quest West End Service Apartments, off Murray Street

A walk down the streets of Perth. Its abt 9am in the morning on day 2 but look at the road,not a soul insight. Perth residents' lifestyle seems very relaxing. We saw some sign boards on the store indicating the opening hrs & some can open like 11.00am. Or maybe its still cny - 初二, dat's y its so quiet.

Today, we visited Perth Mint, Swan Bell Tower & for shopping, we went to London Court.

Wheels of Perth. Located next to the Swan Bell Tower, the entrance fees is A$15 for adts, A$10 for children 4-12 yrs old & A$2 for children below 4 yrs. I am already 4 yrs but Mummy told the cashier i am only 3. Haha! Save $$ ma. A$8 diff leh.

This is the Swan Bell Tower.

We went to Perth Mint but its was already 4.00pm by the time we went there, so we were not able to see the gold pour demostration or join the guided tour. We just browsed ard the outside, looking at the coins & souvenirs.

London Court Shopping. Streets after streets of cafes, shops, boutiques. Ah Ma & Ah Gong were too tired to walk ard so they sat down while the rest of us looked ard.

We end the day by buying some food from the supermarket. Daddy said he wanna prepare dinner rather than eating outside. We need to sleep early tonight too cos 2moro will be an early morning tour. We are going to Pinnacles.

Day 3 - 28 Jan 2009

Day 3 - This morning itinerary includes a trip to Caversham Wildlife Park, Pinnacles. We left our apartment at abt 7am. There is a pick up service provided to trsf us to the meeting point where we trsf to another vehicle - 4WD. Enroute lunch at Ceivente ( nt sure of the spelling). Will also try out the sand boarding.

On the way to the park, here's a pretence phone coversation Lionel has with his fren 羊羊( dunno where he gt tis make believe fren). He ask & answers himself. Very funny to hear.

L: hello, 羊羊，你在哪里？
L: (he answers himself) 我在冲凉
L: (back to himself) oh
L: ( 羊羊) 我冲好凉才打给你，好吗？
L: ok. 等一下我要吃饭了，你要吃吗？
L: ( 羊羊) 等一下我去找你
L: ok. bye bye.

A picture with the wombat. This is only a baby wombat but its already 10-12kg heavy. We were told to only touch its hind legs. Cannot touch any other parts of the body or else it will bite.

I wanted to touch the baby koala but was hissed by its mummy. My mummy said cannot disturb else the mummy will bite.

Both Rachel & myself loves feeding the animals. Rachel dare nt stand alone so Daddy guided her.

Sand, deserts, wind, rocks stones. This is wat Pinnacles are made of :P. We all walked across the so call desert with our guide. It looks easy to get lost if u stray away from ur grp. Notice there is 1 pic of me with wat looks like a tornado behind me? Well, Mummy is also nt sure wat dat was. She was sure there was no such black smoke in the background when she took tis foto of me.

Some of rock formations can really looked like certain structures or human images. You gt to use a little of ur imagination. Mummy saw a rock formation dat looks like a dolphin; some says its looks like a crocodile. There is also another one dat looks like Guan Yin with its facial features.

Sand in our eyes, our hair, our mouth, sand everywhere. Its is a vast endless stretch of sand, sand & more sand. Our 4WD driver did some tricks up & down the sands. We loved it. Encore! The driver loves our applaud. The higher the dunes we go up, the stiffter the coming down. Weeeee.......... Then we tried our hands at sand boarding. Our guide gave us some instructions. We need to wax the bottom of the board else it will nt be slippery enuff to slide down. The climbing up was difficult. Strong wind disturbed us all the time. The sliding down was so fun though. However, i am too young to slide down myself so 大姑 & 姑婆 took turns sliding down with me. Our board flipped sideways while sliding down & my face gt buried in the sand. You shd hv seen me; my whole face looks like i hv been eating sand. But no fotos captured cos everyone busy sliding down & with the wind blowing everywhere, no chance to take any fotos. Daddy & Rachel played with sand instead. Rachel too young to slide down.

Day 4 - 29 Jan 2009

Day 4 - AQWA @ Hillarys Boat Harbour

We begin today's agenda with a visit to AQWA - The Aquarium of Western Australia. We took the train from Perth station to Warwick station. This is something like Sentosa's Underwater World with lots of marine creatures.

Mummy: i just love the pic of the 2 kids taken together !

Sorrento Quay Board Walk after visiting the aquarium. We went ard to look for something to eat. But tis place seems different from what the net indicated. In Mummy's words, it isnt so interesting afterall.

After lunch, its time for some relaxing fun in the waters. Both myself & Rachel change into our swimming suits & waddled into the waters. This is an enclosed beach area. Ah Gong didnt want to come into the water so he sat under a tree & look after all our belongings at the same time. Ah Ma also nvr come inside the water but she stood on the sand to watch us. After awhile, we all went onto the nearby children's playground to play & run ard cos both of us were feeling cold. The strong sunlight soon warm us up. The adts sat on the sand & we covered their feet with the sand.

Its time to move on. We bath & changed & proceed to play bumper car. Only Mummy, Ah Ma & 姑婆 played cos i was under the min height requirement. Even if u are only a passenger, you need to be min 1M. So me & 大姑 went to play the merry go round instead.

We all went to Subiaco for some shopping. Daddy again intend to cook dinner so we bot some food from the supermarket. We went back to the hotel first becos Ah ma they all wanna eat out.

2moro is another early outing to Dolphins & Sea Lion Cruise.

Day 5 - 30 Jan 2009

Day 5 - Dolphins, Penguins & Sea Lions

Its another early day for us as we need to catch the boat off for dolphins watch. Its not easy to see the dolphins swimming cos we do not know when for sure the dolphins will showed up above the waters. Thru out our boat trip, the guide wld say :" 4 o'clock, 11 o'clock or 6 o'clock" This means dat we will be able to see dolphins in dat direction. Using the front of the boat as 12 o'clock, so when he says 3 o'clock, we will face the right hand side of the boat. Quite amusing to see everyone turning 360 degrees & cramming their necks to catch a glimsp of the dolphins. The guide told us in order to see the dolphins jumping out of the waters, there is a little trick. You gt to have 2 speed boats running parellel to each other. The dolphins will swim along with strong waves created & jumped in & out of the waters. See below video.

All passengers are given a poncho to protect us from the cold wind or water in case of splashing.

Pls bear with the background noise as this video was taken against the sound of the wind & waves. And also the span of time in between b4 the dolphins jumped out of the waters.

This is the penguin island. There is a specific timing to the shows. So after our dolphin cruise, we return back to the island & hv our lunch. The shows begins at 2.30pm. Our guide bot us lunch from subway. After lunch, we played a game of "The eagle catches the chicks" - 老鹰捉小鸡.

This boat outing is to see the sea lions & pelicans. 6 lazy sea lions basking under the sun. They looked dead. Pathetic creatures; dun even bother to move or get up. And the pelicans also stand there like stones, occasionally calling out. Boringggg!!! And the guide had to stop the boat for so long. And the people snapping non stop like they nvr take pics in their whole life.

After we came arrived back on the main island, we all went to Harbor Town for shopping except for myself,Ah Ma & Ah Gong. I am too tired to walk, so Mummy & Daddy bot Rachel along. Alot of sale going on but nobody buying. Except for 1 shop which interest Mummy is Pumpkin Patch ( selling children's merchandise). Whoa! The clothes in here are going very very cheaply, as cheap as A$4 per item. But Mummy did not buy any cos both me & Rachel still hv alot of new clothings not worn yet & the current ones are still going strong.

2nd last day - 2moro. A trip to Fremantle - Port of Perth.