Gold Coast, Australia

Got some serious catching up to do in my blog entries. Haven't even shared about my trip to Australia though we've been back for almost 3 weeks! There's too much to share so here goes the highlights of the trip.
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Mummy had been worried about whether I would be cranky on the 8-hour flight but her worries proved to be unfounded. Since it was a midnight flight, I slept for a good 4-hour stretch, even though I only fell asleep at 2 am! Everything seemed so new and exciting - the pretty air stewardesses walking around, the blue and purple bassinett, the little boy beside me and the Kris World remote control. The rest of the time, I was contentedly playing with Yeh Yeh and Nai Nai until touch down. Not too bad for my first air travel.

For most part of the 2-week vacation, we stayed at Grandaunt's house in Robina, Gold Coast. It was not huge, but it was spacious and there was plenty of room for me to crawl around. Ratio of adults to baby - 6:1 so I absolutely enjoyed having the attention of Mummy and Daddy, Yeh Yeh and Nai Nai, Grandaunt and Granduncle. The most stressful thing for Mummy during the trip was to get me to stay contentedly in my car seat when we were travelling, sometimes for up to 3 hours, since it's compulsory for all babies to be confined in car seats for safety reasons. The days were long, with the sun rising at about 4.30 in the morning so I woke up at 6 plus on average every day. This was trying for Mummy, who is usually able to sleep in until 9 or 10 am at home.
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Grandaunt brought us to Surfer's Paradise, Tropical Fruit Farm, Cararra Weekend Market and many shopping centers in the vicinity. We decided to give the theme parks a miss because the 'oldies' and baby wouldn't enjoy the rides, and the 'youngsters' (Mummy and Daddy) won't be able to play much with a baby at hand, not to mention that the admission charges are worth a small fortune.
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On some days, we visited Uncle Ping, Auntie Angela and Trinity up in Brisbane (1 hour drive from Gold Coast). Uncle Ping is studying in University of Queensland. How Trinity has grown! She's now rather chubby and able to sit up on her own! Uncle Ping was busy with his exams most of the time so Auntie Angela played host and took us to several places like Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane City and Southbank (a place with artificial beach and weekend market). Brisbane is warmer than Gold Coast and it had been sunny most days so I got pretty tanned during the trip.
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Over the last weekend we were there, we drove up to Sunshine Coast and stayed there for 2 nights. Sunshine Coast is a torturous 3 hours' drive from Gold Coast, especially with a baby in the car. It's a nice place, though, very much countryside-like, and different from Gold Coast or Brisbane. We visited the famous Australia Zoo, which Mummy thought was quite a disappointment given its fame, and in comparison to Singapore Zoo. We spent one morning at Eumundi Market, which is a huge, interesting weekend market, followed by an afternoon at Ginger Factory and Macadamia Factory. Nothing much noteworthy there. On the way back to Gold Coast, we visited a very scenic mountain called Montville. The view from the peak was simply breathtaking but it was rather cold up there especially because it was drizzling. No regrets, though. The picturesque view was well worth it.

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On the return trip, I slept for about 2 and a half hours - not too bad, considering it was an afternoon flight. Was a little cranky though, for the remaining hours, because there was no space for me to crawl around and sitting in the bassinett all the time was simply boring. And I had to poo poo when the plane was touching down so Mummy couldn't bring me to the toilet to change immediately. Can you imagine the discomfort? I was almost wailing my lungs out!