Phillip Island! - Churchill Island, Koala Conservation Centre & Penguin Island

We finally made it to Phillip Island last Saturday. Was supposed to take mum and dad there, but it didn't work out the last trip. planning to bring them in February. for this trip, we were on a 3-park pass (was good value for money, but I seriously doubt I'ld do 3 passes again). Passes are cheaper if you book through RACV - have to be a member though. Our car insurance is with them, so it qualifies. Usually the penguin ticket alone is $20, but with this RACV benefit, the 3 park pass is $28.50 or so and the family ticket (2 adult + 2 children) is about $70 or so. can't remember the exact figure.

the weather was beautiful. Sunny, but not blazing hot, and not pouring rain either.


we started off at Churchill Island


the good thing about going out with others is that we get to take a family pic =)


Elijah and Sarah are lots of fun


and my cousin Irene managed to come along too, so we really had a great time! Hope she's willing to come out together more often =)


Sarah's been great with the kids... and horses... hehe


I think Elijah was keen to see if Irene might someday become a vet...


I don't know what's going on here, but it sure is cute =)


and everywhere that the guy went, the lamb was sure to go. seriously, he said he's been taking care of this lamb since it was young and the lamb considers him to be its parent. hehe.


Noel was amazing, he went up to the goat all by himself as I watched from a short distance (the goat was tied, and Noel seemed to figure that part out, which he was quite thrilled about). So, he spent quite awhile with Mr.Goat, feeding him handful by handful...


and Mr.Goat was happy too


As good as Elijah may be with the kids, credit goes to Sarah for taking a really nice shot =)


We also went to the Koala Conservation Centre (Park 2 of 3). Not that many Koalas, possibly about 10 or so, but you can get really close to some of them


like this


After that, we went to the Nobbies (free entrance) and used the seal camera to take pictures of some seals on the rocks in the distance.
[sorry, seal pictures not scanned yet]

funnily enough, although the scenery was really nice, we were all too busy eating fish and chips (which wasn't very nice) and totally forgot to take a pic. so, I'm copying this off the Philip Island website:


Then, the highlight of it all, we finally went to Penguin Parade... and its not our fault that we don't have pics - photography is strictly prohibited. So, once again, taking from their website:


these penguins are smaller than you think. they're about the height of a seagull ... and seagulls aren't large birds... soooooooo cute...... need to see them again... =)

Plants - 26/10/08

Dad/Grandpa planted some stuff with the kids earlier, so here's a progress report =)

Honestly, I did not remember to water it everyday, but I did see Noel trying to do it today, so ... yes, I went on to water the plants today. Hope I remember tomorrow =) Just bought Noel a little watering can (after the picture was taken) so maybe he'll do the watering for me instead =D


Here's the french beans... looks like I'm supposed to do something with it soon, but I cant remember what... was I supposed to poke sticks in? I've got satay sticks but that may not suffice...


these ones are coming out of the ground... can't remember what its called...


these ones are really tiny, but they're also coming out.


and these are the sunflowers that the kids planted with grandpa during the Royal Melbourne Show

Playground Fun!

One thing nice about living here is that there are alot of lovely playgrounds around. Joey took the kids to this playground one evening after dinner, then Elijah and Sarah brought the kids to play another day when we were at work. Its newly completed... although I think they are still building a couple more items.

Ryan was very good with climbing up this structure.


Noel was having fun spinning around


until it started spinning too fast. hehe. even the photographer (Elijah) was too dizzy to move when they both got off the 'ride' =)


There are all sorts of cool swings there too...


and with some help from Aunty Sarah, Noel can climb up quite high too!

HAM radio tour

Elijah and Sarah begun their trip here with trying to convince us to get a HAM radio license. We have no plans to get it so far, but we sure met some reall nice people. This is Greg and Denise.... we had dinner in their place. They have 2 lovely dogs that Noel and Ryan could sit down and play with.



Greg also took us for a walk to try to spot kangaroos... but it wasn't very successful. we'll probably have to look for them at a proper park (or come out early in the morning or late in the evening)



We did however see lots of equipment - which was pretty interesting, they can transmit to people all over the world! and look at the size of the antennas jutting out above their house(s)... all of their houses can be spotted from pretty far away =)

Life as at 23 Oct 08

Debbie & family left this morning, and Anna left yesterday. Both are supposed to be returning in a couple of months... I'm guessing Debbie should be back next year and Anna the year after. Then again, that's assuming neither of them change plans.

As for us, we're missing mum and dad (err... I think 'us' excludes Joey in this case... haha), but we (including Joey) are very happy to have Elijah and Sarah here.

House - we need to find a tenant to replace us before we can move (we're trying to settle earlier than the settlement date), but if we can't find one by 10th November, we're going to have to pay the rent and the loan simultaneously... which is bad... and this will be ongoing until we find another tenant that the landlord is happy to take, or til the end of our contract in May next year, whiehever comes first. Our house was open for inspection this evening and there was one family that came. we will get a better idea tomorrow if they are interested. there will be another 'open' this saturday, so we hope someone suitable will apply(to rent).

House in Puchong - for the house in Amanputra, we're trying to sell it. someone has verbally offered, but when we agreed, they said they want another week before they confirm, so we're still looking for buyers.

More on Mum & Dad's visit

Mum actually ended up getting sick for awhile after the Royal Melbourne Show, but when she finally got better, we had the chance to take them for a night out... also, Mum, Dad and Anna helped us with a last minute house transformation for an inspection we had on a weekday, and Joey wanted to take them out to say Thank You as well.

Oh, inspection basically refers to the event where you open the house for potential tenants (in the case of renting) to view. OK, enough words, time for pictures!

we went to the marina at New Quay, Docklands


we were thinking of eating here at first, but it was simply tooooo cold to eat out that day...


I jumped in for a picture...


and Anna managed to get a nice shot of mum...


this pic was taken from our seat, so no, we didn't eat there this time, we ate at somewhere called the Berth, which was a similar concept to this one in the pic - overlooking the waters.


the food took awhile, though, so Joey got busy with Noel (Anna, good job on the pic, u actually managed to take Joey! haha!)

and Noel sat quietly playing while waiting for the food.


at least Ryan managed to look up for a picture =)


the food finally came, and it was generally nice...


and there was a cute fireplace right behind us


after dinner, Anna finally got a chance to be IN a picture


then we went for a drive around the city


we only managed to get some pictures from the car, coz we didn't stop anywhere, but u get the idea =)

Royal Melbourne Show 2008 - Part 2

I should have posted this long ago, but life has been kinda hectic with us trying to sort out everything for the new house... it's still in progress, but today, I had a moment of inspiration when I had an email from a friend who's still reading the blog although I haven't been faithfully updating it... so... I said I AM gonna blog tonight... as comfy as my bed is... sleep will have to wait just a little while more =)

Royal Melbourne Show - the second time we went was with mum and dad... also known as grandpa and grandma.... =) it was lovely having them over to visit us, and we're looking forward to their next trip here. Okay, I'll let the pictures do the talking now...


here's the 'monster truck'

going over the cars...

and down the other side...

I wouldn't want one of these things behind me during a traffic jam!

Then there was this stunt-rider ... I couldn't take good pics of his stunts, but he did go over, under, backward etc on the moving horse, which was quite fascinating!


the bike stunt-men were even more impressive though...

i'm not gonna put everything up or else its gonna be a reaaallly long blog...

but these were some pretty cool stunts

don't try them at home, though ;)


Noel had a great view, first on daddy's shoulders then on grandpa's...

grandpa and grandma were pretty good, still smiling although the sun was REALLY hot!


there was also a clown show...


and lotsa animals... these are alpacas... i think...


Grandpa helped the kids plant a sunflower (each) that they could take home...


Noel should go in for an advertisement on how kids love eating fruits =)

yummy... how satisfying!


the kids were very happy to be out with grandpa and grandma... but it took up quite abit of energy for grandpa n grandma to catch up with them!