Melbourne (Day 9)

On the last day, we did some last minute packing.. a final trigger point therapy for Alison.. hugs and kisses for everyone especially Caden.. and left the house very late! The drive was smooth until we almost reached the airport cos the departure lane was jammed up with cars.. mini buses and cabs. We checked in about 75 mins before the flight.. and it was the closest we had ever cut (although some of my friends would say that's plenty of time). Jimmy had to pay an extra $30 for returning the rental car with slightly less than full tank petrol.. what a rip off!

Due to air turbulence.. Jared turned pale and threw up 3 times.. twice in the plane itself and once on the jet bridge.. and then had the cheek to ask what was the colour of his puke. But I did manage to squeeze in a couple of movie.. The Green Lantern (comparatively better than the other superhero movies).. Wu Xia (I really enjoyed this Kung Fu flick despite the violence).. and half of Mulan (the Chinese movie). Discovered that Changi Airport no longer offered equal discounts when you buy duty free on arrival in Singapore.. so for our next trip.. we may have to lug the items (for own use) out and bring them back again?

Melbourne (Day 8)

It was nearly noon when we took Caden out for a walk to Centre Road in his stroller. He protested vehemently when Alison slapped on the sun block lotion 'no.. mom.. eh.. eh.. no.. mom!' and shook his head vigorously from side to side. We dropped into a local bakery along the main road to have lunch.. but the food wasn't great.. and Caden only ate the icing sugar on top of the raisin cinnamon roll. I kept him occupied by playing a game using my finger to run along the carved grooves on the back of the chair.. and he likes being trapped.. 'Caden stuck!' After that, we bought the typical coffee and chocolate Big M.. Minties.. Cherry Ripe.. and Bounty chocolates from Coles supermarket before walking home in the heat. Caden was so tired that he promptly fell asleep lying on top of Justin!

Then Jimmy and I drove to the Docklands to have a look at the lovely apartments overlooking the bay. They cost a fortune.. although not quite as much as similar ones in Singapore.

Later that evening, we went for dinner at Tho Tho Vietnamese Restaurant in Richmond. Times have changes and I can't believe how many cars there were on the roads. We ordered deep fried prawn and pork spring rolls wrapped with lettuce and mint leaves.. broken rice with everything.. honey prawns.. diced beef with garlic.. and sautéed chicken with chilli and lemon grass.. topped it off with dessert.. banana fritters and fried ice cream.. BURP! We slept really late that night.. nearly 2am!

Melbourne (Day 7)

Mum and Nicole left from the airport early in the morning.. we said our goodbyes at the front porch.. and I spent the first half of the day uploading photos on to Facebook. Then, Jimmy drove Alison's new 7-seater Volvo to Springvale Market.. where we had beef and chicken pho with cut chilli.. taugeh.. and mint leaves.. they even have freshly squeezed sugar cane juice with lemon these days!

After lunch, Alison brought Caden for a hair cut. I ordered strong Vietnamese coffee while waiting for them.. and their version of chendol-bo-bo cha-cha combo with red ruby.. red beans.. yam cubes.. and coconut milk. It was interesting watching them make the Vietnamese 'subway' with ingredients such as roast pork.. shredded carrots.. cucumbers.. cut chilli.. spring onions.. mint.. with a dash of fish sauce! We also bought some Vietnamese spring rolls.. Malaysian kueh-mueh.. and egg tarts to savour at home. Caden turned up later looking like a typical Vietnamese boy.. as though a bowl was placed on his head and the hair was cut around it!

In the evening, Andrew and his family came over for dinner.. and guess what? We had pizza AGAIN! We tried the non-alcoholic beer.. YUCKS.. tasted equally bad as real beer! (Although some may beg to differ). It was a loud and rowdy evening with 7 active kids running and screaming around the house.. with the sound magnified on wooden floor panels!

Sovereign Hill - Ballarat (Day 6)

It was a warm day.. supposedly 30°C.. but it sure felt hotter than that! We used the GPS for the first time to drive up to Sovereign hill in Ballarat. We didn't always instinctively trust 'the voice' (although I really should in my case) and veered off the recommended route on several occasions.. 'recalculating'.. but we made it to lunch at a local fish and chips shop.

Sovereign Hill is located on the site of one of Ballarat's major gold diggings. The discovery on August 21, 1851 by James Dunlop and James Reagan that sparked the Ballarat Gold Rush was the 'Welcome Nugget' which weighed 69 kg (2,200 ounces) and contained 99% pure gold. It was valued at about 10,500 pounds when found and now worth over US$3 million! The current area depicts buildings.. houses.. tents.. and tools used in the early years of the gold rush. The boys tried their hand at panning for gold at the winding creek.. but unfortunately found absolutely nothing!


There was even a Chinese camp at the settlement.. and yes.. where there's gold.. there's bound to be Chinese people! They obviously brought along their essential 'ka-chang'.. chopsticks.. rice bowls.. abacus.. straw hats and baskets.

Browns Confectionery (a family owned business) had a live demonstration of how hard-boiled candy were made by hand in the 19th century. The recipe.. boil water, sugar, glucose in the cauldron.. pour the liquid on a greased table to cool.. add colouring and citric acid to make it sour.. cut into small pieces.. squeeze them through the selected mould which forms the shape of the candy (they switched to brass moulds when lead was discovered to be poisonous).. break the harden candy into individual pieces.. and put them into a jar. We also witnessed the candle-making process.. the wicks were tied to a frame.. attached to the 'nodding donkey' and dipped between 40-60 times into paraffin (lard was used back then).. the frame was then placed on drying wheel.. the candles were repeatedly dipped until the desired thickness was achieved.. and the finished lard candles had to be hung high up on the ceiling to prevent rats from nibbling them. They even had bowling way back then.. the alley actually had a gutters on either side.. and there was even a system of returning the ball.. but unfortunately the pins gotta be set up by hand.

We also signed up and paid for the Mine Tour.. surprisingly all of us have never been on it before. The guide led us down via the 90-second tram ride in pitch-black darkness (Jared was excited.. 'Woo Hoo! Finally a ride!).. walked through the labyrinth of tunnels.. introduced to the widow maker (men died from silicon dust poisoning).. 'fire in the hole'.. white quartz rock that yielded gold.. the black carbon line that indicated larger quantity of gold.. the talking timbers that warned miners of imminent danger of cave-ins.. and at the end of it all.. we were driven back on a mini train with 'straddle' seats.. ha ha.. another ride for Jared!

After a brief visited to the Gold Museum.. we headed to the nearby Ballarat Botanical Gardens and Lake Wendouree that hosted the rowing and canoeing events for 1956 Olympic Games. The lake was surreal..calm waters disturbed only by the birds.. we saw a black swan with 3 cygnets swimming in tow.. they seemed to have one leg out of the water while paddling with the other.

Dinner was Mac Donald's burgers from the drive-thru.. Jared's obvious choice. The attendant mixed up the orders and we didn't get the meal deals that came with fries and drinks. Apparently, you had to order them separately as 'add-ons'. We played Pictionary in the evening.. Jared and I made a great team.. despite the melting ice cubes that looked like boxes or tables and some difficult words like 'massage' or 'vulture'. I realised I got sunburnt on both shoulders but it wasn't not too painful after applying lots of cream.