10 Dec 2016 - The Rocks and surrounding historic sites

Our plan for today was to explore the area around Circular Quay.  We first came to Cadmans Cottage Historic Site.  Cadmans Cottage was built in 1816 on the shoreline next to the Government Dockyard for the Superintendent of Government Boats.

Below shows details and how this area looked like in the early days.

While walking towards the famous market at The Rocks, we suddenly saw many policeman securing the roads.  As we walked closer, we realized that there's actually a "peaceful" protest going on.

We then wandered down The Rocks Market where passionate people were selling cool stuffs in a relaxed environment.

Back to Itin        Next

10 Dec 2016 - Medina Serviced Apartment at Martin Place

From Sydney Airport, we bought our Opal Card and took the train to St James station, which is a 10 mins walk to our accommodation, Medina Serviced Apartment, at Martin Place.

It's a one bedroom apartment with a living room, balcony, bathroom, dining area and a kitchen.

When Javier saw that there is only one king-sized bed in the bedroom, he was very concerned about where he and Jerlene going to sleep at night,

He was amazed when I converted the sofa in the living room into a double bed.  :-)

The popular Martin Place Christmas Tree is just a stone's throw away from our apartment.  We will be back here at night to see the lighting.

Back to Itin        Next

9 Dec 2016 - Sydney here we come! Itinerary included below.

We have been looking forward to this trip for the past 2 months.  This day finally arrived and here we were at the departure hall of Changi Airport.

Before long, we were on board our flight.  Everyone was in high spirits!

As it's a night flight, Jerlene and Javier fell asleep soon after take off.

Flight time to Sydney is about 7 hours.  We landed at Sydney airport at about 9:30am.

Will slowly build up our itinerary below so stay tuned.....

Day 1: Medina Serviced Apartment @ Martin Place, The Rocks and surrounding historic sites, Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Circular Quay, Martin Place Christmas Tree Lighting

Day 2: Sydney Fish Market, Paddy's Market, Chinatown, Darling Harbour
Day 3: Hyde Park and St Mary's Cathedral, Australian Museum, Birkenhead Point (Factory Outlet), St Mary's Cathedral Light Show, David Jones' Christmas Windows
Day 4:  Suminoya Japanese Restaurant, Oceanview Cabin, Adventure Ocean® Youth Program, Around the Ship, Welcome Aboard Show
Day 5:  Mini Golf, Table Tennis On Board
Day 6:  Flowrider Surf Simulator, Ice Skating Show, Chops Grille, The Boys in the Band
Day 7:  Yejeje Beach at Maré, Exploring more of Voyager of the Seas
Day 8:  Noumea City Tour,  Ice Skating at Sea
Day 9:  Rock Climbing at Sea, More areas on board, Music in Pictures and The Quest Game Show
Day 10: Meet the Stars, Christmas Celebration, Farewell Show
Day 11: End of Cruise, Featherdale Wildlife Park, The Three Sisters at Echo Point, Blue Mountain
Day 12: Driving to Jenolan Caves, Blue Lake, Imperial Cave Tour, Scenic World
Day 13: Thick Fog at Echo Point, Nan Tien Temple, Kiama Shores Motel, Kiama Blowhole and Little Blowhole
Day 14:  Cathedral Rocks, Illawarra Treetop Walk, Jamberoo Lookout, Marketview Accommodation, Wollongong Harbour, Lighthouses and Rock Pool, Crown Street Mall
Day 15:  Sea Cliff Bridge, Mercure Sydney, Powerhouse Museum, Pancake on the Rocks at Harbourside, Fireworks at Cockle Bay
Day 16: Flying Back Home 

And here is our trip video. Enjoy!

4 Dec 2016 - Charmander Nest and Great Ice Cream

We had a family Dim Sum lunch at Swatow Restaurant at Toa Payoh Central today.  After lunch, we decided to go to a nearby neighbourhood park, which happens to be a Charmander nest.  The moment we parked our car, immediately 4 Charmanders appeared around us.  There is a playground in the middle of the park which excites Jerlene and Javier even more.

After we caught enough of Charmanders, we went to a nearby ice cream shop called Creamier.  It was fully packed but the ice cream is "superlicious"!

3 Dec 2016 - Late night pokemon hunting

After Javier's Taekwando class ended, we decided to go for pokemon hunting with our ex-neighbour.  Javier was extremely excited because he got to meet up with his "girlfriend", whom he missed so much.  First we went Shunfu food court to catch a Machoke.  Then we met up at Toa Payoh for the beautiful Ninetails.  Finally we drove to Yio Chu Kang for the Charmeleon.  By this time, Javier was so tired that he had dozed off in the car.  As such, we called it a day and we will meet up again!

30 Nov 2016 - Certificate of Academic Achievement

We received the below certificate presented to Javier for his academic achievement and good conduct today.  I remember Jerlene also received this when she was in P1.  Well done kids and keep up the good work!

27 Nov 2016 - "凤阳花鼓" by Jerlene

Jerlene has been practising her Erhu quite diligently recently because she will be participating in a performance early next year during a Chinese New Year concert.  She seems to really enjoy playing Erhu.  Previously when she brought her Trombone home, she just left it in the corner for the entire weekend.  However, she would play her Erhu on her own every now and then.  As such the switch from playing Trombone to playing Erhu was a right decision.

Following was a CNY song called "凤阳花鼓", which will be one of the songs to be played during next year's concert.  Jerlene has improved quite tremendously in playing her Er Hu (二胡).  To be able to play like that with less than two months since picking up this skill, I must say it is a superb achievement.  Even her teacher commented that she has picked up the skill pretty fast. Keep it up, Jerlene!

27 Nov 2016 - Pasir Ris Park

Following last week's pokemon hunting at Ang Mo Kio Park, we decided to "conquer" Pasir Ris Park today.  While on our way to the park, we caught a few rare ones along the way.

Unlike Ang Mo Kio Park, there is no up hill or down slope around Pasir Ris Park.  However, this park is huge.  It's also a Shellder nest which is why we were here.  Other than catching all the Shellders we can find in the park, we were also able to enjoy the nice scenery around.

There was actually a Maze at the center of the park which we decided to give it a try.  Here is our victory signs after successfully escaped from the maze.

At one end of the park, there is a boardwalk.  We went in for a quick look and saw a squirrel on the tree.  There were many crab holes on the ground but no signs of crab.

We spent about 2 hours in the park before leaving for Jalan Kayu to have our dinner.  After dinner, we went around our place to catch a few more rare pokemons before calling it a day.  Once again, it was a great family outing!  :-)

20 Nov 2016 - Pokemon hunting at Ang Mo Kio Park

It's the start of school holiday and so is our pokemon hunting season.  We began our hunting at Ang Mo Kio Park today.  While having fun, it was also a great workout for all of us as there are up hill and down slope all around the park.

The main reason for coming to this park is because this is an Omanyte nest.  From the map below, you can actually see 3 different nests.  There is a Bulbasaur nest at Lower Pierce and a Kabuto nest at Bishan Park.  After we have caught enough Omanytes, we actually went over to Bishan Park but it was too crowded due to some events happening there.  We decided to come another day and went for our dinner.  We had a great family bonding and workout time today.  Will do it again soon.

18 Nov 2016 - Why bears?

We had our meals at Ci Yuan CC hawker centre today.  As we passed by a poster (below) on the wall, Javier suddenly asked:"Why are there bears in the picture?  We are not bears and bears don't come here to eat!".  Frankly, I don't have a good answer for him, do you?  :-P

13 Nov 2016 - Ender Dragon Minecraft Lego Set

We bought Jerlene and Javier their favourite Minecraft Lego set to reward them for working hard in preparing for their exams.  Even though the exam results are not out yet, we still think we should reward them for their effort.  We bought two Lego sets (Ender Dragon and Mine Cart) but they only took out one as they wanted to do it together

From the photos, it seems pretty simple to fix but in reality, it's quite tough as there are many small and similar pieces.  They spent the entire afternoon to build up the complete set.

12 Nov 2016 - Javier got his Taekwando Green Belt

Javier finally got his Taekwando green belt today.  Time flies and it has been one year since he started as a white belt newbie.  He's on track to his "dream" black belt.  :-)

He started learning back thrust kicks during the class.  His punches and kicks seem to have improved.

10 Nov 2016 - Playing "HOME" with ErHu (二胡)

After one month of practising with an Erhu, she can already play a few songs, though some parts still need more practices. I tried it myself and it's actually not easy. So to reach this stage with just 3-4 lessons is really an achievement. Keep up the good work, Jerlene!

In the following video, Jerlene was playing the song "Home" with her Erhu.

5 Nov 2016 - Javier is now officially a YouTuber

Have you heard of DanTDM?  If not, ask your kids or any kid along the street.  They will probably say "Yes I know DanTDM!  He's my idol!".  I started learning about this 24 years old British YouTuber when Jerlene and Javier showed me the videos that they were watching on their Tablets.  DanTDM started to gain popularity among kids around the world after he posted a series of YouTube videos focusing on the popular game Minecraft.  He currently has 12.8 millions subscribers and earns an annual income somewhere between $200,000 to $2,000,000.

Jerlene and Javier have idolized DanTDM so much so that they decided to become a YouTuber themselves just like him.  Javier had taken his first step today by creating two videos of his own.  He is now officially a YouTuber with his own channel.  Do give him some support by subscribing to his channel!  :-)

The following are his first two videos currently available in his YouTube channel.  When he first showed me his videos, I was pretty amazed by his commentary.  Enjoy his videos and do click on "Like" to give him some encouragement.  Hopefully by creating such videos will help in his Oral examination in the future.  :-P



What do you think of the above videos?  I love his creativity in building his Minecraft World with Pokemons such as Butterfree and Beedrill.  His commentary was quite interesting and I'm not even sure if I myself can do better,  He has plan to post more videos real soon so do stay tune!  :-)

4 Nov 2016 - Music Certificate by Wild Empire Choral Group

Every Tuesday, Javier had music lesson as part of his school curriculum.  Initially I thought it was just a normal music class taught by the school's teacher.  However. he brought back a certificate today showing that he had completed Voice Training (Basic Music Theory) conducted by an external vendor.  I do not recall Jerlene had this when she was P1.  No wonder Javier nowadays can sing much better.  :-)