ballarat

on sunday (28/feb/2010), we drove to ballarat. the kid's grandfather has come over to visit us in melbourne and we thought it will be a good opportunity to drive to ballarat and see the place.

ballarat is situated in the western part of victoria and the drive from our place is just under 2 hours. the heritage of ballarat is clearly in its heydays as a gold mining haven for those who wanted to strike it rich. as it was a prosperous town in the 19th century due to its gold finds, the ballarat of today consists of buildings of great architectural heritage and a rich resource to the history of victoria/australia in those days. sprawling parks and gardens too dominated the city area.

our first stop is the ballarat botanical gardens. it is a large area surrounded with nicely manicured plants and flowers amidst the trees. i had looked forward to visit the acclaimed observatory as well after watching it on television not long ago. the visit to the botanical garden however weren't the best of trip unfortunately because the strong wind condition marred an otherwise good weather for a picnic outdoor. it became dusty and we couldn't stay for long. the observatory was also closed as it is being prepared for the begonia festival which happens on the 6th march.

at noon, we proceeded to sovereign hill, which is listed as an outdoor museum which captures the life and times of the miners in the area. workers were dressed in their period costumes to lend authenticity to the exhibits, which is essentially a recreated township(thank goodness the toilet facilities are modern!) i had my initial reservations about the place. i had envisioned it to be no more than a theme park to cater to the tourists like me. i was wrong. there are a lot of educational elements at sovereign hill that provide great insights on how minings are conducted in those areas. we went to a few shows, including gold pouring, lollies making the traditional way, tried 19th century bowling and even visited two mines underground. we ended up spending more than 4 hours at sovereign hill. the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly. same for me.

alas, we had to leave since paisley needs to call it an early night as she has her school camp the next day, but not before we stopped over at my cousin's place for dinner in syndenham.

the teacher making sure the kids do their homework properly.

posing outside the school at sovereign hill.

panning for gold. no, they didn't get lucky.

botanical gardens with the observatory as background.

fagan

prep class picnic (26 feb 10)

last friday, fagan's school hosted a friday evening picnic at the school compound.

the objective is for the parents to meet their teachers and also get to know the parents of their classmates.

we arrived at just past 6pm and it was already crowded. the weather was pleasant for an outdoor picnic. we met with 2 of fagan's classmates parents and we had a good chatting session. the kids were busy playing in between meals while us adults were busy with the food while getting to know one another well. we got acquainted by 2 nice families; a singaporean/malaysian couple and a burmese couple. we also met the teachers in the prep class.

the picnic in the school is a great idea.

this is our picnic spot.

fagan who's on her way to look for her form teacher, mrs parents to pass her the home-made curry-puffs cecilia baked.

the rest of the prep students' parent who're at the vermont primary school compound having a great time.

school starts...

feb 2010 marks another milestone for the kids.

starting with the baby of the family, fagan; she starts prep school (k2 equivalent in singapore) @ vermont primary school. hopefully she will be forging lifelong friendship, learn and experience the joy of school for the next 7 years.

paisley too attends level 5(primary 5) @ vermont primary school. she a bit of a student vagabond, as this is her 4th primary in 5 years. however, being easy going and someone who mix around easily, she will do fine and hopefully will be able to see out her primary education in this school.

shankly starts his level 7(equivalent to sec 1 in singapore) @ vermont secondary college. may he continue to learn and be more independent & inquisitive in this school. hopefully, he will also forge lifelong friendship and have a truly good experience schooling here.

Christmas Outing

By Shankly Chiew

During the Christmas break, my family took a 3 day trip to Albury-Wodonga, the twin cities bordering Victoria and NSW. The trip is about 300km from where we live. We set off on the 27^th December.

We did a stopover in a smallish town called Glenrowan. Glenrowan is now a tourist attraction, no less due to the infamous Ned Kelly, who made the place his last stand. We had a great lunch there with a Ned Kelly themed cafe. The cafe had friendly service with good seats and most importantly, great food. I had a beef with gravy roll while Paisley had nuggets and chips. My parents and Shi Mun shared a zucchini slice thingy which I tried which was delicious! We also had a look at Ned Kelly museum.

Our arrival at Wodonga pleased many of us especially me after that long and hard ride. We had a look around at the vicinity then went for a little shopping and retired to our cabin for the rest of the sweltering afternoon. Soon, it was time for our dinner and being tired, our mum didn’t want to cook. We drove out to Albury and ate at a Chinese restaurant.

The next day, we woke up early and got ready for our trip to the Wonga Wetlands. Unfortunately, it was closed! So our trip up there had resulted in nothing. Next, we were supposed to go to the Albury Art Gallery but guess what? It was closed too! So we moved our schedule up and watch a movie. We decided to split up with my father, my sister and I watching Avatar in 3D. My baby sister and my mum watched Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakel. After that, we went to a park and played around and went home for our second night sleep.

On the last day, we packed up our things and checked out, but not before we made a few other stops, like the visiting a bakery with the world’s biggest rolling pin, spending time at the Albury Library, visiting Lake Hume and its dam, and a memorial for WW1 called Monument Hill Reserve.

The trip was really pleasant for me and I really hope I can go again, but this time more relaxing and less bustling about going to different places.

preparing for school next year

fagan's preparation for prep school, which is a milestone here in australia's education, is going well. she has been attending her orientation/assimilation program into vermont primary school every fortnight for the past 6 weeks or so.

she is in kinder now.

the program's objective is to allow these young children to blend into primary school life. the slow but smooth transition from kinder to primary school here are done in a fun and participative environment. children are encourage to get to know each other even before school starts. each week, fagan will attend activities in the school; be it art lesson, story-telling session or some physical fun. parents are encouraged to mingle with fellow parents and there are also parent sessions where teachers are on hand to brief parents on school matters and clarify any concerns.

the entire transition last about 4 months and is well thought out. today, school uniform fitting day. we went to the school to get fagan her new school uniform. she's suitably excited.

by the way, her sister paisley will also attend the same school next year.

one year on...

today is just like any other monday for us; the homemaker in da house woke up early to get the kids ready for school, i was doing my routine for the day; work followed by a bit of cycling with a friend in the evening, kids have a bit of some outdoor time post-dinner and bed by 9pm.

however, it is actually a momentous day for us as it has been exactly 1 year since we lay our hats here in melbourne. on the balance of things, i am sure my better half would agree that there have been more positives and negatives, in fact very few of the latter. in many ways, we all still miss singapore. loved ones and food top the list. that said, i guess we need to be forward looking and make the best of what is our family lives now.

my personal observation of the changes that took place:
1. wife's a (way) better cook now
2. kids actually look forward to school
3. the sports side of paisley is blossoming
4. shankly is a more assertive boy (in a good way)
5. fagan is more independant; and more talkative
6. we have dinner together almost daily and that probably brings us closer
7. i (actually) take walks
8. kids enjoy the outdoor more

the major milestone here is we bought our own place (though we won't we living there for some time yet)

looking back, we reckon we made the right decision to come here to start afresh. we obviously still have a long way to go, but the last 12 months has been a blessed one for us.

looking forward, we hope to build on the positives and hopefully our kiddos will better shape themselves to be someone closer to what their heart dictates, inching closer to their own callings.

we must also extend our sincerest appreciations to all our relatives, neighbours, present and new friends made here who extend their help, support, prayers, friendship, advice and more that help us come through unscath in the first 12 months.

for the next 12 months, we look forward to:
1. moving into a place we will call home
2. shankly starting his secondary college, a new phase in his student life and,
3. all of us hopefully finding (more) time and space to pursue our personal interests.

thanks for sharing our journey with us so far....

11th aunt's visit (24 Oct 2009)

from left: shankly, paisley, cecilia, fagan, 11th aunt, nanyau and nanyi