Sunshine coast - Big Pineapple and Opals Down Under

Some shots of us today before we start our journey to Sunshine Coast. Taking pictures of Sabrina can be fun at times when she cooperate with us. But it can also be a chore when she gets irritated with us asking her to take more shots. Hahaha. Enjoy some of the pictures before we talk about Sunshine Coast.

We drove to Sunshine Coast today. It's approximately 50minutes drive from our place. As my aunt is coming over and will be celebrating her birthday with us, we decided to get her something that is very Australian. After much discussion, we decided to get her an opal necklace. Adrian found a website of an opal factory at Sunshine Coast. There is a huge variety of opals from solid opals to doublets and triplets opals. They are also reasonably priced. You can check it out at the following website http://www.opalsdownunder.com.au/

We were really spoiled for choices as many of the opals are really very beautiful. It would have been easier if I were to buy for myself. I think I will buy many of them back but come to think of it, I seldom wear all these necklaces. I have so many necklaces and I seldom change them. I think I had better not spend unnecessary money. Anyway, we managed to get my aunt a really neat piece of necklace. Hopefully she will like it. Btw she's flying down on this coming Friday. Can't wait to have her company. :)

From Opals Down Under, we drove another 15 minutes to this tourist attraction - Big Pineapple. It is a tourist attraction and a working farm. There are rides that you can take and tours round the farm as well. We did not go for any of the rides or the tours. We just went to the shop where we were greeted with the aroma of cinnamon macadamia nuts, hot from the ovens. We walked around t he shop, looking for their famous pineapple jam but to our dismay, it was sold out. Have already placed an order and we will collect it when it is in stock. Anyway we bought more macadamia nuts as Adrian loves them. With all these in bags, we went off back home. Sabrina was so tired that she fell asleep once we got into the car for the ride home.

Went off for lunch at Westfield at Hannachi and it's back home again. Adrian was busy washing the car and changing the bedsheets while I prepare dinner. As usual, our little girl was busy creating havoc at home. We were all so tired after this long day that we hardly have any appetite

Personalised Car Number Plate

I think I forgot to blog about Adrian making an online order of a personalised car number plate for our car. He has been thinking about changing it since he got the car. This is the car number plate that came together with the car when we bought it. It is "774 KUC". To us, Chinese, the number 774 would have meant " Qi qi si" aka "go and die". And the letters "KUC" would have sound like "K U C" again about dying. He and his Taiwanese colleague, William (the one whom we went to their house last weekend) was commenting that maybe this original number plate was the cause of him getting a speed ticket last month. Hahaha. Supersitious? I am not sure.

Here's a picture of our car and the "unlucky" number plate.

He had been comtemplating whether to get a personalised number plate for a while. Finally 2 weeks ago, he made an order. The number plate that he had chosen is " 33 SIM". I will need to get the picture of the number plate from my laptop that is upstairs in the room later. It cost us Aust$465 to get a personalised number plate. Well at least it's something that he like.

Our new number plate that Adrian had ordered.

Updated Aust Time 10.16pm

Baby and Kids' Market

Went to this Baby and Kid's Market at St Joseph College. This is an indoor event where stalls are set up selling kids stuff from clothes to prams and aeverything that a kids will need. We founf out aboutt his market from the website and decided to go for it even though we need to pay a $3 entry fee per head.

By the time we reached, it was already 9.30am. The carpark was already packed with vehicles. We saw many parents with their kids in prams or pouches. Finally we managed to get a lot and parked our car. Took a short stroll to the indoor hall.

It was packed to the brim with parents and kids and items on sale. There were lots of girls stuff but they were not suitable for Sabrina as they were more for girls 1 year and below. There were very little things on sale for boys. Moreover we had already bought quite a bit of clothes for him plus the hand me downs from friends and Sabrina. Initially nothing caught my eye as our main aim there was to get a portable playpen to put downstairs for our son. Finally after making many many rounds (we actually wanted to make sure we fully utilise the $6 entry fees), we managed to get some rompers for our unborn son and a pair of Pumpkin Patch Jeans and skirt for Sabrina. I even managed to get an Espirit pants and shirt for our son. Hopefully he can wear it by the time we go back to Sg for CNY next year. It looks so cute. I have yet to take pictures of it. Will take some and post them on the web soon.

Here's some pictures to share of our little girl fooling around wih my sunglasses in the car.

Here's our gal who wanted to wear my sunglasses. She will ask me to take it off and let her wear it.

Showing me that she is wearing my sunglasses by pointint to the sunglasses first then her cheek.

Took a shot of Mummy and Baby. I looked fat in here. Haiz....

Another unsuccessful picture taken of the 3 of us. But Adrian's too lazy to retake.

Updated Aust Time 8.11pm

New Farm Park and Market Square

Went off to New Farm Park today for this fruits and vegetables market. Adrian asked me to get the Gourmet Strawberries that we bought the last time we went there. It was really sweet and huge and it can only be found at this market which is only in operation on t he 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month. it also just so happened that it will be in operation when my parents touch down on the 13th Sept. Well it will be an eye opener for them. It will also be a paradise for both my father and aunt who are fruit monster. I would really want them to try the strawberries as it's not something that we can find in Sg.

Shortly after that, we went off to Sunny bank to get our weekly vegetables. On our way to Sunnybank, Sabrina fell asleep in the car seat and it was only 10plus in the morning. We figured that she will always fall asleep when she sits in her carseat especially on weekends when we go grocery shopping. Anyway, I can rest and not entertain her throughout the trip when she's asleep.

Managed to get some really nice ginger that I need to deep fry for my use during my confinement. Got the vegetables I need and we went off to walk around at Sunnybank Plaza. Went to Kmart and got myself a pair of sunglasses that is on a 25% discount. Will try to get a picture of Sabrina in the sunglasses from Adrian as she fools around with it in the car.

Went off to Little Singapore for lunch at Market Square. By the Sabrina is up and about and can enjoy her lunch with us. We ordered curry chicken with rice and mee goreng. Both dishes turned out quite well. The curry gravy is thick and spicky while the mee goreng is not too bad just that it't not spicy. Adrian went on to add in more chilli paste that was on the counter and it tasted so much better.

Met Adrian's colleague, William and his wife at Yuen's Market where we were shopping for fish and some dried food items. He invited us over to his house and we spend quite some time there. We left his place at around 4.20pm as he needed to get more stuff from a nearby supermarket. So off we went. Guess what? Sabrina fell asleep again in the car seat on our way back home. Hahaha. Luckily it did not affect her bedtime as she is already asleep now. Small little piggy.

Updated Aust Time 9.52pm

Sabrina turns 30 months today

Sabrina is officially 30 months old today. I realised that I have not been keeping track of her months on Planet Earth since I came to Australia. Haiz. One main thing is lazy and the other is that I forgot at times as well.

She has really grown taller. Just look at her clothes especially her dresses. They are all riding up her legs. We have to start buying her new clothes as we realised that she does not have many clothes left as she had outgrown many of them and I had given it away before we came over. More spending. Adrian's colleagues have also mistaken her to be 4 or 5 years old as she is tall for her age. Anyway as long as she is healthy, we are happy.

There was a short downpour today. After coming to Australia for 2 months plus, this is the 2nd time it had rained. But it did not last long. I guess Sabrina has not seen rain for quite sometime and she was very happy to see the rain. She took the Ikea stool that we bought and brought it near the door leading to the backyard. She just stood there and watch the rain till it sort of stop after 10 minutes. At times, she also sat down at the stool with her water bottle and watch the rain. So cute.

Updated Aust Time 3.21pm

Pregnancy thus far

The date for my delivery is drawing near. I really hope that he will arrive on Adrian's birthday on the 11th Sept so that they can share the same birthday. It would also be a great birthday present for Daddy. But Adrian feels that as long as he arrives safely, he is happy. For a second time dad, let's hope he will be able to handle both Sabrina and Baby Boy. But he still has his studies to worry about. As he has 2 assignments due in September, he has already started his research on the topics he is working on (well after much nagging from me as usual). We both figure that we will not be able to really work on the assignments as it will definitely be a period of maddness handling a newborn and an active toddler. First and foremost, our gal might not be used to the idea of having an infant around and our time has to be spilt between spending time with her and spending time with infant. Secondly, infant will take some time to adjust be life outside of the womb. We will also need to adjust to having an infant around. Sleeping time, feeding time, changing time and many more things to come. Thirdly, with 2 kids around, I might not have the time to really sit down and edit his assignments like I always do. So it's a better bet to start working on his assignment earlier.

Till now we have not decided on which English name for him. We have narrowed it down to either Sebastian or Sullivan. Adrian likes the name Sullivan and had it written down in the list of names that we had shortlisted. To me when I think of Sullivan, I will think of the character in Monster Inc - The sweet monster who went all way out to help the little girl to go back to her room. While Sebastian is more like the lobster in Little Mermaid- The one who always think the worst of things but in the end will say otherwise when things turn out well. Haiz...Still a few more weeks to think about it.

My parents and my aunt will be coming to Australia to help with my confinement. Actually, we would have preferred to have just my aunt here as she knows how to handle babies, kids and can cook confinement food. My mum is of no use as she cannot handle babies, kids and knows nuts about confinement. Had it not been my father, I would have say no to all these. From the very beginning, our plans was to send Sabrina to a nearby childcare centre one month before I am due (ard Aug) to around October or November. With her out of sight, I will be able to handle the baby myself while she's in school. It's good also as she will get to mingle with kids her age and learn about social skills. I can rest as and when Baby is asleep. Adrian will then pick Sabrina up after his work and when they are back, I will then spend time with Sabrina so that she will not feel neglected while Adrian will tend to the baby.

We are very positive that it will work out as during my first confinement for Sabrina I was basically the main caregiver for her. My mil will just come over and bathe Sabrina and wash her clothes and off she goes to tend to her precious grandson. She would only be at my place for around at most an hour on normal days and only half an hour on Fridays as her grandson will be back from school early. She would have my lunch and dinner prepared at her place and she will just bring it over when she comes. So basically it's just a nice term for her to use to say "ya I did confinement for my dil." But in actually fact she did not help much at all. I even have to wash my own clothes, Adrian clothes and hang out the clothes and all. And they can keep saying that I must rest cuz confinement month is very important. How can I really rest when I still have to handle household chores. And on top of that she does not know how to carry an infant. You should have seen her bathing Sabrina. Basically she just put her into the water and out she comes and of course my gal will be screaming out loud as she loves water.

So immediately after the 30th day of my confinement, I bathed Sabrina on my own. When my mil came over, I just told her Sabrina had already showered and she is sleeping now. She was like "who shower for her?" I told her I was the one and she was like "you kow how to do it meh?" I just shoot her back and say " Don't know also have to try." She was just stunned for words. So from that day onwards she never carry Sabrina for her shower as I would already have done that. And she was the one to insist that I have to do confinement for 40 days instead of the normal 30 days. So she continue to cook for me so called confinement food but after 30 days she can tell me that she don't know what to cook for me and fried egg for me instead. Might as well don't cook at all. So after these 40 days, she never did into my house. ANd when did she come over finally? She came when I report for work the very first day after 4 months when Adrian was at home to look after Sabrina as he was doing freelance from home. I was really mad. I told Adrian off and was really irritated that she did these small actions. Appering at my place when I was not around. For the past 4 months she has never bothered to come over to see my gal and when we do bring Sabrina over, she will purposely comment in front of her friends that "aiyo so long never see you liao." I really feel like telling her that " you just live in the opposite block. You can always walk over if you want." Moreover it's sheltered from her block to ours. It's just so irritating. Anyway she was not supposed to help with my confinement. We had already indicated that we want her elder sister to help(Adrian's eldest aunt). She purposely refused to tell her and in the end she so called did my confinement. Real nonsense. So I already told Adrian for our 2nd kid I would never ever ask his mum. I rather spend money hiring a confinement lady who really helps with everything and since we hire her, we can indicate what we need her to do within her means of course.

My dad was the one who kept persuading us to have someone come over to Australia to help me out. It was also at the same time that my aunt offer to come to help. Our concern was that she has her own family as well and to stay away from her family for a month would have been too much of a hassle. But my aunt has always been on the move, going to KL for a week or JB for another week and some other places in Malaysia for various meeting snad workshops. Her six kids are all school going children and spent most of their time in school. She feels that she is free to go anyway she wants and her husband is very supportive of everything that she does. So in the end, we said okay and she is coming over on the 5th Sept as she is worried that I might give birth earlier with my previous record a nearly 3 weeks early arrival of Sabrina. My parents will only come over on the 13th Sept as they need to attend my brother's POP on the 10th Sept. Let's hope everything falls into place.

Updated Aust Time 10.15am

Sabrina is officially off pacificer

Actually Sabrina had been off pacificer for a few weeks, just that I kept forgetting to update in the blog. She used to just want pacificer when she sleeps. She will want it after her milk for her nap and bedtime. But somehow, she spoilt the one that she uses for her nap and I just ignore her and continue to just give it to her. Guess she realised that the pacificer is spoilt and refused to use it. Even when we do go out and we gave her the one for outing use, she refused to use it as well. Till one night, she also spoils the pacificer for outdoor use. She just happily drink her milk and off to la la land. So I should say she wean herself off pacificer. Hahaha. That will saves us money anyway.

Updated Aust Time: 10.29am

Apple and Cranberry Juice for Sabrina

Bought this bottle of Heinz Apple and Cranberry juice from Toys R Us last week. It is so cheap as compared to SG. It was going at only $2.19 for a big bottle. I used to buy it from NTUC back in SG at around $4-5 dollars. Haiz. Some of the things here are considered cheap but some of them are considered expensive in comparison to in SG. Pros and Cons I believe.

So I started giving her a little of the juice as I know that it would be a little sour. SHe took one sip and showed me a sour face and a cheeky smile. But after a few tries, she sort of like it and up to now, I had already refilled her bottle the 3rd time.

Looking at her, I cannot imagine how small she was when she was just born. She's now an active toddler and at times really drives us up the wall with her actions. But there are also times when she looks so cute and you really do not have the heart to scold or hit her. But she can really be stubborn at times. Really like the daddy. At least he's so much better now as compared to last time without a kid. Guess having a kid really mellow down a person. I have to admit we both mellow down a little with the arrival of our little girl. Maybe with another one coming, we might mellow further. Hahaha.

Anyway, we are going to start preparing for our little boy's arrival. Have to start packing the hospital bag, baby stuff and all next week. We do not want a case of unpreparedness when we had Sabrina who arrived 3 weeks early. So better start preparing early especially we have an active toddler who will make preparing and setting up the bed and all 10 tens more challenging.

Updated Aust Time 10.15am

Cute act by our little princess

As usual, lunch is prepared in the morning so that Adrian can bring some for his lunch in his office. So at around 11plus to 12 noon, I was at the kitchen warming up the dark soy sauce meat that I had cooked earlier for the 2 of us. Guess what our little girl did? She took the apron that I usually hang on the hanger of a cupboard and passed it to me and wanted me to put it on. Initially I was wondering what she was asking of me. After a while, I realised that she had wanted me to put the apron on as that my usual practice when I am in the kitchen either preparing lunch or dinner. It was so funny. Have yet to tell Adrian. Will tell him after I am done with this entry.

Somehow, I totally agree that our little girl is not stupid just because she does not speak much. She understands what happens around the house and knows the routine well enough. She knows that if she need to poop, we will run to the toilet downstairs and she will get ready a stool for me to sit while she does her business. Or the times when she will get ready her high chair when she knows that it's meals time. Or even times, when she will get our slippers for both Adrian and me when we comes back home from outings or come downstairs in the morning. Thus I really hate it when that person just kept asking us "Can she talk already?" everytime we see her. It's really irritating. Or add on saying " that so and so grandson can talk very well already." My gosh. That kid already finishing nursery year by year end. How can she compare her to him. REally ridiculous. Anway I choose to ignore her when she ask me that. Hahaha

Just came back from Westfields. Went for a shopping spree at Big W as they are having a Baby Fair. Many of the Bonds rompers are going at only $10, about $5-$6 cheaper than usual. I noticed that Aust parents like to dress their kids in this brand. It's a type of body suit that does not have any buttons at all. Very easy for wearing and changing of diaper. But it's usually for kids younger than 1 year old. So I happily bought 2 sets for our little boy. Was at a loss over which colour and which size to take. In the end, Sabrina made the choice for me. I held the 3 sets of bodysuit and she chose one of it for me while I made the choice the other set. We also got a romper that is in the design of a cow. It comes with a bib too. Our son is born neither in the year of the coe or the dog nbut the year of the rat. But there isn't any set in the design of the rat. Anyway I cannot imagine a romper in the design of a rat. Won't it look funny? Hahaha.

Then we bought this refill for the nappy wrapper tub that we got the day before. Apparently the tub was so cheap that it was sold out at this outlet. Luckily we bought it yesterday. Its usual price was $77. Now it was only going at $37. Guess to the ang moh that is very cheap.

Finally got some maternity bras that suit me. After going to so many departmental stores and trying on so many different cuts of bras, I finally found something that fit me nicely. Usually, either the bust area is too loose ot the length is incorrect. And the best part was that it was also on offer in conjuction with the baby fair. Spent a whopping $200 just at Big W.

Went off to Kmart where they were still having that DVD sale - Adrian's favourite. Bought some DVDs that was on sale. Adrian is always very happy to see these DVDs sales as he is able to get hold of old movies that are so difficult to buy back in SG. So far he managed to but so many that I think soon we can open a shop selling DVDs, baby clothes and diapers. Hahaha.

I was just telling Adrian that everytime we go out either on weekends, Thursday nights or publlic holidays, we were sure to be back with some purchase, big or small. But when we do reflect, we realised that the things we bought are all home neccesities that we buy in excess when they are on sale. It's better than needing that particular item and could not find it anywhere at home or they are of higher value on the shelves of the departmental stores. Guess it's justified.

Ok, going to watch the DVD that we bought just now - Three men and a Baby.

Updated Aust Time 10.28pm

Public Holiday due to Royal Queensland Day

Today is the official public holday for Brisbane to celebrate The Royal Queensland Day - Ekka 2008.

As we had already gone to Ekka on Sunday, we decided to go somewhere else further than the event site as it would be very crowded. We did pass by the site on our way home from Upper Mount Gravatt. You can see people with lots and lots of Showbags and stuff toys that They won from paying teh games at Ekka.

We went off to Sunnybank for breakfast and walked around SunnyBank Plaza. I just realised that we have been going to Oriental for breakfast for a few weeks. It's really worth the price we pay for a set of breakfast that keeps us so full for the whole mornig on a winter morning like this.

By the time we decided to leave SunnyBank and explore the area around it, it was already 11plus. We sat in the car and as we thought we were just going to drive to a nearby place, I did not put Sabrina in her booster seat. I just let her sit beside me and as we pass by Pineland which is just opposite SunnyBank Plaza, I felt that she was nodding off to sleep. Adrian turned and found her asleep leaning against me. Hahaha. Just imagine how long it takes to just drive opposite Sunnybank to Pineland and she's off to la la land. So cute.

We decided to drive further up as we saw some shops ahead. It turned out that there were many small shops that sells lots of Asian stuff. We alighted from the car and walked round the area. There are many Asian shops like shops selling desserts like mango sago, red bean soup and pulut hitam. But of course the price is much much higher as compared to SG. We were not very keen on trying as we were worried that it might not be nice and it's very close to lunch time. Maybe next week we might have a go at it. There is also a Chinese supermarket that we always visit when we go to Chinatown on weekends. It is so much bigger and there are more things to see in the store. we managed to get some of the items for my confinement.

We walked around and found this restaurant called "Little Singapore". We saw people eating fried kway teow and hor fun. It look nice and we decided to have our lunch there. We suspect that the lady boss is a Singaporean as well as she sounds like one as she spoke to us in Mandarin. By now Sabrina had already woken up and just in time to enjoy the food. When the food arrived, she was so happy and insisted we feed her. We were a little hesitant as we saw chilli flakes in the fried kway teow. However, since she wanted it, we gave it to her and she likes it. She happily eat the fried kway teow even when the hor fun arrived. She just ignored the hor fun and continued with the fried kway teow. Hahaha. It's not really an expensive meal there, cost us around $30 and we could not finish the 2 plates as the portion is really huge.

Shortly after that, we went off to Garden City (Westfield). As we saw this advertisement about Big W having a Baby fair, we decided to pop into the store. We have been contemplating whether to get the Nappy Wrapper Tub for our boy. We finally decided to get it as our garbage is only cleared once a week. Imagine the number of nappy that we need to change for an infant, we decided to purchase one as it was on sale. Its usual price was $77 and now it's only going at $37. So we took one and continued walking round. Saw a blue laundry basket and bought it as well. Usually only the white ones are available. Since we saw the blue one and it's the only one on the shelf, we just grabbed and go.

By the time we came home, we were all very tired. Our little girl was the most exhausted as she only sleep for a mere half an hour or so in the afternoon. She's already asleep as I typed this. Yes, she slept at around 8plus just now. I am going offline now to video camera with my parents.

Updated Aust Time 10.15pm

Ekka 2008

The annual Brisbane Exhibition is here. We are lucky that we did not miss it. It is declared that next Wednesday would be a publlic holiday for this special event. We decided against going on Wednesday as we feel that it would be very crowded. So we went today since we do not have anything planned. Check it out at this site http://www.ekka.com.au/home/default.asp

It starts at 9am. So we decided to go early as we need to find parking. Apparently the nearby carpark lots are limited and we need to pask some distance away from the site. After parking the car, we took that short stroll to the RNA showground. We approached a long queue outside the RNA and we have no idea what that queue was. Adrian went and realised that it's the ticketing queue. I think we waited for around 20 minutes before we got our tickets. Btw the admission ticket for each adult is $22 and it does not include any rides or food or anything.

By the time we walked in, it was already crowded with people taking rides, eating, shopping and all. We just walked around as we were not sure where to start as well. We walked to the poultry section and saw many different types of chickens, ducks, goose, parrots and canary. Sabrina really enjoy watching these animals as she did not fuss at all but just sit in her pram and watch the poultry. There were also horses, cows, goats, dogs and cats exhibition. However, I did not walk into these halls as I could not stand the smell. It's due to my pregnancy. Little change in smell and I will not be able to stand it. Anyway, Adrian brought Sabrina in to watch these other animals and she was most happy to oblige.

After that we decided to just walk around. The place is just too big and we just walked around and walked into any exhibition halls that we passed by. We went to the stadium where they were having a horse competition. Some of the horses look so fine. We even saw a few kids riding ponies with their jockery.

We also went into various exhibition halls where they have exhibits of many things even the Government section has a hall where they exhibit future plans for Brisbane as well as Water Treatment plans. Honestly, I was not really interested in these. I went in just to stay clear of the hot sun. Hahaha.

We also went to this Brisbane Market where there was competition of the biggest vegetables or fruits and arrangement of fruits and vegetables. It was really nice and some of the fruits were really enormous.

Usually for these kind of fairs in European countries, they are famous for what they called ShowBags. These bags basically contain items that cost most their the selling prices of the showbags itself. By now, Sabrina has gone to lala land. So we decided to go into the ShowBags Pavillion to get some of the show bags. We bought Sesame Street Elmo for our son, HI-5 for Sabrina, Darrell Lea, Pepsi, Good Taste, Food Ideas, Women's Weekly and New Women. Each bag cost between Aust$17.50 - $18.50. But just look at the contents. It's definitely cost more than that price. We thought we bought too many showbags but if you have seen the Ang mohs, they can be holding up to 5 or 6 show bags per person per family. Just imagine how popular these show bags are.

Before we go off, we decided to let Sabrina had a go at the games stall since she had behaved rather well today. She looked very interested in the game stall that require the participant to use a net to fish for a fish or reptile from the pool of water. It cost $4 a game and we decided to let her have a go at it. She happily fish for the items with the net. Each itme from the water is labelled with a number that is linked to a prize. But somehow, our lilttle cannot decide which item she wants. In the end, after fishing for about 5-10 minutes, we just ask her to fish one more time and claim her prize. She got herself a crocodile.

We then went to the stall beside this fishing stall and let her try the balls game. In this game, she is required to drop the balls into the mouth of a duck and ater dropping the 3 balls into the mouth, the balls will automatically fall into this number drawers where there are numbers indicators. At the end of throwing the balls, the stall holder will count the sum of the numbers that the balls fall in and you will get a price. She really loves this game and was laughing loudly everytime she drops the balls. She won for herself a toy handphone.

I guess all in all we enjoyed ourselves today. Though we are tired no doubt by the end of the day, I guess it was a real eye-opener for us. We also spent quite a bit of money but at least we feel that it's money well spent. So tired. Going off to la la land.

Updated Aust Time 9.01pm

First try of strawberries for Sabrina

Just had our dinner of Domino's Pizza which is less than Aust$10. After dinner, Adrian took out the strawberries that we bought the other day. So I happily have my share of strawberries. Guess what? Sabrina wanted to try. So I gave her one to taste and she actually like it. She just happily munch into it. At times when it's a little sour, she will show a sour face but still continues to eat it.

Actually I am not so sure how much strawberries she can take at her age but I am really gald that she likes it and is willingly to try out all kinds of fruits. She loves grapes. She evn tries oranges few weeks back and sort of like it. Fruits are good for all of us so I just let her try out whatever fruit we buy for the week. Even Adrian cannot escape as I make sure he brings a fruit to work for lunch everyday. So far he has only been bringing apples as it's small and he would be able to finish it straight after his lunch that I had prepared for him.

Fruits in Australia are really fresh and reasonably cheap. Just imagine the strawberries that we just ate. In Singapore, we would never buy any strawberries off the shelves at supermarkets or fruit stalls as they tend to be rather sour than sweet. Well, based on Adrian's logic which I also agree, the strawberries or any type of fruits that are sent to Singapore are pluck when they are unripe. This is to prevent them from turning bad before they reach Singapore. If they had sent it those fruits that are ripe to Singapore, bythe time they arrive at Singapore, they would have gone bad and it would be a big loss to the suppliers as well as the buyers. Since we are in Australia now, we might as well enjoy the fruits that are available and affordable.

Till then.........

Updated Aust Time 8.06pm

Sunday out

We went off to New Farm Park this morning. We thought we would be able to join the crowd at weekend market where farmers set up stalls and sell items that they grow e.g. fruits, vegetables and some seafood and poultry. However, we came back empty-handed as it was not open today. Apparently they only set up their stalls on every 2nd and 4th Sat of the month. We only found out when we came home and Adrian checked the Internet for this information. It will be on again on the 9th, next Saturday and that will be where you will find us.

Since we were already at the Park, we decided to let Sabrina run around and use up her everlasting energy. She really loves it. She just happily run around the park, playing with the grass, flowers and everything that caught her sight. Of course not forgetting that she was running around the whole park enjoying herself in the open space. It was a little chilly when the wind blows but it did not deter her from enjoying herself.

As for Adrian and me, we enjoy being in the open space with clean air and space. There were many rose plants around the park as well. They are really pretty and you will not believe the variety and sizes of these roses. They really look so different from those we see in Singapore at the florists. These are real plants and you get to see the various stage of the flowers in bloom. Most of the roses species were of Endland origin. Apparently, our weather now is equivalent to England summer thus the roses that were originated from England were in full bloom. There are pink, yellow, red, maroon, orange roses at the park. It is really a good way of relaxing on a Sunday morning, enjoying the breeze and sight of the roses. Guess it will be some time before I get to enjoy this again since our baby is going to arrive soon. Let's hope he is going to be an easy baby.

Shortly after that, we went off to Harvey Norman that is near to Adrian's workplace. He wanted to buy an indoor TV antenna for our room upstairs so that we can watch local TV programs in our room rather than just DVDs or VCDs. However, they were out of stock for the model that the salesperson from Mt Gravatt Harvey Norman recommended. So off we went to Stafford as we thought that was the shopping centre that we did not manage to finish shopping few weeks back. It turned out that it was Centro at Toombul that we had not finished walking round and not Stafford. Anyway by then Sabrina was already very cranky as she was sleepy so we went back to the car and gave her her milk and off to her la la la land she went. While she slept, Adrian went to buy kebab for our lunch at Everton which is just a stone's throw away from Stafford.

Went off to Westfield at Chermside. Sabrina continued with her beauty sleep while we went shopping at Target. We need to use up 2 voucher that we got after shopping at the Toys Sale few weeks back. The vouchers expires today so we thought we had better put it to good use before it's invalid. In the end, we bought a few Muppets DVDs and some pyjamas for our soon to arrive baby boy. The Muppets DVDs were so cheap. It was only going at Aust$8.99 and it is so easily available here. We had such a difficult time trying to find them while we were in Singapore and when we finally found them, they were going at around SG$35. Here in Aust, it's not even half the price we pay for in SG. So as usual, Adrian just wiped out everything from the shelf and here we are with 3 more DVDs.

Updated Aust Time 4.41pm

Weekend Grocery Shopping

Went off for breakfast at Sunnybank Oriental again. Really like their breakfast which is worth Aust$8 bucks with a drink and porridge and noodle. While another set consists of porridge, you tiao and chee chong fun and of course a drink. Sabrina likes the porridge and noodles. I guess it could be due to me not cooking porridge for her nowadays. As it's cold in Aust now (it's winter now), I prefer her to take more solid food that will keep her full for a longer time frame. Thus we usually have rice or noodles for lunch and dinner. Porridge does not keep us full for long and with me pregnant now, eating porridge will never keep me full for long. Anyway, she is not a fussy eater so she will eat whatever I cook. :)

Went off to buy vegetables at Welcome Fresh Food. The vegetables that they have on their shelves are fresher than those at Formosa and much more cheaper too. Today, I bought kailan, caixin and da lao po cai. It only cost Aust99cents for each bunch. These vegetables would last us for a week and they still look fresh even when I use them on Friday the following week.

We were about to pay for our purchase when Adrian spotted the Royal Umbrella Rice. It was going at Aust$16.99 while it would cost us Aust$27 at Formosa. As my parents and my aunt will be coming next month to help with my confinement, we thought it would be better to have rice in stock at home as there are more people. So we bought 2 big bags of 10kg of rice.

We then went into Sunnybank Plaza to check out the prices of food items at Formosa. While on the way, we passed by The Reject Shop. I saw the Alphabets Foam Mats that is going at Aust$15. That was the foam mat that I wanted to buy many weeks back when I saw it at the shop. That day, I was hesitant to buy as I thought it would still be available the following week. I thought that I should think about it before buying as I have a tendency to purchase on impluse. In the end when we went back the following week, it was no longer on the shelf and we could not find it for many weeks that followed. So when I saw it today, I told Adrian, by hook or by crook I am going to buy it today. Hahaha.

We also checked out the flight cost for our family to return to Singapore before CNY next year at Flight Centre at Sunnybank Plaza. It would set us back by around Aust$4000 for our family of 4. Better start saving and not forgetting the ang pao money we need to prepare foor CNY. Luckily we still have the rental money from SG to use for ang pao.

I bought a chocolate today at the bakery again. Hahaha. It seemed that I am buying cake every time we visit the Plaza. I tried their blackforest cake and it rally tasted good. Today Adrian suggested buying the chocolate cake which I have been eyeing for the past few weeks. I was a little reluctant as it was an 8" cake and I am the only one eating it. I was worried that I could not finish it and ended up wasting it. After some persuasion, I decided to get the cake. Let's hope it's nice as it set us back by Aust$27.

With these purchases, we left for Chinatown where we want to get some pig liver and pig stomach to brew some tonic for myself. It was so cheap that it was really unbelievable. One pig stomach is only Aust$1.86 where it would easier cost us SG$8 or 9 during off peak season. If we would get it during festive period eg CNY, it would have shot up to SG$10 and above. The liver too was very cheap and it's by the kg. 1 kg of liver is around Aust$3. We bought some liver around 800grams and it was only Aust$3. These few items in SG would have easier cost around SG$15. At least we managed to get all the food items that we will need for my confinement.

We went to another shop at Chinatown that too sells Asian food items and sauces like Formosa and Welcome. In there, we found threadfin fish. The only type of fish that I can eat during confinement according to my Mil. It is considered a lousy fish in Aust while it is so highly sought after fish in SG. It was only going at Aust$8.89 per kg. So we ended buying one whole fish back at Aust$13.

While we were shopping at Chinatown, as usual our little princess slept through it. It just so happen to be her naptime and she just cannot keep her eyes open. It's good for us as she will not make a fuss while we shop around with her hands roaming at all the items on the shelves that we past by.

Updated Aust Time 8.26pm