going Down Under

we're flying off to perth, western australia this saturday!

i know this may mean nothing much to fortunate souls who are frequent travellers - but it sure is a huge deal for me. my last overseas holiday via air (minus the 2D1N business trip to brisbane in 2005) was to phuket in 2004 when there was only 1 kid in our family then. xian was about 20 months old when holidayed at phuket. she's now 6 years old.

wen's only been driven across the causeway and has never got the chance to travel by air. wei's only 5 months so this will be her first holiday experience. both wen and wei will take to the skies for the first time in their lives...and i don't know what to expect on the plane!

initially the hub was planning for new zealand (i was ecstatic because i wanted to visit as many LOTR sites as possible and visit my cousin and his family) but it was way too expensive and we estimated that 20k may not be enough for a 8 day tour! so i suggested perth since no-one (aside from myself) has been there. the 4.5h flight's more manageable too.

there'll be 7 of us on this trip: FIL, MIL, the 3 princesses, the hub and i. it's a free-and-easy self drive and we've mapped out our destinations: perth, fremantle, bunbury, bussleton, margaret river, bindoon (farmstay). we're only covering a modest portion of the south-west region as there's only 1 driver (the hub) and i don't want him to be too exhausted.

and thank goodness we're living in the internet age! we got all the information we wanted off the net and made our flight and accommodation arrangements via the web too.

unfortunately i'm still stuck with loads of administrative and module assessment work that need to be cleared within the next 3 days before the trip. i'm running on a tight schedule and have to work till the very last minute on friday (perhaps even staying up to finish my stuff) before i take the morning saturday flight out to perth.

which also explains why i haven't written about this trip earlier. work's been eating up my waking moments. plus baby's middle of the night feeds = a drained mumsy.

but i promise to give an account and upload the photos once i'm back.

till then, G'DAY MATE! ;)