Back in 2019, my dad was hinting here and there that he wanted a holiday with the family…’somewhere cold if possible’ he said. So after some research we decided to go to Melbourne. Joe couldn’t make it in the very last minute (thinking about the burnt ticket still makes me sad till this day!) but there was nothing much we could do. So in August 2019, off we went!
The journey to Melbourne didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. On the day we were supposed to leave (I was working and the flight was 8pm-ish), we realised Joe went to Johor with Rauf’s stroller in the car. Since there was no time to pick up rented/borrowed stroller, I had to buy a brand new one. On the way to Melbourne, my dad somehow caught food poisoning, so he was exhausted by the time we arrived. I barely had any sleep because Rauf is practically allergic to sleep and refused to nap in the plane. But it’s okay, I think throughout the journey I was mentally prepared for things not to go as planned. I figured I’d be less stressed if I didnt place any expectations on anything. As long as everyone is happy we should just be grateful.
In the plane, I had time to plan our meals in Melbourne. I realised it would be too exhausting trying to find for places to eat for every meal. I swear I felt so ‘MOM’ when I did this, but I don’t regret it at all cause we saved so much money to the point I still had an abundance of cash left when we went back to KL. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPEND BEFORE.
Since our meals were planned ahead, we stopped by the halal butcher shop and grocers on the way to our apartment. I felt like a zombie while doing this, but man, this was the best plan I ever had for travelling.
Since I had gotten used to travelling with a child, I realised being on holidays isn’t going to be the same anymore. I no longer cared for the number of activities and the destination of our travels. This mentality had totally changed my attitude and expectations when it comes to travelling. We did list down a few places we wanted to visit, but there was no pressure in getting anywhere. Sometimes the experience we had on places we hadn’t planned on were better compared to the planned ones.
Melbourne City is beautiful. The last time I was there was when I was in Uni and I can’t remember much besides the friends I met up with.
Also met up with a couple of my close friends! Myra has been my friend since Kindergarten and we have only been able to meet up in KL, so seeing her in her home was amazing.
My good friend Iskandar was relocated to Melbourne so of course we had to meet up!
The best part about this holiday was that it was Rauf’s first time experience with snow. He was so excited that he refused to wear his gloves so that he could feel it! Our trip to Mount Buller was super fun, we tried sledding too! I did regret not bringing thicker clothes, the rental for waterproof/winter clothes were so expensive but I guess there’s a lesson learnt every time you travel.
We were in Mt Buller for about a day. We rented a cabin that was an hour away from the Mountain which was convenient cause we spent one night to rest andto prepare for our trip. The view to and from Mt Buller was so beautiful. We stopped by to have lunch, refreshments and chilled at a couple of wineries. I was so tempted to steal a lemon tree during this trip.
Don’t worry, I didn’t.
After returning to the city, we did a bit of shopping and hung out at a few cafes. The coffee culture in Melbourne is amazing and perfect for a coffee addict like me. We thought of doing something specifically for Rauf, so we decided to go to Collingswood’s Children’s Farm and we had so much fun!
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For our last couple of days we thought we’d go to the Great Ocean Road for the 12 Apostles, but my mum didn’t feel well on the way there so we just stopped half way and decided to rest at a neighbourhood and head back. We weren’t bummed at all, the Apostles will still be there in many years to come, maybe we will come back to see it one day.
To be honest I don’t know which was my favourite memory from the Melbourne trip. Almost 2 years have passed and I still think about this trip. I think everyone kinda got what they wanted. It really did feel like holiday to me. After so long it was just the original 4 (plus one) and we did what we used to do when were children in the car, played I spy, made fun of one another. The last time we had a trip like this was before I got married.
Whatever it is I hope we could have more trips like this!
YANAKAZMAN 