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Monday, January 11, 2010

Australia - Lillydale Host Farm (Brisbane) & Gold Coast

We spent Christmas 2009 in Australia's Brisbane together with aunty Wendy's family. Once we touched down at Brisbane airport, we drove to Lillydale Farm. The scenic drive was supposed to take 90 mins but we missed a turn and ended up taking a longer time to reach the farm. This was the farm was not found in our GPS. Lillydale's view is picturesque view. There's Mount maroon on one side and Mount Barney on the other. Mount Barney resembles a pregnant woman lying on her back with her head on the right.

There are 3 rooms and 1 eco cabin at the farm. We took the Barney Room which faces Mt Barney. Our room is hugh with 1 double and 1 single bed, a sofa set, fridge and a small pantry. Outside the room, there is a small sitting area and a hammock. I even get to nap in the hammock once. During our 3 nights stay, we fed the animals, visited a diary farm, a alpaca farm and a vineyard. The animal feeding is a daily affair, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. The rest of the time, we spent hanging out at the living room watching TV, reading or outdoors where there is a swing set and a trampoline - my personal favourite!

Day 1 - 21 Dec 2009 @ Lillydale Host Farm


We kids rushed to the trampoline the minute we arrived at Lillydale and spent lots of time jumping in it during our 3 days there.



There's a piano in the living room where I amazed mummy by my pro-like performance. I even know how to sweep the keys.


Next I played Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars (in mandarin)- my style:

In the living room watching cartoon:


Day 2 - 22 Dec 2009, Lillydale (am)
We spent the morning feeding the animals. There's a routine where Farmer Doug will bring us around the farm. We feed the sheep first, then the pig, followed by the chicken, then the cow (on our last day, the deer came by too) and lastly we fed the wallaby. The loud ba ba cries of the hungry sheep scared me at first and I did not want to give milk to the sheep. However I sort of looked up to Kieran and I'll follow whatever he did. In order to pacify me, mummy told me the wallaby is Austin and the deer is Tyrone, from the Backyardigans. I liked Austin the most and looked forward to feeding it everyday.


Feeding the Wallaby:



We went on a pony ride with Farmer Doug after feeding the animals. At first I'm too afraid but after seeing Kieran having a good time on it, I overcame my fear and had a ride too. It was not at all frightening, in face I had such a good time that I was humming away too!



Playing with the hammock after morning activities:


Day 2 - 22 Dec 2009, Klan Diary Farm & Rathdowney Town
In the afternoon, we visited Klan Diary Farm where we get to see a lot of cows being milked by machines. We get to feed the cows and also see a few days old calf. After the visit, we went to Rathdowney town to fill up petrol and get some supplies from the convenient store. Rathdowney is a very small town and it is very quiet too.



On the way to Rathdowney:


Day 3 - 23 Dec 2009, Alpaca Shack & Normanby Vineyard
We had a day out first stopping at the Alpaca Shack and to the vineyard. The Alpaca are related to camel and llama and resemble them. They are not native australian animals. There is no feeding instead we get to walk the alpaca and also there's a boutique that sell alpaca products such as shawls. We had our picnic lunch at Normanby before touring the vineyard. We get to pick the grapes and eat it fresh. I enjoyed plucking the grapes and linger on after the tour:) Before we left, the adults had a relaxing wine tasting session. As it began to rain, we left in a hurry and left our camera behind. Luckily Jenny from the vineyard sent the camera back to us in Singapore but for the rest of our stay, we use mummy's camera phone. That was also why the blog is updated only now.

Alpaca Shack & Vineyard:



Dinner at Lillydale Farm:


Day 4 to day 7 - 24-27 Dec 2009
After 3 days of quietness and tranquility, we were off to Seaworld Resort at Goldcoast. There we visited Seaworld, spent an evening at Surfer's Paradise, went to the Carrara Weekend market and shopped at Pacific Fair Mall.


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