We live in Perth, Western Australia which is a 3.5hr flight to Melbourne, 4.5hr to Sydney, 3 hrs to Bali and 5.5hrs to Singapore....so air travel is lllllooooooonnnnnnggggg. And also a must! There isnt much to do in or around Perth....well there is Margaret River which is 3 hours drive south and is beautiful and a wine region and Lancelin or Two Rocks which are 2 hours north but if i can sit beside my toddler on a plane and keep them entertained that is much much easier than singing songs or listening to crying for 2 or 3 hours... plus of course Perth is built on the mining industry so things cost lots here :( Food in Margaret River would be pushing Aud$30 a meal and a 2 bedroom hotel or house would be over$250 ... read more

I've realised we only have one overseas tripped book for the future...eeeekkkk! I cant survive on that! :) So.... read in the paper that Garuda has a sale on and in 1/2hr with a nod from the hubby we are now off to Bali for a long weekend in January. I would have preferred earlier but we're going to Phuket in Sept then a camping holiday in November and kids birthdays and xmas etc etc over december...so January it is. Now to find a kid friendly hotel with a seperate room for the kids and within walking distance of cheap local restarants.... time to go a-googling :)) ps. since having kids we have been going to bali quite a bit...like 4 times in 2 years...but still havent found a hotel (or area) that we 'love'. So ... read more

We have safely returned home after a long weekend in Melbourne. Melb unusely put on nice weather - no rain - wahoo! Although Saturday was a maximum of 12 which is the same as the minimums in Perth so we were cold....but all is good. We stayed at the Mantra on Jolimont and i would guess it is about 3.5/4 star. We had a 2 bed apartment which was huge and they are currently refurbishing the bathrooms so it was all very newish and clean which was great. Best thing was it was very soundproof...we could not hear the trains below and couldnt even hear the kids calling out if the bedroom door was shut. Location is probably the only bad thing as it was a 10 min walk to the restaraunts in jolimont and 15 ... read more

So we're off in to sunny Melbourne in a few weeks for a weekend away - yay! But...unlike pre kids where we have eaten at great restaraunts, shopped in richmond and gotten drunk in St Kilda, now we need some toddler friendly ideas. We've been there maybe 5 times since the Midget was born and found a few child friendly restaraunts...the james squire brewery at docklands is pretty good and the Boathouse owned my Gary from Masterchef was nice and casual with a kiddies playground outside...any other ideas for nice toddler friendly restaraunts? For some reason i've never been to Docklands stadium for a footy game...we always tend to go to the 'G' 'cause if youre in melbourne that IS where you have to go. So that will be one of our plans for the weekend ... read more

We decided this year that instead of our annual pilgrimage to Cairns to visit my Dad we'd get them to meet us on the GoldCoast. Hubby had never been there before and last time i went when i was 18 and we throught the Midgit would love the theme parks (and us!) so we'd give it a go...plus its way cheaper to get from Perth to Brisbane than to go to Cairns. We had a 3 bedroom apartment in the Towers of Chevron which was a fantastic location. Less than 5 minutes from the main mall, 5 minutes from the beach and underneath was a Coles, Liquorland and heaps of very cheap cafes! $4 for a huge cooked breakfast!!!! The apartment was very nice and very clean with amazing views and very sound proof which was ... read more

I hate being one of those perth people who goes to bali all the time...but it the closest destination from perth at 3 hours and if you get a deal you can get tickets cheaper than to Melbourne or Sydney...plus of course meals only cost you $4 instead of $30....so so many reasons to go if you just want to get away. We went for the 5 days over easter and booked a private 2 bedroom apartment in the Jayakarta. The room was really really nice...just like being in someones house! The hotel was nice with a couple of huge pools and a great location, right opposite the beach and cheap beach bars and right next to all the Legian restaraunts on the beach. Plus heaps of stalls and cheap food out the back of the ... read more

This trip to Adelaide was a small one. A girlfriend and I plus our two bubs had flown over for an old friends 40th....oh, dont tell her i said old hehe. We booked into a small apartment in glenelg right off the main drag but within walking distance to everything and there is certaintly everything you need on that main road. there is a shopping centre, alcohol shop, heaps of clothing shops and pubs and nightclubs. We were 2 blocks off the main street which just sopped hte noise of the drunkards in the middle of the night. April was a bit cold for the beach in adelaide but we went down to the jetty and looked around the art gallery there and the museum. Otherwise, for 2 days we met up with our old best ... read more

We had some bad news in early February that my very loved Grandmother had passed away in Geelong Victoria. I really looked up to my Grandma and really wanted to pay my respects so a quick look on the Internet and i could get some moderately cheap flights ($400 in aust) and the little Miss was small enough to still easly come with me and off we took. My Dad also flew down from Cairns so it was good to catch up with him and all the family on that side who live in Geelong and the surrounds. For the middle of Summer it rained and had maximums of 15 degrees - eeekkk! I had just left Perth and a never ending 40 degree summer. So suddenly i had to buy jumpers and socks for the ... read more

I'm a sucker for an airline sale and while sitting around on maternity leave Air Asia had a sale for tickets to Bali for Aud$125 return!!!! How could i not buy those! The little miss is only about 8 weeks old but really thats the perfect time for a little trip - all she will do is sleep and i'm still feeding her so free food, no sterilisation required and she'll have my immune system - perfect! Plus after all the family and chaos that occurs having a baby its time a break :) We've not been to Legian before so figured we'd give it a go for some where different....so i booked into the Melasti which had these little villa rooms with a sliding door between the main room and a room with 2 single ... read more