Tag: family vacation

Fresh Food Galore at Central Market

June 13, 2009 • • no comments

Celebrating its 140th year in business, Adelaide’s Central Market is located between Grote and Gouger Streets, which is between Victoria Square and the Adelaide Chinatown neighbourhood. Like Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, it boasts of a wide selection of fresh daily produce like fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, cheeses, candies and lots of other goodies. While the market seemed to be slightly smaller than the Victoria Market, it does appear to have fresher and slightly more affordable produce which hail from the sprawling South Australian rural countryside.

Apparently, the market is so distinctive as a tourist destination in the city of Adelaide that there are tours which you can book to learn more about its history, stories, sights, sounds and scents! As usual, any visit to an Australian market is a feast for the senses in more ways than one.

First, a photo opportunity outside the entrance featuring Ethan and I.

Happening Hahndorf

June 8, 2009 • • no comments

Just a short 30 minutes drive away from Adelaide in South Australia, Hahndorf is a charming and idyllic little town imbued with historic German influences. Surrounded by picturesque farms (like the Beerenberg Strawberry Farm) and post-card perfect landscapes, Hahndorf offers a perfect blend of rusticity and authenticity in a suburban paradise. Considered as a leading tourist town in the Adelaide Hills region, Hahndorf appealed to one’s sense of nostalgia and longing for a simpler and pleasure-filled life in a bucolic Bavarian setting.

The colours of autumn were fully evident in April, tinting the landscape with glorious shades of red, orange and yellow.

Sweet Strawberries at Beerenberg Farm

May 30, 2009 • • 1 comment

Located in the picturesque Hahndorf area just a short drive away from Adelaide in South Australia, Beerenberg Farm is a delightful strawberry farm which is a favourite haunt for lovers of that red and juicy fruit. Other than allowing tourists like us to pick strawberries and taste them out in the fields, it also offers lots of items like jams, chutneys, dried fruits, nuts and other products for sale. What’s cool is that this farm is also quite social media savvy, with a facebook page, youtube channel, flickr page and a link to a website offering cooking tips and recipes.

Here are some photos of our delicious adventure with our favourite Fragaria species, which apparentally is a false fruit. Well, they sure don’t taste fake to me!

Striking a pose in front of the Strawberry shopfront.

Chicken Eating Crocodiles at Dundee’s Wildlife Park

May 25, 2009 • • no comments

Located off the Murray River just an hour away from Adelaide, Dundee Wildlife Park is a charming little old-school zoo focusing primarily on native Australian birds, reptiles and animals. A boutique-sized establishment catering largely to families and kids, it occupies a fairly small area and can be easily covered in an hour and a half (or less). This privately-owned establishment includes a restaurant and hotel too, so one can literally eat and sleep with the animals (ala Doctor Dolittle). As this was the first wildlife park that my family and I visited, Ethan was naturally all excited about it.

The theme for this visit? “Food Glorious Food!” and you will see why as we go on.

Looking fairly nondescript, with a simple and disarming facade, Dundee Wildlife Park was quite a “no-frills” park although prices are not exactly cheap at $10 per adult and $7 per kid.

12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road and Beyond

May 8, 2009 • • 2 comments

As part of my family’s recent driving holiday from Melbourne to Adelaide, we coasted along the Great Ocean Road from the 12 Apostles to the Limestone Coast areas (like Robe, Beachport and Kingston where our hotel was). It was quite a monumental drive in more ways than one, peppered with lots of beautiful sights, sounds (of seagulls calling and waves lapping against the shore), scents (especially of the sea), and tastes (sandwiches and burgers!). The drive was long but fortunately not too difficult as the route was pretty straightforward.

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you would recall that this is the second time we took the GOR. The first time in September 2007 was from Geelong to Bells Beach, Lorne all the way to Apollo Bay. In a way, this second trip was a continuation of sorts from our previous journey.

Here’s a photographic record of our journey for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Walking With Giants @ Otway Fly

April 29, 2009 • Blog • no comments

Treetop walks seem to be a common feature of nature parks these days, and we certainly enjoyed our very own along the Southern Ridges of Singapore. Being hardcore outdoor lovers, we decided to check out the Otway National Park on our way to the Great Ocean Road and Port Campbell (near where the 12 Apostles stood) and had an acrophilic (opposite of acrophobic!) time walking amongst some of the tallest trees in the Southern Hemisphere at Otway Fly.

Stretching for 600 metres long at heights up to 25 metres above the ground, Otway Fly is a steel girded treetop walk weaving through age-old primary temperate forests with a 45-metre high observation tower. Apparently, the tree top walk here is the world’s highest and longest, and is nestled amongst temperate rainforest species like Mountain Ash (the world’s tallest flowering plant), Myrtle Beech and Blackwood. Other than the canopy high attraction, one could also take a prehistoric walk through ancient ferns and other species along the 1.9 km long forested path.

Hitting the long and winding road to Otway via Geelong and the M1 Freeway.

Our Easter Holiday @ Melbourne City

April 19, 2009 • Blog • 5 comments

Last week, my family came over to Melbourne during the Easter vacation period and we had a great time discovering different parts of the colourful city together.

We opted for a slightly different itinerary this time around (its the second trip for my family), exploring neighbourhoods that were slightly off the beaten tourist track and enjoying what typical Melburnians would like.

Tasting the Temple of Heaven

January 4, 2008 • • 4 comments

Built during the Ming dynasty period by the Yongle (forever happy) Emperor from 1406 to 1420, the Temple of Heaven (天坛) in Beijing is one of the many must-visit historic sites. An internationally acclaimed UNESCO World Heritage Site (1998), it boasts of a complex of different circular buildings interlinked by a grid of corridors, walkways and pavillions. Surrounded by a beautiful sprawling garden, the taoist temple held great significance for both Beijingers and tourists alike.

A map of the Temple of Heaven showing the extreme care made in ensuring that different building areas are linked by straight grid lines. An interesting fact which I learnt was how the various monumental buildings in Beijing were linked by a grid system.

Beijing – Ancient City Nestled Amidst Modernity

January 3, 2008 • • 4 comments

My recent visit to Beijing helped me understand why everybody is talking about China.

The city is sprawling (3 times the size of Singapore), teeming with people and fighting a battle between keeping its Chinese roots and heritage versus becoming an economic superpower in the global stage. While few can argue against the splendour of its historic sites (more of that later), it is the urban cosmopolitan aspect of Beijing and the sheer massiveness of its buildings, roads and complexes which seem to tower everything else.

When we interacted with the native Beijingians, as well as other Chinese citizens who migrated there for work purposes, we can tell that they do not take things for granted. Life isn’t easy in a country of 1.3 billion faced with limited resources, and everybody has to work hard to eke out a living. The monumental structures – both historic and modern – seem to bear witness to the fighting spirit of this city.