Kangaroos, Koalas dan Kami.

View of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge from

Mrs Macquaries Chair.

Alhamdulillah.

Selesai sudah percutian keluarga kami selama hampir 2 minggu ke Australia. 12 hari yang penuh aksi, emosi dan transaksi huhuhu....

We spent 5 days in Sydney, then took 2 days to drive from Sydney to Gold Coast (GC) spending 1 night each at Nelson Bay and Coffs Harbour along the way. And then at GC, another 5 days. Bayangkan lah betapa adventurousnya holiday kami. Well, as adventurous as a family of 6+1 can endure lah... nothing too extreme. For us parents yang tak berjiwa kental ni, naik cruise ship je pun dah cukup adventurous kut hahaha!

For me, personally, the best part of the holiday was the road trip along the Pacific Highway. Banyak pemandangan yang cantik2 dan menarik dan kadang2, getting lost was a blessing sebab termasuk ke kawasan2 kampung (countryside kata omputih) yang indah2 pemandangannya. Unfortunately, me being the one driving, tak banyak lah pemandangan yang dapat dirakamkan dalam camera sebab navigator tak minat nak snap gambar. Nak stop banyak kali pun navigator marah, nanti lambat sampai destinasi sebab kami kena pulangkan kereta sewa. Makanya, akak simpan je lah pemandangan2 indah semua tu dalam kepala.

For the rest of the family, the best part of the holiday was, of course, the theme parks. Bosan lah, bosan! (Says yours truly yg berkali2 jugak naik rides ekekeke!)

Apa2 pun, fyi, it was not a perfectly smooth sailing holiday. Travelling with 4 kids ranging in age from 3 to 11 was not easy. I knew this from the start. And prepared myself for it.

True enough, after a couple of days, Boy2 kena cirit-birit dan muntah2. Then berjangkit pulak kat si abang, Boy1 siap demam lagi. Berhari2 jugak lah nak sihat semula. 2 insiden yang hampir cemas whereby insiden pertama di Coffs Harbour bila Boy2 masih tak henti2 diarrhea sampai 4 hari. Sakit perut, meragam, taknak makan etc. Kami makin risau. Mujurlah kami ada travel insurance dan ada after hours doctor yang boleh dipanggil datang ke hotel, alhamdulillah.

Insiden kedua di GC, Boy1 pulak sakit dada pukul 2:30 pagi. Menangis sakit. Ya Allah... hampir2 dah nak call emergency line tapi bila soal-siasat, I yang bukan doktor ni tau yang it was gastric pain and gas. Bukan jantung. Bagi antacid, bagi painkiller, jadi mokcik urut pulak lepas tu hehehe. After a glass of warm milo, some bread, a good back massage and some episodes of burping later... Boy1 finally felt some relief and fell asleep. Besok paginya he was as good as new.

Mummy, however, having been the nurse on duty that night, mabuk2 tak cukup tidur. Sebab lepas Boy1 tidur, mummy hung on to make sure Boy1 was really, really alright. Camtu lah jadi mak kan? Sleep eludes you when you worry about your family. It's natural.

Alhamdulillah jugak both my girls survived the trip without any health issues. Not even the standard flu or coughing that normally comes during or after a long trip. I'm really thankful for that. Kalau tidak, tak dapat dibayangkan how full my hands would've been. Mummy pun penat jugak oii.

Am now going through hundreds of pics taken during the trip from my camera and all our devices combined. Banyak ya amat bak hang! Might just share a few in my next posting.

Until then, happy holidays and stay safe.