Legoland Malaysia Waterpark

We received an invite to Legoland Malaysia's new water park last week and I was all excited about bringing the boys when I realised that Connor didn't have a passport yet! Doh!

After realising that Ewan's passport was on the way to expiring as well, we quickly sent the online applications to ICA and kept our fingers crossed that the passports would be ready in 10 days - and they were!

So, on Saturday, we happily packed ourselves into the car, along with Marra, my mum's helper who'd help us out with the kids.

Christian was super duper excited, having seen the Legoland ad on Okto the previous day and my parents had told him that he'd be going tomorrow.

Super psyched

The drive was pretty smooth and easy all the way to the checkpoint at Malaysia where there was a bit of a jam. But once we got past that, it was really easy to get there. Took us about an hour in all.

The walk from the car park is a little long, especially if you have kids. But we later discovered that there's a drop off point for passengers too, cutting the walking distance.

We also spotted the "dry" Legoland area, which we'd been meaning to check out some time soon, and the almost-ready Legoland Hotel. Would be a blast to get a room and check out both Legoland sites!

Walking towards the park

Entrance to the main Legoland

And walking by the Legoland Hotel, still under construction

Entrance to the Legoland Water Park

The first thing we did when we got there was to have lunch! It was really tempting to just get going straight into the water but the kids had to eat and it was already half past noon. We had chicken and cheese sandwiches at the Brick Bay Cafe - RM25 for a huge Focaccia sandwich, fries and a drink.

Marra and Connor at the Brick Bay Cafe

There, we ran into my colleague Jass and her family. They'd gotten a cabana and invited us to share - perfect! I forgot to take pics but the cabanas cost RM150 for a day's use, and comes with deck chairs, a safe, and cooler to keep your drinks chilled. It was a great idea and alternative to just renting lockers. There were even Cabana hosts who would take your orders for food and drinks and have them sent directly to the Cabanas, saving you time and effort queuing for food.

Right in front of the Cabanas is the Wave pool. This was perfect for the bubs, because it was shallow - even Connor could sit comfortably in the water.

Enjoying the wave pool

Big C perpetually trying to wrestle Daddy

For the little Kiddos, the Duplo Splash Safari was perfect.

Riding the croc

There were Duplo characters that had steering wheels, water spouts, etc, and Christian absolutely loved it.

He also majorly hogged the mini-slides - which meant Ewan had to do them with him some 20 times.

Wheee!

One of the slower slides, but he loved it anyway

Even Connor had a go!

There was a build-a-raft river, which was pretty much a lazy river kind of ride with a twist: There were these floating foam bricks that riders could collect along the way and attach it to their tubes.

Enjoying mummy time

Till this happened

Connor was having fun sitting on my lap, till we went through a water shower - My bad, I didn't even know there was one on the ride! It gave him quite the shock, and he struggled quite a bit, so I had to take him off the tube to calm him down, haha.

So, we completed the river like this, much to his delight.

Happy again

Proud to have completed the river, sans tube

Daddy and Christian, meanwhile, had a blast, collecting as many bricks as they could.

Brick hoarders

Champion hoarder

The larger rides looked awesome as well, but well, we've got little kids and there was more than enough to keep them occupied.

 We also loved the Lego models, scattered around the park, which just added to the atmosphere.
 

Can't believe even this guy is taller than me

Poke-ty poke

We ended the day at the shop, which didn't have much, but we did pick up a few minifig magnets for RM6 ($2+)... what a deal!

The ones Christian decided were "his"

And the others

We were lucky to have left slightly earlier, at 3pm+, as the kiddos needed their naps - and thankfully we did, as it started storming shortly after. We kids were so konked out their slept all the way back to Singapore.

One with bricky

 Looking forward to our next visit there - probably at the main Legoland!

NZ South Island Part II - In and around Timaru

Ewan's mom and Dez live in Timaru.

So we spent a number of days there, just relaxing, exploring the town.

It's a cute little place where everything seems less than 10 minutes away.

There, we familiarized ourselves with some of the local stores like Farmers, Warehouse, and Whitcoulls.


Warehouse was especially awesome when it came to great deals for DVDs and Blu Rays.

We got the entire first season of Fringe on bluray for just $39. Heh, no surprise we kept going back. Think we grabbed about 15 DVDs/Blurays in all.

Ewan and his mom also found some time for a tennis game at one of the local clubs.

It was drizzling and really cold though, so I stayed inside the club house, taking photos :p



We also made a quick visit to Caroline Bay.

The local beach front is known for its fairs and rose garden. But we went in the evening - about 8 plus, and though the sun hadn't set, it was so chilly so all we managed was a quick stroll at the fair (the rides looked so rickety though!) and goofing around at the fitness corner.


The great thing about staying at Dez's place is that he's got neighbours who keep sheep, cows and donkeys.

A couple of times after dinner, we would take a stroll down the lane, and go bug the animals.

SHEEEEEP!!!!


They've really got a herd mentality so whatever the leader did, everyone else followed.

Except for this guy...


... who let us pose for pictures with him.



There were three donkeys which were sooo cool.


We would pluck the weeds near the fence and feed them and they loved it!


Once, we tried giving them a carrot, but I think they had never had them before and were kind of wary.


We learnt from a young girl who lived there that their names were Charlie, Sinda and something else that I can't remember.


Another favourite animal of ours in New Zealand, were of course the ducks.

These, we saw at the Botanic Gardens in Timaru.


Ewan's mom had packed a few slices of bread so we could feed them.

Ewan's mom also took us to the Timaru local museum.

This little place was really interesting.

It had everything, from the town's history, to the native wildlife of New Zealand, and stuff about the Maori culture.

The giganto Albatross, which apparently after it takes flight from the colony, doesn't return for another five years.


Here's also where we learnt about the poor Moa, which is now extinct.

The huge 7 metre tall bird was hunted by the Maori, and often fell into deep pits.

Its immense weight meant it could not fly out.

The whole species eventually died out, though according to Dez, some people claim to have seen it in recent times.

It's leg itself is already as tall as a human being.


That's about it for Timaru, and we definitely hope to go back some day, this time with Christian (not in belly but running around), to visit Grandma! :)

Our Honeymoon in New Zealand's South Island - Part I

The recent Christchurch Earthquake hit close to home for us, because we were there barely a month ago, and Ewan's mom lives just two hours away from Christchurch.

But rather than drone on about how sad the situation is, this post is going to be about the immense beauty of the country, and the wonderful, relaxing time Ewan and I had there.




We decided to go to New Zealand for our Honeymoon for several reasons. First, we wanted somewhere that was peaceful, quiet, just somewhere to chill. Also, because of the time of year, locations like the US (we had initially wanted to go to New York) and Europe were far too cold. And with Christian coming along soon, the 10 hour flight wasn't quite as daunting as the 24+hour flight to the US. Plus Ewan's mom lives there, so it would be great to visit her.

My parents sent us to the airport on the 2nd of January. Because I was 5 months pregnant, I had to prepare flight socks and a letter from the doc stating I was fit to fly.


The weather was great when we arrived. Blue skies, sun shining, temperature around 17-21 degrees... it was just perfect and comfortable. After a quick look around Christchurch, we went straight to Dez's place. Here's the gorgeous view from the guest bedroom.


We could see big dogs and sheep lazing around the neighbours' backyards. The neighbours also had donkeys and cows... but more on that later.

One of the first places we visited was Lake Tekapo. It was along the way, on our drive to Mt Cook and the colour of the lake was incredible - a bright turquoise colour, caused by glacial waters.


There was also a cute chapel by the lake, which is a photo opportunity for tourists.


While skipping flat stones into the lake, we met a Jack Russell called Jack. The minute his owner stopped his truck, Jack leapt into the water (which was really cold!) and swam to a shallow spot where he looked out at everyone else on the shore.


He must have known the lake so well, to know the exact spot to stand! It's hard to believe he's the same breed as Cleo. He must have been twice her size! His owner then started throwing large sticks and logs into the water - and Jack went for every single piece. He also leapt in when other visitors like us threw logs in as well.


A short 10 min drive from the lake is the St John Observatory, that overlooks the lake.

The view from the top was amazing.



We finally got to Mt Cook, at about lunch time. Had quiches, sandwiches and pies (a typical NZ lunch) at the cafe, which looked out to the mountain range. The clouds were a bit low so we didn't manage to see Mt Cook that clearly. But no matter, we were all still in awe of the grandeur of the mountain range - something that's just so different from what we're used to in Singapore.


Obligatory picture with a bronze Statue of Sir Edmund Hillary.


We took a half hour hike around the foot of the Mountain range...



... crossed a bridge suspended over a gushing river...



... saw sights that came straight out of the Lord of the Rings Movies.




... and saw a Paradise duck, her mate and her ducklings. We only found out that this native duck was very rare and endangered after we visited some museums in Christchurch! Good thing Ewan snapped a shot of her!


Took a long drive back to Timaru in the evening, where we had dinner at Robbies, bar/restaurant kind of place. Kudos to Dez who kindly drove us the whole way!