G'day, mate...

We decided to go to Australia for Seth's spring break, and being us, we wanted to save as much money as possible on plane tickets. ;) There's a budget airline (Scoot) that goes through Singapore that was a great deal, and I assumed that we'd be able to spend our 12 hour layover in the sleeping lounges.

I am here to tell you that those sleeping lounges are all full if you arrive at midnight. Look up to view our deluxe sleeping accommodations. :) That floor was harder than it looks, but at least we got a back corner where a lot of people don't go. Why didn't we just stretch out on chairs at empty gates, you may ask? Well, in Singapore, you only go through security at your gate before your flight, so all the gates and all those chairs are locked up. Because of this and the full sleeping lounges, the airport that I thought would be the best in the world for an overnight layover turned out to be the worst. (This is an FYI for those of you that might try to replicate this trip.)

But, hey, when you wake up, you can play free video games, watch a free movie, check out the sunflower and orchid gardens, and play in the indoor playground. Silver linings...

Our Australian destination? Perth in Western Australia! We picked Perth for a few reasons. One important reason was that it was pretty affordable. Accommodations and rental cars seemed pretty comparable to U.S. prices. It's not a major tourist destination, but it had all the things that we value right now... fresh air, a Western grocery selection, parks, playgrounds, nature, and interesting animals. Another reason was that it was in our time zone, so we wouldn't have to deal with any jet lag. The third reason was that David has an aunt and cousins in Perth, and it was about time that someone from his family visited them instead of the other way around. We were within striking distance, so we decided to go. :)

Our first day in Perth, we went to King's Park. It's the largest urban park in the world, rivaling Central Park in New York in size. There are botanical gardens filled with strange plants and trees that you won't see anywhere other than Australia. (Did you know that 80% of the plants in Australia are only found in Australia? How cool is that?)

We had hit the grocery store right after we got off the plane, and I'd brought a cooler with us from Manila. We had our baon (packed lunch) under the trees. Honey ham sandwiches with cheddar with mayo and mustard on good, whole wheat sandwich bread! Hummus! We can't get those things easily at grocery stores in Manila, so we were thrilled.

King's Park had multiple children's playgrounds, but we only spent time at Rio Tinto Nature Playground. It has 3 man made pools and streams for children to play in. We spent hours there. There are also climbing structures. We just kept finding new things to play with. I even ran into some Australian homeschooling moms and their kids, and it was so fun to talk to them about homeschooling in Australia. :)