My wife Jessie and me left on the night of 24th May 2019, for a 3 week trip to Australia via Singapore, on Scoot Airways from Trivandrum. We were picked up from the airport by Bobby, my sisters son. We stayed in Singapore,with my elder sister Lilly, till 26th night. Since both her son, daughter, their families and their in laws are in Singapore, we spent time together at my sister's home. In the evening we had a nice dinner at the beautiful and large Singapore Club, with the family. On Sunday 26th we went to the Marthoma Church service, with my sister and met a few old friends. That evening my cousin Molly also joined all of us, for a long chat on our old childhood days in Tiruvalla. Late that night Bobby dropped us at the airport, to catch our early morning SIA flight to Sydney.
This was our 4th visit to Singapore, the first being in 1972,when it just started modernising. It has gone a long way with well planned buildings, excellent road system, with beautiful sidewalks with lawn, well kept hedges and trimmed trees. I was much impressed by the well designed and maintained Storm Water Drains, to collect most of the rain water, into 5 or 6 large lakes, as the main source of drinking water. I have seen such well designed storm water drainage, only in the new residential areas of Las Vegas in the US.
We landed in Sydney by noon and were picked up by Anindya, Jessie`s brother`s son in law, to their home, an hour drive from the Airport. Our eldest son Sunil, his wife Preethy and son Neil had already arrived from US by earlier flight. It was windy with light rain and was cold outside. We had a quiet evening with family at their home.
Next day we went to a hill station called Blue Mountains,about 2 hours drive through some beautiful roads. It is a small tourist settlement town, with about 1000 meters elevation. Cable cars and rail car rides in a steep slope and across a large steep gorge, is the main attraction. One can go in a seated cable car down the slope and change to a steep railcar up the slope. You can also walk on elevated footpath through the forest on the steep hillside. The century old mine entrance and air vents are preserved. Life size statues of miners in their costume, the rail cars and the tools of that period, are displayed along the footpath. The second cable car has no seats and goes across the valley, much above the tree in the gorge, to the next hill. You can walk around on the hill top for some time and return to a nice visitor centre by the same cable car. It was windy by dusk and the cable car was swinging much to the discomfort of the riders. We left back by another route by evening to The Ponds, where Jessie's brother and family lives in Sydney. We had our dinner on the way and reached home in 2 hours` time. Sunil was driving Anindya`s car.
Next day we went by public transport Bus and Metro train, to see the Harbor area and the Opera House, with Candy, Jessie`s brothers daughter.The old steel Harbor Bridge and the surrounding areas are very beautiful. The area was full of tourists. It was very windy and cold by afternoon. We booked to see a Vietnamese Show at the Sydney Opera House, on the evening of our return from Melbourne, at the Joan Sutherland Theatre. City area is very large with ultra modern buildings and skyscrapers. We took a metro train back to the Ponds. Anindia, picked us up from the station, close to their home.
We left for Cairns, the capital city of Victoria State, in the North East. We picked up a large (7Seater) rental car from Hertz and left for Port Douglas, more than an hour journey by a winding road, along the eastern sea coast. We checked into Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort Hotel, located in a 40 acre land on the sea coast. We went to the small port town and had dinner in a Mango Thai Restaurant, before returning to the Hotel.
All the ground floor rooms in Sheraton Grand had access to shallow bay for swimming. Rooms were provided with Pool Towels. I enjoyed a dip from our room. The water was saline and pretty cold..
31/5/2019.
We left to see the Mossman Gorge, about 1 hour drive from Port Douglas in the world Heritage Daintree Rainforests.. The gorge is deep in a tropical forest and the access is only by shuttle bus provided at the Visitor Centre. A long elevated wood paved walkway leads to the river flowing through a large rocky gorge. Many wild birds including large Caravays, water fowls were seen on the way. The visitor centre had much information, food, restrooms and souvenir shops. We went further by road north East the coastal Daintree Tropical forest, said to be the oldest in the world. We had to cross Daintree River on a mechanical Ferry and travelled about 20 kms trough tropical forests, on beautiful sea side road with many look out points, rest areas, with food, minimarts, camping sites and toilets. There is facility do fishing of large wild fish on payment.There was light rain and we could not get down at the view points much. We returned to our hotel in Port Douglas by evening,
0162019.
Trip to Great Barrier Reef. We returned to Cairns for visiting the Great Barrier Reef. We booking in a large boat called `Big Cat` about 11 am from the harbour. We reached the Green Island by about 12 noon. The weather was not good and the ride was choppy.Since there was rain and strong wind, we could not get into the water, for snorkelling or scuba diving etc.I stayed on the boat and joined in the Glass Bottom Boat and Semi Submarine trips, from the same boat We were able to see the coral, marine plants and the colourful fishes, both large and small, in 20 minute rides, in them. We were provided with lunch on the Boat `Big Cat`, as part of the trip. We could walk on the long wood paved jetty, from the boat to the Green Island, but it was very windy and cold. The Green island is named after Mr.Green, who was the First Officer, to Capt.Cook, on his voyage to this part of the world. It is the only island among hundreds of small islands, with tropical forest,in the 2000 kms long Great Barrier Reef. We returned to Cairns port by evening. Cairns is a small port city. It is maintained beautifully, with well maintained road side gardens both on the sides and the many roundabout traffic islands. The residential areas and shopping malls, were also beautiful. It is comparable to the best US residential areas and roads in the US. We drove back to Port Douglas by the beautiful seaside hilly road, back to our Hotel at Port Douglas in 1 hour.
02/6/2019.
We visited the Wetlands Zoo and Australian Wildlife and Wetland Habitat, at Port Douglas. We got ourselves photographed with Lorikeets, Colas and a Baby Crocodile. We could see a large number of wild birds and animals of Australia, in a large protected area (many kinds of Kangaroos,Snakes,Colas, wild ducks and water birds of many varieties,turtles, wild birds, like white/black cockatoos (and in many other colours), cassowary (large Turkey like land bird), ostriches and many more). There were live demonstrations and feeding at fixed times for the visitors. ( Many of them are friendly,some of the cockatoos come climb or sit on visitors). The handlers allowed a Koala, Panda, Baby Croc and a large Python to be handled and photographed by the visitors. Brief talks on some of them at their locations, were interesting.
03/06/ Perth. We returned our rental car at the airport and flew into Perth. We stayed at The Aloft Marriott Hotel, near the Airport.. We visited Jessie`s friend and family and had dinner with my Shaw Wallace colleague, Philip Lavender and his wife Cynthia at their large home. We met their 2 sons at their home in Willetton.. The elder son is a Qantas Pilot and the younger son a banker. We met them after a period of 40 years. We spent some great time with them.
04/6/2919.
We visited the Kings Park and the War Memorial, on a large hillside in the city, by the Swan River side. The large park is beautiful and has a large collection of trees and plants, with their names.The Road medians were full of Rose Plants with different coloured flowers in each patch.There are many walkways and much to see. The visitor centre has much information and many attractions. After spending some time at the park with beautiful views of the citi and Swanriver. The DNA tower in the park is a helical twin step ladder. We had lunch at the Goose Beach Bar on the banks of Swan River.
05/6/2019.
We left for Margaret River Basin, 220 kms drive south of Perth by road to a small port town called Busselton. The first 50 kms were mostly bush lands with very few farms . The next 100 kms had forests with habitation and cattle or sheep farms The port town of Busselton is a tourist attraction with a 2 km long jetty into the sea,with rail car access to the end and an underwater observatory. It was very windy and we did not go to the pier and the jetty. We had lunch in the Jetty Restaurant and saw the Museum of Timber Industry of 1800-1850s. The Steam Rail Engine,wooden planks discovered in the forest, hand tools used and life size metal models of workers in their time costumes were on display, with much visual details. One driverless minivan was taking visitors for a round trip, as a demonstration. We left for Dunsborough, another 120 kms away along Geographe Bay along the Indian Ocean coast, to see the Heritage Virgin Forests. The long beautiful road drive was through many cattle, sheep and even Deer farms(for venison), A short distance was unpaved road, through the thick forest, to a high lookout point over the Indian Ocean. There were many camping sites in the forest. There were many wineries on the way, offering food and tasting of their wine. We had no time to visit any of the small and big caves in the thick forest, or the wineries on our way, which attracts visitors. We could see many Kangaroos and other wildlife on the way.On our way back we stopped briefly at a beach on the Indian Ocean, at dusk. On our way back we had dinner at Busselton bypass and reached our hotel in Perth by 9 pm.
06/6/2019.
Yanchep National Park. We visited Yanchep National Park 30 km north of Perth to see many wild water and land birds, around a large pond, different kinds of kangaroos, Kolas etc. There are many walk- ways, including one through an ancient creek,with small
Caves and thick forest trees. In the evening we spent more time and enjoyed dinner with Philip Lavender and Cythia, in a neighbourhood chinese restaurant,near their home
07/6/2019.
We visited Dr. C.J John and Mrs Mary John (Jessie`s teacher in Coimbatore, former members of SMT Church Tiruvalla) in the evening and spent some happy times with them. We went to Bina(Beegees Kunjunon and Betty's daughter) for dinner. We had some nice food and a joyful time with the family. After dinner we returned to our Hotel.
08/6/2019.
Melbourne. We reached Melbourne and stayed in Marriott Bonvoy, at the Dockland in the City Centre. Next day 9th June Sunday,we attended morning worship at the MTS Church near the citi centre, where we stayed. We met a few people from Tiruvalla and around and also spent time with the vicar.The vicar was at the MT Church Kuttapuzha, before his present assignment. It is an old heritage church,with stained glass windows etc., bought by them in a nice location. We left to visit, Healesville Sanctuary and Zoo about 100 kms away. We enjoyed walking through a well designed sanctuary, with many birds, animals of Australia including Platypus and Koalas. It had many realistic animated prehistoric animal models, near the pathways, as an added attraction. We also attended a live talk show, by a guide taking care of wild dogs and the evolution of the domestic Dogs. On our way back we had dinner with Sunil`s classmate, Jaydeep(Pappa)`s home, with two Old Lawrentians with their wifes. Next day we also took a free ride in the tram service, to see some parts of Melbourne and returned in another. Some tram lines are free. In the evening, we were treated to a chinese dinner by Jaydeep,his wife and fried, on a riverside restaurant.
10-11/6/2019.
We had lunch in the nearby shopping mall at the Gozleme King Turkish Street Food. We went on a drive on The Great Ocean Road, built by ex Army personnel, after the Ist World War. This is a beautiful drive along the Western Sea Coast (Indian Ocean), about 3030 kms long , with beautiful beaches, small towns, with food and rest facilities, for people who surf or enjoy beaches all along. There are many viewpoints with many Jetties for angling, yachts and boats. We reached an overlook about 250 kms away, called 12 apostles, by dusk and had just enough light, to see the rock formation in the sea coast below a Cliff (only 8 of the rocks survive now) . We returned to our Hotel in Melbourne by a shorter road.
Ashok son of Mr.Mathew V Koshy, our neighbour at Tiruvalla, visited us at our hotel. Dr. Asha daughter of Thomas Mathew(Trivandrum),also visited us at our hotel,with her mother-in-law, as Asha was leaving for Tokyo on Monday for a 5 day conference.
12/6/2019.
We went to Phillip Island, about 2 hours drive, to see the Penguin Parade at sunset. It is a beautiful island off the mainland,connected with a small bridge. The main land leading to the Island are all large farms on either side of beautiful roads. We stayed in a private Guest house of Sunil`s Classmate, Jaydeep(he is director of Diago, which now owns United Breweries in India). We proceeded to the Visitor Centre, well in time for the Penguin Parade each dusk. At sunset, large number of Penguins rturn to the shore, to feed their young ones. Viewing platforms with benches, to accommodate visitors are at the end of a long elevated wooden footpath. It was windy, cold and there was a light shower. Being elderly, both of us were taken in an electric buggy, from the car park to the viewing platform and back, to the visitor's centre. It is amazing to see, how like clockwork, they arrive in large numbers, just at dusk and find their own young ones to feed. By the time we reached the Visitor Centre, some of the Penguins had already reached near the Visitor Centre and saw them at close quarters. We had dinner in a Sardarji owned Greek Restaurant, recommended by Jayadeep. We stayed overnight in the guest house and left by 8 am to catch our flight back to Sydney. We reached Sydney by after noon and after freshening up, at my cousin's house, we were dropped for a programme at the famous Opera House, at the Joan Sutherland Theatre.The Opera House and the Harbour area was illuminated and was a great sight. After an interesting acrobatic show by A O Lang Pho. a Vietnamese Troup, we were picked up and had dinner at a harbour restaurant with my cousin`s family. We had dinner and stayed with another cousin that night.
13/6/2019.
We moved to Jessie's brothers` house to repack our baggage.. We had dinner with Jessie`s nephew and family in the evening, who live close by.
14/6/2019.
Sunil and his son Neil were dropped at the airport to catch their morning flight back to the USA. Preethy was dropped by Jessie`s niece at the airport later,to catch her flight to Singapore. We moved to my cousin`s sons, Joji`s house, near the airport. We had a great farewell party at his residence, with all the family members in Sydney.
In addition to the 2 grown up boys of Joji and Shirly, my cousin Biju,his wife Suja and their daughter Alison, son of another cousin of mine Rayan, all of Jessie`s brothers family were with us for the evening. Rayan is a professional Cricketer in the Australian Cricket league and is now a professional coach in Australia.
Next morning both Joji and Shirley dropped us at the airport. to catch our flight to Trivandrum. Preethy joined us at Singapore and we reached Trivandrm by 11 pm.We were picked up by Preethy`s father. We stayed with them overnight and left by our car and reached Tiruvalla by about 5Pm. We could also call on a few relatives at Trivandrum.
Overall we had a wonderful trip to Singapore and Australia in 3 weeks. We could visit many people and also see many beautiful places and nature preserves and wildlife of Australia. We thank our son Sunil and his family and God Almighty for this wonderful blessing at our old age.