Phillip Island Tours AAT Kings (Day Tour)

On the second day of the Australia trip, we joined a day tour from AAT Kings to Phillip Island. It's actually a really fun tour but I wouldn't recommend it.

Stop 1: Maru Koala & Animal Park

This is actually a pretty good attraction because you can feed the kangaroos for $2 which is really affordable. But if you're looking for photos with koalas you can get them for free at Featherdale Wildlife Park. You can also feed wallabies and kangaroos for $2 there as well.

Stop 2: Phillip Island

We were taken to a couple of attractions in Phillip Island. The first one is this park place where you can take lots of really nice photos.  If you live in melbourne like I did and want to go to a nice picturesque like this, head down to Botanic Gardens.

Our next attraction is a beach which is actually really nice because of how empty it is. But no one could really enjoy the beautiful scenery because of how strong the wind was. It felt like standing in a sandblasting machine walking near the beach (i didn't even walk into the sandy area).

So one of the main reason of saying that this day tour isn't recommended is because of the crazy strong winds. Our next attraction is also right beside the sea.

Stop 3: Nobbies Rock Formation

So windy that I can't even smile properly.

Stop 4: Penguin Parade
The main course of the day tour was super disappointing. So based on the description in the website, we'll be seated at the coast to watch penguins swim from the sea and then find their houses on land. Yes, the penguins have houses which are built by the workers. And because of the word 'parade', I was expecting hundreds of penguins swimming in at once and covering the beach but what happened was only a few small groups of 5 to 6 swim in every now and then. Also you might have realized that I didn't include any photos of the attraction because photography is prohibited.

What you're supposed to do is to sit at the seating area for about 20 minutes from the start, then walk along the boardwalk back to the gift shop to watch the penguins waddle back to their little wooden homes. Now it will be quite dark along the board walk and the color of the penguins makes it even harder to spot them in the bushes. So the key to finding the penguins is to look out for a crowd because that's likely where the penguins are.

This is actually a really nice attraction if you're super into nature. Like it is quite a nice experience to see penguins in the wild. But if you're planning to just have a look at the penguins, I'd recommend Featherdale Wildlife Park or Wildlife Sydney Zoo because you'll get the opportunity to have a close up view of penguins AND take a picture with them.

Conclusion:
Out of all the stops, the only irreplaceable attraction is probably the Nobbies Rock Formation so I do not recommend joining this day tour.

Replacement attractions
Stop 1: Maru Koala & Animal Parl
Featherdale Wildlife Park

Stop 2: Phillip Island
Botanic Gardens (Melbourne)

Stop 4: Penguin Parade
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Wildlife Sydney Zoo

https://www.aatkings.com/tours/melbourne/phillip-island-penguins-kangaroos-and-koalas/

Aladdin The Musical

So as some of you might know, I went to Australia for 10 days so I have a lot of stuff to write about but I think I'll start with my personal favourite: Aladdin The Musical.

It is honestly the best musical I've seen and I'm not just saying it because it's Disney.

Aladdin The Musical is very very different from all the other ones I've seen because of the interaction between the audience and the cast, specifically Genie (Michael James Scott). He is so sassy and funny and really steals the spotlight!

Out of all the musicals I've watched, Aladdin also has the best female lead (in terms of voice) and the best set.

Jasmine played by Arielle Jacobs.

Sadly photography isn't allowed in the theatre but luckily I managed to find a couple of photos on google. But I promise you will be so impressed with the props, backdrop and everything! There are even fireworks, in addition to confetti. Yes that's right, fireworks.

But really if you're going to Sydney you should definitely include this in your itinerary!

AND also if you're a Disney fan you must bring some money because they have really nice things in their shop. The lamp-snowglobe thing is also a music box which plays "A Whole New World" and costs $85. If you're looking for a more affordable memento, they also sell really nice keychains and magnets for $15.

Purchase your tickets here!

Broadway playlist (not by the Sydney cast)

California San Diego Sea World

Animal theme parks is a mandatory activity in my family's travel itinerary regardless of which country we go to. So of course we wouldn't miss out San Diego Sea World during our 2016 California trip.

I think one reason why I'm still not bored of animal theme parks is because of the souvenir shops.

What makes this theme park so different from the others is their splendid dolphin show. Though I didn't really enjoy it because I think that it is a cruel act to imprison dolphins (or any animals that require a vast amount of space) in small tank.

Another reason why Sea World was so memorable was because it was the first time I got to touch a stingray and feed sea lions. If I'm not wrong, there isn't a need to pay to touch the sting rays and the price of the sea lion food was kinda cheap too.

There was also an extremely extremely adorable pet show about pets saving Christmas! Besides our everyday pets, there were even animals such as a kangaroo and a pig. 

Our last activity of the day was to watch another Christmas show. Who doesn't love christmas shows am I right? 

I can't really remember the storyline but this is one of the funniest theme park show I've watched!

Thanks for reading!

Grand Canyon Tour

Hmm, Grand Canyon ok very interesting  was my reaction when my dad first told me about it. I was quite uncertain about the idea because what's so interesting about a pile of dumb rocks. Well that pile of dumb rocks comes with different interesting photo points, historical facts and a deep trench that one can jump into anytime they want :) Also, it serves as a great escape place from the bustling city lifestyle as the canyon is a great place for hiking and for chilling on the edge of a clliff to have a picnic.

As we had never been to the Grand Canyon before, it was better to join a one day tour group to ensure our safety is taken care of. 
http://www.grand-adventures.com/#./west-rim-skywalk-tours

Starting of our journey was a picture at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, followed by breakfast at the golden arches, which was really just Mcdonalds. Chad tried his best to glorify the fast food restaurant. I have to say it was the best Mcdonalds meal I've ever had. Firstly, the menu is 90% different from the one in Singapore. Also, Chad delivered our food and cleared the table personally. Table service in Mcdonalds! I'm sure not many people have experienced that before,

After a two hour car journey, we finally arrived at Grand Canyon. Our first destination was at Eagle Point where the SkyWalk was located at. At first I thought it was called Ego Point until I saw the sign at the location. The place got its name from these two rocks that resembles an eagle's wings.

I thought the SkyWalk was a super cool glass-floored bridge that connects from one end of the canyon to the other but the real deal was truly disappointing. Instead of what I had expected, the attraction was this tiny circular walking area, no more than a 10 meter radius with a glass floor so scratched and dirty it barely feels like I'm walking on air. This was probably why we were not allowed to bring any objects into the Skywalk to prevent more detoriation of the glass. Even so, Chad managed to snap a few photos of us on the Skywalk.

While waiting for the other tourists, we had plenty of time to take many insta-worthy photos.

 

Our next destination one stop away from Eagle Point to learn about the Native American Tribal Structures. As Chad grew up in environments like these, he was able to share some interesting facts and information.

Afterwards, we began our hike. Just a tip for all of you: wear dark colored clothes as you might have to climb up some rocks to take a good photo and to wear sports shoe or old shoes as it might get scratched or dirty. I really enjoyed the walk around Grand Canyon because it was the only chance I had to exercise this trip and who wouldn't enjoy climbing around right? To be honest I was probably the only one in our group that had fun climbing up the rocky slope. It was no kick for sporty men like me hehe.

I could tell that Chad was really passionate about his job as he shared all the interesting photo points that we came across and offered to take photographs for us.

All those walking actually made me lose my appetite during lunch and the ice cold sandwiches certainly did not help. There were also cheese crackers, grapes and chocolate chip cookies but wouldn't it be better if we had a bowl of steamy hot noodles instead?

Our final destination was Hoover Dam. At that time I was already exhausted but I couldn't resist not spamming photos of the gorgeous scenery in front of me. I thought that the dam was pretty cool since many places rely on it's water and generated energy.

Although the Grand Canyon tour was exhausting as hell, it was the most fun I had in Las Vegas and I really recommend that all of you visit it, be it with a tour group or alone. However, for safety reasons, I think that going with an experience guide will be better as there may be some places that are out of bounds and hazardous.