Australia Trip 2010

I went for an Australia study trip from 8 Mar to 14 Mar, together with 5 other colleagues, mostly nurses. The main objective of the trip is to learn about Nursing Works. For myself, I am there for the objective of learning about lean nursing processes for redesigning of the ward layout to facilitate efficient and effective work processes, particularly nursing processes.

We went to 3 hospitals, namely Cabrini Hospital and Alfred Health in Melbourne and Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide. I am impressed with the bedside handover and systemic approach in handover, and the various approaches used to increase patient-nurses contact time.

In Melbourne, we have visited the Queen Victoria Market. I like the fresh fruits, vegetables, dried fruits and flowers. We have the pleasure of being one of the earlier batches of visitors to the newly opened Australian Garden (equivalent of our Botanic Garden). A large part of the garden is still under construction; believe it will be more impressive when I visit it next time! Next is Philip Island. I love the Philip Island Chocolate Factory!! I feel like I am in the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Almost submerged myself in the world of chocolates… Visited Koala Conservation Centre and saw koalas for the first time and got to know that Koala sleeps 20 hours a day!!




Saw beautiful sunset at The Nobbies.




Lastly is the most memorable Penguin Parade. We “upgraded” our admission ticket to view the penguin at Grand Pix, and it was a memorable sight to see the parent penguins coming back from the ocean to feed the baby penguins waiting at the shore.

We have also visited the city areas, including Bourke Street and Chinatown. We took the trams to travel around. It was quite fun. We even took a train from Flinders Street to Belgrave. Wanted to take the Puffing Billy but it was too expensive for us.



At the end, we ventured around the area and I went hiking with one of my colleagues. Guess what?? I saw my dream Tree House!! It was on sale and we are invited for its open house. So we went for the Open House happily. We stayed at the Parkview Hotel at St Kilda Road in Melbourne. It is a good hotel with good amenities and location.

In Adelaide, we had only a short tour of the Holdfast Bay, near to the Stamford Grand Hotel that we were staying. Glad to catch the sunrise at Adelaide.

I like the relaxed lifestyle in Australia. The only thing I am not used to is the early closing time of the shops. They closed sharply at 5pm or 5.30pm mostly. The team is pretty creative. Knowing that the shops would be closed by the time we reached Melbourne from Adelaide, we bought chicken, vegs and wraps from Adelaide supermarket and had “chicken popian” in hotel. The cost of living is pretty high in Australia.

It was a memorable trip with my 5 colleagues :-)