Monday 21 February 2011

More Photos



Merlion on Sentosa Island



Waiting for my Singapore Sling at the Long Bar Raffles HotelRaffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel foyer
Home again

Photos

Table Mountain Capetown
Sunbird on Table Mountain
Dassies on Table Mountain
Nelson Mandela's prison cell Robben Island


The Olgas at Uluru
Ayres Rock
Sounds of Silence dinner at Ayres Rock

Zebra Finches at Ayres Rock water hole
The Apostles on Great Ocean Road


The Apostles
London Bridge on Great Ocean Road
Koala Bear
Yellow Robin in rain forest Goldcoast
Quoll seen on Goldcoast
Sydney Opera House
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Pete & Liz on Bridge Climb
Almost completed
Blue Mountains Sydney
Victoria Shopping Centre Sydney
Singapore

Chinatown Singapore
Tamil Temple Singapore
Chinese New Year .The year of the Rabbit

Sunday 13 February 2011

14th February 2011

This morni g we took a taxi to China Town, what a lot of things to see! Of course all the streets were beautifully decorated, once again with plenty of "rabbits", it was all very colourful. Lovely things to buy all you needed was plenty of money, but I'm afraid ours is fast running out!!!
From there we came back to our hotel and put on our "best bib and tucker" and got another taxi to go to Raffles for lunch in the Long Bar washed down with a Singapore Sling, this is where you eat peanuts and throw all the shells on the floor, quite amusing!
We spent all the afternoon there having a good look around!
This is all for now folks as tonight we have to do our packing ready to leave here tomorrow morning. We should be back home on Wednesday night tired out!!!
One thing is for sure we shall miss this beautiful hot weather another 33 degrees again today!

13th February 2011

Left the hotel early this morning and have had a wo derful day out going to Senotasa Island. We went on the Jewel Cable Car ride which was quite an exciting way to get there! It took us 60 metres above the harbour, the views were stunning on another clear and beautiful day, it is still very very hot!
There were lots of things to do, first we took a tram ride to the several beaches, but it was so hot we couldn't even put our feet on the sand! So we went to the Butterfly Park where there were over 1,500 butterflies, got some good pictures of lots of them, all such lovely colours.
We also went up on the Tiger Sky Tower which is apparently the tallest viewing platform at 110 metres tall and 131 metres above sea level. It was so clear you could see all the way to Indonesia and Malaysia!
Yet again everywhere was decorated for the Chinese New Year, so plenty of "rabbits" around all made out of beautiful flowers, there were lots of waterfalls which we were glad to stand near for a cool down!
Wherever we went it was just a mass of colour.
Will try to put an update tomorrow before we leave here for home on Tuesday!

Saturday 12 February 2011

12th February 2011

Today we were picked up by a mini bus and taken on a lovely tour of Si.gapore. Bei g the Chinese New Year of the rabbit everywhere was decorated accordiingly, lots of local people were dressed for the occassion.
Our first stop was the Singapore Flyer where the tallest "big wheel" in the world is found, 30 metres higher than the London Eye. From there we went to Merlion Park where there is a statue with a beautiful water fountain. Then on to the Financial district and to China town where we went in a very old Temple with lots of gold plate and beautiful carvings of dragons. Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens, we've never seen so many different coloured orchids or such big ones. The whole garden was a blaze with colour and amazing palms. The last stop to walk around was Little India, this was a small street full of open air markets, mostly fruit, veg and clothes, everything here cheaper than Oz, where it was very expensive!
As our hotel is situated on the waterfront we walked for quite a few miles in the afternoon crossing lots of bridges and enjoying the lovely scenery and of course the beautiful weather, another day in the 30s! WE Should be getting used to it by now, we won't like the cold and wet when we get home!
After our evening meal we went on a Night Safari, where we took a tram ride through 99 a res of dense tropical forest. The safari is lit tto resemble the moonlight and is inhabited by more than 900 animals.
We also did some walks, the first being the fishing cat trail, that led on to the leopards trail and then they had a part to walk through to have bats flying around you (flying foxes), we didn't go in there as we didn't fancy an encounter with lots of BATS!!!

11th February 2011

This morning we went to the Sky Tower to the observation deck to take photos as when we climbed it we were not allowed to take a camera. We then went to the Queen Victoria Building for lunch and then to the Strand Building, both have lovely shops and architecture. We then relaxed in the sunshine eating ice cream and watching the street entertainers on the harbour front.
We left Sydney late afternoon for the airport. The coach driver taking us jumped a red traffic light!! Oh dear, we were chased along by the police, siren going, until the driver stopped, held us up for about half an hour while he was breathalised etc!! We still got there in time for our plane.
Another incident happened on the plane! The steward was serving our evening meal and he upset "boiling" gravy on Peter's arm and all down his trousers and tee shirt! Caused a commotion for a while with them running around to get ice cubes to put on his arm! It was VERY RED and nasty so they gave him 50dollars compensation.....big deal!!!
Got tto our hotel THe Grand Copthorne Waterfront at midnight (local time) very tired!

Thursday 10 February 2011

10th February 2011

The highlight of today was taking a Ferry to Rose Bay and going up in a seaplane for half an hour and having a conducted tour of Sydney's coastline, another beautiful day with fantastic views. After, we went to Chinatown then spent sometime around the Harbour. We are so lucky as our hotel is situated right on the Harbour front so has lovely views all around.
In the evening we were treated toa wonderful three course dinner at the Waterfont Restaurant by Scenic Tours.We had an excellent time with plenty of first class food and drinks and really good company.
Now to bed ready for packing tomorrow!
We would LOVE to stay longer BUT would Australia want us to stay?Wherever we've been we seemed to have left destruction behind us!!! We've had the heatwave in Cairnes and left before a cyclone hit! Left Melbourne in a heatwave and they then had floods! After we left Perth they had bush fires! Just hope Sydney will be safe once we've gone!!!
Looking forward to Singapore!