Earth 2010

Winter lights in Sydney and the Singapore Layover

1 day until we come home, 1 year, 1 month and 12 days since selling up. David Jones recording.

We had a fun-packed final night in Sydney. I don't know whether they were pleased that we were leaving or sad to see us go, but they had lit up the whole city in a spectacular laser light display for our final night in Australia. But, actually it wasn't us at all: Sydney was celebrating its annual Vivid winter illuminations festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a fab night running around Circular Quay looking at all the lights we woke up early for our flight to Singapore on a double-decker bus. Sorry, Paul just corrected me, that's an A380 superjumbo for all you geeks out there. And we had seats on the top deck fulfilling one of Paul's dreams. My first impressions of the plane were, in the words of Lily, "Big Door, Heavy Door!" (You-tube Lily and Pam Ann if don't know what I'm talking about.) Sadly we were only sitting in economy, but we had real glasses to clink and silver cutlery and we started our journey with a Singapore Sling. Though I was very disappointed by the size of the toilets, just the same as any old plane, you would have thought they would give you a bit more space on such a big plane. Anyway enough about that. 

We arrived in Singapore and spent a hot and steamy day seeing all that Singapore has to offer. First stop the Buddha Tooth Temple in Chinatown, where the monks and novices were chanting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whizzed past the Hindu Temple and then after a Starbucks pit-stop (it was really hot!) on to the famous Merlion statue, the symbol of Singapore:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we made a wish at the Fountain of Wealth (it's the largest fountain in the world apparently) before popping in at the Raffles Hotel, the home of the Singapore Sling, Yum! You could imagine Noel Coward whiling away afternoons here.

And that's it. No more sightseeing to do. Plane tomorrow back to the UK and I'll be writing a final blog once I'm over the jet lag. Ta-ta for now.

Tropical Queensland - bye, bye Oz...

Just 4 days until we come home, 1 year, 1 month and 8 days since selling up. David Jones recording.

Bye, bye Oz! We're coming to the end of our journey. We've spent the last ten days exploring tropical Queensland, interspersed with looking at the internet for jobs and looking for a flat to rent when we return. So it's all felt very strange, like the journey has finished already.

Queensland is a strange place anyway. How can I describe it? There's some beautiful scenery, wide open spaces - there are not that many people living up here - but it's strangely dull. But it maybe that our take is coloured by the fact that our minds have already turned homeward. We've gone for walks along the beaches at Palm Cove where we stayed for a week, driven up the coast to Port Douglas and explored the rainforest, finding waterfalls and gorges, but it's like we're suffering from view fatigue. You can have too much scenery...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After five weeks in Australia, it's started to have a funny affect on me? Without thinking about it? I can't help speaking without a slight Australian twang? All my sentences sound like questions? Even the shape of my mouth has changed when I make words? It's got so entrenched I can't remember how I am supposed to speak? I hope this will be solved when I get off the plane at Heathrow? But my worry is it'll replaced by a Kent estuary accent? Depends how long we're in Paul's parent's spare room? So if anyone out there is looking for a highly qualified psychosynthesis counsellor with mental health training, drop me a line, quick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyhoo, we've traced our way down the Queensland coast to Airlie Beach via a lovely night in Townsville watching the sun set on Magnetic Island (another thrillingly original name from Captain Cook... his compass broke near it). Airlie Beach is the gateway to the pretty Whitsunday Islands (another Captain Cook stunner, guess when he found these), but as we're out of energy and out of cash we passed on taking a boat or plane trip to see them and were satisfied with some nice views from the coast. Our host reckons the view's just as nice from here anyway.

For those waiting for the famous novel, Agatha's been busy over the last few weeks honing his photography skills (and looking for a job!). So the final draft of the book is still not ready, but 90 per cent complete, he says. We'll all have to wait a bit longer for the masterpiece, it's only been a year, one month and eight days in the making; another few months won't make a difference!

We're flying back to Sydney tomorrow for one mad last night, before starting our journey home via Singapore. Anyhoo, for all those America/UK/Australia next top model fans, here's Paul's best shot, ta ta!