Monday 30th March
Singapore to London
This morning we took a taxi to Changi for our flight back to Heathrow. We both enjoyed the comfort, space and facilities of this modern airport.

The Singapore Airline Airbus 380-800 was very spacious and we enjoyed the flight even though it was nearly 14 hours long.

When we arrived at Heathrow after our long trip, we were very pleased to be met by Rachael and Mike.

Tomorow we catch the train back to Leeds.

This is the final blog of our Round-the-World trip and we would like to thank all the people who followed it and left comments for us.

Sunday 29th March
Singapore
This morning we took a taxi to the airport to check our flight for tomorrow and found that all was OK and that we are on the upper deck of an Airbus A380-800. We think that the airport is beautifully designed and very clean and spacious.


We then took a taxi to the top of Mount Faber from where we got some good views of downtown Singapore.

From here we took a 1.6 kilometre cable car ride over to Sentosa Island. In the distance there were scores of cargo vessels awaiting entry to the port.

www.sentosa.com.sg

The cable car passed directly over the cruise liner terminal where Pete and Carolynn's ship had been yesterday. On our return the ship in the picture had sailed away and was not even in sight.

On the edge of Sentosa Island is the site of a brand new resort which will open in 2010. There is a lot of construction going on right now in Singapore.

We visited 'Images of Singapore' which describes and explains the heritage of Singapore through life sized figures and special effects. It was very interesting, varied and very extensive.

We had just returned to the hotel to pack when there was a monsoon type storm with thunder, forked lightning and heavy rain which lasted for an hour. It was quite entertaining to watch it from the comfort of our room.

Tomorrow is our last flight, thirteen and a half hours, back to Heathrow.

Saturday 28th March
Singapore
This morning we took a taxi to the Raffles Hotel area where the footpaths are beautifully edged by exotic plants.


We met Pete and Carolynn as planned and, after strolling around Raffles Hotel, we all had a gin sling in the famous Long Bar. We chatted for an hour or so and all enjoyed meeting up 6,000 miles away from home.

We had a further look aroung the Raffles Hotel complex, which is much larger than we had realised, and built around cool courtyards full of fountains.

After leaving Pete and Carolynn, we walked under the shady trees down Queen Elizabeth Walk towards Marina Bay. We could clearly see the very modern honeycomb design Theatres on the Bay and the new Singapore Flyer, which is evidently bigger than the London Eye.

A short distance further on is the sculpture of the Merlion, the mythical beast with a lion head and a fish body that is Singapore's official symbol.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the Botanic Gardens to explore further. The palm garden has been created around a large lake full of thousands of fish and turtles. People were enjoying feeding them.

At on end of th lake is a small theatre, the organic design of which fits well within its site

This evening from 8.30 to 9.30, many of the lights in the city were turned off in support of Earth Hour. This action is designed to make us aware of the things we can do to reduce global warming. As we looked out of our hotel window, the city seemed unusually dark.

Friday 27th March
Singapore
This morning we took a taxi to Fort Canning Park, the most historic part of Singapore. This is the original fort gate at the summit of the hill and is the last remnant of the fort that occupied this site from 1861 to 1926.

This is the old army barracks and has now been restored to house the Visitors' Centre.
www.nparks.gov.sg

The park is surrounded by tall modern buildings. Evidently some other parks in the city are in danger from developers who want to build more hotels and shopping centres. This would be a shame as much of the character of this city is in its green spaces.

We then descended to Clarke Quay, a modern development beside the Singapore River. It is full of shopping malls and places to eat. Some ancient junks have been refurbished as floating restaurants.

From here we walked to Chinatown where we came across a large and crowded open-air market. It was a very interesting, bustling and vibrant place but very hot and humid.

While trying to return to the main road we got a little lost in some back streets and came across these original old Singapore buildings which have great charm and character.

After returning to the hotel to cool down, we strolled to Orchard Road to visit an exhibition of Thai crafts, food and fashion in the grounds of the Thailand Embassy. It was fascinating and we saw some lovely things.

We continued down Orchard Road and enjoyed the atmosphere but regularly had to pop into shopping malls to feel some cool air.

Thursday 26th March
Singapore
This morning we took a taxi down to Raffles Hotel to see where we are going to meet Pete and Carolynn on Saturday for a gin sling. It is a lovely hotel set in lush gardens with fountains.



We walked a few blocks towards town to see Sculpture Square, an area of galleries and sculptures.



We walked a little further to visit Singapore Art Museum which is set in two very old buildings linked by a walkway. We saw some things that we liked and some which were more esoteric.
www.singart.com
No photography was allowed in the museum but we enjoyed a rest in one of the central courtyards. The umbrella is to provide shade, not shelter from the rain.

After a short break to cool off at our hotel, we strolled back to the Botanic Gardens. This time we took a different route through an area we had not visited before.

Singapore's national orchid collection is housed in the Botanic Gardens and was well worth our visit.

We were amazed by the thousands of beautiful orchids on display in their natural surroundings.

These are just a few of the highlights.

Wednesday 25th March
Singapore
Our first morning here was bright, hot and very humid. This is the view from our 7th floor hotel window.


We walked up the road for 10 minutes to visit Singapore Botanic Gardens which were founded in 1857 and cover 52 hectares.
www.sbg.org.sg

After strolling past many varied bushes and trees we came to Swan Lake with the giant statue of flying swans as well as real ones.

After half an hour we took a rest from the heat and humidity and had a cool drink by the central fountain.

We explored the Ginger Garden on our return and found the flowers belonging to this family of plants exotic and beautiful.

Later in the afternoon we walked through some local malls on to Orchard Road which is the main shopping street in Singapore.

In the early evening there was thunder and lightning followed by heavy rain. This is the normal daily pattern of weather here as we are at the end of the summer monsoon season. The hotel provided us with an umbrella when we went for a short walk in the rain.

Tuesday 24th March
Auckland to Singapore
We set off this morning to catch the flight to Singapore and found that our tickets were invalid. After an hour of stressful waiting the problem was sorted and we got away on time. The Air Singapore flight was comfortable with good food and service.

We flew directly across Australia and after 10 hours we got our fiirst sight of Singapore.

The airport is really efficient and by the time we arrived at baggage claim, the cases were there and we were virtually the first people through immigration. They even had beautiful planters full of orchids on the carousels.

We were met by a uniformed driver who drove us to our hotel through the centre of Singapore just as the sun was setting. More explorations tomorrow.

Monday 23rd March
Auckland
We spent the morning, and part of the afternoon, at Auckland airport trying to sort out our flights to and from Singapore. We eventually succeeded mainly thanks to Singapore Airlines Customer Services Officer.
We then headed straight to Auckland Museum.
http://www.aucklandmuseum.co.nz/


It is a huge museum and we stayed until an attendnt told us that it was closing. Time just flew.
A huge section is devoted to Maori culture and this carving is inside a reconstructed meeting house.


On the top floor is this beautiful stained glass ceiling that commemorates the forces of New Zealand during many wars.

In one specially constructed room is this authentic Spitfire that saw service at the end of the war.

One section is devoted to Sir Edmund Hillary and his conquest of Everest in 1953. This is the actual ice axe that he used on the successful summit attempt.

Another section is devoted to furniture design through the ages and we particularly liked this section from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

A special exhibition had been set up in the entrance hall to show how museum artefacts are packed, transported, catalogued and stored. Most of the exhibits here had been out of the public view for many years.

This evening we left our faithful Toyota Corolla to be picked up by the rental company.

We had covered 7011 kilometres (4356 miles) during our stay in New Zealand.

Tomorrow we fly to Singapore early in the afternoon - nine hour flight.