The day started with a good breakfast in the hotel. There was a terrific range of food on offer but we managed to find just what we wanted.

One of the reasons for coming back via Singapore was to visit the Gardens by the Bay, which we could see being built last time we were here in 2011. They are not too far from our hotel but given the temperature we decided it wasn't a good idea to walk there, walk round them and then walk back! The advice from the concierge was to get a taxi but we decided we could get there easily enough on the underground system, called the MRT and for rather less than a taxi!

The MRT is clean and cool and generally a pleasure to use. We were soon at the gardens, which are unlike any others we know. Photos will best explain what we saw and we took loads of those! We had hardly got into the gardens when we were accosted by two schoolboys doing a questionnaire about them. We were happy to oblige but we did get rather hot as the sun was out and there was no shade.

One of the supertrees

We then did the Skywalk between the Supertrees. These are a metal framework that looks like a tree (and which we saw being constructed in 2011) and plants are attached to them. They are also able to generate solar power. We got some good high up views.

Skywalk linking some of the supertrees

After an iced mocha - couldn't really face a hot drink today as temperature 33C - we went into the first of two cooled domes (think Eden Project only cool). It was called the Flower Dome but we aren't entirely sure why as it had cacti and trees and not that many flowers! Anyway it was very interesting and cool!

Inside the Flower Dome

The second dome was called Cloud Forest and was cool and wet! As you entered you were confronted with a high waterfall! Again it was interesting and this time featured rainforest plants and trees.

The waterfall in Cloud Forest

Typical bromeliads 

Coming out into the humid heat was a bit of a shock and we headed straight for an air conditioned cafe for lunch! We did do a bit more walking round the outside gardens but decided it was time to head back to the hotel for a rest!

Having had a bit of a siesta we ventured out again to Merlion Park, just a short walk away. The Merlion is the symbol of Singapore and as the word suggests is a cross between a lion and a fish. It is situated at the mouth of the Singapore river and is a popular place for residents and visitors alike to congregate and have photos taken.

The Merlion 

I think this will be our last blog as we return home tomorrow. We hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as we have enjoyed writing it! It has been a bit of a chore sometimes to get the WiFi to work well enough to download everything but we have managed it most of the time!

We have had a thoroughly enjoyable 7.5 weeks with scarcely any negatives and too many positives to enumerate here - you've probably read most of them anyway! We wrote about NZ when we left there so I won't do that again. Australia proved to us yet again that it is a great place for wildlife of all sorts and it also has some terrific scenery. It is a big country but we managed to find a small corner of it that we could drive along instead of all the flying we have done in the past. We would love to return to several of the places we stayed at. The cities of Melbourne and Sydney bookending our trip were good to revisit but very different from the rural Australia in between.

Finally it was a pleasure to have friends with us on several legs of our travels. It is always good to meet up with Joan and John. It is just a pity they live so far away - but it gives us a good excuse to keep going back to Australia! Now I know we don't have to go to NZ or Oz to meet up with Trudy and Derek but it has made our holiday extra special to spend time with them too. And it was lovely to spend half a day with Steve's cousin, Kay and her husband Ian and daughter Miri. The trip round Akaroa harbour with them will be one of our great memories from this holiday!

The fireworks last night turned out to be a personal display for us just by the bridge! Well that's how it seemed. We had thought they would be at Darling Harbour and we would struggle to see them but they were on our doorstep! I suppose the New Year ones are a bit more spectacular but we were delighted with our show!

Our own Sydney harbour fireworks show!

It was just as well we gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport and time at the airport before our flight because we had a rather frustrating last few hours in Sydney. It started at the hotel when we checked out and then realised the shutters to the car park were down and we needed our room card to get them open! It was annoying but fairly easily resolved. We then managed to get in the wrong lane over the bridge and ended up in the centre of Sydney instead of on the motorway!

Our next frustration was a traffic jam outside the airport which held us up for about 20mins. The airport itself was sadly lacking in signs and had long queues for everything! Checking in, passport checks and security all had us walking along in long queues. This is something we haven't experienced this holiday at all until today - even Heathrow was a doddle compared to Sydney!

We did eventually get onto the plane - but only after queueing again! We were very pleased to be flying on an Airbus 380 as they are lovely planes. They are quiet and relatively spacious and you hardly notice them taking off. For the first time we were on the upper deck, though we didn't really notice it because we boarded through a high level air bridge and never saw the lower deck!

We arrived in Singapore at 5pm after an 8hr flight which went reasonably quickly. We watched The History of Everything and Paddington and enjoyed them both in different ways! We are now only 8 hours ahead of home and back in the northern hemisphere, which is good as we had a lot of trouble with north-facing being warm! Talking of warm this place is warm! It was 32C when we arrived and standing on our balcony it feels extremely humid. In our room, of course, it feels rather cold because of the air con!

Singapore skyline from our balcony

Our view tonight is not quite as iconic as the last two nights but it is still pretty special. We have swapped one vibrant city for another and although we face the harbour, it is the Marina Bay Sands hotel which dominates our view. This is a fascinating and tremendously expensive hotel which appears to have a huge boat straddling its three towers, which themselves look like old fashioned pegs! There is a lot to look at from our balcony and even more once we set foot outside, but we won't be doing that till the morning as although it is now 9.30pm we think it is 12.30am!

Singapore at night - Marina Bay Sands hotel in centre

The first thing we saw this morning was the bridge and the Opera House - and it didn't matter if you weren't facing the window as they were both reflected in the mirrored wardrobe doors in the opposite direction!

Sydney CBD from our breakfast table

It has been a lovely day today, weatherwise and we have had a lovely day in Sydney, reacquainting ourselves with some favourite haunts. We started by taking the ferry from our hotel to Darling Harbour. This is just a little further west than the bridge and a development we visited on previous holidays. It has been vastly increased in size but sadly has lost the monorail that we enjoyed riding on. It seemed space age at the time but I think must never have caught on because it didn't go anywhere significant. It has now been dismantled!

Darling Harbour

Remains of monorail station

We wandered round a bit and enjoyed the children's fountains but decided you could have too many restaurants and bars and so caught the ferry over to Circular Quay, where the main action is! We stopped for coffee in one of the many cafes near the Opera House - like Darling Harbour, eateries seem to have proliferated here too. Then we walked over to The Rocks area just under the pillars of the bridge.

Fountain fun!

In the past this was quite a rough area but is now very much the place to be on a Saturday morning! There is quite a large street market with lots of crafty things on sale. Last time we visited I was beguiled by a large piece of pottery, which had to be shipped home, so today I was much more circumspect and didn't buy anything! I remembered what John had said (see some previous blog)!

We had a substantial lunch in The Rocks and then walked back over to the Opera House. We had hoped to be able to see the part of the foyer that has been done exactly to the architect's specifications. When it was first built it proved much more expensive than had been projected and so the decoration of the foyer was skimped. Since then, however they have tried to do a small part as was intended but unfortunately today it was being used for something else and we couldn't see it and anyway you have to take a tour to do this!

Instead we walked into the Botanic Gardens again - thankfully hot and sunny today! We admired the Moreton Bay fig trees and several other interesting plants and trees and then sat down for a rest. No sooner had we sat down than some kookaburras set about laughing and we soon spied them sitting in a tree nearby! After a cup of tea and then a little later a very small ice cream we caught the ferry back to our apartment.

Moreton Bay fig tree

I should have told you earlier that we had seen a big cruise ship docked in the harbour on our way to Darling Harbour and then when we got to Circular Quay there was a huge one there! Since returning from our Sydney tour we discovered they were both due to sail in the late afternoon and we have been greatly entertained by watching these slowly make their way from their berths and out of the harbour. This is a tremendously busy harbour and it was quite some feat to turn the huge ship whilst surrounded by ferries and leisure craft!

Huge cruise ship reversing out into the harbour

It is now dark and we are awaiting some fireworks which apparently happen each Saturday night but we don't know what time! Hopefully I'll be able to report on them tomorrow but as we fly to Singapore that may not be possible. We think WiFi at the hotel there might be prohibitively expensive - we shall see! We will be sad to leave Australia as we always love being here and have thoroughly enjoyed our brief time in Sydney - it is a great city. However we are getting just a bit homesick and will be glad to be home on Tuesday.

Our view tonight is ...... but no I'd better start at the beginning of the day! We breakfasted with Trudy and Derek and helped them to find some accommodation in the Blue Mountains as they want to go there before they return home later next week.

The four of us in the garden of our motel

Then all of us managed to pack into our rather small car, made smaller by all our luggage being on board as we had checked out. We quickly found a place for coffee near Narrabeen Lakes and also, as has become the pattern recently, bought supplies for an evening snack. Whilst there we decided we would take a coastal route round the southern end of Pittwater and then back to Oxford Falls.

This didn't quite work to plan as we noticed we were very near Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park and Trudy and Derek were desperate to see a kangaroo in the wild. We weren't sure that we could find any wildlife for them, especially as the ranger on the entry point said another point of the park was best for wallabies. We pressed on regardless as he also said there was a cafe in the part we were near to. In fact, although we drove through dense native bush, when we arrived at Akuna Bay we were suddenly in the totally different world of boating - and I'm not talking little rowing boats here! There was a huge, multi-storey boat hotel and a marina full of big boats. On the quay was a boat estate agent and boat supply shop - and I am pleased to say - a nice cafe where we had a good lunch!

We more or less decided we didn't have the time to get to the other half of the park as Trudy and Derek would have time to do it tomorrow on their way to Newcastle. As we walked to the car park a kookaburra suddenly flew down to a nearby tree so we obviously had to stop and photograph it. Trudy and Derek hadn't seen one before so it was a treat for them too.

As we turned to go to the car I thought I saw something hop off in the distance. Whilst we were checking this out, Derek spotted something much nearer which, lo and behold, turned out to be a wallaby! It was a very obliging wallaby and stayed around for lots of photos and close observation! Trudy and Derek were more than delighted! We got in the car and drove round the car park just to check we hadn't missed any other wallabies and, would you believe it, spotted a lyrebird! If you have ever watched David Attenborough on birds in Australia you will know this is the one which mimics other sounds including chain saws and ringtones!

Derek finds the wallaby

The obliging wallaby

After so much excitement it was time to return Trudy and Derek to Oxford Falls and for us to make our way into Sydney. Just as we were leaving we heard, quite plainly, an eastern whipbird in the grounds of the hotel. In fact, more than one and Steve was able to get them to respond with an Australian birds app that he has downloaded, which plays bird songs!

Although it wasn't far into the centre of Sydney, it seemed to take ages as we did battle with the traffic but we got to our apartment just after 4pm. It is situated on the north of the harbour and we knew it was supposed to have views of the bridge but we have been staggered by its position and the sensational views we have, not only of the bridge but also of the Opera House beneath it! Luna Park is to our left and the centre of Sydney straight ahead.

Sensational view even on a damp day

Friday night in Sydney harbour

Having refreshed ourselves with a cup of tea, we decided we needed a walk and took the ferry from McMahon's Point, which is immediately outside the apartment, across to Circular Quay - about 9 mins! From there we walked to the Opera House and on into the Botanic Gardens, whereupon it rained hard and we had to take shelter under a tree for a few minutes. We retraced our steps and caught the ferry back. This has to be the most convenient place to stay in the whole of Sydney and with the best views! And although its not cheap it is nowhere near as expensive as some of the central hotels.

As is it is dark now, everything is lit up and the harbour still busy with ferries and other trip boats. I'm writing from our lounge but even in our bedroom - lying down - you can still see these fantastic views! We won't be pulling the blinds down tonight!

We resumed our investigation of Booderee National Park after checking out of our motel. Actually we went to Hyams Beach first as we had been told it is in the Guiness Book of Records as having the whitest sand in the world! Casting away all thoughts of how on earth they determine this we examined it and found it to be very pale but as to the whitest we have ever seen ......?

Hyams Beach - the whitest in the world!

Then we went into the park and straight to the Botanic Gardens. This had been recommended to us by the motel owner and it proved very interesting for a short early morning walk. We didn't see any rare birds but we saw a kangaroo on the way there!

Another kangaroo

After that we had to get on the road to Sydney. We stopped briefly in Nowra for coffee and lunch supplies but then kept going until we got to Royal National Park, just to the south of Sydney. We visited this park in 2003 when we were here and thought it would be a good place to have lunch.

We remembered having our lunch then by the river and attracting the attentions of sulphur-crested cockatoos. We went to the same spot this time and didn't attract cockatoos but we did attract kookaburras! We have heard them a few times over the last couple of weeks but hadn't actually seen any, so to have four of them perched on branches and flying around near us was great!

Young kookaburra begging from adult

Adult beauty

It took quite a while after that to get through Sydney and up to Oxford Falls where we are staying tonight but we arrived just before 4pm. It has been another very hot day and we were glad to be able to take it easy here. The hotel is set in lovely grounds with several lots of sports facilities, which we were able to ignore! However no sooner had we started to explore our surroundings than a couple of kookaburras flew down! We got more photos, of course but Steve is still trying in vain to record the sound of one laughing!

We eventually met up with Trudy and Derek, who are staying here at the same hotel, when they returned with the friends they had been visiting. We then all had a meal together and began to share notes on our similar but different holiday experiences! You will understand that it takes more than one meal to get through nearly 7 weeks of holiday! We will, no doubt, continue at breakfast!

Behind the bar?! Just washing the glasses, honest guv!
- photo Derek Westmore

We think that WiFi might be a problem from now on so we may be not be able to publish our blogs till we get home next week. We will, of course, do everything we can but if we can't we are very sorry!

We said goodbye to Merimbula and our lovely view with some sadness this morning. It was another beautiful morning and the lake was like glass.

We headed north through places like Tathra and Bermagui, which you have probably never heard of as we hadn't before this last week but all lovely little seaside towns. We stopped at Narooma for coffee and picked up lunch supplies at the same time. Already it was warm and eventually I think it probably did get to the predicted high of 28C!

Fairly soon after Narooma we found an idyllic spot at Malua Bay for lunch. There were picnic tables on a grassy area just alongside the beach. The beach itself had rocky areas but was sandy and for a change wasn't squeaky! I had a paddle and Steve took photos!

Some yellow flowers at Malua Bay

Malua Bay rocks

Although we didn't know what to expect at Jervis Bay, which is where we are tonight, we pressed on in the hope that there would be somewhere for a walk. I think we both thought it would be built up and probably with lots of boats but we couldn't have been more wrong! Something obviously was missed in the planning of this place because we didn't pick up that it was next door to a National Park and it is all very low key.

When we checked in at our motel the lady told us what there was to do in the area and it suddenly became clear that there was an awful lot to do in the very short time we are here! After a quick cup of tea we set off for Booderee National Park for a walk. We just managed to get our park passes before the visitor centre closed and we went down the road to Murrays Beach. Here, before we even left the carpark, we spotted several birds, one of which we hadn't seen before and haven't been able to identify. We read that there were several interesting birds and animals to be seen and we set off hopefully.

Pied currawong by the car park

We hadn't gone more than a few hundred metres before we saw a wallaby and during the course of the walk we saw several more, heard some thumping around in the bush (almost certainly more wallabies jumping off) and a kangaroo! We also saw a couple of lizards as yet unidentified. We have had several sightings of white-bellied sea eagles over the last few days but got some really good ones today and managed to photograph one.To crown it all off we were just walking along when a bird scuttled across our path, which we knew immediately was an Eastern bristlebird! I'm sure you are well acquainted with the Eastern bristlebird, so you will know that it is endangered and therefore we were very surprised to see it! Actually we'd never heard of it till today but we were still very pleased to see it!

Engaging wallaby

White-bellied sea eagle

Towards the end of our walk we saw some gum trees with what we thought initially was graffiti on them but closer inspection showed that the graffiti went right up the trunk. Somewhere from the depths of my memory I dredged up that there was a gum called a scribbly gum and this was confirmed by the next information board we came to! Smug or what? (Scribbles are caused by the larvae of a moth.)

Scribbly gum tree

It was getting late by the time we finished our walk and we made our way back to get changed and then out to get a meal! We sat outside eating in the balmy early evening - this is the first time we have felt we could have been in the Mediterranean! We now have the aircon on in our room!

We still have some other things we would like to do before we leave tomorrow so I think we will have to have an early start! We are very pleased to have found this little gem of a National Park and also that it is owned and administered by Aborigines. In NZ the Maoris seem well integrated into society and treated as equals but in Australia the Aborigines seem often to be on the margins of society - poor and outside white society. This is probably too simplistic and just a visitor's perception but it always raises questions with us about how our own communities must look to visitors.

Anyway enough of the serious stuff. Watch this space tomorrow to see if we have finally caught up with those other travellers from Basildon - well Wickford to be precise! We are hoping to meet up with Trudy and Derek again just north of Sydney!

This really is going to be the shortest and least newsy of our blogs but we move on tomorrow so hopefully there will be more to report then!

It was another lovely day - we woke up to blue skies and the morning was pretty warm. It got cloudy later on but its still pleasantly warm now at nearly 8pm. The forecast is saying 28C for tomorrow but we'll wait and see about that. Actually I'm not sure how we will know as our rather basic car doesn't show the temperature!

Pelican enjoying a fish

We walked into town first this morning to get a few things from Woolworths! Seems strange to be shopping at Woollies again but it is a supermarket here and not like it used to be at home.
Then we did the walk we did on Sunday again. This takes us across the bridge and by the opposite side of the lake and then round onto the beach facing the sea. The tide was low and you can paddle from the sea edge right round to the lakeside.

Sea and lake in view

By the time we got back we were ready for our coffee! We then did lots of boring things like the washing! I guess this will be the last lot of washing before we get home. We only have a week left now. Time seems to have gone quickly.

We spent the afternoon just sitting around and eventually went for a swim in the pool here at the apartments. As yesterday there was someone in the pool when we wanted to go in! Normally this wouldn't worry us but it is quite a small pool. When we did get our chance we had to share the pool with the mechanical cleaner which had been left there! It was like trying to swim with a sea monster! No sooner had we got in the pool than someone else arrived so we didn't stay in long!

Masked lapwing outside our apartment

Tonight we have been back to the Italian restaurant we went to on Saturday and had another good meal.

I'm pleased to report that Steve is making a steady recovery from the terrible cricket result last night! He has lots of suggestions as to how to put things right but I'm not sure he'll get chosen as coach!