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!