Staying in New Zealand for a couple of days without the next stop being Wellington was a strange feeling; we were so close to home without it being our next destination. Adrian's close friend Brad collected us from the airport (another very welcome friendly face) and took us to his house in Glenfield where we spent the weekend and enjoyed more wonderful hospitality.
It has been five or six years since we last saw Brad and Juliana and in the meantime, Eleanor, Leo and Brad and Juliana's son Jackson have arrived. They were very thoughtful hosts; on top of everything else they arranged for us, we were treated to chippies and onion soup dip, pineapple lumps and red liquorice (my favourite!).
I sneaked away for a couple of hours to see my friend Tara in nearby Takapuna. We had a good catch up sitting in the sunshine in the garden of their new house. While I was out Brad and Adrian took the children to a nearby playground to burn off some energy. Brad, Jewels and Jackson We also took us to lovely Takapuna Beach and for a walk along the waterfront at towards the Viaduct, which looks fantastic after a facelift for the 2011 rugby world cup.
The children enjoyed each other's company and had lots of fun together. We will look forward to seeing them all again soon.
From Auckland we flew to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, our last stop before Wellington. The Rarotongan beaches are meant to be amazing and the reason for this part of the trip is to join our friend Julian to celebrate his 40th, so it will be a relaxing time with friends.
Tuesday 18 December 2012
Sydney
Arriving in Sydney really felt like the beginning of the end of our big trip. It is similar to New Zealand in many ways (compared with most of the places we have visited) and being with friends and family made it seem even more like home.
Adrian's friend John and my brother Richard met us at the airport. Familiar faces waiting for us were a very welcome sight! They took us to John's house in Loftus, where we spent our first four nights. Richard stayed for a BBQ, our first of the Australasian summer. It was great to catch up with John and Sarah and to finally meet their three-year-old son Patrick, as well as to see Richard of course.
John and Sarah were on leave for most of our visit and are excellent hosts. We very much enjoyed spending time with them after so long. Eleanor and Leo had lots of fun with Patrick. They particularly enjoyed a swim in John and Sarah's pool, a trip to an indoor play area and visiting Symbio, a zoo where they saw a tiger and fed tame kangaroos, ponies and llamas.
We then spent two nights at Richard's flat in Bondi. There we met his lovely girlfriend Keira and had a delicious home cooked meal to which they invited some of their friends, including Nick and Simone who we haven't seen since early in our time in London.
Richard took a day's leave, so we spent it relaxing at the beach, shopping and visiting the playground. Eleanor had her first surfing lessons with Richard. She found the water a little chilly after Sri Lanka and has a way to go before she'll be joining him in the big waves, but she really enjoyed it.
It is a great feeling to know that in Wellington we will be just a short flight from our friends and family in Sydney, including those we didn't manage to see this time, and we are very much looking forward to seeing Richard and Keira over Christmas.
Adrian's friend John and my brother Richard met us at the airport. Familiar faces waiting for us were a very welcome sight! They took us to John's house in Loftus, where we spent our first four nights. Richard stayed for a BBQ, our first of the Australasian summer. It was great to catch up with John and Sarah and to finally meet their three-year-old son Patrick, as well as to see Richard of course.
John and Sarah were on leave for most of our visit and are excellent hosts. We very much enjoyed spending time with them after so long. Eleanor and Leo had lots of fun with Patrick. They particularly enjoyed a swim in John and Sarah's pool, a trip to an indoor play area and visiting Symbio, a zoo where they saw a tiger and fed tame kangaroos, ponies and llamas.
We then spent two nights at Richard's flat in Bondi. There we met his lovely girlfriend Keira and had a delicious home cooked meal to which they invited some of their friends, including Nick and Simone who we haven't seen since early in our time in London.
Richard took a day's leave, so we spent it relaxing at the beach, shopping and visiting the playground. Eleanor had her first surfing lessons with Richard. She found the water a little chilly after Sri Lanka and has a way to go before she'll be joining him in the big waves, but she really enjoyed it.
It is a great feeling to know that in Wellington we will be just a short flight from our friends and family in Sydney, including those we didn't manage to see this time, and we are very much looking forward to seeing Richard and Keira over Christmas.
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Singapore
Apart from the temperature, Singapore was a bit of a shock after Sri Lanka... for a start, the cars have suspension and a full set of seat belts, there are huge buildings, Starbucks everywhere and nature is almost completely contained in parks.
We arrived at about 6am, so went straight to our hostel for breakfast and slept until lunchtime. This left us with a day and a half to explore. We started with a delicious and super-cheap (relatively speaking) lunch at a local street stall style restaurant then headed off for a walking tour of Little India, the Indian equivalent of Chinatown. We enjoyed wandering in the backstreets, which have a lot of character, visiting the Hindu temple and doing a little shopping. We popped into an Indian restaurant for an early dinner; the thick Indian curry made a nice change from all the Sri Lankan curries we have eaten in the last few weeks.
An early night set us up to wander further afield the following day. Chinatown is a bustling area with a great market and yummy Chinese food. We aren't ones for choosing our seafood still alive in a tank, but had we been, we would have had plenty of opportunity! Poor little buggers.
We explored the streets lined with amazing modern architecture, joined the bulk of tourists photographing the Merlion, then stopped at the beautiful Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. The Long Bar at Raffles is tick-box tourism at its best, but the drinks were good, if dreadfully over-priced.
We concluded our Singapore culinary tour with Mexican before heading to Changi airport for our flight to Sydney.
Singapore feels like a very liveable city, although you would want to have a good income to make the most of it. If our tiny hostel room was anything to go by, you would also want to be comfortable living in a confined space!
We arrived at about 6am, so went straight to our hostel for breakfast and slept until lunchtime. This left us with a day and a half to explore. We started with a delicious and super-cheap (relatively speaking) lunch at a local street stall style restaurant then headed off for a walking tour of Little India, the Indian equivalent of Chinatown. We enjoyed wandering in the backstreets, which have a lot of character, visiting the Hindu temple and doing a little shopping. We popped into an Indian restaurant for an early dinner; the thick Indian curry made a nice change from all the Sri Lankan curries we have eaten in the last few weeks.
An early night set us up to wander further afield the following day. Chinatown is a bustling area with a great market and yummy Chinese food. We aren't ones for choosing our seafood still alive in a tank, but had we been, we would have had plenty of opportunity! Poor little buggers.
We explored the streets lined with amazing modern architecture, joined the bulk of tourists photographing the Merlion, then stopped at the beautiful Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. The Long Bar at Raffles is tick-box tourism at its best, but the drinks were good, if dreadfully over-priced.
We concluded our Singapore culinary tour with Mexican before heading to Changi airport for our flight to Sydney.
Singapore feels like a very liveable city, although you would want to have a good income to make the most of it. If our tiny hostel room was anything to go by, you would also want to be comfortable living in a confined space!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)