Day 5

Woke at 6 a.m. as all this travelling is playing havoc with our body clocks. We were out by 9 a.m. to catch the city sightseeing tour, staying on the bus for a 90 minute full circle.

Got off at the Town Hall and walked the short distance to Darling Harbour for a nacho lunch and then joined the ques for the Wildlife World and Aquarium.

Saw many native species such as kangaroos, koalas, reptiles, sharks fish and a dudong which is like a sea cow. Unfortunately the platypus was having a lie in (probably had jet lag too).

Back to the hotel for a quick change and then to Sydney Tower for dinner. Amazing views from the revolving al a carte restaurant, we felt dead posh!

Walked back to The Stellar via Hyde Park and saw several possums.

Day 4

The next part of our adventure begins.

Left for the airport at 6.45 a.m. for our flight to Sydney.

Arrived at 8.20 p.m. and found The Hotel Stellar and went for a walk and a massive burger before bed. Not much to report today.

Day 3

Woke up to a bright clear blue sky. Took the City sightseeing bus and toured the city. We saw the Singapore Flyer (the world’s largest observation wheel) on the ‘city route’, before doing the ‘heritage route’.

Hopped off at Chinatown for lunch. Sue had the most delicious laksa and the whole meal was less than £7. Hopped off again at The Esplanade to see the ‘wish balloons’ on the water. People wrote messages on the balloons, thousands of which were floating on the water waiting to be released on New Years Eve.

Onto Clarke Quay for a riverboat tour in the sunshine, stopping briefly for a disgusting Turkish ice cream (or so it was described to us. More like play dough!)

Returned to the hotel for a brief rest before setting off in a coach to the ‘Night Safari’ where we saw elephants, deer, giraffes, lions, tigers etc all in dim light to view their nocturnal activities.

We made sure we were back at the meeting point on time but our rep and the rest of the coach party were nowhere to be seen and the bus was gone!

Managed to get a public bus back to the city but there were no seats left so had to sit cross legged on the floor for 45 minutes.

Dropped us off at the hotel and Orchard Road was spectacularly illuminated by the Christmas lights.

There was a Tapas bar next door so we had a drink and nibbles before collapsing in bed after an eventful day.

Day 2

The start of our Asian / Australasian adventure.

Arrived in Singapore at 8.00 a.m. after what felt like a very quick 12 hour flight due to the great in-flight entertainment!

Checked into The Orchard Hotel and wandered along Orchard Road while we waited for our room to be prepared.

Singapore very humid but overcast. We slept for a few hours before returning to the city streets for the afternoon and evening.

First stop was The Raffles Hotel, a handsome and tranquil colonial building which commanded a real sense of respect. We went to the Long Bar and sat on a sofa drinking the obligatory Singapore Slings while munching on monkey nuts. The shells of these littered the whole floor giving a crunchy effect when you walked!

After paying the outrageous but not entirely unexpected bill, we left t explore further.

Visited Bogis market and bought a cheap watch each before going to Little India for dinner. A hot curry was in hindsight not the best idea in such warm conditions.

We’d heard about the Mustafa Shopping Centre but it was full of cheap, tacky products and far too many people so we left and took a taxi back to the hotel.

Day 1

Christmas Day like no other!

Departed Heathrow at 11.15 a.m. and arrived in Singapore Boxing Day morning.

You would never have known it was Christmas Day on the flight - Santa wasn't flying the plane, there were no sprouts and the Queens speech wasn't shown on the TV. Perfect (well apart from the lack of sprouts).

Welcome to our blog!

Yee-har, our first entry!

We seem to lead such busy lives that we thought it would be a good idea to scribble down what we've been up to, in a hi-tech electronic form on thar interweb thingy so here it is....