Last day of the holiday

Well, just one more day of our trip to go and it's back to our beloved NZ. Looking forward to going home but what an amazing trip.

Ireland, Finland, France, London...it's amazing to think we were really there and we will miss our wonderful family, Karen & Greg, Pat & Doreen, Barry's Dad Oliver and Theresa, his Aunty Shelia and co, Ants and Lyn, Gail and Brett, Alison and Adrian, Guy & Siobahn, Ross, Emily, Curtis & Imogen, Ricky and Bailey, Dylan and Zack, Sally, Eleanor and Hannah.

And we will miss our wonderful friends, Esther and Jarlath!!!! Hope to see you guys again real soon!

The trip to Scandinavia was so amazing and meeting my gorgeous friend Tiina at last along with her lovely lovely family. Seppo, Laura, Antti and Maija. I hope we will see you all again soon!

We also picked up another friend along the way, the very cool Katarina, who saved our skin when our planned journey from Helsinki to Jvyaskyla got disrupted! 

So home it is for now and can't wait to see everyone again. But I do believe I have caught 'the bug' and will be planning our next trip as soon as we can.

X 

Universal Studios and Night Safari

Today was overcast and drizzly which was exactly like walking through a sauna. The heat is so intense it turned the rain into steam. Weird. We didn't get wet, but we're not quite dry either! 

We went back to Sentosa Island to universal studios and had some really cool rides including an incredible 4d transformers ride which would have to be the best one I've ever had. We were in this car in the middle of a battle being pulled and thrown by the bad dudes and whizzing between the fighting bots and at one point, falling down the side of a skyscraper, saved at the last second by bumblebee. Exhilarating!

In the evening we did the night safari at the steamy tropical lush and rainforest-y like zoo. All the animals were wide awake so it was loud and we got to see them all up close and personal. Awesome!

This was the only 'night shot' that worked. The animals wouldn't stay still for me so most of the photos I took (no flash allowed) were a blur.

This was our 'official' pic!

Coleman's in Singapore

Turns out we have a street and cafe named after us...

We took the cable car to Santosa Island for some fun - cable car, funny Singapore squirrels, snakes, the luge, segway, candylicious, beautiful flowers, heights and lights...

+ 20 degrees in one day

So we boarded a plane in chilly France and landed in very hot Singapore, where the day started all over again. We got ourselves checked in, hopped on a wee tour, took in the sights from 57 floors up and celebrated with a (virgin) Singapore Sling at the iconic Raffles Hotel Long Bar. 

Covent and Kensington Gardens

Had a very wet then a sparkling blue final 2 days in London. Went to Covent Garden and Kensington Gardens to say hello and goodbye....

Guy, Siobahn and Karen joined us for dinner in London and to say good bye :-(

MISS YOU ALREADY!!!!

Also said goodbuy to the cute squirrels and birdies

Had a posh lunch at the Orangery and very nice it was too!

So it's Good Bye lovely London - til we meet again!

Happy New Year

Ring side seats from our Hotel room :-)

Harry Potter and the British Museum

It was wet and soggy today so we headed out to do some indoor things. First was a double decker bus ride (finally! Bazza prefers the speedy tube) to Kings Cross! We didn't see Harry but did see his trolley half through platform 9 and 3/4 - then took a photo of the real platforms 9 and 10. Things look a little different from muggle perspective! 

We then took the tube to the British a Museum and spent the afternoon exploring the ancient world!

Ancient Celtic neck band and pennanular bracelets.

Ancient Roman cameo vase

An ancient piece just for Chris and Dave

Got a bus back so we could see more lovely London lights...