23/05/12 - Singapore's playground

Afternoon Tea in the Tiffin Room at Raffles

A mocktail at Mt Faber overlooking the
Cable Car

Now we'd left Aus things were
getting serious!

Sentosa island was the first port of call this morning, where we got an education on the history of the cable car system into the island after having ridden it. The island was essentially a massive playground, full of touristy activities and theme parks. Annoyingly the water park hasn’t quite been built yet, so that one will have to wait until another time… Of course, there’s another massive Merlion there – we somehow resisted the temptation to climb into its mouth. 

Baby and lady Merlion

Another Merlion

Back on the ‘mainland’, it was straight to Raffles – the most renowned hotel in the city, and famous for the first Singapore Sling ever made. Instead of heading straight for the bar, we went for the more sophisticated option – afternoon tea. We arrived just in time for the afternoon session which included the tea stand and a help yourself buffet with dumplings, lots of cakes and fruit. Several trips to the buffet later, we rolled out of the Tiffin Room and popped our heads into the bar, but with our bulging stomachs we couldn’t face tucking into a drink (might have also had an issue maneuvering our bulks into the bar!).

View from Marina Bay Sands - by day

Unsuccessfully tried to walk off some of the food heading back towards Marina Bay Sands, where we zoomed up to the 76^th floor for another view of the city in daylight this time. After that we pottered around the shoppes for a bit, enjoyed the Wonderfull light show, then got our 15 minutes of fame at the Andy Warhol exhibition. Given we hadn’t eaten in about the previous 6 hours, we headed for some local fare (a laksa) at the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre (they wouldn’t let Annaliza buy a single satay stick for 60 cents – how rude!) before doing a nighttime walking tour of Chinatown.

No Gracie, so jumping dolphins had to suffice

One for one at Happy Hour -
where's the bar?

Key Learnings

1.  Xerxes Medora (an old Deloitte UK colleague) knows his stuff when it comes to Singapore – the notes he gave us before our trip out to Australia were still spot on 4 years later!

2.  Not sure Singaporeans understand the concept of happy hour. Getting 1 drink when you pay for 1 is not exactly a reason to keep flocking back!

22/05/12 – Survivor Singapore – Outeat, Outshop, Outplay

Fun with Snoopy and the gang at the Charlie Brown cafe...

A temple in Little India

Singapore - the city of restrictions 

After enjoying our first night in a bed for a while, we hit the pavements of Little India heading towards Orchard Road, the main shopping district in Singapore. It took us a while to get to our breakfast stop in the oppressive Singaporean humidity, but from that moment we didn’t look back. Munched through a crepe and a milkshake at the Chalie Brown café, then popped our head into a few shops but chose against buying anything, either due to queues for changing rooms or consideration of the current size of our luggage! Couldn’t stay away from the food for long though, and after taking in the architecture of Emerald Hill Street we enjoyed a cold one and a pizza. Could definitely get used to this sort of lifestyle!

Found a big bike helmet
on the streets

The glories of being back in civilisation

More fun and games on the
Singaporean Streets

Marks and Spencer action - somehow avoided the Percy Pigs!

From there it was what we thought was a leisurely stroll to the Botanic and Orchid gardens, but ended up being a bit of a sweaty hike! Was a treat stepping into the cool house for the high mountain orchids to get a bit of respite from the humidity.

Marina Bay Sands

Orchids

A taxi sped us to Marina Bay Sands where we didn’t have time for the Shoppes, as we were headed to the musical A Chorus Line that evening, after missing out on it in Melbourne. Yes, Tony will always sniff out a good musical, although have to say we weren’t massively impressed with this one…

The city by night

After navigating the metro system back to Little India, perhaps tucking into two curries at around 11pm was a bit greedy – one would have probably been enough!

Key Learnings:

1.  Charlie Brown cafes are a great tourist trap. If only I’d thought of that!

2.  The Merlion in Singapore’s bay is it’s water spouting mascot  built in the 1960s. It is a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish.

The famous Merlion

3.  The Marina Bay Sands development is immense with 3 towers of hotel, the largest infinity pool in the world  ,its own lightshow, theatres ,ice-rink, bars restaurants, loads of Shoppes including a Louis Vuitton island with tunnel back to the main mall, casino, Lotus shaped museum…the list goes on! 

21/05/12 – Bye bye Beaut

The last Aussie sunset we'd be seeing for a while...

It had taken a battering...

A few tent poles had not enjoyed
the ground we had stayed on!

Started the morning by virtually emptying the car to pack our bags for the imminent flight, and also to try and get rid of some rubbish we’d accumulated prior to shipping another load back to England. Perhaps delaying the inevitable as well – the car hadn’t miraculously recovered overnight, so again we were relying on others to get started. Felt it wasn’t worth worrying about the car the whole day so went straight to a mechanic – fortunately it was a dead battery rather than a faulty alternator (check out how knowledgeable that sounds – the reality is much, much worse). A very speedy fix, and then it was straight down the Stuart highway to Darwin.

At the car wash yeah!

Dropped off the shipping, then enjoyed treating the Beaut to the first (and last) car wash since the trip commenced. Dropped it off at a friend of a friends (thanks Nell and Sarah!) with a view to selling it down the track, then on to the airport, where we dropped off a mountain of change on an unsuspecting cashier to buy a final couple of packs of Australian themed patience cards. Before we even realised it, Australia was receding into the distance – next stop Changi airport, Singapore.

Singers here we come!

Key Learnings

           1. 14,500kms travelled in 45 days is an average of 322kms per day. That is 86% of the 16,913km between Melbourne and London (as the crow flies), 16.5 times the driving distance from Melbourne to Sydney, 42.6 times the driving distance from London to York and 46.5 times the driving distance from London to Torquay. However you look at it, a bloody long way…

We gained a better appreciation for the
T-shirt's stating "Australia - it's a bloody long way"

         2. This is nothing in comparison to the 93 million miles (approx.) from the Earth to the Sun, according to the Coffee Conundrum game – thanks M&D (Sturge), provided some good entertainment during the trip!

20/05/12 – iNTo NT

Relief all round that we got to the state boundary - our fourth of the trip...

Infinity pool by day - slightly warmer!

Annaliza had a tree growing
out of her head now...

Another view of the infinity pool and a brief walk before we headed away from Lake Argyle, or so we thought… Upon turning the key, the engine gave a brief stutter and then nothing further. Nada. Luckily the caravan park staff were able to give us a jump start, and we were back on the road, praying that we’d left a light on and the battery was now recharging.

Keep River National Park

More Bungle like action

A bit of mustering alongside the road

We crossed the WA/NT border shortly after, then made a beeline straight into the Keep River National Park. This was essentially an extension of the Kimberley region, with big similarities to the Bungle Bungles, where we enjoyed a leisurely stroll. Back at the car, and crunch time – unfortunately no luck with starting the engine, so we had to disturb some Melbournites’ lunch to request a jump start which they kindly obliged, then sent us on our way with a slice of melon. A lovely couple.

Some people were travelling
slightly differently...

Knowing some aspect of the car battery was now screwed, we kept going as far as possible until needing fuel, but at Pine Creek even the petrol station didn’t have the tools for starting the car. Fortunately a kindly resident helped us out – we were really appreciating the kindness of people we were meeting on this portion of the trip! Luckily we didn’t have to stop the engine again until we arrived at our Katherine destination, where we celebrated by treating ourselves to a Sunday Roast and a chilled XXXX.

Some road trains never ceased to amaze!

Key Learnings:

 1.   If you’re driving an old car, it’s advisable to carry jump leads…

19/05/12 – A tale of three swims

The infinity pool at Lake Argyle - brrrrrrr!

Be careful when it comes to these signs...

This was a river crossing too far...

Boogied on out of the Bungles area pretty early doors (bearing in mind that the sun was now setting at 5pm, and rising at 6am – ‘pretty early doors’ means around 7am!), and got straight to the other end of the Gibb River Road. After swearing that we wouldn’t go on any more gravel roads, we quickly backtracked and decided to give it a try to get to Emma Gorge. We promised each other that we’d turn round if we hit any serious river crossings or very nasty road, but the only bad crossing was a stone’s throw from the resort so we parked up the Beaut and did the rest by foot.

A dip in Emma Gorge

Zebedee Hot Springs - something
strange happened to Tony's arms...

Took a load off at the Zebedee hot springs before starting the hike to Emma Gorge itself, and were very happy that we’d risked the drive – being surrounded on 3 sides by 65m high walls was a little intimidating, but spectacular. Jumped in for a much more refreshing swim, and somehow managed to misplace one of Annaliza’s flip-flops (doh – her first pair had already died a death!) before hot-stepping it back to the car.

Got out the other side of the Gibb
River Road - relief!

Another inviting watering hole

The picturesque drive to Lake Argyle

Mini-bungles at Miriam NP

Had a quick stop at Kununarra’s Miriam National Park, home of the mini Bungle Bungles, prior to heading to Lake Argyle – the largest manmade lake in the world containing 30% of Australia’s fresh water catchment. The earth had already turned away from the part of the sky that the sun is in, but upon seeing the amazing infinity pool we felt we had to have a final dip – freezing, but worth it for the photo op!

Key Learnings:

  1. When it comes to rock stepping, use the colours: Green is mean; Black and you’re on your back; Blue is true; Trust the rust.

18/05/12 – A bit of a bungle

3-2-1 - BUNGLE!

Another day, another river crossing.
Luckily not us in the driving seat this time!

Bungles from Picanniny lookout

Given the antics of the day before, it was very opportune that we’d booked onto a 4 wheel drive tour today, and didn’t have to worry about any driving of our own! John (aka Radar) was our tour guide for the Purnululu National Park, also known as the Bungle Bungles.

Picanniny Creek

Cathedral Gorge

Bungles in duplicate

It took 2 hours for us to get the 53kms into the National Park, so think more river crossings, boulders and huge corrugations. Needless to say, were happy to not be doing it in the Beaut! Learnt more than we needed to know about the surrounding cattle station operations and the wealth of the caravan park owner, but good to have some entertainment for the long drive. First stop in the park was at the Southern end, where we walked along Piccanniny Creek and then into Cathedral Gorge, all the while getting amazing views of the beehive domes the Bungle Bungles is famous for. Breathtaking stuff.

Impressive crack - you can't tell
I'd climbed halfway up it to get
this shot...

Our best attempt at an artistic 'canvas' shot

The afternoon was spent in the Northern end of the park, where Echidna chasm was the highlight (despite no echidnas being seen). Were treated to a hearty soup followed by a delicious stew once back at the caravan park – potentially the first time in the whole holiday that we had neither driven nor cooked for ourselves, so a massive treat!

Echidna Chasm

 Key Learnings:
  1. The aboriginee dream time story says that the Boab tree was an incredible bragger, always boasting about how it was the most beautiful thing in the bush. Every other plant and animal got fed up of hearing this day in, day out, until eventually Mr Cockatoo had enough so picked up Mr Boab, turned him upside down and then stuck him back in the ground – this meant he couldn’t speak any more and is the reason for the strange appearance of the Boab Tree.