Click here to see my Australian Adventures blogs!
Hiya! My last few blog posts about Australia have been fairly popular so it seemed only right to continue with my holiday blogs (as promised). So without further ado, here is my first Singapore post:
After leaving our hotel in Darwin and heading to the airport, we boarded our first flight of the day to Kuala Lumpur. After approximately four hours of being crammed on the plane and being overwhelmed with the smell of the 'plastic' airplane food, we landed. Tired, we shuffled off the plane and waited in the airport for an hour. Unfortunately, the jewelry that I was wearing set off all the alarms in the security area and I had to be pulled to the side again (It happened in every airport I went to!) and checked! It's definitely not my favourite thing to happen in the airport!
After the embarrassment of the stop off, we again boarded a flight. Luckily for me (I hate flying), this flight was only about 45 minutes from take off to landing. During the taxi across the runway I noticed that one of my favourite albums was on the entertainment system and I turned into the embarrassing family member that mimes every word while pulling some shapes in my chair - you all know one I'm sure. I didn't even notice we had left the airport.
Arriving in Singapore was relieving and it helped that I recognised where I actually was. The rest of the holiday from here was bonkers.
The first local that we met was our taxi driver, a very passionate driver with such a great sense of humour! He told us about the country, the government, the laws and made us feel like we knew Singapore inside out. The hotel that we stayed in was actually in Sentosa, the tourist island off Singapore. On arrival, we were again greeted by a concierge who took our bags, led us to the reception area and gave us some iced lemon tea - it was a great start.
Moving into the room, I was amazed, like seriously amazed. Everything was newly furnished - the doors were huge and heavy oak, there were golden leaves above my bed, a flat screen TV on the wall, a welcome present on each bedside table, a shower that could literally fit about five people in and so many more intricate details. It was stunning. And, as if that wasn't good enough, there was a knocking on the window. For once it wasn't a room maid or hotel staff but instead a beautiful Peacock! A real, living peacock! Just roaming around like a pigeon! It's fair to say that it got a big mention on my snapchat story :D
Anywayyy, moving on...
Our first day was spent queuing in Universal Studios. I don't think I've ever been to a theme park that's so busy! Having said that, it was busiest closest to the entrance (coincidence?) and after venturing further into the park, we discovered my new favourite ride. It was an Ancient Egyptian themed rollercoaster with fire, backwards motion, a lift and loads of epic drops! The waiting time was only 5 minutes long and I might have accidentally gone on it four times! It was AMAZING!
Unfortunately, we got the closing time wrong and lost two hours at the park that we thought we had, however, we did manage to get on the tallest rollercoaster with a 14 storey drop! For someone that doesn't deal with adrenaline very well, I think that I coped with it great. I would have gone on it again and again if I had time!
In the evening, we went for tea at the Hard Rock Cafe. I really wish that I could give a review about how great it was, but I'm sad to say that I could only eat one bite of my ginormous burger as it made me really sick :( On the bright side, my cocktail was pretty tasty!
Day two was a really exciting day at a water park. There was a lazy river that I must have gone around about eight times and trust me, even with the power behind me, swimming around it instead of floating round it was extremely tiring. (Just for the record, I'm not that unhealthy, it must have been about a mile around it looking from a cable car above). In addition, there were dolphins, water slides and my favourite, an artificial coral reef with more than 20,000 colourful fish. I saw my chance and jumped straight in and snorkelled with them! It was incredible! This day was the only one that it rained heavily but luckily, as we were swimming, it didn't even matter!
The next day terrified me slightly, and by slightly I mean a lot! We began the morning by hurtling across a zipline over the sea onto a little landing island. It was another dream come true and a fear conquered. Heights have never been my friend so to rely on something as small and thin as my harness was quite an achievement for me, in my opinion.
Afterwards, we swam in the sea and I have to say, for those of you that like to float about on little inflatable things, there was no need in this sea. I could literally float on my back without an aid from floats or even my arms! Open sea swimming was something that I would never have done back home in England but it was such a unique experience with the sea being so warm and the fish, that I had to.
The last activity of day three was to take a cable car across the city and, oh my goodness, it was absolutely terrifying. The sites were awesome, but it's not natural for anyone's heart to be beating that fast I'm sure. Cable cars are something that I still need to get used to I think.
Our last day in Sentosa was spent at our hotel spa. My family and I had a pretty private pool with a rock cave to get out of the sun. There was also a mudbath... we had no idea what to do and ended up having a bit of a mud fight, but I suppose that it wasn't too much of a crime as we did tidy everything up!
The stay in Sentosa was one of which I will hopefuly never forget and if you are ever passing by Singapore, I would highly recommend a visit!
Arizona
Thursday, 10 September 2015
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Australian Adventure: Darwin
Click here to see my previous post!
Hopefully you have come here after reading my three previous posts. If so welcome back! This is the final post of my Australian series, however not the last of my summer travel posts; there will be two posts from our stop off at Singapore for each of the two hotels that we stayed at, so fear not!
After having journeyed through Sydney, Cairns and Port Douglas, we caught a plane to our last location in Australia - Darwin!
On departing from the airport, we caught a shuttle bus with a bunch of partying backpackers and although they were noisy, it was very interesting to listen to their stories and their different languages and accents. The weather in Darwin was so hot but fortunately the hotel had great air conditioning and I will forever remember how refreshing it was to walk in to the hotel and be instantly chilled. We were also offered cookies and so the first impressions of the hotel were fab! After arriving very late at the hotel, we went straight to bed.
The first day in the city was our last free day in Australia and we started the day well with a nice all you can eat style breakfast in the hotel and then we went shopping down the road. I absolutely loved sharing the streets with the local aboriginals. They are so cool and I found them to be very friendly too. The culture of the locals, especially the aboriginals themselves, was something that I had really been looking forward to experiencing since we booked the holiday, so when first saw one I was absolutely delighted! I would like to point out that I don't view Aboriginal people as a tourist attraction, I think that they should be valued for their heritage and culture.
In the afternoon, after a long morning of shopping, we visited Crocosaurus Cove. I'll give you three guesses as to what might be there...
It was incredible. I never realised that crocs were so big! The ones that I have seen in wildlife parks and zoos were no where near the size of the ones here! At the cove there were opportunities to swim with crocs (I swam with the baby ones), get a picture taken with them (or in our case about 90 photos) and to see other aquarium creatures and reptiles. It was awesome.
The day after was another really cool one and a total dream come true. In the morning, we were woken by our alarm at about 6:30am and left the hotel on a bus to the Litchfield National Park. Our first stop off was at a cafe in the outback. We were greeted by the locals in a friendly way again... I don't think that I met one unfriendly Australian!
Afterwards, we went a little further down the road and came to a graveyard of termite mounds. They are, in my opinion, one of the most amazing works of architecture of the insect world. Inside each mound there is a network of tunnels carved carefully by the termites that look like white ants. There is also a queen termite that keeps the colony together and under control. The best mound that we visited was almost twice the height of my sister and I, and bearing in mind that I am about 165cm (5ft5"), it was very tall.
Further down the road, we walked down a cliff side and swam in a lagoon with some beautiful fish and a rushing waterfall that I swam out to sit under. This was a dream come true and another fear conquered. Walking back up to the bus was very tiring as we had gone down over 100 very steep steps but it was definitely worth it. Later on in the trip there was a boardwalk surrounded by trees packed with huge fruit bats and another lagoon/waterfall. Little did I know that there were actually fish eating crocodiles in there and I swam right across it! In the side of the rocks, there was a natural pool that had been formed around the same size of a hot tub, so I climbed the rocks and jumped straight in!
In the evening we were dropped at a market on the beach and after getting a Mexican takeaway, we sat as a family and watched the sun set. The sun disappeared so fast that by the time we ate our burritos, it was dark... and the party began!
The market came to life with the music of the didgeridoos and the laughter of the locals. The lights were switched on, the stalls were opened and the city was illuminated. There was a fire juggling duo, a world buffet of food stalls and a whole host of stalls displaying Darwin's culture. We probably spent the most we've ever spent at a market, buying jewelry, aboriginal art, food, instruments and a couple of other things. Although, having said that, we were trying to use up the last of our dollars before we flew to Singapore!
To finish off the night, we returned to the entrance of the market where a drum and didgeridoo double act were playing. To my delight it turned in to a bit of a street party and the local aboriginals came down and danced with us. Although a little drunk, they were brill! They absolutely made my day. When the music finished, we walked back to the hotel, packed our bags and went to bed to get some sleep, ready for the next leg of our summer adventure.
Arizona
Hopefully you have come here after reading my three previous posts. If so welcome back! This is the final post of my Australian series, however not the last of my summer travel posts; there will be two posts from our stop off at Singapore for each of the two hotels that we stayed at, so fear not!
After having journeyed through Sydney, Cairns and Port Douglas, we caught a plane to our last location in Australia - Darwin!
On departing from the airport, we caught a shuttle bus with a bunch of partying backpackers and although they were noisy, it was very interesting to listen to their stories and their different languages and accents. The weather in Darwin was so hot but fortunately the hotel had great air conditioning and I will forever remember how refreshing it was to walk in to the hotel and be instantly chilled. We were also offered cookies and so the first impressions of the hotel were fab! After arriving very late at the hotel, we went straight to bed.
The first day in the city was our last free day in Australia and we started the day well with a nice all you can eat style breakfast in the hotel and then we went shopping down the road. I absolutely loved sharing the streets with the local aboriginals. They are so cool and I found them to be very friendly too. The culture of the locals, especially the aboriginals themselves, was something that I had really been looking forward to experiencing since we booked the holiday, so when first saw one I was absolutely delighted! I would like to point out that I don't view Aboriginal people as a tourist attraction, I think that they should be valued for their heritage and culture.
In the afternoon, after a long morning of shopping, we visited Crocosaurus Cove. I'll give you three guesses as to what might be there...
It was incredible. I never realised that crocs were so big! The ones that I have seen in wildlife parks and zoos were no where near the size of the ones here! At the cove there were opportunities to swim with crocs (I swam with the baby ones), get a picture taken with them (or in our case about 90 photos) and to see other aquarium creatures and reptiles. It was awesome.
The day after was another really cool one and a total dream come true. In the morning, we were woken by our alarm at about 6:30am and left the hotel on a bus to the Litchfield National Park. Our first stop off was at a cafe in the outback. We were greeted by the locals in a friendly way again... I don't think that I met one unfriendly Australian!
Afterwards, we went a little further down the road and came to a graveyard of termite mounds. They are, in my opinion, one of the most amazing works of architecture of the insect world. Inside each mound there is a network of tunnels carved carefully by the termites that look like white ants. There is also a queen termite that keeps the colony together and under control. The best mound that we visited was almost twice the height of my sister and I, and bearing in mind that I am about 165cm (5ft5"), it was very tall.
Further down the road, we walked down a cliff side and swam in a lagoon with some beautiful fish and a rushing waterfall that I swam out to sit under. This was a dream come true and another fear conquered. Walking back up to the bus was very tiring as we had gone down over 100 very steep steps but it was definitely worth it. Later on in the trip there was a boardwalk surrounded by trees packed with huge fruit bats and another lagoon/waterfall. Little did I know that there were actually fish eating crocodiles in there and I swam right across it! In the side of the rocks, there was a natural pool that had been formed around the same size of a hot tub, so I climbed the rocks and jumped straight in!
In the evening we were dropped at a market on the beach and after getting a Mexican takeaway, we sat as a family and watched the sun set. The sun disappeared so fast that by the time we ate our burritos, it was dark... and the party began!
The market came to life with the music of the didgeridoos and the laughter of the locals. The lights were switched on, the stalls were opened and the city was illuminated. There was a fire juggling duo, a world buffet of food stalls and a whole host of stalls displaying Darwin's culture. We probably spent the most we've ever spent at a market, buying jewelry, aboriginal art, food, instruments and a couple of other things. Although, having said that, we were trying to use up the last of our dollars before we flew to Singapore!
To finish off the night, we returned to the entrance of the market where a drum and didgeridoo double act were playing. To my delight it turned in to a bit of a street party and the local aboriginals came down and danced with us. Although a little drunk, they were brill! They absolutely made my day. When the music finished, we walked back to the hotel, packed our bags and went to bed to get some sleep, ready for the next leg of our summer adventure.
Arizona
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