2008 has started

Wow Christmas has come and gone and it seems like we have been back here for a long time instead of a few days.

We flew home on the 4th and arrived on the 5th where we walked from the international terminal to the domestic one to board a plane to Wellington to have a birthday dinner with the boys and their girlfriends. It was so lovely to see them all and to give them all a real cuddle.

We stayed there a few night and then went back up to Auckland where Beth picked us up from the airport and took us back to Thames. Wayne and I stayed there a night and then took off up to the caravan - he just couldn't wait to get there and get the boat in the water...unfortunately the weather wasn't very kind.


but we did catch these two good sized snapper.
Wayne and the family secretly organised a surprise party for me to be held on the 15th and this was so nice of them but also so naughty. I think Wayne still has the bruise. It was great to catch up with family and friends. I am not sure I will forgive them for not telling me...a little warning would have been nice.



We then drove back down to Welling to spend Christmas with the boys. They did us really proud in that they had organised everything and we had nothing to do but eat, drink and talk with them. We love you guys.

We are now back in Singapore after arriving on the 31st December. We went down to the waterfront to watch the firewoprks and were absolutely amazed at how great they were. We were also amazed at the crowds of people and they were so well behaved even the ones who were on the bridge with us and it took us 40 minutes to cross the bridge.

It is now back to work time and time to get an agenda set up for some more travel this year.

Hi Tea

Lawrence and Wayne sharing a joke. Lawrence is one of our E.A. which means he's on the front desk.

This is the group enjoying the food, company and tea.

I did enjoy the food but not the tea. The coffee was great though which made up for having so many teas.

Dinner with Friends

After meeting at Coffee Bean we went along to the next restaurant and negotiated a deal where we got two free bottles of wine, beer at half price and 25% off the dinner price. The wine, beer and company was lovely.

At the end of the evening some of the friends bought a Nemo hat and proceeded to have fun wearing it and making the fish faces.
This is Angela and Gordon.

Sue has put her best face on.

As has Christina.

The evening was fun and were in fits of laughter. We are going to miss our get togethers but will have to arrange it so we all meet up somehow next year.

Nearly the end of the year

Well it is so close to the end of the year and we are both counting down till we hit NZ soil and see our boys. It has been a wonderful year, we have met some lovely people and made some lovely friends.

Yesterday we had a joint staff lunch at Sakura and the meal was superb. It was the last chance to see some of the people before they head away for Christmas.

Saturday we are having our 'in house' end of year drinks and then it is only the Sunday to go and I am having some drinks at the Simei branch before heading to a friends house for some last Christmas drinks.

It is sad to say goodbye to some of the children but we should see them around the centre next year.

Christmas Lights

Yesterday we were having a no spend day so we got on the train and went into Orchard Road to view the Christmas Lights and trees. We had heard they were having snow there as well and we just had to see that.

We got off the train at Dhoby Gaut Station and went into Plaze Singapora and found this Christmas tree outside.


From here we walked along Orchard Road wanting to end up at Tanglin Mall to see the snow. As it was still daylight we realised we would have to go inside the malls to see the decorations. I have added a few on here for you to see the variations. They are absolutely stunning.

This is taken inside Centrepoint Mall. I was travelling up the escalator to take this. The ground floor was selling all sorts of children's toys and had an enchanted castle where children could get their nails painted. The Mall is two along from where I work.

This is at the Heren. Not quite your normal Christmas tree but well worth a look. The entrance ways were wonderful.


Here is the Paragon way of doing Christmas decorations.
The other day we found a pink Christmas tree, well today we found a purple one.


This is the small village before the snow fell. The village is a miniature Gingerbread type house with cooking utensils inside that you peep at through a window and it even had a stable for the horse with a cow out the back.

And look at the snow....beautiful.

From there we walked along the other side of Orchard Road backup to Somerset MRT Station to take the train home.

The Entrance way to Orchard Road.

Wayne standing by the Christmas tree in Ngee Ann City. iIcouldn't fit all the tree in as it is so huge.

Below are just some scenes on our way to the MRT. The long walk was well worth the effort and we came home absolutely amazed and in awe of the lights.

The Great Race

The day arrived and it was a bit cloudy so we thought great it's not going to be too hot for this fun social event of finding our way around Singapore. Well we were wrong, it was very hot and then it also rained.

But we had a great time discovering parts of Singapore we didn't know existed.

We are trying to figure out the cryptic clues for the MRT stations....we needed extra help with this.

Here we are in Lorang 18 (a red light district), where you can get a room for 5 minutes, a short time or all night.

Our team in Buggis....a little quaint village shopping mall well it ain't really that little. The team consisted of Peter Evernden, Judy Scarrot and myself.

On our travels we happened upon a pink Christmas tree. We were so surprised at the colour we had to take a photo. I mean we have seen blue ones, green ones and even red ones but PINK.

Nearly the end of the year

It is now into the middle of November and we are beginning to count down till the end of the year when we will be flying back to NZ and see our boys and extended family.

We have just been told that our apartment is going to be sold and we are having to find somewhere else to rent. We have been looking but rent is becoming more expensive, almost double what it was when we arrived. Where we are living is what they call 'out as far as you can get', yes we are almost in Malaysia and the rent here is as high as anywhere. We think we have found one in Yishun for $600 more than what we are paying here so that will be good. I didn't want to go into an HDB (housing corp type housing) but would have had to think quite seriously about it if this one didn't turn up. It is smaller than what we have now but still has the full condo facilities.

Yesterday we went to pick up an optic mouse that was a give away when we bought a hard drive to store our many photos on. We finally found the place with a bit of help from the taxi driver and then caught the first bus that went past and ended up at Vivocity...this is a huge shopping mall about the size of a city. We had a wander then found a bar with happy hour where you got 1 for 1 drinks of house pours. We spent a couple of hours there before finding our way home. The bus drive took us through parts for Singapore that we had never been into before and it was fascinating.

Today being a Tuesday, we spent the morning, well the middle of the day by the pool reading and then coming back up for a cold drink and snacks. Wednesday tomorrow and we meet up with our new landlords to sign up.

We have now done all the Christmas shopping and are just waiting to pack our bags to go home. Wayne can't wait to be able to get out in the boat to catch some real fish, and I can't wait to eat it. We both can't wait to see the boys as we fly down to Wellington as soon as we arrive in New Zealand and then back up to Auckland where my lovely sister will meet us.

Some mildew we found on the Bintan lookout.