Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Day 3 - Sentosa
Today, we had to find plenty to do in the morning before starting a Sentosa tour in the afternoon. We woke up early and set out, only to discover that Singapore sleeps until about 10.00am at the earliest. Nothing is open until 10.00am, and even then, it's only places like coffee shops. If you want to actually do anything, you have to wait until 11.00am to 12.00pm. We were so bored!!
We finally made it to the afternoon, and went on a tour to Sentosa. It was a miserable day, as it rained non-stop. The tour was fully booked - there were two buses, and our bus had 37 people. There were also about 6 other tour groups, and about 6 school groups, ranging from kindergarten to high school. The first stop for all of us was Underwater World. Usually, it would probably have been fun, but it was impossible to see anything as the place was so crowded! Very disappointing.
Finally, we watched the "Songs of the Sea" water and light display at the end of the evening. It was beautiful. Trev took photos and uploaded them. I don't think they've captured the full effect, but they show the water, lights and special effects making the half hour display.
We finally made it to the afternoon, and went on a tour to Sentosa. It was a miserable day, as it rained non-stop. The tour was fully booked - there were two buses, and our bus had 37 people. There were also about 6 other tour groups, and about 6 school groups, ranging from kindergarten to high school. The first stop for all of us was Underwater World. Usually, it would probably have been fun, but it was impossible to see anything as the place was so crowded! Very disappointing.
Finally, we watched the "Songs of the Sea" water and light display at the end of the evening. It was beautiful. Trev took photos and uploaded them. I don't think they've captured the full effect, but they show the water, lights and special effects making the half hour display.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Day 2 Singapore
Today has been a fun filled day. We spent most of our time at the Singapore Zoo, starting off with the zoo breakfast with the Orangutans. We spent the next six hours walking around the zoo and photographing everything. I'm relatively sure we walked over every inch of the hectares of land the zoo is on.After the zoo, we walked to the orchid gardens. So disappointing! Yes, there were orchids of every type and size and colour, but it was like an arid desert - no shade, no thought into displays - it was just clumps of flowers everywhere. The botanic garden, which features orchids as well, was much better.
We went to the Newtons Food Circus for dinner (cheap meals with loads of 
variety). Food was awesome! Just as in Sim Lim centre, everyone you speak to tells you not to bother looking around, everyone has the same stuff they do for the same prices. Our next task is to work on being able to move on anyway, because we ended up eating from the first woman who approached us as we were too spineless to say "okay, but we still want to look around".
We are also becoming quite expert at navigating the MRT. You can get almost anywhere tourist-y from there. It's a five (long) blocks from where we're staying. Last night we had to walk those five blocks in a torrential downpour. We were soaked to the bone, and you could see the locals pointing us out to other locals, because we were walking in the rain. It doesn't sound as bad as what it was, but truly, we were walking through lagoons of water, that's how hard it was raining.
Anyway, Trev has loaded some photos he took at the zoo - he's very pleased with the camera. :) Tomorrow, it's off to Sentosa!
variety). Food was awesome! Just as in Sim Lim centre, everyone you speak to tells you not to bother looking around, everyone has the same stuff they do for the same prices. Our next task is to work on being able to move on anyway, because we ended up eating from the first woman who approached us as we were too spineless to say "okay, but we still want to look around".We are also becoming quite expert at navigating the MRT. You can get almost anywhere tourist-y from there. It's a five (long) blocks from where we're staying. Last night we had to walk those five blocks in a torrential downpour. We were soaked to the bone, and you could see the locals pointing us out to other locals, because we were walking in the rain. It doesn't sound as bad as what it was, but truly, we were walking through lagoons of water, that's how hard it was raining.
Anyway, Trev has loaded some photos he took at the zoo - he's very pleased with the camera. :) Tomorrow, it's off to Sentosa!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Singapore
Well, we arrived safely in Singapore. It was a long flight and we were both a little sore from the crowded spaces on the plane but the flight went well. We traveled on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) from the airport to Bugis station and then walked 5 blocks to the Hostel, where we both crashed out and woke at 6 am Singapore time.
We started the day with finding a hotel called the Carlton where we were to be collected for our first tour. We look like the typical tourist bums and the guests at the Carlton are quite snobby, so we stuck out like a sore thumb in the lobby for 20 minutes. Sadly, we have to go to the same place for each tour we're on, so the people at the Carlton will be seeing a lot more of us.
The camera died within half an hour of the tour starting, and we have no charger. We missed out on getting photos of the truly beautiful places we went to in Chinatown, Little India, and especially the Botanic Gardens. It was as good a time as any to find that huge electronics centre, Sim Lim centre. We didn't actually look at all of it, but Sim Lim centre is six levels of cheap electronics. Trevor was like a kid in a candy store. I was bored (I will never understand what "SX20, 12 megapixel, HDMI" means). Long story short, we walked out of there with the camera of Trevor's dreams, for cheap. (Trevor says I'm exaggerating about how much he likes this camera - I promise you, I'm not!)
Tomorrow, breakfast with some animals!
We started the day with finding a hotel called the Carlton where we were to be collected for our first tour. We look like the typical tourist bums and the guests at the Carlton are quite snobby, so we stuck out like a sore thumb in the lobby for 20 minutes. Sadly, we have to go to the same place for each tour we're on, so the people at the Carlton will be seeing a lot more of us.
The camera died within half an hour of the tour starting, and we have no charger. We missed out on getting photos of the truly beautiful places we went to in Chinatown, Little India, and especially the Botanic Gardens. It was as good a time as any to find that huge electronics centre, Sim Lim centre. We didn't actually look at all of it, but Sim Lim centre is six levels of cheap electronics. Trevor was like a kid in a candy store. I was bored (I will never understand what "SX20, 12 megapixel, HDMI" means). Long story short, we walked out of there with the camera of Trevor's dreams, for cheap. (Trevor says I'm exaggerating about how much he likes this camera - I promise you, I'm not!)
Tomorrow, breakfast with some animals!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
New start date "Sometime in the next 2 weeks"
Well it looks like we finally have all the approvals necessary to start building Woohoo !! I was starting to think Santa was bringing them.
We will update you with new pictures once Julian begins the surveying work.
We will update you with new pictures once Julian begins the surveying work.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Anticipated start date on the house...
... is "approximately" 12 October 2009. We won't hold our breath on that one, but still, YAY!!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Catching up
New blog post! I'll start where it all began: with the house we are building. I'm finding it to be very exciting; Tam is neurotic and to her, everything is scary. We have spent copious amounts of time with builders around Pac Pines trying to find the house we want but all we came away with was that you had to have a flat block of land and EVERYTHING was extra!!
We expanded our search for the ultimate home and found a display village in Upper Coomera. We were really impressed with Plantation display homes but after doing some quick searches on the net it revealed they can often take up to 2 years to build a home.... and I don't want to live with the Mother-in-Law (MIL) for that long!
There were plenty of other builders in the display village, and we spent months walking around there, checking out every house at least twice, and deciding what we did and did not like. We eventually settled on a builder, the plans have been drawn up, and we're just waiting for council approval. (In the meantime, of course, we sold the townhouse, moved in with MIL, and bought the land. We were mortgage free for two weeks, and they were the best two weeks of our lives!)
This is our first picture of the land - it is 1034 m2 and belongs to us and the bank. Luckily we get along well. We'll keep updating with more photos as the building progresses. Next post: house plans. --Trev
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