Perth - first stop in Australia

We arrived in Perth around midnight and quickly caught a cab to Judi and Arthur's place in Karrinyup, which is North of the city. They were both away for the night so we used the spare key and went straight to bed. 

The next morning we woke up and headed to Karrinyup shopping centre for essentials. It was a longer walk that expected, 30 minutes. We did a bit of food shopping to get stuff for lunch in Woolworths (which is not at all like the British or the South African versions). It's different really, as there is no alcohol in the actual shop, you have to go to the liqueur store next door (we wanted to get Judi and Arthur a bottle of wine). 

We then head back and had sandwiches outside...

... before heading to the beach. Now this walk took us forever, maybe 45 minutes. My feet were killing me, remind me not to wear flip flops next time. But it was worth it when we eventually got there.

We didn't go swimming as by the time we eventually got there, it had started to cool down a bit, so Nath read his book and I people watched.

Schools must have then finished for the day as a surf lessons took place. 

That evening when we got back we sat outside and had a lovely BBQ outside with Judi and Arthur, followed by ice cream and fruit. Yum! 

The following day the weather was a bit pants, cloudy and no sun at all. So we decided to explore the city. We managed to find the backpacker area pretty quicky and it gave us some good ideas of things we could do whilst we are in Western Australia. We also managed to find a Juicing shop (very exciting as I miss my juicer), Java juice.

For lunch, we headed down to some gardens and ate our sandwiches.

After lunch we got the train to Fremantle (recommended to me by Griff, as his parents lived here for 2 years) and it was small but lovely and reminded me a bit of a Western film. Due to just a quick stop, we managed to miss the harbour that everyone recommends but we have plenty of time for that. We did find an awesome $10 shop (pretty much £5) and Nath bought a nice Levi shirt.

 

On our way back into the city we stopped by Cottesloe, which we read was a lovely beach area. And they weren't wrong, however we didn't see it in the best light as it was still overcast and very windy. First time, I had to put on my hoody.

Finally after a day of traipsing from place to place we got back to Perth and had a drink at the Skinned Grape in Northbridge, I had a lovely glass for Pinot Grigio from Margaret River (on our to do list) before heading back to Judi and Arthur's. 

Next day we retreated back to the beach, but unfortunately it was still overcast. This time we cycled.

I was quite chilly and my book wasn't occupying me so I collected lots of shells and formed a pattern on Nath's chest.

Even though it was ridiculously overcast and I was even chilly, we later discovered how burnt Nath has gotten, which we both found quite funny as I was lying there covered in towels as I was cold.

Finally we woke up the next day and the sun was shining. Obviously we headed straight for my favourite destination, the beach. 

With the sun shining, could this be more perfect? 

We were more aware today so Nath coated himself in factor 30 and wore a tshirt and a hat most of the time. This was finally the day where we also went swimming. It was cold to start with, but as soon as we got in, it was beautiful. We didn't really want to get out, until I swallowed a mouthful of water.

We felt altogether quite tropical, as we had bough watermelon along with our picnic. 

Once the wind picked up a bit, we headed to a sheltered, shaded area where we got our first treat, an ice cream (you've got to remember we are on a budget). 

Anyway, when we later got home we discovered Nathan had burnt again and I

Had not, despite me wearing half his factor. 

I realise this is an extremely long blog post. I will keep my future ones a bit shorter. 

Xoxo

Singapore (day 2,3&4) - Marina Bay, Zoo, Raffles Place & Sentosa Island

Day 2 started with us missing our alarm and over sleeping meaning our plan to visit the zoo was not possible anymore. We didn't let this phase us though as Saturday was another day.

Instead we got the local bus into town and then caught the MRT to Marina Bay. Yet again there is a huge (very posh) shopping centre here, complete with an indoor river where you can get a boat ride. But the outdoor area is amazing. You've got the huge skyscrapers, including the Marina Bay hotel (which is incredible in itself), the reservoir, the double helix bridge and the gardens. And at night it's even better. 

It was a super hot day and we soon found ourselves in need of water and food so we headed to the food court. Where Nath had chicken cutlets and rice and I had a sandwich. Once fully refueled we headed towards the other side of the Marina Bay hotel to the gardens, which were recommended to me by Lauren. They were pretty incredible to be honest, we only wish we had more time to spend there.

After a long hot day exploring, we were ready for a swim. So we headed back, ended up playing a very sweaty game of tennis before a long swim. That evening we were so tired, we decided to eat in and we had an amazing curry with roti and spinach with Nick and Vicki before watching Crazy Stupid Love (a film) where I instantly fell asleep.

After a good 10 hours sleep for me, we woke up early and went straight to the Singapore Zoo (the world's best apparently) and it certainly lived up to this. We saw soo many animals: rhinos, elephants, giraffes, many different monkeys (lemurs, orangutans, baboons, chimps and some very strange-faced ones), lots of snakes, meerkats, tapirs, lions, white tiger and lots of others. We also got to see an elephant show which was excellent. 

The zoo is huge and after managing to see everything, our feet were tired. I'm not sure I'm quite as fit as I thought. 

That evening Nick and Vicki took us to The Raffles Place, where we went right to the top to the tallest Al Fresco bar in the world, Altitude. Nath had a Mojito and I had a Lychee Martini. The view over the whole city was incredible and we were in complete awe.

Marina Bay and the hotel.

After being completely wowed by this, Nick and Vicki took us to Mozza, a pizza place in the Marina Bay shopping centre and we had the most odd yet most delicious pizzas. All in all a fantastic day.

The following day, was sadly our last day in Singapore. We went for brunch with Nick, Vicki and Bea and Tilly (the two most adorable little girls, aged 2 and 3) to Sentosa Island Beach Club.

Nath had Eggs Benedict and I had Blueberry Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Delicious! 

It was great to watch the girls so comfortable in the water. It's funny how they have so much energy and everything is so interesting!! 

Later we headed back to the condo, where Nath and I did some drawing with Tilly whilst Bea slept and then we had a quick swim before wishing everyone our farewells and heading to the airport. We were sad to say goodbye having had a fantastic time in Singapore and been truly  spoilt by Nick and Vicki.

Xoxo

Singapore (day 1) - Rain, Orchard Street & Singapore Slings

We arrived in Singapore 2 hours earlier than expected, so after almost 24 hours travelling we jumped in a cab and headed to Nick and Vicki's condo. 

We had the friendliest cab driver who pointed out all the sights, and taught us all about life Singapore including the fact that you can't keep a car longer than 10 years, and it is very rare to be able to extend this. Once a car has reached 10 years of age it is either scrapped or sent to Malaysia. From our journey we also noticed that everything looked clean and shiny and there were lots of trees lining the payments. 

Nick and Vicki live in a lovely complex on outskirts of town in an area called Bukit Timah which backwards is a bit like Timbuktu. The condo itself is very light and spacious with very high ceilings. 

After a steak for dinner, (start as we mean to go on) we headed straight for bed.

The following day, our first full day in Singapore. We woke up leisurely, had a spot of Waitrose branded cereal (from Nick's parents) and headed straight for the complex gym. Don't judge us for gyming on holiday, we're on a health kick! It felt a lot cooler in the gym than outside but we soon found out it wasn't. We both did a short cycle and a 10 minute run and we couldn't cope. Sweat poring off us and we both felt horrific. We then did a couple more exercises before calling it a day and heading for the complex pool which was very refreshing after practically working out in a sauna.

At lunchtime, Vicki had work in the city so she dropped us in with an MRT pass (equivalent to a Oyster card for London tubes), a Singapore phone with her an Nick's numbers on and a couple of maps and sent us on our way. Luckily she also gave us a umbrella, because no sooner had she dropped us off did it start pouring. We quickly headed undercover to Liang Court (one of many shopping malls) and had a brief look around before realising we were starving. We stopped at a place called Tim Yak Toast (they love their toast) and Nath had Bean Paste chicken with rice and I had chicken curry with rice and we both got complementary kopi c (word for sweet coffee in Singaporian (not sure if this is a word)) which has condensed milk it in. This came to $13 for the both of us, so £6.50. And the BBC said it was the most expensive country in the world hmm...

Still the rain was yet to stop, so we being true Brits we braved it and walked along the river and all the buildings were different and so colourful.

We even caught a glimpse of the Marina Bay hotel.

It continued to rain, so we hopped on the MRT to Orchard Street, famous for copious amounts of shopping malls and to say it is insane is an understatement. Topshops on every corner, Chanel shops the size of Harrods in London and it's crazy because everytime you walk past a high end shop the size of Harrods there are always people inside them buying things. Money really is no object here (except for us). 

We then walked all the way back to where Vicki dropped us off, so our poor feet were very sore.

For dinner, Nick and Vicki treated us to the most delicious Italian meal at Latteria Mozzarella Bar, located on Duxton Road in China Town. Where they had around 10 different types of mozzarella, basically my dream. The food was incredible. 

Afterwards Nath and I headed off for our first Singapore Sling which we had in The Screening rooms rooftop baron Club Street (recommended by Vicki).

So I think it's safe to say we had a pretty packed first day and we absolutely cream crackered at the end of it.

Xoxo