Franz Joseph's icy welcome

Monday 1st February 2016

The drive from Punakaiki to Greymouth is supposed to be one of the ten best drives in the world, and it is definitley the best I have seen. There are green forested hills on one side, and sandy beaches with rocky outcrops on the other side. The road winds around the coast and the speed limit frequently drops to twenty five kilometers per hour, you don't want to meet a big timber truck on one of those bends!
 In Greyport we avoided the fast food outlets on the highway, and stopped at a high street cafe for a flat white and a BLT. The food was so good we got some take away sandwiches for lunch.
There are several deer farms by the road, but we have seen surprisingly few sheep so far.
The village of Franz Joseph services the tourists visiting the glacier, named by the German explorer Julius von Haast after the Austrian emperor.
The glacier is a forty minute walk from the car park next to the river that flows from its base. It is one of the few glaciers in the world that terminates in sub tropical rain forest. We walked to within half a mile of its base dressed in tee shirts and shorts. It isn't safe to go closer due to falling rocks and ice, and people have been killed doing so.
The glacier has retreated miles since it was discovered in 1867, but is still an impressive sight flowing from the top of the valley. It is bluey white in color and shone brightly in the sunshine like a great nylon shirt washed in Persil Automatic! The are some lovely pictures of Victorian ladies in long skirts and big hats walking on the glacier, even then it was a big draw for tourists.
We bought walking shoes especially for our trip to see Franz Joseph, but there war plenty of muppets who thought at flip flops were appropriate footwear for walking up steep loose gravel paths.
There is a thriving business in helicopter flights to visit the glacier. The landing field is close to the hotel, so we went to have a look at them taking off and landing. There was a swarm of eight of them, ferrying tourists for flights over the Franz Joseph and neighboring Fox glaciers. One crashed at the Fox last year killing the pilot and two English tourists.
Dinner was at Alice and May's restaurant overlooking the snowy mountain peaks, a lamb shank has never tasted better!

Scenic coastline

Julie and Franz

Tim and flat man

Mountains from Franz Joseph village

South and west to the Pancake Rocks

Sunday 31st January

Our next destination after leaving Nelson was Punakaiki, home to the famous (in New Zealand) Pancake Rocks. To be honest it doesn't sound much of a draw, but it is a handy stopping off place on our progress to the west coast.

We took Highway 6 through flat fertile valleys with plenty of cows, and forested mountain sides. Some of the forests are cultivated pines, which are periodically clear felled to leave naked scars on the mountains. In other places the native forest has been left, or has regenerated after mining has previously cleared the trees. The native mix of local beech, tree fern, pines and palms is dense and lush  and rushes with the white noise of insect and songs of birds. I love it, I can't get enough of the rain forests!

The small town of Murchinson had a good caff, a not-so-good museum and a useful petrol station. A few miles beyond is the Longest Swing Bridge in New Zealand. It's a foot bridge suspended between cables across the fast flowing Buller river, originally built for gold miners crossing to look for gold in the river gravel. It's narrow and springy, and a bit of a squeeze getting past people half way across. 

I took the fast return trip on a seated zip wire, which was fun and about as close to an adenaline ride I shall get this holiday.

We followed the Buller river all the way to the mouth at Westport, a coal mining town on the coast. It has a broad sandy beach scattered with drift wood, and a line of camper vans facing the sea. It also has a splendid Liquormart where we bought some cold Sauviignon Blanc and canned G&T, essential supplies on a long journey without pubs. 

The coast road from Westport to Punakaiki provided a succession of beautiful views of coast and forested limestone cliffs, with slight haze created by the waves crashing onto deserted beaches.

Our hotel at Punakaiki is almost on the beach, and as I sit here I can here the sea a couple of hundred metres away. But if there is a tsunami we are stuffed.

Unwisely we opted to eat at the Punakaiki Tavern, a nearby pub with a sign up on the wall saying that dope smoking and swearing would not be tolerated. That should have warned us about the quality of the establishment. I had the worst sausage and mash I have ever eaten. The mash was reconstituted Smash, and the sausages were practically vegan, like tofu turds. Julie had "hot smoked salmon" that tasted of kippers. The Punakaiki Tavern is truly a shitty shitty pub, don't go there!

The Pancake Rocks is a limestone formation by the sea made up of thin layers of rock like a stack of American pancakes. They were definitely the crepe rocks or galette rocks. Where they were eroded by the sea they looked like oversized clints and grikes from Malham Cove. The Chinese tourists looked very impressed, which is nice.

So we comforted ourselves by watching the sun descend into the sea and drank a tin of gin and tonic

Punakaiki sunset shots

Journey to the Centre of New Zealand

Saturday 30th January

Nelson is a small city with its own cathedral on a hill and container port on Tasman Bay. It has an enviable reputation of being one of the sunniest places in New Zealand. Our hotel, the Trailways, is situated on the Maitai river which runs through the town. It has a pathway along side it that we walked to the Botanic Gardens playing field where then first game of Rugby was played in New Zealand. 

A zig zag path leads from the playing field through forest up a hill to the Centre of New Zealand, which is a trigonometric point with a wonderful view of Nelson and its surroundings

It isn't exactly the centre, but is the centre of the most central district in NZ, but is near enough. We trod carefully coming down from the hill, since Nelson is an special place in Harness history.we  were in Neslon British Columbia in 2012 when Julie slipped coming down from a hill called Pulpit Rock, broke her leg and had to be evacuated by helicopter!

After a lunch of sushi we drove to the local beach where I took a dip and Julie complained about getting sand in her iPad, a very modern sort of complaint. I just got a sandy bum, a very ancient sort of complaint.

The State Cinema is a lovely Art Deco building that has been converted into a multiplex. We saw Brooklyn, which was the best film I have seen in a long while. It is beautifully shot and acted, and very funny in parts, a real work of art.

I cooked my own dinner for a change. It was a steak that came with a block of basalt which had been heated to four hundred degrees. I cut bits off my steak and cooked them on the hot rock. I didn't have to cook my own chips and veg, that would be a step too far!

Nelson is a lovely town that I could spend more time in.  But onwards and southwards, we must press on to Punakaika!

View from the Centre of New Zealand

Selfie on the beach

The wonderful State cinema

Found a good pub in Nelson!

Friday 29th January

This morning we took the Interislander ferry from Wellington across the Cook Strait to Picton on the South Island. We picked up a fresh car from Avis, a Toyota Corolla exactly the same as last one! 

Choosing scenic and bendy over straight and less interesting, we took Queen Charlotte Drive towards Nelson on the northern coast of South Island. 

The road hugs the coastal cliffs and is very windy and uppy downy. The views over the coast are spectacular and reminiscent of the "fiords" in Montenegro, forested mountains running down  into narrow bays. The steep road took us almost up into the clouds, and the pine clad mountain look like Scotland.

Nelson is a pretty town at the mouth of the river Maitai running into Tasman Bay. The central area is about five hundred metres square, so it's very walkable. It has a well deserved reputation as the craft beer capital of New Zealand, so naturally we had to try them out.

The Free House is a free house, which is not tied to any brewery so it has many different beers. It has a similar vibe to the Sussex Arms in Twickenham, and is very popular. The Cassels bitter I tried tastes like Pride or Doombar, but costs about six quid a pint! In Trafalgar Street Macs  Brewhouse drew us in with their offer of a drink and burger for twenty dollars, which is under ten quid. Their Gold lager is very drinkable and their burger a savoury masterpiece, with crisp golden fries. Bloody hell Im getting fat, but it's worth it!

Nelson is a city because it has a small cathedral and a bishop, although he wasn't in the pub this evening. If you like good beer and good food, it's a great place to visit.

The view from Queen Charlotte Drive

Giant bugs in th Free House pub

Macs Brewhouse

Touring Windy Wellington

Thursday 28th January

The temperature today was about seventeen degrees, and the sky was grey and cloudy, just like and English summer.  We took a walking tour of Wellington with a pleasant by earnest lady who showed us the major sites of the centre of Wellington. There are some nice old buildings, but lots of ugly modem ones as well. Many old ones have been shaken down by earthquakes or taken down because they aren't safe in an earthquake. The most interesting building is the old Parliament, which is the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere.

The guide did witter on a bit, so two hours was enough education. The cable car on LambtonnQuay took us up the hill to the botanic gardens (I do love a good botanic garden) and we wandered through Norfolk Island Pines, Monteray Pines and Redwoods to find a top notch caff in the rose garden where we had tea in a conservatory out of the drizzle. The walk back to the waterfront took us through the cemetery, which has been bisected by a motorway, about four thousand skeletons were removed to make way for the road, 

The most colourful street is Cuba Street, which is full of trendy cafes, bars and ethnic restaurants. There are still lots of Victorian buildings surviving there, although some are a bit tatty.mthey make up for it by being painted in bright colours and with murals. It has a feel of Camden or the North Laines of Brighton, but not so crowded. We were spoiled for choice looking for somewhere for dinner, and chose the KK Restaurant, which serves Malay food. The food was fantastic, and really cheap, I'm now a big fan of eating out in Wellington. 

At th top of the cable car ride

The national dish

Colourful buildings on Cuba street

Why does always rain on me?

Wednesday 28th January

We left a sunny Taupo and headed south down Highway One towards Wellington, five hours of driving and a six hour journey with breaks. Driving is easy in New Zealand, the speed limit is 100 kph and the roads are never really busy compared to the UK.

Our journey took us through some stunning countryside and spectacular views of volcanoes. At least that's what the guide book said, all we saw was lots of mist and very heavy rain! We did catch a glimpse of Mount Ruapehu through the clouds and on the the distant snowy peak we saw Frodo and Sam Gamgee being pursued by Orcs.

We passed through several small towns, which look more like rural America than England. They have a strip of shops and fast food outlets along the highway, and will never win any prizes for outstanding architecture. Corrugated iron is a major feature of many buildings, even civic buildings and churches have galvanised roofs. They even make sculptures out of it beside the roads. Taihape, a small town halfway to Wellington, has a sculpture of a big welly boot beside the road, since it is the self proclaimed gumboot capital of the world! 

Since we were in a hurry and hungry, breakfast was at MacDonalds and lunch at KFC, please pray for our souls. It's hard to find muesli and fruit when you are driving with a mission.

Arriviving in Wellington at about two o'clock, we checked into the Ibis in the city centre. Wellington is much smaller than Auckland, and I immediate liked it. The waterfront is only a short walk away from our Inis hotel on Featherstone Street, and the old harbour buildings have been converted into restaurants and the city museum. The main attraction on the harbour is Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. It is a modern well laid out and fascinating museum. There is a new exhibition to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of Gallipoli, a battle where many thousands of ANZACs died. Huge realistic sculptures of the soldiers tell the story, they look so realistic  it is very moving.

After getting our fill of facts we went to be entertained by watching the Revenant. The bear attack scene is too realistic, I couldn't watch It all! We left the cinema exhilarated and exhausted and hungry. Walking down Willis Street we found the Great India restaurant. I had a Bhuna Josh and Julie had a lamb Birynani, and it was THE BEST INDIAN MEAL I HAVE EVER EATEN. No doubt about it, the best.

A great start to our visit to Wellington.

Wellington harbour city centre

Mural showing the Jolly Fisherman and his girlfriend

Hot and stinky country

Tuesday 26th January

Rotorua is a tourist resort by a lake in central North Island. Its primary attraction are the volcanic activity parks, where there are pools of bubbling mud, smoking fumaroles and lively geysers. We visited a park in the suburbs of Rotorua called Te Puia, which is also a Maori cultural centre. The volcanic stuff was quite good, but not that exciting to be honest, bubbling mud doesn't do it for me. We skipped the cultural show, having overdosed on ethnic dancing in Vietnam.

Back on the road again we drove through more hilly Telly Tubby countryside towards Taupo, which is another resort town on the shores of Lake Tapau. The lake (according to the guide books) is the same size as the island of Singapore. Singapore has a population of four million, which is the same a New Zealand. That illustrates how few people there are in New Zealand, four million in a country the size of Britain.

A few miles outside of Taupo is the Huka Falls on the river Wairekei, where 220,000 litres of water (that's 220 tonnes) crash over every second. The water is unusually blue, so the falls are quite a spectacle. The other great thing about it is that it's free to view. Result!

Taupo it's self appears to have been built in the seventies on a grid pattern, the architecture is truly dismal. It's full of restaurants and motels, and is a popular holiday destination, and the views over the huge lake are gorgeous.

 After checking into the Suncourt Hotel (it's actually a motel) we walked over the road to a narrow beach skirting the lake. Julie settled down to read and I got my goggles on and went for a swim. The water was clear and warm (ish) but with out anything interesting to see. The lake is supposed to be a trout fishing paradise, but they kept out of my way. I did find two golf balls on the bottom of the lake which I shall keep until I take up golf. Later I found the source of the balls. There were half a dozen young men whacking golf balls off a green carpeted platform trying to hit a pontoon floating in the lake. The were entertainingly bad, and golf balls went flying in all directions.  Julie asked if I wanted a go, but I wasn't going to make a tit of myself in front of lots of people. Hitting balls in straight lines has never been one of my core skills.

Diamond geyser

Going off alarmingly

Huka falls

Hobbiton and forest giants

Tuesday 26th January

After a hearty breakfast we loaded up the Corolla again and headed south down Highway One towards Rotorua. It should have been a straight forward journey down Highway One, but I got a bit lost somewhere in the countryside near Hamilton. In that part of central North Island it looks like the Lincolnshire fens, flat without many direction sight.

We are both fans of LOTR and the Hobbit films, so we went Hobbiton, or at least the set of Hobbiton near Matamata on  the Alexander family's far. The country is peculiarly hilly, many small hills with dry valleys between, Peter Jackson thought it looked like Tolkein's description of the Shire.

Hobbiton attracts about a thousand people a day and according to our guide about a third of them have neither read the books or seen the films! A coach took twenty five visitors from the reception to the set, and David the guide showed us round the set. For the original LOTR films, the hobbit holes on the set  were built out of plywood and polystyrene. When Peter Jackson filmed the Hobbit series, there were reconstructed in proper wood, stone and brick. None of the holes has a proper interior, and the chimneys are kept smoking using fish smokers brining manuka wooed chips. The village did look very beautiful in its setting, and the Green Dragon pub and water ill were freshly thatched.

The day was very hot, and I had to shelter under an umbrella to stop myself from getting more frazzled! It's a hard life being a semi-ginger.

At the end of the tour we were given a drink in the Greeen Dragon, which is a proper cozy pub inside. I have an excellent Amber ale, and Julie had a cider.

Rather than head for Mount Doom, our journey took us next to Rotorura, a tourist town on the lake Rotorua. Having spent a long time in the car, I wanted to chill for a while. Our first stop was Lake Takitapu, for a swim and watch speed boat bombing round the lake like mad wasps. A couple of miles back towards Rotorua is a park described simply as "the Redwoods", but that does not give it justice. It is a forest where the government tried out different species of trees to see which grew best. The Californian Redwoods did spectacularly well, and now there is six hectares of massively tall trees, interspersed with tree ferns. The trees stand up to seventy two metres tall and one hundred and sixty centimetres in diameter.

What made the forest more special was the noise of the cicadas, which sounded like an invisible high pitched buzz, the loudest bugs Inhave ever heard!

I love big trees, so for me it was the highlight of another fantastic day in New Zealand.

Stooping like Gandalf in a hobbit hole

The Hobbiiton watermill

In the redwoods forest

Toilets as a tourist attraction

Sunday 24th January

On the road south between Bay of Islands and Aukland, there is a small town called Kawakawa. It is famous because of its remarkable public toilets decorated by Austrian artist Frederick Hundertwasser. Imagine if Gaudi decided to build bogs instead of a cathedral, and that is what you would get. They are elaborately decorated with mosaic and lit by bottles set into walls like stained glass. In the street nearby thee is an elaborate lamp post with bronze hands and feet holding it up.

I may build a homage to Sagrada Familia in my own garden when I have the time. 

At Whangariei we had a quick walk around the wharf which is called the Town Basin. I had to cover up, having got sunburn during my trip to Urupukapauk. My 50 factor sun location branded by the Cancer Society of New Zealand, wasn't much use at all! I won't be putting any money into their collection tins.

Our journey took us along Highway Number One which is the main road through North Island, and is like a decent A road in the UK. The annoying thing about it is the lack of places to stop. There are many beautiful vistas along the highway, but you can't pull over the car to admire them at leisure. The woodland along the road is full of Norfolk Island pine trees and tree ferns, exotic species at home but as common as elder and sycamore here.

We drove back to Aukland across the Harbour Bridge and found the Rendezvous Hotel again remarkably easily. After dumping our gear in the room, we walked half a mile to the Sky Tower. It's the highest free standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and looks like a prop from the Thunderbirds. 

The views from the top are wonderful, and you can see ocean on both sides of Aukland and all of the huge harbour. The thirteen extinct volcanoes in the city stick out like big green pimples, many of them are parks towering above the surrounding city.

The central business district is probably only about a mile square (like the City) and the rest is endless miles of suburbs.  A third of the population of New Zealand live in Aukland, and it is still growing. It is not a beautiful city in terms of the layout and buildings, but it's location is superb!

The arty fatty toilets in Kawakawa

Looking down through the glass floor of the Skytower

Aukland Harbour

Julie at sunset with death rays coming out of her head

Skytower from the Viaduct Basin

Urupakaka - island in the sun

Yesterday afternoon I went for a swim on the nearest beach after our return from Russell. I asked the guy at the kayak hire hut where I should go for some good snorkelling. "Urupakaka"  he said, "yer what?" I said, "Urupakaka" he repeated more slowly, and Sao we should get the ferry to Otahei Bay.

This morning we got up early and took the Explorer ferry for 40 minutes to the largest island in the Bay, the aforementioned Urupakaka. We alighted onto a wooden pier leading to a a beautiful lawn with a large and graceful cafe, serving damned fine Kiwi coffee. In the 1920's the rich and famous would stay in bungalows for £350 a week, at a time when most men probably earned about £3 a week. The author Zane Grey started a Marlin fishing club there, and his rich and famous mates joined him their. 

Today it is a nature reserve with camping sites at a number of beaches on small bays around the hilly green island. It is stunningly beautiful, and is been gradually restored to how it was before people arrived. Imported predators including rats, cats, dogs and ferrets have been trapped and terminated with extreme prejudice, so that the local bird population can breed safely.

Following the sign posts we went over a grassy hill past contented sheep to Cable Bay. At the bottom of the hill was a small campsite of a dozen or so tents on a meadow leading to the shingly beach.

I changed and waded in with my mask and snorkel. Julie got wet up to her ankles and decided it was too cold. The water was shallow, clear and warm (ish) but with no fish, crabs or even shrimps. The other end of the beach was murky and I couldn't see more than a foot under water. But I did disturb a ray about seventy centimetres across, which soon swam off.

The birds there make extraordinary noises, like Brian Eno noodling on his synthesiser. Local oystercatchers waded in the shallows looking for morsels to eat, and peep loud lying if you get close.

I found the skull of a bird with a bony crest, but haven't identified it yet. If anyone can identify it, let me know!

With its green, surf-ringed islands, blue sky, blue sea, the Bay of Islands is a  beautiful and special place. It certainly beats Torbay.

Waterfront Hotel in Paihia

Urupakaka, Otahei Bay

Strange bird skull

On the way to Cable Bay

Bay of Islands

Thursday 21st January

Slept like a log last night, I think at last I have got over the jet lag! We ate peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, packed and set off to the east coast and the Bay of Islands. The Bay has 144 islands, and was first charted by Captain Cook. Our hotel is the Waterfront resort in Paihia, which does what it says on the label. Paihia is pronounced "pie here" which is very appropriate considering the kiwi affection for pies. They also love their "fush and chups ", and it shows!

We took the ferry over to Russell, the first setllement in New Zealand originally occupied by whalers, sealers, and assorted ne'er do wells in the early nineteenth century. Now it is very quaint and is like a New England seaside town.As I tap my iPad I am drinking Oh Brother Pale Ale, a craft beer from West Aukland. It is very delicious, with a mango flavour. It was almost as good a Naked Ladies, my usual favourite in Twickers.

Our day was relaxed, made more so by the Oh Brother at lunch time. Our accommodation is very modern self catering, and includes a dishwasher, washing machine, giant fridge and two tellys! We have put them all to good use, and the fridge has tinned G&T and Pinot Gris in it now chilling nicely.

I had a dip in the sea which is warm and brown due to the swell, so like swimming in gravy!

The beach at Russell

...and relax.

Hones bar in Russell

North from Auckland

Thursday 21st January

We flew overnight from Singapore by Quantas, eight hours to Brisbane, changed planes in Austraila (another red dot to put on our map of the world) and then four more hours to Aukland. According to Rainman, Quantas have never crashed, but they probably haven't won any prizes for their food and service either.

A minibus took us to the Rendezvous hotel, which looks remarkably similar to last hotel in Singapore!

Feeling horribly tired we trudged to the harbour and had a paella and a glass of wine before returning to the Rendezvous and hitting the sack at ten.

Our body clocks are totally stuffed up, so we awoke at four this morning. The hotel did an awesome breakfast of everything you can think of. One of our choices looked like yoghurt with oats, which is a "healthy choice" at home. The chef replenishing the supply told us it was actually muesli with cream, no wonder it tasted bloody good. Call me Mr Blobby.

The car we collected from Avis on Nelson Street is a silver automatic Toyota Corolla, very easy to drive but unremarkable. We headed over the bridge and went north up Highway 1. At lunch time we stopped at Matakohe for the Kauri Museum, which was very enjoyable and interesting.

Kauri are giant trees, the second largest in the world. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries they were harvested for their excellent timber, which was used to build some to the top racing yachts. Thousands of years ago many kauri were killed and fell into swamp were their timber and resin were preserved. Swamp timber is still extracted from the ground today and can be used, some of it is thirty thousand years old! The fossilised resin formed a type of Amber which was extracted from the earth and exported to make paint, varnish and linoleum. It was once a major industry across the Northlands, and many Dalmatian people (from modern Croatia) dug out the resin.

After stuffing our faces with pies and cake in the caff (I'm soooo weak) we drove further north to find the kauri trees in Trounson Park and Waipua Forest. They are absolutely enormous, I mean seriously huge, like a Plane Tree on steroids. We visited  Tane Mahuta, the largest surviving kauri, and it felt quite spiritual, like entering a cathedral. Driving through the forest the two lane road became one lane in order to pass between two monster trees. The forests are also full of magnificent tree ferns and palms, giving them a prehistoric feel.

Our final destination was Opononi, a hamlet on the shores of Hokianga Harbour. Our hotel has stunning views of giant dunes over the water, hundreds of feet high.

What a wonderful day! I'm beginning to get used to rain forests.

Aukland harbour, near the Maratime Museum

Julie admiring foliage in Trounson

Tim and part of a two thousand year old kauri tree

The view from our room in Oponomi (with thumb)

A walk in the woods

Tuesday 19 January

Having been been raised on David Attenborough documentaries and having a love of trees in general, I have always wanted to walk in a rainforest. I achieved my objective, with knobs on, at Singapore Botanic Garden!

They have six acres of virgin rainforest with giant trees, strangler figs, lianas, the lot! It was like Pandora, but on a smaller scale and no giant blue people on dragons. It was very tropical and raining, so we got the full experience. If I bump into Sir David when he pops into the Roebuck on Richmond Hill for a pint, I can talk to him like a proper explorer who knows his Jahore Fig from his African Mahogany.

Julie in the rainforest between showers

We travelled by underground today, and it look like the London Underground in twenty years time. You could each your lunch off the spotless spacious platforms, and the tickets cost a quid to go anywhere. Singapore is clean, prosperous, efficient, and very different to the rest of south east Asia. There are also posters on underpasses warning that if you riot you will be sent to jail and caned. So DONT RIOT!

We also did a worthy but dull museum is SE Asia, lots of statues of Buddha and Shiva and Tang Dynasty pots. But it was nice and cool and they had a lovely cafe, with excellent chocolate and peanut butter cake.

I'm now at Changi airport, where uncle Bill helped rebuild the runway seventy years ago. I don't think he would recognise it.

This jungle has been here fo 50 million years (possibly)

Trekking around Singapore

We took off late from LHR because they had to de-ice the wings of our Emirates A380. There was a thin covering of snow at T3, and we were ready for our tropical break!

The flights to Dubai and then on to Singapore were long and dull, but I did get to watch two excellent films, The Program and The Walk. But factually based films starting with The. The food and wine on Emirates was mighty fine, if I could be bothered I would "like" them on Facebook.

It was thirty centigrade when we arrived at Changi airport, about thirty degrees warmer than London!

A Mercedes cab took us to the swish Marina Mandarin hotel. We are about half way up on the sixteenth  floor.

After a thorough freshen up we stepped forth into the humid heat. Singapore is super clean and tidy, and feels like a giant version of Canary Wharf. It is very different from Bangkok and Jogjakarta; no motobikes, no street food and cars actually stop at crossings!

Walking round the Marina Bay through numerous shopping malls we arrived at the  Marina Bay Sands hotel. It is made of of three giant towers and what looks like a ship parked on the top, which is in fact a viewing platform. After paying twenty three dollars each (there's about two dollar to the pound) we're whisked up to the fifty sixth floor. 

Jesus it was hot up there! But the view was truly awesome, across the bay. To the city, and out to sea with scores of ships waiting to enter the port.

After walking back to the hotel we we hot and knackered, so had a nap for two hours, bliss! Refreshed and re-energised, out we went again to walk to Chinatown through the towers of the central business district. The old buildings and hustle and bustle of the lively streets of Chinatown felt much more like Asia. There are a huge range of eating places o choose from, so we had some simple fried rice and fried noodles for dinner, having already gorged on excellent Emirates food.

The city centre is small enough to walk round, if you have the time and the inclination. But the heat does suck the energy out of you! Singapore is definitely the cleanest city I have ever been to.

Heathrow breakfast

From a schadenfreuder point of view, waking up to snow on the day we fly to Singapore is quite result! Our cab arrived at 5.30 am to take us to the airport, ten minutes early. Our unfeasibly cheerful Bat Cabs driver put our bags into the boot of an enormous silver Mercedes and whisked us through the falling snow to Terminal 3.

 Heathrow is a like a branch of Westfield with a runway attached, except everything is a bit more expensive. We decided not to stock up with Scotch or Chanel on the way to the departure lounge and headed straight to Eat for breakfast. My panini was adequate, and will keep me going until my Emirates breakfast in a couple of hours. I like airliner food, it's always better than the miserable "salad in a box" I eat for lunch every bloody day at work.

Next stop Dubai, the worldwide Capitol of Excess. I will probably double my annual carbon footprint by stopping over for a few hours.

My snowy Jazz at 5.30 this morning

Not left yet!

"Have you done all your packing yet ?"
No I haven't done any packing yet.
I have two days before we fly to roll up my clothes and stuff them in a suitcase. My limit is 30 Kg, which a heck of a lot of tee shirts and shorts.
Since we will be travelling in an English speaking country with proper shops, if I haven't got something I will buy it there.
The toughest decision I have to make is which programmes to download onto my iPad from iPlayer before I go. It won't work in New Zealand, so I will need to take some quality viewing with me.