Recent trip to Singapore Australia and Bangkok. back to main page

I'm aware some of the members have revisited the far East and have probably visited the same places but I thought I'd put together a few trip details with some pics for those who may want to see how things have changed (especially Singapore).

First stop was Singapore for 3days (hotel Miramar). What a truly multicultural place it now is. Everybody seems to get along and even though the density is somewhat overwhelming it works. The MRT shuffles people about at a very low cost,the street markets are still there not too far from the designer shops and there are restaurants galore. You can still eat for 2dollars and get big-eats for that too!Here are a few photos I took. (click on image to enlarge)

1.The hotel has a ship like structure on top with a glass-bottomed pool so you can look down 200metres while you swim...lovely.

2.Next pic is Raffles at xmas. The long bar has been moved to the back so the tourists don't mingle with the guests.

3.Third pic is Clarkes Quay where it all happens (so I'm told)

4.Last one is Robertsons Quay.

5.View from that bloody big hotel.

6.Me and the missus.(she is soooooh lucky to have me)

I took lots of photos there and as you can see things have changed a little.Bugis Street is just a tacky market now,no matelots just oil-workers and no ladyboys either although a guide says theyre still there but not quite as obvious.

Next Stop Melbourne

Three days later we went to Melbourne I had to buy some flight socks (it's the age you know).

I won't dwell on this City other that to say it's a beautiful one for the most part. The tram system is works well and if they'd reduce the prices for beer a little I'd like it even more. 8quid a small bottle!

We visited the old Melbourne gaol where Ned Kelly was hung (highlight of the trip for me as I love that sort of thing,must be the broken neck connection) couple of pics here.... click to enalrge.

1.View across the Yarra river from near the hotel.

2. Neds last drop.

Sydney

After 4 days in Melbourne we went on to Sydney where one has to do the bridge and opera house thing. More of an interest was the maritime museum, the place was huge with a varied display of all things marine and some things not. I managed to get on the "Vampire" by means of a Dainty keyring bribe. Well it was either that or 20dollars. the vampire is an Aussie built Daring class. Details here if you're not already familiar with this ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Vampire_(D11)

I had a good walk around although you can't go below which is for H&S reasons I imagine I took a lot of photos some of which are here.

(click to enlarge)

No trip to Oz is complete without the customary Koala and Wallaby thingies so we took a trip to the Blue mountains with a stop at the animal sanctuary.

After 4days in Sydney we hired a car and drove up the E Coast stopping at various places.

East Coast

First call driving up to Brisbane was Port Stephens. Probably the nicest place along the way (that we came across that is). The harbour is called Nelsons Bay and the beach or one of them is called shoal beach.

We stayed here for 2 days and had we known what was in store we would have stayed longer.

This truly is an idylic spot and I'd recommend it to anyone travelling along the route to stopover here.

Next call was Coffs Harbour, a bit disappointing after the previous call. When we arrived it was sunny and that first evening we got the first drops of rain which turned out to be the Queensland floods which I'm sure you've all seen on the news etc. I only took a couple of photos here as I left my camera in the motel.

Beach at Coffs Harbour.

The penultimate stay in Oz was Byrons bay (the hippie/surfer resort). We stayed here xmas eve and xmas day dining on sausage and mash from woolies and half a bottle of plonk. (don't ask)

The highlight was a long walk 4hours or more in a warm drizzle around Australias most easterly point. It was a brief period of relative dryness before the cyclone.

Leaving Byrons Bay we made our way up over swollen rivers and through driving rain to Brisbane here we met up with an old school pal.

Ged lives on Tambourine Mountain outside Brisbane and I imagine it's very beautiful. I say imagine because as I mentioned earlier we were caught in the cyclone so visibilty was poor to say the least.I would love to revisit someday soon and am assured of another warm welcome from Ged and his wife Kathy. They have a resident python in the loft space which keeps the vermin out (and me too) I can't publish a photo of the snake because it's a file format that doesn't seem to load up like the others.Never mind I'll work on it.

We left Australia on the 27th dec. and flew to Bangkok where my son lives and teaches. We had a most enjoyable stay there and I couldn't believe the traffic (see pic) There's a lot of poverty and affluence side by side as I'm sure there is in lots of other cities,it's just hard to understand.

1. view from hotel

2. check out the traffic

3. cockroaches frogs worms maggots and locusts

That's all folks hope you enjoyed some of it...................................