Last Post!

Day 36
We arrived in Singapore sometime in the afternoon, though it felt like morning. We had one night booked in at our hotel so we went there and made up for all the sleep we didn’t get on the plane.

Day 37
After waking up to the hot and sticky weather of Singapore we decided to have a wander around the Singapore zoo, as we had free tickets. After catching the MRT and a bus there we finally arrived and started to wander. There weren’t a lot of animals that we wanted to see, so we just wandered around and I took photographs. Before leaving the zoo we went and had a look at one particular animal, the polar bear. Mum and I were both curious as to what kind of enclosure they would have the polar bear in, as the weather in Singapore was very hot and humid, weather quite the opposite of the Arctic. The polar bear was kept in a outdoor enclosure with cold water for it to swim in, but they had a air conditioned room for it to lounge in.

After the zoo we went back to our hotel and headed to the airport. We had about 2 hours to waste before our flight left so we did some shopping, mum bought a beautiful pearl necklace, and I bought some shoes! After the shopping we boarded our flight, which unfortunately had lots of babies on it, so neither of us got any sleep.

Day 38
Back in Australia today! After arriving at Sydney airport we collected our baggage and went through customs. As we had bought some cheap saffron in Hungary we were worried if we could get that through, luckily after explaining that it was commercially packed in a glass jar, we were allowed through, and they didn’t even check through our suitcases. Mum had arranged to hire a car so that we wouldn’t have to wait around the airport for hours waiting for a flight, or bus back to Canberra. As we were both tired, though especially for mums sake, we called in at our cousins house in Sydney and had a sleep and a shower, it felt wonderful! I slept the entire way back to Canberra and when we arrived home I was excited to see my dog, Benji, who had clearly not forgotten me as he ran out and gave me his version of a hug, which nearly made me fall over.

Last few days!

Day 33
Another rest day today, we went to church in the morning and then rested during the afternoon. As we’re getting towards the end of our trip, mum and I are pretty tired.

Day 34
Our last full day in Vienna, we’re all going back to reality soon. Today we just decided to do the last few things that we really needed to. We got up and took the kids to school then headed off to Metro which is a big store that sells different products to business owners or people with special permission (such as a diplomats wife). They had some brilliant stuff there, my favourite being a 5kg jar of Nutella. Next we went into the city and just looked around, before going to the Hotel Sachre for some of the famous Sachre Torte. After wandering the shops for a little while longer we went and had a traditional Austrian lunch of savoury pancakes. After we picked the kids up we headed to the Prater; a big park filled with rides and little amusement stalls. Me and Mia went on two roller coasters and then on the dodgem cars 5 times! On the way home we told Charlie that it was our last day with them, his bottom lip stuck out and started trembling and then he asked ‘Mummy, why do they have to leave?’

Day 35
A sad day today, we’re leaving to go back home, in the morning we decided to do a little more shopping and just spend time with Bindi. As per my request, we went to the Lindt shop again and we tried some Christmas chocolate. It’s chocolate, with a hazelnut filling that has a hint of cinnamon and coriander to make it taste ‘Christmassy’, it was surprisingly good! While we were looking for a bag to take all of our chocolate back in, we had a look at the backpacks, thinking that they might be cheaper, it was shocking to see that the cheap ones were around 80 euro each! We decided to have a quick look for formal shoes, not expecting to find any as most shops were just selling winter shoes, and we found a beautiful pair of lacy gold shoes that were made in Milan (apparently the ‘Shoe Capital’). After our shopping we went to the airport and flew to Frankfurt, where we would then continue on to Singapore.