Jane and Mark down under

A tad draughty on the cruise around Milford Sound so normal sartorial standards for caps had to be amended............ PS Milford Sound  was missed by Cap'n Cook on his travels and found by a Welsh captain looking for safe anchorage in a storm. He named it after Milford Haven his home port in South Wales. It's a fjord not a sound. Fjords are formed by glaciers and sounds by rivers. Once NZ realized the error they decided to keep the name.

Superb day flew to Milford Sound in a Cessna 14 seater and took a cruise around the sound. Saw some local seals. Just beautiful. A World heritage site.

Yesterday morning’s jaunt was a scenic drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy…apparently some where near here they filmed bits of the Lord of the Rings..or the Hobbit…we can see why, it’s stunning! The scenery really is breathtaking, the roads are quiet and there’s also an excellent coffee at Glenorchy’s trading post!   There was rain yesterday afternoon…can you see the rainbow in this pic?   This is our view from the airbnb..

We arrived late afternoon and walked by Lake Wakatipu into town….a restorative glass was needed after a longer walk than we'd expected. Queenstown reminds us a lot of Banff in the Rockies

Sydney 25 Feb Thank you Sue  for a great tip...the Bronte to Bondi beach coastal walk is superb! Bondi beach is small I always thought it went for miles. Not a shark to be seen anywhere. Sydney is vibrant young population and multicultural with a big asian influence.

We had a lovely couple of days with   Sue and Gavin   in spectacular   Sydney!

We walked from our hotel around the Fort Canning hill a couple of times....lots of history and a contrast with the busy city. Mark visited the bunker where the battle for Singapore was controlled. Moving. We loved Singapore's botanic gardens...the orchid garden stands out. 

The long bar at Raffles - we were told that this green  contraption is for shaking multiple cocktails…

We were in  Singapore from 20 to 23 Feb – what an interesting place…but too hot for us! We’d been told that there’s always fireworks in Singapore…..this is the view from Boat Quay where we ate a couple of times.

Hi all this is our blog where you can follow our trip. We started on Feb 19th.

Singapore was our stop.  We stayed at the Hotel Fort Canning, on a hill overlooking the city centre.  It was where Raffles had his first house.  Lots of history from 16th century to 2nd World War....eg next to the bunker where British Army controlled/lost the battle for Singapore.  Mark went on the tour of the under ground ‘Battle Box’ - I read a book! Had to visit Raffles long bar for a cocktail - the pink drink is the Singapore sling (Mark’s choice), I went for ‘East coast’ - coconut milk, lemon and mint...very refreshing!

Hi all arrived after a great flight to a seriously hot Singapore. What a place! Bit like Manhattan with more heat, less Americans and more asian food! Tucking into a curry after a long walk around town. Guess who suggested that!