Slept in til ~7:20 (after waking up hot in the middle of the night and turning the cooling up).
We had snackages to keep us going and went up and had another swim, this time not in the rain.
Then got ready, backed everything up, and checked out a little before 11:00.
I wanted more crispy pork buns so we went to Tim Ho Wan again (had to wait for them to open at 11). We got some extra things and called it an early lunch.
Then we walked slowlyish to the Gardens by the Bay. Trying not to get too hot and sweaty. Except there was a thunderstorm approaching so we had to pick up the pace a little. Made it to the Flower Dome just as the rain got heavy. So that was good timing. Queued for tickets ($20 each ouch) and went in.
The flowers were nice enough, but I think most of the $20 entry goes to paying for the air conditioning. hrmmm. Had to hug my cameras so they wouldn't steam up as soon as we went outside. It was lovely, but not sure if worth $20.
Inside the Flower Dome
Inside the Flower Dome
Myrtaceae flowers
Mum with a boab tree
Pretty flowers in the Flower Dome
Inside the Flower Dome
Photo by Mum
Dressed up mannequins in the Flower Dome
The goose that laid the golden egg
Pretty flowers in the Flower Dome
Foxglove
Inside the Flower Dome
Pretty flowers in the Flower Dome
Me in the Flower Dome
Photo by Mum
Inside the Flower Dome
Flowers in the Flower Dome
Flowers in the Flower Dome
Pretty flowers in the Flower Dome
Sunflowers
Flowers in the Flower Dome
Photo by Mum
Orchids
Pond and fountain in the Flower Dome
Orchids encased in resin for sale
The rain had eased up so we headed back for the MRT (because there's an underground walkway covering some of the distance). On the way Mum was putting her umbrella down when we got to an under cover it, and had it in front of her so didn't see a bench seat they'd put just there. So she crashed into it and ended up flat on her back on the ground. Whoops. We won't mention the fall she had in Rome where she didn't see a small step in a restaurant and crashed into a chair with her ribs, or the one at Changi Airport where she somehow managed to fall on top of her bag while getting it off the luggage carousel. hmmmmm!!
Singapore Flyer from Gardens by the Bay
Marina Bay Sands from Gardens by the Bay
Supertree and Dragonfly Lake
Picked up our bags and headed off to the station. We had 2.11 credit on our cards, which would have covered the trip to the airport, but the system won't let you go in unless you have enough credit to go anywhere on the system. And the machines for tickets only seemed to be doing card topups. So went and talked to a human. Turns out they don't do single tickets anymore, you need to use the cards. Which have a $5 non refundable, and expire after a few years. What a ripoff. But I also didn't want to put on $10 which is the credit card minimum, but she said there's like one machine that accepts cash. Only notes. With no change. Luckily I had two $2 notes from a previous trip, so was able to use those. Dumb dumb dumb. Also amazing how quickly I can go to being okish to being epic hot and stressed and sweaty. hrmm.
Four trains to the airport. Would have been three except the first one we got on terminated at Stadium.
Had a very long slow wander around Changi. Under the airport there's actually a *lot* of shops. I still haven't found the butterflies though. Walked around for a bit, then meandered slowly to Terminal 1 for checkin. Qantas don't really have human checkins, you have to use the machines. At least the first four of which we passed were broken. But at least there were no queues and we managed to get our bags checked in.
Wandered to the gate and found it didn't open til 18:25. Changi does security at the gates. So we sat down for a bit, and I got another blog entry written up. Then we went off to find a snack to keep us going until dinner on the plane. Had some microwaved karaage chicken.. oof! Then finished the last blog entry, and got a week's worth of entries online.
Kinetic Rain
Kinetic Rain
Fishpond in Changi Airport
Around 18:15ish we went to the gate and saw our plane arrive from London. I counted how many people got off the plane - around 480ish. Craziness. Then through security to the gate for a short wait.
Right up the back of the A380. Qantas don't have in seat power which is pretty sad. Emirates have full on power points as well as USB. Qantas had USB in the arm rests, but they didn't work.
Qantas Airbus A380-800 VH-OQD at Singapore Changi Airport
Legroom on our Qantas Airbus A380
Food service on Qantas is pretty basic compared to Emirates. The chicken I had for dinner was actually really nice though, and I was actually glad not to have a huge meal. And the breakfast pastry wasn't too bad.
I watched Lightyear, which was a lot of fun, and heaps of references that I got, and probably a whole heap I didn't. Then Firestarter, the new version, which was ok, and finally Babe. Mum's system had a spaz part way through the flight and the audio stopped working (we tested both the headphones and the sockets and determined it wasn't the headphones). So they rebooted the system. The first time it crashed during reboot. But it came good after a second reboot. But poor Mum was in a world of pain from a sore butt from falling over, and restless legs. I was fidgetty during Babe but otherwise had a pretty good night all things considered.
At Sydney you now get off the plane and get funnelled towards Duty Free, but you'll be walking through a corridor and suddenly everything will just stop. There's passport scanning machines you're meant to use, but there's no real fixed area for them, it's just a mess and you don't know if that's all there is (turns out there's more near the Duty Free). They really need to make it a dedicated area with with logical queuing. As it currently stands it's pretty confusing. But got through it in the end, through the passport gates, then waited ages for our bags. Through customs not too painfully, then out.
Back to Mum's place to swap out some stuff, then home, thanks EB!
Waterfall on Cascade Creek (I've never seen this before!)
Flooded Mulwaree River just south of Goulburn
Flooded Mulwaree River just south of Goulburn
Flooded Wollogorang Creek near Wollogorang
So all in all a pretty good trip. Saw a LOT of stuff! Took over seven thousand photos (and Mum took two thousand photos). Nothing really went wrong, aside from the transport strike in Italy, but the alternative we had that day turned out to be the highlight of Mum's trip. I remember being stressed for a lot of things, usually anything time-dependant. And had a couple of almost panic attacks. The beginning of the trip seems like so long ago now. There's been so much rain here the yard looks like a lush tropical garden. So full of lovely green weeds and a lawn a foot high. Had a snooze when I got home, but didn't really relax because I was hot and I still need to be able to sleep tonight. Then an afternoon of just trying to unpack and get organised and finish photo backing up and blogging.
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