Day 12 - Monday 25 January - Singapore to Canberra

And continuing onto Tuesday ..

Had a bit of a sleepin on our last day - til 7:15am!

View from our hotel room
View from our hotel room

I did photo and blogging stuff then headed out for a walk around the Gardens by the Bay.

Dragonfly Lake
Dragonfly Lake

Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove
Supertree Grove

Supertree Grove
Supertree Grove

Supertree Grove and Marina Bay Sands
Supertree Grove and Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove
Supertree Grove

Floral clock
Floral clock

Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay
Marina Bay

Singapore Flyer
Singapore Flyer

Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay

Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

Dragonfly Lake
Dragonfly Lake

Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay

Supertree Grove and Dragonfly Lake
Supertree Grove and Dragonfly Lake

Dragonfly Bridge
Dragonfly Bridge

Water lilies in Gardens by the Bay
Water lilies in Gardens by the Bay

Walkway between Bayfront MRT station and Gardens by the Bay
Walkway between Bayfront MRT station and Gardens by the Bay

And got some morning photos from the roof

Marina Bay Sands infinity pool
Marina Bay Sands infinity pool

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck
Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

Downtown Singapore from Observation Deck
Downtown Singapore from Observation Deck

Singapore from Observation Deck
Singapore from Observation Deck

Singapore from Observation Deck
Singapore from Observation Deck

Victoria Theatres
Victoria Theatres

National Gallery of Singapore
National Gallery of Singapore

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand
The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand
The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

The Durian
The Durian

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck
Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

People in the infinity pool
People in the infinity pool

View of Singapore over infinity pool
View of Singapore over infinity pool

Came back and got ready, then headed down to Rise for the buffet breakfast. It was a lot bigger and the hash browns were actually hot (they hadn't been anywhere else this trip), but also a lot more people so a lot more craziness. Plus I was stressing about getting everything done before we checked out.

After breakfast had a final swim in the infinity pool to have it under morning light. We watched a rainstorm come closer and got out just as it hit.

Stu and Kaz having a last swim in the infinity pool
Stu and Kaz having a last swim in the infinity pool

View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool
View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool

View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool
View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool

View of Singapore and storm over infinity pool
View of Singapore and storm over infinity pool

Then back to the room to repack all our bags, and we managed to checkout right on 12pm.

Left our bags at the Concierge then went for a wander through the Shoppes. Stopped and had some ice tea and macarons, and wandered around for a bit. But The Shoppes is a really awful boring mall. Unless of course you're into the high end super expensive watches and handbags. Boring boring boring.

Stu with his tea and macarons at TWG Tea
Stu with his tea and macarons at TWG Tea

I couldn't stand being there for another hour or two, so we jumped on a train and went one station to Downtown and had a bit of a wander around there. Stu stopped for coffee and I wandered, and even found an outside bit to get a view of the bay from another angle.

View out the window on the train to Downtown
View out the window on the train to Downtown

Dream sign and Marina Bay
Dream sign and Marina Bay

Marina Bay panorama
Marina Bay panorama

Marina Bay panorama
Marina Bay panorama

Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands

ArtScience Museum and Singapore Flyer
ArtScience Museum and Singapore Flyer

Finally headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. Then three trains to the airport.

Singapore Air Traffic Control Tower
Singapore Air Traffic Control Tower

Had some noms and some bubbly (and a shower!) at the Qantas club before boarding. Our boarding passes must have been checked at last half a dozen times. Security was only at the boarding gate, not any earlier.

A330 for this flight - up near the back on the left. Took off to the north so no interesting views (other than the airport).

Airbus A330-200 VH-EBV at Changi Airport
Airbus A330-200 VH-EBV at Changi Airport

Had the beef goulash for dinner.

Dinner on the plane - Slow braised smoky beef goulash with mashed potato and steamed vegetables
Dinner on the plane - Slow braised smoky beef goulash with mashed potato and steamed vegetables

Watched The Walk first up which I really really enjoyed. I'd seen a documentary on it relatively recently, and this was a sort of a docu-drama. Very cool. All CGIed of course. Although even if the towers were still there, they'd have had to CGI a lot of stuff *out* of it.

Then watched The Hangover which was actually ok.

It was midnight by this point so attempted to sleep. Failed.

Thinking I had time, I put on Boyhood, but the time listed was wrong and I was still watching it right up until arrival at the gate in Sydney, so missed the end of it :(

(They turned the cabin lights on at 1:30am, and got a bit of breakfast at about 2am. Landed at 3am, which was 6am Sydney time).

Breakfast on the plane - sour cherry pastry
Breakfast on the plane - sour cherry pastry

I was feeling about anxious about everything actually (mainly missing the end of the movie), and I thought this set off an upset belly. But in actual fact I just had an upset belly which was making me feel queasy. Stuff came out both ends which was fun. Not. Luckily all at Sydney airport and not on a plane! And felt better after that. Stu was feeling a bit delicate too.

Then our last flight to Canberra. A fairly empty Dash8 in the back row on the right. Took off from half way down 34L and were airborne by the time we passed the east-west runway. Rain and clouds all around Sydney though, so not much of a view.

Qantas Dash 8 VH-QOC at Canberra Airport
Qantas Dash 8 VH-QOC at Canberra Airport

Chrissie picked us up at the airport which was lovely of her.

At home we snoozed for a couple of hours then started tackling the mess that is our house.

So pretty good holiday. It was spoilt a bit by the rainy weather in Hong Kong and the unbearable humidity in Singapore, as well as not having much of a plan for what we wanted to do. But we did do some cool stuff and eat lots of good food, so pretty good in the end.