The Return Journey

On Friday morning the shuttle bus arrived and our lady driver happily loaded up our bags and we were off to the airport. The departure area is quite new and we had a brief, but pleasant wait to board. There was one hiccup; the check in clerk needed to have the credit card which we had used to book the flight. This was difficult since in the first place our cards had been changed after booking and secondly the card used to make the ticket date change was not ours. In every other case Ian had used my card to book things for us. The ticket office clerk was surprised that there was any issue about a sum as little as $27 and sent us back to check in and tell them to give us our boarding passes. We stood for a while in the front of a number of queues saying that we were not pushing in, before I realised that we were waiting at the a different airline's check in desks.

Auckland Airport

Piha Beach - Last View

As we sat in the lounge waiting for our row to be called we were approached by a lady working for the New Zealand government. She was surveying tourists to find out about their stay. We tried very hard to describe the events of four months. There was no way that we could remember everything that we did, let alone remember how many day there was between each of them. We even told her about tourist destinations like 'Crystal Mountain' that she had never heard of. We completed the interview as our seat numbers were being called.

We had some spectacular views of Australia and Indonesia as we flew on to Singapore.

Entering Australia

The Outback

Two Pictures of Indonesia

Arriving in Singapore

It was just getting dark as we landed and an air-conditioned taxi transferred us through the 30 deg evening to our hotel. The concierge recognised us and explained that he was pleased that he could provide us with a better room than we had previously. We went straight to bed.

Bakery Breakfast

In the morning we had breakfast at the bakery opposite before catching a bus to Eunos MRT station to catch a train to City Hall. The MRT is a fabulously better system than London Underground. It is cheap, efficient and clean. Every part of it works well.

St Andrews Cathedral
near the Raffles Centre

At City Hall we got a view of the Raffles Centre and St Andrews Cathedral before walking on to Singapore River. We passed a serious game of Frisbee football and a cricket match. Along the river are many of the oldest buildings of the city. While waiting to board the river boat we sampled some of the famous Singapore Sling which is a cocktail with something like the following recipe

2 oz gin

3/4 Cherry Heering

2 tsb Benedictine

2 tsb Cointreau

2 oz pineapple juice

3/4 oz fresh lime juice

2 dashes real pomegranate grenadine

1 dash Angostura bitters

Soda water

Singapore Slinger

Riverside Wedding

Mer-Lion

High Rise Garden

Science Museum

From here we walked to China town. Our reward was views of the Sri Mariamman Temple.

I needed a phone charger so I called into an electronics shop where I bought one. The sales man was sharp and proceeded to sell me a polarising filter. Eventually we settled on a price that I could not resist.

 

 

We had lunch in a large, colourful food outlet. We also found a MacDonalds for a cool drink in the afternoon.

 

In the evening we went next door for a Thai meal. The rice was served up in a hollowed out pineapple. The food was delicious, the one man who was waiter and chef was bit slow and one couple got too bored to wait.

In the morning we left for the  airport as soon as we were washed and dresssed. Having checked in had breakfast in Rock City.

There was time to explore the airport where we found a beautiful koi pond next to a large butterfly garden. There was a large variety of very colourful butterflies.

Koi pond with butterfly garden behind

Koi Feeding Time

The plane was delayed for a few minutes while we sat on the tarmac with a tropical storm of lightning, wind a rain preventing  take off. Then the thirteen hour flight began.

I sat next to a young man who was off on business. He had lived in Singapore for nine years and was married to a Singapore born wife and had a child. He explained some of the down sides of living in Singapore. We already knew that there was a death sentence for carrying drugs no matter how small the amount. To this he added the information that immigrants who commit a crime will have 15 days to leave the country with their family. There is no wonder that people are law abiding. However, this does not really explain the high level of politeness that we experienced. He also told us about the very high cost of motoring which involved a costly permit before even buying a car and that cars more than 10 years old must be scrapped. He was pleased with the low cost, very efficient public transport which he used. He told us that the deposit for his two bedroom apartment was twice as much as the full price of an average UK home. 'Council housing' was only available for Singapore born citizens on a low income.


The flight was one of the roughest that we have had. Meal service was so interrupted by turbulence that there was no time to serve the final light meal.


On arrival we were about to encounter the most disappointing moment of the whole trip; namely the UK border. In all our previous trips we collected our cases and walked out. This time we joined a very lengthy queue so simply show our passports. In most countries there is a shorter queue for residents. This time the slow moving queue also had European citizens. I felt sad for an Australian couple who had accidently gotten in the wrong queue. A 'helpful' officer left it until they were at the front of the queue before sending them to the back of a longer one. Returning to the UK should feel better that entering the USA.


Being hungry we found a cafe to have hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin before catching the shuttle to the hotel. We still cannot believe why such a well used, short journey should attract the high level fare charged.


The hotel was one of the best that we have stayed in. The staff were excellent, the room large and bathroom well stocked. It was a little unfortunately that our body was in the UK but we were still mentally in NZ. But, we did get a reasonable nights sleep. Getting up early gave us time to wash, dress and have a leisurely full English breakfast before taking the shuttle back to the central bus station. We bought lunch to eat on the bus and had time to read a bit before catching the coach. The coaches seem to have improved. They are very comfortable and have a monitor which cleverly shows the road ahead but then allows passengers to keep an eye on their cases when the side is open for other passengers to take their belongings out.


Being bank holiday Monday we had to wait a little longer than usual and take a bus with a longer route than usual. Joni was at the stop to meet us and drag a case home. We were back. After a brief time exploring the strange place called home we were grateful to accept Joni's invitation to go to his house and enjoy a tasty lasagne, cooked by him, before returning for the first night in our own bed in four months.


This is the last 'We are Kiwis Again' blog for sometime. I hope to make comments about our experiences on my 'At the Oaks' blog quite soon.

Final Week in Auckland

The first main event of Monday was foot printing. Sally has a book charting Emily's first five years. A final item needed was a print of Emily's feet, a task which Grandma happily carried out.

In the evening we collected our new Kiwi friends, Debbie and Stefan Kitshoff and took them to the Mongolian Barbecue restaurant.


It is in a part of Auckland which is developing rapidly. The restaurant was called, appropriately, Genghis Khan. It is in a spacious modern building and although a little less than cosy was a great place to spend time in a relaxed way. The centre of the restaurant is the barbecue.


Being a time of Christian fellowship we started with communion using sparkling red grape juice and rolls from the soup counter.


Stefan and I had four courses. First there was a really creamy soup, second we had the fish course which was a few chips and a selection of seafood items. Then we joined the ladies for the main course. Each of us collected a bowl and put into it a selection of prepared meats and various sliced vegetables. To this we added sauces and oil to taste. For my first round I chose a recommended set of flavours, but was more experimental afterwards. The bowl was then taken to the barbecue and the contents moved around the circle until it was cooked and handed back. I found that taking small amounts that I could do this a few times, finally adding items from the salad bar.

The sweet consisted of a pancake and our friends told us to ask for a Mickey Mouse. The batter was put on a hot plate, cooked and then each pancake was decorated with ice-cream, marshmallows and sauces according to taste. 

The meal was concluded with roasted coffee.


I considered it a bargain at £15 each including all the drinks and as much as you can eat.


The very pleasant evening ended by taking our friends home and saying our good byes. My challenge will be to keep in touch. 


On Tuesday it was our final time to collect Emily from Kindy, to take her to her special lesson, for me to pick up Zoe from school, collect Emily and Grandma, drive to the dance classes at Kohimarama and collect our Tuesday snapper and chips. When I phone the chip order the assistant recognised my voice and I did not have to say who I was when I walked into the shop. Perhaps it is time to go home!


Wednesday was the day of Emily's birthday. We were summoned to come upstairs into the birthday room for the opening of the presents. It was a very exciting time and Emily was thrilled with every one of her presents, especially the big doll house for her Cindies.

I hung the second of the two paintings that I have done in New Zealand.

After the girls had been delivered to school Sally took the both of us off for quality time together. As last time we set off for Orewa. This is becoming something of a tradition and we are happy to go there. First we stopped for tea/coffee and cake. We all tasted the Banarama. This was soft cake with layers of whole banana. We did it a little walk on the beach but we faced a bitterly cold south wester.

We were taken further on to another very small seaside place called Waiwera near to where the Clarks had a farm stay holiday. Again there was a bitterly cold wind, but it had left a lot of strong ripple marks in the sand.

We stopped off at a lookout over Orewa beach before going on to the Whangaporoa peninsular. We reached Gulf Harbour which is a very smart new town area around the Wentworth golf course. Here we had lunch at the Carpe Diem restaurant. I was good and had a salad and no chips with my fish. We all had lemon, lime bitters to drink. 

On the way back to shop in Manly we called in to Matakatia Bay where there is a view of a rock which is reminiscent of a pyramid. And there are good views of Auckland from a distance.

At Manly Sally bought party food and other goodies. While Sally was shopping mum and I called in to Specsavers and the young man was very happy to replace mum's bridge piece. He started by charging $5 but then refused payment.


On the way back Sally called in to a Cheesecake shop. They look exactly like the ones in the UK.


In the evening the birthday happened. This was for family and a few special friends. The Clark's regular nanny is now back in business and was at the party with her eight year old and new born.


The cake looked fabulous.

Smashing the piñata was the highlight of the party.

The evening struck cold and I set the heater on for the first time and it was very necessary at the start of the day. The Kiwi winter is on its way.


Our bags are all but packed, I have e-checked in and we have a final meal out before our last sleep here for some time, before the shuttle collects in the morning. 


We could not have had more generous hosts nor had such a wonderful time.


The final blog of this series will be published when we return to the UK.