February 2016 Round the World in 27 Days – Chapter 4.
The flight from Tasmania to Melbourne was pleasant enough but Melbourne airport was crowded and seemed to us chaotic. We even struggled to find a payphone to arrange the shuttle to the car rental depot. After picking up the car Gerry realised that the depot was a new build on a new estate and, on checking, it was no surprise to find that the Sat Nav database did not recognise the address. A quick selection of the coordinates into the memory allowed the Sat Nav to navigate us back to the depot at the end of our stay! Another peril of the Sat Nav was that Gerry had forgotten that it was set to avoid toll roads – most of the motorways around Melbourne are toll roads. Our journey to Upwey and our friends’ home was therefore quite slow and tedious. Funny how Gerry remembered about the settings once we arrived in Upwey.
We were made very welcome by our friends Nick and Suzanne and their two daughters 6 year old Lila and Niamh who is three. Nick and Suzanne had both taken the day off work on the Friday and so, once the children were in school and day-care we were able to enjoy a leisurely walk in a park that was inhabited by duck-billed platypus. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any but the walk set us up for a very pleasant lunch in a popular local restaurant. Saturday was family oriented and involved taking the girls to the local park and then to McDonalds for lunch!
Sunday morning was spent watching the annual Billy Cart races in the local town. Gerry was most impressed by the quality of the carts and the organisation. After lunch we travelled to Belgrave to board the narrow gauge steam train known as Puffing Billy.
The trip to Lakeside station was delightful and once we had disembarked we were able to enjoy ice creams before returning on the same train an hour later. Health and Safety fans eat your hearts out. No one seemed to bat an eyelid at the children sitting with their legs dangling through the bars on the sides of the coaches. In fact the web site for Puffing Billy shows a picture which positively encourages such behaviour. Gerry was quite nervous about Lila at first but she seemed to be perfectly confident dangling her legs outside the coach.
We left Melbourne early the next day to fly to Singapore on the last part of our trip. Martin met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel which made our arrival so much easier. After freshening up we headed over to Martin and Louise’s apartment and later walked to the Hawkers’ Market for supper. The food was really nice and every bit as good as we remembered from our last visit. It was so pleasant sitting in the evening cool after the heat of the day. A good night’s sleep and pleasant breakfast saw us ready for a brilliant day at the Gardens by the Bay with Martin and Louise. The Gardens were a very up market Eden Project and can only be described as fantastic. The first of two conservatories we visited was the Flower Dome which is the largest glass greenhouse in the world according to the 2015 edition of the Guinness World Records! We spent ages just strolling around enjoying the incredible display of flowers and plants from the Mediterranean and semi-arid regions. There were also some amazing wood carvings/sculptures
After lunch we visited the second conservatory which was a totally different experience. The Cloud Forest conservatory showcases plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000 metres above sea level. There was a 35-metre-tall ‘mountain’ covered in lush vegetation, as well as the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. We took a lift to the top of the ‘mountain’ and then strolled along a walkway in the clouds for an aerial view of the canopy and mountainside below.
As any young child would say our visit to the Gardens by the Bay was awesome.
The final evening of our Round The World trip was spent at the Tiffin Room in Raffles Hotel. Martin, Louise, Annie and Gerry enjoyed a splendid curry buffet in sumptuous surroundings. It was a fitting end to a magnificent trip.
We left Singapore early the next morning to arrive back at The Nook late in the afternoon.
Many thanks to all of our family and friends who acted as hosts at the various ports of call – we could not have asked for more.
We have so many happy memories – Thank you
