Melbourne

So much has happened!!!!
Singapore - Woweeeee! What a place. It never sleeps and all the images you see on television with people walking around with gadgets glued to ears/hands/mouth are true! The hotel was stunning and the sights even more so. Mollie had a superb time just as I did. Definitely heading back.
But now we have moved on to Melbourne. I didn't realise there was a three hour time difference although it might well have been 12. Mollie and I were floored. We were met by the family of the house we are staying in, Cheryl & Rick. Lovely people. They put on a dinner last night for Mollie and I and invited some family over. Mollie did really well to stay awake till 8pm but she was nearly falling asleep at the table so she went to bed. I lasted till around 10 but that was a struggle.
Today we awoke to blue skies and 19 degrees (which later climbed to 27) There were so many things I had to get to grips with today - but not until after a lovely, very long stroll along the beach. I stuck Mollie in a stroller, put some sun cream on and stuck some water in a bag and off we went. It was ace! The path stretched the whole length of the beach and the beach only had half a dozen people on it. Quite a few people out running,(I almost felt like a run myself!) a few swimming, though we never went in I knew from the screams coming from a couple of teenagers that it wasn't all that warm! We will maybe wait until Brisbane before jumping in to the sea!! We had a play on the beach and an ice cream. Deeee lish. Mollie looked the wee surfer babe :-)
Challenges for today; (don't laugh :-) getting to grips with money and shopping. Tick! It IS expensive. Noticeably so. Never mind, the neighbours have fig and lemon trees if we get really desperate. Phones. Tick Well not so much the phone but the codes and how to phone different states. And driving. EEEEEEEEEK! an automatic car in a really bust area and not a clue about where we are going. Hmm that might take a bit of work though I am supposed to e driving up to Brisbane so best get more experience in. On Monday Mollie and I are going to try and get the train into Melbourne and then have a wander round before (hopefully) heading back out the same way. Hmm, I may or may not find my way out. But it will be an adventure. Oh! Next week marks the start of some little event on the horse calendar called the Melbourne Cup :-) The whole of Melbourne grinds to a halt for a horse race AND it's a holiday. School kids, workers the lot - offski.
Well it is currently chucking with rain outside after an all mighty thunder storm. It could be Scotland - but it's not.
Feel free to get in touch. Thinking about you all
Pennie & Mollie
Xxx

Better than snow

After nearly 24 hours of travelling we have arrived in Singapore. It's hot, muggy and really humid but it's better than snow! We arrived through he Singapore airport which was soooo easy. By the time we collected bags our driver was outside with a big card saying Mrs P Stewart/ Miss Mollie Stewart.
Upon leaving the airport the first thing that struck me were the huge buildings! Mollie did try and count the floors but we were travelling too fast. They are just enormous.
Our hotel is on an island called Sentosa. To get to it you have to drive over a bridge and past a HUGE freight shipping place. Enormous. When you reach this place its quite surreal to have the stunning grounds of the hotel and beach and then to see the water littered with huge freight ships.
Mollie and I were pretty much out for the count by 8.30pm on Saturday night but by 4am Sunday morning we were wide awake. I discovered that so were most of the other British travellers after speaking to some of them by the pool later on. How freaky is this; I met a guy & his family who had relocated to Mumbai from KIRKCALDY!! For those of you who don't know it's where I'm from.
I had a city tour booked for Sunday morning which seemed a really good idea at the time but once we had fallen back to sleep after our 4am wake up 7am was really hard to get up for but we did.
The city tour was really good. It took us round the best parts of Singapore and the tour guide explained the history of Singapore and why it works. Put it like this; anywhere where you get put to death in 24 hours for being in possession of a gun OR bullets is a place you don't want to muck about in. You can be fined $S10,000 for cutting a tree down! Crime is non existent and everywhere is sooo clean. I would highly recommend this place to anyone. ( dont bring chewing gum, cross the road at the wrong place or drop litter and you will be fine ) I have yet to experience Orchard Road - that's today :-) zoo tomorrow. Mollie doesn't know she is having breakfast with the monkeys! On the monkey side of things I was amused to see a sign on the bedroom door alerting us to keep our balcony door closed. Not for fear of robberies or any such thing. Nope. It was for fear of monkeys raiding your room! Nice to see the criminal laws don't apply to them!
Mollie with her blonde hair and curls has been receiving loads of attention. Lots of Asians want to have photos taken with her!!! It was funny to begin with but is unnerving and annoying so I've tried to prevent it. It will not be an issue when we move on to Melbourne so I just need to bear it for the moment.
Mollie i am beginning to discover is a great travelling companion she often has me in stitches. last night after having dinner out in Singapore (hotel nice but too expensive) said to me "we are lost mummy" After I tried to reassure her that we weren't lost I asked why she said it. She answered "we didn't come in this way or go past these shops!" I explained I had forgotten the quickest way back to our pick up point and wanted to see some of the sights. She wasn't convinced!
Anyway, we have another action packed day today and so I'm going to see if I can catch another hour or so sleep. This time zone thing will be cracked by Wednesday but then we will have to get used to Aussie time.But this is still better than snow!!!! Anyway, night night xxx

OMG!!!

Well here it is; D-Day (departure day) has arrived. In case you didn't know I am going to do something that I partly wished I had done upon leaving Uni but the opportunity didn't present itself. So, 13 years later (13 years since leaving!)and with no1 daughter the opportunity has presented itself for us to do some traveling. It sounded a great idea at the time and it still does except very surreal that after weeks of planning it is finally here. Oh well, let's do it. It' not been easy leaving friends & family behind but at the very least this is giving us 6 months out, at the very most a reccie trip to see if a new life awaits us in Oz.
So pennie and mollies big adventure starts here. See you all soon and thank you for all your best wishes. Watch this space for updates.
Xxx