Water Water Everywhere and Not a Drop To Drink!

Today is our last day in Singapore and although I said that I had magical weather powers - it seems they were only due to last until yesterday - or perhaps I just boasted one time too many about how fabulous the weather has been on this trip - because today we awoke to black clouds overhead. (I do have some pictures, but photo download is still not happening for me - perhaps a slide show of all missed photos could follow at a later date.) We had planned to sit by the pool all day today and just chillax before the flight tomorrow at the crack! But alas, it was not to be - after breakfast we popped back to our room to put on togs and the sky opened up - that's right, she went monsoonal on our arses!

The second option was to find somewhere to sit and watch the world go by with drink in hand - but at S$20 a pint at the hotel and S$40+ per bottle of wine she was clearly going to be a 'dry' wet day for us.

So - back to the hotel to watch and listen to the rain, read and pack. Tomorrow we'll be sleeping in our own comfy beds, back in sleepy Mandurah where we'll hopefully be able to put a jumper on or at least a long sleeved t-shirt!

I have discovered many things on this trip. My love for Applewood cheese seems to have diminished (which is a huge shame). Sometimes when you laugh, you can wet your pants. It doesn't matter how hungry you are, if you eat your weight in dumplings you will feel sick. The ocean, although sometimes wild and rough, is the most calming and contemplative place to be and finally that I'm quite tolerant (on the outside) of people who make the most obvious, stupid and unnecessary statements in a futile attempt at humour that are not actually funny at all and then laugh raucously at their own joke, loudly and wholeheartedly whilst their whole body wobbles like jelly and they look around for supporters, generally to no avail! It's always good to learn something whilst on a trip.

This may be my last post whilst on this trip, but dear friends fear not, for there are always more stories to tell and more places to experience. Tune in next time when I journey into the unknown of the Amazon with only a pocket knife and my wits....... hang on - that's Bear Grylls. I'll probably be going somewhere a little more civilized and sedate!

Until then, on behalf of myself, my beautiful Mother, Jen and my gorgeous sister, Jodie - thanks for reading, you've been a great audience!

xxx

It aint 'alf 'ot

We have been extraordinarily lucky with the weather throughout this entire trip. Everywhere we went the locals were amazed at how fabulous the weather was and that they hadn't seen such a string of beautiful days in a row before. Without jinxing the last few days of the Tour, I think I can add that Singapore is no different. The first day we were hit like a plank with the humidity, but since then it's been warm and the humidity has lessened a little and it's been quite pleasant! A friendly taxi driver today told us that before we arrived it had been raining quite heavily....... I don't want say that I have magical weather powers or that my Uncle, who has a direct line with the bloke upstairs may have put in a good word, but I'm predicting that we will probably be able to stop the cold, wet and miserable weather Perth has been experiencing of late - if our past destinations are anything to go by.

Requests for magic will be considered - weather related only.

Sleep Champion

Sorry in advance that this post comes with no photo attached - I took one especially for this post, but it doesn't appear to be loading successfully, so I shall describe it to you. The photo is of me standing in the nightshirt that ny lovely nephews bought me for my birthday that says "Sleep Champion" on it and I'm looking pretty pleased with myself. The reason for this photo was to tell you of my achievements in the field of sleep since leaving Europe.

Flight from London to Singapore - 9 hours straight.

First night in Singapore - 10 hours straight

Second night in Singapore - 10 hours straight

It's such a shame that there isn't a paid industry in sleeping because if there were, I would definitely be a world leader in my chosen field. I would be invited to sleep clinics around the world to give talks and demonstrations on the newfound strategies I had found due to many hours of research.

So in hindsight - you might be able to appreciate how the photo of me in a "Sleep Champion" night shirt was so important to this blog.

Mine's Bigger Than Yours!

There is a woman who was on the ship who has stalked us since disembarkation - same tour, same flight to London, same Qantas lounge. She's Australian. From Sydney. And she's extremely ........ what's the word for being patriotic about your own state? "I've been around and we know that Sydney is the best harbour - I mean it's just beautiful." Jen, who only ever 'flies through' Sydney in the RV responds, "Oh Yes, it's is pretty, but we don't stop, we normally drive through, it's a bit busy for us." To which this woman replies.... now, I say 'replies' but what I mean is 'talked over' - "it's the best harbour by far."

Now, I don't want anyone to get me wrong. Having lived in Sydney for a few years and thoroughly enjoyed all it had to offer (I even met 2 of my favourite friends there - you know who you are) I know how pretty it is, however I get a little bit uncomfortable with the "my state is better than your state" conversations. I like Sydney, but my leg isn't going to fall off if I don't care about the harbour's popularity ratings and if I do get on board I feel unnecessarily guilty for being disloyal to WA and then what about the newly adopted state of Victoria? Where do I draw the line? Where do my allegiances lie?

So whilst avoiding this woman in the Qantas lounge a very tall, blonde, quite attractive young man about 20 years old sauntered across the room. It was his height that first caught my eye, 2nd was his cute face, 3rd - his buff arms in the chesty bonds he was wearing. My eyes dart up again and note the very cool over sized headphones laying loosely around his neck. Eyes down again and this is where Jen and I fumbled for a camera of something whilst both simultaneously laughing in horror and looking away but being drawn back o the wrongness - the boy's chesty Bonds singlet was tucked into his boxer shorts (blue check) and the reason we know this is because his jeans were a good 10-15 cms below the waistband of the boxers. You all know the look people. Sure, it's out there, but it doesn't make it right in fact it's, as Jo from Super Nanny says "unasseptable".

Honestly, where has the Qantas lounge prestige gone?

schtarry schtarry night........

This chap was a piano player on the Star Princess and when he sat down to play in the bar where we were sipping our Long Island Iced Teas he appeared bored, despondent and completely uninterested in being there. He told us about how bored he was and then embarked on a number of NOT FUNNY jokes - you know one of those people that chat instead of playing....... just shut up and play! Jen and I discussed moving to another area, and then he started telling a story about lithps and he immediately had our attention. He was a fabulous piano player and when he started playing Vincent (Starry Starry Night) with a lithsp - Long Island Iced Tea nearly came out of my nose whilst I was wetting my pants. It was one of the funniest things that I'd heard in a long time. It's terrible to say, but speech impediments will always be funny!

Lemon Squash? Where's the beer?????

Today was our disembarkation from the Star Princess. It was a little bit sad that we were leaving the only real home we'd known since the end of June and on the other hand we were very happy to be getting on the plane to start the 6th leg of our "Brown Girls Take World By Storm" Tour - Singapore.

We had one last tour with Princess - Highlights of Copenhagen and The Dragor Fishing Village. Now I know I've spoken none too highly of Copes in the past, but today, she did herself proud. We had a fabulous Scottish/Danish tour guide who was interesting and humourous (this is a skill that has lacked in tour guildes throughout our cruise) and she told us some lovely tales for the city and it's people. Then she took us to the Dragor Fishing Village. OMG on the cuteness of this place.

From here - it was to the airport where we would wait our last 5 hours in Copenhagen in what seemed like the hottest airport in the world.

With only a few Danish Kroners in our pocket, and an hour or so before we could check our bags in and get to the lounge - we sampled the local lager - one Carlsberg each, and then we couldn't afford another one, so we had to have a soft drink - Jen was not impressed!

New Year's Eve - in July!

So...... second last night on the ship and they have a big New Year's Even type celebration where they have a count down and then they drop balloons and then there's a dance party and the works.......

Yes - she likes Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain. No, she's not into yoga and she has half a brain...........................

And the countdown begins.......

3....2.....1..... - WOOHOO!

Let's dance!