Days 3 - 7, 17 - 21 Sep 2026 Australia - Wedding Days

Day 3, 17 September 

So much happening!  Awake at 5:30 am today– Still on NZ time obviously ha ha! But such lovely weather here, do miss that about Australia!

So many things to do today– Danni, Graeme and I sorted the service with Chris who is marrying them at St Aidans church in Exeter. The lovely thing is he and his wife Deb were our next door neighbours for 3 years when we lived in Robertson, and he is such a charismatic man.

The NZ family flew over today as well. So my Mum, Dad, sister Vicki, Sammy and Royden all flew together from Hamilton today. which was nice and part of the excitement!

Graeme Danni and I drove to the airport before they arrived and went & picked up the rental car, then connected with the family once they were through and I went over and got them and brought them over to the pick up area. We needed to take Vicki back to the rental car site as she was one of the extra drivers and they won’t allow it unless they physically site the drivers license, so we did that.

Driving through rush-hour traffic across town to Sutherland Shire was really slow as it was school pick up time and home time for a lot of people. Took us nearly an hour and the  poor family literally had 10 minutes to drop their bags and we were out again to drive over to Yhe Arbour which is a lovely club, to meet Brad‘s family for dinner. It was nice as Anne-Marie, Brad’s mum said she had her birthday there when she was younger and had their engagement party, I think it was so they are very familiar with it.

We all had a lovely meal and drinks and a catch up then back to the motel – it’s pretty tired in places, but it did the job and the beds were actually pretty good.

Friday 18th September, Day 4

Busy, busy day again. We’re all awake early as two hours ahead on New Zealand time still, so we were up and drove over to Brad and Dan’s apartment by 8 am, so we could all have breakfast together there with Brad’s daughter Lotus, before she went to school. 

It was a lovely get together, then we packed everything up and drove down to the Southern Highlands, near where we used to live, to Exeter. Took about 1hr 45 and we got to the hall and we did the setup with all the tables and decorations. Many hands made light work and great that the family are all happy to jump in and help. Sam and Royden were super helpful doing whatever was needed and Danni and Sam used their creative talent! At 2:30 pm, we stopped the set up and went across the road to the beautiful stone  church and the wedding party all had a run through rehearsal for tomorrow.

After that it was getting quite late in the afternoon so we headed to our fantastic accommodation – ‘the cottage’, in Sutton Forest. It was such a cool house that had been extended and had a big internal square hallway with lots of room for all 8 of us as Danni will be staying with us tonight.

Had an hour or so and then over to Berrima – a lovely quaint town we know and we had a family hens & bucks night at ‘the surveyor’ – a beautiful old rambling stone pub. The girls are at one end and the boys were down the other. Sam bought along all the hens bits and pieces so we could do a bit of a dress up as well. A really lovely evening and Mero and Ian and Raffi and Bruno our friends joined us. Meredith and Ian had driven up from Melbourne the day before! They have seen Danni grow up since she was 17-years old!

Back to the house – it is a working horse farm out in the country. Everyone was running on low battery so into bed and Danni spent her last night as a single woman!

Saturday 19th September-  THE BIG DAY! Day 5

The day has come! it’s all been a bit of a blur with so many last-minute things to do and everyone being together helping out 🙂.

The make-up and here ladies left Sydney at 5 am to drive down and started the girls make up at 7 am – working through to 1:30 pm. Gosh the make-up lady was amazing and she did Danni‘s hair and make-up as she always does the brides. She did a stunning job and Danni looked absolutely serene and surreal!

Once we’re all had our hair and make-up done the lovely classic car That Brad had arranged came to pick Danni and Sam and Claudia, the bridesmaids up – a red and white ‘55 Chevy!

We followed them through to the church, were about 10 minutes late is the photographer had been taking an is the photographer had been taking a lot of photos, and then Graeme and I had the honour of walking our little girl down the aisle together. It was only a short aisle so we walked slowly and took in the moment. All I could see was Brad looking at Danni with so much awe and love in his eyes.

The service was so lovely and personal and the way that Brad and Danni looked into each other‘s eyes when they said their vows, it was like nobody else was there – perfect 💗💗😊.

After they became husband and wife! we were outside getting photos done – the photographer were a husband and wife couple and he was very quirky and funny. He got everyone going and got tons of photos. Then the married couple went off for their photos with him elsewhere and we all wandered across the road. Danni had arranged for giant outdoor games to be delivered - jenga, connect four & noughts & crosses and the setting was beautiful with a huge wide veranda and then a massive green area which is a cricket oval. What a setting.

They had a food truck coming in with pizzas,sliders and salads which went down so well. The great thing about the hall was it had a large hall for the setup and then another older hall attached to it in an L-shape, where the dancing was later on.

What an evening we had – lovely speeches that was so heartfelt from everybody – Sam delivered a stunning speech and for someone who has never been a public speaker & doesn’t like doing it, she reduced her mother to tears. When I reflected on what she had said, it made saying our speech so emotional, despite not being a public cryer- I did!

Will add wedding pics once the bride & groom have released theirs 😁

Sunday 20th September, day 6

We were all a little slower to get up this morning, although we had arranged to meet back at the hall to do the big pack down. Having had our Sam‘s wedding two years ago, we had some creative ideas to make it easier! Ian and Meredith came and saw us as well as Brad‘s brother and girlfriend, and having beat the bride and groom to the hall, Kiwi ingenuity had most of it done ha ha!

We are all packed up and out of our Airbnb‘s and travelled back to Sutherland where we met at danni & Brad‘s apartment and carried everything upstairs and left over alcohol etc in the garage. There are a lot of stairs so glad there were a few of us!

 I had booked us all into an airport hotel in Graeme and I went with the family so Brad & Danni had time alone in their apartment as a married couple. We dropped the family into the hotel and then returned the rental car to apex rentals in town, and Danni dropped us back at the hotel after that, then she went home.We checked into the 4 rooms and had some time to decompress, then Sam, Royden, me, Graeme & Vicki all walked down to Mr Lee‘s Chinese restaurant, which we’ve been to before. Mum and dad stayed back and rested – they have done so well with everything as there hasn’t been any time to lay about! Was pretty warm, reminds you, you are back in Australia!

Monday 21st September – Day 7

We Didn’t sleep that well last night as the air conditioning in the various rooms we had – three were, one after the other on one side of the hallway, we are all different variations of hot and cold. Sam and Roydon’s was really cold, we were next to them, and ours was too hot so we didn’t sleep well, and Vicki’s was hotter I think! But we are ready to go up and at ‘em early – Vicki had got the hotel shuttle to the airport, at 6:20 am as she was flying back to Christchurch to meet up with a friend for a few days before flying back up to Hamilton to get her car, then will drive back to Whangārei next week. 

So the rest of us got an uber into the city and down to City Hall, where we took a nice stroll along the beautiful arcade and tiled floors. The shops there were uber flash! Then we walked down to Darling Harbour, surprisingly almost every restaurant was closed today. But we found one where we could sit in a covered area outside. Took over an hour just to get a drink, but the breakfast were really nice and it was lovely to all have that time together on our last day before all the Kiwis left. That actually had to stay an extra day because their flight from Sydney to Hamilton have been cancelled, so they had to then fly Sydney to Coolangatta, wait 4hours and then fly back to Hamilton. But it did give them the day so we could all go into town together.

This is the first getaway Sam and Royden have had without there 4 kids, so was great for them to go off wandering on their own after lunch and look at everything the waterfront had on offer. So Graeme and I ubered back with mum and dad and took it easy. 

Later on we went next door to the Mantra and had a drink together which was lovely. Then Graeme and I checked out after saying goodbye to everyone. Danni and Brad came and said goodbye to the family as well, then we took them to the airport. Was lovely to send them off to Bali for the week and they flew off in style – on Qantas of course! After we dropped them, we went back to the apartment and are staying here for a week while they are away, and until we head off on our trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.

We’ve had 2 weddings in two years, so we are done & dusted now!💍💍💞💞

Pre Departure & Days 1 & 2….14-16 Sep 2026. Our Baby’s Wedding & an Asian trip

Day 0 Pre travel day

We are all ready to go – just need the last few things packed in our suitcase, we are always pretty relaxed about packing and it is mainly done the day before! Then we will be hitting the road to drive into Christchurch. Staying at the airport at the Sudima tonight and going out for dinner with Pam & Gordon who are kindly looking after our puppy dogs for the month we are away. Paddy and Pip have already settled in at their 2nd home, and are very relaxed! :-)

We got off from home a bit late as Graeme was held up doing a work handover, but got to the airport hotel and then out with Pam and Gordon at Lone Star. Thought the meal sizes were smaller than they used to be, but after eating, I think maybe not. Ha ha!

Very handy being right next to the shopping centre and supermarket as I had forgotten my moisturiser in my haste, so was able to grab another and then an early night as we are up at 3:30 am tomorrow morning for our flight😬

Day 1 - NZ to Australia

We were up before the alarm, showered and walked over to the airport nearby. The airport was all wrapped In wispy mist.

Our flight wasn't that full and people boarding were the most relaxed and polite I can remember seeing in a long time lol!

Uneventful flight over to Sydney, had a long wait on the runway though when we landed as they were waiting for a slip to become available, and then buses to the terminal. First time that's happened in a while.

Danni picked us up and back to her place. It is go go go all day, as there's so much to do for the wedding this weekend.

Beautiful weather around 20° and looking good for this weekend, which if you know the Southern Highlands, is very lucky🍀. We used to spend a lot of summer, in thick mist when we lived here ha ha!

Great to see Brad when he got home and a lovely evening chatting while we got things done. It feels like we never left!

Dawn as we  flew out

Coming in to Sydney

Day 2 - Sutherland 

Today Danni Graeme and I sat down and did a day by day list of what we need for the next 5 days, both pre-and post wedding to buy and-do, so we have a good timeline to follow and don't forget anything!

Then Danni took us to Bud cafe which is attached to a garden centre – the food was absolutely delicious and a work of art visually. Then we went to shopping centre and got some bits and pieces in the supermarket so all the family and crew are fed for the wedding weekend.

The 3 of us went for a big walk this afternoon which was lovely – is so warm here but the wind was really cool today. Nice to see Sutherland and the Community and shops around within walking distance.

Danni did my nails for the wedding with biab – very styly🥰.

Brad got home after getting his pre-wedding haircut and we sat around and chatted.  We had nachos and Danni made us Amaretto sour cocktails – they are so nice with Amaretto, sugar syrup, lemon juice, egg white, and a maraschino cherry. They were to die for and in fact, we had 2!

All of the New Zealand family arrive tomorrow so it will be really busy picking them up, getting the rental car, getting to the motel and Graeme and I will go with them so Brad and Danni have their apartment back! Then out for dinner straight away, for the two families to meet 🙂. Everyone is really looking forward to it.👏👏👏👏

A Wedding & a Trip! 26 Aug 2026

The Countdown is On

 Not long now until we leave for our 1st stop- Sydney, for Danni’s & Brads wedding on the 19th Sep 2026. An exciting event for the family as we all head to the Aussie wedding… they will have a NZ wedding party next year. So Us, Mum, Dad, Sam, Royden & Vicki are all coming to Sydney. Actually thinking about it, this will be the 1st time all the family have gone away together! 😁 The kids though need to stay home with their other grandparents, as they all have school, camp or exams.

After the wedding, Graeme and I will stay at Danni and Brad‘s apartment in Sydney while they are on their honeymoon in Bali. When they come back we will fly off to Ho Chi Minh/Saigon to begin a Mekong River Cruise and F1 Grand Prix in Singapore :-) .

Lots of excitement!

Final Thoughts On Our 2025 Cruising Trip…

Final thoughts on our 2025 Europe trip on the water…

Over the past 28 days we have:

– Taken 2 cruises – one river cruise with Emerald- slightly disappointing & a great 2 week sea cruise with Holland America ⛴️🚢

– The river cruise was from Basel in Switzerland to Amsterdam, while the sea cruise was around Norway Fjords

- Taken 6 trains - in Switzerland & the Netherlands 🚊🚊🚊🚊🚊🚊🇨🇭🇳🇱

– Had 4 flights totalling 43 hours in the air ✈️🛫✈️🛬✈️

– Spent 18 hours sitting in airports 🪑🪑🕐🕥🕣🕠🕝

– Travelled through 8 countries 🇨🇭🇩🇪🇫🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇳🇴🇩🇰🇳🇱🇸🇬

– Visited the lion of Lucerne, an idea taken from a fascinating photo of my parents 40 years ago 🦁📸

– Were in Amsterdam for the Kings 'Orange' birthday celebrations – now that is a country who knows how to party!🥳🧡

- Visited some beautiful ports in Norway especially Eidfjord & Stavanger 🏘️🏡

– Looked over the steep hill vineyards in Germany as we cruised past 🍇⛴️🗻

- Visited the Orkney Islands- Kirkwall. Some of the friendliest people we have ever met! ☺️💗🤩

– Drank approx 115 beers 🍺🍺

– About 160 cocktails between us (drinks package)🍸🍹

- Walked around 15 000 steps a day which equals about 211 kms! 🥾🥾

– Climbed over 7000 steps on the ships 🚢 🛳️

– The only negatives were the smell of cannabis 🚬 🚭 in the streets everywhere in Amsterdam. And between us, Graeme experiencing a meniscus tear in his knee 🧎‍♂️ & getting covid 🦠😷. Then me experiencing food poisoning on long plane flights home🤢

But all in all – we met some lovely people 🙋🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️💁 & really enjoyed cruising, especially the sea cruise – would cruise Norway again any time! 🛳️🌅

Days 26 & 27 Amsterdam - Singapore. Days 28 -30 Singapore to Home. Oh what a trip home!

 Days 26/27 - flying Amsterdam to Singapore, Singapore to Christchurch 

We packed up & did a final check (or so we thought), then out of the Novotel Schiphol & caught the train to the airport.  We have been through some big airports in our time, but this one is huge & so confusing – to the point that 4 or 5 staff pointed us in different directions to find the lounge and only one of them was vaguely correct. As it turned out – I wish we had never found it… But 30 mins later we were in  the Privium Club Lounge West, which is the lounge that Singapore airlines use in Amsterdam. It was very dark & small - & I mean small, The check-in lady had said it was an invitation only lounge – I think that’s because it could only fit about 50 people tops in reality! Anyway we settled in for a quick breakfast. I was being good not having a cooked breakfast, so had cereal, strawberry yoghurt and some fresh cut fruit along with a smoothie drink Graeme saw - mango & lychee. It was sitting in a jug out on the counter & I sculled most of it before tasting it properly. It had a weird taste so I didn’t finish the last bit. Thought nothing of it… then we headed to the plane for the 13 hour flight to Singapore. 

I watched a couple of movies back to back, then about 4hrs in I started to have some weird stitch like pains in my stomach & racing heart, which deteriorated into full blown food poisoning 🤢. It was pretty bad, was very sick and kept passing out (even so, the nurse in me was trying not to think about having my head on a public toilet seat lol!) Just tried to get through it quietly. When the staff noticed something was up they asked if I was alright… they were very good, but not much they could do other than give me airsick bags & charcoal tablets, but I couldn’t keep anything down.

We ended up getting wheelchair assistance through the terminal, which I was very grateful for. It was so hot in Singapore 33°C at 6:30 am when we landed. We got a taxi to the hotel and Graeme spoke to them as there was no way I could wait until 3 pm for our room to be ready. We did lose our higher grade room for a very strange internal facing room, but I had to lie down and was very grateful for the room no matter how it came!

We spent the 36 hours we were in Singapore, in the room. Poor Graeme didn’t get to see anything – is lucky we have been here a few times before. I was not well still the next day when it was time to check out as our hotel was fully booked, so we decided to get a day room at the Changi Airport hotel which is the Crowne Plaza. Oh my god, it was so lovely after the room we had had before, so we spent the 5 hrs just getting ourselves right side up and making sure we had everything packed. We had ripped all our suitcases apart as discovered that my little bag with some medication, earplugs, (which we had needed in the first Singapore hotel room!) & eye patches were all missing. I think the bag got rolled into the duvet at the Novotel in Amsterdam. I clearly remember zipping the bag up on the bed & I’m usually so careful.

They say things happen in 3’s & this trip, Graeme had hurt cartilage in his knee at the beginning of the trip & had a week on painkillers for that, then he was gifted Covid on the cruise, and then I had food poisoningt!

It was an uneventful 9 hour flight home & I felt marginally better, but didn’t eat or drink. We landed in Christchurch & Pam & Gordon - who kindly looked after had our two puppy dogs Pip & Paddy for the month, came & picked us up with the dogs packed up already in the back! Great friends are wonderful to see at this point 😊. Then we drove the 3 1/2 hrs home to Twizel, with a stop in Ashburton to pick up groceries I had ordered before we left Amsterdam.

We were pretty shattered by the time we got home, as it had been an overnight flight with no sleep, but felt good to be back until we went to get into bed to find our freshly made bed had mouse poop on our pillows & between the sheets, thru my bedside dresser, then later discovered they had been in the pantry & all around our electrical goods – we had had an infestation while we were away. We have since heard that this can happen in the area on the turn of the hot into cold season, if the house is empty. They had even got into my quick-eze chewable tablets, ripped open the packets, eaten them & dragged the paper into the bed. Three days and over 20 loads of washing & drying later, all the linen on all our beds & clothes in the drawers have been changed, just in case. Those 5 little suckers have since gone to mousey heaven!

Also, the pigeons had come in to roost in the outside trusses of the roof in the month we were away, so there were piles of pigeon poop on the concrete that had to be scraped off into a bucket & hosed away before we could let the dogs outside. 

Oh, the other thing that had happened actually was that Laura our friend who have been kindly checking on our home when we were away, had gone round to turn the water pump & hot water cylinders back on, only to find water peeing out of one of the pipes – it had cracked. Thank God we didn’t come home to that as it would’ve completely flooded. Laura mopped up everything and got hold of us while we were still overseas & they got a plumber in to fix the cracked pipe -thank goodness for another great friend 😊. This is the reason we turn the water off when we go away, especially after having a pipe burst in Australia once & we woke to half the house flooded! 

So that’s the next 3 things – what a few days it’s been! All the joys of travel I guess🥹😏.

                                                Changi airport from the Crowne plaza hotel

                                            The Southern alps NZ

Pigeons had decided to come stay for a month!#!

We discovered mice like soft quickeze tablets

Someone was happy to see Dad💞

Days 23, 24 and 25. Copenhagen – at sea – disembarkation – Amsterdam.

 Day 23 Copenhagen

We had our usual in room breakfast this morning then got ready and we are docked in Denmark! Got off the ship in Copenhagen and were sussing out how to get into the shopping centre we went to in 2019 that Graeme would like to go back to. Walked around the corner and saw a friendly looking couple, she had a kiwi cap on so approached them to see if they had bus tickets for town. Turns out Mark and Nicki are from Adelaide, she just likes the kiwi cap! Ha ha.

They were also trying to get to the shopping centre so joined us and we worked it out, although luckily the bus driver stopped for the crowd as we were all in the wrong place - no signs! ($11 total for the bus and the same again for the train tickets) onto the train for Copenhagen Central.

“Maps.me” app has been so helpful again– you download any city map you want when you have internet anywhere in the world, then it works off-line and take you everywhere you want to go :-)

We spent a couple of hours walking around the shopping mall – there were a lot less shops and it was very very quiet at 10 am. We got a nice cold milkshake from McDonald’s, unfortunately Graeme’s exploded everywhere on him when he squeezed it a little hard and the lid popped off – there was chocolate everywhere all down his jeans and on the floor. Luckily there was a guy sitting next to us on the bench with his laptop, and he said there was a restroom just around the corner where we could get paper towels so I went round and luckily the cleaning lady was there and she gave me a whole bundle. Went to open them and they exploded everywhere on the floor – it was like laurel and hardy ha ha! Anyway, the paper towels allowed Graeme to clean up everything, and I got talking to the guy there. His name was Lars when he was in Scandinavia and Ian when he was in Scotland! He had lived in both countries for many years, and speaks about 5 languages. He works in software, so travels a lot internationally and was really interesting to talk to. I really notice the Scandinavians hold your eye gaze when they’re talking to you, very different to what I am used to with Graeme! 

Met up again with Mark and Nicki and we did a long walk around the district, Graeme took us past the meatpacker district he loved last time we stayed, and the ex-abattoir turned brewery, called Warpigs  – Although he didn’t stop for a beer as it was only just lunchtime, and he didn’t want to ruin the memory from last time he said. It was interesting as we walked back, got to chat along the way and Nicki was telling me about an inherited eye condition she has, and that she is going to get a guide dog in July – how exciting! She also gave me her meta glasses to try, they were so cool you just tap them, and then I asked Meta if the man standing in front of me was handsome when I looked at Graeme. ‘She’ said attraction was a subjective thing, but the man was well groomed, had a black t-shirt, glasses and a big smile ha ha! Nobody else could hear her talking, even though I could hear her clear as day. I was thinking these might be good for Graeme‘s deafness as well and well worth looking into. The glasses cost $500, which is super good, then I guess you would need to put your prescription in them as well. She said you get them from OPSM.

We went back to the ship via train and bus again, didn’t bother buying the bus ticket and return as they don’t check it, and it seems to just shuttle back and forth from the port. We decided to go lay upstairs by the pool as they had the roof open a little bit and it was a beautiful sunny day. Took our music and got some cocktails. I dozed off for a second, but woke myself up! Then we got another couple of cocktails! Oh dear, needed a sleep after that. Crashed for about 45 minutes, and then we met the Aussies for dinner as we had invited them to get together with us. We all get on really well. Mark was a detective in CIB for the police for many years and had lots of interesting stories. Nicki has also had interesting work and we all had lots of talk about, our shared travel experiences, our children and grandchildren, as we are very similar ages. We went to a show in the theatre after that before bed. Tomorrow is an at sea day.

Day 24 at sea

A leisurely day today, as we are cruising from Denmark back to Rotterdam, and this is our last day, so sadly had to pull everything out of the cupboards and repack our suitcases – hate hate hate this part! It is so depressing compared to the excitement of unpacking for two weeks and not having to live out of a suitcase ha ha.

Had the usual in room breakfast, then went up to the Crows Nest and got a chai latte and a coffee. They had the gameshow deal or no deal later in the theatre which was okay. Not many people went surprisingly. Mooched around, probably had a couple of cocktails – I’ve lost count! Then we lay down, cuddled up in zonked out for a little while – so nice to be able to do this. It’s a real luxury. 

Then we went down and met the Aussies for trivia, which wasn’t on at first, so we sat and talked and talked and had a few more drinks. Then they went off to the dining room and we had a specialty dining at the Tamarind restaurant. Well, it was impressive. It was a fusion of Asian cuisine – lots of flavours, and spices, I surprised myself with how spicy I could handle things! It was really lovely, and I also had a couple of cocktails that had very hot ginger in them that almost blew my mouth off, but I persevered ha ha.

We met the Aussies back in the BB kings bar for the 80s nostalgia trivia after dinner. We did pretty well with 34 correct and was good to do it in a team of 4 rather than just ourselves. Said our goodbyes to Mark and Nicki and will definitely keep in contact on FB. 

Went to the final show in the theatre – have to say Holland America are not great with their night entertainment, nothing like Royal Caribbean who are really good. They only have about three shows and they are repeated and moderately good – enjoyable but one we actually did walk out of because it was pretty bad and we aren’t fussy. Final pack up and then into bed as we have to be out of our rooms and off the ship by 9 am tomorrow.

Day 25- Rotterdam disembarkation

We were up at 7am this morning – have to go up to the lido restaurant, cafeteria for breakfast and our bags were out and taken away about 10 pm last night, so we just have our backpacks. Had a breakfast then I went back and grabbed some pastries for the cabin stewards like I have been doing most days, so that got a nice smile from them :-). 

We were off the ship and walked out over the bridge to the train station, now we know Wilheminaplein station as we came through on the way here. It was very quiet compared to Kings day, when we came over on the 26th April! Got the Metro to Rotterdam Centraal, and bought train tickets to Hoofddorp – A bit of a pain as you have to get the train all the way to the airport stop then get off- get on another metro and go back to the Hoofddorp station, as there is no direct way there. But it wasn’t too bad – we had to run for the first train though. They are doing maintenance and a lot of the trains weren’t running, but we got the fast one which only took 35 minutes from Rotterdam instead of 1 1/2 hours. It was packed though and a bit of a pain, trying to hold our suitcases to the side of the seats so that people could get past, but it was fine, just very crowded. 

Found our bearings and walked 10 minutes to the Novotel Schipol airport, which is very nice. We were there at 10:30 am and very luckily were given our room key straight away which was great as I was pretty hot and my neck was pretty sore by then. The room has lovely air conditioning – so nice after the ship having been a bit hot at nights at times, had to get engineering out to look at it one night. 

We then got back on a bus which took us around to a big shopping mall. Everything is so orderly and people are so calm here and lots of incredibly stunning 6 foot 3+ tall blonde Dutch woman. They look like models! There are also a lot of immigrants in this area, looked like middle, eastern, a lot of Muslim woman and many Indians, speaking Dutch! 

I bought some sandshoes in a pale colour as I will need them for work I will be starting in Twizel soon at the community care centre, We had the most yummy lunch sitting outside under the trees in the outside part of the shopping mall. A lovely large moretti beer and a focaccia bread – One had salmon and almost like a whip fraiche andthe other had ham and gorgonzola cheese. The bread was not like ours at home, it was almost like it had been sautéed lightly and the outside was light and crispy, but the inside was soft. They were so so delicious! Open sandwiches are very common in Europe.

We walked around a bit more, enjoying the people and the place, then caught the bus back – you just tap your credit card on and off to pay, although you do need a separate card each as you can’t tap one card twice – the same as the trains. Back to our room and then we had a bit of a break before going out for a nice walk around the block – we have been doing between 11,000–15,000 steps a day. Probably need to given it all the alcohol we have been drinking and food we’ve been eating ha ha!!🤣 

Went and sorted our bags out then down to the hotel restaurant for what we thought was going to be a light meal, as we didn’t want to eat in the restaurant proper so got a bar snack. Got a Hawaiian pizza, nachos and a small tasting platter. Turned out to be a lot of food, although the nachos were really just chips so did not finish everything! But also enjoyed a nice beer. Back up to room to make sure we have our backpacks correct for our flight tomorrow – we are leaving at 8 am and flying out at 11 am to Singapore. Graeme had a look and the temperature there is 32° – we have nothing for this weather as we have been in cold weather up until now! I think our flight is about 10 hours so with the time difference we will be arriving in Singapore at 10 am, so will need to try and get some sleep on the plane as we won’t be able to get into our hotel. Have done the Singapore arrival card online – Danni with her flight attendant job told me about the “MyICA” app where once you have loaded a profile you just have to do your specific arrival through that and you can do it as a group so only do it once- your details all stay loaded so you don’t have to put them back in each time you fly. Very handy! Checked in online as well and we are ready to go.

On the train - tempting to push- but not!