Or The Journey to Australia…
I left for Australia on a Sunday following a torrential thunderstorm which had left Elspeth, Amelia and I running the 100m from the coffee shop to my front door. Elspeth kindly gave me a lift to the station with my luggage though and soon I was on the Norwich train to London. Then the tube across London to Heathrow- so many different forms of transport and disjointed journeys that all added up to a really long day!
I didn’t pack enough food and was starving by the time I’d checked in at Heathrow. I was hoping for Yo Sushi, but apparently it’s being refurbished so was closed. I headed to Pret a Manger instead for a red pepper and halloumi toastie and a peach iced tea- very nice!
My flight to Singapore was very long and I was very achey- plane seats are not the best for sleeping in! I did manage to doze off for a bit by putting some soothing music on my iPod (Zero 7 aah…), but we encountered quite a lot of turbulence which kept waking me up. I watched The Hunger Games (again) on my little TV screen and a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory, as well as reading the whole of Fifty Shades of Grey… (review to follow). You can pack quite a lot into a 12 hour flight!
I arrived Singapore at approximately 2pm (their time). My checked bag was going all the way through to Sydney so I didn’t have to worry about that. Singapore (Changi) Airport is pretty massive and one of the most well equipped and fun airports I’ve been to. I’d read on their website about the free city tours they offer so I signed up for the next available one (6:30pm) and headed off to find the gym and showers. They cost to use but it’s a pay per use lounge, with gym, nap room, showers, and food etc so it’s definitely worth the money in my opinion if you’ve got a long time to wait in the airport. I did 30mins on the treadmill and 20mins cycling as well as some stretches- it felt really good to move my legs and do some exercise after sitting still for so long! I was super sweaty and icky after that though so I headed to the showers- lovely and refreshing.
Then I ordered a mango and passionfruit smoothie from Boost juice bar while I waited for the tour at 6:30pm. Love this juice bar- I wish we had one at home!
The tour basically involved being driven around the marina and downtown city area in a coach, but we had a guide who told us some fun and interesting facts (did you know that Singapore means “city of the lion”?). Plus it was really nice to get out of the airport and see a bit of the country too- the architecture was pretty impressive, massive skyscrapers and bridges. To me it looked like a cross between Bangkok and Sydney…a western city with an Asian influence.
We arrived back from the tour just after 8pm. I was getting quite tired by this point. I had a (large) slice of Hawaiian pizza and then a chai latte, and walked up and down the terminal trying to keep myself awake!
I dozed on the flight to Sydney again but the plane was quite busy with little room to stretch out and I got achey knees from trying to sleep in awkward positions! After 8 hours (urgh) we arrived, I collected my bag and got the bus to domestic terminal. The weather was a little depressing, raining and cold – too much like I hadn’t left England! I had to wait quite a while to check in so got a coffee and read my Kindle, two hours before the flight I checked my bag and headed through security to get some lunch! My body was seriously confused about what meal to expect next but it still seemed to be getting hungry! I got another mango smoothie and some salmon and avocado sushi rolls 🙂 yum!
The flight to Cairns was with the Australian equivalent of Easyjet or Ryanair, Jetstar, so was a less luxiourous plane where you had to pay for any drinks. I slept and read my Kindle- it’s an absolutely lifesaver when travelling. I managed to finish another book (Insurgent)…
I arrived in Cairns and contacted the bed and breakfast we’re staying at for an airport pickup. The Garden Gate B&B is in Edgehill which is about 10mins from the airport, and approx 4km north of Cairns central. It’s just next to the Botanic Gardens which was nice- I’ll do a full review in a later post. That evening I was pretty exhausted and pretty much just collapsed on the bed with a cup of tea and watched TV for a few hours before falling asleep.
