Friday 10 - Saturday 11 July THE END

Last day - home tomorrow!

Tina has a bad night's sleep - again.

We pack early and put luggage into storage.

We go on a morning city tour with 5 stops:

1. Little India - walking down Clive Street!
2. "Colonial" heart - Supreme Court, Town Hall, Merlion and Singapore River
3. Chinatown including the oldest Hindu temple (Sri Mariamman Temple)
4. a jewellery factory
5. Singapore Botanic Gardens, but especially the National Orchid Garden.

Good tour apart from the jewellery factory.

Lunch is in the mall under our hotel in New York, New York ("start singing the blues"). which has items on the menu such as Freedom Fries and Give Me Liberty sandwiches.

Then it's a taxi out to the airport which has free wifi so I type this.

Later ...

Long wait at airport - another 6 hours.

Flight OK; Tina slept more than on the London to Singapore flight - I slept less. Hard landing which took everyone by surprise.

A few hours at Auckland domestic terminal and am typing these last 5-6 sentences as they have free internet. Coldish (9 degrees C) and raining heavily. We both feel dirty.

Plane delayed but we finally have our hour flight home. Kirsten and Isaac not at airport but rescued by Bruce Kensington. When we arrive at our house there is a surprise - Helen has arrived on Friday night. So we have virtually all the family here - with Marcus to arrive on Sunday (which he does and takes Helen back to Wellington).

We give out our presents but we get unexpected presents in return. Kirsten gives us passport covers whilst Helen has printed out the entire blog and put it into a book. I was going to do this but she has done it for me.

Kirsten has made a magnificent fish pie for dinner. Surprising sight to see Helen sitting on the sofa hand sewing! She is assisting with the costumes for a Wellington play. Who knew she could sew?