Day 2 in Singapore to home

Tree with 3 colours of flowers - don't know what it is called.








Birds in the Botanic Gardens that attracted a huge following of photographers with lots of huge equipment!



Behind the waterfall.



Is that Jim?



Day 2 in Singapore was much more enjoyable than day 1. We spent the morning in the Botanic Gardens with the bulk of the time in the magnificent Orchid Garden. It costs 5 dollars to get in but for some reason they mistook me for a senior so charged me only 1 dollar. They charged Jim 1 dollar too but that is understandable!

The rest of the day we spent along the river front enjoying the sculptures, the architecture and the asian food. We avoided the thousands of shopping centres which most normal people, I am told, would delight in!

Our flights home were only 4 hours late in total - much better than what lots of people had to endure. Brian met us at the airport and drove us home over very treacherous roads. He had the car equipped for all eventualities - blankets, food and water! An official at Frankfurt had noticed Jim's bare sandalled feet and wondered how Jim would cope with the weather at home - you should have seen the speed of him once he stepped into the many inches of snow in our back yard! Over the next few days our icicles were the talking point of the town - one was about 6 foot long going from the roof at the back to the ground. Fortunately the house was warm thanks to Ann, Evy and Geoffrey and I moved immediately into Christmas preparations. Once I had the shopping done on Monday 20th I had no objections to staying indoors until the thaw came. As I write this There is a light coating of snow which I hope has no intention of staying.

Further holiday plans - London, Spain and Estonia within thenext 6 months. After that - India? Canada? South Africa? I may even continue the blog for some of those trips. Till then...

Christchurch

Sculpture garden dedicated to people with dyslexia. Also evidence of the tendency down under (in both Australia and New Zealand) of dressing statues/sculptures.

The behind (and ample too!) view of a sculpture.

Teddy bears attempting to escape the Christmas rush!


The above 2 pics show the effects of the earthquake on a church. The tower was damaged and had to be removed for repair and the workers decorated it for Christmas!

This sculpture of an egg was uncracked before the earthquake.

The Our Father in English and Maori in the Cathedral.

Flying Archangels in the Cathedral - seemingly they fell during the earthquake but have been replaced.

At the time we were in Cathedral Square this is how long it was to the Rugby World Cup.

Playing chess in Cathedral Square.

The Cathedral Choristers during their Christmas recital.

The Cathedral.


We spent one day in Christchurch investigating the city and viewing the effects of the earthquake. When I was about to update things from Singapore on I realised that I had not recorded the sights of Christ church, so here goes!

A taxi from the airport hotel dropped us in Cathedral Square from where we hopped on to the very efficient and convenient hop on-hop off tram. The driver gave a running commentary pointing out landmarks and showing us evidence of the earthquake from which Christchurch is still experiencing after shocks. We returned to the Cathedral where we enjoyed the Cathedral's boy sopranos' Christmas recital. This was a real treat comparable to the Army Band's Remembrance Day recital that we happened on in Hobart.

Christchurch is full of sculptures and we noticed that many of them were dressed - we had noticed that in Sydney also. The most memorable sculptures were in the sculpture garden dedicated to people with dyslexia. There is a seat which talks to you when you sit on it and tells you the story of somebody (I've forgotten his name) who did lots of work highlighting the difficulties of dyslexics and set up a foundation for them. There is a sculpture of a young girl who has managed to enjoy reading despite her disability and a sculpture of a pair of shoes used to represent the founder of the foundation.

Our day in Christchurch was very satisfying as we visited museums, art galleries and a craft gallery as well as hopping on and off at various parks etc.