I am in shock - we are home and the whole trip now seems like a dream! Its cold here and we were low on oil when we got back so the heating wasnt working Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. The trip back was long - 3 flights, two taxis and a coach trip in one day and the last flight delayed by 5 hours so that we spent a total of 19 hours on the plane before touching down at Heathrow. In spite of the massage at Singapore airport, needless to say we are all jetlagged, sick of planes but with great memories of [View Full Entry]

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The previous blog was a bit rushed as we were in the ariport waiting for a flight. Here are some more photos of our week in Sabah. I have realised that my camera is not up to the job wrt wildlife photography - really you had to be there! [View Full Entry]

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We spent the last few days of our trip in the Sabah region of Malaysia. It is part of Borneo and renowned for its wildlife. We arrived in Sandakan unsure as to whether we would be picked up or not. We actaully had a bit of a problem at the customs (again), this time we couldnt prove how we had got into Malaysia cos the immigration computer wasnt uptodate with the train info. Anyway we were the last ones through but all ok in the end. We were picked up and taken by mini bus to a supermarket and cafe area [View Full Entry]

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Our flight from Oz was reasonably relaxed with half the seats empty on the flight. That meant that we all had a bit more room - also all the kids took the opportunity (willingly of course) to do some maths! We arrived in Singapore and Fab was given a special birthday card - she was really made up!. We got to the hotel late and wandered out to find some noodles at about 10pm - we were near to Orchard Road and walked for ages before finding a small stall selling some noodles, satay sticks and rice. The kids were whacked [View Full Entry]

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On my Birthday we went to Wet n Wild. I got a didgeridoo and a necklace, a koala magnet,pencils. At wetn Wikd there were so many slides. THere was a wave pool and a black slide. The Tornado, aquarace and the twister. The scariest one was the Tornado and I was too small to go on the Surf Rider. The Black Hole had hot water in because it was black and black absorbs heat. I got a boomerang and sunglasses and a book. And I got a cake that I decorated with Flirty and Beauty. It was shaped as a number [View Full Entry]

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We have had a roller coaster week - not least cos we all went to Wet 'n' Wild for Fab's birthday. It is a great water park and we all went on most things - Fab was disappointed she couldnt go on the vertical surf board but I have to admit to being quite relieved myself! There was a small debate prior to launching ourselves down the black hole as Bendy and Fatty disappeared down the chute together and we discovered that there was a weight restriction but apparently that only made the ride quicker! Fab had a low point in [View Full Entry]

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We have spent the last week based in Cairns on the Barrier Reef. We took a couple of trips out to see the reef and the kids all really enjoyed snorkelling with all the fish and coral around. Highlights of the trips were sighting of lots of 'Nemo' lookalikes, a shark, several giant clams and picking up sea cucumbers!! Al the children did really well cos on the second trip the swell was beginning to get up but that was our best trip for seeing the fish etc. The first trip was on a catamarang to a coral Cay. The sea [View Full Entry]

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Hi, I went to the Barrier Reef and we got there on a boat. The island we went to was called a Cay. I went snorkelling there and saw lots of different corals. There was a fire coral and on the way back we counted jelly fish. We had to wear a suit so that we didnt get stung by jelly fish. The fish I saw were clown fish and parrot fish (the boys are colourful and the girls arent). I saw a baby shark that looked like a fish. I dived down so close that the floppy coral just moved [View Full Entry]

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We have spent a couple of days in Roturua in the centre of North Island. Roturua has magma quite close to the earth’s surface and has hot springs and sulphurous mud pools. The photos don’t do justice to the smell which is all pervading. The landscape is difficult to get your head round - hot plopping mud and sulphur springs close to normal plants and buildings constructed on what appears to be solid ground. We met up with the Norths again for a few days in the Kauaeranga Valley at the South end of the Coromandel peninsula near Thames which originally [View Full Entry]

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Hi bloggers, we've seen glowworms in nz, the glow on the worm is the maggot poo burning. they have these long string that hang from the ceiling and the little maggots crawl around them, the strings are for catching the prey. After being maggots they turn into caccoons and roll up it the string. a couple of weeks later they turn in to flys and buzz around the cave. the flys die after a couple of days from starvation because they dont havev mouths. we saw them in these dark caves full of water when we went water rafting, black water [View Full Entry]

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