Singapore River Cruise

After a good night's sleep after the long day of travel, we had a bit of a lay in & a decent breakfast.
Right outside the hotel was a river boat cruise operator and a cruise along the Singapore river sounded like a good way to fill in the morning.


They took us up stream to start with past all the hotels (above) & some big apartment blocks. Nothing especially interesting, but there was lots of greenery for such a heavily populated place. There was one interesting bridge along the way (below). Strange design & even stranger paint job.
We passed Clarke Quay on the way back down stream. At Clarke Quay, both sides of the river are lined with restaurants and bars. Some aren't even on land, but are converted fishing boats.
Just down stream of Clarke Quay is the Old Boat Quay. It was the original trade port of Singapore. Now the docks have been converted to restaurants and bars but have kept the original facades. Behind them are the modern sky scrapers of the city. Quite an odd contrast.
Down stream is more about the government & business part of Singapore. Just looks like any other city doesn't it? Well it pretty much is.


There's also a cultural side to Singapore. I can't recall exactly what some of the buildings are below, but there is a cluster of museums, art galleries, a riverside stadium & cultural centres at the mouth of the river. Some of the buildings are straight out odd. I'll let you be the judge.

What typical city in the world these days is complete with out a big Ferris wheel? This one (below) is called the Singapore Flyer. I have to apologise at this point for the quality of the photos. The problem is that Singapore is almost on the Equator & is shrouded in clouds much of the time.
The star attraction for the tourist is the Merlion. This is probably the most recognisable land mark in Singapore.

We fast ran out of ideas of things to do & the climate wasn't exactly helping motivation. In hind sight we should have gone to the multi theme park, Sentosa for the day. Singapore isn't really a tourist destination. We wandered through China town then had lunch at Clarke Quay.

We headed to the "Budget" airport early (mainly to hide in the air con.). We were booked on a Tiger flight to Phuket. Tiger & the other budget airlines leave from a different no frills terminal (which is more like a huge shed). There isn't much to do there but there which is stark contrast to the shopping malls in the main Changi terminal. Tiger may be no frills, but you do get what you pay for. With no expectations of entertainment & food, I was actually quite impressed. The planes are fitted out with new interiors & there was even plenty of leg room. No complaints from me.

I think it took us the best part of 2 hrs to get from the airport tarmac to the hotel including a 45 min taxi ride. I was very glad to be closing my eyes later that night.

Singapore Airlines

With a sense of trepidation (thanks to job security issues) I booked a trip to Singapore & Thailand for Kerri's xxth birthday. My plan was to let her know we were going somewhere, but for her not to know where. Nice idea, but just after I'd locked in all the flights & accommodation, she tricked me into giving up my secret. Never mind. It was doing her head in anyway.

I'd booked us on Singapore Airlines for the Perth Singapore part of the trip (being longish haul) & it turned out to be a good decision. I don't mind flying discount on short flights, but once it head up near the 5 hr mark, I like the entertainment, food & leg room you get on the better airline. Singapore are pretty much at the top of the tree & fairly competitive for cost. Their new A330s (pictured) are awesome! The screens in the back of the seats are massive & more movies on offer than you could imagine. Before we knew it we were descending into Singapore.

For such a big airport, Changi was incredibly quiet. We grabbed out bags off the carousel, slipped out of the airport without fuss (only to be smacked in the face by the humidity. The taxi took us to the Novatel in Clarke Quay (the restaurant district next to the downtown area). The foyer of the hotel was chockers full of Emirates hostesses in full work clobber.

That evening we wandered around the Quay area admiring the pretty lights & hating the sweltering heat & humidity. I couldn't even take photos because the camera lens fogged up.

Twin Falls Loop Trail

The main part of the Springbrook Park centres around the Twin Falls loop.

The wet season is probably the better time to be there because the many waterfalls around this escarpment weren't running.

The trail descends through the dry eucalyptus forest and through the two crevices above. Once we exited from the second crevice we were suddenly in the cool rain forest and looking up at the waterfalls & escarpments we had just been walking along.

We reached the pool at the bottom of twin falls, but the Twin Falls was missing a leg. This seemed to be a theme for a few of the other cascades & waterfalls in the area.

The last waterfall we came to is called Blackfeller Falls. I'm not sure that you can call things that anymore because of the whole political correctness thing, but that's what they're called.

Time for a couple of arty shots now.

Eventually we climbed the switchbacks to the top of the plateau. We stopped at the top of Blackfeller falls (below) to look out over the Gold Coast. The haze had the better of us, but we we still able to make out most of it.

We jumped back in the car & headed back to Brisbane. That night we took mum & dad out for dinner at a flash restaurant to thank them for looking after us & lending us mums car that week.
The next day we were on a flight back to Perth.
Next trip, Thailand!

Natural Bridge

This little gem is the payoff for the pleasant walk through the forest past the dragon. I remember being in this cave when I was in primary school (at night to see the glow worms).

The loop takes you back to the top of the bridge. The top side of the little waterfall isn't nearly as phogenic as the cave.

Water Dragon

At the start of the Natural Bridge track, we nearly trod on this guardian of the forest sunning himself.
He's an Eastern Water Dragon (I'm pretty sure). Pretty fierce looking don't you think? Not really. These guys were often hanging around in the back yard when I was a kid. He's a close realative of the more famous frill necked lizards that you'll see in the tourist brocures that hang around in the desert.

Springbrook Rainforest

Tuesday - Springbrook National Park

Breakfast was included with our hotel room so we stocked up our energy reserves with a very nice buffet before packing up our gear and checking out.

We headed South to Muwullimba so that we could take the scenic drive into the ranges. It's some of the most picturesque farmland I've seen. We didn't loose sight of Mt Warning for long until we crossed the border into Queensland. Maybe the Rocky Mountain Foothills near Calgary are a rival but very different. The road was a bit twisty but nice & interesting. The only blight was the local drivers not paying much attention to double lines on blind bends.

We did make it in the end. Our first stop was Natural Bridge. It's in a differnt valley to the main part of the park, but was along the way.
There's a nice shortish loop through the temperate rainforest that takes you down to the bridge.

The rainforest was full of birds including the noisy catbirds that make a sound just like when you pull a cat by the tail. (Or maybe country & western music.....)

Kingscliff

The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering our way north through the many little townships along the way. We arrived at the hotel in Kingscliff about 3.30 & kicked back for a couple of hours before going for a walk along the beach.

The sunset over Mt Warning from out hotel balcony was quite the sight. The smoke from the sugar cane fires turned the sky orange.

We managed to catch up with some of Kerri's relatives at the local Thai restaurant for dinner. They live in one of the near by rural communities.

Byron Bay & Brunswick Heads

We finally dragged ourselves away from Cape Byron & checked out the Byron Bay township (above). It was just a bunch of shops & restaurants. Not what I'd call overly spectacular. Depends on what you're into I guess.

Next stop was Brunswick heads. We had lunch at the Hotel Brunswick Heads (above). Nice place to chilax over a feed & a beer. Apparently it can be very popular on the weekends, particularly Sunday Afternoons.
After lunch we checked out the beach & heads just near where we had lunch. The weather had turned pretty windy & unpleasant by that point.

Dolphins & Humpbacks

The first thing that caught our attention in the water at Cape Byron was a pod of dolphins going about their business. I found out later that this pod is a regular sight around the cape.

Not long after we were watching the dolphins I spotted the tell tail water spout of a humpback whale. Mum had mentioned she had seen some the previous weekend off Stradbroke Island (due east of Brisbane) & that we should look out for them.

It wasn't just one whale either. There must have been at least 15 that we saw in less than half an hour. It was a steady procession. Unfortunately the whales were at least a kilometre off shore, but with the bright sunshine, binoculars & my zoom lenze, we could see them well enough.

I did manage to get a couple of shots of tail flukes, but I promise to try to get some better ones when these ones Western Cousins pass by Perth in a few weeks.