Singapore
Singapore – a destination I have never visited before. It is a city/state with very little land and a population of 7.1 million people. But all of that is well managed. It is very green – the government plants hundreds of trees every year, the public transportation is exceptional, there are few cars on the roads, and the city is very clean.
We spent two days in Singapore and the only downside that I could see was the weather – the temperatures were in the 90’s both days with 90% humidity. Our first day we took an overview tour during the day visiting the botanical gardens, the ethnic parts of the city and the Merlion (symbol of Singapore) on the waterfront. In the evening, we went out again for a short river cruise followed by a light show in the super trees and then a laser show on the waterfront.
On day two, we explored on our own and went to the Gardens by the Bay -- a double domed structure built by the government next to the super trees. There we visited the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest both of which were in air-conditioned spaces. The cloud forest’s theme was Jurassic Park with enormous dinosaurs and the world’s second tallest indoor waterfall! Afterwards, we walked through the super trees (which do everything from collecting rainwater to providing solar energy), across a bridge to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel where we had lunch. We had walked over five miles and were happy to return to our ship and relax.
Indonesia
The past week has been fascinating and tiring. We have been traveling just below the equator, and the weather has been very hot and very humid – both temperatures and humidity in the 90’s. One needs only be outside for a few minutes to feel worn out.
After a final stop in Darwin, Australia, we headed north to Indonesia. The primary religion of the country is Islam; however, the island of Bali is Hindu. Our first stop was at Komodo Island where the first people to greet us were girls wearing hijabs, despite the hot weather.. The scenery was magnificent with high mountains and beautiful beaches. While there we chose to visit a local village. We walked around the narrow village streets where there were goats wandering around and ended up at the local school where the children put on a show. As we were leaving the school, we spotted a Komodo Dragon at the edge of a field.
Two days later we arrived in Bali for a two-day visit. We spent our first day with our own driver/guide and a private car going as far north as Ubud. The traffic in Bali is intense with as many motor scooters as there are cars. The scooters follow no rules and often have whole families aboard. At one point, we saw a scooter with the father driving, one child in front of him, a mother holding a baby behind him and another child behind her! We visited a number of beautiful temples, a monkey forest, rice terraces and observed daily life along the streets.
Bali had just celebrated its New Year when we were there and along the roads, we saw many huge paper mâché statues of large, muscular men called Ogah-Ogah, making grimacing faces. Tthese statues are to get rid of the evil and to start the new year with positive energy. After New Years Day, the statues are taken down and burned.
Sydney, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef
Since arriving in Australia, we spent two days in Sydney and then sailed up the East Coast through the Great Barrier Reef stopping in Townsville and Cairns. This area has had a very wet rainy season, and we were lucky not to get rained on – but all of the rivers, streams and waterfalls were overflowing.
Our first day in Sydney was all about the Opera House. We took an in-depth tour of the building in the morning, then walked the city to include the botanical gardens and returned to the opera house for dinner and to see Puccini’s opera Turandot. If one were to see an opera, the Sydney Opera House is the place to do it and the music was lovely, however I still do not care for that style of singing!
On our second day, we went to the Blue Mountains by way of an animal park that features Australian animals. There were wallabies hopping about, Kuala bears to hold, kangaroos and others. Although we did not experience any rain, the Blue Mountains were in a cloud and we could not see much of the scenery. On our return to Sydney, the weather cleared and we had a spectacular sail out of Sydney Harbour.
As we sailed north, we were told that we were between two World Heritage sites – the Great Barrier Reef on one side and the Wet Tropics Rainforest – the oldest in the world. Our outing in Townsville took us into the rainforest where we hiked for an hour with a guide and it ended with an outlook over the forest to the Coral Sea.
Finally, we traveled to Cairns and had a thrilling ride on a 19th century train to a village in the rain forest and returned via a cable car. There we could look down and see the raging rivers and waterfalls.
New Zealand
We were scheduled to have two stops in New Zealand – one day in Auckland, the capitol, and one day in the Bay of Islands. We were also scheduled to have one day on the Island Kingdom of Tonga between French Polynesia and New Zealand. The day after leaving Bora Bora, the captain informed us that there would be a tropical cyclone off the coast of Tonga when we would be there with hurricane force winds and 30-foot seas. He announced that he had made the decision to forego Tonga and head straight to New Zealand and that we would have two days in Auckland before going to the Bay of Islands.
Auckland is a big modern city built on the tops of extinct volcanoes. We spent our two days there walking the city and making lovely discoveries. On our first day, we walked to the Sky tower and went to the top to get an overview of the city. Then we took a hop on, hop off bus going all over the city and getting off at several stops. I was om my own on the second day and revisited several places we had seen from the bus, but I did it all on foot. I averaged six miles a day of walking.
In the Bay of Islands, we took a small boat cruise out to “the hole in the rock” at the end of the chain of islands. It was a beautiful scenic cruise with wildlife along the way to include a pod of dolphins that were swimming alongside of our boat.
French Polynesia
I just spent three days in paradise, or, French Polynesia. We spent a day each on the islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. Papeete is the capitol of French Polynesia and therefore its administrative hub. It is the thriving center of the island of Tahiti, but we chose to spend our time driving around the island on a small group tour to experience the island’s natural beauty. Also, we were visiting on a weekend when everything in the city was closed down.
Overnight we travelled across a straight to Moorea Island. There we took 4 x 4’s and explored more beautiful viewpoints. We also visited a pineapple plantation.
At our third island, Bora Bora, we finally got into the water and swam with reef sharks, manta rays and snorkeled over coral gardens full of tropical fish. It is a place where one can just sit back and not worry about the cares of the world and to just be there. There is nowhere in the world with water the colors you can find on Bora Bora.Type your paragraph here.