Smashing Singapore

On my way back home (away from home) I had an 8 hour layover in Singapore.  As I had about 6 hours throughout the day to kill I took full advantage and headed out to (re)discover my once home country. 

Fun fact: I spent the first 3 years of my life in Singapore thanks to my dad's job as an expat for Phillips. 

Handlugage only kinda travels ✔✔

stamped in ✔

Singapore, April 19

To be fair Changi (Singapore) airport is huge and absolutely big enough to explore for 6 hours if you really feel like it. 

But I wanted to go out and explore the outside so I went through immigration (hurray for not needing a visa in advance!) passed by the information centre to find out what train(s) to take to the city and off I was!

Essentially you take 3 trains to get to the Gardens of the Bay, which is kind of city centre as far as I could make out.

So a day ticket only costs you a couple Singaporean dollars (2,40S$/2,80AU$/1,45€) and the trains (aprox. 45min to an hour if your unlucky with the connections) take you almost right to the Gardens by the Bay entrance. Which was my destination for the day.

The Gardens by the bay is an absolutely extraordinary sight to behold. Although it was raining by the time I got out of the Bayfront train station I was still excited to go explore (duhuh)! 

I hadn’t seen rain in weeks for one (haha!) but I also found myself standing at the edge of these magnificent gardens. 

Entrance to the conservatories is 28 S$ (29AU$/18€), as it was raining the Supertree Grove-tree top walk was closed. This walk takes you quite literally to the treetops where you walk over a long boardwalk between the Supertrees for which the gardens are so famous for. The entrance fee here is cheaper, but unavailable when I was there due to the rain so I happily “settled” to spend the afternoon wandering about the two breathtaking conservatories, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest.

(I’d like to ad that the park surrounding the conservatories and tree top walk is completely free and absolutely magnificent in it’s self!! as well as, that my photography skills are average at best and don't really do the place justice, so please go explore yourself! 😉)

Anyway as it was raining I headed almost straight to the domes. Reaching the Flower dome first you’ll breath a sigh of cool air as the dome is air conditioned (to keep a constant temperature and climate all year round), a sigh of relief from the hot humidity outside is immediately followed by a slight jaw drop for the beauty you’re laying your eyes upon. 

The dome is divided into climate regions like the tropics, the dessert, the Mediterranean, ect. and then again divided into countries where you’d find these specific climates around the world. Each country has been worked out thoughtfully with sculptures and information plaques on all the various fauna and flora to be found in said region and what you’ll be looking at in that particular section. 

Different levels take you all over the world in fauna and flora. All beautifully illustrated and inspired by both humans and animals.

 

I must have taken about a million pictures in the couple of hours I was there but these are some of my favourites.

Once you’ve explored and learnt about all the different types and kinds of fauna and flora around the world it’s time to head over to the Cloud Forest. I think this conservatory is the best known from social media and for good reason. The whole place is as photogenic as they come with a 35meter waterfall greeting you at the entrance and a 42meter cloud mountain as the centre piece of the dome. 

talking about making an entrance 

The walkway through the entire dome takes you all the way up to the top of the mountain (by elevator) and slowly guides you back down all the way showing and teaching you about the breathtaking world wonder that is, a rainforest. 

Needless to say that pictures will never do this dome justice. It might come close for some profi photographers but the cheer beauty is just so real, as if you'd actually walk into a compacted rainforest. And the thing is, you actually ARE.

You can just feel the whole thing breathing.

As you make your way down slowly the dome takes you through about seven different sides of the rainforest and dome. Each level talks about different aspects of the dome specifically and about the rainforest in general. The lost world, the cavern, the waterfall view, the crystal mountain, the cloud forest gallery, the cloud forest theatre and the secret garden will take you on an incredible journey that you simply can't miss if you ever find yourself on that side of the world. 

views from the top

 

beauty in every nook and cranny

After having my fill of rainforest (and after a check at the time), I headed back outside to find the skies had cleared together with the rain so I took the long walk around the gardens back toward the train station. 

The gardens are a real treat in themselves with beautiful pavements, art, boardwalks and magnificent views everywhere you look the park itself is well worth the stroll around with the two domes and the super trees dominating most of the scenery.

The super tree grove walk had opened up again with the skies but as I had a plane to catch I left that for my next (inevitable) visit as I decided there was still so much more to see and explore, not only in the Gardens by the Bay but in the whole of Singapore city and country by extent.

I'll go back soon to explore more, but for now it was time for me to head home again.

Back to Aus and back to my trusted travel buddy Nala as we had one hell of an adventure waiting for us: The great Tropical North.

xoxo Liz

Three thousand steps before brekkie

This is the story on my new job.

Beginning of May I arrived in Scone, NSW after a great 17hour drive from the Whitsundays. 

I took a live in job as a horse trainer and groom with a family of 3. Here I take care of 7 horses. Six and a half really ;-)

So everyday I wake up at 6:45AM to snooze once and be outside by 7 to feed the horses. Mixing up everyone's specific feed according to their meal-plans (I swear these horses get better food then I do sometimes 😂), splitting up the guys cuz they ain't of the sharing kind and skipping out the paddocks takes me a good three quarters of an hour before I can go back in to feed myself. 

After brekkie, I've got about 4 hours to get all the horses worked. As I've learned this past month it's quite impossible to properly ride 6 horses in less then 4 hours as they all have their own 'special care' programs going on too 😅

Time flies out here. On Thursdays I cook diner and I've usually got my day off on Monday, there doesn't seem to be much in between (on either side!).

I'm not agreeing with the falling (plummeting more like it) temperatures around here, but summer will be back around soon enough and in the meantime; if it stays cooler longer in the mornings that means I don't have to get up at 5 anymore in the weekends to get everyone fed and tacked up to go hunting, woehoe!

Writing and blogging has taken a back seat this past month, I'll probably get back to it again more in the following ones. So much to tell you about Singapore and the tropical north east coast !! 

that'll be all for now,

xoxo Liz

Short story on the south eastern corner of Aus

Mallacoota, Dec'18

And so I arrived in Mallacoota, 25k off the highway through the Croajingolong national park.

I spent two weeks with a gorgeous host family I met through HelpX. A website very similar to the well know wwoofing one, where you can find hosts to work for food and accomodation all over the world.

Personally I've only used HelpX in Australia, but my brother worked through the site in Canada and another friend wwoofd his way through France. It's a great concept if you ask me, an easy way to save money while traveling and most of all to gain so real local experiences across the world.

So I found myself living in a beautiful small community once again, and this time I was there for Chrissy. 

So Mallacoota has just over a thousand permanent residents in the community, a pretty small town in other words. But over the Christmas and easter holidays it transforms completely and it seems to stretch out to host an additional 8 thousand people (!). Many of these are families that have been spending the holidays here for generations. It was quite the experience to see the town transform from this quite little fishing town into a bustling holiday resorts, thankfully just as quaint though.

Anyway, I was very lucky to have found such an adventurous family to live with as they took me on loads of adventures after work (which was always easy going). 

They showed me around the beautiful coast lines with beautiful beaches and rugged cliffs alike.  

We went mountain biking and 4WD'ing through the surrounding national park. I hadn't gone mountain biking since forever and certainly not at such a decent level, needless to say I internally died a couple of times haha! But I absolutely loved the exercise and the trail views were definitely worth (almost) dying for ! :p 

I'd always wanted to go full on 4WD'ing and this experience taught me so much about how to actually do it. Most of all it made me feel quite happy about not attempting it at 18 with my poor little AWD through the ruthless Aussie outback, back in 2015 lol.

But as I was with my host who's an experienced 4WD'er with all the knowledge and equipment you could ask for I had the best experience. 

Included that half an hour or so of sawing we had to do to get that big stick out from underneath the car. :p

Some days we went out for a sunset boat ride on the lakes and others we just chilled at home in the warm summer sun.

Butt rock

The other day we went on a little road trip to Buchan, a tiny town known for it's lime stone caves and other outdoor adventure activities being so close to the Snowy River national park. We went chasing a waterfall, did some 4WD'ing through the national park and ended the day with a great pub meal. 

Snowy River just visible between the trees down below

icy cold and blue waters off Gabo Island

And on other days we went boating to neighbouring Gabo and Tullaburga islands.

Fun fact! 

Gabo island beautiful pink lighthouse and stands as the second tallest lighthouse in Australia with it's almost 47meters. 

I also spend Christmas with my beautiful host family.

And it was fabulous ! prepared loads and loads of food all morning, the girls bakes fresh ginger bread and we made gingerbread everything the day before. We ate a big *ss ham leg 3 different kinds of salads with goats cheese, croutons and cherries, with prawns kale and mangoes and with fresh smoked salmon and sweet potato rösties. Fresh BBQ prawns and a cheese platter and to top it all off we had a passionfruit crêpe cake, chocolate cherry trifle and a huge classic red fruit pav for dessert as dinner.

It was a great feast and ended it on the beach where the girls taught me to boogie board whilst trying to avoid stepping on the rays.

Safe to say I had an awesome chrissy this year in true aussie spirit and warmth. And even though I felt truely blessed to have been able to spend chrissy with such a great, loving family I really missed my own big warm family around me. There's just really nothing like having two big Christmas parties with 30+ family members around you on both days. So I promised my mom, dad, siblings and myself I'd be home again for next Christmas.

In the meantime it was time for me to get moving again and head north on another epic little roadtrip towards my new (horsey) destination close to Port Macquarie.

More adventures soon !!

xoxo Liz

the second of many 700k

The Alpine national park is home to Victoria's highest peak, Mount Bogong which stands at just under 2000m. In winter prime back country skiing territory, during the summer the hills provide excellent walking trails and views alike.

And views is what I got. The beginning of the Great Dividing range is an absolutely stunning region most known for the wines coming from the Yarra Valley, but coming from the north it's just a beautiful driving through Mount Buffalo national park.

Day one: Ky to Smoko, December 15th

Leaving my familiar home of Kyabram behind after a great last night BBQ with friends I headed toward the coast. As I had 3 whole days to get to Mallacoota, my spirits were high as I turned up the music and drove through that flat dry bushland toward the hills!

Dinner done right

An easy 3 hours later I found myself on the Smoko (free) campground a couple of k's outside the charming town of Bright which is the base for exploring both Mount Buffalo and the Alpine National parks. Which was exactly what I was in for the following day, so I set up camp next to the river surrounded by gorgeous nature.

Disclaimer: be fire wise guys!
as we were so close to the river, there was no wind
and it had rained quite a bit the previous
weeks we deemed it safe to start a small fire 

Ovens river made for a perfect (chilly) wash in the morning

looking up at the hills I was to overcome the following day

Up, up and over the hills

 But first, time for some brekkie

I found the Lavender Hue farm thanks to a friendly recommendation from the tourist information centre in Bright. I find this is almost always the best way to find local gems, certainly in more rural areas. Local knowledge is such a great bonus and helps you keep away from tourists where possible! And this was nothing less.

A beautiful little farm just north of the little township of Harrietville along the Great Alpine road. Obviously I had scones and a flat white for brekkie (when in doubt; eat scones :p ). What a great way to start the day, I wandered around the farm a bit, wrote in my book and simply enjoyed having brekkie in such a beautiful place before I headed off further along the ever winding Great Alpine road.

 And so I went, up up and up to the top. Stopping every now and then where possible to have a break from the narrow, steep and winding roads leading up to Hothem Heights.

This Alpine ski resort town was a bit eary with the bad weather coming through and the little movement as it was off-season. 

It was breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless at the top even though  I had to put on long jeans and a jumper and a rain jacket to stay warm.

Renes Lookout

Mount Hothem ski resort

Baldhead Phipps Forest

 

The way down was mercifully less windy and gave me a bit more room to enjoy the views around me in stead of having 300% concentration on the road in which case I had to find a place to actually get out and find a spot to enjoy the surroundings.

Anyway the way down was long but easier and with better weather and I found this beautiful lookout for lunch about halfway down.

Connors Hill

An hour later I found myself this lookout for another leg stretch and to take in all of the mountains once again before heading off toward the ocean.

 

 It was a good 5 hours from the summit of Mount Hotham to having my toes in the southern ocean once again.

It was pissing down rain when I arrived (which obviously didn't stop me from getting my feet in the ocean after 4 long years). Thankfully by the time I had found a place to sleep, went to the shops and had dinner the rain had stopped and I headed to the beach to be treated to this absolutely gorgeous sunset.

 

Last leg: Mallacoota

Thanks to my hosts I found two wonderfull little spots on my way to Mallacoota. Both the rainforest walk and the falls are little known and beautiful spots to to as quick detours from the road to my new home for a while.

Next up my first Aussie Chrissy and a jam-packed two weeks with a wonderfull family !

xoxo Liz