Always Take The Weather With Me!

As some of you may know, I (Bex) recently went on a bit of a fly-by visit home to New Zealand, stopping off in Singapore on the way there and Sydney on the way back. Here’s how it went (click on the links to read about it and see some pics):

Singapore


First stop on my trip was Singapore. I booked my flights back in November and scheduled in three days there to see my friend Emily. By complete coincidence, in February Johnny was asked to do a week’s work in Singapore in the exact same week! So he flew down there with me and we stayed in the lovely Gallery Hotel which was conveniently only a 2 minute walk to Emily’s place. So while Johnny worked, I chilled out with Emily and her little baby Libby (just born in November) and also did a little bit of sight-seeing.

In my two days of sight-seeing I did the hop-on-hop-off Hippo Tours, shopped in a couple of the trillions of shopping malls that Singapore has to offer, strolled down the famous shopping street of Orchard Road, checked out Chinatown, and did a Hippo River Cruise. When he was not working, Johnny managed to join me on a Night Safari trip at Singapore Zoo (where we had our feet scrubbed by fish!) and a stroll along the quays.

I was told that Singapore had a surprising amount of rain while I was there but this just gave me the perfect excuse to stay inside and catch up with Emily & Libby! Emily & Luke also had Johnny and I over for a BBQ one night and I celebrated Emily’s birthday with her before I left for NZ.

Click on one of the photos here to see our photos of Singapore.



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New Zealand


I had a great trip back in New Zealand. Not only was I able to catch up with almost all of my nearest and dearest, I attended two gorgeous weddings in two stunning locations (Shirley & Duncan in Piha and Alison & Simon in Waiuku), one fun hen night (Emily’s before her wedding to Peter), met a whole heap of new babies and checked out a few new houses – man my friends are growing up!

One of my priorities when I was home was of course spending time with my two families: the Mills’ and the Huangs. Thanks to a few dinners, a couple of lunches and a fun shopping trip I managed to do just that and surprised the families at the end with a viewing of our wedding video and album that I picked up from the photographers while I was home.

Funnily enough, people kept telling me that it was a pity the weather wasn’t as nice as it had been while I was home in Auckland but as I was in jandals and a skirt every day I was happy and the odd rain shower didn’t bother me in the slightest – so good to be home!

Click on one of the photos here to see the various sets of photos of my trip back to Auckland this time.



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Sydney


On my way back to Dublin, I stopped off in Sydney for a few days to catch up with some of my friends there. I just so happened to be there the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day too so of course I checked out some of the celebrations for that.

On Saturday, despite it pouring with rain (are you picking up the theme here?), I managed to spend a lot of time with our friends who had come up from Canberra, Anita & Jez, had a few drinks that evening with Rob & Elaine, Keegan, Sashan (who was up from Melbourne), Sonja & their friend Natalie and checked out a few sailors that were on a break in Sydney. ;-)

Sunday was bright and sunny and I caught up with my friends Emily & Rachel over brunch then took in the Hyde Park St. Paddy’s Day Festivities whilst catching up with Ben & Jeannie, Keegan & Kate, Erin, Rob & Elaine and Emily. That evening Anita & Jez dropped me at my relatives, Cass & Alan’s place and I spent a lovely evening hanging out with them.

Monday of course most people were working but I managed to have two lunches – one with Rob then one with Keegan before heading to the airport and back to Dublin!

Click on one of the photos here to see our photos of my time in Sydney.



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So despite the weather not quite being on my side the whole time I managed to have a brilliant trip, catching up with loads of fantastic people! I miss you all!

The adventures are not yet over though as I am typing this from sunny Cape Town where I have been for the last week and will be for another week! Check our site again in a week or so for an update on that! ☺