Well we've made it to Australia!

Our last day in Singapore involved getting up at around half past nine and getting ready. I checked my online banking and realised that I was being charged interest on my overdraft! I recently upgraded to an HSBC advanced account, for which I pay £6 a month but then don't get charged for overseas transactions and withdrawals, so it is worth it. When I opened the account the lady in the bank assured me that I was opening a 'Graduate Advanced' account and would therefore still have my interest free overdraft. She was wrong, so I was essentially paying £6 a month to be charged a further £20 on my overdraft! I was pretty angry so I called HSBC immediately, but because of the time difference they weren't open so I resolved to call them later. We then caught the MRT into town, where Vick and I got off at Raffles Place and Vix went on to Marina Bay. She wanted to go up Marina Bay Sands, but as it was $20 and we have already seen some awesome views from Gina and Martin's suite, Vick and I instead headed to the Asian Civilisations Museum, which was only $8. When we got there, we only had to pay $4 because the lady assumed we were students (well she asked and I said yes...) which was great. We started with a free tour of the China Gallery which was really interesting, before having a wander around the South East Asia gallery. We then headed to the Congo River exhibit (the Congo is, strictly speaking, not in Asia, but it was a temporary exhibition so I suppose it was allowed). We tagged onto a tour being led by a friendly American lady who talked to us like we were schoolchildren ("so who knows why this African mask has no mouth? Anybody?.....to....keep...the...secrets! That's right!"). There were even some original Picasso pieces, as his famous jumbled up faces were supposedly inspired by an African mask exhibition he had seen.

We just about had time to head upstairs to the performing arts section where we saw a big gamelan, before heading to Harbour Front on the MRT to meet Vix. As we were walking to the station we heard a loud rumble of thunder, and by the time we reached Harbour Front, it was absolutely chucking it down with rain, which somewhat ruined our plans to catch the monorail or cable car (probably monorail - $3 as opposed to $26!) to Sentosa Island. On Sentosa there are beaches, resorts, and loads of attractions, including a Universal Studios Park.

Instead we wandered around the huge shopping centre (they are everywhere in Singapore) for nearly an hour trying to choose somewhere to have something to eat. We eventually decided on a place called Chicken and Rice - how can you go wrong with that? Apparently you can - I went for Chicken and Noodles and it was like a bowl of gelatine. I don't want to see noodles again for a while!

After eating we headed back to Rose's via a cake shop to buy some cakes for her and her family to say thank you for looking after us. I called HSBC whilst I was on the train and after three long stints on hold and trying to explain myself numerous times, I was told that the advisor couldn't get hold of his manager and I would get a call back within the next three days. When we got back we packed and changed, and just before we left I got a call from the actual lady at HSBC who persuaded me to go for the Advanced account - I was waiting for her to tell me that she never mentioned a 'Graduate Advanced' account and to reiterate that I had signed a 12 month contract, but to my surprise she apologized for mis-selling me the product and offered to refund the charges and to turn my account back into a normal graduate one - result! I was quite impressed.

We got the bus to the airport, and realised on the way there that Hannah, who we are meeting in Cairns, had stopped in Singapore on her way! We went to her gate where she was allowed to cross security and come and see us - it was the only time that the four of us would be together! Vix and Hannah had a picture of them passing the baton (my teddy rabbit, Thumper) relay style, before Hannah had to head back and board her flight to Cairns, via out of the way Brisbane.

We then went for an imitation KFC (Texas Chicken) before Vick and I had to go and board our flight and say goodbye to Vix! It was really strange leaving her after six weeks of being in each other's company - bye Vix!

Once Vick and I had been through security we sat down and I decided to open my card from my parents for my Australia flight. On the inside was written 'here are some Australian dollars...' but there weren't any. I texted mum to tell her she had forgotten to actually put the money in, but she said she definitely did, so I checked my other cards. I realised that they had all been carefully opened and sealed back together with glue, and all of the money from them was gone! That is £200 I think - just gone! I looked at my cards (all 19 of them), including birthday cards, Easter cards etc. and every single one of them has been opened and looked in. I think it was probably on the bus to Chumpon a few weeks ago - I am so so angry. I remember thinking 'phew' when I realised my bag had been opened but my cards were still sealed, but I was wrong. I know it seems stupid but I feel really violated and angry towards those horrible Thai men who wait until everyone is asleep before climbing into the hold and stealing everything. It was obviously not an opportunist grab and go because they had taken the time to carefully open all of my cards and reseal them with a line of glue. £200 is a huge amount on a trip like this and could probably spell the difference between me making it to South America and not making it. My parents are probably secretly happy because it means I might be home earlier!

I had taken a Diazepam tablet for the flight, so I was a really confused type of angry where I should have been laid back but was buzzing instead. To make it worse the Australian guy next to me on the plane was going on about the 'dodgy' plane and freaking me out, so I was close to having a panic attack before we took off. Not fun. He was a really funny guy but I'm not sure he realised how stressed out he was making me as I don't like flying. To make it worse, an air stewardess announced that due to a weight imbalance on the aircraft, we were not allowed to leave our seats for the flight!

Luckily the flight went reasonably smoothly with not too much turbulence, and some people (including us) got free food (noodles which I couldn't eat) and a pack with a blanket, toothbrush & paste, an eyemask, socks, earplugs and...wait for it...an inflatable pillow! This was brilliant for me as I lost mine somewhere in the South China Sea. I tested the earplugs too - they were great. Before our descent the captain said 'crew prepare cabin for landing' really early, and the air stewardess explained that this was because were expecting a turbulent landing. Great. We did have one false landing and had to climb again, but we eventually landed in Darwin safely.

We are here for an hour before our flight continues to Cairns.

xxx