The 1st of August was the day we left beautiful Santorini. We had a late checkout - 1pm, so we had breakfast in our villa, then headed into town for our last walk around, last souvenir shopping & a light lunch at the same restaurant we'd been to the night before with its sweeping view across the Caldera. I had tomato fritters & Scott had the Greek Burger, both really yummy. For dessert I had apple-crumble & tiramisu ice cream. It really did taste like the real thing.

Packed our cases and said goodbye to the wonderful Irene, manager of Gabbiano Apartments. What a lovely lady! We have invited her to stay with us anytime she visits Australia.

Got to Santorini airport, which is worse than the ferry terminal! Literally hundreds of people waiting in a tiny area to catch a plane. Guess who we saw there waiting? Carmel & Steve! We caught up on all their holiday news, as they had been to many of the same places, then it was time for us to catch (separate) planes. We had a short stop over in Athens, then another stop over in Istanbul, then on to Singapore. Our flights had been delayed a few hours, so when we checked in to Marina Bay Sands Hotel, we asked if we could have a later checkout. Not only did the lady give us a 1pm checkout, but she also upgraded us to a suite!! Oh my goodness, it was like having a whole apartment with bathroom (separate huge shower room) with a view across the bay & Supertree Grove, a dining room, lounge room, & huge bedroom, incredible views across the harbour & to the city - AMAZING! Marina Bay Sands Hotel is the most well known building in Singapore, with its 3 towers and full size infinity pool on the 57th floor! It really is incredible. I ran around like a little kid taking photos of every single thing.

We headed out to see the Supertree Grove (Gardens by the Bay), which is a 'forest' of man-made 'trees' that are solar powered, so they light up at night. This project cost a billion dollars & is also on reclaimed land. We were standing on what was once the sea! It was like a science fiction movie. You take the lift up to the top & walk along the skywalk. Great views! Then we took a cab to a place called Boon Tat Street, where they cook kebabs over hot coals. Such a great atmosphere & really yummy street food. From there we walked along Clarke Quay, which is a bit like our Southbank with restaurants & bars all along the riverfront. It was 'ladies night', which meant ladies were allowed free drinks, so it was very busy & the music was very loud. Singapore is a beautiful city - so clean & very modern. Of course we had a Singapore Sling!

I didn't go to sleep until 3am, I just loved the room so much, so I sat & watched the city lights. I had set the alarm for 6am, so we could go to the rooftop pool before many other people did. Great idea, as this pool is FULL for the rest of the day & night. We swam right up to the edge and looked down onto the city - incredible! We met a couple from Adelaide & chatted to them & watched the sun come up. I've never seen so many cargo ships in the bay.

We went back to Gardens by the Bay to enter the Cloud Forest Dome. This is the largest man made waterfall in the world. We thought it was going to be really humid inside, but it was actually cool. You take a lift to the very top, then walk along the skywalk back to the bottom. On the other side, is the Flower Dome, which is filled with all the different flowers from around the world.

We decided to jump on the Hop On Hop Off bus to see the sights of the city. We went through Little India, Chinatown & the Malay District - 25,000 square metres of reclaimed sea! Just incredible. We also went on the section of road that will be the Grand Prix track in September.

Singapore is an exciting city. Everything is pristine - even the public toilets are spotless and all automatic - you don't even have to push a button to flush - it does it all for you.

Time to go back to the Hotel, relax for a little while, then head off to the airport, where we had the BUMPIEST flight home. Even the pilot apologised over the loudspeaker for the turbulence.

We have had the most fabulous holiday! Everything we saw & experienced was wonderful. We were not looking forward to coming home to winter after 5 & a half full weeks without a single day of rain & temperatures of over 30 degrees!

We have had so much fun travelling & seeing new places in the world.